The arena was packed, and Brad Maddox started Raw off with a 'huge announcement' according to him.
"Tonight, we will start a tournament for a title shot at Alberto Del Rio's United States Championship. The bracket is as followed: Antonio Cesaro will face R-Truth. Andrew will be facing off against Wade Barrett, which will take place tonight. Chase Lewis will take on Kofi Kingston in the main event tonight, and Yoshi Tatsu will take on Evan Bourne" he said, and I had a giant smile on my face.
"We will also start a tournament for Layla's Divas Championship. The bracket is as followed: AJ Lee will take on Aksana. Natalya will take on Brie Bella. Kaitlyn will take on Eva Marie. Rosa Mendes will take on a... surprise opponent" he finished, and some how, my giant smile got. even bigger. Can't wait till I beat Kofi to advance in this tournament. Then April will win her tournament and we will dethrone the two foreign champions.
April and Britani started to warm up for their respective matches, which were going to be tonight. Andrew was shadow boxing while he was waiting for his match. I was just looking down at my phone, in complete and utter shock after hearing the news about the Navy Yard shooting. News was starting to circulate about it, as it happened earlier in the morning, but nothing was confirmed until half an hour ago. I had an old friend in the Navy, and the worry was starting to eat away at me. He put me down as an emergency contact, because he trusted me enough to know that I would know 'how to handle the news of his death' according to him. The girls let out a gasp, causing me to look up at the TV. Lillian Garcia delivered the news about the shooting. It may seem like a stupid thing to do, but we all understood why it had to be done. WWE was the first live event after 9/11 twelve years ago. It ran on the day of the Boston Marathon Bombings, so we all knew how much WWE helped restore some sense of normalcy to the United States and the world after tragedies. April looked over at me, with worry in her eyes.
"James, are you okay?" She asked, tentatively. There was an awkward silence until I let out a short sigh.
"Yeah. Just need to get some fresh air" I replied, and headed out the door. I walked through the hallways until ending up outside. Even though April still had her match tonight, I needed to collect my thoughts. Last time I needed to do this was back in ROH. Andrew had started to date a girl by the name of Melina, and I told him that she was cheating on him after over hearing her talking with another wrestler. He didn't believe me, and we had a small fight. Later that same night, I walked in on her having sex with someone NOT named Andrew. Took a few minutes to collect my thoughts, but thankfully Andrew happened to walk in on her and broke it off at that moment. My phone rang, and I answered it.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Smith? I am with the Cleveland Police Department. We would like to talk to you about your brother" My breath hitched. I didn't have a brother. Then again, I may have had one who either disappeared or died, causing my father to go batshit insane.
"I don't have a brother" I replied, and I heard a small sigh on the other end.
"Mr. Smith we found your brother's body. We matched his blood to yours, or have you forgotten the bar fight you got into while you were in Cleveland?" The bar fight was due to some drunk trying to force a girl to go home with him. Still, this may be the answer to the whole abuse. The door opened behind me, and a stage hand told me that I had to get ready for my match.
"Sir, I need to get back to work, so is it alright if I call you guys back?" I asked the officer.
"Yes you can. Just ask for Michael Thompson and they will transfer you over to me" he replied, and I hung up the phone. I went to the gorilla position, and waited for my music to hit. Kofi was already in the ring, and when I Will Not Bow hit the crowd blew the roof off the place. Kofi and I shook hands before the bell rang.
Kofi and I started out with a test of strength, which I won. He was backed up into the corner, and the ref told me to break the hold. Kofi got out of the corner, and charged at me. I slid between his legs, causing him to try and hit the Trouble in Paradise immediately. Ducking under it, I waited until after he hit the mat to try for a drop kick to the side of his head. He rolled out of the way of my drop kick, and he went for a neck-breaker. I blocked it and sent him air-born. He landed on his feet and quickly turned to face me. The crowd was loving it, and I gave Kofi a round of applause. Kofi ran towards me, and I jumped over him. He then went for a springboard inverted DDT, but I turned it into a back drop suplex.
I got to my feet and waited for Kofi to get to his knees before hitting him with a drop kick to the face. I started to stomp down on his midsection, and went for a leg drop. He rolled out of the way of the leg drop and hit me with his own drop kick before he started working on my midsection. He went for the boom drop, but I rolled out of the way of it. When I got to my feet, Kofi had his back turned to me. I ran and hit him with a bulldog, followed up with a quick leg drop to the back of his head. I went for the pin. "1...2.." Kofi kicked out, and I shook my head.
I waited till he got to his knees to hit him with a super-kick, which he countered into a pin attempt. "1...2.." I kicked out, and rolled out of the ring after Kofi looked at the ref. He went to pull me back into the ring from the middle rope, but I hit him with an enziguri. His body was laying on the rope, and I got onto the apron and ran at him. I hit him with drop kick to the side of the head, then proceeded to pull him out to the arena floor. I went and hit him with a springboard double foot stomp, but he rolled out of the way. When he stood up, I ran at him but he moved out of the way. I used my momentum to send me into the ring, breaking the ref's count at eight. I ran and leapt onto the top turnbuckle and hit him with a missile drop kick. 'This is awesome' chants broke out, as we were both down.
We made it into the ring at the count of nine, and struggled to get to our feet. When we did, we started trading blows until he blocked one of my punches and unleashed a flurry of chops on my chest. He went for the boom drop again, but this time he connected. He started to measure me for the Trouble in Paradise, and when I got to my feet, he connected with it near the ropes. He went for the pin. "1...2..." the ref stopped counting as I managed to get my foot on the bottom rope. Kofi was pissed, and measured me for another one. When I got to my feet, with the help of the ropes, he went to hit it. I ducked out of the way, and he landed on the top rope. I hit him with a few forearms to the kidneys, before going out of the ring.
I pulled him off of the top rope, and hit him with a belly to belly into a security barricade before picking him up and laying him on the ring apron stomach down. When he was in the right position, I moved the stairs a few feet from him to help me out. I backed into the security barricade by the time keeper, and ran towards him. I used the stairs to aid me in hitting Kofi with a running drop kick that brought him to the outside, causing the ref to start counting again. I picked him up, and threw him back into the ring and hit a springboard moonsault on him and went for the pin. "1...2.." Kofi managed to kick out again, and I placed him in a camel clutch. He crawled to the ropes, and I broke the hold. When he got to his feet, I kicked him in the gut and hit a flip power-bomb on him and went for the pin again. "1...2...3 ring the bell" I had finally won the match, and the crowd gave me a nice ovation.
I helped Kofi to his feet, and raised his hand. The fans were cheering for the both of us, but we were both exhausted both physically and mentally. As we made our way through the back, we were given praise by the workers. No one expected us to put on a match like that, but I showed them that I wasn't a one trick pony while Kofi showed them he could bring out the best in other wrestlers. Andrew, Britani, and April were waiting by the door to the locker-room. But I was too tired to bother with acknowledging them. Between finding out about the brother that I had no idea existed until today, the Navy Yard shooting, and the match, I was drained. But, I had to call that officer back to find everything out though and that was going to add on a lot more stress. After retrieving my bags, we all headed back to the hotel with Andrew driving. April was making small talk with Britani after failing to get me to talk. I felt bad about not talking with her, but with how much is on my plate, they would understand... Hopefully.
We got back to the hotel, and the second April and I got into our room my phone buzzed. April decided to take a walk for some reason. I answered it, and heard that my friend was alright. I let out a sigh of relief. When the Navy ended the call, I dialed the number to the police officer in Cleveland. After three rings, the phone was picked up.
"Cleveland Police Department, what is your emergency?" Came the answer, and I let out a small sigh.
"I need to speak with a Michael Thompson please" I replied, and they transferred my call to him.
"Thompson speaking"
"Mr. Thompson, this is James. What exactly happened to my brother?"
"Mr. Smith, your brother was killed today by a police officer in self defense. Your brother was a serial killer around these parts, and the FBI had even sent in teams to help us find him" I couldn't believe what I just heard.
"Can you tell me something?" I asked, and he gave an affirmative.
"Will you tell me if you can find a missing child report on him from 1990?" I heard the clicking of a few keys from what I assumed to be a keyboard. April walked in, and had a sad look on her face.
"There isn't one, why?" So, I had a brother who either disappeared or was kidnapped, but my Goddamn parents couldn't even bother to file a fucking report with the damn police and decided to blame me for his disappearance!?
"Because, until a few hours ago I didn't even know I had a brother." I heard April walking towards me, and some more clicking of keys.
"Where were you living in 1990?" April tapped me on the shoulder, but I held up my index finger.
"Chicago, Illinois." Some more clicking, and April was tapping me on the shoulder after the fourth time, she let out a short sigh and walked towards the door.
"I found a report of someone kidnapping a child in Lincoln Heights. The kid was thrown in the backseat in front of another young kid. The parents came running out, but the car sped off. The male had black hair, a five o clock shadow, looked to be 6'4'' and in fairly good shape." That was the exact description of my father, and for the first time in a long time, tears started to fall. "The woman had dark brown hair, and looked to be-" he started until I cut him off.
"I was the kid who saw it happen. My parents always blamed me for him being gone, and now I finally understand it." I stated, and said my goodbyes to him. When I hung my phone up, I saw April by the door.
"April, where were you?" I asked, wiping away some tears from my eyes. She turned and gave me an evil glare, but tears were flowing from her eyes as well.
"I went for a walk while you talked to the Navy guy. Then, when I get back you were on the phone with... with... probably the girl you've been seeing ON THE SIDE!" She exclaimed, and I let out a small sigh.
"April, first things first: No one on this Earth could EVER make me cheat on you. Secondly... I finally understand why my father abused me" she looked shocked after the second part, while more tears started to stream down my face.
"What do you mean?" I let out a short sigh before telling her everything.
"When I took the walk earlier, the Cleveland Police Department called me and informed me that my brother was killed. The officer I spoke to said he was a serial killer, and that the only report filed was a kidnapping one. My parents didn't file it though. My father blamed me because... because... I saw him get taken" I broke down after saying it, and April came and started to comfort me. "All this time I thought my father abusing me was for his enjoyment. Creating a fictional person who 'left' so he could pin it on me. Only for me to find out it was an actual person... my OWN FUCKING BROTHER!" I shouted, and April just started to rub my back soothingly.
"I... I don't want that to happen ever again. I want to be strong enough to make sure no one hurts you" I added, in a small voice. April made me look at her.
"James Smith, you ARE stronger than you are giving yourself credit for. You have always been stronger than most other guys, and you are more of a man than your father could ever wish. U know that you would do ANYTHING to protect me, so NEVER think you're not strong again!" She stated, before giving me a small kiss. She gave me a little smile, before continuing. "You are my Batman, and I am your Catwoman. Never forget that." I gave her a small smile, finally realizing just how much better my life has been since she came into it.
"I won't. Just promise me you will always be there when I need you though. Even Batman needs to lose the mask and show some true emotion" I said. She gave me another kiss, and a small affirmative nod. April has truly shown me that I can remove my mask, and pour my heart out to someone else who won't use it to back-stab me.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I just want to say RIP to those who were killed in the Navy Yard shooting. I am giving a shout out to ChainGangSoldier45 for letting me use Andrew from his story The Rated R Apprentice and for giving me advice before I jumped into writing a Wrestling story. He is a great writer. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Proving I belong, and don't forget to review. I don't own WWE and all that good shit.