"Of truths, fears, and girls of Mars"

Date: 11/06/2019
Location: The "Russian Lady"/Hartford, CT

Kanaida was sitting in a bar that he enjoyed, a small bag from the mall's candy store with different candies in it sat next to him as he enjoyed a pint of his favorite beer, his mind a washed in slight confusion.

"So... this is where you've been hiding?" a deep resonant voice said from next to him.

Kanaida blinked a couple of times and looked to his right to see the last person that he expected in the form of Wil Pierce who was wearing a Hiroshima Carp baseball jersey (#27/AIZAWA) and a pair of blue jeans, reaching out and catching the bartender's attention.

"Una botella de Añejo X, por favor, señora?" Wil asked in a smoothly accented tone, before giving her a polite smile and turning to face Kanaida.

"So, what do you want?" Kanaida asked simply before taking a sip from his beer.

"What? Can't two old friends run into each other in a bar without one of them having some kind of grand scheme behind them?" Wil countered before turning to see the bartender setting down the black bottle of Tequila that he asked for. "Muchas gracias, por favor deje la botella, señora."

The bartender simply rolled her eyes and moved on.

"Wil, the last time we saw each other was during the God of Juniors tournament back in May." Kanaida started.

"Yes."

"Where you beat the shit out of me." Kanaida continued.

"Agreed, but it was a gentlemanly contest..."

Kanaida raised an eyebrow, "You Final Vented me through a table..."

Wil stopped pouring himself a measure of Añejo X into a glass. "True."

"And then you hit a Survive Vent on me through the announcer's table..." Kanaida stated with a narrowed visage.

Wil nodded and then resumed pouring, "and chicks dig scars..."

The Japanese wrestler let out an annoyed sound before saying "Point being, what the hell do you want?"

Wil finished pouring his measure of tequila and caped the bottle before saying anything. "I've got something in the works and I'm wanting you to be apart of it."

Kanaida raised an eyebrow at the other man. "Wil..." he started.

The man from Hawkins took a quick pull from his glass before holding up his hands, "Now look, before you say or do anything just hear me out alright?" he offered up.

"...*FINE*. I will hear you out and then I want you gone."

Wil smiled and nodded, "You know that I started a team with Jacob Striker right?

“Over in New Frontier Wrestling, yeah. Why?” Kanaida asked.

“I have something unique in mind, something that could change the face of this sport and I’m wanting…” Wil started to say.

“The toughest, most creative monsters in this sport to back you in this new venture?” Kanaida said before reaching into his bag and pulling out a gummy shark, biting the head off of it in an annoyed fashion.

Wil shook his head, “Nope.”

Kanaida stopped chewing on his gummy shark to look at the other man with a questioning look.

“No, *WE* want the most creative wrestlers yes… but *WE* also want the ones who want to make their own kind of progress.” Wil explained with a feral grin on his face.

Kanaida didn’t know how to take that news because within those bold words the younger man spoke, he also heard the other things in them-the kind of unsaid words that spoke volumes about what kind of devils that he was truly hunting for. “And you came to me why?”

Wil took a shot of his tequila, poured himself another measure, and then took that shot before responding. “I’ve been watching what the people in Wrestleworld have you been doing these last couple of weeks, Kanaida.” he said as he poured himself another measure. “A wrestler of your caliber isn’t a comedy bit, if anything you should’ve been the one who won the ladder match and not that fossil Dumont.”

Kanaida shrugged before resuming eating the gummy shark. “What can I say, Wil? They’ve been treating me fairly this entire time and Jaywalker promises me that there is a big payout in the end.” Kanaida defended.

“Yes but we’ve both heard *THAT* particular line before, haven’t we?” Wil countered.

“Yes… but they aren’t Jaywalker.” Kanaida once again defended.

Wil let out a bitter snort of laughter. “Oh come off of it. You and I BOTH remember how the Universal Wrestling Corporation and the Frontier Wrestling Alliance were at the end of their respective lifespans, Kanaida!” Wil stated as he pointed at the Japanese wrestler. “First off the UWC was a great promotion but Wentz couldn’t keep his own ego in check and he let his Kartel practically run every division into the fucking ground...and all the while, Wentz was saying “there is a big payout in the end” when the “in the end” meant that he ended up doing five to thirty on RICO charges.”

“And then with the FWA, how about you go and ask Zell how he likes being the champion of a dead promotion, hm?” Wil then went on further, pointing at the space beyond the bar. “They had been running things for well over two decades only to have things fall apart on them when their talent needed them the most and all because of that “big payout in the end” bullshit?”

Kanaida remained quiet as he took a drink from his glass.

“Look, the point being is that I know you. You are one of the toughest wrestlers that I have ever faced, you’re an innovator of offensive moves when you get started in that ring and for Jaywalker to have you…” Wil continued but suddenly he stopped when he noticed something;

The utterly black depths of Kanaida’s eyes.

“Erm…” Wil started to say.

“Are.You.Finished?” Kanaida asked in a low, almost predatory growl as he stared *HARD* at the other man. “Because IF you are, then I suggest that you listen to me and listen *GOOD*!”

Wil sat down his glass as Kanaida stalked closer to him, those twin unblinking black abysses staring hard at him as he did so.

“I am only going to say this once, Jaywalker is not and nor will he ever be one of those people! He has given me his word, the word of a fucking GENTLEMAN, that the end result of this will allow me to showcase my talents at their fullest and that is what I am aiming for the MOST!” the normally easy going Kanaida growled as he jabbed two fingers hard into the younger man’s chest. “Furthermore, Jaywalker sought *ME* out to join this promotion because he wanted the fucking best in the world, talent that he was told were incredibly trustworthy and fucking wouldn’t go into business for themselves!”

“I’m not fucking saying that YOU would, but you and I both know of a lot of people who *WOULD* and you know that. No, what I’m getting, Wil, is the pure and simple fact that Jaywalker, Claudia Michaels, and the rest of the front office at Wrestleworld actually fucking *VALUE* me for all of the years of hard work and effort that I put into everything that I DO in professional wrestling!”

He then grabbed a tight handfull of the front of Wil’s shirt and hauled the other man closer to further his point across. “So stop with this shit before I do something that causes us to be banned from this bar for the rest of our natural FUCKING lives.”

Wil held up his hands as a form of surrender at which point Kanaida let the other man go… at which point a wicked smile crossed onto Wil’s face.

“Now there’s the Kanaida Sharpe I’ve fought in Japan.” was all that he said.

Kanaida’s eyes narrowed even more sharply, “What, you did that on purpose...pissing me off like that?”

Wil nodded slowly, “You don’t truly know a person until you’ve fought them, Kanaida… and boy do we know each other.”

Kanaida bowed his head in acceptance of that one, the two of them had fought a long and bloody path across Super Japan Pro Wrestling in the more recent past.

But still… that begs the question.

“I needed to see if a fellow Ingobernable was still lurking behind those eyes, waiting to be let out and unleashed again.” Wil went on further to explain, his smile never leaving his face. “The people in Wrestleworld have only see the goof… the guy who likes to have fun and try to be the hero.”

Wil then pointed at Kanaida, “You can try to deny it all you want, Kana, but none of them have seen the demon… the INGOBERNABLE… that lurks behind those eyes like I have!” he went on to say further before he got up and looked right into the black, bottomless pits like he was looking at someone wearing a “Kanaida Sharpe” mask and not an actual person with their actual face. “You and I both know the real reason why Devon Slayton promoted you to the main unit of the Dominion…”

Wil stopped trying to “look into” Kanaida’s eyes and was motionless for a couple of seconds before saying in a low, revenant whisper;

“I see you…”

Wil then backed up, keeping his eyes locked on Kanaida with his smile never changing. “There you are, the real reason why you keep *her* at a distance.”

At the mention of “her”, Kanaida’s eyes were filled with fury and he took a step towards Wil but he held up his hands and simply said “Calm down… I was just pointing something out. It doesn’t take a blind man to see things, Kana, that’s all.”

“You leave her out of this, Wil.” Kanaida said flatly.

“Not a problem, my friend.” Wil said as he motioned for the waitress who came over and took his credit card before he reached down and took his shot before setting the glass back down, taking his card back, and then signing the receipt.

“Then what was this all about other than to see if you could get me angry?” Kanaida asked.

“Something like that, but mostly to help get you that old fire back… so that you can show Yu Ese and the rest of Wrestleworld what you really are.” Wil said as he replaced his credit card into his wallet before patting Kanaida on the shoulder. “Good luck… we hope to see you soon.”

And with that, the “Blackheart” was out the door.

Kanaida stood there for a few seconds afterwards, trying to figure out what just happened when he noticed something strange on the bar next to his glass-it was a jet black envelope with his name in gold lettering and when he picked it up, he turned it over to reveal that it had a black wax seal to it.

“What the…” was the only thing that Kanaida could think to say before he blinked as he realized something else;

"What did he mean by "We"?"