The PPV was over, the wolves had returned to the forest to lick their many wounds. Or at least the closest thing one could find that resembled a forest in this old soggy city. White Wolf sat sullenly on the bench in the park, below a lamplight that was flickering, making
many shadows that twisted and danced in the sleepy darkness.
Wolf's eyes burned with righteous fury of it all. He had tried, oh, how hard he tried, and worst of all, everyone knew it. He hated it. It was like the old days, the times on the streets again, when he simply could not succeed in whatever he did. Was he destined to fail forever? The PPV had taken the fight out of the wolf, and he was still winded, having fought an classic, grueling 4-Way Tag Team Elimination match, followed by Main Eventing the damned Pay-Per View against that implacable foe, Rogue Dreamz.
Yet as he was struggling within himself someone else had taken a seat beside him, but he said nothing. For a
long while nobody did, and there was silence save for the occasional loud groan made either by young couples making love in the park, or some old lady was getting mugged. Nobody cared.
"Defeats come and go, but the man must persist," murmured the man, who was clad in a long grey trenchcoat and and hat that made him look like Bogart in Casablanca, though the flickering light showed nothing of his face. "You surprise me, wolf, with that little trick you pulled on Tony Stecchino, but why must you be so damnably stubborn? I have told you to keep your sights focused, concentrate on Rogue Dreamz. But no, you had to pull that stupid stunt with Flatliner, and interfere with the Tag Team titles. I know your main intention was to keep the Outlaws from even having a whiff at the tag-team belts... but at what expense?"
"Flatliner is my ally, and as payment for his services, I promised to deliver him Shadow, and I did." White Wolf said softly, voice edged with steel." Shadow crossed my path, and I had to knock him down, and I did."
"So you did! So the Wolf slew the Shadow, but the Dreamer continues to lurk! Rogue Dreamz, he may be nothing more than a rich dog in your eyes, but do you know what dogs do to wolves?" the Trench-coat man asked. " Wolves may be predators, but man hunt wolves with dogs. It will do you well to remember."
"I do not care for all this talk about dogs and wolves," said White Wolf. "I have lost the battle so leave me be."
"Does it anger you so? I have heard you say that you did not care for European gold before, that the European belt is merely
a symbol of greed, excess and corruption," the Trench-coat man continued, bulldozing his way into Wolf's psyche. "Why does it burn you so to have failed to take it, then?"
"You never shut up do you?" Wolf said, resigned. "Don't you already know? I want that belt, not because I want it, but because when I have it... nobody else can! I want to see the desire, the anxious need on the faces of my enemies as they eye the belt around my waist. Desire will consume them, and they will burn from within, for nothing eats into a man so much as unfulfilled desire. I want to walk into the middle of that ring, holding that filthy belt, and scream at Dreamz and his ilk: 'Look! I have the belt! And there is nothing you can do about it!', and watch them claw at their eyes like the capitalist dogs they are."
Both men said nothing for a long while.
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"If you want your belt so damned much," said Trench-coat Man." You need to choose your allies carefully."
"I assume you have some suggestions?" replied the albino. "You always do."
Trench-coat Man laughed coldly, a deep basso sound that rang in the albino's head like a large church bell.
"All I can say is that neither Shadow nor Mad-X 2000 is your enemy, " the Trench-coat man said, and he began to stand. He was huge, White Wolf realized for the first time as the mysterious messenger towered over him. Or was it merely a trick of the light? The lamplight only flickered and gave no answers.
"The Outlaws are my enemies now, I think," White Wolf said as Trench-coat man began to depart. "Flatliner took the Hardcore belt from Shadow."
"There are ways, young wolf, there are ways! Do not underestimate the intelligence of the other men in your company. The hardcore belt is a rich prize, that is true, but far from being the richest prize... think White Wolf think! Remember what dogs do to wolves!"
Even as Trench-coat man left, still as mysterious, and still un-masked, White Wolf finally understood.
Dogs maul wolves, but what can one dog do to four wolves?