Unfinished Business: Part 2

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Off Camera

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The sounds of a female grunting as well the echoes of feet against a heavy bag are heard throughout an empty gymnasium on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts.  The concrete floor is gray and the walls are painted an off-white color, at least the walls that still have paint on them, as most of the paint on the walls have begun to peel.  There is a standard wrestling set up in the center, weights scattered all over the floor.  At one of the far ends of the room is a red heavy bag.  The lovely Kayla Jones is standing there at the heavy bag dressed in a pair of workout shorts, black tanktop, and her long red hair pulled into a ponytail in the back, as she viciously attacks the heavy bag with her well-educated feet.

With each kick, from roundhouse kicks to jumping spin kicks, Kayla grunts loudly and the bag heaves back and forth.  The force of these kicks would be enough to take the head off of any competitor; she just hopes they will be effective against the many competitors she may have to go up against in the Scaffold Scramble at SCW Rise To Greatness.  But these kicks from Kayla Jones seem to have an extra added intensity, even more force than usual.  And if you look deeply into Kayla’s eyes you can tell that something is there, something hidden away  that she is keeping a secret, perhaps something that is driving her current intensity level this very moment.  The kicks continue, increasing in ferocity and intensity, until Kayla finally decides to take a break.

Nearby Angelica Jones, the elder of the two Jones sisters, is doing sit-ups.  She is wearing a pair of black adidas windpants and a plain white t-shirt with tennis shoes.  Her hair is also pulled into a ponytail in the back.

Angelica doesn’t  seem to be too bothered by her sister’s current intensity level.  To be perfectly frank, Angelica thinks it is a welcome change.  She thinks her and Kayla need to be more intense and add more fuel to the fire, so to speak, as they head into Rise To Greatness.  They already aired one promo in which they stated that this Rise To Greatness could very well be the last hoorah for The Sisterhood and Angelica believes it.  She does not want it to be over but she realizes that it could all be over if they cannot seem to figure out how to win again in SCW.

Winning at Rise To Greatness this year won’t be some walk in the park, because this isn’t your standard wrestling match.  This will be Scaffold Scramble and there will be many competitors looking to give their career a major boost.  Don’t you think some of them would love to advance their careers at the expense of The Sisterhood?

They most definitely would.

Thus Angelica has been busting her ass in the gym to make sure she’s ready for war.  She’s been pleased with her sister’s intensity level, which gives her some hope that maybe they can achieve some measure of victory in Scaffold Scramble.  Perhaps The Sisterhood still has one more day to live?

“997…998…999…1,000!”

Angelica hops up off of the floor, reaching over and snatching her white towel before she does so.  Angelica wipes the sweat from her brow.  After dropping the towel back onto the ground she turns to look at her younger sister.  She finds Kayla standing over by the heavy bag, no longer working out, but instead talking on the phone…

“Oh for the love of God, don’t tell me they…” she is seemingly cut off as she shakes her head in disgust “…no!  Absolutely not!  I refuse!”

Angelica tilts her head to one side as she listens intently.  She only hears one side of this conversation, so it’s hard to tell what this is about, but whatever it is, it has her sister upset in a big way.

“I do not give a damn what they said, Oliver…” well that answers one question for Angelica, it appears that Kayla is speaking to Oliver Hardy on the other end “…no, I will not sign!  Tell them that!”

Kayla’s frustration clearly gets the best of her as she turns off the iPhone and then throws it onto the floor.  Lucky for Kayla, the phone lands on a blue wrestling mat, which softens the blow.  Had it landed on the concrete, it could’ve been damaged.  Kayla is usually good at keeping her emotions in check and the mere fact that Kayla appears to be losing her temper like this is not good as far as Angelica is concerned.  Not good at all.  It signals to Angelica that something is wrong.

The elder sibling approaches Kayla, stepping in front of her.  She arches a brow out of curiosity. “Are you ok, sis?”

“Yeah…” Kayla nods her head “…I’m fine.”

“What was all of that about?”

“None of your business.”

Those words shock Angelica to the core.  It isn’t like Kayla to say that to her.  They’ve always been up front and honest with one another.  Yet now, for some reason, Kayla seems to be bitchy…which isn’t all that unusual…but today she’s bitchier than usual, even towards her own sister.

“Kay, I’m your sister, and I care about you.”

“I appreciate the concern but it’s still none of your business.”

Angelica sighs and shakes her head. “Fine, then I’m going to speak as your tag team partner and not as your sister, because while I may not know what it was you were talking about, I do know you were talking to Oliver.  And Kay, if whatever that was is going to cause you to have a lapse in judgment at Rise To Greatness or lose your cool in the Scaffold Scramble, then damn it, it does effect me and it is my business.”

“I will not lose my cool and I will not have a lapse in judgment.” Kayla says, vehemently shaking her head. “What I was talking about is none of your business, Angelica, and I got it under control.  So let’s just focus on preparing for that Scaffold Death Thing that Jake Starr and Tommy Valentine’s twisted minds came up with.”

“Scaffold Scramble…” Angelica says, correcting her younger sister.

“Whatever.” Kayla rolls her eyes as she walks past Angelica towards the wrestling ring in the center of the gym.  Angelica sighs as she follows suit.

Kayla slides into the ring, underneath the bottom rope, while Angelica hops up onto the ring apron and then steps through the ropes into the ring.  Kayla turns and stares at Kayla nods her head.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Huh?  Now?”

“Yes…” Kayla nods her head “…now!”

With that, Kayla charges Angelica, wrapping her up and taking her down in a double leg.  She proceeds to pour on rights and lefts without any break or hesitation.  Angelica manages to kick her off and scramble back to her feet.  The woman charges again but this time Julia sidesteps her, sending her into the ropes.  She comes back and Angelica hip tosses her.  Kayla scrambles to her feet, charges, and Angelica connects with an arm drag deep into an arm bar.

The younger sibling doesn’t let that slow her down.  She slowly but surely fights up to her feet.  Angelica keeps wrenching the arm bar in tighter and tighter.  Eventually Kayla reverses the arm bar into an arm bar of her own.  But Angelica is ready for this and then counters again, this time into a hammerlock.  Kayla breaks it with elbows to her older sister’s face.  She runs off the ropes and comes at Angelica only to get floored with a beautifully timed and executed dropkick.  Angelica immediately goes back to the arm bar.

“Kay, you’re off your game…”

“Shut up!”

“No seriously, you are.” Angelica releases the arm bar and then stands up. “You never fall for such easy moves and tricks.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kayla says, breathing heavily as she stands back up to her vertical base. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Angelica says, shaking her head. “You’re not focused.  And I think I know why…”

She places her hands on her hips “…whatever it is that you were on the phone about, that has gotten to you, you’re still thinking about that and you’re distracted.”

“Bullshit!” Kayla spits out.

“You were distracted, Kayla, and that’s what I was trying to tell you.  If this kind of crap happens at Scaffold Scramble, if you’re not focused, we are going to lose.”

“We’re not going to lose!”

“We will if we can’t sort this out!” Angelica exclaims. “Now please, tell me what the hell you were talking to Oliver about?!”

“It’s none of your business…” Kayla’s voice trails off, she shakes her head “…it’s not even Jones business. It’s Hardy business.”

“Huh?” Angelica asks, blinking curiously.

Tears begin to form in Kayla’s eyes. “I thought it was all over when my foster father died.  Then I had to deal with it again when Marie’s demon spawn was born…”

A flash of anger spreads across Angelica’s face.  That is, after all, her daughter and grandson.

“Watch it, Kay.  That’s my daughter…my grandson…”

“Yes, and that demon spawn was conceived after Marie was raped by my foster father, the same asshole who beat and molested me throughout my teenage years, the man who took my innocence away from me!”

Kayla marches up to Kayla and pokes a finger onto her chest. “You don’t have to deal with that, but I do!  Every time I look at Marie in the face, every time I look her son in the eyes, I’m reminded  of that!”

Angelica gives her younger sister a slightly rough shove. “Back off…”

Kayla takes in a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Fine…but yeah, I got past that, or at least I tried to, and I thought it was all over but then Oliver Hardy Jr. came back into my life and brought these bad feelings and worse memories back to the surface.”

She wipes a tear from her eyes. “It took awhile but we dealt with it.  We both were able to move on.  But now…”

Kayla shakes her head vehemently “…now his damnable biological relatives are back!”

“What do they want?” Angelica asks curiously.

“They want Oliver Hardy’s ashes.” Kayla answers. “They want to give the bastard a proper funeral…as if he deserves one…he deserves to be rotting in hell…”

“I can agree with that,” Angelica responds “but can’t Oliver Jr. take care of that himself?  He’s the heir.”

“He isn’t the only one.” Kayla sighs, rolling her eyes. “In a move to torment me from beyond the grave my foster father made me an heir, so I couldn’t avoid dealing with his family business, and I couldn’t avoid having those memories brought back to the surface.”

“So in other words, you and Oliver BOTH have to agree to let them have the ashes?”

“Right,” Kayla nods her head “it’s not just him…it’s me too…almost as if I’m still Oliver Sr.’s daughter…”

“You’re not.” Angelica embraces Kayla in a tight hug. “You are not like him and you never will be like him.”

She breaks the embrace and Angelica chuckles. “But seriously, Kay, if that’s all this is, just agree with Oliver to let them have the ashes and that’s that.  It’s over.  End of story.”

It’s hard to tell what happened or what caused Kayla to snap but she snaps this very moment as she shoves Angelica backward and then snaps off a vicious Kaylan Wind Kick straight to the jaw of Angelica Jones, dropping her flat on her back.  Kayla then drops down onto her knees by her fallen sister’s face.

“You have no fucking place to advise me in this matter!  I told you this was none of your business and it isn’t!  It’s Hardy business and legally I’m one of them!  And you have no idea what I went through!  You were in a damn convent becoming a nun while I was getting beaten regularly so don’t you dare advise me on this!”

Kayla is breathing heavily, trying to calm down.  Angelica groans in pain.  Kayla’s eyes grow wide as she suddenly realizes what she just did.

“Angelica, I…I’m sorry…I…” she shakes her head as tears roll down her cheeks “…I didn’t mean to…”

“Kay…” Angelica’s voice is low and trails off but Kayla hears her nevertheless.

“Yes?”

“…I think we need to work this out…”

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On Camera

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The Perfect Storm is a biographical film telling the story of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea with all hands after being caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991.  The crew makes a living off of fishing.  They fish, they sell what they catch, that’s how they survive.

At the height of their fishing the ice machine breaks; the only way to sell their catch before it spoils is to hurry back to shore. After debating whether to sail through the building storm or to wait it out, the crew decides to risk the building storm.

After Andrea Gail endures various problems, the crew struggles to sail through pounding waves and shrieking winds, while friends and family worry and wait for a ship that never comes home. The vessel encounters an enormous rogue wave. The boat is overturned and one of the crew, a man named Billy, elects to go down with his ship, the rest of the crew are trapped inside.

There are no survivors.

Thanks for the story, Angel.

Now why would this crew or anyone else risk life and limb the way they did?  Why would they do something that most would consider incredibly stupid and dangerous, something that, in this case, cost them their lives?

Like Angelica said, it’s about survival.  You do what you have to do to survive in this life and that is especially true in the business of professional wrestling.  Everyone wants to be the greatest but sometimes it’s simply just about survival.

Angelica and I won’t deny it, we feel as if we’re backed up against a wall with nowhere to go.  We feel as if this could very well be our last chance.  So the question to us was simple; do we put our life and limb on the line in the incredibly risky Scaffold Scramble or do we take the easy way out?  Do we just quit?  Do we just let out careers slowly fizzle away?

Colleen Hoover puts it best; “Death. The only thing inevitable in life.  People don't like to talk about death because it makes them sad.  They don't want to imagine how life will go on without them, all the people they love will briefly grieve but continue to breathe.”

No one is immortal.  Everyone must die someday and that is a sad fact that we all must contend with. The same can be said of professional wrestlers.  No career is forever.  Eventually we all have to, at the very least, evolve or change.  It’s a fact of life.  And when their career is gone, people may very well miss them, they may revere their past glories, but ultimately the sport of wrestling will live on without  them.

As much as Kayla would like to think ourselves as an integral part of the SCW tag team division, we realize that when we are gone, the division will live on without us.

Kayla and I have tried to go our separate ways in the past but we never quite made it work out.  We always gravitated back towards one another, reforming The Sisterhood again and again.  But maybe it’s time we changed?  Maybe it’s time we evolved?

Or maybe it’s time The Sisterhood’s careers respectively ended.

No way in hell are we going to let our careers slowly fizzle away!

Scaffold Scramble may very well be our last chance, and if it is our last chance, then you can be damn sure that Angelica and I will put it all on the line at Rise To Greatness, we will risk everything, just like the crew of the Andrea Gail risked everything during The Perfect Storm, but unlike the crew of the Andrea Gail, there will be survivors…

…no, not survivors…there will be winners.  The Sisterhood Victorious.

Do we want the tag team title contract?   Do we want the singles title contract?  To be perfectly honest with you, we really don’t care.  We’re just here to show the world, to show SCW, to show our fans that The Sisterhood still has a lot left in the tank, that the Jones wrestling family still has a lot left to give this business!

So whether me and Kayla end up challenging for the tag titles at Apocalypse or whether one of us gets to continue in a singles career going for the United States, Adrenaline, Television,  or even Women’s Championship, the fact remains that the name Jones will still be on the lips and mind of the wrestling world, because at Rise To Greatness in Scaffold Scramble, we will accept nothing short of total victory.

And we’re going to kick your teeth, right down your throat!

Unfinished Business: Part 1

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Scene 1

Off Camera

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It is Rise To Greatness season and as the company gets closer to its greatest event of the calendar year, as SCW inches closer to the finish line of the road to Rise To Greatness, which is the great event itself, things begin to take shape.  The roster grows ever more excited about their opportunity to shine on the grand stage and make an indelible mark upon SCW forever.

Not every member of the SCW roster is feeling the excitement and joy that comes with Rise To Greatness season.  Two in particular are feeling a sense of hopelessness and frustrations, realizing that nothing seems to be going right for them on their road to Rise To Greatness.

That would be Angelica and Kayla Jones, better known as The Sisterhood.

It’s been a downhill slide for Angelic and Kayla ever since losing the SCW World Tag Team Championships back to Honor Code months ago. It even appeared as if they would split up again and go on their separate singles tracks, but that failed as well and they once again found themselves navigating towards one another to give tag team wrestling another opportunity.

Unfortunately a string of losses, which include defeats against The Brotherhood and The B&B Experience, have not only put Angelica and Kayla’s Rise To Greatness hopes in doubt but have put their very future as a tag team in doubt.

Only winners get the best spots at Rise To Greatness and thus far The Sisterhood have been anything but winners in the lead up to Rise To Greatness.  And if they can’t win, does that mean their future as a whole is over and done for?

Most would say that kind of thinking is just an overreaction but overreaction or not, that is exactly the kind of thoughts going through the head of Kayla Jones, one  half of The Sisterhood, as she mulls over her future and Angelica’s future backstage at SCW Breakdown.

Kayla sits in a blue steel folding chair backstage in a dressing room at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington, the arena the hosted SCW Breakdown.  Shortly after Breakdown has come to its conclusion the younger Jones finds herself deep in thought, wondering just what the future holds next for the pair.  She is dressed in a flowing, loose fit ankle length floral print skirt, a red short sleeved top, and sandals on her feet.  Her long gorgeous red hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.

The younger half of The Sisterhood appears to be deep in thought, so deep that she doesn’t even notice when the door opens and her oldest sister, Angelica Jones, joins her in the room.  Angelica is wearing a pair of form fitting denim jeans, a black t-shirt, and her signature black leather jacket.  Her long red hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.

“Kayla!” Kayla is unresponsive, even as Angelica gets right up next to her, so she speaks louder. “Hey, Kay!”

“Huh?” Kayla blinks a few times before looking up at her older sister and sighs. “Oh, it’s just you…”

“Try not to sound so thrilled to see me, sis.”

“Sorry, Angel, it’s just that,” Kayla says, shrugging her shoulders “what’s the point, really?  We’ve been on a losing streak lately, we can’t seem to fight our way out of it and…”

She shakes her head “…I just don’t know what to do.”

Kayla is legitimately bracing herself for the worst as she ponders what has happened lately.  It all started with a loss to Jake Starr and Tommy Valentine.  It continued with a loss to Adrenaline Rush, a team that Angelica and Kayla normally does quite well against. And as recent as this evening they lost to Blake Mason and Bree Lancaster.  It seems the bad news and bad luck is never ending and Kayla really isn’t sure what to do right now.  She’s so down in the dumps that she doesn’t even notice the sly grin forming on her older sister’s face this very moment.

“Well you’re in luck, because I think I know exactly what we can do.”

“Really, sis?” Kayla responds with a note of sarcasm in her voice and also etched across her face. “This sounds awfully familiar to me.”

“How so?”

“Does your grand scheme include more random tag team matches against teams that we’re going to inevitably lose to?  I mean, that’s been our modus operandi the past several weeks and it has not worked out in our favor, what the hell makes you think it’ll work this time?”

“Shut up, Kay.”

“Huh?” Kayla says, somewhat surprised by her sister’s response.

“You heard me.” Angelica frowns. “Just shut up and listen to me for a second, this has nothing to do with random tag team matches or any of the sort.”

Kayla folds her arms over her chest and stares skeptically up at her sister. “I’m listening.”

“Have you ever heard of Scaffold Scramble?”

“I don’t think…” her voice trails off as she thinks about things for a moment, finally she nods her head as if a light bulb just went off “…oh yeah!  Well, I haven’t seen one but I heard of them.  David Helms was the originator, correct?”

“That’s right,” Angelica says, nodding her head “and do you know who was out there talking to the crowd awhile ago?”

“No clue.” Kayla says, shrugging her shoulders.

“Jake Starr and Tommy Valentine.”

A scowl forms across Kayla’s face.  The very mention of Jake Starr’s name brings a look of anger on her face.  Jake Starr and The Sisterhood have not seen eye to eye in the past and that is an understatement.

“What do I care about them?”

“A great deal because what they had to say involved us.” Angelica states definitively. “Starr and Valentine want to bring back Scaffold and Scramble and they want to include Adrenaline Rush in it as well as…”

She grins knowingly “…The Sisterhood!”

“Ok, sounds fine,” Kayla nods her head “but what do we potentially get out of it?”

“That’s the best part,” Angelica continues “two contracts will be suspended high in the air; one for a tag title match, the other for any other title shot.”

Angelica places a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “I really think we finally have this one, sis.”

“No!” Kayla shakes her head furiously as a look of anger and rage shoots across her face. “Absolutely not!”

“Huh?!” Angelica looks genuinely confused and bewildered. “You do realize these are potential title shots, right?”

“I know but that’s not the damn point!” Kayla shoots up out of the chair she was sitting in and begins to pace the floor. “I am NOT taking handouts, Angelica, especially not a damn handout from Jake Starr!”

Angelica stands in Kayla’s way to stop her from pacing and making a ditch in the floor. “Kayla, please, just listen for a moment…hear me out…”

“No, not a chance,” Kayla says, still shaking her head “it won’t happen, it isn’t going to happen!”

“What’s the big deal, Kay?” Angelica asks, still bewildered by her sister’s outburst.

“Oh how quickly you forget!” Kayla exclaims while rolling her eyes. “Jake Starr is the same asshole who ran around attacking us with a steel chair all because he couldn’t get the job done and win a championship, so he went and blamed us!”

“Kayla, look…” Angelica is promptly interrupted by Kayla.

“No, I’m not done!” Kayla exclaims. “And then he and Tommy reunite out of the blue and take our spot in the tag division?  They beat us and they rub it in our face and try to give us a hand out?”

She shakes her head. “Not going to happen, Angel.”

Angelica and Kayla have a tense moment, a stare down, before Angelica finally speaks up again.

“Ok, you’ve expressed your anger and frustration, now can I talk?”

She nods her head. “Sure, but it won’t make a difference.”

“Just listen, that’s all I ask.” Angelica says with a sigh. “Now everything you said about Jake Starr is true.  He is an asshole, but be honest, Kay…”

She points a finger at her younger sibling “…you are a bitch by your own admission.”

“Whatever…” Kayla says, rolling her eyes.

“And yes, he did attack us on multiple occasions.  I remember it quite well.  But I think he’s trying to be different…”

“Really?” Kayla says with a skeptical look on her face. “Seriously, Angel?”

“Ok, well, he’s trying not be so much of an asshole about it all, but hey, however you want to slice it, doesn’t it remind you of a couple of other athletes who needed to change?”

“Angelica, I really don’t know…” Kayla’s voice trails off as she finally realizes exactly what her older sister was getting at and immediately she shakes her head “…no way, Angel, no way!”

“Yes…” Angelica says with a smirk on her face, nodding her head “…Free Botswana, anyone?”

“No way in hell are you comparing him to us!”

“I am comparing him to us because it is true.” Angelica says pointedly. “We needed a chance to prove ourselves, to prove that we had changed.  It took awhile because we burned a lot of bridges but we managed to rebuild those bridges and earn back that trust we had lost.  Now is Jake Starr being honest here?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I can’t say for certain, but it would be hypocritical of us not to at least give him a chance.  I’m not saying trust the guy, we can always and should always keep our guard up, but we can give him a chance. Besides…”

Angelica winks “…title opportunities hang in the balance, Kay.  What do you think?”

Kayla stares at Angelica with a hard, stone faced, stoic look for several tense moments.  Angelica maintains her composure until, finally, Kayla sighs and nods her head.

“You know, I hate it when you do that…”

“Do what?”

“When you make a good point.”

“No you don’t.” Angelica remarks, grinning from ear to ear, a feeling of confidence growing within her.

“I’m not going to ever trust him,” Kayla remarks, shaking her head “but you’re right, we needed people to take a chance on us when we were trying to turn over a new leaf.  And we haven’t exactly been on our best behavior lately…”

“No, we haven’t.” Angelica says, shaking her head.

“Right, well, maybe we need to do some introspection?” Kayla sighs. “And yeah, maybe we should give them a chance?  Besides…”

A grin forms across her face as her voice trails off “…I wouldn’t mind earning a title match of some sort.”

“Exactly!”

Kayla and Angelica high five one another.  Just then the sound of a phone ringing can be heard.  Kayla sighs as she realizes it is her phone…

“Hold on, let me take this…”

“Sure.”

Kayla walks over to her gym bag.  She unzips it and reaches inside.  She produces a pink iPhone.  Kayla answers it.

“Hello…oh, Oliver, is that you?”

Oliver Hardy Jr., specifically.  She lived most of her teenage years with him under the roof of the abusive drunk Oliver Hardy Sr.  They were foster siblings.  At first he blamed Kayla for his father’s death but later they reconciled, after Oliver got some help dealing with his own mental trauma of the past.  Now Oliver has a law degree and serves as legal counsel for Kayla’s agency where she manages the careers of models, wrestlers, and singers.  Thus, Oliver calling her right now wouldn’t be a big deal or a surprise.  But the ever changing look on Kayla’s face does trouble Angelica.

“Wait, slow down Oliver.  Just tell me what’s wrong?”

She looks puzzled as she listens.  Then she rolls her eyes.

“It’s too much to tell me over the phone?  Fine.  The next Breakdown is in New York City, I can stop by the offices in Boston a few days before the show.  Sound fair?”

She waits for his answer.  Apparently it was acceptable, for Kayla nods her head.

“Ok, I’ll see you soon.”

Kayla hangs up her iPhone and tucks it away in her gym bag.  Angelica tilts her head to one side and stares curiously at her younger sibling.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not sure.” Kayla responds, shrugging her shoulders. “Oliver didn’t want to go into much details.  He said I needed to hear it straight from him, face to face, so I need to go to Boston first before Breakdown.”

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Off Camera

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Scaffold Scramble is something completely new and unknown to Angelica and Kayla Jones.  It is a mystery to them, as they’ve never had to participate in one before.  Sure, they can do homework on it and research on it, but no amount of homework or research or watching tape can substitute for the advantage that comes with experience competing in a match like that.  Kayla and Angelica know that they will be heading into this match at a disadvantage, and they will be behind the eight ball considering they have been on a losing streak, this is Rise To Greatness, and the pressure will be on for them to finally end the streak and get back to their winning ways.

But they also realize that they do their best work when the pressure is on.  The Sisterhood always rises to the occasion on the big stage and there is no bigger stage than Rise To Greatness.  Angelica and Kayla are focused and ready for this opportunity, perhaps their final opportunity, to get back on track.

If that were all they had to deal with, perhaps things would go smoothly for the veteran tag team and former two time SCW World Tag Team Champions, but all is not well within the Jones household, at least not with one of them in particular…

…Kayla Jones.

A few days ago she received a call from Oliver Hardy Jr., her legal counsel and foster brother, who seemed rather frantic in his conversation with her over the phone.  He said it was urgent and necessary that she make it to the headquarters immediately.

So here she is.

In Boston, Massachusetts we find Kayla Jones, the younger member of the Sisterhood, standing out in front of the Boston headquarters of Jones Wrestling Incorporated.  This company started out as a modeling agency that Kayla started.  The younger Jones sibling used nearly all of her savings to purchase it and make it her own but it worked out in the end, for she turned the fledgling modeling agency around.  In later years she would expand her business, choosing to manage the careers of professional athletes.  Currently she manages the wrestling careers of GCW athletes Gabriela Austin, Hayley Gold, and Julia Braddock.  Almost a year after beginning to venture into the realm of managing professional wrestlers, she also used her agency to manage the singing career of her older sister and tag team partner Angelica Jones.

Kayla opens the front door of Jones Wrestling Incorporated headquarters and steps inside, letting the door shut behind her.  Jones makes her way up to a desk, pausing just momentarily to smile politely at the clerk and greet him….

“Hi there, Bruce.  How are you?”

“I’m doing fine, Ms. Jones.” The clerk, Bruce, remarks. “What are you doing here today?  I thought you would be busy training with your sister for Rise To Greatness.”

Kayla sighs and nods her head. “I probably should but my…brother...”

She rolls her eyes.  Kayla still has a problem thinking of her and Oliver as siblings, even if it is foster siblings.  The trauma of that past still gets to her to this day, and while she has learned to live with it, no amount of therapy will ever cure her of that nightmare.

“Your bro…” Bruce’s voice trails off and then a look of realization washes across his face “…oh yes, Mr. Hardy, he did come in earlier.  He said he needed to see you if you came in to the office.”

Bruce chuckles. “I honestly didn’t think you would show up.  Obviously he knew of something I didn’t.”

“Yes, he did.” Kayla responds as she nods her head. “So is he in his office?”

“He is, Ms. Jones.”

“Thank you, Bruce.”

With that, Kayla walks on past the desk and continues down a long hallway until she comes to a stop at a door leading to someone’s office.  Kayla turns the doorknob and pushes the office door open, stepping inside.  Immediately she lays her eyes upon a male sitting at a large oak desk.  He has blonde hair in a crew cut and is wearing a Carolina blue button up shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes.  He looks up at Kayla standing there in his office and he smiles politely at her.

“Good afternoon, sis.” He says warmly. “Glad you came.”

“This better be good, Oliver.” Kayla remarks rather coldly as she walks over to a chair in front of the desk and sits down, crossing her legs.

“What’s wrong, sis?” Oliver asks, looking at Kayla curiously. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it isn’t you.” Kayla sighs and shakes her head. “It’s just been real tense with Angelica and I lately.  We’ve hit a bit of a slump lately in Supreme Championship Wrestling.”

Kayla chuckles. “Ok, actually, it’s an out and out losing streak.  We’ve been getting  our asses handed to us and we can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong.”

“Oh man, I…” Oliver shakes his head “…I had no idea.”

“Don’t worry, Oliver.”

“I just get so busy here at the office, managing our legal issues, checking up on Gabby Austin and Julia Braddock and other duties here that I forget you wrestle yourself in SCW.”

“I told you, it’s ok,” Kayla says shaking her head “you don’t need to worry about me in SCW.  I can manage myself.  I need someone to direct this ship when I’m not around and you’re the man to do it.”

“I’m glad you have so much faith in me, sis, but I haven’t done a perfect job.” Oliver remarks stoically. “I’m not able to get Ms. Gold booked in GCW as much as we’d like.”

“I’ll just have to stop by their general manager myself and talk to them about that.”

“You shouldn’t have to, Kayla.” Oliver motions to himself. “It’s my job.”

Before answering, Kayla tilts her head to one side and studies Oliver for a few moments.

“Is this really what you called me to talk to me about?”

“Uh….” his voice trails off “…no.”

“Then what is this about?” Kayla asks. “Why did I have to come to Boston before New York City and Breakdown?  And furthermore, what is so important that it couldn’t be handled over the phone?”

“Trust me, this is something you would want to hear face to face.  You cannot handle it well otherwise.”

Kayla rolls her eyes. “Whatever, I’m here now…so let me handle it…”

There is a long, tense gaze between the foster siblings.  Oliver isn’t certain about bringing this to Kayla’s attention, despite the fact that he knows he should.  Kayla, on the other hand, is growing impatient.  She wants to be training with her sister Angelica but instead she’s here with Oliver, waiting on something he claims is important.  She wants him to get this over with.

“A few days ago, I received contact…”

Oliver’s voice trails off.  Kayla grows more frustrated as he goes silent again. “Contact from who?!”

“…my grandmother, Jenny Hardy.  Her son, my uncle, Samuel Hardy.”

Kayla’s eyes grow wide as she realizes exactly who Oliver is referring to.  They rarely visited, due primarily to Oliver Hardy Sr. staying away from his own family as much as possible, but she does remember Jenny and Samuel.  She takes in a few deep breaths and nods her head.

“I see why you wanted to tell me this face to face.”

“I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you, Kay,” Oliver says quietly “I haven’t even managed to get up the courage to contact them back.”

“So you didn’t even talk to them?” Tears are beginning to form in Kayla’s eyes.

“No, they just left a message on my voicemail here at work.” Oliver sighs. “Somehow they tracked me here.  I’ve been doing my damndest to stay away from them.”

“What do they want?”

“They want our…I mean my father’s ashes.” Oliver answers. “They want to give him a proper ceremony.”

Kayla can no longer contain her emotions.  Immediately she shoots up out of the air, nearly knocking it over.  She walks over to the far side of the room and buries her head in her hands and begins to cry uncontrollably.  Oliver slowly gets up out of his chair and approaches Kayla cautiously so as to not disturb her, but he does want to comfort her in some way.

“Are you ok, sis?”

“No, it’s not!” She spins around and shoves Oliver as hard as she can. “I thought it was over when that son of a bitch died!”

She pokes him in the chest with a finger. “Then you came along the first time and reminded me of it!”

She pokes him in the chest a second time. “Then you came back!  And that bastard son my niece is raising is a permanent reminder of that jackass every single time I look at him!”

Rage, among other emotions, are pouring from every orifice of Kayla Jones. “Do you have any fucking idea what that’s like?!  I can’t look at my own niece and her son straight in the face without thinking terrible thoughts about them…all because of what HE did to them!”

“Yes, Kayla,” Oliver Hardy Jr. nods his head slowly “I do know what that’s like.”

“Fuck you!” Kayla rears back and slaps Oliver across the cheek.  Oliver then embraces her.  She buries her face in his chest and begins to cry.

“I…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s ok, you are entitled to feel any and every emotion right now.” He remarks slowly. “I ran the gamut of emotions myself when I heard the message from the Hardy family.”

“I just want this to be over…” the embrace is broken and Kayla looks up at Oliver with eyes that are red from crying “…I just want this all to be over and never ever have to remember that time in my life, I don’t want to remember it again, and yet those…those people contacted you…”

“I wished I could have dealt with it myself without having to contact you.” He sighs deeply and shakes his head. “But unfortunately dad made you an equal heir to everything  dealing with him, his entire estate, as small as that maybe.  Thus to do anything with the ashes, I would need your approval as well.”

“Equal heir?”

“Yes,” Oliver nods his head “it makes no sense but it is true.  He made you an equal to the inheritance.  I don’t know why.”

“I know why.” Kayla growls angrily. “It’s his final victory.  In his sick mind this makes me permanently his daughter and he knew it would drive me nuts.”

“That’s insane.” Oliver retorts. “The law doesn’t work that way.  You can write anyone into a will.  People have written their pets as heirs to the estate.”

“What makes sense in t he eyes of the law never mattered to him and you know it.” Kayla says with a low growl. “This was his sick and twisted game from his sick and twisted mind.  He never wanted this to be over.  He wanted to be a permanent part of my life and this was his way of doing it.”

“Maybe, but we can finish this.” Oliver releases Kayla and then walks over to his desk. He opens a drawer and produces a piece of paper, a contract, from within.  He places it on the desk.

“This is a legal document I’ve already drawn up.  It will give Jenny and Samuel exactly what they want, they can have dad’s ashes.  Then this is over.”

Kayla narrows her eyes as a look of hatred enters her face. “No…”

“What?”

“No,” Kayla shakes her head “we’re not giving them what they want.”

“But Kayla, this would end it!”

“I don’t care!” Kayla snaps at him. “We are NOT playing his game!”

“Kayla…he’s dead…” Oliver says quietly “…these people are not him.”

“No, but they are related to him.  I might not be able to hurt your father anymore, I may not be able to get revenge for the permanent mental scars I have, but I can be a spiteful bitch towards his family!”

“Kayla, listen to reason…”

“No!” Kayla shouts. “I’ve made up my mind!”

Before Oliver can even respond, Kayla turns and storms up to the door, she throws it open and storms out the door.  Oliver considers going after her but thinks better of it.  He lets her walk away.  He sighs and shakes his head sadly, with disappointment on his face.

“I think you’re making a mistake, sis…”

==========

On Camera

==========

When Kayla came to Supreme Championship Wrestling to help me reunited The Sisterhood, we told you all right then and there that we would prove to be one of the best tag teams in SCW history.  And that wasn’t arrogance talking, that was confidence.  It was confidence in our ability and knowledge of who we are and what we are capable of.  And now fast forward to today and look at what we have accomplished.  We are two time SCW World Tag Team Champions.  We are staples of the SCW tag team division.

We came to the best tag team division in professional wrestling and twice we were at the top of the mountain. Twice we proved that we were the best in the world.

That’s just not the case any longer.

To say that Kayla and I haven’t exactly been at the top of our game would be quite the understatement.  It can be traced back to when we lost the SCW World Tag Team Championship back to the Honor Code.  And that…that was our fault…that was on us.  We weren’t good enough, we screwed up and we lost the belts.  It’s as simple as that.

But then Angelica and I got distracted.  Fatal Fortunes sent Angelica into a one on one match while it sent me into tag title contention with Ravyn Taylor as my partner.  I floundered with Ravyn while Angelica seemed to pursue a singles career.  It wasn’t long before I realized that as good as Ravyn is, I just would not be successful unless I had my sister backing me up.

So we reunited and reformed The Sisterhood with a renewed purpose and renewed determination to become tag team champions, to win the gold for a third time.  We fought Jake Starr and Tommy Valentine…

…and we lost…

…we fought Adrenaline Rush…

…we lost…

…and we fought The B&B Experience…

…and yes, we lost.  We haven’t won a damn tag team match since getting back together.  What do you think that’s doing for our confidence level?

Surprise, boys and girls, because our confidence level is as high as it’s ever been!  Everyone hits their a rough patch, every great athlete struggles from time to time, but the very best are able to push forward without  losing hope and damn it, The Sisterhood will never lose hope!  We know who we are and what we are capable of inside of the squared circle!

And we also know that when our backs are against the wall and we are pressured to perform at our best on the grand stage then we always turn up the heat and turn out the performance of a lifetime.  And you don’t get a bigger stage than Rise To Greatness and the Scaffold Scramble and you don’t get much more pressure than the kind Kayla and I are under right now.

Angelica and I have never been in Scaffold Scramble and despite the homework we’ll do, the research we’ll do, and the tape we’ll review, there is no true substitute for experience.  We are at a disadvantage.  But we don’t care.  Stack the deck, make it as difficult as possible.  It’ll make our victory at the end of the day all that much sweeter, because Rise To Greatness will be our time and our stage to step up and regain our spot as a top tag team in SCW…

…or maybe one of us will get a singles title shot, any title shot except the World Title…and that individual, Angelica or myself, can pursue a singles career…

…or maybe we’ll just fall flat on our face like we have been doing lately.

In the latter two cases, The Sisterhood is no doubt over.  I won’t lie, Kayla and I want the tag title shot more than anything, because the singles title shot or nothing at all would mean the end of The Sisterhood.  I just don’t honestly see us recovering from this.

But if we go down, then by God we are going down fighting, we are going down in a blaze of glory, and we are going to take some of these other people in the match with us!

Jake Starr and Tommy Valentine, perhaps we owe you a debt of gratitude for coming up with this idea, this one last chance for The Sisterhood.  And you know, we caught your words on Breakdown; we’re not that Free Botswana group any longer.  We may have been acting like a couple of bitches lately but frustration does that to you, and perhaps we overreacted, but we are not those people any longer.

Jake, my sister Angelica has more history with you than I do, but I still don’t trust you, and you may not trust me and Angelica, but this isn’t about trust.  It is about respect.  We do respect you…yes, even I do.  I respect you and Tommy both.  Hell, how can we not respect a team that beat us clean in the center of the ring?

You beat us once…we’re going to fight like hell to make sure you don’t beat us a second time.

Speaking of respect, Adrenaline Rush is another tag team that we respect the hell out of.  We fought so many times it isn’t even funny.  We fought so much that we’ve grown to know each other like the back of our own hand.  We’ve created classic tag team memories in SCW, so it’s only appropriate that you are in this Scaffold Scramble with The Sisterhood.

We’re ready to make more memories, but we’re not going to let you stand in our way of getting one of those contracts.

Gable Winchester, you and Autumn Valentine ended our first reign as SCW World Tag Team Champions.  Now you’re in this Scaffold Scramble with myself and Kayla with another chance to make history.  You ended our first tag title run but you’re damn sure not going to end The Sisterhood!

Merrick Wiseman,  I never did like you.  Whether it was your dumbass Watchman Program or your insane hijinks with your bestie Vixen Cain, you were always a pain in my ass and an annoying little jerk.  I will enjoy this one more opportunity to punch you in the mouth.

Those are the ones we know about.  Anyone could request to be in this match and get added.  But if you get put in be aware that my sister Angelica and yours truly will be going all in and all out for this Scaffold Scramble.  We are putting it all on the line, including our bodies, and we can’t be anymore literal than that, because Rise To Greatness may very well be the last stand for The Sisterhood, and if it is, we’re going down swinging, and we’re going to kick all of your teeth right down your throat!