We're Family

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Scene 1

Off Camera

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A running gag takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly, over and over again, throughout the story.  Unfortunately for Karen McBride, she finds herself in the middle of a running gag and she is damn sure not laughing.

For over a month Karen McBride has held a threat over the head of Desmond Drake, the threat of a secret that could potentially bring down his empire.  Well, Desmond just couldn’t have that now could he?  Week in and week out Sinistry would attack her, try to take her out, or someone would interrupt her and keep her from finishing her announcement.

Drake even tried bribing Karen into keeping her mouth shut.  That bribe took the form of the Queen of the Ring Championship, a belt that will be introduced into the Independent Wrestling Cartel at Reawakening Day as its first champion will be crowned when Karen McBride does battle with Amanda Blaze, Cassidy Cage, Tina Valentine, and Mya Denton.

The attempted bribery was the last straw.  Karen had truly had enough of the Sinistry garbage and, most of all, she had enough of Desmond Drake.  Reawakening Day was going to be her night to stick it to Drake and his back-up in a big way.  Her plan is simple, first of all she is going to make sure that no Sinistry puppet leaves with the Queen of the Ring Championship, and if that means she has to go through all four of the opponents and win it herself, then she’ll do it.  But she will ensure that Sinistry and Desmond Drake do not have any influence over the IWC women’s division.

And secondly, and most importantly, Karen McBride will finally drop the nuclear bomb.  She will finally reveal the long awaited secret that has Drake frightened, that has him running scared.

The thing is, Desmond Drake isn’t the only one who is scared right now.  Karen’s own family is also scared for her safety in this whole ordeal.  She has a target on her back because Drake knows that she can bring his house of cards down with one word.

Ok, well, maybe not one word…but six words…

…six powerful words…

…and those words, as powerful as they are, make her a target of Desmond Drake.

“Do you have a death wish, Karen?” Blaire says with a frustrating tone as her voice raises a few decibels. “You could get killed out there!”

Blaire follows Karen into the kitchen of the McBride Estate.  Every room is quite exquisite, speaking volumes of the McBride wealth.  Blaire watches on as Karen heads straight for a cabinet next to the refrigerator and pulls out a bottle of Tylenol.  Her younger, adopted, sister doesn’t even bat an eye as she pops a headache pill.

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“I wonder sometimes just how much you do know…” her voice trails off “...or how much you care.”

“Care?” Karen spins around to face Blaire, her eyes blazing. “Let me tell you about caring.”

The younger sibling approaches Blaire and the two are now nose to nose as tensions run high between these two women who only recently reconciled, who only recently began working together. A tumultuous relationship to say the least.

“My mother and my brothers would have starved to death, they would not have been able to afford the food to live on or the medicine to survive had I not become a prostitute to make extra money. And I didn’t pocket any of that money for myself, by the way. I used it all on them. I sold my body to men each night, putting my life at risk, for my family, because I cared about them.”

She shakes her head with disgust as she turns her back to Blaire. “Do not ever lecture me about caring, Blaire.”

There is a tense pause as Blaire looks on ahead at the back of her adopted sibling’s head. Finally a feeling of guilt washes over her.

“I’m sorry, Karen.” She places a hand on her shoulder. “I was insensitive.”

“You’re good at that.” Karen turns around to face Blaire and smirks. “But so am I.”

The two women share a laugh and then embrace.

“Still, you have to admit that I have a point.” Blaire retorts, looking on at her sister with a more serious look returning to her lovely features. “You have been rather reckless with this…nuclear option.”

“Reckless?”

“Or would you rather I use the term grandstanding?”

“That would be more polite.” Karen shrugs her shoulders as she reaches into the refrigerator and pulls out a bottle of wine. “But I have never known you to be polite, dear sister.”

Blaire smirks knowingly. “I may not be polite, but I am honest.”

Karen sighs and shakes her head. “I already explained to you why I want to do it this way, my way…”

“Your way could get you hurt.  Or worse.” Blaire remarks with frustration. “Look at how many times you have tried to make this bombshell announcement on live television and look at what happened each and every time.”

Karen does not respond.  She just takes another sip of her wine but her silence speaks volumes and her sister Blaire detects it.

“SIN…”

Karen nods her head in agreement. “Yeah, SIN.”

“They have done everything from just simply interrupting you to trying to end your career for good.”

“Don’t forget bribery.” Karen says with a chuckle.

“Oh yes, how could I forget?” Blaire responds with a roll of her eyes.  “Queen of the Ring?  Pffft…you deserve better.”

“I agree but you forget, I am not here to split hairs over championships and second this has become a lot bigger than any mere trinkets or prizes.”

“So you don’t care about winning that title at Reawakening Day?” Blaire takes the wine bottle and a wine glass and pours herself a glass of wine. “I can’t blame you, Karen.”

“It isn’t that I don’t care,” she begins as she takes her wine bottle back “it’s more of the fact that I see the bigger picture now.”

“And what exactly is the bigger picture?”

A half smile forms across the brunette’s lovely features. “To keep as much power away from Sinistry as possible.”

“And winning that dumb championship is going to do that?”

“No championship is dumb, Blaire, even if winning it is not my primary objective.  But championships do represent power and the more Sinistry has, the more power they have, the more influence they have, and keeping that title away from them is just one little bit of power I will do everything I can, everything within MY power, to make sure they do not get.”

“That should be simple enough.” She takes a sip of her wine. “They don’t even have a representative in the match.”

“No but they do have puppets.  Tina Valentina and Mya Denton are puppets.”

“Now that’s harsh.” Blaire smirks. “And you say I’m mean.”

“It’s the sad truth.”

“I thought you liked Tina?”

“I did, and I do still pity her to an extent, but she’s shown her true colors and now it becomes my duty to take her out.  If she’s willing to be Sinistry’s puppet then that’s her fate.”

“What of Cassidy Cage?  Amanda Blaze?”

“Either of them would be suitable champions.  But if they can’t get the job done then I will.  As long as Denton doesn’t win it and neither does Valentine.”

“Now hold on a second,” Blaire puts down her wine glass and frowns “you’re now suddenly concerned about that Queen of the Ring Title and yet you have a nuclear bomb ready and waiting that could trump it, that could potentially ensure your victory.”

Karen nods, for her sister’s words ring true in her ears.  “Yes but the championship itself and the glory that goes along with it is secondary to taking power away from Sinistry.  That is my main goal.”

“Which goes back to my original point…why not have a press conference?  Make the announcement over twitter?  Why wait until a live broadcasted show where you are surrounded by Desmond Drake’s thugs?”

“Because it has become personal for me.”  Tears form in the woman’s eyes.  Blaire looks somewhat surprised by this.

“Why?”

“Blaire, darling, I grew up on the receiving end of abuse of power.  Even after I was adopted by your parents, I still witnessed abuses of power, not by your parents but by others.”

The tears give way to a look of determination. “When I found out that your parents would give me a share of the company, a share of the family fortune, I then made myself a promise that I would use my own considerably wealth and fortune to make sure that kind of abuse would not happen.  If I saw it and I could stop it, I would.”

“But Sinistry is…”

“…the group that took Kate Buehler’s children?  Forced her into slavery?  Beat Orlando Cruze into a coma?  Yes, Blaire, I know exactly who they are.  They are my sworn enemy.  They are the ones that I have to stop.”

Before this intense conversation can go on any further, the youngest of the McBride siblings, Melanie, comes rushing into the room.

“KARE-BEAR!”

Blaire cannot help but let out a slight laugh upon hearing Melanie use the nickname “Kare-Bear” on Karen.  Karen responds by shooting Blaire a nasty look that would take her life on the spot if looks could indeed kill.  Karen then turns her attention back to Melanie.

“What is it, Mel?”

“It’s your brother…”

“Stan?”

“No, YOUR brothers…”

The emphasis on the word “your” tells Karen that Melanie is referring to Samuel and Gregory Leonard, Karen’s biological siblings, who Karen only recently discovered were actually alive and well and who had survived the drive by shooting which had killed their mother.

“What about them?”

“One of them is in major trouble!  He’s been arrested!”

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Scene 2

Off Camera

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Samuel and Gregory Leonard are Karen’s biological brothers.  Both of them were practically raised on the streets whereas Karen got the advantage of being adopted into wealth and privilege.  As a result Samuel and Gregory both tended to get into more trouble than Karen did.  It comes to no surprise that Karen would get a phone call alerting her to the fact that her brother Samuel, the more insane of the two brothers, would end up getting arrested.

The real shock was what he got arrested for.

The clicking of heels on pavement echo in the New York City jail as Karen McBride follows a guard in a blue uniform down the hall past cells, some empty, some full, until they come to the end of the hall.  There, inside the cell she faces, is none other than her oldest biological brother, Samuel Leonard.  The man looks worse for the wear in his tattered blue jeans, dirty boots, dirty green shirt with holes scattered all over it, and a brown jacket.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the great Karen McBride.” He says with a smirk. “I am honored by your presence, your majesty.”

“Shut your trap, Samuel, or I’ll leave you to rot in here.”

He backs away, feigning fear. “Oh I like it, now that’s a taste of the Karen I know, Karen Leonard.”

“You don’t want that Karen.” She remarks quietly. “That Karen will…”

“What?” He asks definitively. “What would she do?  Because I know exactly what you’d do, Karen.”

He steps back forward and presses his face against the bars. “She’d be right here with me, laughing it up.”

“That just goes to show how little you truly know me, Samuel.”

“I do know one thing, Karen Leonard always took care of her family.”

McBride shuts her eyes tightly and nods her head.  This is true.  She risked life and limb as a teenager to help her family.  That’s just the kind of person she is.  And yes, as much as Samuel does get on her nerves from time to time, she has to admit that he is still family and does need her help.

“Fine…” she turns to face the guard “…let him out.”

“Excellent!”

He says with glee as he steps back, waiting on the guard to work his magic.  The guard turns the key and opens the cell door allowing Samuel to exit.  He then turns and embraces his biological sibling.

“I knew you’d already paid my bail, Karen.”

“And what made you so confident?”

“Because like I said, you care about your family, and you do have that unlimited resources of that woman, what’s her name again?  Karen McBride?”

Karen rolls her eyes. “Samuel, if you refer to me as a split personality one more time then I will ask for my money back and let you rot.”

He holds up his hands. “I’m sorry!”

“Whatever.” She marches back down the hall. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Wait up!” Samuel rushes to catch up to his younger sister. “Don’t forget me.”

“I wish I could.”

“Now is that any way to treat your brother?”

“No…” she stops dead in her tracks and then turns to glare daggers right through him “…but it is how you treat a rapist!”

“Ouch…”

Karen nods her head. “Yes, I heard all about what you got arrested for.  Was she worth it?”

He chuckles. “Oh yeah.  Every bit…”

“Good.” She slaps him across the face. “Because you may have just lost me as a result.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what gives?!”

“What gives?!” Karen is in a rage now, an untamable rage. “You do that and you ask me what gives?!”

“It’s not what you think…”

“Oh and what do I think?” She asks.  “I’ll tell you what I am thinking, Samuel.  I am thinking Melanie was right about you.”

“Melanie?”

“Yes, my SISTER Melanie!”

“Oh, that other McBride chick…” he grins “…she was nice too.”

She reaches out and snatches him around his throat. “One more word and I’ll…”

“You’ll do nothing, Karen.” He grins knowingly. “We’re in a jail.”

Karen takes a look at her surroundings and sighs, releasing her grip on her brother.  She’d love to do him bodily harm right about now but she realizes that he is right, right here and now in a jail is not the appropriate place to attack him.  She’d get arrested.

“Fine…but my point remains, Melanie was right.  You did try to attack her and this proves it.”

“This proves nothing.” Samuel retorts. “She wanted it every bit as much as I did.”

“How could you say such a thing?!”

“How can I not?” He remarks. “You know it’s true, Karen.  Be honest with yourself, how many men get unfairly tried for things like this just because our society automatically believes the woman?  You are a lawyer, you know it’s true.”

Karen frowns. “Women do tend to be more believable in situations like this, but that is beside the point.”

“No, it’s not.” He places an arm around his sister’s shoulder and, as much as she distrusts him, she does not do anything about it. “Look, Karen, I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but you have to trust me on this one.  I did nothing wrong.”

                                                       

“And why should I trust you?”

“Because…” he grins “…we’re family.”

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Scene 3

Off Camera

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“I think you went too easy on him.”

Karen’s favorite mom and mom restaurant in New York is empty early this morning and that’s just the way she likes it when she is talking about important matters and there is nothing more important than the matter of family to Karen McBride.

Gregory stabs into his hash browns and places it into his mouth after making that statement to his sister, his biological sister Karen McBride, who just sits there at the booth with a full cup of coffee, completely untouched.

“You think I should left him there in the jail, Greg?”

“Damn right.” He says through a mouthful of food. “Look at what he possibly did!”

“I notice you said possibly,” she frowns “do you believe him?  Do you believe he didn’t do it?”

Gregory shrugs his shoulder. “I don’t know, Karen.”

“Is that what you think or how you feel?”

“Do you want to know how I feel?” He waits until Karen nods her head before giving an answer. “I feel he really is innocent.”

Karen lets out a light chuckle. “I’m glad someone does.”

“Hey, Sam is kinda crazy but I don’t think he’d go that far.  Besides,” he points a finger at Karen “you must feel that way too.”

“Huh?”

“Of course you do.” He digs his fork into his scrambled eggs and shovels it into his mouth. His manners are horrid. “You bailed him out.”

“I only bailed him out because he is family.”

Gregory sets his fork down and sighs. “Karen, I’m gonna ask you a question and I want an honest answer.”

“Sure.  I’m always honest, you know that.”

“Good…then tell me, who is your family?”

Karen blinks a few times, curious as to the purpose of the question. “What do you mean?”

“The McBride family or me and Sam.  Who is your family?  Are you a McBride or are you a Leonard?”

Karen shakes her head. “Don’t ask me that question.”

“You don’t want me to ask it because the answer scares you.”  He takes her hands into his and squeezes them tightly.  “What makes someone family?”

“Family helps one another.” She answers.  “That’s why I helped Sam.”

“Those rich folks who adopted you, Stan and Diane, they helped you.”

Karen nodded. “They saved my life.  If I hadn’t been adopted I probably would’ve been killed on the streets.”

“Melanie, even she helped you, didn’t she?”

Karen laughs light-heartedly. “Little Melanie keeps me grounded.  Without her I’d be just like…”

She covers mouth with her hands.  Gregory nods his head. “You’d be just like me and Sam.”

“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean it that way…”

“Oh you meant it, but there’s no need to apologize because, quite frankly, you’re absolutely right to feel that way.  Sam and I have done nothing to help you out lately.” He resumes his horrid eating habits as he speaks through a spoon full of eggs shoveled into his mouth. “If anything, we’ve done more harm than good.”

“But Gregory…”

“No, you are a McBride and there is absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of about it.  Being a McBride has made you a better person.  The McBride family is who you should be worrying about right now.”

He gets up away from the table.  He places a few one dollar bills, perhaps the last ones he had, down on the table as a tip.

“Just forget us, Karen.  It truly is for the best.”

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Blaire

On Camera

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Know your enemy.  It’s one of the many lessons taught by Sun Tzu.  Knowing your enemy and what they are capable of is the first step to conquest.

I know absolutely nothing about Cassidy Cage, Mya Denton, Amanda Blaze, or Tina Valentina, but I do know plenty about my SISTER…my SISTER…Karen McBride.  And I know something that you four ladies probably don’t.

You have no chance in hell.

When backed against a wall my sister is the fiercest fighter imaginable and right now, with the threats of Sinistry attacks from every corner, with Cage and Valentine like the cowards they are plotting to work together, Karen knows she is backed into a corner.  She knows that the time for talking has come to an end and that the time for action is now.

None of you know who Karen McBride is.  Cassidy Cage thinks she knows but she doesn’t know her really.  No one knows.

Do you want to know who Karen McBride is?  She isn’t just the wealthy and powerful take no prisoners McBride, and she isn’t just the street fighter Leonard.  She is an amalgamation of the two.  She is the perfect storm of cutthroat bitch who knows how to and is willing to do whatever it takes to win.

And that’s not all.

Karen McBride, my sister, is the woman who is going to nuke the holy hell out all four of you at Reawakening Day.

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Melanie

On Camera

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All of you think Karen McBride is just another stuck up rich lady who doesn’t care about anyone but herself.  But you see, that’s where you are wrong.  And you go wrong because you are believing in the stereotype.  Not everyone comes from the same background and the same culture.  Not everyone can be painted with the same brush.

Do you want to know who my sister is?  My sister isn’t some power hungry monster.  She is the woman who will bring salvation to this corrupt company through the use of her vaunted nuclear bomb, something she has threatened to reveal for quite some time now, but she has been stopped time and time again.

But she will not be silenced any longer.  She will drop the bomb and when she does there will be no stopping her from achieving everything she wants, including the Queen of the Ring Championship.

You four ladies are on the wrong side of history, because Reawakening Day will be remembered as the day that Karen McBride rocked the foundations of IWC, as the day that she began to take apart SIN, piece by piece…beginning with that Queen of the Ring Title.

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Karen

On Camera

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We open in an office.  We see a large wood oak desk, brown colored, with two large plants on either side.  A black swivel chair is behind it with its back facing the camera so that we cannot see who is in it.  Behind it also is a large glass window the extends from wall to wall giving a beautiful view of the New York City skyline.  And then the chair turns around and we see Karen McBride sitting there.

“Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t want Blaire and Melanie to exaggerate so much about me…” she frowns “…but this time they are NOT exaggerating.”

“The surroundings that you see speak of the McBride wealth and privilege and that would make you think that on the one hand I am a cutthroat power-hungry maniac willing to do anything to get what I want.  But this…”

She motions with her hands to the office surroundings. “…this is deceptive.  This lies about my true nature.  What Melanie and Blaire know about me that perhaps only Cassidy Cage may know, and yet even she doesn’t fully understand, is that I am dualistic.  I was raised on the streets having to fight for my life.”

“I am not some spoiled pampered princess trying to run away from my past, nor am I some fake warrior.  I am not a pretend psycho who hears voices in her head.  I am Karen McBride and when I tell you something you can take it to the bank.”

“The problem here is that everyone in IWC is falling for the old distraction routine.” She waves one hand. “Desmond Drake wants you to pay attention to what he’s doing over here, all the while he is screwing each and every one of us over on the other.”

“Cassidy Cage and Tina Valentine?  I’m sorry, girls, but you two are nothing but the distraction.  Tina is a willing Sinistry puppet but you, Cassidy, even you are being used by Desmond.  You are doing exactly what he wants.  He wants you to distract IWC with your little spat.  I swear the two of you sound like a married couple.  Won’t you two shut up already?”

Karen shakes her head. “It’s sad, really.  You’re better than that.”

“Mya Denton is yet another distraction.  Hell, she’s never been anything but a distraction her entire wrestling career.  She’s never been really and truly relevant but now at least she’s entertaining because of the absolutely insane things she does week in and week out.  But that entertainment is just another distraction to keep IWC’s attention away from what’s really going on here.  And Mya is more than willing to be Desmond’s cute little psycho, his pet court jester.”

“Amanda Blaze?  Is there any way at all that she hasn’t been a distraction here in IWC?  She’s the supposed mistress of Orlando Cruze.  At least, that’s the story we’re supposed to believe.  That’s the rumors that have been spread so that IWC’s fans and the roster can talk about it like a bunch of gossiping old women and, yes, get distracted, turning their attention away from what’s really at stake here.”

She clasps her hands together as she stares intensely into the camera. “Do you want to know what’s really and truly at stake here, ladies?”

“Power.”

“Power is what’s at stake here, ladies.  Whichever one of you is the biggest badass bitch isn’t what matters.  Whether or not you’re crazy as hell isn’t what matters.  And damnit to hell, it doesn’t matter who the hell you’re sleeping with!”

“Power is what matters, power in IWC, and that power is represented by the championships.  The Queen of the Ring Championship is a belt that was created by Desmond Drake to bribe me.” Karen nods her head. “That’s right, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this belt wasn’t created out of some grand love of women’s wrestling.  It was created out of corruption, with the hopes that I would accept a bribe and keep my mouth shut about a secret that could bring down Desmond Drake.”

She smirks. “But I’ll get to that in a moment.”

“We have the opportunity to take what began as a symbol of corrupt bribery and turn it into something great, make it mean something.  We have the chance, ladies, to show not just IWC but the wrestling world what women wrestlers can do.  Think about that.”

“But also think about what that championship, and any other championship for that matter, represents…and if you haven’t caught on to the pattern yet, then you truly are dense, because the answer is still the same…”

“…POWER!”

“The Queen of the Ring Championship will ultimately represent power because whoever holds the gold in IWC holds the power and the influence and Sinistry, but more importantly Desmond Drake, wants as much power as they can get.  Don’t you think they are rooting for one of their puppets to win the title at Reawakening Day?”

“Which brings me to you, Cassidy Cage.  If you want to work together with Tina Valentine to eliminate everyone else then that’s fine, you do that, but understand that by doing so you are working for Sinistry.  Tina is a Sinistry puppet whether she is willing to admit it or not and you working with her for any reason makes you just as bad them.”

“So go ahead, work with them.  My goal in this match is to make damn sure that no Sinistry puppet walks out of that match with the championship and I will accomplish that goal even if that means I’m the only one honest enough to get the job done.  And you had better believe that I will fight harder than I’ve ever fought before to do just that and damnit, if I do go down, I’m bringing some of you with me!”

She grins knowingly. “But you see, that’s the fighter, the street brawler who had to fight all of her life who is willing to continue to fight even to this day.  The wealthy, power-hungry bitch who is willing to do anything to get what she wants still holds the trump card.”

“And what I want is simple.  I want to bring down the corruption in this company piece by piece.  I want to tear it down and I want to make Desmond Drake suffer not just for what he did to me but what he did to all of IWC.  And unlike the rest of you I will not be distracted by silly rivalries, questions of who is sleeping with who, or any stupid psychopaths.  The finish line is up ahead and I will not be stopped.”

“D-Day has arrived.”