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In the middle of the Amazon rainforest, on the border of Ecuador and Brazil.
"Why has it taken so long to build this oil station?" The foreman asked.
"I would tell you because it's illegal to build one in protected territory. But the boss has enough money to buy the law." His assistant explained. "It's actually because of the superstitions of all the previous workers."
"What superstitions?"
"About some demons. They have been destroying the heavy machinery, camps and scaring workers to the point of driving them mad."
"Seriously? Demons?"
"We don't really know what destroyed the other camps. As I tell you those are just superstitions."
"Do the new workers know that?"
"I am not going to spread gossip, man."
"Justice is everything I ever wanted. That's why, for years, I called myself Hound of Justice. Protecting this city from the shadows, taking no credit for my work. The only thing I always pursued, as I said, was justice." Seth was giving a speech in the huge public square in front of the Utopia city hall. Behind him, The Miz was grinning with pleasure. "I have had this power, since I was a child, and I never used it to my advantage. Never use it to gain more power or try to control the city as Randy Orton did. It was only the need to protect you all that forced me to reveal my identity."
Seth stared toward the center of the huge square, where a monument would be unveiled.
"I did not choose this power and I certainly never tried to replicate it. I didn't even know that would be possible, I don't know how Randy Orton got it... And we will never know, because he destroyed all evidence of his evil work. But I'm here to tell you, that maybe ir was for the best, because you all have already seen the consequences of this power in the wrong hands."
The citizens gathered there began to applaud, many even cried seeing such a show of courage and humility on the part of the man, who one year ago, had saved them from the worst debacle that this city had suffered.
"Therefore, regardless of what… or who the next villain would be. I promise to keep protecting this city."
Seth walked near to the huge fabric that covered the monument, revealing it. A row of obelisks were erected there, all with the carved names of those who died during the horrible tragedy that occurred a year ago.
"And I promise, all these people's name will not be forgotten. Everytime we walk around this place, we will read their names, we will know what was their job, what were they doing to make this city a better place. We will give them the well-deserved tribute. We will never forget."
The crowd applauded their hero, their savior. Seth smiled so beautifully, he seemed such a nice person, people couldn't help but love him.
"And it is my promise, that right here, as we honor all the innocent victims of a villain and their henchmen, that I will do everything in my power to protect you all from another threat. I will not let anyone accumulate again this kind of power that can be used to destroy and murder. Whoever dares to attack this city, will have to face me, and I will defeat them again."
The Miz was smiling, now he was the mayor of Utopia. His cell phone started ringing. Watching at the screen, Mike smirked. And he looked back at his sponsor, who was being cheered by the grateful citizens of Utopia.
"The worst thing is that he believes that shit he's saying." Dr. Akira Tozawa watched the monitor in the lab. "He really feels like a hero. That he is dispensing justice, even lying to all the citizens in their faces."
Next to him was AJ. He was sitting in a wheelchair. His hands caught in metal handcuffs.
"You should speak now." Akira looked pityingly at his former partner.
"You were my lab assistant when we were working for Randy. Now, you're the project manager, working for his successor." AJ was staring blankly. "I've been in that same place, Akira... and like you, I thought I had everything under control. Look at me now, this will be your destiny."
"If you just show us the formula you used to free Roman." Akira insisted. "Mr. Rollins would have no reason to punish you like this..."
"He will kill me no matter what." AJ seemed uninterested in his own fate. "But if it is up to me, he will never have that formula. He will always be the obsolete and weaker version of that serum."
"That doesn't help at all. The two improved versions, both disappeared when Lesnar and Roman died." Akira looked back at the monitor, where Seth was being congratulated by the highest government authorities. "Seth is still the only available version, and that makes him the most powerful super soldier."
"Seth is not the only one." AJ smirked. "I won't be able to do justice for Roman. But he will."
"Who?" Akira raised an eyebrow.
"Mox! Mox! Mox!" The crowd screamed in rage.
A huge man repeatedly banged Mox's head against the big metal cage. He released him only to take a huge barbed wire bat in his hands.
Mox's rival made the same mistake that all the others made: he tried to remove the eye patch. The screams became louder as the audience knew what was coming. Mox, pushed his rival, and it was carnage. It seemed that Mox was very violent, although in reality, he held back a lot, since he was not an ordinary human like his adversaries. Shortly after, that man was carried out on a stretcher and Mox stumbled to his feet, trying to sell his alleged injuries.
He was the winner, like every fucking show.
Mox closed his eyes and remembered when he was not the one who fought locked in a cage, to make a living. Perhaps now he was doing this because he felt closer to what he had lost forever.
Or maybe it was a way to punish himself...
Not a very efffective one...
Maybe that's why ending his fights drenched in blood gave him satisfaction.
The screams of the audience brought him back to reality, he looked at the scum that surrounded him, in this damned hell hole he now lived. It was perfect, no one knew who he was and no one cared. They were only going to see blood and destruction. That's why, they were past midnight, stuck in that garbage can, encouraging him to destroy his opponents.
Mox left the cage, to make way for the main event that night. And he walked to the dressing room. In the distance the announcer could be heard, who now introduced Becky "The Man" who was the favorite of the crowd.
"I must do my internship very soon." A young doctor pointed as he cleaned Mox's blood.
They were alone in the dressing room.
"Will you go back to Switzerland and leave me without my favorite nurse?" Mox smirked.
"My internship will be at a hospital near this city." The doctor grunted.
"C'mon Tony. You're too good to be working as our personal physician in this dump. I'm sure Chris isn't paying you what you deserve." Mox gave the doctor a small smile. "Just go to that internship and never come back."
"You know why I haven't left this dump yet." Tony looked at Mox seriously.
"This is getting too corny for my liking." Mox stood up, trying to leave the room.
"I have not finished yet." Tony tried to seat Mox back.
"You should do it." Mox looked at him just as seriously. "And you know I'm not talking about your work here."
"I will decide that." Tony said resigned.
"You deserve better than what I can offer you." Mox let out a sigh that he didn't know he was holding.
"What have you offered me, Jon? Your mattress when you're horny, just that." Tony clarified. "And here I am. That should tell you something."
They both stared intently. Mox wanted to make Tony understand that this was bad for him. And god, it hurt Mox to hurt him too. Becky often told him to take this chance and forget the damn grudge and forget once and for all...
…Roman.
As always, Mox stayed silent, further increasing Tony's frustration.
"Tony, I need you to patch me too." Becky interrupted them, her fight was over now, and she was bleeding.
The redhead immediately noticed the tension in the environment. Mox just left the room leaving them both wide eyed.
"What happened?" One of the supervisors who had arrived at the end of the day, yelled
"Esse demônio destruiu tudo." A crazed man repeated looking at nowhere.
The supervisor glared at his assistant waiting for the translation.
"I don't understand portuguese." The assistant pointed.
"This can't be possible! They arrived this morning. The sun has barely set, and the machinery is destroyed and they are all traumatized." The supervisor was so angry. "Mr. McIntyre is fed up with this delay. The oil station project in this demonic forest has been delaying a whole year."
The assistant was trying to get information from another worker.
"Es un demonio, es enorme y disfruta cuando destruye todo. Destruye todo y se va. Destruye todo y se va."
"This one is speaking spanish. I understand spanish."
"What the fuck did he say?"
"About someone that wrecks everything and leaves."
The supervisor sighed in despair. "We no longer have personnel or machinery. No one wants to work here."
"We better face Mr. McIntyre. His fury will have no limits this time." The assistand admitted.
"People say I'm worse than Randy Orton, and here you are." Drew McIntyre, the oil tycoon, was stroking the crotch of his new lover. "You have a thing for villains."
"I hated Randy since I was a kid. It is not the same with you." Seth dismissed Drew's words, focusing better on unbuttoning his shirt.
"Did you forget the nosy journalist?" Drew tightened his grip making Seth moan.
"What do you care?" Seth smirked. "Are you developing felings?"
"We are very far from developing such a thing. You just want an empty relationship, so you can forget for a moment that the only reward you got for your actions was utter loneliness." Drew scoffed. "And I just want to fuck the most powerful guy on the planet."
Seth pushed Drew and the scotsman fell heavily on the floor. Drew started laughing, he didn't seem to fear Seth.
Ever since Drew interrupted the broadcast that fateful day and sent resources to help Seth, they were doing business. One thing led to another and now Drew and Seth were lovers. They were in the office at McIntyre's new headquarters in Utopia.
"Mr. McIntyre." A female voice on the intercom was calling him. "Bad news from the Amazon".
Seth smirked. "Instant karma."
Drew just scowled and took the call. "What happened?"
"Another camp destroyed" said the nervous woman.
Drew threw the phone to the nearest wall, destroying the device.
"In a year you haven't managed to get a drop of oil out of that forest. I guess you need to find another business, since you can't solve that problem." Now Seth was laughing noisily.
This said, Seth headed for the door, leaving McIntyre's office.
Drew then pursed his lips. "That's what I'm doing Sethie. Looking for another business, which will allow me to kill all the pesky birds with one stone."
Drew proceeded to make a call. "Mike, you have everything ready. I need to close that other business ASAP."
"You don't think Seth is going to be suspicious, I mean, you're sleeping with him." Mike pointed out.
"And I will keep sleeping with him. By the time he finds out, he will have no choice but to ally with me." Drew grinned. "But as ambitious and megalomaniacal as he is, I have no doubt that he will."
A light rain was showering a hut located in a little hidden village, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Inside, an old indigenous man spoke peacefully.
"You are certainly doing something good, but that's not solving anything. The source of evil is not in this place."
"You're right." Finn nodded. "In fact, that evil is branching out fast, so far away from here. Drew McIntyre is about to close a deal with the largest weapons manufacturer and supplier on the planet. With those weapons he will destroy this place."
"Then you should stop stopping him."
"I was hoping that as the days went by, he would go back to his old self. Sometimes I think I never should have done what I did. I mean, I still remember you told me. Roman was in peace when he was before, he didn't want to come back. But I was so full of resentment, I didn't care and I still made the demon to bring Roman back,"
"If Roman wasn't supposed to be here, the demon wouldn't have sent him back, anyways." The Shaman was trying to reassure Finn.
But the Irishman seemed not to believe him. "And he returned as a different person..."
Finn sighed. Ever since the demon had brought him back to life, Roman was the opposite of what he used to be. Not only his now gray eyes, Roman now seemed to enjoy to be so powerful and destructive. Sometimes he was so full of himself, he was totally unpredictable... And that was the reason they were still hiding in the Amazon.
That and the fact that Roman didn't remember his previous life at all.
Finn had told Roman the story of how he got his powers, he told him about Dean, even. But Roman was totally uninterested in his past life. However, it bothered him, and a lot, to know how Seth and Randy had murdered him.
Finn often told Roman that what he needed to regain his memory was to find who he had loved. Roman dismissed that, since he was sure the real way to regain his lost memory, was by destroying those he hated.
And because of that, Roman wasn't interested in looking for, or hearing from Dean and Finn hadn't pushed hoping the samoan would change his mind. Now it was too late, they had more serious problems.
The Shaman stared at him with empathy. "Do you know why the sun comes and goes?"
Finn shrugged.
"Because in this life, there can be no light without darkness." The Shaman explained. "Everything that exists in this universe has two sides. Roman, as you said, was such a good man, he only knew his good side, because he didn't need the dark one.
"Then, when he died, in the way he did. What we woke up was his dark side, because he realized that now he does not need the good one." Finn realized.
"It is possible. But we all need both sides, he must find the balance. If in a year you have not been able to get him to find it, maybe it is not you who can do that."
Finn sighed worried. "The only reason he's not murdered those workers, it's because I'm there to stop him. But I can see it in his eyes, he enjoys to tormenting that people."
"Because I do" Roman smirked as he entered the hut.
Roman walked around the place as he was the owner of everything. There was no trace of the humble guy Finn met in Utopia.
"And I don't know what you end up becoming, if you leave this place." Finn pursed his lips.
Roman smirked. "I'm not a bad guy. If I wanted to leave this place to terrorize others, I'd do it. It's not like I fear you or any other person. I have not left this place, because you're my family Finn, just as the Shaman is, just as every man, woman and child in this village is. This place is my home, I like to protect it."
Finn looked distrustful.
"You know what's the difference between you and me?" Roman raised an eyebrow. "That I am not afraid of what I am."
You don't even remember who you are, Roman. Finn was tempted to say
"I feel pleasure to know I am almost indestructible, even if I know I am not." Roman keep talking. "Instead of you, that as the Shaman always says, hold an inmense source of power. And you're still here terrified of your enemies. Even terrified of your only friend."
Finn squinted his eyes. "I hate to admit it but I guess, you are right."
"Then, why are you still holding back?" Roman didn't get it.
"Yeah, maybe it's time to leave this place and whatever happens… happens." Finn had no more excuses.
Roman smirked. "But before we leave, we need a plan. Now that McIntyre is the best of friends with the other supersoldier. And since said supersoldier is a hero idolized by a good part of the world, it will be impossible to get to him, without the army killing us to protect the big heroe."
"We have the chance to corner our enemy in the part of the world that does not idolize him or any other westerner. Which is exactly where Drew will try to close he deal." Finn explained.
"How do you have so much information?" Roman narrowed his eyes.
"I have a very important contact in that place. In fact, he really admires you."
"Someone who admires a dead villain." Roman smirked. "Nice."
"About that…" Finn pursed his lips. "Before it all went to hell, I passed all the evidence AJ gave me to my he spread the truth. It's an open secret now. All the proofs of your innocence, of what was really done with the super soldiers experiment. And of Seth's true intentions…" And on this part, Finn closed his eyes and sighed. "Everything has been in social networks, YouTube videos for almost a year."
Roman just dismissed Finn's words. "That doesn't really matter. Those who'll believe in such things will be taken for conspiranoids."
Finn knew Roman was right.
"Then it's done." The Shaman spoke. "I will continue to take care of the forest as much as I can. You are going to fulfill the mission for which you, Finn, for which you were entrusted with one of the greatest powers in this part of the world. And for which, you, Roman, were brought back from the world of the dead."
Finn looked at the old man with affection, this guy had taught them a lot and had protected them for over a year. Romas softened his expression a bit, perhaps he was no longer the affectionate man, whose eyes reflected his soul. But it was obvious that the Samoan appreciated the old man with whom they had been living for almost a year.