Gray Areas

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Scene 1

Off Camera

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We open backstage at the Cartel:NxtGen show.  The show has come to an end, the staff is beginning to pack things away and the wrestlers are getting ready to leave for their respective hotel rooms or homes where they are staying.  Two individuals, though, have yet to make any preparations to leave.  At least not yet.  They are waiting patiently for the arrival of their sister.

The two women in question are none other than Blaire McBride and IWC Principle Owner Karen McBride.  They are both sitting on a plush leather sofa, sitting in wait on the arrival of their sister, Melanie McBride, who had just finished competing against Yasmeen Dumont…and winning…

Karen has had a mixed bag of results lately when it comes to her professional career.  In Global Championship Wrestling her and her future husband Eric Chambers became number one contenders to the tag team championship.  That’s definitely a good thing.  But then in the Independent Wrestling Cartel things have not been looking so well.  Karen has been manipulated and conned by Silas Mason, betrayed by Kloe Masters, she’s watched as her partnership with William Mason fell apart, and has most recently been harassed by Serenity & Friends.

Lately they’ve been rambling on and on over social media about a transformation, specifically transforming Cassidy Haze.  Now that they have apparently completely THAT transformation, they are targeting Karen, and they have offered to “transform” her.

Into what?  Karen doesn’t know.  Karen isn’t even sure she wants to know.  But what she does know is that she is at an impasse.  She is at a crossroads where decisions have to be made and something has to be done.  She has a 25% stake in IWC that is virtually worthless with the Desmond Drake-Kloe Masters alliance holding 75% of the company, her alliance with William Mason is gone, and now she has no one.  She completely and utterly alone.

Maybe she should take Serenity & Friends up on their offer?

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“hmmm?” Karen turns and looks at her older sister Blaire.  Karen puts on a pleasant smile and shakes her head. “Uh, no thanks.”

Blaire isn’t so easily dissuaded. “You just look like you’re a little upset about something, that’s all.”

Karen shrugs her shoulders. “Upset isn’t exactly the word for it, Blaire.”

“Then what is a good word for it?” She places a hand on her shoulder. “You can talk to me, Karen.”

Karen frowns before removing the hand from her shoulder. “Really?  Kind of like how I can TRUST you to help me with my IWC affairs?”

Karen is clearly referring to how Blaire had made some very poor decisions in acting on Karen’s behalf in IWC, making matches, matches that hurt Karen’s friends, hurt Karen’s reputation and standing among the roster.  It made her look incompetent and weak and, at the end of the day, inadvertently helped Kloe Masters to gain control of Orlando Cruze’s 50% of IWC.

“Look, I’m sorry…” Blaire remarks slowly with her voice trailing off “…I just felt…I felt…”

“It felt good to have that power didn’t it?” Karen asks and Blaire responds with a nod of her head. “Well being owner of a wrestling company like this isn’t about just having power.  It isn’t about being able to play with people’s lives.  It’s about so much more than that.”

“Yes, I realize that now.” Blaire hangs her head in shame. “I screwed up, I know it.  I am the reason Kloe Masters was able to betray IWC.”

“Right.”

“And if you want me to leave and not help you anymore in IWC…I will…”

Karen pauses momentarily, seeing the sincerity in her eyes and hearing the tone of her voice.  Karen shakes her head before embracing  Blaire with a hug.

“No, I want you to stay.”

“Seriously?”

They break the embrace. “Yes, just don’t try and book any match again without first coming to me.   Are we clear?”

“Absolutely.”

Karen sighs. “But then again, it may all be a moot point if Taylor can’t defeat Ba’al at the End of the Year Special.”

“Huh?” Blaire asks out of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Kloe’s 50% of IWC is on the line in that match as well.  If Taylor wins, not only does she become world champion but Orlando gets his 50% back.  If Ba’al wins…”

“Ah,” Blaire nods her head “I see your point.”

“I absolutely must find a way around  Sinistry’s 75% ownership of IWC.” Karen remarks definitively. “I do think Taylor will win, but in an emergency situation I must come up with a course of action for the event Ba’al wins.  I cannot sit back and allow them to just run things how they like.”

“It’ll be difficult.” Blaire answers back. “They have more shares than you, of course, but with a sizeable chunk like 25% I’m sure you can do something.”

Blaire smiles. “Tell you what, you let me look into that while you focus on the End of the Year Special.  You have Cassidy Haze, right?”

Karen nods her head.  True enough, she DOES indeed have to face Cassidy Haze one on one at the End of the Year Special.  It would be nice to have these legal matters regarding her 25% of IWC taken care of while she is busy focusing on that match.

“Yeah, go ahead.” Karen nods her head. “Go for it, Blaire.  See what you can dig up, see what legal options I have.”

“Will do , Karen.”

At that time the door to the dressing room swings open widely.

“I won! I won!  Blaire, I won!”

The bubbly, very excited Melanie McBride comes hopping and skipping into the room.  She planned on making a beeline for Blaire and giving her a great big hug but she stops dead in her tracks when she spots an unexpected visitor.

“Kare-Bear…”

Karen grins. “Hi, Mel.”

“Kare-Bear!”

Melanie changes direction and instead of making a beeline towards Blaire, she makes a beeline towards Karen.  The elder McBride is still on the sofa and cannot react before her younger sibling is on top of her, tackling her on the sofa and hugging her tight.

“I am sooooooo super surprised you came and soooooooo glad you came!”

“Ack!” Karen chokes. “I can’t breath, Mel…”

“Oh…” she blushes as she pushes herself off of Karen “…sorry!”

Karen shakes her head. “It’s ok…”

Melanie composes herself and then smiles big and wide again. “Did you see, Kare-Bear?  Did you?  I won!  I won my first ever wrestling match!”

“Congratulations, Mel.  Let’s hope that it will be the first of many for you.”

Blaire sits down next to Karen on the sofa.  “I am really glad you came to support me, Kare-Bear.  We’ve been through a lot, you and me, and it means a lot for you to be here for my first wrestling match.”

“Yes, well,” Karen sighs deeply “at least one of us should continue the wrestling tradition of this family that I began.”

Melanie blinks a few times curiously. “What’s wrong, Kare-Bear?”

“It’s complicated, Melanie.” Blaire interjects. “She’s a little upset right now, that’s all.”

Karen shakes her head. “I already told you that I’m not upset.  I’m just confused…”

Karen stands up and walks away from her two sisters.  The brunette begins pacing the floor.  Melanie grows concerned.

“What’s wrong?”

Karen turns to face Melanie and Blaire.  She shrugs her shoulders.

“I am at a crossroads.  There are multiple paths I could take right now.  For starters I could just take my 25% of stock in IWC, sell it back, and leave.  Just walk away and leave them to their own devices.”

Blaire sighs. “I can understand why you may want to do that, Karen.  It isn’t as if you’ve had a lot of support from within IWC…with the exception of William Mason.”

“But he turned on Kare-Bear.” Melanie responds sadly.

“Right, but you know what?” Karen turns around and a newfound intensity forms across her face. “I could keep on fighting.  With or without William, with or without any allies, I could go on and continue fighting the good fight for the good of IWC.”

“Seems  overly optimistic to me.” Blaire remarks.

“Well you’re just a negative nanny.” Melanie retorts after sticking her tongue out at Blaire.

“And then there’s a third option…” Karen remarks while holding up three fingers.

“Third option?” Blaire asks while arching an eyebrow. “Do tell?”

“Yes…what’s this third option, Kare-Bear?”

“Simply put I could take Serenity up on her offer.”

“Huh?” Melanie looks confused. “What offer?”

“Don’t do it, Karen.” Blaire shakes her head. “It’s a trap.”

“What offer?” Melanie asks, still confused and seeking answers. “What’s the offer?”

Blaire turns to Melanie. “Serenity offered to take Karen in and…um…transform her…whatever that means.”

“She can’t!” Melanie exclaims as she hops up and runs over to Karen. “You can’t seriously be considering that!”

“Why not?” Karen shrugs her shoulders. “I tried being good,  I tried playing by the rules, I tried helping IWC, but I received no support and no gratitude.  I am being offered support and gratitude by Serenity.  Why not take her up on this offer?”

“Because you’re better than that.” Melanie points out.

“Am I?” Karen sighs. “I’m not so sure anymore.”

She walks over to the sofa and sits down. “I am not so innocent, Mel.  I was a prostitute…”

“Yes, and why were you a prostitute?  You did it for your family.  Every dime you made as a prostitute went towards medical bills and food for your family.  And then after you were adopted by us McBrides, after you came into wealth and you no longer had to be a prostitute, what did you do?  You used that wealth to fund organizations that help young girls who turn to that street walker lifestyle the help they need.”

Tears form in Melanie’s eyes. “The Karen McBride I know would not give up on IWC so easily.  The Karen McBride I know is a fighter and would fight to her dying breath to help the good people of IWC.”

Melanie embraces Karen in a tight hug. “Don’t tell me that Karen McBride is gone!”

Karen sighs and, after breaking the embrace, wipes a tear from her sister’s face. “Don’t worry about it, Mel.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve changed my mind.  I won’t even consider that option.”

“Yay!” Melanie again embraces Karen.

“Are you going to leave, though?” Blaire asks curiously. “Are you going to leave IWC?”

“No.” Karen shakes her head. “Melanie is right, I need to stay and do what I can to protect IWC.  That starts with making things right with the one man who trusted me and was willing to help me out.”

“William?”

Karen nods her head. “I’m going to make things right with William Mason, so help me God I will.  That’s the first thing on my agenda.  And then…Cassidy.  I’m going to rid myself of Cassidy Haze and her pals once and for all.”

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Karen McBride

On Camera

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Serenity, sweet sociopathic Serenity, you wanted me to accept the truth…also something about a transformation but that’s another point…you wanted me to accept the truth that chaos is inevitable and that there is no real order.  You want me to accept that there is no good or evil, black or white, that the IWC is just one great big gray area.

To an extent I actually agree with that.  I want you and Cassidy both to remember who you are dealing with, but especially Cassidy because she is my opponent at the End of the Year Special.  She needs to remember that she is dealing with someone who has a complete life experience and by “complete” I mean that I have seen it all.  I have gone from being dirt poor and barely surviving to living in the lap of luxury and let me tell you, there are monsters and con-men in both worlds.  The only good thing about the monsters on the streets is that at least they are honest about who they are whereas the monsters in the world of the one percent wear the finest clothing, put on the finest jewelry, all to appear nice and dolled up, all to conceal their hideous selves.

Both set of monsters will devour you if given the chance.  And in both worlds it is rare, very rare, that you find someone that is pure…one hundred percent pure good or one hundred percent pure evil…

He did a horrible thing, but would anyone doubt that Bernie Madoff truly loved his family?  And even our world champion, Ba’al, as much as he deserves to have his ass handed to him by Taylor at the End of the Year Special, I don’t doubt the love that he has for his wife.

And then there’s my own story.  You know it.  What I did back then was illegal, yes, but I did it not for myself but for my brothers and mother, all of whom had medical needs and had to have food to stay alive.  My birth mother is dead now but my brothers are alive now, quite possibly because I was willing to commit that crime.

So you don’t have to tell me about the gray areas, you don’t have to try and convince me about the lack of true good and true evil, I already know this.  My statement about fighting the good fight was merely a figure of speech.

Is Orlando Cruze a saint?  No.  He has his own fair share of skeletons in the closet.  But ultimately this “good fight” that I am involved in has always been about who can best run this company.  As a businesswoman I know these types of things quite well.  I know who can run a business and who can run a business into the ground.

Kloe Masters and Desmond Drake can and will run IWC into the ground.  IWC, SIN, or whatever the hell tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb want to call it will be dead in less than a year if they are allowed to maintain full control of this company.  They’ll bankrupt it without even trying.

That’s why I fight this “good fight”…it isn’t because it is a “good” cause in and of itself because I know better.  It is simply what is best for business.  Between Desmond/Kloe and Orlando, Orlando is the better businessman and knows how to best proceed.  And if not him, then I’d rather have control for myself because at least I know I’ll run this company the right way.

This is about business, nothing more, and so I have to turn down your offer.  Transformation just isn’t for me.  I will continue to do things the way I see fit.  I will continue to wage this war until it is won, or until I am dead, because I do not give up.  I do not quit.

I am NOT going to quit on IWC.

That’s bad news for you, Cassidy, because I AM coming to the End of the Year Special and you can call yourself Cage or Haze, either one is fine by me because at the end of the day everyone will be calling you Karen McBride’s Bitch after I beat your psychotic ass from  pillar to post, up and down the aisle, through the crowd, and hell, even into the streets if I have to!

Things are going to change, Cassidy, and you are going to be made into an example of that change.  I’ve been playing nice up until now.  From now on I’m through being nice.  I had been harassed by End Effect…I had been harassed by you and your looney-tune crew…quite frankly I am fucking sick of it and I am going to show everyone just what happens when you piss off Karen McBride.

What happens is that you end up in the hospital, having emergency surgery to remove my foot from your ass!