Dr. Hope Clemente: Good morning-- or is it afternoon? Yikes.
She checked her watch and huffed in frustration.
Dr. Hope Clemente: So much to do before the show. So, how did the knees feel this morning?
MsChif: No pain, but they did feel a little stiff when I woke up. That's definitely an improvement over 6 months ago, though.
Dr. Hope Clemente: Is that just today or has that been happening for a few days?
MsChif: Just today, I think I might have slept on it wrong. It's better now. I'm also pretty pumped about today, my adrenaline is already going to everything's feeling pretty good.
Dr. Clemente nodded.
Dr. Hope Clemente: Okay, lay down on the table.
MsChif did as she was instructed, turning and laying on her back, length-wise. She slipped her shoes off and let them hit the ground. Hope took a hold of MsChif's calf and raised it, pushing it toward her chest.
Dr. Hope Clemente: What exercises have you been working on?
MsChif: Some knee lifts with the weight machines. Trying to do a little more resistance each day. Also picked up DDP Yoga and I'm trying that out too.
Dr. Hope Clemente: Okay, good. I just want you to be extra careful tonight. Okay? I know a little bit about the match you and AJ are planning to put on, and it's one thing to be in a Rumble match or a match against Kelly Kelly. I'm not so sure I'm keen on so many top rope dives in one match, especially to the outside.
MsChif smirked a little.
MsChif: C'mon, Doc. If I'm not killing myself out there it's not as fun.
Hope gave her a hard look as she started stretching Rachel's other knee.
Dr. Hope Clemente: Rachel. I know Terry from AAW. I taught him what he needed to know about working with wrestlers after he graduated. And I know Leonard, your trainer from Shimmer, too. I know this is what you do. You like to go crazy and throw caution to the wind, even if it means potentially ending your career prematurely. I've been doing this a long time. You got scouted because they wanted to bring in some established locker room leaders to give the women's division a boost. This isn't Ring of Honor. We play it safer here than other places and you're going to need to get in line with that. Got it?
MsChif: Look, I appreciate the fact that you're trying to--
Dr. Hope Clemente: I'm not trying to do anything, Rachel. I'm telling you to play it safe. This isn't a request. Take a couple of these spots out and rework it to be more ground based.
MsChif sat up sharply and looked at Hope with indignation.
MsChif: You cannot be serious! I feel fine. My match with AJ Lee is going to go off without a hitch. Gutting my spots isn't "playing it safe", it is paranoia.
Dr. Hope Clemente: You cannot abuse your knees so badly when you just had them repaired 3 months ago. On this company's dime, I might add. If you ruin the cartilage in your knees this time, you won't have any choice but to have your knees replaced completely, and then you'll probably be done for good.
MsChif: But, there are--
Dr. Hope Clemente: Rework the match, Rachel. And I need to approve any and all aerial spots. And you can get mad if you want to, but this is coming from above me. If you don't come back to me with a safer, reworked match, I've been given the authority to not let you compete tonight.
MsChif: This is preposterous.
MsChif stood up and grabbed her shoes, hurriedly putting them on.
MsChif: I signed with the EBWF to entertain the best way I know how, not to put on clinical wrestling snoozefests. This isn't just some match. This is WRESTLEMANIA, and it happens to be my first one. My first 50,000 plus crowd ever, and you want to Nerf my moveset.
Hope just sat back silently, letting her vent.
MsChif: AJ and I were going to give the crowd a phenomenal match. We managed to get 15 minutes, which is incredible. You have to know how rare that is, and how much of an opportunity that is. Now you're telling me I need to gut that match and turn it into a bathroom break. You're telling me I have to piss away that opportunity and just what... Wait for next year?!
Dr. Hope Clemente: You have work to do. Have it done in three hours.
MsChif: ...Fine.
MsChif grabbed her purse and left the room in a huff.
Dr. Hope Clemente: This is for the best.
It was too late, she said it to an empty room. Hope sighed, opening up her file and taking some notes down. She murmured "Just like the boys." before clicking her pen closed and sitting down.
~~~~~~~
Rachel sat down in what had already been labeled as the Women's Locker room. She huffed. For the first time, she was considering that the pie in the sky EBWF experience that Stephanie McMahon had pitched to her that night in Illinois might just have been too good to be true. What was the point of being MsChif if MsChif is just a chick with black hair who screams a lot? She couldn't fathom the logic of hiring a daredevil to do anything other than defy death. Perhaps this wasn't the EBWF she had been led to believe existed? She dug into her purse, set her cell phone down on the chair next to where she was sitting, and rummaged around a little while before she produced a folded up piece of perforated notebook paper. On it was a simple title at the top:
Under that were various notes and scribblings about the ideas she had for her match with AJ Lee. These were the things she was planning to execute in the match, the ones that no doubt would have made the highlight reel. She sighed as she went over the spots that involved top rope moves and started either rewriting them or scribbling them out entirely.
In the back of her mind, she knew that Hope was simply trying to do the right thing by protecting their investment in her. How many companies would fit the bill on some major surgery just to get her on TV as fast as possible, and how much business sense did it make to put all that money on the line in the first couple months of her working there? The idea was at least palatable, and it made her rewind the clock back to when she was tearing Hope's head off earlier. How petulant must she have sounded? The slow feeling of regret for flying off the handle started to sink in, but she shook it off. She had work to do, and if she wasn't going to be able to showcase her creative temperament by working a beautiful match, she would showcase it by putting together a fun promo the best way she knew how; by being dark and foreboding.
~~~~~~~
The cameras opened up on a very dark, barely lit room. The only lights shining in the room were the soft flicker of the candelabras attached to the stone columns that dotted either side of the center walkway. The candles were just enough to light the path that led to a small altar, that was in front of a pentagram etched in the floor. Beyond that, the darkness swallowed the room. On the far end of the walkway, double doors creaked as they swung open. A shadowy, hooded woman walked towards the altar. The woman approached the altar, going down to one knee, the black robes with green trim parting slightly to reveal the knee high black leather boots she was wearing. The camera zoomed in on her, revealing the telltale green eyeliner and black lipstick on her features.
MsChif: Libera animas omnium fidelium...
She rested her hands on her knee, her eyes affixed to the floor. Her voice was barely above a whipser, her breath steady and even.
MsChif: Defunctorum de poenis inferni...
In her hand, she was holding a small piece of paper. The camera zoomed in enough to see that it was a photo of some kind.
MsChif: ...et de profundo lacu.
Her eyes looked up at the altar. She leaned forward and rested her elbow on her knee, holding the photo in her hand.
MsChif: Deliver to me the strength to destroy my enemies, and give me courage to show no remorse as I tear them asunder.
A malicious grin curled on her features.
MsChif: Wrestlemania. The showcase of the immortals. So much history here, so much story behind the name. But not once have the lights gone out and MsChif appeared on the stage. I want to be able to go to the ring, focus on the task at hand, and be able to defeat my opponent, no matter what she brings to the table. AJ Lee will be the first sacrifice.
Her eyes remained on the altar, she continued speaking, addressing what could only be the higher power she was requesting strength from.
MsChif: My opponent is ...unstable. She fancies herself an unpredictable threat that one cannot prepare for. Provide for me the focus I need to see past the facade she puts on. That focus will prepare me to recognize and expose her for what she really is: A scared, sad little girl who fears her own shadow, much worse the shadow I cast before her. For only a few people are truly present enough to channel their craziness into a weapon in the ring. AJ Lee is not one of those people. I can see the fear in her soul.
She cleared her throat sublty, a small hint of discomfort as she very slightly shifted.
MsChif: The path to where I am now has been treacherous, filled with struggle and torment. I lost focus and I was defeated by Maryse, a mistake that I will not let happen again. My path lays before me, still as clear as it was to me in the beginning, when I defeated all my opponents at the Royal Rumble. I will not take my eye off the goal - the pain and torment of every soul in the EBWF. I have faith that I will be delivered to that final prize. I will start at Wrestlemania by winning the EBWF Women's Championship. It will be my beacon, the symbol that will bring more enemies out of the woodwork. They will challenge me, and I will make them suffer, and make them bleed.
MsChif reached up with her free hand and lifted up her hood, flipping it back behind her head. The focused look of intensity on her face showed grim determination, a malignancy that was focused on one person and one person only.
MsChif: If it is willed, then I will begin the road to fulfilling my destiny in the EBWF on Sunday. I will spill the blood of AJ Lee, leave her broken and bruised, her face covered in an emerald mask, in unimaginable agony. In so doing, I will cement my legacy as the Tormentor of Souls, the one true Scream Queen. As it begins with AJ, so shall it continue with others, until there are none left to challenge me.
With that, she stood up, the picture still in her hand. She walked towards the altar and placed the photo upon it, her voice once again growing quiet as she subtly spoke her final words.
MsChif: Requiescant in pace.
With that, MsChif turned and walked away from the altar, heading for the door. The camera focused and zoomed in on the photo she had left on the altar, a promotional picture of her opponent on Sunday, AJ Lee. The camera slowly faded to black.
