THREE

This taping was packed full of awesomeness. Although not aired live, we had a stream we could watch backstage, just for us. It started out with the BDC talking shit, because of all his skills, this was MVP's strongest. Kenny King stood by his side with Low Ki, known to non-wrestlers as Brandon. They were a stable thrown together seemingly out of anger, but I knew the truth. The current members of the BDC were all working for the Dark Side. Samoa Joe wasn't into that evil crap. It's almost impossible to turn one of the Samoans evil. He'd agreed to work with them to play double agent for our side, but Brandon had blown Joe's cover. He'd had to flee the company and had barely escaped with his life.

Our new double agent had shown up shortly after. Nelson still had a fucked-up shoulder, but he knew Brandon better than any of us and was determined to save him. Nelson, by the way, doesn't sound nearly as badass as his ring name, Homicide. Nelson was working hard to figure out if Brandon's actions were his own or if he'd truly had no choice. We all believed in Brandon prior to him turning on Joe. Now, no one was sure what to think.

Drew Galloway came out to interrupt the trash talking. Not only was Drew legitimately a member of Team Good, he was one of our best. I had nothing but respect for him for a number of reasons. Drew was doing much better away from WWE and that crappy 3MB gimmick. He had turned his release into something amazing and had taken the indies by storm, taking any title he set his eyes on and making everyone listen eagerly whenever he was handed a microphone. In spite of the fact that his lunatic ex-wife was TNA's Knockouts champion, he knew how desperate we were for help in our psychic battle, and he had signed with a company he'd sworn he never would. His focus had immediately turned to our Army of Assholes, the BDC. This is a prime example of what I was saying about storylines mirroring the real-life battle.

Anyway, I hadn't been listening to MVP. He liked to hear himself talk too much. He was one of the few guys we called by his ring name at all times. He legally changed his name for religious reasons while in prison, but he converted again after so he preferred MVP. Those who called him anything else were older WWE guys like Matt and Jeff, who sometimes still used his birth name, Alvin. Now that Drew was out there, I paid more attention. That man was a promo God. If they'd had forty-five minute promos of him on RAW instead of Triple H, no one would have been complaining.

"He's great," Lauren said from behind me. "Best decision Dixie's made in a long time." I hadn't heard her coming. She must have been blocking her thoughts.

"Agreed," I said. "Shouldn't you be with Wes?"

"He'll survive a few minutes without me... We need to talk, Michael."

When Angelina Love wanted to talk to you, you listened. "What's up?"

"I need you to do your thing. Taryn's up to something with Brooke. That girl's as green as they come psychically. Can you read her and see if Taryn's messing with her head?"

"Brooke's still blocked by Mark's shield. Even I can't get by that, at least not easily." Mark, better known as Bully Ray, had an extremely powerful psychic shield. Knowing Brooke was returning to TNA unaware of the psychic battle that had exploded, he protected her with it.

"She got by it somehow. I'm telling you, Michael, something's off with Brooke." She showed me her arm and I noticed she was bleeding a lot. There was literally a gaping hole in her arm.

"Jesus, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" I asked. I focused on her arm. I pictured the wound in my mind as a throbbing red circle. Slowly, I turned the circle into a glowing white orb. Finally, it was gone. I opened my eyes and saw the wound had healed.

"Because I didn't want you to do that. You need your strength. It wasn't that bad."

"You were gushing blood."

"I'm dating a paramedic."

"Who you refused to go see. You're welcome."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Thanks for the assist. More importantly, Brooke did this, Michael. She attacked me. She stuck some freaky ritual blade in my arm! We need to do something."

"I'll see what I can do. Taryn's still pretty fried psychically, but she could have handed Brooke off to someone else. We'll figure it out."

"Good. I need to get ready. New Girl is debuting tonight."

"Emily," I said automatically.

"Whatever, like I care. I have no idea who she is."

"She's gonna be great."

"So you think she's hot, clearly. Which side is she on?"

"I don't know if she's psychic."

"Did you read her yet?"

"Actually, I sort of can't."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow at that. "She just got a little bit more interesting."

"Have you met her Abigail creature?"

"What's an Abigail creature?"

"A peculiar entity claiming to be a child."

"I didn't know she had a kid. She's been training with Tanea and Ashley mostly. I haven't seen much of her."

"No Beautiful People welcome hazing?"

"No Beautiful People." Her blocks dropped slightly and her sadness peaked through.

"Hey, Lauren, you know it's not your fault, right? Jamie had to leave. She needs time. Mark's taking care of her."

"She won't talk to me. Every time I call, she has Mark make up some excuse. She hates me, Michael. I should have protected her. She's the vulnerable one, the pure one... I'm the bitch and I keep us both safe. That's how we work."

"You couldn't have known..."

"I should have... Whatever. I need to go." She hurried off. I let her go. Lauren wasn't the sort who wanted comfort when upset. Just as Angelina and Velvet balanced each other, their real-life counterparts did the same. Without Jamie, Lauren was incomplete.

The night continued on. Matt and Jeff beat the Revolution. James beat TJ. It was all going great. Then the Knockouts came out. I watched Ashley and Lauren beat the hell out of each other. As Lauren went for the pin, music started to play. The arena lights turned purple. Through purple smoke, Emily entered.

Stiffler, being Stiffler, got distracted. He watched Emily in awe. Her ring gear was black with purple embellishments, spirals and other subtle things giving the bikini-style top and bottom outfit hints of personality. A purple cloak trailed behind her. She looked amazing.

Emily reached the ring and seemed to consider the women in it for a moment before running at Lauren. She hit her with a spinning kick that knocked Lauren right out of the ring. She then picked Ashley up and tossed her unceremoniously over the top rope.

"Hello, ladies," Emily said in a cold voice. "My name is Abstract, and this is your notice that I'm the number one contender now."

"I don't think so!" Lauren snapped. She climbed back into the ring. She tried to attack Emily, but Emily was faster. The lights cut out. Moments later, Kia's music played as she appeared in the ring and chokeslammed Lauren. Kia's music cut off as she went to grab Emily, and Jess's started. Jess ran to the ring to attack Kia, saving Emily. Soon, Gail's music started and she went straight for Emily. Emily kicked her hard, then slammed Gail's head on the mat and smiled at her mysteriously. Ashley got back up, and Emily dove off the ropes onto the floor to knock her back down. Then she attacked Kia, managing to dive off the ropes and kick her in the face and knock her off her feet. Finally, only Jess remained standing. Jess glared at her, screamed, and attacked. Emily hit her back on the ringpost, but recovered quickly. She did a hurricanrana and took Jess down.

Taryn appeared at the stage entrance, staring at Emily. Slowly, she nodded, raising her title belt and pointing at Emily. Taryn's music played as she bounced backstage. The number one contender had just been established.

I was impressed. Emily had definitely made an impression. I couldn't wait to talk to her about it.

My match was finally set to begin. Thomas went out first. Then I heard it. Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble... I had the best entrance music ever. It never failed to get me pumped.

I made my way out with George behind me. Tyrus, as we called him, was ready to protect me (see: cheat for me) but I put up a hand and sent him backstage. Tonight was about me and Thomas, and no one else. Thomas nodded, playing up Bram's approval of EC3 fighting his own fight.

"You can't wrestle!" The crowd chanted at me.

"Yes he can!" Other members of the crowd argued. I didn't even have to use my "I disagree/I'm very good" replies because recently, the fans had started to fight for me. That was unexpected and, quite frankly, pretty damn awesome.

The bell rang and I immediately picked up a hockey stick. I hit Thomas's head with it. He staggered back, but stayed on his feet and ran at me, knocking me into the ringpost. He got in a few kicks before backing away to grab the trash can. He hit me in the head with it. I stopped moving, trying to recover. As Thomas looked for another weapon, I grabbed a chair from under the ring and as soon as he turned, I brought it down against his head. His forehead cracked open. I smiled. I'd drawn first blood.

Thomas had wild eyes as he attacked me with a baton to the stomach. I doubled over and he hit me again. This happened several more times until I managed to grab the baton and tear it away from him. I picked up a board of barbed wire and stuck it in the corner. As is typical in wrestling matches, since I brought it in, I'm the one who ended up getting tossed onto it. That stopped me for a minute because, quite frankly, barbed wire fucking hurts. Wrestling may be "fake" but the injuries are real.

I recovered as quickly as I could. Thomas was pulling out a table. I waited for him to set it up before I dove over the ropes and sent both of us crashing through it. I got back up first.

You good? I projected into his head.

Thomas nodded ever so slightly. I smiled. This was the best match ever! I picked him up and tossed him back into the ring. I hit him with the Northern Lights suplex before pinning him. He somehow kicked out at two. I still say the ref, Brian Hebner, was counting awfully slow. I picked up the hockey stick I'd started out with and hit him several times before tossing it aside and hitting him with the One Percenter. This time, Brian counted at a more satisfactory rate. (I know it's hard to count higher than your IQ, Ref, but come on. Isn't being able to count to three a job requirement?) I successfully pinned Thomas without cheating.

I don't think I was ever so proud of myself. The match had been awesome. Thomas was everything I needed in an opponent and, for once, they let me beat him on my own. It was the ultimate high, especially with the excitement of the crowd's thoughts rushing through my mind.

This was a day I'd always remember. Initially, for that awesome match, and ultimately, because it was the day I met Emily and her little creature. I didn't know it yet, but my life was about to change.