Bargaining and Depression

[Icon Lord Jon Kellar]

Jon Kellar opened his eyes and stared upwards. The linoleum-covered stone ceiling twisted and turned in front of him. He reached up and rubbed his eye, then winced as he felt the swelling around his left socket.

Slowly and painfully he pulled himself upright.

Icon Kellar: Ugh…

He ran his hands over his head and looked ahead. Through the swelling and the migraine, a fuzzy picture slowly came together to reveal... dinosaurs?

No... not dinosaurs, a dinosaur themed curtain. He pulled himself upright but felt a pinch in his hand, and looked over to find it attached to a drip. As he reached to pull it out, a loud beeping noise sounded, and his looking over to a nearby screen he saw, to his surprise, that he had flatlined.

Icon Kellar: Er...

A nurse appeared suddenly, throwing the curtain aside.

Nurse: Oh... you're awake.

Icon Kellar: Getting there... am I dead?

The nurse looked at him quizzically, then over at the machine

Nurse: Oh no, that just means one of your monitors has come off. People don't flatline in real life.

Icon Kellar: Huh, I never knew that.

Nurse: How are you feeling.

Icon Kellar: Like I'm at a Pink Floyd concert.

Nurse: That'll be the painkillers.

Icon Kellar: Painkillers?

Nurse: You were very badly beaten, someone just dumped you outside the hospital. Were you in a bar fight?

A flash, Shogun's left fist coming right at him. Blurring lights, muffled cheers.

Icon Kellar: Something like that.

He reached out and tugged at the needle in his arm. The nurse moved to stop him.

Nurse: Leave it alone.

Icon Kellar: Please... I prefer not to have pain medication. I have... a history.

Nurse: History or not, you need that. You've got 17 stitches in your eye socket and a large laceration in the back of your head.

Another flash, the sensation of his head cracking against the metal cage as he went down.

Icon Kellar: I'll be fine, I've... well, I'm not unfamiliar with this situation.

Nurse: Well, I think you should leave it alone until the Doctor says otherwise.

She moved to the end of the bed and reached for his clipboard.

Nurse: You want to tell me what happened?

Kellar sighed and bowed his head.

---

Earlier that morning, Jon Kellar had been standing outside a pre school in South London. He checked his watch and looked towards the gate.

Melissa: Daddy!

The Ring of Honor Icon smiled as his daughter ran through the pre-school gate towards him. He bent down and caught her in a big hug, lifting her up into the air.

Icon Kellar: Hey… what did you get up to today then?

Melissa: Where’s Uncle Sean?

Icon Kellar: Well, daddy got out of work early today, so he thought he’d come and get you himself.

Melissa: I drew a picture…

Icon Kellar: Did you? I can’t wait to see that…

Teacher: Ah, Mr Kellar…

Kellar looked up to see Mrs Fellows walking towards him. She was a middle aged woman with a permanent sneer tattooed across her face, the perfect headmistress. He put his daughter down and extended a hand, which was promptly ignored.

Teacher: Mr Kellar… I need to talk to you about your cheque.

Icon Kellar: Ah yes… well Mrs Fellows, erm… the thing is, there was an error with my account last week. None of my payments have gone out…

Teacher: I was talking about the cheque from last month…

Icon Kellar: Oh…

Teacher: But it’s good to know that the cheque you gave me last week will fare just as well.

Icon Kellar: Look, Mrs Fellows… I can explain… my pay has been a little late recently due to an error with HR at the court. If you give me till the end of the month I’m sure I can sought it all out…

Teacher: We’re not a charity Mr Kellar… we’re a nursery… you…

She cocked her head to one side and held out her hand.

Teacher: …understand?

Kellar sighed, and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and flicked through the few notes he had left. There was barely enough there, but if he paid it then he'd have no money for the train fare home with Melissa, and the thought of a two mile walk with a three year old did not fill him with joy.

Icon Kellar: Look, one more week... I promise.

Teacher: Sorry Mr Kellar...

Icon Kellar: Come on, please. I need you to take her!

Melissa looked up at her father sadly.

Icon Kellar: Oh sweetie, don't look at me like that, it's just... you'll have more fun here and Daddy needs to look for work.

Teacher: Look for work?

Icon Kellar: Shit...

Melissa: Bad Word!

Teacher: Meaning you don't have a job now...

Icon Kellar: It's complicated.

Teacher: I'm sure it is.

: Perhaps I can help.

Kellar's eyes narrowed. He knew that voice. He turned towards it to see a finely dressed balding gentlemen with a grey beard heading his way. Melissa ran towards him

Melissa: Grandpa!

Wilson: Hey bunny!

Mr Wilson scooped Melissa up into his arms, planting kisses all over her. He continued his approach as Kellar looked on, stone faced.

Icon Kellar: Nobody here needs your help Mr Wilson.

Wilson: This nice lady here would appear to disagree...

Mr Wilson reached into his pocket and produced his chequebook. With a click of his pen, he scribbled on the first cheque and handed it to the teacher.

Wilson: I believe this will cover it.

Mrs Fellows reached out to grab the cheque, but her hand was intercepted by the still-lightning fast reactions of the former World Champion. He snatched the cheque and ripped it into pieces. He reached into his wallet and brought out what money he had left, thrusting it into the teacher's hand.

Icon Kellar: There, are we settled?

Teacher: Err... yes...

Icon Kellar: Good.

Kellar reached out and pulled Melissa from her grandfather's arms. She fussed a little, but settled down after a while.

Icon Kellar: Say goodbye to Grandpa M.

Wilson: At least let me give you a ride home.

Icon Kellar: We're fine

Wilson: Then at least let me give Melissa a ride home, you and I need to talk.

Kellar turned back towards him.


To Be Continued....

[Icon Lord Jon Kellar]

A few hours later, Jon Kellar found himself in familiar territory, a run down bar in the East End of London. Behind him, two men stood in a steel cage, pummelling each other with bare fists. Around that ring, crowds of drunken thugs cheered.

Crowd: COMPETE! COMPETE!

There was a roar as one of the competitors hit the deck hard, blood gushing from a cut above his eye. The enforcer ran between the two men and forced the attacker back to his corner. It was clear to all that the man on the floor wasn't getting up any time soon.

The crowd cheered, Kellar sighed. This is not what COMPETE was meant to be.

He signalled to the bartender. As the man poured him yet another drink, and the sound and vision all seemed to blur into one huge mess, Kellar thought back to his walk earlier with his former father in law.

It had started civil enough. Well, as civil as you can be to the man who had somehow legally engineered the entire transfer of UltimightMedia back into his own hands before the ink was even dry on his daughter's death certificate.

But somewhere between the river and the dojo, it had turned ugly.

...

Kellar: So, how did you know I'd be picking up M today?

Wilson: Well it seemed likely, after all, you were given the sack, and you're not so bad a father that you'd waste your time drinking instead of seeing your daughter.

Kellar: And how did you know I'd been sacked exactly?

Wilson: I play golf with your resident Judge, I hear things.

Kellar: Charming...

Wilson: I don't really care that you don't have a job Jon. You've wasted your life up to this point, why would you change now? But I do worry about my grand daughter.

Kellar: So worried you impoverished her....

Wilson: You didn't think I'd honestly let you, a wrestler, run UltimightMedia after Sarah died did you?

Kellar: Your company doesn't seem to care too much about airing wrestling and making a tidy profit from it.

Wilson: Zookeepers make a tidy profit from monkeys, doesn't mean they want the chimpanzees running the zoo.

Kellar: You still didn't need to screw me over. It's not what Dyna would have wanted.

Wilson: Perhaps not, but when I signed the company over to her I planned for every eventuality... in the event that I outlived her, everything would revert back to me.

Kellar: I'm glad you can be so blasé and business like about the inconvenience of your daughter's death...

Wilson stopped for a second and grabbed his former son in law by the shoulder.

Wilson: Don't you dare accuse me of not caring. I loved Sarah, and that's why I want to do what's best for her daughter.

Kellar: My daughter, Wilson.

Wilson: Yes well that's what I wanted to talk to you about.

Wilson continued walking, Kellar followed.

Wilson: Right now, Melissa isn't really aware of what's going on, but sooner or later she's going to wonder why you keep coming home with cuts and bruises.

Kellar opened his mouth to ask,

Wilson: Like I said... I hear things... Anyway, because you're her father, Melissa will look up to you, and let's face it Jon, you're a wrestler, a thug. Oh you can deny it, wear any costume you want but at the end of the day it's what you are. I want better for my grand daughter.

Kellar: She could do worse than me.

Wilson: I've no doubt. But... I still find myself in need of an heir, and one day Melissa may be that heir. If you let her be.

Kellar: What are you saying?

Wilson: It's painfully obvious that you're struggling Jon.

Kellar: I'm doing fine

Wilson: You live in a run down gym with leaking pipes and often leave Melissa there in the care of a recovering alcoholic.

Kellar: Get to the point.

Wilson: Alright... I don't think you're fit to be Melissa's father.

Kellar stopped

Kellar: I'm not interested in your opinion of my parenting skills.

Wilson: I want to adopt Melissa. She will live with me, have the finest schools, a comfortable life, and have someone she can look up to. A businessman, a billionaire, not some washed up circus performer.

Kellar: Go to hell...

Wilson: I will go to court if I must, but I was hoping you would see sense. Melissa gets a proper upbringing, wanting for nothing, and you can self destruct to your hearts content in every underground brawl from now until the end of time.

Kellar snarled

Kellar: Go to court, they'll never let you have her. I'm not a drunk, I'm not a drug addict....

Wilson: No, but I imagine they'd fine Macheda Dojo somewhat less than suitable for children if they paid a visit.

Kellar froze, a shiver went down his spine.

Kellar: You bastard...

Kellar broke into a run but Wilson grabbed him by the arm

Wilson: Think about it Jon, use that bald melon of yours and see that this is the right thing. I can give her everything you can't

Kellar: Get off me!

Wilson: Social Services are already there...

....

Wilson wasn't lying. By the time Kellar had got there, Social Services were already on the scene. He'd arrived just in time to see them removing Melissa for her own safety and questioning Sean as to the whereabouts of the father.

He sunk another glass, and gazed the bottle. He had maybe two good mouthfuls left.

As the units piled up in his bloodstream he couldn't shake the fact that maybe Wilson, bastard though he was, was right. He did have money, and whatever those magazines and self help books said, money did make the world go round.

How had this even happened? A year ago he'd been sitting on a private jet with Dyna and Melissa on their way to Hong Kong for Heatwave XI. Now he found himself nearing the bottom of his second bottle of cheap whiskey, and the only thing stopping him from getting a third was that he wasn't sure he couldn't afford it.

Ah fuck it, number three it was. A signal to the bartender, and the bottle was in front of him before he knew it.

The East End was great.

Suddenly a loud screech penetrated through the haze of alcohol and self loathing

Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen... The time has come. The COMPETE open challenge. A no holds barred contest against the undefeated, unstoppable SHOGUN!!!

Kellar turned his head and saw Shogun enter the cage. Somehow he seemed even bigger than he remembered him, back in the days when COMPETE was a respected combat federation rather than a drunken underground fistfight contest.

Announcer: And tonight, we are pleased to announce that the prize fund has been increased to £100,000. That's £100,000... in cash...

Kellar's eyes widened

Announcer: To any man who can defeat Shogun.

£100,000? Properly invested that could be the solution. It would clear some debts, with money left over to put a deposit on a flat, or even a house. He could get a job teaching martial arts, or more security work. Maybe overnight security in a corporate building. Those jobs paid well, and with a house name that didn't contain the word "dojo" he'd be in with a chance of getting one.

This was a sign, a gift from the heavens.

Without thinking, Kellar pushed the bottle aside and climbed on top of his barstool. He shouted above the noise.

Kellar: Ladies... Ladies and Gentlemen... Lad... Ladies... SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

The crowd fell silent and turned towards him. This was it, he had their attention. Now to wow them!

Kellar: Ladies... ladies and... and Gentlemen. I am a four time World Champion... I am the General of Compete and I... I.. I shallenge Chogun... I.. mean I... pfffff....

He laughed a bit, as did several people in the crowd. Clearly they were impressed.

Kellar: You see I... I'm no ordinary figchter... nonono you see, I'm a marshal artisht... and so you see that shaved gorilla... has no chans... so... if you'll excuse me, I need to collect my winningsh....

Kellar stumbled to the floor, then staggered to the cage. As he passed his adoring fans, he could hear their adulation.

Man: Well this should be quick.

Yes! thought Kellar. But how should it be, a gogoplata? A kimura? Perhaps he should break out the Kellar Klutch?

Man: Yeah, he's got no chance.

This was a smarter crowd than he'd given them credit for.

Man: He's going to die.

Well that was a bit of an exaggeration, I mean Kellar was a professional. He knew when to release a hold.

He staggered through the door of the cage, and it locked behind him. He passed the snarling Shogun on his way to the corner.

Kellar: Has anyone told you your head looks like a hairy melon? You're incredibly ugly...

As the enforcer struggled to hold back Shogun. Kellar reached his corner and unbuttoned his shirt... or tried to. Damn these small buttons, so clumsy and fiddly. Eventually he gave up and tried to pull the shirt over his head, but fared little better with this approach.

Finally, with a massive grunt, he pulled the shirt up and over his head, sending the collar button flying across the ring. He turned to face Shogun.

Kellar: Alright Gorillaman... Bring it!

The bell rang.

And as 300+ lbs of Shogun barrelled towards him it suddenly occurred to the 3 time World Champion that perhaps there was a flaw in this plan after all.