26 October 2009 - 0800

Josh Konnely lumbers into his hotel room after concluding a two mile run through the chill October morning. He drops down onto the bed, trying to relax for a moment and catch his breath. Almost immediately, the room phone rings. Josh groans and forces himself back up onto his feet, grabbing the phone furiously. He has to struggle to get the words out as he answers the call.

"Hel...lo?"

"Mister Konnely, this is the front desk calling. You have a call from a Mister... Mack Daddy? Should I put him through?"

"Ugh. That withered old corpse... happens to be my boss... so I guess I'd better take it."

"Very well, sir. Thank you, sir."

There is a click on the other end as the desk clerk connects the caller.

"Yessir?"

"Hello, Josh. This is Darren calling on behalf of the office of Strike Towers Chairman of the Board Connor MacDaddy. With the change of date for the pay-per-view, we need you to head on over to the arena at your earliest possible convenience to go over some details for tonight's World Championship main event."

"Oh. Uhhh... shi-... alright, I'll just have to grab a quick shower and check out. I'll be on my way shortly."

"Thank you for understanding. We apologize for any inconvenience."

"Right, okay. Well, sooner I get off the phone the sooner I can get to the Chairman's office for this meeting or whatever. Goodbye."

"We'll see you soo-"

Konnely hangs up on Darren midway through the assistant's sentence, and with a sigh he heads toward the bathroom.

0808

Josh exits the bathroom with nothing but a towel on and crosses over to the dresser, where he had already laid out the outfit he was planning to wear to the arena, next to the already packed suitcase for the rest of his clothes. Konnely grabs a pair of gray boxer briefs, which he carefully slides up under the towel. Once the boxers are on, he pulls the towel off and lets it drop to the floor. He dresses quickly in the gray dress pants, black shirt and gray jacket he had set out, and slips on the black dress shoes.

Konnely bags the sweatsuit and sneakers he'd worn on his run, and grabs the suitcase, then heads out the door.

0838

Josh Konnely arrives at the superstar entrance to the arena where Hallowed Grounds is still a little under twelve hours away. His teeth are gritted in frustration at the early "wake up call" from the Towers. Josh enters the arena and takes his time in finding the door marked with the SFT logo and the Chairman of the Board plaque. He opens the door without bothering to knock, and inside he finds Lars Adams and James Halford.

"Ah, yes. Josh Konnely. Thank you for heading over so quickly."

"Save me the bureaucratic and political bullshit... Lars, is it? What's with the all day shift?"

"Well, it doesn't have to take all day. The thing is, Strike Towers seems to think that Annika Reizeger as World Champion is good for the company. So it would be our best interest if Annika kept the title tonight. I was hoping you could help out with that."

"What? They keep me on the bench for the better part of two months, now they put me in a title match and expect me to do WHAT? It's a fatal four way, I've got a chance to become a two-time World Champion, how am I supposed to make sure she keeps the strap? Lay down for her?

"Here's what I was thinking. The match type means there are no rules. If you would just assault all three of them and lay them out, you could simply walk away from the carnage triumphantly and the match would be thrown out."

"Call it what you want, but what you're really asking is for me to take a dive. Well forget it. I'm not going to protect your precious little Golden Girl. Where is she, anyway? Where has she been? She's MIA and AWOL. Nowhere to be seen or heard from."

"I thought you enjoyed raining down pain and suffering on people. Isn't that your whole thing? You've always said that hurting your opponents was better than beating them. I just figured you'd be down with stealing the thunder of Annika and Lucretia's little feud while protecting the two championship ladies."

"Are you out of your mind? What makes you think those two evil demon women deserve to be protected? They aren't the best thing for Strike Towers. The best thing for Strike Towers is a champion with a strong moral integrity, a champion with a sense of pride and decency. Someone like me."

"I can see your point. Listen, this whole thing wasn't my idea. I actually got an anonymous message asking me to protect the SFT Champion at Hallowed Grounds, by any means necessary. I hope you will reconsider..."

"You want a clear answer? Here's your answer..."

Josh Konnely swings and slaps the self-proclaimed High King across the face.

"That clear enough for you?"

Adams' muscle, James Halford, starts to step up to Konnely. Lars holds the big man back, allowing Josh to storm out of the office unimpeded. The camera follows Konnely out to the parking lot, where Josh hops in his Dodge Challenger and speeds away.

0858

Several minutes later, the Challenger pulls up to a 7-11. As Josh exits the vehicle and enter the store, the scene fades to black.

TO BE CONTINUED...