Still cleaning out the closet and tying up the loose ends. This was the last story I started before the board crash.
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This story is inspired by “Once Upon A Time In The West,” Mark Wade and Alex Ross’ “Kingdom Come,” and “Unforgiven.”
No Requiem
The Washington DC train station is desolate and cold. The three women wait patiently on the outside, but nervously on the inside. This I know… the first one is standing under the old wooden roof, dressed in an Indiana Jones like outfit… reminds me of her ‘father,’ though I barely remember him. Long brown hair, blue eyes like her ‘mother,’ shirt open to cleavage on down to just above the navel, tucked in under the light brown pants. German boots with dried blood on the soles, I don’t need to see them to know they’re there. She carries a whip and a small gun, but with her skills, she never needs them… she will today… Michelle… calls herself Mikey from Manchester. 5’10” 140 lbs. Lovechild between a German wrestler and her ex-manager? I doubt it as much as I don’t care about it. More like a cross-breed experiment… another bad joke. She suffers from bipolar disorder. Father genes are gullible, mother genes prone to fits of rage.
Mikey- Is she going to fucking show or what? The President said this train was coming at 3:10, and it’s 3:45 already!
“Just relax, Mikey. You’re not up on your history… trains very rarely are on time.”
Jane… sometimes a woman doesn’t want to be herself, so she decides to be someone else. Shaven head, piercings everywhere, four to each dimple, even between her fingers and toes… tattoos all over… including a peace sign and a swastika on the same arm…breasts out, black outfit leaving nothing to the imagination… this one’s from London… Mikey’s lover. She’s got that presence of pretentiousness about her; reminds me of the original. You’ve got to hate imitations of imitations of imitations. Somewhere, Plato must be enjoying himself. Well, you don’t have to hate them. This one likes to drink and likes to party, and therefore, likes to make up stories about her greatness. In the Great Absence, it became a fad to assume the identity of someone else to escape the depression that set in all over this nation. 5’6” 125 lbs… Jane, she was just one letter away from ‘perfection.’ Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?
Jane- Ricky, you okay over there?
Long orangy red hair and green eyes. 5’6” 140 lbs from Manchester. She’s wearing a tight black outfit with purple lollipop gloves and boots and a matching cowboy hat. She stands under the roof nervously as the train approaches… the water dripping from last night’s storm is filling up the brim of her hat. I can feel the sweat running down her young pale round face as she takes off the hat and drinks the brown liquid from the brim.
Mikey- Ricky’s tough as shit, Jane. She fears nothing… she’s a true bitch.
Ricky- I’m just waiting for this train to get here. Me patience isn’t running out any time soon, but I’m eager to welcome our guest.
Jane- Here it comes now.
Mikey- About fucking time.
Her ‘father’ never cursed like that unless he was really angry… she gets it from her ‘mother.’ The train stops. The tree ladies tense up as the breeze blows hard and then fades out. The sun is blanketed in a shear sugary cloud and I see Mikey’s eyes narrow on the doors to the train as they open… but no one exits… silence. The three women spread out; they each take a door and board the train, but they see nothing. It’s empty. They get off and look at one another as the train shoves off.
Mikey- What the fuck is this? Do you think the President is testing us?
Jane- We were called all the way from England to welcome this guest… I guess she didn’t have the guts the show up.
Ricky- Maybe she’s on the next train.
Mikey- We should call in and let them know what’s going on.
Music is the great unifier. That’s what I heard when I was a little girl and first picked up the violin. I was always told that music would bring peace to the world, not war… I never really thought about it much as I was growing up. But when I’m sad, I turn to my violin and this is the sound that the three women hear as they turn around and face me. I look at them and everything goes quiet… the silence is all that exists now. Mikey is itching; the German Manchester genetic hybrid of God knows what is about to explode and is smiling. When I was younger, I wouldn’t have let it affect me, but now, I must admit, I am a bit nervous. Jane is squeezing her fists; I can hear the popping and clicking of her piercings between her fingers as she looks at me and smiles. And Ricky is standing in that boxer’s stance of hers, low and arms raised, elbows tucked in.
The whip comes fast and catches me on the arm as a jump forward. I hiss and look to find a lash mark across the top of my right hand as I land and Mikey grabs her face. The string on the bow of my violin is razor; she’ll take that scar as an autograph. Unnh! Jane connects with a right cross, the studs between her fingers drawing blood from my cheek and jaw as Mikey’s whip gets me across the back. Jane tries for a kick to the ribs, but I kick forward with my right leg and watch her calve twist and break as I grab her right arm and break it over my shoulder at the elbow, before throwing her into Mikey, just as the Manchester brunette lashes her lover right around her throat. No time to ease up. Jane is down and I step on her neck, fracturing the bones enough to ensure that she stays down for months.
Mikey- You fucking cxnt… you fucking cxnt!!
Blind rage never helped anyone… she charges me, swinging that whip wildly, but her left hand goes behind her back… the gun. I step forward and drive the palm of my hand into her heart… she goes down and doesn’t move. I kick the whip away and study the gun. I now know, that I could be dead right now due to my own lack of thought in this situation… Ricky. I look up to find the short redhead applauding me.
Ricky- Jane will have to have surgery on her neck, and Mikey will need a pacemaker from now on. You done a bloody good job. I’ve always wanted to test me skills against a worthy opponent. You know, I thought you were dead… I thought you had gone off and killed yourself after what happened to your sisters. Or maybe you got caught up and taken out in the fallout of Las Vegas. You used to be so much in the know, you know… I never thought you survived… you were so obviously broken the last time you were on the telly. I’m gonna kill you, but I’m gonna make you suffer a bit first. That’s not what the President wanted, but it’s what I want.
I throw the gun and it spins and twirls… Ricky never knows what hits her as the barrel breaks her skin, breaks her skull and buries itself in her brain. She’s dead, but she doesn’t know it yet; her nerves make her walk right up to me before she goes to her knees. I stand… the silence is still the only thing that matters, the only thing that’s real here. I haven’t killed someone in eighteen years. I drop to my knees and I can’t hold back my tears and my hyperventilating comes on. I’m having a panic attack and now is not the time… I have an appointment to keep. I stand back up and I see the curvy figure of the blonde… she’s wearing a midnight blue business suit and her light blonde hair, round face, blue eyes and curved lips are fixed on me as they part and she sings a tune in a soprano. I don’t have time to guard and she charges, and before I know she’s there, this black canary songbird drives her fist into my solar plexus and I drop to my knees. It’s not really the physical pain that knocks me down; it’s the mental. When she speaks, I hear a voice that sounds much like my own, and that’s fine. She has patterned so much of herself after me, but she has lost so much of herself trying to be me… Angela Love, kung fu submissions wrestling, she can do it all and she knows it. 5’8” 150 lbs, mostly in the legs, breasts, and buttocks.
Angela- Hello, Rachel. Didn’t think to let us know you were coming to town, now did you?
A pain explodes in my left breasts as her pointed shoe hits me.
Angela- For years, you’ve been away. Why didn’t you tell us you were coming so we could do you up formally?
She pulls me to my feet by my ears. I start to lash out at her and fire a shot to her stomach, but she yanks my head down and introduces her knee to my throat. I go to my hands and knees and she rolls me over with a kick to my ribs.
Angela- I always looked up to you, Rachel, but you let me down. I was your heir apparent; I was the one who was supposed to take your spot. I trained under you, I fought under you; I was a product of your style… and what happened, Rachel? What is all of this? You left me before you passed the torch! I wouldn’t be doing this if you had passed the TORCH!!
Rachel- Angela… I have no time for your indignant remarks. Despite your age, you are still just a child to me. I have an appointment and I intend to keep it.
Angela- Is that so? Believe what you want, Rachel. I helped you and you failed to do the right thing. You failed me and you failed Sage. You abandoned us because you are a coward and you can’t stand to lose. So, do what a coward does and just leave. Go home, Rachel. Don’t make me kill you.
Rachel- Would you honestly do that if you had to, Angela?
Angela- Go home, Rachel.
She slaps me hard. My head turns and I see a sign advertising the 2020 Presidential elections… that's the year... 2020...it all goes blurry…
_________________
Visions… you look into the window of a television store in Times Square, New York City here in the year 2020, and you get a pretty good idea of what’s going on in the world, if you know what you’re looking at.
“Pussy, pussy, PUSSY!!!! We’ve got all the pussy you need right here at Cindy’s clone depot! We’ve got Asian pussy, South African pussy, English pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy!!! Tired of your wife or husband, if there’s still such a thing as a husband in the world ha ha ha?!! Can’t get that much run out of her… dick going limp? Then come and get the best cloned women on the market!! Nobody can beat our prices!! These cxnts are going fast, so you better jump on it… now in stock!! The Marie Kay model!! We took some hard core little Canadian and mixed it up with some South African Sassafrass to bring you this perfect orgasmic amalgamation!! She cooks, she cleans, but she fucks hard and she’s got the virgin factor every time!! Come on down to Cindy’s, or just order online like—“
“--- is still on the loose after the second such incident in as many days. The killer has carved out the navels of her victims and police are still uncertain when she’ll strike again as her rampage in New York has gained the attention of Queen Madeline Windsor, of England. As you know, the Queen is coming off of another victory, killing Iris Browne, the leader of the Irish Independence Coalition and ending the conflict. This is wonderful for our allies, as England has expanded its empire, though taking many smaller nations as the Queen has killed off the other rulers according to the new rules of war. Queen Madeline will be making a trip to the United States and has implied that she may personally deal with the Abigail killings herself as a return favor to our President, for helping England in dealing with--”
“Senator Dina Majors- the latest clone revolt in Los Angeles. The President has promised to raise California back above water, but that seems impossible. People, we have got to unite against this totalitarian government. Murder, rape, and violence plague our streets! You may believe that because this administration has ended censorship and promoted far leftist viewpoints, that we are more free than ever before. This is the spin the President is putting on everything, while these new rules of war have leaders of nations fighting in death matches with the winner taking over the country. What happened to diplomacy and peace? This is NOT a peaceful society; this is chaotic! Our children are watching pornography on PBS now! Every television program is full of cursing and violence and anyone can show anything now. My late mother fought for peace in the wrestling industry years ago… please do not boo… you don’t understand… this is not the way Americans act… do you want another Las Vegas to happen? Do you believe that China and Cairo and the other nations not in our alliance are sitting back ignoring what is going on over here? The best solution is a regime change here in this nation!! 2020 is an election year and I encourage all of you to vote against this President! Our president already wants to abolish the elections and have the presidency decided in a death match battle royal!! This is NOT the way!! You have to understand, our nation is going--”
“Vixxxen- Wow Kermit, what a big fat cock you have.
Kermit- Hi ho… can I call you ho?
Vixxxen- Ooh yes, Kermit the Frog, ohhhh Kermit… you’re so sexy with your green skin and your fat green cock.
Kermit- Well, they call me Dollar Bill, cause I’m money in the bank.
Ms. Piggy- What’s going on here? Kermit, what are you doing in bed with that whore?
Kermit- Sweetheart, I can explain---
Vixxxen- You don’t need to explain anything, Kermit. Ms. Piggy and I have been having an affair too.
Kermit- Ohhh really?
Vixxxen- Yeah, and since today is your birthday, that’s our surprise. Remember kids, for birthdays, surprise parties always work. But be sure to use a condom and practice safe sex. There are waaaay too many diseases out there and that is why our President passed a law making it mandatory for all elementary schools to teach sex education. So kids, go out and have sex, live free, but be safe.
Ms. Piggy- I feel like singing.
Vixxxen, Kermit, and Ms. Piggy- (singing) Sunny day, everything’s A-okay, going to where the cxnts are freeeee, can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street… the kids play and Ernie and Burt are gayyyy, do you want to lick a fresh pussy? Well, just come on down the block and take a stop at Sesame--”
“Athena with the flying multiple kicks… Athena off the top rope, 900 splash and Evelyn is down for the count!! Look at the beautiful Athena, she’s so much like Rachel Apache, from her long black hair and blue eyes to her purple attire… she’s so Rachel-esque in her execution of her maneuvers… she is definitely the next Rachel Apache and many experts say that she is better than Rachel was at this age. She definitely has accomplished more and look at that smile… everybody just loves Athena… there it is, the Greece Lightning and the throat squeeze… there checking Evelyn’s pulse… she’s DEAD!!! Athena wins again!! Move over Rachel, Athena is the greatest female fighter of all time!! Athena—“
“Justine Credible- Athena… greatest of all time my ASS. When I was her age, I could do three 900 splashes… a freakin 2700 and bounce off the ropes in my sleep. This girl isn’t anything close to a real wrestler and anybody who thinks otherwise is full of—
Tito Blaze- Justeeen, joo don’t know what dee fuck joo talkeen about!! Atheena is dee greatest ting to come to OPW seeence I retired!! Rashel Apacheee didn’t have dee guts to face Atheeena and she ran out of OPW wit her tail between her legs!! Even Rashal Apacheee knows that Atheeena is the greatest---
Justine- SHUT UP about Rachel Apache. She was never all that anyway. Where is she now, huh? Up in Colorado somewhere hiding? Fuck her… as far as I’m concerned, she’s the most overrated wrestler in the history of our business. Now back to Athena. This little girl wouldn’t be in the top 10 of OPW 25 years ago because I would’ve whipped her ass—
Prophecy- You weren’t even in OPW 25 years ago… but I was. If you dumb bitches don’t mind me asking… who was the OPW Champion 25 years ago? Come on, Justine. You’re a wrestling historian, who was the champ back then?
Justine- Rachel Apache. Look, that’s besides the point okay. I’m just saying that Rachel and Athena are overrated bitches!!
Tito- No, let meee tell joo what dee point is—
(We’ll be back with more from Justine, Prophecy, and Tito… next topic, the OPW Brutality Division Champion, Raz the Mutilator. Is this dreadlocked destroyer’s methods of raping the dead bodies of her opponents disturbing, or is it fucking genius? You are watching Three Angry Women in Wheelchairs… we’ll be back after this word from our President)”
“Jolene Rictor drives the kendo stick through Isis’ navel and that’s all she wrote here in London. It was truly a toss up as to who would win this death match, but Jolene has certainly proven time and time again that she is her father’s daughter with the brutal manner in which she has ended the life of Isis Jones, a former gold medallist of many years ago. On the replay, watch as the tip of Jolene’s stick drives Isis’ kidney through her back… ohhhh toasty!!! As you can see in the royal box, the woman with the pale white face, the pope’s hat, and the ruby red lipstick is the queen of this great nation of Great Britain, Queen Madeline Windsor, an outstanding fighter herself, who will look to expand the British Empire by facing Prime Minister Tatiana Smashanova of Serbia next week on our broadcast. Queen Madeline was able to secure a declaration of war on Serbia before Empress Catherine of Russia could as this arms race and territory race heats up between our allies and Russia, China, and Egypt. Catherine wanted Serbia for the Russian empire, though it is rumored that Catherine has been using her assassin, Sasha Segan, to do her dirty work… those damn Russians. OPW will also showcase--”
Times Square was where I was a week ago. I like to stop in New York and see how things are, and I see that the world is every bit as evil as I left it. My mind drifts farther back to a few months ago… Boulder, Colorado, the place of my birth and the place of my children’s birth. God’s country and my ranch. I have been living here for more than ten years after I walked away from the sport I made so much of my life about. The weather is always appropriate, the sun always shines, and there is plenty to teach my four children. After I walked away from OPW, Angelo and I didn’t waste much time in starting a family; I have two boys and two girls and all are very young. My two boys are DeAngelo and Austin. DeAngelo is a bit more serious than Austin; Austin is much a joker like his father, even for so young. And my girls are Dakota and Roselyn. When I look at Dakota, all I see is sweetness, but Roselyn, my ten year old and my oldest, I see the same sort of competitive spirit I saw when I was a little girl. It makes me smile and makes me sad all at the same time. I was pregnant every year for four straight years, but I know how to keep my body in shape… anyone familiar with Rachel Apache should know that much about me.
I’m not as fast as I once was, and perhaps I am not as great a fighter, but I haven’t fought in more than ten years. Motherhood has forced me to lighten up and smile more often. I still train and I still jog every morning at 6 am, but I do not do it as much. I even let my children have pizza and ice cream. I’ve been teaching my children the art of self-defense, but I am not strict at all. I want them to be able to take care of themselves, but they do not ever have to become fighters. The world is too dangerous a place, and that is why I have spent so much of my time away from it. There is also the sadness that plagues me, though I keep much of that to myself. Sage… Brea…my sister Sage wrestled in OPW for a short period of time. She was Angela Love’s childhood friend… but she let the want to prove herself take her over. She obsessed over getting out from under my shadow and the shadow of my sister, Lady Jasmine. Sage wasn’t ready; she took on far too many challenges. OPW was changing; the rules were changing and the brutality of the sport was going to new levels. Sage went with the flow, but she wasn’t a warrior… she was just a smart lady… she fought a newcomer to OPW named Raz, and Raz killed her in one of the first OPW Death Matches… Jasmine… Sage’s death was more of an accident, which is ironic because Raz willingly kills and rapes her opponents after they are dead. Jasmine was in the building that night and she came down to stop Raz from beating on Sage… Raz had taken Sage up into the rafters and thrown her off to the floor. Jasmine was trying to save our sister’s life by sacrificing her own, but she got there too late. Sage died instantly. Jasmine and I never really had much of a relationship, and no one has heard anything from her since… she is in exile somewhere. Of course, this came shortly before our parents died in a plane explosion over Turkey and while my other sister, an albino and my second youngest, Brea, was dealing with her condition. Once Sage, Mom and Dad died, Brea didn’t last two months. I went to visit her every day…. but I did not bring my kids, even though she wanted to see them.
I keep my children guarded from all of this. Sage, Brea, Mom, and Dad are all buried on my ranch in Colorado. Angelo, my husband, left me to go and fight in the war, once the North Korean situation got out of control and Los Angeles was hit with a ballistic missile in 2011. President Obama had no choice… all I asked Angelo is that he come back to me; he wasn’t afraid to go, but he was afraid to leave his family. He came back to me, but he came back with the left side of his body immobile and plagued with flashbacks. He has medication that he takes and there isn’t much he can do physically, but he was able to get me pregnant with our youngest daughter Dakota and he loves me… I can feel it. He’s a great father and I’m using as much of my funds as I can to help him get better… just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. October 11th, 2019… my 40th birthday and he tells me that I look just as beautiful as the day he first saw me 38 years ago. I do not brag when I say that I have not aged since the last time I was in the ring. The effects of four pregnancies have expanded certain areas of my body, but when I tell people I’ve had four kids, I do get the shocked expression. And I do get recognized… quite often. But most of the time, I get asked about Athena.
Did I mention the other member of my family in Colorado? After Angelo’s injuries, I realized that I needed help taking care of the ranch and growing the food we eat. I found someone who needed a place to live after being abandoned by every person she’s known. Her name is Echo, 5’5” 100 lbs… OPW’s flower girl. When she was in OPW, she and I were enemies, but now, she is the apple of my children’s eyes. She’s a being of love and understanding, and that is what we need. She even has a boyfriend, a nice young man who lives nearby. Echo was abandoned by many people, but I taught her to stand on her own… one of the abandoners is someone who’s name resonates a great deal of disgust in me… but that has always been the case… Siena Blaze.
Siena will be turning fifty next year, and she still shows up in the public eye from time to time. I hear she still fights, even in the death matches, but she only fights girls she knows she can defeat and she needs her new bodyguard, a nun named Mercy, to finish off her opponents. And finishing them off means killing them. This is what OPW has become… every match is a death match. The current President, who is the opposite of former President Obama and is very much a dictator, adopted Siena’s new philosophy and remade the rules of war so that rulers face off in death matches to end political disputes and conflicts. Don’t ask me how that came about; it’s a very long story and one that I’m not up to getting into. Not all nations are going for this though. Siena lives in Los Angeles, which is mostly water. She managed to take over the remnants of Lucielle Satane’s cloning operation and the President is now authorizing the facilities to make clones for the military. Cloning is a big business not only in America, but all over the world. Siena’s three daughters are doing very well.
Brandy Blaze, my best friend, is a high-ranking government official and is married with children as well. She may be the only person outside of the people in my house that I speak to on a regular basis. Pamela Jean married and moved to France, but still is a prankster and is pregnant with her second child. And the middle girl, Helena married before I retired and lives not very far from here with her husband and children. It’s interesting that Helena and I never got along, but her husband Akory and my husband are best friends, so we must tolerate each other. Siena lives at that cloning facility. She’s still married, but Hadrian is always away having affairs. I know all of this because Brandy tells me and Siena still flaunts her business to the world. Because of her wealth and the numbers of clones she has backed by Presidential support, Siena Blaze is one of the most dangerous women in the world and is the leading weapons dealer and clone distributor for the allies. The Las Vegas incident took place and her weapons were put to use. A missile hit the mountains where the US stores nuclear waste and it came from an unknown location. Because of the nuclear waste and its effects on Nevada, the current President had to destroy Las Vegas, claiming that diseases would cause an epidemic in the country and that the terrorists responsible for the missile attack were there. A week later, North Korea was nuked and a month went by of tension between the United States and China. The President claimed North Korea was responsible and the allies backed the US.
I was quite comfortable leaving all of this where it was until I got a visitor on my 40th birthday. We were all sitting around, eating cake and ice cream and watching cartoons when a black haired woman in a dark purple military uniform with matching beret showed up. She had snake like eyes, a baby’s face, dark olive skin, and she was in shape. We went out back to my indoor swimming pool overlooking the cornfields and the plains. She told me her name was Magic.
Magic- Do you hear the thunder, Agent Apache? There’s a storm coming this way.
Rachel- Why are you calling me Agent Apache?
Magic- You don’t know? You’ve been living here for a long time now, but the world has gone to hell. We both know it.
Rachel- I’m happy where I am.
Magic- You served the Agency years ago. You were the best at everything that you did, whether it be killing, wrestling, fighting, boxing… you are the greatest of all time. Don’t let all that Athena talk fool you. When you left, they needed a replacement. She’s got your look, she’s got your colors, but she smiles and you don’t. You’re taller than she is and you weight more. After everything that’s happened, and you leaving the way you did and rejecting any challenges, they needed something to believe in. They needed a hero, so they went with her. But she’s no Rachel Apache and she never will be. You are the best.
Rachel- Tell me something I don’t know. What do you want?
Magic- I see some of the old Rachel Apache swagger is still there. That’s good.
Rachel- WHAT do you want?
Magic- The Agency still exists, Agent Apache. There is a heart still beating for the betterment of society. You are needed.
Rachel- I’m retired.
Magic- Look at the condition the world is in. Our President is a dictator. The Queen of England is a sadist. Siena Blaze is shooting out an invasion force of Amazons… what do you think she’s doing in Los Angeles with all those clones? Do you think they’re just being made to sit there and do nothing? Egypt, Russia, China… they are all uniting and World War III may be right around the corner. But you have a chance to change all of that.
Rachel- I’m retired.
Magic- So you say. How long will you be up here before they come for you? Well, they may not, but aren’t you a person of obligation Agent Apache? Aren’t you one to change the world, instead of simply just waiting on the world to change?
Rachel- You people must not have many options if you’ve come all this way to speak to me.
Magic- You’re the best we’ve ever had, though I was in diapers when you were in Israel killing terrorists and freeing hostages. But I remember you as a fighter… you were my favorite fighter and you---
Rachel- Please don’t start that. My children are in the other room; we do not discuss things like that here.
Magic- They can’t hear me, Agent Apache. Maybe you don’t want to hear it.
Rachel- Stop calling me that.
Magic- How long are you going to keep running from the past? How long are you going to keep avoiding your responsibilities? You are a hero. You are here to save the world and I am telling you that you can do it. We need you to do it before it’s too late.
Rachel- Okay, ‘Magic,’ humor me. What would you have me do to save the world?
Magic- Go to Washington DC and kill the President.
Rachel- Absolutely ridiculous. Leave my home and take your death and destruction with you.
Magic- What would Sage say about your behavior?
Rachel- You are not worthy to speak my sister’s name.
Magic- You’ve killed dictators before, what makes this one any different? If you do this, then the world will truly be at peace.
Rachel- You, young lady, clearly know nothing of the way of the world. You kill one, another replaces the one you kill. You want to prevent World War III by having me kill the President, however, with the President dead, it assures that World War III will take place. They’ll be more incidents like what happened in Las Vegas.
Magic- Siena Blaze is responsible for Las Vegas. Las Vegas is nothing more than a crater after one of Siena’s clones malfunctioned and fired a missile into the mountains, where the nuclear waste was being stored. The current President still hasn’t told anyone where that missile was supposed to be fired, but if I had to guess, I wouldn’t be able to because this President has a lot of enemies. Then again, the current President lied and said North Korea was responsible, so no one other than a few select people know that Las Vegas was an inside job.
Rachel- Nonsense, don’t try to evoke the name of Siena Blaze on me to get me to change my mind.
Magic- Don’t believe me, listen to this. This is a phone conversation between Siena and the current President days after the Vegas incident.
“President’s voice (low feminine tone)- Siena, that was really bad.
Siena- I know. It was really fucked up. I’m sorry.
President- Sorry is not good enough, Siena. I can’t afford to have these half-life creations of yours messing things up. You know where that missile was supposed to be fired and something as simple as this couldn’t be completed?
Siena- All I can do is apologize to you. What the fuck do you want me to do about it now? You went and blew up the whole city… you covered it up and I appreciate that.
President- Siena, I’m excusing your tone because you obviously haven’t gotten much sleep from having sex with your own creations, but let me tell you this. I bailed you out this time… do not expect it again. Get your shit together, Siena. This cannot happen again. Queen Madeline, the other allies and I are planning to make a run very soon. Cairo and Moscow can’t seem to mind their own businesses and we don’t like it at all. We cannot let the foes of democracy and freedom stand in the way. Only the strong can survive.
Siena- This is what you’ve become…
President- Don’t worry about what I’ve become. Worry about how angry I will become if something like this happens again. How is Christina?
Siena- Don’t act like you give a SHIT!!!
President- (chuckling) In all honesty, I don’t give shit. Make your president more warriors, Siena. OPW is doing great business, as it always has. Take care of your invalid daughter, and try to get out of that place more often… you may go crazy staying in there for days like that.
Siena- Fuck you.
President- Why don’t you clone me, and then you can fuck me. And you may want to talk to Brandy about running for President. I want these elections to be determined by death matches, and if I have to kill your daughter to keep my position, I will. That would put us in a conflict… so you need to talk to her and get her to pull out, before we decide to do a preemptive strike.
Siena- You won’t touch HER!!
President- I don’t think you could stop me. The worst mistake you made was helping me get into this position. I am the most powerful woman on the face of the Earth and you honestly thought that you could control me. All those years I worked for you, and now you work for me… what a glorious turn of events ha ha ha!!
Siena- (crying) Fuck you!”
I can visualize Siena’s long white hair draping across her face and her aching body, all the match pains catching up to her. The woman can barely get around now, every moment is painful, but she lives through it. I can visualize her taking the bowl of oatmeal to Christina Munoz, her daughter, sitting in a chair with a trickle of saliva running from her bottom lip and forever smiling that goofy smile.
“Christina- I’m a good girl… I don’t hurt nobody nooooo more… I’m a gooood girllll… I don’t hurt noooobodyyyy nooo--”
Yes, Christina’s brain is severely damaged… thanks to the beating I gave her the day after my sister Sage died. That was the last time I saw Siena in person. It took all my strength and will not to kill Christina and I remember my words to Siena…
“You take something from me, and I take something from you.”
I am broken from my visions by the cocky and somewhat innocent youthful voice of Magic.
Magic- You know the President. Why don’t you go to Washington and see if you can make her change her mind.
Rachel- About what?
Magic- About killing Brandy and about going to war against the other nations. The President has gone mad and after she’s taken out her enemies, don’t be surprised if she goes after the other allies. Kill her and all of this will be avoided.
Rachel- I’m not going. I am happy here raising my children and being with those who truly love me. I left all that chaos behind and I will not go back.
Magic- Not even to save Brandy, your best friend?
Rachel- I doubt the President would be so foolish. She would know that I’d be coming for her if anything happened to Brandy.
Magic- But things didn’t turn out too well for you when last you faced her. And chances are, she already expects that you will come for her regardless. I told you that there is a storm coming and it’s coming right at you. What will you do then? Don’t tell me that you’re afraid of her. Don’t tell me that after all these years, you still are a bit ashamed of what happened the last time you two met.
Rachel- I am not afraid of anything.
Magic- Then take a trip to Washington and see if you can make her change her mind. I’m sure she would talk to you.
And that brings me back to now and Angela Love standing over me, taunting me.
Angela’s blonde hair hasn’t lost its shine and her legs haven’t lost their speed nor their power as she kicks me across the mouth and I taste my own blood.
Angela- How could you? Rachel, how could you? How could you leave me in mediocrity like this? I am the best fighter in the world and I trusted you to help me, but you never cared… all these years I spent trying to gain your approval and you never gave a damn about me.
Her foot comes again, but this time, I catch it.
Rachel- That’s enough of your talk, Angela.
Angela- It’s enough when I say it’s enough.
She yanks her foot back and all 5’11” 150 lbs of me are thrust onto my stomach and breasts. My lips actually brush the toe of her shoe. That does not sit well with me as I look up at her and she grins.
Angela- Hmm, that’s more like it.
Angela backs up and I rise. I brush my long wavy black hair back and stare into her blue eyes as she stares into mine. We begin to circle each other and she stops, gazing at me. She’s angry, but she’s focusing and her eyes aren’t shaky. I put my hands on my hips and look down at her. I’m wearing a violet/gray jogging combo with a white shirt and white sneakers. The punch is a submariner and it strikes me an inch above my navel. I groan and drop to my knees with an unhappy “uggh!”
Angela- I got you there. I always have gotten you there.
She places her hand under my chin and lifts me up with ease. Her strength is amazing; I’ve always been secretly impressed with it, but the speed is what I admire most about Angela Love… the speed and the skill. She lets go of me and in that half second I’m dangling in mid air, she spin kicks me in the stomach, forcing a “whoof!” from me as I am sent back hard into a support beam. The wind has been driven from me and I am down on my back. When I was younger, I would do a thousand crunches a day and my stomach was my trademark. It’s still as beautiful as it was then, but I haven’t been able to get rid of that lifelong pouch of fat below my navel and after four kids and a lot of navel kisses and love that it’s received from my husband, it’s become as sensitive as ever. I have a feeling that even in my younger days, this blow would’ve hurt me.
Angela- Down for the count again, Rachel. You aren’t making this much of a contest, are you?
I helped train Angela Love. I remember when she was just a little cocky girl at Bushido’s facility in Japan. She couldn’t stand me because she felt I was being hard on her… I was because I saw all the potential inside of her… it’s too bad she never saw it for herself.
Angela- Get up, Rachel. Come on. Don’t do this to me… get up and let me beat you like I should have years ago!
Angela was compared to me on a lot of levels because she adopted my fighting style, and she was a part of our camp. But with Sage in OPW as my younger sister, and the new girl from Greece, Athena, there were a lot of people to be compared to Rachel Apache. Misty Storm was another one, and it got to the point where every female fighter with an honor code was christened the next Rachel Apache. Unfortunately for Angela, her cocky attitude and blonde locks disqualified her from the running, and Athena, who started dressing in purple outfits similar to my own and had the look of a smaller friendlier version of me won out. She had been fighting since very young, she joined OPW at 15 as I did, she won a world title at an early age as I did. She’s got long wavy black hair and blue eyes, but she’s 5’7” and weighs about 140 lbs. She’s Greek and I’m Persian, so the comparisons are always there. And as I was in my prime, she is very very marketable. She smiles and advertises every product one could imagine and she wins with ease, as I did in my prime. Now, everyone is saying that Athena is the next me or is better than I was or saying that she would defeat me in my prime and so on. I met Athena several times and she’s asked me for matches. My response was that I was done with the business. I’m sure as big a fan of mine as she claims to be, killing me would put the biggest prize in her legacy.
I remember visiting Greece with my family a year ago and Athena told me with a big smile, “I’m just breaking all of your records.” I wanted to give her a spiked piledriver on the spot for mentioning that in front of my children. That’s another reason why I’ve stayed so far away from the business, not just the death matches and the new regime, but the way people forget what true greatness is. I would be awfully tempted to try to show those people the difference between Athena and Rachel Apache and at my age and with her youth and skill level, I don’t know if I could. I’ve seen Athena fighting and she’s very good. She’s not a knock off; she’s one of the best and most skilled fighters I’ve seen and she proved this when she came to America and won on the biggest stages of all.
Angela continues to taunt me as I am standing and blocking her efforts to go for my face, but she’s getting my ribs and landing an occasional right hand to the pit of my stomach, forcing my legs to buckle, but I keep my groans in. Angela is playing with me; she wants me to go on the offensive so that she can outclass me. I have to pace myself with her, at 30 years old, Angela is still very much in her prime as a fighter, but she still suffers from the same flaws that she did when she was a child.
Angela- Your stomach. Everything and every poster of you and it’s your damn stomach. You just love that part of your body, don’t you Rachel? Well, I hate it!
She grabs me by my raised arms and drives her knee deep into my lower abs, where I’m soft. I wrap my arms around her as I start to go down, but she drives her elbow into the back of my neck, knees me to my nose, yanks me up by my hair, gives me a double fisted shot to my stomach, chops me on either side of my neck and uppercuts me under the chin before I can groan from the stomach shot and goes for a roundhouse kick to the temple…
That’s where I get her. You see, you have to anticipate the moves and as long as you dodge the last one, then you’re okay. I knew that with her legs being her primary weapons, if I backed up a bit after every blow, I’d be in what she believed to be range for her kick, but she was mistaken. I duck the kick and step in, cracking her with a hard left hook to her jaw. I put a lot of force behind this one.
Angela- UNNHH!!
I drive the wind out of her with a right uppercut to her stomach, right above her navel. Angela is high-waisted, so she’s got a short torso that seems to compliment her large breasts and rear, but her navel is well below her waist and of course, she carries so softness from the other areas of her body, despite being one of the fittest women I know.
Angela- WUUUGGGHHH!!!
I know that one hurt because I drove it in low and forced upward with it when I made contact with her stomach. I hook her head and fall backward and the top of her head hits the concrete… DDT. She’s bleeding and I get to my feet, grab her left leg and step on the inside of her knee, then I yank upward hard, pulling her leg out of socket at the knee.
Angela- AHHHH!!!
Rachel- You haven’t learned that we do not show pain, Angela? I thought I taught you better.
Angela- You broke my leg! How could you do that to me?!
Rachel- You told me that you were going to kill me, Angela. Ricky said the same thing and you see what I did to her. Consider this a message from God… change your way of living. You were a friend to my sister and that is the only reason why I am sparing your life.
Angela- I don’t get it. I’m younger than you are and I’m better than you are… I always have been. I don’t understand how you could’ve beaten me so easily. I had you.
Rachel- You’ve known me for almost twenty years. You know who I am and know what I am capable of. This should not surprise you and it does not surprise me. There was no doubt about this outcome. You have a lot to learn, Angela Love… a lot to learn.
Angela- You shouldn’t have left us. You left me to make my own choices.
Rachel- And this is what you chose, to run around as a hit woman for a so-called warrior gone politically insane. Now you have another choice. Do you continue to do this, or do you turn your life around? Think about it, Angela. How you answer will determine whether or not I let you live, because despite you being Sage’s best friend, I do not see anything but a waste of a life in front of me now.
Angela- I miss Sage. I miss having her to talk to. I miss the old days; I wish we’d never—
Rachel- Say nothing of the past; speak only of the future.
I walk up to her and slam her joints back into socket. Having her in shock of seeing her leg bent at that angle made her believe that I had broken it. I help her to her feet.
Rachel- Get to the airport and leave. Fly out to Colorado and wait for my return. Tell my kids who you are; my ranch is under the watch of the Agency. I believe the President is too occupied to worry about sending assassins after you. If you hurry, you will be long gone before she learns of this.
Angela tries to hug me, but I step back. I watch her leave the train station as a car pulls up. A dark haired woman sits in the front seat and beckons me to get in the back seat.
“My name is April. You said the President has not learned about this yet… ha ha ha. Well, you are wrong, Ms. Rachel Apache-Thunderhawk. She is quite aware of what has transpired here and she invites you to join her at the White House. Get in.”
I see a television screen on the inside of the car. I get to watch what is clearly one of the war rooms of the White House as we speed through Washington. On the television, I see a chair with its back to the camera and several large screens in front of the chair. Each screen has the face of a different ruler from a different nation, all are female. I see a mocha-skinned female hand holding a glass of red wine sitting in the chair and I hear a very familiar voice.
US President- Irene, we are doing what we can for the drought in Mexico. I’m having Siena make more clones and they will be purifying the waters of California and shipping them to your people. That way, we kill two birds with one stone; we continue the efforts to free California from the flood and we give your people water.
President Irene Chavez of Mexico (short, long very curly black hair)- I appreciate the support of the United States and its allies and helping us with our poverty and drought.
Prime Minister Eve of Israel (brown skin, blue eyes, black hair, super beautiful)- It is not a problem, Irene. We appreciate using your country to store our planes as we prepare for the South American Campaign. Brazil and Empress Valencia doesn’t seem interested in joining the coalition.
US President- She also doesn’t seem to want to stop running her cocaine and heroin cartels into our countries.
Empress Honesty Peace of Egypt (cocoa brown skin, round face, silvery eyes, long braided black hair)- She is not responsible for those cartels. She has come to the United Nations and she has explained her position. None of you were present.
Queen Madeline Windsor of Great Britain (pope’s hat, blood red attire, pale white make up face, ruby red lipstick, silvery clear eyes)- The UN is old news. All that’s left is you people in Cairo and your nonsense. We won’t be wasting much more of our time with you.
Canadian Head of State, Queen Beth B. (4’11” 94 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes)- We will going forward with our summit meeting in New York City, then, will we?
President Sika of South Africa (brown skin, long shiny black hair, silvery blue eyes)- South Africa is with you one hundred percent. Down with Cairo and down with the fucking United Nations.
Honesty- Sika, you have proven to be a war mongering fool in a country that has come so far.
Sika- I should challenge you to a death match and end this shit right now.
US President- That will not be necessary.
Canadian Head of Government, Marie B. (4’11” 94 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes, clone of Beth’s deceased twin sister) - I feel that if the United Nations approves our campaign against South America, then Russia and China will step aside.
Madeline- Very intelligent deduction, Marie. Not bad for a clone; I wonder if the original was as brilliant.
Beth- Your sarcasm is unnecessary, Queen Madeline.
US President- Ladies, enough. We don’t need UN approval to do anything because the UN cannot stop us. Empress Honesty, we hope you understand this, but we wouldn’t mind a show of understanding by the UN. Go and publicly denounce Brazil and then let us take it from there.
Honesty- I will do no such thing. I am a woman of PEACE; I am not about to authorize a campaign against an entire continent so that you greedy people can snatch up more land.
Eve- Catherine of Russia is doing it and you’re not stopping her. She’s getting very aggressive out there and many of our territories are right in that region.
Madeline- We’ll take her out within a week if you turn me loose.
US President- Not yet, Madeline. And by the way, I have a package that will be in your hotel room when you get off that plane and arrive here. I hope you enjoy it.
Marie- Russia scares me. They are really posturing and itching for a fight.
Madeline- Yes, they are desperate to be conquered, ha ha ha. Put me in against Catherine and this will be over.
US President- Russia won’t concern us. They will not strike us without provocation; it’s all fake with Catherine. She doesn’t have the support and there is no union among China, Russia and Egypt. But there’s a reason why I have summoned you to this meeting, Empress Honesty.
Honesty- And why is that?
US President- A suicide bomber killed twenty at a mall in Miami, Florida. My sources have led me to determine that this bomber was from the middle east. And due to the new rules of war, because I cannot find the ruler to challenge, I am sending planes to bomb that entire area. We, the believers in world peace will not tolerate attacks on our soil.
Honesty- I do not agree with your rules of war. The United Nations do not acknowledge these rules and only hope that you are defeated in your bid for reelection. I hope that the American people have sense enough to oust you.
US President- The elections will be decided via my death match format, so I do not see myself being ousted any time soon, Honesty.
Honesty- I warn you all, if you move against South America or any of the Middle Eastern countries, then you undermine the diplomacy of the United Nations and if we feel you are a threat to world peace, you will be dealt with.
US President- Anytime you want to face me in a death match, Honesty, you let me know. Then I’ll be running the UN, or maybe I’ll just abolish it because you people are a waste of time… she’s here? Good. Ladies, I have another matter that needs to be dealt with. I bid you good evening and I hope to see you in New York very soon.
I sit in the dining hall of the White House and wait for the President of the United States’ arrival. The bodyguards are gathered in the well-lit room as I look at my food… baked lemon pepper chicken, rice with diced pineapples that look like little onions, and salad done up to resemble a tiara, complete with cheese. I see her food, a steak and a baked potato with bacon bits, sour cream and chives… she hasn’t changed. The bodyguards are female, some I recognize as former or current fighters… probably all clones. They’re looking at me hard and whispering, “Is that really her?” “Thought she was dead…” “Even more beautiful in person…” “That can’t be Rachel Apache here…” “What did the President say?” “Took out three of Queen Madeline’s assassins with ease and beat Angela Love…” “Was the President afraid?”
The door opens and in walks the President. Tall and confident, long curly black hair, large breasts, femininely muscular figure, very beautiful multicolored attire and long reddish boots as her hair cups around her face, blood red lipstick and a sinister grin…
Rachel- Hello, Glory.
US President Glory Ramirez- So, Rachel Apache… how the hell are you?
When she speaks to me, her voice is calm. Glory was able to become the President of the United States at age 31; previously, you had to be at least 35 in order to run for President, but Siena and Glory changed all that. She calmly sits down across from me and immediately begins to eat her steak, chomping away and not looking at me as she talks between bites.
Glory- Rachel, I’m going to say this and I’m going to say it one time… well, maybe more than once, since I do respect you. Get out of Washington and go home.
I don’t respond to her and that forces her to look up at me. Glory and I have looked into each other’s eyes many times.
Glory- You look as though you want to make a move. But you’re not going to do that. I can see the fear in your eyes, Rachel.
Rachel- You’re not referring to yourself in the third person anymore, Glory, what changed that?
Glory- I still do, Rachel. But that’s only when I’m really worked up, and right now, I’m being very calm, as you can see. Go home to your four children and your husband and tell Echo that I’m sorry about what I did to her in Beijing back in ’09… then again, no I’m not sorry.
Rachel- Glory, you have allowed yourself to become drunk with power. Your reign as President has—
Glory- You’re boring me already and you’re lecture hasn’t even began. The US has never been more free than it is now. The people are not complaining; there is no censorship, no gun control, wars are fought between two people, not two million. What is there to complain about? I have made the country safe and truly free of racial and sexist prejudices. Homosexual marriages exist in every state and parents are forced to take an active role in the lives of their children. Health care is free nationwide. Don’t tell me about being power drunk. Glory has done a damn good job as President and you are just jealous. Well, you shouldn’t be jealous of Glory because YOU chose to walk away from the spotlight.
Rachel- Now you sound more like yourself, foolish and arrogant.
Glory- Does that satisfy you? You never really liked me anyway. Now, you will be quiet and you will listen to what I have to say. (eating her steak and speaking very calmly) I am aware of your mission to assassinate me. I am giving the opportunity to leave Washington DC, as your friend Angela Love did earlier, and go back to Colorado to live freely as you already were. Glory is a peaceful and understanding leader and still has some respect for you. You may also stay here if you’d like. But if you cause any trouble or meddle in anything, I will have no problem killing you myself. I have worked very hard to get this far; I will not have someone like you, who has been convalescing in Boulder, Colorado for almost ten years come here and tell me how to run my country. May I remind you of what happened the last time we met at odds.
I drift back to that rainy day on the rooftop as Glory and I fought. I was getting more than I was giving and she was clearly winning. Every time she hit me in the face, I felt like my head would explode. She knocked me down over and over again and she acted as though she was in a rage. Every time I got up, I was a little less confident, a little less sure of myself, and at some points, I was willingly backing away from her. She seemed to enjoy it as she grabbed me, punched me in the stomach and drove her fist deep into my belly, grinding it out of me. She forced eye contact with me and drove me into the wall, digging her knuckles against my navel and smiling that grin in my face. I was looking into her eyes and I knew I couldn’t beat her… she realizes that I have surrendered mentally and that she had conquered me at last. She realized that I would never have to courage to face her again. She lifted me up, dug her fist into my belly one more time forcing my tongue out of my mouth and my eyes to stretch as I was forced to orgasm from the shear force of her punch, and threw me off that roof, laughing as I fell and landed, a truly defeated and beaten woman. I got to my feet and stared up at her; she was solid and looked back down, not budging. I turned my back and went home. I never fought after that; that was what made me retire. She had surpassed me in my mind. When I snap out of the flashback, she’s still there, looking at me with the same smile, knowing that I had a flashback and wanting me to come right back to that same look.
Glory- It still hurts, doesn’t it? You’re not the warrior you used to be… I beat you and I separated the warrior from the woman. You are just a mother of four now, so go home to your children, Rachel. You don’t have it anymore, and believe me, you don’t want it anymore either.
I stand up and a cook comes and packs the food I did not eat to go. I actually take it with me. I go to the airport and board a plane back to Colorado and the tears run down my face. I have a lot to think about… I wasn’t ready to face her… I just wasn’t ready. On the plane a child asks me if I am Athena.
Epilogue
Queen Madeline arrives at her hotel mansion in Washington DC and finds the package President Glory said would be there. She opens the rather large box.
Queen Madeline- Christ!!!
Inside the box are the heads of her three assassins, Mikey, Jane, and Ricky and a note that reads: NEXT TIME, GET THE JOB DONE. DO NOT SEND PUSSY CATS TO KILL A TIGRESS. SEE YOU TOMORROW. LOVE, GLORY.
To be continued…
