Konstantine vs Scarlett Anthem

This desire of mine? Will it be worth it?

I, Devin KONSTANTINE, am not a man with morals. I’ve annihilated people for championships like the Genesis Championship. I have every tool necessary to end the reign and maybe the career of Scarlett Anthem. She’s a tough girl, but she’s fragile to these hands. When a company laid in ruin, due to my tyranny, I found myself to be the strongest in the universe. That was eons ago, times have changed. I have grown older, and I have laid dormant for so long.

This flavor on my tongue? It has been there since the first show. The Genesis Championship was within my grasp. When I brought my fingertips to my lips, I must have left a residue there. It’s delicious, this taste. It was like ambrosia but diluted enough for my mortal senses to process. I haven’t felt this way in ages, this hungry. Not since my days chasing my first World Championship did I crave like this.

However, I don’t want to use everything vile in me to take this championship from her.

Why?

It’s because there’s an angel on your shoulder.

An angel?

I’m here, Devin, to tell you that you’re not going to destroy this young girl.

Why not? She has what I want.

Because you see our little girl in her, Devin.

I see a corpse in her? Do I make a corpse out of her? I have everything here, the tools, the hatred, I HAVE IT ALL.

You won’t hurt a hair on her head, not more than you must. Not because of what I tell you. It’s because you’re not that kind of man. You’re trying to turn yourself into the monster you used to be. You want to become that immature kid, trying to make good on his limited chances.

No.

You’re not the outlier anymore. This isn’t the past.

I know it isn’t. The past has good things—like you.

Then don’t dwell on it. Don’t try to regress. Progression is all you have left, Devin.

An angel on my shoulder, telling me to be weak?

No, your lover in your mind telling you that you’re stronger than before.

Then why don’t I have the Genesis Championship?

Because you’re still fighting with yourself. Stop it.

Never, not until—

Stop it.

Not until—

Stop it, Devin, you will not defeat her without accepting that you can be kind. You’re not this “sarcoma.” You’re a real human being with feelings and wavering thoughts. You might hate all the world with all that heart you used to love with, but you don’t hate her.

…

So please. Go forth and beat her as a competitor. Not as the face painted destroyer. That’s not you anymore, Devin. That’s not who I fell for. That’s an ugly beast.

Rebecca—

Don’t call for me. I’m dead, remember?

But you still live in my head.

You want me to be here.

…of course, I do. You’re all I have left of you.

You’re a silly man, Devin Brando. I love you.

---

Alice Van Dyne stepped around KONSTANTINE’s abode, not caring for the different memorabilia around her. A wrestling fanatic would treasure the opportunity to step into a prolific wrestler’s realm, seeing what they cannot on the cameras. All the World Championships and pictures of long-gone relationships blanketed the dark blue walls of his living room. On the lone coffee table in there, KONSTANTINE left some discarded mail and an all-important picture of his deceased family. Alice turned her head after seeing the picture, where she noticed that his favorite seat was on his couch below his championships. Breaking his focus on the way her skirt fluttered around, Alice noted that there were remains of the supreme egoist in the now shy man’s psyche. She heard what she thought was a shovel striking the ground from behind a side door. Elated to know where her client was, Alice gained speed to approach the door as if KONSTANTINE would run off if she weren't fast enough.

Opening it, she saw the shovel inside the dirt, but she found it disappointingly small. Her visualization of a big shovel gave her reasoning to believe KONSTANTINE was doing some nefarious.

Burying a body, perhaps? How exhilarating.

Instead, KONSTANTINE dragged a cloth across his forehead, ridding himself of sweat. He looked over to Alice, the essence radiating off her notifying his senses. He studied her absently before returning to his…gardening.

Alice scowled when she realized what he was doing.

“Gardening?” she affirmed, to which KONSTANTINE nodded, “that’s no fun.”

“It’s a hobby of patience and quiet.”

“What happened to the partying and drinking?” Alice questioned, almost whining at this point. “I thought you were a serial killer or something.”

“Wrong man,” KONSTANTINE blankly stated, “do you have some reason to be here, Alice?”

Alice’s disappointment continued to gather in his face, narrowed eyebrows and a pouty lip. She completed the look by placing a hand against the hem of her cobalt shirt. She made a minor interruption in the form of her tucking stray, brunette strands behind her ear. She made sure it didn’t get caught on anything too, but the back of her ear. She sucked her teeth and fixed her hair again, feeling it tug against the back of her earring, but only slightly so. Clearing her throat, she repositioned her stance of authority.

“Why aren’t you in Hawke’s office?”

KONSTANTINE stopped tending to his peonies, which Alice internally celebrated. She got his attention, and it came in the form of him standing up. Alice didn’t plan for that, taking two steps back from him. Doing so in her fear brought her thin heels into the thick grass, and she almost fell to the ground. Something helped her stay upright, but it was clear she wasn’t ready for his looming figure. She did notice that he didn’t see that or didn’t care.

Probably a combination of both.

“You could be using that contract to your advantage. You don’t get a chance like this often!”

KONSTANTINE didn’t reply vocally, but his eyebrow rose.

“You understand this; you used something like this to win that second World Championship of yours,” she continued to explain, but she got no response out of KONSTANTINE. She gritted her teeth. “Devin, are you paying attention to me?”

He answered by going back to his work. Alice’s eyes darted around the ground, trying to find something to distract him from his hobby. She didn’t find anything immediately, causing her to make a growling noise at the silent hulk. Alice drew her leg back, which he didn’t see. He did know that she kicked one of his peonies up, causing plant and dirt alike to come flying into him. He dropped the hand shovel back into the soil, his hand remaining open in a still state. Alice stomped her foot back into place, staring daggers down at him.

“No wonder you couldn’t win the first time around, you’re missing that killer instinct of yours—” she didn’t back down when he stood up, but he made her shut up by grabbing her neck. He lifted her up with one hand, high enough for her to realize the size difference between them. Once her eyes were wide enough, and he saw that KONSTANTINE dropped the girl. She gagged for breath and scooted backward to avoid his reach anymore.

“That’s a company offense! A crime! I could have you fired for this! Worse, even!” she bellowed, yet coughing prevented her words from being any more efficient than a toy dog’s yelp.

“I was moving you from my garden,” KONSTANTINE said, blankly. Alice looked to be sure, and KONSTANTINE was right. She was stepping on another flower. In fact, Alice stomped on it during her contained temper tantrum. All hostility faded away for a second as she nodded.

“Understood,” she put out her hand for him to help her up. That didn’t come. Alice pouted and had to pick herself back off the ground. “Jerk.”

KONSTANTINE once again opted not to respond. He did switch the subject away from the destruction of his garden. “I don’t need to use the contract. Not yet.”

“Why is that?” an incredulously asked question, “you could make it easier to win the championship. Isn’t that what you want?”

A beat.

“As your manager and superior, I find this choice of action to be utterly--” she hung on for a moment, trying to find a professional word.

She failed.

“Stupid.”

KONSTANTINE gave her a look.

“What?” Alice asked.

“Alice, if I told you that an angel told me not to do what you’ve asked, what would you think about that?”

Alice blinked a few times, trying to recognize if she heard that correctly. “Firstly, I’d ask if you were high on something. Secondly, if the first were true, I would remember of Black Mist’s policy on drug usage—” she interrupted herself, “unless it’s for scientific purposes. But this isn’t!”

She sighed, “finally, I’d ask you if you rather trust a voice in your head? Or would you trust the woman specifically assigned to get you what you want?”

KONSTANTINE’s eyes never left Alice during her whole speech. Alice looked back at him, but before long, she searched for something else to stare at shyly.

“Noted,” he replied and went back to his gardening.

Alice came back to him with a confused expression, “what do you mean by that?”

“Sometimes, I like to hear the opinions of the Devil. He gives me good advice sometimes.”

Alice almost replied but got cut off.

“This time, I forgot that it came out of an ignorant teenager. Get off my property.”

There was a long pause, where nobody did anything. Alice didn’t burst into hysterics; KONSTANTINE didn’t try to force to live in any violent matter. They both stayed in their headspaces for a moment. Alice broke away first, turning on a heel to leave. She remained silent until she was almost back inside of the house.

“Mr. Brando, sometimes, you need to remember what the hell you used to do to people.”

She seethed, recomposing herself.

“You forget that you used to be the Devil himself.”

---

“Scarlett, I—I’ve,” KONSTANTINE, the usually precise individual started the video out with a stammer, “I’ve been through some things before this match came to be. A lot of it has nothing to do with you directly, but your existence and your personality are enough to bring these memories back into my head. When I had the chance to see your first outing, where you came to garner a shot at what you hold now, I played your video on repeat. I saw the fleeting youth, burning like the brilliant blaze it is. Everyone saw that in the future Genesis Champion—a girl who could take the world when she felt like it. Much to everyone’s shock and awe, Scarlett Anthem took the world the very next show.”

“That fire in your eyes was something that I had before, many moons ago. It’s obvious that the overarching narrative of our crucial match is the young champion fending against the hungry, violent veteran. Half of the ASCENT crowd will root for you; you’re the personification of what many want in the future. The other half will chant for your demise, if it is out of hatred of you or a sick adoration of me, I wouldn’t know. In any case, I know you’re not a person caught up in the opinions of the fans during the matches. Unlike the other filth in the world, you didn’t get in this business for a quick dollar or simple self-gratification. It’s that undefined factor of youth that makes you honest. That’s what makes people like you.”

“It’s what I like about you,” KONSTANTINE paused, “yes, I don’t just want to rip you apart like I did Finale or James Raven. They’re relics of a gone world, which were simple feastings for this sick beast. You, though, you are something special.”

KONSTANTINE’s setting finally unveiled himself. A brief flash of light as a large monitor showed itself. Amidst the burst, the brightness illuminated KONSTANTINE’s face. Shadowy, it was, but he took away the most striking feature of his visage. As the background image appeared on the screen, its backlight showed that the Last King didn’t wear his signature face paint. Scars lined parts of his face, physical memories of his ten-year war against humanity. The obvious scars included the long line on his right cheek, a more extensive cut over his right eye, and a current nick in his hairline where hardened skin remained. Without the white paint littered with blood streaks, KONSTANTINE looked worn. He wasn’t serene by the typical definition. More so, Devin found solace in his social detachment.

On the screen behind him, Scarlett’s bright and bubbly smile loomed over him. Small spurts of static interrupted the pure image, but it remained. The lights came on overhead, making KONSTANTINE fully visible. He sat in his crimson lounge seat, staring directly into the camera. No paint around his eyes saved the audience from his icy stare, and the lack of darkness only aided KONSTANTINE’s position. His blue eyes glistened in the strange light, but nothing seemed natural. Was he in a factory or some industrialized room? The giant screen kept an answer away.

“You remind me of my daughter.”

He paused, not knowing how to continue past what he said.

“She…was—” he gulped, “she was honest, as most kids were. I just believed that it came from a genuine want to tell the truth to me. She was pure, my little Amy. I feared the days when she wouldn’t be that anymore. You know, like your father did at some point. Excuse me if he’s passed. He did have those thoughts, even when he held you in his arms when you were just born.”

“Fathers fear the days that their little angels go off into the dangerous world. We want to protect that purity the best way we know how. I know my reputation would halt some suitors from coming her way,” he chuckled, a rarity in itself, “I wouldn’t have to go get the shotgun. Among what other ways that I dreamt up on how to protect her, I came across the idea that she just might want to be a wrestler, just like you.”

“Other people that I know who have kids don’t want them to be wrestlers. For some of us, like me, we think that wrestling kills the purity. Pure people don’t make it far in wrestling. Good people, sure, but they’re not pure. They, at some point, realize that sometimes, the only way you can win is to take a chair and try to lobotomize someone with it. Some have nightmares about the things they have to do. I’ve heard the horror stories of these pure people losing their minds and becoming the worst people imaginable. Every downfall has a catalyst. Knowing that as a father, I couldn’t stand to see my little Amy in this kind of business.”

KONSTANTINE lolled his tongue in his mouth, contemplating his memory. “I know that sometimes, it’s a single person that can ruin everything. I’m the kind of person. Over the span of my career, I have played my role in destroying the purity of both starry-eyed rookies and stalwart veterans alike. To some extents, I’ve ruined lives way beyond what was necessary, because I’m not a pure person.”

“I’m a horrible man that was given the best in his life. I had a loving wife, and a pure child to raise. I had an escape from the mindset that led to my hedonistic actions,” KONSTANTINE shook his head, “I didn’t deserve that.”

“And now, I’ve been called back forward to be that catalyst for you, Scarlett, potentially. I could very well do a lot of things to hurt you and your career. I could end it if you make too much of a rookie mistake. It doesn’t even have to be that. A wrong step and I can get you. There are other outliers beyond the match that affect you. You’re the champion not going in to face a challenger.”

“Scarlett, you’re facing a man with too many options.”

KONSTANTINE reached over to a briefcase, opening it up to reveal the contract he won on the very first show.

“I have the key to ruin everything for you.”

“I could make this match something you’ve never experienced.”

“I could force you to fight the world and more before our match.”

“I could make it, so you can only use your legs.”

“There’s a lot I can do with this contract since the GM is at my beck and call. It makes me the most dangerous man for you to fight, but since you remind me of Amy,” KONSTANTINE shut the briefcase close with a resounding snap. “I don’t need to do any of that.”

KONSTANTINE tilted his head, “I hope you’ve thought about that. If you didn’t realize how caution you need to be, then it’s almost educational for me to use this against you,” he placed the briefcase out of sight with another chuckle. “I won’t use it, I promise you.”

“I believe in the good fight. I’m against it since I’m your antithesis, yet I find myself humored by it. It’s the concept that makes heroes come to try to slay me. It makes people strong, and that is why the good fight is what we need in wrestling, let alone ASCENT. I’m giving you the chance to prove to me that you’re that strong, that you’re worthy of carrying that belt and the will of those around you. Like Elina.”

“I know that I don’t need to stack the deck to defeat you, kill your dreams.”

“But what will it take for you to put down the Last King?”

“You’re strong, my dear, but I’m beyond strength.”

The screen behind him started to fade to black, along with his visible presence. As the backlight dwindled, the remaining fixture in the room dawned a white overlay upon his features.

“What will you find, Scarlett? You have only so much time before I have the chance to get my hands on you.”

“For when that does happen, I need you to ask yourself this question.”

In the darkness, his final words came.

“Do you truly believe you’re safe from me?”