November 22nd, 2011
Long Beach, California
Seth Rollins rolls down the street on his bike, getting some morning exercise. The California sun glaring on his face. It's been a while since he's had a mission, so he decided to take a mini vacation. Roman was spending time with his family, and Dean was off doing who knows what. So he was pretty much on his own for now. California was a place that held many memories for Seth. He rode and crashed his first dirtbike there, did some skydiving, and even made some pretty cool friends. He was on his way to see one of his oldest and best friends, Adam Cole. Seth stops at a convience store to get a drink. Grabbing a couple of granola bars, he also looks for a bottle of his favorite drink. Essence sparkling water, berry flavored. As he finds it, a woman grabs the bottle first, taking the last one.
"Awww come on lady." Seth said with his hands up.
The woman looks at him with an eyebrow raised as if she didn't care at all. She stood a foot smaller than Rollins. Wearing workout clothes consisting of black yoga pants with a sleeveless metal band shirt. Tattoos along her arms and body. Her hair was a short pixie cut. A look Rollins found quite endearing.
"Tough luck." She says walking away.
Scowling, Seth grabs some spring water and gets behind her in line. As she pays for her stuff, Seth takes a drink of water. A man with a pistol runs in the store and ignites a robbery.
"HAND OVER EVERYTHING YOU GOT!" The robber yells at the cashier.
As the register is being emptied, he points his gun directly in the woman's face.
"YOU TOO!" He yells at her.
Seth, with a mouth full of water, spits it in the robbers face. With him blinded, the woman smacks the gun away, back elbows him in the gut, and gives a roundhouse kick to the head, sending the robber to his hands and knees. Seth jumps up and curb stomps his head into the floor. The woman smiles at Seth, grabs her stuff and leaves the store. Seth throws a five dollar bill on the counter and runs after her, leaving the robber unconscious on the floor.
"Hey hold on, those were some sweet moves." Seth says catching up to her.
"Yeah, so?" She says back.
"Are you trained, if so I'm big into martial arts. Maybe you and I could exchange moves?" He asks a little flirty.
"Tell you what, if you can keep up, we can talk." She says while tying up her bag, hopping on her own bike and riding off.
Seth smiles, hops on his bike and gives chase, riding down the sidewalk, weaving through civilians and other obstacles. People yelling and screaming at them as they ride by. The woman rolls into the left side of the street into oncoming traffic.
"Holy shit!" Seth thinks while following her path.
The woman dodges an oncoming Corvette, bringing the car to a halt. Seth summons all of his strength and bunny hops onto the hood of the car. A guy with a man bun who's driving the car, curses at Seth, before bouncing off as he follows the woman into a park and down a grass hill. His heart is beating fast and his mind is racing as fast as his bike.
"This chick is crazy!" Thinking again as Seth notices her looking back at him.
She speeds up and rides toward a set of steps. She bunny hops down the entire flight, which is at least ten feet. She lands on her front wheel, balancing on it for a few seconds before stopping. Seth also speeds up, with people jumping out the way. He hops up, turning his bike sideways and grinds his frame down the handrail. He lands on the ground, riding backwards. He pops a wheelie, spinning around to his front, and rolls toward the woman waiting by a fountain. He stops and slumps over his handlebars.
"Is that all you got?" Asks Seth breathing heavily.
The woman, who didn't even seem to break a sweat, gives him a nod of approval. She pulls out a pen and paper from her bag, writes something and drops it down Seth's shirt. He fumbles trying to pull it out as she hops back on her bike and rides off.
"Hey hold up!" Seth shouts.
With no energy left to chase, Seth looks at the paper, seeing her name and number with the words "see you soon" underneath.
"Ruby Riot."
Thinking for a minute, he hears police behind him, telling him to stop where he his. Seth pedals on and speeds away. Flipping off the cops as he loses them.
Heading into an apartment complex, he finds Cole walking inside.
"Yo man!" Cole shouts happily, giving his friend a hug.
"Good seeing ya bro, what's going on?" Seth asks locking up his bike.
"I'm good man, just got a new job at this medical marijuana place, been practicing my Muay Thai, and I banged a French chick last night." Cole tells him as they walk upstairs.
"Nice, speaking of chicks, you won't believe what I just went through." Seth says.
They enter Cole's apartment, which is pretty empty on decor. A couch, recliner and TV set is the only thing taking up space in the living room. Cole was a pretty simple guy who didn't care much for nonsense.
"That's fucking insane!" Says Cole flopping into his recliner.
"Right, she even wrote "see you soon" on the paper she gave me. You think she might be crazy?" Seth asks.
"Maybe. Those chicks will give the best sex of your life. Then cut your balls off in your sleep because you don't want to cuddle." Said Cole laughing.
Seth and Cole spend the rest of the day hanging out at Cole's place. They played some Call of Duty and Mortal Kombat, practiced some martial arts, and smoked some of the finest mary jane, courtesy of Cole's new employers. Around 6pm, they both chill out on the couch watching a movie.
"What's this movie called again?" Seth asks.
"See No Evil. I've told you that 3 times already." Cole replies.
"Oh. Good movie." Seth says while nodding off.
Cole's phone goes off and startles both of them. Cole answers his phone, apparently talking to a girl named Shelly. After Cole hangs up, he asks Seth if he wants to go to a party the French girl from last night just invited him too. Seth silently nods and they get ready. Seth throws on his black leather jacket, with Spiderman's "Venom" design on the front. A gift from his mom on his 21st birthday. Seth is 27 now, and loves the jacket every time he wears it. They hop into Cole's car and head down the freeway to the beach house where the party was being held.
Cole stops to get gas. As he heads in the station, Seth kicks back and turns on the radio. A news report plays, saying how three women saved Senator Jimmy Hart from an asassination attempt. The senator is very grateful and will be addressing the situation at a later date. This catches Seth's attention and he texts Paige asking her about it. Cole hops back in and throws a bag of gummi bears to Seth.
"You alright man?" Asks Cole seeing the thoughtful look in Seth's face.
"I'm cool, lets go party."
Cole finds a parking spot near the house where, a tall brunette waits for them. She was taller than Seth, and he was no small guy himself. Her strapless top showed off her muscles.
"Damn dude, is that Shelly? I didn't know you were into amazons." Seth whispers to Cole.
"Hi Adam!" Shelly squeals, hugging him tightly and giving him a large kiss.
Cole stands there, turning tomato red. Seth chuckled under his breath, as it was like seeing a mom hugging her child. Her accent was pretty thick, as she only came to America about 2 years ago. Cole introduces the two, and Shelly hugs Seth as well, squeezing him tighter than any guy that has actually tried to kill him. Also giving him a few kisses on the cheek.
"Sweet lady. Nice to meet you." Seth tells her.
"Well, lets go party!" Shelly says jumping up and down towards the house.
Walking up to the three story beach house, they head in and start meeting people. Friends of Shelly who she's met through work and school. This includes the owner of the house and host of the party, Dana Brooke. Dana was the owner of a popular bakery chain in Long Beach. It made her very rich and well known in the city.
"I'm glad you guys could make it." She says to them while Kendrick Lamar plays on the speaker.
"Of course, we're happy to be here. Its a pleasure to meet you as well." Says Seth kissing her hand.
"Oh what a gentleman. Listen, you guys go ahead and enjoy yourselves. I got some things to do, and we can catch up later." She says, smiling at Seth before heading off.
Cole playfully shoves Seth and they laugh. Shelly asks Cole to help her find the bathroom, and they walk away. Seth finally gets a response from Paige. She says WWE was on that congress job for a while, but a rival military got to it before them. Hunter is not pleased at all and it'll be discussed when they all get back to work. Seth, trying to forget about work, looks around and sees Ruby Riot on the deck outside, smoking a cigarette. She waves to him and he heads outside. The night air holds a chilly breeze as Seth approaches her.
"You having fun?" Ruby asks him...