[The pain, it hadn't subsided, it had in fact steadily increased in magnitude, making an unseen arc throughout Marcus' back causing him to wince after every single movement. The feeling of hundreds of tiny metal tacks popping through his skin like it were paper was enough to cause him to shudder openly just by remembering how much it had hurt. He looked at the numerous tiny blotches of blood stained onto his tanned skin through a mirror, the blood had taken on that rusty brownish colour reminiscent of horrid sewer water only the homeless or poor would drink.]

[He limped back to the bench underneath his open locker, each step was a monument to the match he had just endured and then some. He still felt that tiny rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins from hearing Fury's words, from pounding Reina as hard as he could in an attempt at getting vengeance for her pointless interference, and from giving Stryker a beating he most would most likely not soon forget. And in that, Marcus took some solace, knowing he hadn't hobbled out of that arena with his dignity no longer in tact.]

[And like all other opponents Marcus had faced thus far, Julius Stryker was now a distant memory, something that would probably never be thought of again unless completely necessary. As Marcus stared wide-eyed at the cement wall across from him, his focus seemed to drift through the very matter that made that wall what it was, all the way towards next Wednesday. Towards the inevitable clash of titans, that had been up to now, only a movie. Marcus wasn't making too big a deal out of something that had already reached a fever pitch. Reina wasn't like all the other male wrestlers he'd faced up to this point; She was probably a female, although even the most in-depth scientific reports could neither confirm nor deny that theory.]

[As he carefully wiped the sweat from his aching body, his attention was caught by a photograph conveniently placed in front of him on the cold, hard cement floor. As he picked it up, he recognized the face staring back at him. Reina Saiaki, once again. It really seemed to him that no matter where you went in the Gladiator Wrestling Assosciation, there was something to do with her raising hell all over the building. Marcus had never even bumped elbows with the little minx until this evening when she tried to strangle the air from his lungs. But contact or no, she had always been there; Taking the limelight from just about every wrestler employed by the GWA.]

[Marcus draped the towel across the back of his neck and hunched over to glare at the made-up face of miss Saiaki under better lighting. Her's was a beauty that only appealed to the sickly, the crazies out there, which Marcus hardly considered himself a part of the ranks. I'm sure to those adolescent boys who saw her picture and soon hid under there mattress, Reina was a breathtaking spectacle of feminity, but had any of them been hit in the back of the head by her? Or had any of them been strangled by the little b*tch within an inch of their pathetic lives? In her Marcus saw all that he hated and even more that he hadn't hated previously. Sure enough this woman would become the bane of Marcus' existance for the next week or so, thoughts of her would flood his mind until even his body's natural chemical creations wouldn't be able to stop him from getting pissed off.]

[Ah, but the difference for this match against the she-bitch was that in some ways, he'd have an advantage; He'd have two men to tend to any "problems" that might arise outside of the ring. This was of little use in putting Marcus' mind at ease, however. It was different for Marcus now, he had actually had a glimpse of gold in his sights when he had reached for that trash can high above the ring, he had felt the rise in his stomach that told him victory was near; And within the blink of an eye, that had all been shot down once Reina had stolen the show. How much did that piss Marcus off? He brought his finger to slide along the smooth face of the picture he sat transfixed upon. Behind his lips, clenched teeth began to grind onto one another, as the light rubbing of his finger on the picture of Reina turned into faint scratching.]

[He bared his teeth as the scratching turned to rough tapping of his index finger directly onto Reina's face. His tapping became more and more incessant, turning into a brutal onslaught from his finger, and quickly transforming into his fist doing the tapping. Soon his entire arm became animated, punching harder and harder onto the face of Reina, crumpling the photo as he did so. His anger turned into rage as he wrapped both his hands around the photo and wrung it tightly into a cylindrical crumple, twisting and turning as gradually he stood up off the bench while continueing to furiously crumple the image. His wringing motion turned ti a frustrated tear as little bits of the photo began to fall to the floor until Marcus had torn the entire photograph to pieces. He stood over the slices in a domineering manner, like a master would over a dog that had been bad and crouched over angrily looking at each torn bit of Reina's face.]

Gaines: How do you like THAT, devil b*tch?!

[He swallowed a moment, and directed his mouth over top of the pieces of Reina laying on the floor and spit on each one. He looked at each one satisfactorily.]

Gaines: I'll tear your f*cking heart out and feed it to my dog! If I had one. And then use your damn carcass as a... a uhm CANOE and sail it off the DAMN Niagara falls. Then how beautiful would you be?! How beautiful would you be after I took your face and used it as a bowling ball? Or used it as a snowshoe? HUH? DAMMIT YOU B*TCH. YOU'RE GOING TO EAT EVERY LAST WORD YOU EVER SPEAK OR HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT ME. AND WHEN YOU DO I'M GOING TO ASK IF YOU WANT SECONDS AND YOU'RE GOING TO SAY YES CAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT IS DAMN WELL BEST FOR YOU.

[As weird as it was, Marcus stayed hunched over the photos panting heavily, trying to regain his breath.]

Woman: Uhmmmmm... Mister Gaines?

[Marcus looked up from the picture to see a slender woman standing in the doorway, just how long she'd been standing there remained to be seen. Marcus tried his best to hide any embarrassment he was feeling, and slowly stood up and sat back down on the bench as if nothing had happened whislt keeping eye contact with the woman in the doorway.]

Gaines: [Slowly.] Yeeeeaaah?

[She looked at him rather oddly.]

Woman: There's someone on the phone for you. Will you take it or should I get them to leave a message?

[It was rather unnatural for Marcus to be getting phone calls, in a world where he was otherwise shunned by the general public, getting phone calls at either at work or at home just didn't happen. The stunned look on Marcus' face was one most people really hadn't seen before, but Marcus nodded and stood up to get the telephone, which the woman had in fact carried with her in the form of a cellular which she handed to Marcus. Marcus gave a nod as if to relieve her, and put the phone to his ear.]

Gaines: Hello?

[There was only the sound of air resounding over the phone line until the very familiar voice spoke up from out of nowhere.]

Debra: Hello, Marcus. You missed our session this afternoon.

[Marcus stood stunned, with only the sound of his heart thumping reverberatedly through his entire body. It had been a long while since Marcus had heard from Debra, let alone had a psychiatric session with the woman. Suspiciously, her voice had taken on a conspiratory tone, something was most definately up. After what Marcus had done to Barret it was only logical that Debra would try to find someway of getting him back. Marcus had had plans of eventually stealing Debra from Barret for himself when things took on a more peaceful nature career-wise.]

Gaines: Debra?!

[A scoff resounded over the telephone line.]

Gaines: I'm sorry? I didn't even know we had an appointment today; I've been so busy with the GWA that I must have lost all track of time.

[Gaines waited expectantly for her to respond, it sounded like she was either concentrating hard, or she had just left the phone off the hook and marched off without any notice whatsoever.]

Debra: It doesn't matter. I've been thinking about a lot of things, Marcus, our relationship in particular.

[His ears perked up, his heart began thumping uncontrollably against the walls of his chest, the tone of her voice was so seductive.]

Gaines: Oh?

Debra: [Seductively.] Mmm-hmmm. I would really like to talk to you about some stuff. Would you be able to meet me at my office in about an hour or so?

!-------------!

[Marcus didn't need asking twice, it was a dream come true. The woman he had fell in love with when he first set eyes on her, the woman he had tried so hard to get into his corner, to eventually be with him, she was in fact suddenly looking at him as an alternative to every guy she'd ever seen. It was like every coin Marcus had ever thrown into a wishing well, every shooting star he had seen that now held the hope of an aspiration had all, in one fell swoop built up retroactively into the mother of all wishes.]

[And as he drifted along aimlessly towards Debra's office, through darkly lit hallways and closed office spaces, everything suddenly seemed better, inside and outside. Not a thing anyone could say could tear him down from this high a cloud, not Barret Whistler, not Sean Fury, and sure as hell not Reina Saiaki. His step got an added bounce to it, his smile seemed to grow wider with each pleasant thought, and his general manerisms took on that of an extremely happy man on thirty-fourth street.]

[He opened the doors to her office, revealing the office to him in exactly the same fasion it had when he first set eyes on the room itself some eight years ago. However, the room was not as bright as it normally had been when Marcus was visiting Debra every week; One of the lights above him had been dimmed somehow or another, as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, he made out a feminine silhouette leaning against the desk, just in front of the window overlooking the city. Marcus stepped forward until he noticed her raise her hand indicating for him not to come any closer.]

Debra: Slow down, Marcus. Won't you sit down?

[Marcus' heart jumped at the very sound of her voice, he quickly and promptly rushed towards the familiar couch and rested himself firmly on the apholstery, eagerly waiting for her to make the next move. There was only silence throughout the room, and nothing more. The sound of a lighter being flicked alive echoed through the room, and light began dancing upon the wall, as it moved towards Marcus. Strangely, the light seemed focused, it didn't light up any other area of the room besides a very small circle around the flame.]

[Marcus watched it hypnotically as it danced ever closer to him, then seemed to be dropping slowly, and finally sat resting atop the glass coffee table nearby. More silence, it seemed louder than anything ever heard in the known universe, yet awfully comforting. The sound of liquid being poured into glass could be heard now, then the clinking of a second glass, and then the repeated sound of a glass being steadily filled up. Marcus stared into the candle itself, giving off the image that the light was brightening up bits of the room that were actually in total darkness.]

[Marcus felt the smoothness of a wine glass enter his hands and he gripped it, hearing a soft female body rest nearby on the couch next to him. His heart began to soar as he raised the glass up to his nose and smelled the pleasing aroma of red wine wafting carefully out of the glass. Unceremoniously, he chugged from the glass eagerly swallowing every last drop, ending with a satisfied sigh as he put the glass on the table. Everything moved by so dreamily in this office, it wasn't always like this Marcus recounted; The office used to be much more pleasant, in this situation something seemed amiss, but Marcus passed it off, how could anything be wrong when he was so close to having everything he hoped for about to come true.]

Debra: You know, Marcus. I've been thinking a lot about you since the time we last saw one another. I've been thinking about all that has happened between since we first met. I'd have to say that I've always felt a certain bond between us, even through the rough times that we've been through recently, there was something always very appealing about you.

[Marcus nodded knowing only he actually knew he was nodding.]

Debra: You've gone through great lengths to get to me. Not always the most romantic of routes, but you've always accomplished your goal. Did you enjoy the wine by the way?

[Marcus cleared his throat, something about her voice seemed different, something he either hadn't heard in her before, or something he just hadn't recognized.]

Marcus: Yes.

[The sound of her own glass being placed upon the table could be heard.]

Debra: Good. I'm glad. I'm glad you came. Most men I know would be very afraid to face me after doing what it was you did to Barret. It definately wasn't planned by him or I, I can assure you.

[Marcus felt his head spinning, something in that wine didn't taste right.]

Debra: Even the most unpredictable of men can be led along a path of predictability. You did everything we expected you to do except for getting out of jail so soon, and injuring Barret. But in a sense, it's even better that you did both of those things.

[Marcus felt his breath weakening, become hoarse, and his head began to loll back and forth as Debra's words seemed to slow down to a crawl, and each word went into his mind alone for him to interpret each one.]

Debra: You're perfect in every way for what we have in mind Marcus. Perfect in every detail. You are exactly what we need right now. Isn't that simply delicious? The perfect loose cannon, I think it's so delightful you decided to come along tonight. I really do.

[None of what she was saying made any sense to Marcus, but as he sat there dazed from whatever it was she had slipped into the win, the candlelight began to grow, it rose up and suddenly, the whole room was bright, and Marcus could clearly see Debra, he looked over her ample body, the curves in just the right places, and the weirdest, most devious of smiles he had ever seen etched across her face. It was the last thing he saw as he drifted into unconsciousness.]

!----------------!

[He woke up on his bed, the same as he did every morning. Besides a splitting headache, he felt fine. If it were to be somehow tested it would be revealed that he remembered nothing about last night, was it a dream? Even Marcus didn't know. Dreams such as those were the ones you normally would forget. But the one thing that seemed to be stuck within Marcus' mind was an image, one that he recognized well, and he couldn't get it out of his mind, nothing he did could erase that one mental picture from his mind. What had happened to him last night?]