“MJ”
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Posts: 12
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Post by “MJ” on Oct 2, 2021 22:46:45 GMT
So many things have happened since Mercedes went on a bender last week… Firstly she destroyed not one, not two, but three little piggies during First Class… By name they were Robin Vengeance, Ada Pierce and Ichiko… Ontop of that, she decided she was going to kidnap Todd, the Netflix camera guy and keep him holed up in a burned out property somewhere in Hulme, Manchester. Right now, as we approach the house we can hear a lot of chatter, indistinguishable but the tone is clear. Mercedes isn’t happy…
We move slowly through an upstairs window, along the corridor and up a flight of stairs into the attic. As the door opens we see Mercedes hanging up her cellphone and chucking on the desk that houses the vanity mirror we’ve seen before. She shakes her head as she looks over in a corner where we find Todd, sat in a chair partially tied and gagged. Mercedes turns to look at another corner with a pouty look on her face. MJ - ”She said we should drop this maggot off, before we go and meet up with her… (she listens, nodding her head) No, you’re right but she may have a point… If the authorities are looking for he and I both then I’m already in trouble… Yes I’m aware but. No, we’re going to do things my way this time.”
Mercedes stands up and walks toward the open hole where the attic window should be and looks out into the world at large. There is a shuffle behind her which seems to be the wind catching on the brickwork, but a small shadow can be seen passing between her and Todd, as Mercedes turns back around. MJ - ”Yes, I’m aware you’ve always been there for me. I know you’ve got my best interest at heart.”
Mercedes walks across the room and stands straight in front of Todd. Her head tilts and her eyes flicker around as if she’s listening to somebody. MJ - ”Think of it like this though. We drop off Todd here, near a Police station, we go about our business. He doesn’t even know where we are right now, do you Todd?”
Mercedes rips off the tape covering the gag over Todd’s mouth. He lets out a yelp as Mercedes chucks everything on the floor. Todd - ”No, no, I’ve genuinely got no idea where we are! Are we even still in Manchester??”
MJ - ”Ok that’s overkill, Todd, honestly! We both know we’re still in Manchester. Now how am I supposed to believe you, or, convince Randall that you’re being honest??”
Todd - ”Ok I’m sorry! But I swear I’ve got no idea where we are!”
Mercedes, satisfied, looks around and opens up her arms. MJ - ”See?! So, we just blindfold and gag him, take him somewhere a good distance away and drop him off! The we have to go and meet Steph…”
She slowly paces the room, looking around for something. She suddenly spots a bag and grabs at it, before walking back to Todd. She pulled some thick cotton material from the bag and wraps it around his eyes, making sure it’s extra tight. She then gags him again, putting two lots of tape around his mouth this time, giggling to herself as she does. She drags him up by his arm and starts to haul him from the room as the scene disintegrates to nothingness…
*_*_*
When we reopen, Todd is gone, God knows where and Mercedes is sat on the concrete steps of The John Rylands Research Institute and Library. It’s the early hours of the morning and nobody is around, nobody that is except for Steph. She walks toward the building and stops short of her, taking a seat on the steps a couple down from Mercedes. Steph - ”So, where is he?”
Mercedes just scoffs… Steph - ”C’mon Mercy, this is me you’re talking to. Just tell me where Todd is…”
MJ - ”He’s safe ok? That’s where we’ll leave it.”
Steph - ”That’s all I needed to know… And, Randall?”
Mercedes jumps up and spins around to face Steph, she looks around almost as if in a panic, swallowing a couple of times before narrowing her eyes and lowering her voice. MJ - ”You… You remember him? That night?”
Steph - ”Of course I do. Tyler and I were headed out to dinner and I saw him standing over by the brush at the end of your yard… You were shocked I could see him, but you know I never saw him since. Have you?”
MJ - ”Not quite, but I feel him. Hear him… And most recently he’s spoken about you.”
Steph - ”Me? Why me?”
MJ - ”He says you’re the only one I can trust. He says in this fight I’m in against some of the most subtly entitled entities in First Class such as the three I’m going up against this weekend, not even Casie has my back. You’re the only one that he sees willing to put me head of yourself for the good of what’s to come. Even Fred has his doubts according to Randall.”
Steph - ”And just to clarify, although yes I believe he’s definitely right about me having your back; we’re believing him about the rest are we?”
Mercedes raises an eyebrow at Steph as she closes in on her, before they’re almost head to head she makes a pouty face and tilts her head. MJ - ”Of course…? Is there any reason not to? Do you not think Randall is being honest with me, with us?”
Steph - ”No, I didn’t say that Mercy and you know full well I’m here for you no matter what. But why has he waited until now to return?”
MJ - ”Absolutely no idea, but he says he has all the tools at my disposal to win this match tonight against Ada Pierce, Robin Vengeance and Ichiko…”
Steph - ”You know we’ve all been worried about you, Mercy. I mean first you disappear, then you take Todd hostage! And you’ve not been at work nor at training for a very long time.”
Steph watches as Mercedes begins to walk away from the building and towards the square in front. She waits a while before following behind for a bit, before catching up with her. Mercedes looks at her and smiles. Not her usual crooked, evil smile as if she was upto something, more that smile she had when Steph first met her in school, when they chatted about boys, teachers and homework. Before she even know that Mercedes-Jane was Tyler’s sister, but then the fleeting crease of the lips is gone before it had been fully formed and Mercedes looks away, toward something in the distance. MJ - ”I’m doing what needs to be done, Steph… By any means necessary, I’m dealing with the trash that’s walked in here, thinking it knows better than you, Casie or I! And yet I’m being scrutinised and penalised for it… If I came back we both know what would have happened.”
Steph - ”Ok… So what’s the plan?”
Mercedes proceeds towards a statue in the square, leaning down behind it and pulling the same bag she’d had earlier to get the tools, for Todd. She opens the bag and begins to pull out a candle, she hums something under her breath, runs a hand over the candle and it lights up… She puts her hand back in the bag and pulls another candle out, doing the same thing and that one too, lights.
Steph watches very closely as Mercedes then pulls an object from the bag which Steph recognises instantly as a doll, which seems to have been knitted or crocheted, Steph smirks and walks back a way to take a seat on a bench nearby as Mercedes holds the doll up and begins somewhat of an incantation. She closes her eyes and looks up in the sky. MJ - ”So Jolie Vexx really thought she had done something going into this weeks First Class, didn’t she? I mean firstly she punishes Steph by adding Ichiko into the FC Evolution Title match, but Steph has told you she doesn’t care, bring anyone you want… She’ll handle anybody that’s put in front of her. So we’ll revisit how much of a mistake that will have been on your part soon, Vexx. And then she’s decided she’s going to ban Steph and myself from ringside at Malevolence when Casie takes on Moira Arches for the IIW Women’s Championship… And that’s okay because you can’t always get what you want, Jolie Vexx. Also let me just make sure that little miss Sawako Nakada… The “Battle Maiden”, we definitely saw your little comments last week and you’ve certainly gotten our attention, apparently we’ve really pissed you off, something about Junko? I mean I wasn’t paying THAT MUCH attention but you’ve definitely perked our ears up and trust me, Sawako, that’s not always a good thing. So bring whatever you’ve got, we’ll be waiting!
Now let me focus my attention and my energy on this coming weekend and the Witch Trial that has been laid out in front of me, eh? This “Gauntlet match” that Jolie has decided to bestow upon me, isn’t any ordinary fight! Jolie Vexx is scared of Mercy, scared of The Coven as well she should be! But in being so scared she’s decided to round up an army of Witch Hunters and proclaimed herself the Witch-Finder General! She plans to hang me, set me on fire, drown me… And she plans to do it, using three individuals who I already knew contained toxic blood and who I’d already tried to put down, before this all came to the forefront.”
Mercedes picks up the doll again and holds it up high. The doll looks like something you’d find in a novelty store, akin to a POP figure of a Nickelodeon or Disney Channel female celebrity with silvery hair and fleshy looks. As Mercedes talks, she holds the doll by the arm twisting it slowly. MJ - ”First, Ada Pierce… You’re probably wondering why Mercedes-Jane attacked you, eh? Why The Coven tore you to pieces on First Class… Is it because we fear you? Count you as a threat? Sorry to say but no, it’s neither of those things… It was simply because we could! Ada you walk into a promotion like First Class and you have to make sure you know what you’re coming in against! You impressed on Combat for a couple of editions and you did well against Kassidy, but those guys aren’t Mercy! Those guys aren’t part of The Coven. I am sorry to see this happen to you, Ada, really I am… But hopefully you’ll understand that the way things happen here aren’t all unicorns and rainbows!”
Mercedes tears the arm off the doll, before holding it over the fire and allowing it to burn slowly… Steph giggles in the background and claps her hands as Mercedes places her hand into the bag and pulls out another doll, this one with half silverish hair similar to Ada, half dusty, curly brown. Mercedes pulls the doll by the leg and bangs it on the floor showing jar it’s made of some kind of metal, she then swings it around as she goes on to talk. MJ - ”Next up, we have The Bionic Woman, Robin Vengeance! Someone I’ve already met here in First Class, in a Queen of the Ring, tournament match, someone I’ve already laid to waste and yet she keeps on coming back here and asking for more, like Oliver Twist! She keeps on rebuilding herself quite literally. But like Ada, Robin, you just happened to be there again, when Mercedes felt some housekeeping needed doing and therefore your leg had to be taken care of! I’m getting the vibe that you don’t actually understand how this match works, Robin, but that’s ok. If you want to see the other two girls as the enemy too? That’s alright by me!”
Mercedes slams the doll on the ground again and rips the “metal” leg off of it; before chucking this one onto the candle then throwing it behind her yet again. Steph runs upto the doll and begins stomping and dancing on it, as Mercedes brings out another doll, a final doll. This one looks like an Asian beauty, sleek long dark hair, eastern features and dressed in a kimono… MJ - ”Ahhh, Ichiko. The girl who feels she deserves to be entering herself into every little bit of Coven business! The girl who has wandered into the IIW, stepped into First Class and decided she wanted to become the face of the business, of the promotion and decided on doing it by encroaching on our status. Firstly stepping into the First Class Evolution Title match and now this?! Yet again Ichiko you were somebody who just happened to be there, when Mercedes-Jane decided she was going clear the rubbish from the promotion… You have more of a history here, albeit still short, than both Ada and Robin combined and you are by far the most experienced of the three. But please don’t think you have anything that nobody else I’ve faced has or had. You are no different from every other opponent I’ve had to face or will have to face in the future… You see the problem here is that you feel the attack prior which gave you access to the Evo title was random; it was anything but, random! None of this, is random, Ichiko.
You also seemed to think this match was about “taking the spotlight”, oh dear me… As Steph told Solace recently, if it wasn’t for us, The Coven, nobody here would be able to call First Class their home! I want the Spotlight, Ichiko? I AM the spotlight! Nothing happens at First Class without going through me first whether you, The Triumvirate or Jolie Vexx like it or agree with it! I don’t need to take anything; it just comes to me… And just like Solace before you, you’re making threats about doing some physical damage to me, please do. I dare you, no… No… I DOUBLE dare you, Ichiko to cave my chest in, give me a concussion, do all the things you’re promising to do but understand something Ichiko, you had better be sure I stay down because if I don’t, I will make you eat and regret every single thing you’ve said up until now…
You are no different to anybody else in this promotion, Ichiko that I can tell you. Magic tricks; jump scares… You claim to be taking me seriously but it’s very evident you’re still looking over my head and onto the next match or perhaps your next Tinder swipe? I’m not sure, but it’s definitely not about what you’re going to do in the match and that my dear will be your downfall! You had better get your head in check sweet Suzy because if you don’t; I regret to inform you that the consequences are beyond comprehension! All I’m hearing from you Ichiko is blah blah blah! Talking about putting me in your finishing move, listening to me scream, making me tap… Your confidence is admirable, I mean it’s hilariously misplaced and stupid, but it’s admirable.”
Mercedes brings the final doll to the candle and begins to burn it slowly, giggling menacingly as she does so. She watches it burn as she turns back toward the centre of the square, smiling broadly as she does. MJ - ”As I said, Ichiko… Random isn’t something The Coven do. Do you really think I’ve sat here dwelling on this plan Jolie Vexx thinks she made? Do you think I’m bothered that I have been given not one, not two, but three of you to go against in one night? Sit and think about this for a while would you? Take it in and understand that nothing is random, everything happens for a reason and the reason for this will all soon become clear. Whether I win or lose the outcome will still be the same! I don’t care what happens in the ring, Ichiko, for me it’s about what happens prior and afterward. So remember that…
Good luck in your endeavours here in First Class Ichiko… Good luck in everything you do after you face me this weekend, but understand that you’ll be progressing missing something very important, whether that be an eye, a limb or perhaps even your soul! You have misread the room, Ichiko, misunderstood the situation entirely… But don’t worry, it’ll all be set straight for you in the Gauntlet match. Just make sure you comprehend this though, ok? This isn’t a Gauntlet match for me, it’s for you… It’s for Robin and it’s for Ada. All three of you have a chance to put paid to Mercedes-Jane Debonair, you have the opportunity to set The Coven into self destruct… But do any of you have the soul, the spirit to take advantage of the situation? I fear not, but I guess we’ll see… On First Class!”
Mercedes picks up her bag and heads toward Steph who meets her halfway. They walk out of the square leaving the candles burning as they make the long walk home.
Fade out.
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