CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: "THE VALENTINE REDEMPTION"
"Curse this storm." Jack thought, marching through the heavy rain, flinching every time a lightning blot flashed and thunder crashed. His mind reeled, his heart thudded violently in his chest. He couldn't take his mind's eye away from the image of that man holding the knife to Popuri's neck. His mouth curled into a vicious scowl. "Someone is going to DIE for this!"
It felt like eternity, but he finally reached the Church's doors and used one strong kick to force them open. They slammed open and he rushed inside. The lights were on, but he couldn't see anyone.
BAM! Suddenly the doors closed behind him. Jack spun around to see a tall, slimy little man with greased black hair standing in front of the closed doors, throwing the lock shut. He had a pistol in his hands, a clip-fed semi-automatic GUN and it was aimed right at Jack.
"Jim Black." Jack hissed.
Jim Black nodded, smiling like a cat about to eat the pet canary. "That's right, Valentine. We finally tracked you down, we did."
"We?"
"Turn around, Valentine." A voice said, "And don't make any sudden moves or Jim will blow your brains out."
Jack closed his eyes and ground his teeth together, "Chief." He spun and found himself facing Aaron St. Claire, standing there with the dagger in his hands, but in his hands it looked uncommon. Jack had no doubt the man didn't really know how to use it, but what else did he need to do besides stab him?
Jack put his hands out on his sides. "I'm unarmed. Where is she?"
Jim Black strode forward and without warning planted his foot as hard as he could into the back of Jack's left knee. A loud 'KRA-POP' sounded and Jack cried in pain, falling to his knees.
"We're in control of this situation, Valentine." Black said. "Don't forget that. We went through a lot of trouble to track you down and get you right where we want you. Balls to the wall between a rock and a hard place and now…you're going to do exactly as we say or else your pretty wife and all your friends are going to pay the price for you!"
"All my friends?" Jack thought, his heart freezing in his chest. Jim Black prodded him in the back with the gun. Jack picked himself up and limped out of the foyer and into the Church itself. Inside was the most shocking thing Jack had ever seen in his life.
The pews were moved to the side. Seated in them, bound hands behind them and at their feet, with gags in their mouths, was the whole of Mineral Town. Every citizen, every man and woman save May and Stu. "Dear God, let the cops get here soon. This is worse than I thought."
Suddenly, Jack heard the strumming of fingers over guitar strings. As the acoustic guitar began to strum out a haunting song.
Before he even saw his face, Jack knew who that voice belonged to. He remembered those nights in the locker room, hearing that same guitar and that same voice belonging to a big old country boy who had once wanted to be a country singer.
Jack finally saw him in the corner by the foyer, sitting in a stool with the guitar in his hands. Tied and gagged at his feet was Popuri, looking at Jack, pleading with him to do something, her sobs muffled through her gag. "You son of a bitch." Jack said, "I should have left you in the dirt where I found you, Cleaver."
Butch, calmly staring at Jack, put the cigarette that had been between his fingers back into his mouth and stared at Jack through the wisps of smoke that curled up before his eyes. "You call me that, you selfish bastard. You have the guts t' call me that after what you did t' me." His southern drawl was just as Jack remembered it. Butch put the guitar down and approached Jack slowly, sizing him up. "You look like pig shit, Ace…especially with that stupid hat!" He ripped the cap off Jack's head and tossed it aside.
Jack sneered, holding his hands out. "Well…what the hell do you want? You found me, okay? You found me."
"That's right, I did find you." Jim Black said, moving just into Jack's peripheral vision on his right side. He turned his head to the private investigator. "But you didn't make it easy and that little stunt you and your old man pulled on me with the kiddie porn pictures on my computer, emailing them to the mayor, that was real cute. You know, if it wasn't for that and cold-cocking me last summer in the ditch, I'd have probably never wanted to see you again…but now that you've really pissed me off!...I decided to take a measure of payback on you!"
"Same goes for me!" Aaron St. Claire said, coming up on Jack's left side. "You ruined me, Ace! It only took a year for my business to going down the toilet no thanks to you!"
Jack snapped his head around to St. Claire. "No, you ruined yourself! How many times did I tell you to stop hiring those worthless, no talent hosses, eh? But as soon as I'm gone, you go and hire a whole roster full of those idiots and look what happened! I don't know what kind of hard-on you get watching those super-heavyweight brutes fiddle-fart around with each other, but if you want to lay some blame on the failure of AWF, it's at YOUR feet, not mine. I made Butch so when I was gone I didn't have to worry about someone tailing me or looking for me!"
Jack spun around to Jim Black. "And YOU should have kept your nose out of my business, I don't care how much money he was paying you. Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to be found? That maybe working for this jackass" He jerked his thumb towards St. Claire, "would have put me in a wheelchair! No, you can't understand that. The only person you listen to is the almighty dollar."
Jack whipped around to Butch. "And You! I gave you the world on a silver platter. I took you in, I made you what you are, and you have the stones to stand up here and tell me your own failures are my fault. Kiss my ass, Butch!" Jack spat.
Butch looked towards him calmly, taking the cig out of his mouth and blowing a plume into the air. "So it's true, is it? You threw the match, just like they said you did? You let me win so you could…what? Come here and work in the dirt? Marry pinky here and have 2.5 kids, live the American dream?" His right index finger stabbed into Popuri's cheek. Jack noted it. That finger was going to pay.
Jack sneered, "You damn right I threw that match! I saved myself years of pain and suffering so I could live the rest of my life in peace."
"You turned like a coward and ran!" The Cleaver screamed. "And left me with the pieces you left behind, but nobody wanted me they wanted YOU! And it eats at me every day, Ace! It eats at my fucking heart knowing that I carried your so-called legacy to its death. You gave me a tainted legacy to carry because YOU QUIT!" Butch took hold of the guitar by its neck and swung it around at Jack, who ducked slightly and watched the guitar shattered into splinters against the wall as Butch let it fly from his hands.
Jack just sneered further, "You always were a loser, Butch. A kid who cries when he doesn't get his way. I'm surprised you even had the intelligence to find me."
"Oh, we didn't." Jim Black said, "I did. Me, all on my own. I suppose it'd be stupid to tell you now, but who cares? I had all but given up on finding you. I'll admit, Valentine…you did a hell of a job in hiding. The old man in your house the last time I was here was pretty clever. But it just so happened I was sitting at a bar one night when this stupid Vietnamese or Chinese clown with a yellow rain jacket on and a stupid rainbow hat on his head sits next to me."
Jack closed his eyes.
Won.
Jim Black had run into Won.
Jim smiled upon seeing this, "That's right, I ran into your little traveling salesman friend. I happened to show him a picture of you and he said he knew you. Said you lived down here in Flowerbud, running a farm. Imagine my surprise. I got St. Claire and we decided to bring The Cleaver along to, you know, to have a little muscle on our side."
"Then what do you want with them?" He asked, looking to his friends.
Jim Black strolled over to a nearby pew. "Oh, they're just a little insurance, to make sure you know we're serious about this. Pinky there was an incentive for you to come up here. Of course, after we're done with you, I have a little more revenge to dish out." He looked down to Ann, his finger trailing down her cheek as she glared at him angrily, her arms quivering as she struggled against the bonds with her arms, as if she could just break them with her own strength. "You still owe me a date, sweet-thing. I'll teach you a thing or two about manners."
Ann merely glared.
"So that what this is about?" Jack asked. "Revenge? If you guys want money, fine…I'll write you a check and you can leave me alone."
"This isn't about money, Ace." Butch said.
"My name is Jack."
"I don't care what you call yourself. You're not going to give us money, you're going to give us the satisfaction of knowing we repaid you the things you've done to us."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Butch reached down and pulled his t-shirt off, revealing his rippled muscles underneath, his wide girth of strength that Jack knew wasn't all for show. Butch popped his neck. "You still owe me that last match, Ace. Only this time, you don't have any choice but to lose, because if you fight back it'll be her who takes your place." He looked to Popuri and smiled.
"You don't touch her." Jack said.
Butch tilted his head, then rushed forward and planted his right boot onto the side of Popuri's face, knocking her to the ground viciously. Butch had only to turn around in time to see Jack barreling down on him like a freight train. He speared Butch in the gut, nearly doubling him over as he shot forward, carrying Butch, and leapt up and crashed through the window and out into the storm.
St. Claire turned on Jim Black. "Why didn't you shoot him?!"
"Did you see how fast he was? I didn't even have time to pull the trigger!"
"Come on, let's go. I don't want Cleaver to have all the fun." St. Claire and Jim Black ran for the door, leaving the church.
Sitting on her pew, Ann's face reddened with the struggle to break her bonds.
XxXxXxX
Outside in the rain, Butch and Jack were tumbling and tossing, each with one hand holding the other's hair and their fists wailing on their faces as if they had no concern for their own well-being. Jack snapped hard right at Butch face, but this wasn't like any wrestling match. This wasn't some entertainment spectacle. Butch, St. Claire, and Jim Black wanted to hurt, if not kill him.
But he couldn't let them hurt the others. He couldn't let them hurt Popuri. He didn't care about his life, he only cared about her and keeping her from harm. "You see me now, Poe?" He thought strangely, "This is all for you. I'd never let them harm you!"
Thinking about that, he recalled Butch finger stabbing at Popuri's cheek. He let go and reached up to Butch's right hand, taking hold of the index finger. With a quick SNAP! He shoved the finger sideways far past it's breaking point. Butch tossed his head back and screamed, "AAAAR-!"
BAM!...and Jack planted a right cross into the man's mouth that broke through the barrier of teeth and actually into the man's mouth. His top front teeth and the shards of what was left of them cut into Jack's hand as he pulled it free.
Butch fell to the ground, clutching his mouth and screaming. Jack turned onto his hands and knees and reared his leg back and drove it into the ground, popping it back into place painfully. He rolled on the ground, reeling in pain. It'd been too long. He had been out of the business too long. He'd forgotten what pain was. Where once it had almost been his friend, it was now his enemy and he cried…he hadn't cried because of pain since he had first started wrestling.
And then they were on him. St. Claire and Jim Black. They came from the side of the building and laid into him with sharp kicks to his body. He felt them against his head and could do nothing against them.
BAM! A kick to his back, right in his kidneys.
BAM! A hell right at his temple, making his vision swim uneasily.
CRACK! The sound of a rib—maybe two—snapping like twigs.
His breathing became painful, difficult to do when he knew each breath was like a knife in his side. How had it come to this? Why had this happened? Why couldn't they just leave him alone?
Butch managed to overcome his own pain, but now he was furious. "Come here!" He cried, grabbing Jack by his neck and throttling him while he banged his head up and down on the ground. The world shook and quaked while Jack could only see the world as if he were looking through the bottom of a glass soda bottle.
Butch stood up and grabbed Jack by his shirt and dragged him across the church courtyard and into the graveyard, where he slung Jack across a tombstone. "Here's one for that tainted championship!" Butch cried, rushing forward and driving his fist as hard as he could into Jack's kidney. Jack cried out in pain, straightening up, but Butch grabbed his hair and said, "And this one is for Mira. You broke her heart, you know." Butch took Jack's head and drove it as hard as he could into the tombstone. The polished marble cracked.
Butch lifted Jack's limp, empty-eyed head back up. He watched Jack' turned his gaze uneasily on him. "I took her in, Ace. I picked up the pieces of the heart you shattered. But you know what? It still wasn't enough. She just couldn't let go of you! That's the second time I had to play second fiddle to you." BAM! He drove his face down into the marble tombstone, cracking it further and leaving a smear of blood where Jack's face had struck.
XxXxXxX
Ann screamed through her nasal cavity, her face as red as a ripe beet, a vein on her forehead and neck threatening to simply explode on her. With a final, terrifyingly strong pull, her bonds snapped with a loud POP!. Chest heaving, She fell to her side, her numb fingers fumbling for the bonds at her feet.
XxXxXxX
BAM! Jack's face hit the tombstone again. That one had been for…something. Jack couldn't hear anymore. He sobbed weakly. He couldn't handle it anymore. The pain was too great, too much to bear. Blood mingled with rain stung his eyes, oozing down from his forehead, his nose, his mouth. How badly was he hurt?
It wouldn't matter anymore, not before long. He saw their intent now. They didn't want him to just pay, they wanted his blood, they wanted his life. "Haven't I already given them enough?" But he knew that the truly greedy were never satisfied with what they were given and they would squander what they had been given. Jack was flipped over and Jim Black did his impersonation of a football kicker trying to drive a winning field goal from across the field right into Jack's crotch. Jack flew up from the impact and whimpered. It was all he could do with the strength he had.
He slid down the tombstone that was dotted with his blood. He glanced up idly and saw whose tombstone it was.
"Jack Francis Harris"
"Beloved father and husband."
Jack saw his own blood tricking down his grandfather's tombstone and felt a terrible despair. "I'm going to lie next to him Poe...I'm so sorry I'm not strong enough." Darkness closed in on him, his eyes drifting slowly downward as his strength left him. But in approaching darkness, he could still hear.
And he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Thump…thump…thump And then…a distant bell.
Bong!
Jack's eyes widened once more, only able to manage the words, "Oh God…no…please, no…n…" And he slumped down, his strength spent.
XxXxXxX
Ann fumbled with Popuri's hand bonds, managing to get them loose, but no more. She growled in frustration. "I can't do it." She reached up when she heard Popuri mumbling and pulled her gag off.
Popuri leaned forward, took a breath of air and said, "Don't worry about me, you have to help Jack! They're going to kill him."
Ann narrowed her eyes and nodded. "No, they're not."
XxXxXxX
That cursed bell. Where was it even coming from?
BONG!
"No, this can't be happening to me!" Jack cried, more to himself than anyone else. "This can't be happening!"
"Ja-a-ack." Cried a distant, hoarse voice.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" Jack screamed.
Thump…thump…thump…thump.
"Jack."
Jack spun around and there he was, glowering at him like an angered fallen angel. Jack rushed forward, grabbing him by his collar, but his strength wasn't there. It never had been there when he faced Ace. "What? Are you happy now, Ace! You see what your life has done to me?! They're going to kill us and then they're going to kill Popuri…or rape her…or both…and there's NOTHING we can do now! I can't fight them! Not all of them, not at all! I'm not Ace Valentine, I'm just Jack! I can't….I…" His voice grew softer as he looked into Ace's impervious eyes. "I can't do it…"
Ace finished his sentence, "You can't do it without me."
Jack's face screwed in frustration, in dire terror when suddenly Ace put his hand on Jack's shoulder and hissed, "She's my wife, too!"
Jack's eyes widened in understand. "What're you going to do?"
Ace looked up to the sky and Jack felt the world beginning to rush back to him as Ace said, "Unleash hell."
And suddenly, as if he were simply restarting a movie from an unknown start, Jack was lucid again and his pain was melted away, feeding the furnace of fury that dwelled within the pit of Jack's stomach. A fiery pit, an endless well of strength named Ace Valentine. He narrowed his eyes at Butch, who was ranting and raving in front of him, holding the dagger.
"—about time you were put in your place!"Butch finished off his rant by lifting the dagger up and rushing forward, aiming the stainless steel blade right for Jack's heart. Jack nudged to the side and the dagger sank into the flesh of his shoulder, but he said nothing. Butch looked up in surprise at the hard glare in Jack's eyes. He knew those eyes, those cursed eyes!
Those were Ace's eyes!
Ace growled, "You're fucked now!" And he drove his fist into Butch jaw again, driving the big man back. He calmly plucked the dagger out of his shoulder and stabbed it into the tombstone breaking the blade and tossing it aside in disgust.
"Shoot him!" St. Claire said. Jim Black went down and fumbled for the forgotten gun when suddenly a female shriek came from out of nowhere and plowed into Jim Black and St. Claire. Jack looked down at Ann, who was straddling Jim Black and peppering him fists of fury, fists that he would never have wanted to be on the receiving end of. "GO!" She screamed. "GET THEM!"
Jack wasted no time in laying his size thirteen boot into Butch's hide, stomping on his face and body. St. Claire rolled up to his feet and put his hands around Ann's throat, strangling her. Ann choked, trying to wrench his hands away. His hands did fall away and when she turned, she saw Jack behind St. Claire, his arms looped around the man's waist and pulling him backwards in a German Suplex. But St. Claire never made it to the ground. Instead, she heard the sickening THUNK of his body connecting with the spear-like tips of the iron-wrought fence around the graveyard.
St. Claire gasped, a splash of warm blood coming up with his last breath. He looked down to see three spikes jutting from his chest and then collapsed. Jack struggled to his feet and looked up at the clearly dead St. Claire. "So long, Chief." Ace hissed.
BAM! And then Butch was on his feet and laying into Jack again. The two of them tumbled out of the graveyard, laying fists into each other as before.
Ann had her head turned for just a second and Jim Black took that chance to grab her and throw her onto the ground. Ann kicked and fought, but the man was heavier than her and he was grasping her clothes, ripping them open, spitting as he raved like a madman. "I'll show you, you little bitch! I'll make you like it, you hear me?! I'll show you…you ain't nothing, you hear? And when I'm through with you, I'll do the same to your pink haired friend back in the church while I make Valentine watch!
Ann felt no shame at that moment and knew that her submission to him was his weakness. She let him rip her shirt and bra off and had her arms pinned with his. As soon as his eyes were not on her face, she thrust her head up and grabbed his scalp—and she didn't know exactly how she did it—and pulled him forward with her teeth. Screaming, Jim Black went forward, trying to get her to let go of his head.
Ann fumbled with her feet and got them out from between his legs and let his scalp go at the same instant she shoved him forward with her legs. Jim Black flew backwards and struck the stone statue of an angel. Stunned, but not heavily so, Ann knew she only had an instant to work. She was shirtless, but striving for modesty would get her killed. She only had one chance at this.
She rushed forward and planted a knee into his gut. She then took his right arm and with all her might, she shoved it against the tombstone and snapped it with a loud CRACK! Jim screamed,
and the screamed again as Ann took his left arm and did the same thing.
Doubled over, she grabbed him and brought him towards the water-filled ditch that was in the front of the graveyard. She tossed him in and followed him, straddling him from behind and grabbing his slick, oily hair with her hands. With a shove, she forced his head under the water.
Jim immediately began sputtering and flailing, but his broken arms were useless. He lifted his head up, drawing in a deep breath before Ann shoved him back down, beating his head up and down on the rocky ground, grinding her teeth in anger. She could hear Jack and Butch fighting behind her, fists landing heavily on their muscled bodies.
Jim pushed himself up with his elbows and turned his head, gasping for air. "You gonna kill me, little bitch?" He sneered, trying to sound above her, stronger than her, "You know what, you ain't got the guts to kill me!"
Ann smiled in spite of the situation. She pulled his head back and leaned in his ear, "That's funny. That's exactly what my mom said."
Jim Black swallowed in fear and Ann thrust his head back under the water, surrounding his head as he sputtered and this time she didn't let him come back up. She sat there for a minute…maybe two. At the end, his body went weak, his flailing subdued suddenly, and Jim Black's air bubbles ceased coming up from the water. She held him there, then lifted his head slowly to be sure. He stared ahead with an empty eyed expression of shock. Ann let him fall back into the water and rolled to this side, chest heaving for air.
She shuddered. It was only the second time she had killed someone, but as with the first, it had felt so good. She shook the feeling off. OF course, she had hated both of them. She recovered her shirt and put it back on, now having the time to deal with her modesty and looked up to try and find Jack and Butch. She could see one of them and with a gasp she realized it was Jack, lying on the sidewalk. Where was…
There was no sudden hit, but Ann suddenly found herself behind pulled from behind. Butch grabbed her by her shirt and then thrust her as head first into the nearby tombstone. He grabbed her by her head and slammed her into it again, and again, and again, until Ann sank to the ground and didn't move, blood pouring down her face.
Butch sneered in satisfaction and spat on her, the rain washing it away almost as soon as it landed on her. He turned back to Jack, who had gotten to his knees and was crawling away through the brush and into Rose Square. "Where're you running to, Ace?!" Butch cried, "You afraid o' me?!"
XxXxXxX
Popuri put her feet on her bonds and began to push at them, her tiny hands slipping slowly through the holes.
XxXxXxX
Butch followed, going through the brush cautiously. "I know yer out there, Ace! I can smell yer fear! You know I ain't leavin' till I've had done with you! Where you at?" He cleared the brush and went into Rose Square, stepping over the broken brick and protruding rebar. He heard the sound of footfalls and turned around.
KA-KRACK! Jack drove the two-by-four over Butch's head so hard, the wooden plank snapped in two. Jack grinned, thankful to have a small construction site so near there and such a fortunate weapon of happenstance. He threw the broken half away and grabbed Butch by his ponytail, driving the man's already mangled face into his knees, shattering his nose, then hitting him again and again and again, his nose sounding like a mushed apple striking a brick wall over and over again.
"All I wanted was a little peace!" Jack cried, smashing Butch over the back with his fists, into Butch's kidneys. He screamed over Butch's cries of agony, "IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT I NOT DIE IN THE RING, SURROUNDED BY BLOODTHIRSTY FANS WHO ONLY WANT TO SEE ME DIE! I'LL DIE ONE DAY, BUTCH…BUT YOU WON'T BE THE ONE TO DO IT, BY GOD!"
Jack lifted his arm to throw another hard deck into Butch's other kidney when the big man, doubled over in front of Jack, rushed forward and lifted Jack, tossing him behind him. Jack twisted in the air, but instead of feeling the familiar brick beneath his body, his entire being erupted into white hot flame piercing his every though and for the first time in years, Ace Valentine screamed in pain.
"AAAAAAAAGH!"
Jack didn't want too, but he opened his eyes, shocked to see the truth. There, jutting two feet out of his right shoulder, was the sharpened rebar. Jack coughed and his side and thigh hurt. He looked down. Another rebar was jutting from his right abdomen and another yet was sticking out of his left thigh. He was impaled on the rebar, it's edges so sharp it was like being skewered on spears. He could feel them grating against bone and moving only a fraction told him that there was no way he could stand the pain of pulling himself off the two feet of rebar.
He was stuck and he'd die if he didn't get off.
He heard the sound of metal scraping against brick and saw a mangled Butch Cliver lifting a spare piece of rebar in the air. It's edge was also sharpened like a skewer. Jack's eyes widened. "Oh my God."
Butch raised the heavy iron rod above his head and smashed Jack across the chest with it, driving him further onto the spiked rebar. "AAAAAAGH!" Jack screamed, and was silenced as Butch swung the rebar across his face, shattering his cheekbone in five places. He swung it again on Jack's left arm and snapped the bone there as well. Jack cried out, seeing that cursed rebar ready to fall on his neck.
"NOO!" A shrill female voice cried and Popuri dove out of the brush and threw all her weight against Allan, but the big man was simply too much a match for her and he was knocked aside only by a single step. "I WON'T LET YOU HURT HIM, YOU BIG BULLY! GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE!" Popuri screamed as she beat her thin arms against his side.
Butch dropped the rebar and laughed at Popuri's pitiful offense. "I can see he didn't teach you anything at all, pinky." Butch reared back and slapped Popuri, knocking her to the ground.
Popuri cried, feeling her already bruised cheek. She looked up at Jack in horror, seeing him broken, impaled on the rebar. She rushed forward on her hands and knees and took Jack's one hand in both her tiny hands. "Oh Jack! Jack, you're gonna be okay. Jack, I love you!"
Jack grimaced against the pain. "I love you too. Poe, run. Get away from him, he's dangerous."
Popuri's face contorted, struggling against his orders, "I won't leave you, Jack. I won't leave you."
Jack used his free hand to grab her by the collar and hissed through his broken teeth, "RUN, DAMN YOU!"
"Jack—AAGH!" Popuri was yanked away from him before she could even think about running. Butch had her by her soppy wet hair, grinning through his shattered teeth. "Nice piece you found yourself, Jack. I'm gonna like watching her squirm underneath me."
"Don't you touch her, you motherfucker!" Jack cried, "I'll fucking kill you if you lay one more hand on her!" He cried, but it was an empty threat. He couldn't possibly do anything while he was impaled on the spikes.
Butch smiled faded for a second, "You know what…As much fun as hate-fucking your wife in front of your eyes would be…I think I'll take the consolation prize." Butch lifted Popuri up and turned her around, his arms wrapping around her legs as he held her parallel to his body.
Jack gasped. He knew what Butch had in mind. He mean to use his personal finisher on her: The Irondriver, a modified Cradle Piledriver. Popuri would land on her head with all the force and weight that Butch could command. Jack had been on the receiving end of that and nearly been taken out—and he was a full grown man landing on a wrestling canvas.
But this…Popuri was half his size and her head would land on brick. It would kill her! "BUTCH, NO!" Jack screamed, "I'M BEGGING YOU, NO!"
Butch just grinned and leapt into the air, tucking Popuri's head between his legs as he soared towards the ground.
"NOOOOOO!"
THRACK! Popuri's head bounced off the pavement with a sound like a 'THUNK' and KRACK! Her body limply folded like an accordion and Butch pushed her aside. Jack gasped in horror as Popuri's eyes stared at him, her mouth hanging slightly open, blood trickling from the corner of it. She didn't move that he could see.
"GODDAMN YOU, BUTCH!" Jack screamed.
Butch stood up, cheat heaving painfully. He held his side as he picked up the rebar again. "How's it feel, Ace? How's it feel to have something you love destroyed before your eyes? That's exactly how I felt when I learned you had thrown that last match. I just wish I could go back in time and put my book on your throat and choke you to death for the title."
Jack's breathing was becoming more shallow. He didn't know how much longer he could hold out. "Butch…I swear…I'll break down the gates of hell just to get at you."
"They say vengeance is the Lord's, Ace." Butch smiled, stalking forward. "You're not God, now are you? Don't ask God for help, Ace. He's not going to help anyone. God decided to sit this one out, didn't he? Where is God right now?"
Jack could say nothing.
"Like I said," Butch lifted the rebar up above his head, point aiming down, ready to pierce his heart, "This is one match you have to lose."
It was ironic that Butch had mentioned God, because it was at this moment that God showed up.
Butch stood over Jack, raising the bar as far above his head as he could to drive it into Jack's heart when suddenly there was an unexplainable lack of noise. Jack flinched, his eyes shutting hard. Butch's eyes widened, his mind having only enough time to realize that holding a metal rod in a thunderstorm was unbelievably stupid.
Then the sword of Heaven came crashing down on Rose Square.
KA-THOOOOM!
The lightning bolt hit Butch with the swift suddenness only it could summon. Jack's eyes, thankfully closed, saw the brilliant, amazing flash of light through his eyelids and he was still nearly blinded and deafened. The roaring crash of thunder broke through his ears, leaving only a dull ringing in them.
The explosion tossed Butch backwards. He landed on the pavement with no expression in his dead eyes because they had been fried to a crisp. His arms and legs were blackened, his fingers and toes exploded and smoking. His body twitched viciously, but there was no life in them beyond that.
Butch "The Cleaver" Cliver was dead.
All the damage, the pain, the injuries came rushing in on Jack at once and he was lost in a world of pain and suffering. His head lolled painfully to the side as his strength began to fade again. His gaze turned sideways, he could see his beloved wife still lying prone on her side, her empty eyes staring at him down the length of her fallen arm, as if she were reaching for him.
Jack struggled, but he was still impaled. His hand grasping for hers, but she was too far away. His hand fell and with the last of his strength as darkness closed in on him, he looked to his wife and said, "I love you, Popuri…I'm so sorry."
THE END?