Whats Going on Backstage?

The Return of Dita Morgan

What's that sound?

Hammering. That’s the first sound heard as the camera slowly opens the scene. Someone is hammering nails into wood. The camera shows a single hammer held in the strong hands of someone. it’s the same hammer Slade had at the ball park. But this is not Slade’s hand, it’s Shadow’s. Shadow is building something. The camera pulls back to show him inside the arena, I the backstage area in what seems to be close to the parking lot. Slade and Dita are both no where in sight. Shadow is alone in this little nook building a door frame. To the side sit’s a door, completely unpainted, with a sign on it. However, the sign is covered with a strip of film. There is also a small window on the wooden door. Its quite quaint. Shadow al the while is building a solid door frame. He works quietly, well as quietly as one can who is hammering in an empty hallway. He has just finished the door frame by the time things get settled. Then Shadow stands the lone frame up, he build feet for the door so it could remain standing without being attached to something. Then Shadow walks over and picks up the door. He is wearing the same Ass Kickers Anonymous shirt he wore for his interview with Cindy Shannon. This time though, Shadow is wearing black jeans. This is not the wrestling gear he will wear in the ring tonight. Instead, that sits in how back that rests in the corner near some folded up steel chairs.

Shadow: Well that’s a start.

He heads over to the door that lays on its side. He bends down and picks it up the walks back to frame. Shadow sets the door up on two small pieces off wood on the floor, propping the door up so it will not rest on the ground. Then he grabs the power drill and begins to screw on the hinges. Shadow takes his time, making sure everything is done properly. He is always this methodical when it comes to his work. Things have to be done precisely, otherwise the final result will not look cosmetically good, and it runs the possibility of not working in the end at all. That is why Shadow is diligently putting his focus on this. It is keeping his mind clear, helping him prepare for what is coming later. The match later tonight will be nothing like building a door, so much harder, and requires a lot more that just a hammer and some nails. He attaches the first hinge then stands to screw on the second. Taking his time Shadow thinks about the ordeal he has endured this past month. Shane West made a compilation of the events that transpired. All the attacks all the assaults. Everything that stings Shadow’s pride was shown in a matter of moments. He Was kind of pissed at Shane for that. Its why when Shadow walked out to the ring with Slade on Overdrive he was just royally pissed. The words he spoke were nothing more than a shoot. Shadow wanted to make Biggs pay for what was happening, whether it killed Shadow in the process. It was only after Shadow went to the back and found Dita Morgan waiting for him that Shadow snapped out of it. His anger, his frustrations washed away like a baptism. The Shadow who stepped in the ring later that evening has not been around since Rasslemania V, maybe even before then. The door is finished. Shadow kicks the two stands out from under the base then practices opening and closing it. The door works just fine. He stands and smiles at his work.

Shadow: That’s a damn fine door.

He turns and sets the tools back in his back. Then after closing everything up Shadow walks through the doorway, not around it, and pulls on the film revealing the sign that is under the window. It reads. “A.K.A. Office. Please Knock for Free Ass Kicking.” Then he turns and walks back through the door way and shuts it. Shadow has been tasked with assembling the old A.K.A. Office, something that has existed in every federation since the A.K.A. were founded. As Shadow walks though their office he begins to set up the amenities that come with their services. Shadow takes each of the folding chairs and sets them in a circle, followed by the folded up circular table in the center of them. Then as all this is arranged Shadow walks over and grabs a cooler, one of three. This one is black, another is green and the last is pink, obviously for each member. Shadow takes his and sets it near the table, the others can get their own and claim their own seats when the arrive. He cracks it open and pulls out a Bud light. Shadow is the only member of the existing Ass Kickers Anonymous who still drinks. Dita refuses as does Slade, and Assassin is not going to be here tonight. After twisting off the top Shadow takes a big drink of it. He has no intention on getting drunk, this is the only alcoholic beverage in the cooler. Tonight is too important, he cannot afford to be drunk, it could cost him his match. Shadow knows what he said before, he knows that he told Cindy that he may inevitable hurl Biggs through the wall of the cage and cost himself his title. Like he said steel can only take so much force before it breaks. Though this is not something Shadow wants to avoid, he knows that deep down inside he may hurt Biggs like that. He has to remain in control of this match, maybe not physically but mentally. Biggs is going to strive to get back inside Shadow’s head, but without his equalizer Biggs is nothing more than a thorn in Shadow’s side once again. In the end, that’s all he ever was, just The Beast keep pushing Biggs deeper. He had to be dealt with, which is why Shadow didn’t pursue Biggs during the match. If the name were still inside Shadow’s mind, then yes Shadow would have given chase, but not anymore. Shadow and Slade both were sending a message that the biggest man would be taken down, then those two. Suddenly the door opens as Shadow takes another big swig of here Bud Light. He turns to the door to see Dita walking in, her blonde hair streaked with purple and wearing tore up blue jeans with a green and hot pink A.K.A. shirt. She walks over and kisses him on the cheek then takes a seat in his lap. Dita: Hey there handsome.

Shadow: Hey there you.

They share a brief kiss before she gets up and walks over to her cooler, the pink one and opens it. Inside is a bunch of water on ice. Then she exhales questionably and opens Slade’s up. His cooler contains the same thing. With a slight laugh she closes the lid to her cooler and then grabs the green one and walks back to the table. She takes a seat as Shadow finishes his beer and whips it towards the corner where there is a metal garbage can. He is actually slight surprised to see it go in.

Dita: Did you put a brick in the trash can?

Shadow: Cinderblock. Didn’t want it to tip over.

She smiles at him and opens a bottle of water then takes a drink.

Dita: You know, before I left, before D.U.W. closed down, I would have asked for one of those too.

Shadow: Yeah, and six months ago I would have offered one to Slade, You heard what happened right?

Dita: Something to do with a strip club and a drunken brawl before Overdrive. Shadow: You haven’t got the half of it. He showed up at the arena piss drunk and could barely stand. It was bad, Jeff damn near fired him for it. It wasn’t until Sean and Assassin came in with a contract, with new fine print telling him that if he didn’t quit drinking Slade’s career in the wrestling industry was done. It was bad, because had Slade left I sure as hell wouldn’t have had any reason top keep fighting. I would have walked shortly thereafter.

Dita: And had I not returned?

Shadow: I would be gone after Shockwave. There was nothing grounding me anymore Dita.

Dita: Shadow, you cannot let me determine your career.

Shadow: It wasn’t that. You know what the hardest thing to live with in this world is, Dita? It’s not knowing your purpose. For the longest time I was that guy who couldn’t be beaten. I rolled with that for years, decimating anyone in my path. Then I became part of the A.K.A. and we were all about kicking ass, as you know.

He smirks at her.

Shadow: After that what happened? We ran with it for ages, and sure it was cool and all but in the end there had to be something more, I was worried the show was becoming repetitious for the fans. And when you came back, I realized that I shouldn’t be searching for an answer, just let it find me. Because when I went out there, the fan screamed at the top of their lungs, deafening us with cheers as Slade and I hit ‘The Final Countdown.’ It was so refreshing.

Dita: Good. Because…

Something stops her. it’s the door to the office opening. Slade has finally arrived at the Air Canada Center. He is wearing his beat up old leather jacket with some crazy looking green jeans and a black wife beater. Slade has on a pair of his great cheap sunglasses which he buys in bulk from Dollar General. The reason he does this is because the people flock to see him there. Craven walks in with his gear over his shoulder and a cheesy grin on his face.

Slade- Well Heidi-Freaking-Ho! Dude, the office looks great! How are you’ll doing today?

They both blush and Dita takes a drink of her water. Slade walks over and snags the last seat, spins it backwards, swings his leg over and sits down.

Slade- So, uh, Dita, you got my cooler there hun.

She eyes him.

Dita: Don’t know what you’re talking about. I grabbed mine. I think yours is over there.

She points over to the pink cooler and Shadow just nods. Slade looks to both of them tilting his head waiting for a response and Dita just drinks the water with a smile. Craven just shrugs his shoulders.

Slade- Alright, A’ight, I see how it is.

He gets up and grabs the pink cooler then walks back over to the table.

Slade- Just you wait man, your match is first tonight man.

Craven narrows his eyes at his tag team partner. Shadow looks at him wondering what Slade might be thinking.

Shadow: You’re damn right my match is up first. And its going to be a lot of fun too. So when I come back here and find a bunch of lemon water? I’m going to douse your ass with it like you drenched yourself with compressed CO2. So don’t even try anything.

Slade- Sure.

His voice cares a condescending and sarcastic tone. Slade has something fun planned. But deep down he is not pissed, he is manly enough to wear pink. Shadow may not, but Slade is.

Slade- So speaking of which I happened to be walking through the backstage area and heard a certain someone’s voice talking about you.

Shadow: Oh? What did Biggie have to say?

Slade- That you only defended your title twice, that you don’t deserve the belt, blah blah blah, something about being homosexual, more rambling, then uh he wishes to be up in Dita’s guts.

She makes a sick face.

Dita: That boy wouldn’t know what to do with a woman. He couldn’t handle me.

Slade- Of course not, didn’t you hear me? He was talking about being a homosexual.

Dita: Oh, well okay then.

Shadow: What else did he say?

Slade; Well I wasn’t really paying attention, I mean come on, this is Biggs, does anyone ever really listen to him? Like his show, I just fast forward through it to the commercials. But yeah the only thing that really caught me was his mention of Winston Churchill, which makes sense, you know with him being a butt pirate and all.

Shadow: Winston Churchill?

Slade: Yeah you know, this guy.

Craven pulls out his Blackberry and has a scene from Family Guy cued up. It is Peter on a plane ride in the episode “Dammit Janet.” Peter is doing his one man play, “Winston Churchill: We Hardly Knew Ye.”

Peter: Would you like some tea? I would because I’m Winston Churchill. Would you like some crumpets? I would because I’m Winston Churchill.

Craven cuts off the Blackberry and puts it away. Shadow just scrunches his face pondering that little bit.

Slade- See? Just like ole Churchill, Biggs is a little flaming fairy boy. And anyway who would want to be compared to Churchill, he was this really annoying person. The real ass kicker in that whole ordeal was Frankie. Plus Churchill couldn’t beat Hitler, not without Frankie’s help. Churchill, with his cigars and his Brandy, and rotten paintings, rotten! Now Hitler, there was a painter, he could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon, two coats.

Shadow: Uh Slade why are you addressing someone labeled the most evil man in history?

Slade- Cause well you’d think Biggs would want to be him rather than Churchill. And since we are all artists then something needs to be said and that’s what my old art teacher told me in high school. ‘Listen don’t ever mess with an artist. You don’t ever want to piss one off, because you don’t know what they are liable to do. Don’t believe me? Then think about this, Hitler wanted to be an artist.’

Ms Morgan chokes on her water as Shadow’s eyes get wide with that statement.

Dita: Wow. Seriously?

Slade just smirks and opens the pink cooler and gets himself a bottle of water. He takes a drink and nods to them as they sit there a little stunned with what he had to say. Craven wipes his mouth as he finishes his drink.

Slade- Follow me with this alright? You and me? We’re artists, and in the past months Biggs and Cyrus have done nothing but piss us off. So what else is there to do but get really, really creative.

Craven smiles as Shadow debates on that thought for a moment.

Shadow: You’re serious?

Slade- Well yeah.

Shadow: Okay. Well going back to what you were saying earlier, before we got off topic. What was he talking about in his interview?

Slade- I told you, how you don’t deserve the belt, two title defenses, blah, blah, blah, broken record.

Shadow: You’re telling me, you sure you didn’t catch his internet show? Cause from what Cindy told me that’s all he was talking about on it.

Slade- Nope he was talking to her though. Called her a whore.

Shadow: Why?

Slade- No idea, probably mad she can get men faster than he can.

Shadow: Ah, makes sense. So he is still rambling on about that? God when is he going to let this go? He needs to stop taking this crap so damn personal. I don’t care about him. But he cannot get over himself. Lord knows I hate a hypocrite, but this guy is just blatantly telling us what he is. All he does is whine about me making fun of him, boo-hoo. Talking about how moralistic and better he is than everyone it makes me sick. I told everyone, I tried to defend my title more, I wanted to, but Jeff didn’t think they deserved it. And if Biggs wants to be self righteous, then he needs to go talk to his little lover boy Chris Cyrus and ask him why he has only defended his title twice. Hypocrite bastards. He wants me to beat his ass? Fine I’ll do. I go out to ring snuff him out like a ember and end all his wonderful little dreams of glory.

Slade- He did say he wants to be A.P.W. Champion.

Shadow: Then why isn’t he going after that belt? Oh yeah, cause he isn’t worth any of their time. Just like he was never worth my time.

Slade- Then why did you accept the challenge?

Dita turns her head waiting to hear the answer.

Shadow: Because he was coming after you Slade. Had I not all he would be doing is interrupting every match you or I participated in until he got what he wanted.

Slade- And what happens when you give a brat a cookie?

His tag partner sighs knowing Slade is right.

Shadow: He is going to want a glass of milk.

Slade- And how do you deal with that child.

Shadow: You beat there ass.

Craven begins to applaud again, something he did earlier with Shane West. Speaking of Shane everyone suddenly realizes that Shane is standing next to them. They all look at him. Dita takes a drink as Shane smiles with a microphone in his hand. He wants an interview. No one speaks. Shane raises both his eyebrows and motions with the mic in his hand. Still silence. Dita takes another drink and finishes her bottle. Shane widens his eyes as if he doesn’t want to say it. Still, he opens his mouth to speak.

Slade- How the hell did you get in here?

Shane stops before he can form the first words. Slade looks at him with anger in his eyes. None of the A.K.A. say anything more as they await Shane’s response.

Shane: Well I walked in.

Slade- Through the door?

Shane: No…

Slade- What the hell man, this is our office. You can’t just go busting through walls and crap. That stuff is expensive. Man breaking up our office. Damn man!

Craven waves his arms at Shane who doesn’t know what to say.

Shane: What walls?

Slade- You see that door there?

He jumps up and points to the office door. Shane nods in response.

Slade- You see that? That’s the door, you see that around it, that’s the walls? And look at that hole you put in our wall. Dammit man, we’re going to have to pay for that!

Shane: I’m…sorry?

Slade- You damn skippy you are. Now get the hell out of our office and come in the right way!

Craven motions the invisible walls as Shane just looks at the others for some sort of logic. Slade’s tag partner just shrugs.

Shadow: I’d listen to the man.

With a defeated look on his face Shane walks back ‘through’ the wall.

Slade- Dammit dude!

Shane just shakes his head and walks to the door and opens it. This time Shadow says something because Craven is flipping out.

Shadow: Hey! Don’t you have any manners? This is a place of business you can’t just barge in here like that. Knock dude!

Dita motions with her hand to the door as Shane backs out the door and Slade sits down. They all look at each other with exacerbated looks on their face. Finally Shane knocks on the door and Shadow yells out.

Shadow: Yeah? Come in!

Shane West walks though the doorway and closes the door behind him.

Shane: Hi, guys, I was wondering if I could get an interview before Shockwave. I am sure you both have a lot you want to say to your opponents tonight. So is there any way I could get a word from you’ll?

Shadow stands and gets right in Shane’s face. He is full of rage as he speaks.

Shadow: Hell no! You come in here you break our stuffs, interrupt us while we’re working and you want an interview? You need to show some respect to the A.K.A. now get out of here man. You want to deliver the message to people, you want to know what I have to say about my match tonight? I have to say be ready. Be ready for a war. Because that’s what Biggs has been begging for over the past two months. He wants a fight well there’s more to it now. Now he gets to face the real beast, he faces me inside a steel cage and no amount of training can prepare him for the ass kicking he has coming. When this is over, Biggs will learn why no one respects him and whether or not he respects me he will know why I am the longest reigning champion Overdrive champion in A.P.W. history. That’s right, as of August 18th, I became that. And sure while I’ve wanted to defend it more, I haven’t, but tonight, I get what I want, and so does Biggs. But in the end only one of us is going to be walking away from that cage. And it sure as Hell will not be him.

Shadow breathes heavily as Shane just backs away. He puts his hand behind him and opens the door, never taking his eyes off the Overdrive Champion. He is afraid Shadow may mistake him for Biggs and beat his ass. Shane exit’s the office and shuts the door then hauls ass out of there. Shadow watches this then turns to Slade and Dita. They all stand there for a moment then burst out laughing at their prank on Shane West. The laughter continues as Shadow laughs for more than that reason. He is also laughing at Biggs, the ‘biggest’ joke in A.P.W. today.