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Battle of the Rookies II

The doorbell in Atomic Welfare's apartment rang, it's sound oscillating through empty hallway. Anthony Smith turned and stared at the door. Slowly he pulled himself out of his chair and sauntered silently through the room. The door swung open and outside stood a scrawny, pale figure. His tiny hands gripped a small brown envolope which was immediately snatched by the gigantic grappler. The brown packaging was ripped apart and the Double Patroit eyed the contents silently.

The messenger stood around awkwardly waiting for a signature:

"So, you hear about benoit"

"What do you honestly think?!

"Don't you think it was..."

The messenger was stopped mid-sentence. Smith snatched away the clipboard and quickly wrote his signature quickly. He was about to shut the door, when he decided to tell the messenger something:

"You want my opinions? Well here's my two cents. I don't know the man, I don't have any personal attachment like those internet smarks think they have. What happened over the weekend was a complicated incident which destroyed a man. Do I feel anger? Hell no, I was a huge Benoit mark.

What I feel is pity. Pity that a culmination of events lead a man to become so twisted and fucked up that he discarded the respect of his fans and peers and murdered his wife and child, before killing himself. Pity that a man lost any self control. Pity that no-one saw it coming and tried to stop him. Count yourself lucky that you haven't had similar circumstances, because believe it or not you'll be surprised what actually happens when you reach your limits.

Atomic Welfare shifted slowly to his seat. Memories raced in his mind. He was in the Room again...

Blood poured onto the floor, mixing with the dust, sand and grime which lay on the tiles. White flashes appeared in Atomic's mind. A body lay on the floor.

A mask appeared

Welfare was struck with a head-splittling migrane. They always followed the memories, memories he had spent 3 years trying to hide. Memories which were just one moment from taking control.

As he poured water into a chipped glass, Atomic Welfare looked back at the living room. His eyes fixated at a small draw. He'd never dare reopen it. It was his pandora's box...

Luck, be a lady tonight

Las Vegas. City of Lights, Gambling, and Music. Aaron could hardly wait on the drive to Vegas, and the two speeding tickets he got served as proof. But the music called to him like a mother wolf to her cub. Every tourist knows about the casinos, almost every tourists knows about the clubs, and most of the tourists know about the strip joints. But few know the music scene in this city like Aaron did. Almost everywhere you turned there was a piano bar, or some bar with a live band, or concerts, or park shows, or anything. Music flowed in this city like a hidden vein. While gambling kept the money pumping thus keeping the city alive, the music gave the city soul. And Aaron could not wait to dive right into it.

Yet the desire to dive head long into the sweet sounds of Vegas was tempered with nervousness. Endgame was here and he had a match. A re-match if you will against one Atomic Welfare. Aaron got the victory over him in his very first match, but he could hardly let himself get complacent. Anthony was bound to be chomping at the bit for his chance to get one over on the music loving rookie, and at the biggest event of the year, the winner was sure to find a catapult to success. The loser will have to work that much harder to rise in the ranks.

Aaron parked with Dodge Neon in the Caesar's Palace parking garage. While he was not a rich man, he was making good money with the TCW, so why not splurge a bit? Nothing to fancy, but a nice room in a nice resort, should be okay. Place, this place was smack dab in the Strip, providing Aaron easy access to everything Vegas had to offer. Man, these next few days were going to rock! If the rain let up that is.

After checking in, and getting a nice room (nice by his standards was anything with clean sheets, cable TV, and where you couldn't pay by the hour), Aaron decided that spending time in his room defeated the purpose of being in Vegas. Time to gamble he decided. And with that, Aaron headed for the downstairs game floor, convinced his luck would prevail, and he might be able to upgrade his room. His game of choice came into view.

Craps.

A game of luck with a little bit of skill. Place your bets right, and Craps is one of the few games that you can have the odds in your favor, instead of the house. While other pulled the one armed bandit hoping for fortune, and some watching that roulette wheel spin round and round, Aaron trusted the dice. Lady luck was a singer and she loved musicians. Let's hope Aaron could keep her happy.

He placed a ten dollar chip on the pass line and held his breath as the shooter fired the dice down the table.