The Goldan Jackal and The Silver Falcon
by The Cajun Phoenix
Hard Breaks and Qualifying Matches
"SmackDown" was in Trenton, New Jersey and Maryl made her way through the doors.
Underneath Maryl's black leather motorcycle jacket (her jacket had a crimson ivy design almost branded into the material in a trapunto-style intaglio), her left arm was still throbbing with pain from the incision she had made after a boil had nearly sidelined her.
Yet here she was back in Trenton, New Jersey because the WWE Universe's response over her match with the Women's Champion made it clear that they wanted to see more from her and nobody was going to silence their clamoring.
"Our new Diva doesn't look so good, " said JTG to Shad as Maryl made her way to the backstage area.
Maryl couldn't bite back a cry of pain when one of The Hart Dynasty's male Superstars-Tyson Kidd-nudged her in her left arm while passing by her.
"That looks like it hurt, " said Tyson's tag team partner David Hart Smith as he got his first really good look at Maryl. Like Tyson, the son of the late WWE Legend Davey Boy Smith was clad in The Hart Family's signature pink and black in-ring gear.
Maryl barely bit back what she wanted to say to him. If she hadn't had that boil on her arm, there was little doubt she would have beaten him senseless.
"You don't think our Women's Champion did that to her in the ring last week, do you?" asked Natalya.
No, you third-gen bitch, she didn't, Maryl thought nastily, barely able to protect her left arm from being knocked around before she made it to the trainer's.
"You're the Diva who beat up Michelle in the ring last week, " said the trainer as Maryl removed her jacket, revealing a loose-fitting white Xtreme Couture T-shirt and her bandaged left arm.
"Yeah, I am, " she said with a wry smile that faded as she tried to move her bandaged arm.
"What happened to your left arm?"
"A ruptured boil, " she muttered, hissing as she tried to move her arm.
Maryl winced as the trainer looked over her heavily-bandaged left arm and removed the bandage. When he saw the yellow-stained gauze tinged with blood from the still-gaping hole in her arm, that was enough to get him to break the bad news to "SmackDown" General Manager Theodore Long.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Long, but there's no way she can compete tonight, not with her arm in this condition."
Maryl was crestfallen over this news because it meant the WWE Universe would have to wait to see the rematch between her and Michelle.
The best she could hope for was that she would not be sent out on her ass after her first week on the roster.
Her already-nasty mood only worsened when she stopped just short of colliding with the now-beltless Dolph Ziggler, who was already in his pink-and-white leopard print vest and trunks and boots as he set out toward Gorilla for a triple threat Qualifying Match with in-ring veteran Dave "Fit" Finlay and former "ECW" Superstar Mike Knox as his opponents.
"What the fuck do you want, you belt-stealing, Diva-dumping scumfucker?" she snarled at Dolph as several opening match Superstars whirled around to look at them. "It's bad enough you blame Maria for your loss and you got punished again when the new Superstar beat your ass in the middle of the ring last week and when you got your ass choked out and knocked out in the parking lot!"
Because Dolph had stolen John Morrison's Intercontinental title and tried to claim it as his own, he had never lived down the disgrace of having his thievery exposed by a Diva who had only been on the "SmackDown" roster for close to two weeks. That Dolph had made matters worse for himself after dumping Maria all because he lost and Maria did not use the steel chair against the I-C Champion did nothing to enhance his standing in the "SmackDown" Locker Room.
"How about you just apologize to Michelle like a good little bitch?"
Instead of getting Maryl's apology, Dolph ended up getting Maryl's right hand across his face hard enough to leave a rapidly-reddening welt in plain sight. Maryl might not have said a word to the cocky Dolph, but her message was clear-the Women's Champion would never get any apologies from her.
"You fucking little cunt!"
But Dolph didn't get to hiss another word because Maryl kicked him in the groin, forcing him to double over if she hadn't completely caved in his genitals first.
Maryl speared him to the floor before he could react, pressing her still-healthy right arm directly against his throat and forcing him to try to suck in air as best as he could.
"I told you I'm not apologizing to that whore Michelle McFool for busting her open and that's final!" she hissed into Dolph's face and held on to the point where he was coughing and barely able to breathe. She held both his wrists with her left hand so he couldn't grab at her until she saw fit to let him go.
"What the Hell are you doing?" said a heavily tattooed Superstar who was dressed in shiny black trunks, black elbow pads with a curved white insignia embroidered onto them, black knee pads, and black boots.
"This bleached-out son-of-a-whore just tried to knock me down, " she growled, not even bothering to look upward to glare at the tattooed Superstar who had just spoken to her.
Unfortunately for Maryl, the tattooed Superstar who addressed her was not her new friend Remy Silver but the much-heavier Dave Batista, better known as The Animal on account of his sheer power and raw muscle.
Dolph tried to choke out a rebuttal but Maryl refused to release her forearm from his neck.
"I think he's had enough, " said The Animal as Maryl still had the now-gasping Dolph at her mercy-or at her lack of mercy.
It didn't soften Maryl's mood and it didn't make her any more inclined to release Dolph's neck.
Who the fuck is that big inked-up beast to say when somebody has had enough pain? she thought bitterly as Dolph's face began to turn red and then purple before she realized if she didn't let go, Dolph might not regain consciousness and her in-ring career would be over before it began.
After several more moments, Maryl let out a disgusted groan before she relented and let Dolph crawl to his knees. It would be a minor miracle if he even made it to his feet.
She started toward the Divas' Locker Room before Batista asked, "Aren't you the Diva who made the Women's Champion bleed last week?"
Maryl still had her back to Batista when he asked her about her match with the Women's Champion. Nevertheless, she should have realized her match with Michelle would draw attention from the other "SmackDown" Superstars as well as the Divas.
"I am, " she said, still not turning toward The Animal because she wasn't sure if she'd end up on the receiving end of a Spear from him or not before his match with the much-smaller and charismatic high-flyer Rey Mysterio later that night.
"From what's been said, they all think you meant to make her bleed."
Great. There's another Superstar who thinks I'm no better than a common street thug for what happened to that cunt we are sick and tired of calling our Women's Champion, she thought bitterly.
"Then they also didn't tell you she took off the turnbuckle cover and set herself up for what happened to her when she and I got in the ring last week."
The pain in Maryl's left arm made it harder for her to speak with the corrosive venom she was capable of using when she was angry, but the thinly-veiled impatience in her voice left little margin for doubt.
"No need to get defensive."
Maryl knew Batista had been a four-time World Heavyweight Champion and he had also briefly held the WWE Championship before "Raw"'s third-gen trio Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase) had brutally injured Batista in a three-against-one mauling after the "Extreme Rules" event four months earlier. She had had the honor and opportunity to watch that event in person and she remembered watching from one of the cheap seats close to the railing.
But that was four months ago. This was tonight.
"Knock 'em out in your match tonight, " she said.
Batista continued on his way to where the Superstars and Divas warmed up for their matches. Maryl remained where she was until the musclebound superheavyweight had disappeared from her line of vision, not failing to note his closely shaven head and the massive dragon tattoo all over his back.
Not even Remy's back has that much tattoo ink and I know Remy's got some gorgeous ink on his upper back and shoulders.
She continued on her way to the Divas' Locker Room but not before shouting back over her shoulder as Dolph continued to glare at her, still cupping his genitals where she had kicked him, "If anybody should apologize to anybody, you owe Maria an apology for dumping her like she was less than garbage after you already proved over and over that you're not Intercontinental Champion material, you selfish, self-righteous Diva-dumping scumfucker!"
She refused to back down on this matter and Dolph's condescending hazel glare toward her back did little to change her mind. Who the fuck was he to bring up the now-infamous "Crimson Mask Shot" now? The lucky fans who had a ringside seat and camera phones for that match didn't hesitate to snap their pictures of Michelle's bloodied face and they were equally generous when it came to sharing those pictures with their friends on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and every other available online media outlet.
I didn't set out to bust open Michelle McFool's head. And unless she's planning to steal one of Rey Mysterio's masks to hide her shame, there's no fucking way our GM is gonna let her go home till after tonight's show is done like dinner.
This didn't stop Maryl from wondering how Remy might respond to those pictures of Michelle's face being busted open were he to actually see them himself.
Mickie and Michelle were already backstage with Chris Jericho, one of the co-captains for Team "SmackDown" at "Bragging Rights" (the other co-captain of "Team "SmackDown" was the bald fire-wielding superheavyweight Kane). No doubt Chris was recruiting five worthy Superstars to form Team "SmackDown" with him and Kane for "Bragging Rights" and nothing was going to stop him from looking toward the Divas if no worthy Superstars joined.
Maryl wasn't surprised when Chris made his pitch to the Women's Champion.
"If you're going to ask a Diva to join Team "SmackDown"," said Mickie as the Women's Champion acted as if she wasn't even there, "why don't you ask a Diva who has actually beaten all the Divas?"
Mickie had carried the pink-and-silver butterfly-plated Divas' Championship since "Night of Champions" before she dropped her title to Jillian Hall, only for the recently-traded Latina Diva Melina Pérez to make short work of the wannabe singer's title reign within mere moments to add the Divas' title to her multiple reigns as Women's Champion.
"Better yet, " continued Mickie as she nodded toward Maryl, who had just made her way to the backstage area with Maria in tow, "why don't you ask the Diva who pinned the Women's Champion last week?"
Maryl tried not to flinch, though her injured arm made that almost impossible. If Chris decided to retaliate against her for the low blow, it would make matters even worse since she would have a harder time defending herself.
"I thought the Women's Champion was the only warrior woman on "SmackDown", " said the first-ever Undisputed Champion as he sized up Maryl more closely.
"So you say, Mr. First-Ever Undisputed Champion, " Maryl rejoined sarcastically as she glared upward at Chris's chin but she made no move to strike him again.
"Had I known you are actually a Diva and not just another ring rat, I would have asked you to be the next member of Team "SmackDown" instead of letting that spot be decided between an end-stage hospice patient, a greasy nobody, and one of my boyfriends."
Maryl bit back the impulse to tell Chris to go fuck himself. Nevertheless, she thought he was out of his fucking mind if he expected her to join Team "SmackDown"'s ranks when she had just recently signed her contract. Obviously her hot shot to the groin from last week set the first-ever Undisputed WWE Champion straight as to why she was in the building, so Maryl surmised that this was Chris's rationale for considering opening the final slot on Team "SmackDown" for her.
The dealbreaker was his snide remarks about Matt Hardy and especially about Remy. How fucking dare he insult both of them in that manner.
What Maryl didn't know was Matt Hardy was also one of Chris's favorite sexual partners, though if she had known, she wouldn't know whether to laugh at Chris for being one of the few Superstars to be able to top The Sensei of Mattitude or roll her eyes over who would bottom for who first.
"Yeah. I'm sure you would have, " she said before continuing on her way, this time without sarcasm lacing her words.
When Beth addressed Michelle and bragged that she would take the Women's title from Michelle, that was enough to make Maryl confront The Glamazon.
"What makes you think you're gonna take the Women's title?" Maryl shot back, her eyes like espresso ice as they glared back at the now-wide-eyed Beth.
Mickie and Maria were not far behind.
Unfortunately, Dolph chose the wrong moment to rub his win into the three Divas' faces.
Mickie and Maria glared at Dolph but Maryl had just about had enough of his antics.
Maryl stomped on Dolph's left foot, giving her just enough time to grab him from behind in a sleeper hold.
"Nobody gives a shit about your goddamned tainted win, you arrogant, selfish, self-righteous Diva-dumping scumfucker!" she hissed as the bleached-blond former Spirit Squad member tried to right himself but with little success. "Now apologize to Maria like a good little bitch, Dolphina, or get kicked in the groin again!"
"Apologize to that pathetic cunt?" he demanded, unable to move as Maryl used her right arm against his neck. "Now I know you've lost your mind-"
Maryl dug her fingernails into Dolph's left forearm to emphasize that she was not joking, savoring the moment as he flinched in pain and she might have also drawn blood by gouging into his forearm.
"Apologize to Maria NOW or you're gonna end up with your balls shoved all the way into your throat!"
With Maryl's fingernails boring into his skin and her right arm against his neck, Dolph was left with no other choice but to comply with the new Diva's demands.
"All right, you bitch, I'm sorry-" he muttered to Maria, who was now at Maryl's left with Mickie at her right.
Maryl wasn't satisfied with Dolph's weak-assed apology, and from the way that Mickie and Maria shook their heads at him in anger and disgust, it was obvious they didn't believe his apology was genuine either.
"I think Maria's got a few choice words to say to that so-called 'apology' you just said, " said Maryl seconds before she and Mickie Irish-whipped Dolph so that his back had hit the wall.
Maria did indeed answer her former boyfriend's callously dumping her-she answered with two hard slaps to each side of his face before he stared back at the three Divas in dumb shock and blank hatred.
"You threw away your relationship with me and all for what? So you could blame me for your loss?" Maria said as Dolph glared hatefully at her. "And I didn't cost you that title! You did! You say you don't see me as being a part of your life? Well, I don't want to be a part of your life if you're going to blame me for your losses because you're exactly what Maryl said you are!"
Mickie grinned as Dolph was left nursing several bruises.
On tap was a triple threat qualifying match for a spot on Team SmackDown at "Bragging Rights" between Eric Escobar, Matt Hardy, and Remy Silver.
Remy had on dark red trunks with a variegated black-and-blue falcon, sliced-up dark red arm sleeves, sliced-up navy blue arm sleeves, navy blue knee pads, and dark red fingerless gloves.
"It wasn't enough Dolphina Ziggles couldn't take the I-C title from John Morrison last week, " said Maryl as "Light It Up" blared away and Remy made his entrance. "Our GM punished him by making him get in the ring against that pretty hottie on the same night and he still lost."
"Served him right, " agreed Mickie.
Matt and Eric began the match with Matt ducking Eric's closed fist and countering closed fist for closed fist, only for Remy to separate them with a palm strike to Eric's jaw before Matt's fist connected.
Matt attempted to cinch in a headlock but Eric threw Matt to the mat only to run into a forearm smash from Remy for his trouble.
Matt's backslide pin only got a two-count when Remy drove his forearm into Matt's back.
Eric tried to go after Remy, only for Matt to roll up the greasy Eric for a one-count.
Matt tried to cinch in a headlock on Remy, who slid out of the hold before a fist fight between Matt and Eric ensued. Eric countered Matt's Irish whip into a clothesline.
But Remy broke up the pin after a two-count.
"Silver's not letting either of them get the fall, " noted Todd.
Eric lifted Matt up again before clotheslining him back down, only to run into a flurry of fast strikes from Remy.
Eric tried to pin Matt again, only to get another two count when Remy broke up the pin with a baseball slide kick to Eric.
This sparked a grappling match between Remy and The Sensei of Mattitude.
Eric tried to cinch on a chinlock, but Remy connected with a low-swinging kick to Eric's jaw, his own momentum sending Matt to the canvas underneath Remy for a two-count.
As Matt made it to his feet, Eric punched at and then body-slammed Matt to the mat before he missed The Sensei of Mattitude with a splash. The two traded punches for a while until Matt brought down Eric with the Side Effect.
Eric kicked out of the pin after a two-count, only for Remy to come after him with a second low-swinging kick to Eric's jaw before he tried to pin Eric himself.
Matt climbed on top of the turnbuckle and let loose with an elbow drop on the greasy Eric's ribs, forcing Remy to break his pinfall attempt.
Maryl was livid when Vickie started climbing on the ring apron.
"What's that bitch doing on the ropes?" asked Maryl from the backstage area as Vickie started interfering in the match.
Vickie distracted Matt before he could deploy his Twist of Fate finisher, which was a twisting neckbreaker that sent the hapless Superstar or Diva face-first into the mat, on Eric, only for Remy to yell at Vickie to stop making a fool of herself and to stop trying to lie, cheat, and steal her way to a win.
Vickie didn't take Remy's angry words too well and struck him in the face, making the blond Goth lose his footing before he fell hard on the mat.
As Vickie all but sent Remy sprawling, Eric sent Matt into the steel part of the turnbuckle and grabbed Matt by the tights for the cheap and dirty win.
Maryl's blood all but boiled with outrage over how Vickie Guerrero's distraction and interference had proven costly for both Matt and Remy even though Matt had gotten pinned. And she was determined that Vickie would not cost Remy another match if she could help it.
"You hate that bitch, don't you?" Mickie asked as Maryl's espresso eyes widened with fury over Vickie's cheap and dirty tactics.
Maryl nodded. If she tried to put her hatred toward Vickie into words, the end result might have sounded like a barrage of profanities even a hardened prison inmate might cringe to hear.
"Raw"'s United States Champion was Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, one of a handful of former "WWE Tough Enough" contestants who went on to make a name for themselves in the WWE and he was also the Intercontinental Champion's former tag team partner when they wreaked havoc on ECW together with their talk show "The Dirt Sheet" when they weren't flaunting their WWE Tag Team Championships.
But that had all ended several months ago at "WrestleMania 25" and they had since gone their separate ways.
"You don't like their show?" asked a soft voice. Remy's voice.
Maryl shook her head, no, she didn't like the return of "The Dirt Sheet" at all. Hell, she hadn't enjoyed their Internet-exclusive show since its debut for that matter.
"How's your arm holding up?" he asked as he took a seat next to Maryl.
"Not enough for the trainer to clear me for the rematch between me and Michelle McFool, " she said, "at least not this week."
"That's too bad about your arm."
Maryl nodded.
"I hate that bitch for costing you a chance to be on Team "SmackDown", Remy."
The slim blond paled a little at Maryl's mention of his match earlier that night.
"You saw what happened too, " he said with a wry shake of his head.
"Yeah." She exhaled. "Everything she touches turns to chaos."
The reigning Intercontinental Champion then mentioned his former tag team partner's change in in-ring gear and even levied a few fat kid references for added insult.
"Bad enough we get this bullshit over who is the Jannetty, " Maryl said more to herself than to Remy or to anybody else, "Now we're gonna have to listen to our I-C Champion's fat jokes against "Raw"'s United States Champion too?"
"That's not all he's going to say, " murmured Remy, though he could read that Maryl was as close to white-knuckling her way through the former tag team partners' promo as any addict would white-knuckle their way through withdrawal.
This was because Maryl had grown up with similar verbal abuse about her weight directed against her. She could not even recall how many times she had been nagged at with criticism such as "If only you'd lose several pounds" until she would snap at the offender to mind his or her own fucking business.
When her own parents had the audacity to criticize her about her weight, neither of her parents thought they would be on the receiving end of her wrath until she took a wooden baseball bat and knocked both of them out cold before she called the cops on them and said that her parents had beaten each other senseless in a domestic violence matter.
Why shouldn't I have made that report? It's not as though my parents weren't already abusing each other on a regular fucking basis while they were in a drug-induced haze before they thought they were gonna take out their misery on me and Marcus.
With all the negativity from her family that crackled like so much rotten driftwood about to become a raging inferno with one spark, she considered it a minor miracle that she hadn't succumbed to anorexia nervosa or to bulimia nervosa.
Why the fuck do they think I took up boxing and wrestling? In both sports, there's no place for those skinny walking corpses who look like end-stage AIDS patients and those people who probably look perfect on the outside but they've got rotten teeth and they can't even take a shit without laxatives and anything else they use and abuse just so they don't have to hear "You're fat, you're ugly, you're subhuman, you're worthless, etc" beating them down.
Maryl found herself more disgusted over Michael Cole's lame-assed comment about having to 'protect the shield', whatever the fuck that meant, than she did over John Morrison's remarks about The Miz's new trunks. As far as she could see, Michael Cole was also the same "Raw" color commentator who puked all over Chris Jericho's shoes at the Decade of "SmackDown" bash two weeks earlier and he didn't have what it takes to protect any shields whatsoever.
Maryl and Remy watched the dreadlocked R-Truth try to take down the ponytailed Drew McIntyre for a spot on Team "SmackDown", though Remy didn't recognize that Drew was also the same Superstar who had shadowed him without his knowledge in the parking lot last week because his back had been turned toward Drew.
Unfortunately, R-Truth hadn't been able to stop Mr McMahon's Chosen One from snagging a spot on Team "SmackDown" for "Bragging Rights" and neither Maryl nor Remy was impressed with Drew's in-ring tactics.
Maryl watched the conversation between Batista and the much-smaller Rey before their one-on-one match.
"Maybe it's just that I had another run-in with Dolphina Ziggles after I got sidelined this week from my arm, " she said, "but something doesn't feel right about this singles match between Batista and Rey."
Remy was not happy that Dolph hadn't learned his lesson when The Undertaker knocked him out in the parking lot last week.
"This match doesn't feel right, but not for the reasons Batista said, " said Remy.
Maryl and Remy watched The Undertaker's promo for his title defense against CM Punk before the singles match between Batista and Rey.
"Was Rey the reason you got in the ring?" she asked as the match between Batista and Rey continued.
"Yes, though he's not the only reason I signed the contract to step in the ring."
In truth, Remy got into the ring and began his WWE career as Jeff Hardy's rookie a year earlier before he and Maryl ever met.
Maryl and Remy watched the post-match handshake between Batista and Rey, though Maryl thought there was something wrong with what she saw when Batista tried to point out that his shoulders weren't down when the referee made the three-count.
"If Batista and Rey really are such close friends, " Maryl asked as she and Remy watched the post-match fallout, "then why the fuck does it feel fake when Batista just tended to Rey?"
Remy had no answers for Maryl at that moment, though little did either of them know was that that match between Batista and Rey foreshadowed an even darker and uglier rivalry between the former WWE Tag Team Champions.
A/N: Maryl helps Maria get a little payback against Dolph before she makes her claim for the Women's title.
My sincerest apologies for comparing anorexic nervosa patients to patients suffering from any chronic and terminal illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, and any other medical conditions that also cause physical emaciation.
As always, your feedback and reviews are appreciated.