Sebastian Everett-Bryce ran a towel across his face, as he leaned back against the wall of his locker room. He glanced down at the UGWC World Heavyweight Championship that lay across the chair to his right and allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. On the monitor in the corner of the room, highlights of the nights show were playing on repeat. Three pertinent things had happened in quick succession this evening.

Seb and Larry had defeated Rydell and Pierce.

Joe and Montague had both won the Cooperative fourway at the same time.

Lucy had beaten Konrad to become the UGWC Chaos Champion.

Each of those things had given Seb a sick sense of pleasure, one way or another. The casual observer would suggest that Seb and Larry had worked as a well oiled unit, but in Seb’s mind his blind tag had saved them from certain defeat. He didn’t blame Larry by any stretch – Pierce was a formidable opponent when properly motivated, and he was always properly motivated when given the chance to one up his former Piercing Media Empire partner. No matter how many times he failed.

Watching The Suplex Cops get tortured weekly by Tragedia del’Arte was a joy to behold. The schadenfreude of seeing Joe’s patience tested beyond measure, combined with some sick sense of comeuppance for Knox and his regularly scheduled meltdowns that took down anyone and everyone who cared about him was a guilty pleasure that Seb would never admit out loud. Probably.

And then of course, his best friend doing precisely what he’d hoped she would do when coming out victorious to win the Championship that Seb had relinquished just seven days earlier. He was proud of her – he wanted to tell her, but knew that Lucy wouldn’t take that the same way as others would. She’d see it as a pat on the head. No, instead, he’d offer her congratulations and tell her how awesome she was.

His smile faded a little when he thought about what could have been – she’d been attacked. Seb had no plans to come out there, not even after her victory, but when that whistling fuck put her through those damn tables he couldn’t hold back anymore. He’d gone by the time Seb had reached the ring, and thankfully Raab hadn’t been able to take advantage but still…

What could have been.

Seb blinked as he dropped the towel onto his seat and quickly dressed – he pulled everything together into his luggage and left the locker room. It didn’t take him long to reach Lucy’s. He lifted his hand to tap on the door when…

“Sebastian.” Seb paused and turned to find one of the back office staffers holding out a piece of paper. “From Daedalus.”

“Wonderful.” Said Seb, plucking the note from his hand.

 

“Fantas…” Seb said, but the staffer was gone. Seb folded the note and turned back to the door. He tapped with his knuckle to signal his arrival and from inside there was a response, but he couldn’t hear what it was. He pushed the door open.

“Hello?” He said. “Can I come in?”

“In you come, lad.” Came an Irish accent from inside. Seb pushed open the door and set his bags just inside.

“Rogan – pleasure as always.” Seb said genuinely. “Where’s Lucy?”

“With the trainers – they’re checking her burns and probably picking splinters out of her arse.” Rogan said with a chuckle. Seb glanced at the table where the Chaos Title lay. “Missing it already, lad?”

“Yes.” Said Seb with a smile “And no.”

Seb looked back at Rogan, and it was his turn to look at the belt now.

“Chaos.” Said Rogan, looking at the title. Seb hadn’t noticed he was staring at Rogan until he turned back to look at Seb. “You alright there, lad?”

“Oh… Right… Sorry.” Said Seb. “It’s just…”

He paused, unsure as to whether he should carry on.

“Just what?” Asked Rogan.

“You used to travel between dimensions. Different versions of the world. You’ve spent time in versions of our world that isn’t this one.” Said Seb.

“Aye.” Said Rogan, but Seb could clearly see he was uncomfortable. Seb cleared his throat.

“Have you ever met… another… You know…” Said Seb. But it was clear that Rogan had no idea what he was talking about. “Another version of you?”

“Please don’t tell me there’s two versions of you running about the place…” Said Rogan with a smirk.

“No… No. Forget I said anything.” Seb said, clearing his throat again. “Sorry.”

Rogan paused for a second.

“Different cultures have different names for it. Different worlds too. Most of the time the familiarity gets passed off as coincidence. Only so many ways a human face can form before some start repeating. Some call them doppelgangers. Sometimes the slight differences are put down to Skin Walkers. Most of the time, its just travellers that have been seen when they should have stayed hidden.” Said Rogan, slowly sitting down. “I’ve never met another version of me, but I’ve met people that knew other versions of me. There’s probably a dozen or so Rogan doppelganger sightings in other worlds.”

“Are there… Consequences? To being seen? To seeing yourself?” Asked Seb.

“There isn’t a rulebook if that’s what you mean – we self-regulate. Try and avoid changing time. Try not to interfere. But other than that… Our ripples are limited. We’re not part of their world, so when we leave, our effects shouldn’t linger. Why do you ask?”

Seb mulled over the question. On one hand, there was almost no-one else he could talk to about the fact that, several months earlier, he’d met a version of Rogan thirty years senior to the one who stood before him now. Yet, was Rogan the man to tell? Afterall, his alternate self was imprisoned in a space between worlds forever charged with ensuring no other version of himself commit the same crimes that he did.

Whatever those were.

“I met you. I mean, another version of you.” Said Seb.

“When you used the Waystation?” Asked Rogan. “Interes…”

“No, no, not there.” Said Seb, biting his lip, unsure how to progress. “I was contacted. Via a videotape. By a version of you, who was a lot older than you were.”

“Contacted from his own dimension?” Asked Rogan. “Because that shouldn’t be possible.”

“He wasn’t in his dimension… He was in a place between universes. He could see into…”

“Stop.” Said Rogan, holding up his hand. “Don’t say anything else.”

“Why?” Asked Seb. “What is it?”

“We don’t know who he is – for all I know, he could be me. If he’s outside of the dimensions, he could be from anywhere. I can’t risk hearing about something that hasn’t happened yet.” Said Rogan.

“But he said…” Seb began.

“I said stop!” Rogan snapped. “You have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of, Seb. And that’s the me you know, nevermind one you don’t. Nevermind one who’s lost and desperate. Whatever he wants, I want no part of it – do you hear me?”

“Alright, alright.” Said Seb. Rogan glared at him for a moment, before his look softened.

“I’m sorry… It’s just that… I’ve heard rumours of what happens when things go wrong. I’ve… Seen some of them too.” Rogan said – his face suddenly looked weary. Saddened. “It’s part of the reason I stopped travelling. I wanted to quit while I was ahead.”

“Understood.” Said Seb. “You won’t hear about it again.”

Rogan nodded and Seb considered his next words carefully. Considered that, perhaps, a change of subject.

“Lucy and I are teaming again next week.” Seb said, handing Rogan the note. “Joe and Monty.”

“Fun.” Said Rogan. “At least Monty has a new partner this time – keeps things a little more interesting.”

“God knows what’s happening in the Coop Division – it’s a shitshow. How Joe hasn’t legitimately killed someone yet is beyond me. And that’s just because he’s regular partner is Knox.” Said Seb with a smirk. “Either way – I’ve beaten Monty more times than I can count, and as tough as Joe is, I’ve beaten him before.”

“Easy, Seb. You run the risk of sounding over confident.” Said Rogan. “Complacent.”

“You think I’m complacent?” Seb asked, with a burst of derisive laughter. “I don’t know whether you noticed, Rogan, but I held the Chaos Championship for…”

“Over five hundred days, a year and a half, defended the title more than any champion has ever defended a title. Yes, lad, I know. We all do. We’ve heard about it every week since you won that World Title. A little funny, don’t ya think? That even after winning the World Title, you’re still talking about what you achieved with a belt that belongs to someone else?” Rogan asked. “How long you going to play that particular tune, hmm?”

Seb paused, his jaw clenching for a moment. He took a second before answering.

“I’m merely pointing out that you don’t hold a championship for that long if you allow complacency to creep in.” Said Seb.

“Thing is though, champ, is that something happens to people when they win the big one. Almost like… They think the job is done. You’ve been there – beat Hide, then a month later… Poof. All gone. Same for me – win the world title and a month later, just like that it’s over. The list of people who have held that title for less than two months is staggering – because they can’t get out of their own way.” Said Rogan. “Job ain’t done, fella.”

“I’m fully aware.” Said Seb, rolling his eyes. “I know I can beat Joe and I know I can beat Monty – I can beat them when their eyes are on me, without them being distracted about who’s going to be their Coop partner next week, or whether Knox is going to have a melt down and cost all four of them the titles…”

“Complacent…” Said Rogan.

“I’m not fu…” Seb began, but held back. “I’m just saying that they have other priorities than me and Lucy.”

“Right, and that’s why you and Lucy would win, hmm? Not because you’re more talented or more capable, but because they don’t care and they’re distracted?” Rogan asked.

“That’s not what I’m saying. Stop twisting my damn words.” Said Seb. “Of course I think we’re the better team – my partner is my best friend, and we’re greater than the sum of our parts – and those parts are pretty damn good. We’ve dominated this company so far this year – together and apart. So much so that the only opponents they could come up with to break our dominance was each other. So however tough Joe is, and however smart Monty proves himself to be, We’re the goddamn Angry Pirates, and we’re just better than the, You know why?”

Seb walked towards Rogan with a determined look on his face, and steely look in his eye.

“Because we arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre.” Said Seb. Entirely unironically.

Yes. I know. Once Rogan finished laughing and Seb’s ego shrank to a more normal size… Well, normal for Seb at least, Rogan nodded.

“You’ve got fire, lad, I can’t deny that.” Said Rogan. “But whether it’s Joe and Monty, or Larry at the Melee, you need to up your game son. Because if you keep on like you have been since you won that title, then you’re going to prove Matt Knox right in every little jab he’s thrown at you this past few weeks. And you’ll be no better than the rest of the one shot wonders that came before…”

Rogan smirked.

“And that includes you, too.” Said Rogan.

Seb considered his response, but wasn’t sure it would do any good. Instead, he cleared this throat.

“Thanks for the advice, friend.” Said Seb, quietly. “If you could pass the message on about our match to Lucy, that would be great.”

“No problem, lad.” Said Rogan as Seb pulled open the door and stepped back out into the corridor.

“aNd ThAt InClUdEs YoU tOo.” Said Seb, with a mocking face. “If he wasn’t so pretty, he’d be a prick.”

And with that, Seb stormed off towards the exit, his luggage bouncing from side to side as it trailed behind him.

 

Despite the fact that they’d been friends for nine months, and had teamed with each other on more than one occasion, it was odd that Sebastian and Lucy had never trained together. Call it chemistry, call it intuition, but when Seb and Lucy were in the ring together something just clicked – as partners and opponents. But this was no ordinary occasion – afterall, despite having faced Montague on multiple occasions before, never had they faced him with such a formidable opponent. Sure. Tempest was utterly talented. Zane Scott was a legend.

But Joe? He was a killer.

And so, in an attempt to try and negate the additional danger of one Joe Cool – it doesn’t matter if that’s his name, that’s what we’re calling him and that’s final – Lucy and Seb had agreed to meet to talk tactics and work on how to get the better of the Magician and the Bogeyman.

Lucy had arrived first at the gym, and when Seb arrived, she was perched on the apron of the ring with a leg crossed underneath her. She was scrolling on her phone as the doors opened.

“There’s the… Ahem… Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew UGWC… Chaaaaaos… Champion…. Luuuuuuuuucy Wyyyyyyyyylde!” Seb exclaimed, arms wide. Lucy cracked a smile, but it never reached her eyes.

“Hey Seb.” She said quietly. “So what do you want to do first…”

“Congratulate you, obviously!” Said Seb. “I couldn’t find you at the arena after your match, you’ve been radio silent all week other than agreeing to meeting today.”

Seb walked towards her and reached out to offer her a hug, but she stopped him, the tips of her fingers pressed into his chest.

“Little sensitive after the match, you mind if we skip the hug?” She asked.

“Oh, right, sure.” said Seb, clearing his throat. “But hey, I knew you could do it, it’s why I picked you. I wanted whoever came next to…”

“Yeah I get it.” Lucy said, cutting him off and lying down on the mat and rolling into the ring. “Let’s just focus on the match this week, okay?”

“… Alright.” Said Seb, dropping his bag down on a chair. He pulled off his jacket and tossed that over the chair too. He slowly turned around. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, why would anything be wrong?” Asked Lucy.

“I try to give you a hug and you say you’re a little sensitive, next thing I know you’re rolling into the ring for a sparring session.” Said Seb.

“Hugs aren’t really my thing, Seb, you know that.” Lucy said, biting her lip.

“Awkward hugs are absolutely our thing – and you’ve never pushed me away before.” Said Seb.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m over it, ever think about that?” Asked Lucy. Seb tilted his head.

“Alright, fine. No more hugs.” Said Seb.

“I’m not saying…” Lucy began before shaking her head. “Look, can we just drop it?”

“I don’t want to drop it – I want to celebrate you. I’m proud of you, and what you’ve achieved.” Said Seb. Lucy let out a derisive chuckle.

“Yeah, what I’ve achieved. Right.” Lucy said.

“What the fuck?” Seb said. “Lucy what the hell is going on?”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on…” Lucy began, but she clenched her jaw, and closed her eyes. She paused for a second. “I just want to train, Seb. That’s all. And you’re out here wasting the time we have pouting.”

“Pouting…” Said Seb with a chuckle. “Well, yeah, I guess maybe I do do that.”

Seb rushed the ring and rolled inside, before hopping up to his feet.

“No more pouting – you want to train, Champ, let’s train.” Said Seb. Lucy rolled her neck and a moment later they clashed.

Except, this didn’t feel like sparring, it felt like a rematch. Neither of them held back – back and forth they went, neither giving an inch. They hit with 100% force, and when Seb delivered a German Suplex, he purposefully released her a little early so she hit hard. In response, Lucy caught him with a kick to the jaw that busted his lip.

A moment later, they were locked up, chain wrestling, each of them trying to out wrestle the other.

But Seb’s schedule had been much lighter since their match at Chaos In Chelsea – one Cooperative match in which Larry had done a heavy part of the lifting. Lucy had fought in a triple threat match, and gone twenty five minutes with Konrad Raab. If it had been an excuse, it came from a place of truth – Lucy was feeling the effects.

“Alright, fuck. Jesus.” Said Lucy when Seb locked in The Kings Road and cranked it deep. She never tapped, but Seb knew when enough was enough, they broke apart and each took a corner. Seb stood up, leaning into it with his head against the turnbuckle. Lucy sat, nursing her calf in the corner.

“So are we going to talk now, or do you just want to spar some more?” Seb asked, viciously without looking her in the eye.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Said Lucy.

“Don’t give me that bulls…” Seb began, but Lucy cut him off.

“There’s nothing to talk about, because it doesn’t matter, Seb. I don’t want to fight with you and anything we say is going to end with one or both of us more pissed off than what we are now. It’s not your problem, it’s mine, and I’ll deal with it.” Said Lucy.

“So this is the kind of friendship we have, hmm?” Seb asked. “You going to treat me like you treated Joe? Gets tough, you run away?”

“Hey, fuck you.” Said Lucy.

“I guess it’s easier, right – you loved Joe. You were engaged. But you bottled up your shit and waited for it to poison everything. Then you ran away and left him to pick up the pieces of his life on his own.” Sneered Seb.

“Oh that’s rich coming from the guy who can’t help but steal from the people he says he loves. How’s Sloane’s career doing after your little stunts in DCW. hmm? Maybe now you’re done taking what matters to me, you can stop pretending you care.”

“Go fuck yourself, you self pitying arsehole.” Said Seb.

“You first you arrogant prick.” Said Lucy.

And then they were back on their feet, and the sparring began again. Back and forth they went – but without any rules or a referee, there was no end in sight. The back and forth was more chaotic than in their recent match with neither getting any real control. But when Seb missed an attempt for an Empire Kick, and Lucy turned and swung her foot at his head, Seb scurried away from her, a look of fear in his eyes.

“Keep your fucking chin up, next time.” Lucy said as she retreated to her own corner.

“What the fuck, Luce…” Seb said quietly. “That could’ve…”

“I know!” Lucy shouted. “I fucking know! I’m sorry, alright?!”

She dropped down opposite him with tears in her eyes.

“Lucy tell me what’s going on…” Seb said. “You’re my best friend, and if I did something to hurt you I want to know about it so I can fix it.”

“You can’t fix it.” Lucy said. “You didn’t do… At least, you didn’t mean to…”

“What is it?” Seb said.

“Please don’t…” Lucy said, quietly. “I don’t want us to do this.”

“Bit late for that.” Said Seb. “Say it.”

Lucy ran her hand over her face, as if hoping to wipe away whatever it was she had to say next. Instead, she took a deep steadying breath, and made sure to make eye contact when she spoke.

“I didn’t want the Chaos Title shot. It feels like a prize for coming second. It feels like you’re patting me on the head and telling what a good girl I am, and handing this thing to me like I should be fine with the fact that you’re the World Champion and I’m not.” Said Lucy, she bit her lip for a second. “I get that the Chaos title means something to you, but it just doesn’t mean the same to me. The only title I want is the one I had and lost. And feeling like you’re just trying to make me feel better is…”

“Fuck you.” Said Seb. Lucy paused and started to blink.

“… Wait, what?” Lucy said.

“I said fuck… You.” Said Seb again, a look of incredulity in his eyes. “How fucking dare you…”

“Excuse me?” Lucy said. “How dare I?”

“Yes! How dare you take everything I’ve accomplished over the past fifteen months with the Chaos Title and dismiss it. You think I picked you to make you feel better? I picked you because I spent a year and a half making the Chaos title THE most prestigious belt in our company. I had people walk into our company specifically to try and take that Championship away from me. I had people choose to fight me, for my title over fighting you for yours.” Said Seb.

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Said Lucy.

“Yes I do, Lucy. Former World Champions came at me for my Championship over you and yours. And god knows, it’s not because it was easier to win.” Said Seb.

“Hey, easy!” Snapped Lucy.

“I love that Championship, and if you think for one second I would use it to make your self-pitying arse feel better, you’ve got another thing coming!” Snapped Seb.

“Yeah? Well if you fucking loved it so much, then why’d you feel the need to come after the World Title, Sebastian? Hmm? If it’s so prestigious how come you wanted to leave it behind?” Asked Lucy.

“Because I earned the right!” Said Seb, before shaking his head. “Twelve defences, fifteen months and god knows how many challengers, I earned the right to try something different. And god knows the only way that title was coming off my waist was if I handed it back, and if I handed it back I was damn sure going to switch it out for something else. I gave them all the chance to end me, Luce… Raab. Pierce. Knox. I told them all, beat me and I’m gone. And either no-one could, or no-one would. So when I was told that they wanted to do Champion vs Champion I figured fuck it. If no-one else is going to take that title off me, then I’ll do it myself.”

“So you came after me.” Said Lucy.

“I didn’t choose it.” Said Seb, with a shock of laughter. “But I wouldn’t have changed it. I did something no-one has ever done with that title before. I defended it beyond anything anyone has ever defended anything in this company and ended my reign undefeated. But the last thing I expected was for all my work to be undone by a Champion who refused to acknowledge the legacy of that title. I didn’t choose you because I felt sorry for you. I chose you because of everyone, I thought you would be the one to keep the prestige that title gained. The Champion makes the Championship, Lucy. But when you’re acting like his? Well fuck – you may as well show up on Synergy and hand Raab the title at least he wants it.”

“Will you fucking stop? I showed up, didn’t I? I won the damn thing!” Said Lucy.

“Did you do it to win the title? Or to rub it in Konrad’s face that you didn’t want it and you won it anyway?” Asked Seb. Lucy didn’t immediately answer. He let out a small snort. “Like I thought.”

“Seb, you have to see this from my point of view. My entire career, there’s always been someone or something in my way. I’ve been around winners every step of the way. CJ. Gabriel. Joe. Rogan. I’ve always had this feeling that I was… Short… That I hadn’t done enough to make a name for myself in this business.  I never got the chance to reach the top in OWF, and when I won the world title here… That’s where I wanted to stay.”

“Gabriel and Rogan might tell you that the Chaos Title is worth a little more than you give it credit for.” Said Seb, leaning on the ropes. “Joe could have walked into UGWC and picked the World Title, but instead he picked me and mine. I think maybe you’re assuming that all titles are stopping points on the same journey. But trust me when I say, we have a lot of different roads to get us to where we want to go. Not all of them have to be exclusively through the World Title.”

“I don’t know about that.” Said Lucy, pausing for a second before taking a deep breath. “But I’ll think about what you said – and please don’t think that I would ever devalue what you achieved this past year. I never would.”

“Yeah, well…” Seb said, kicking the canvas with his toe. “I guess maybe I could have done a better job in explaining why I chose you… Kind of just… Tossed it out into the universe on television with hardly any warning.”

“I’m sorry for what I said about Sloane…” Said Lucy. “That was a low blow.”

“Not entirely inaccurate though.” Seb said, picking at the ring rope. “Sorry about the Joe thing.”

“Yeah, well, you weren’t exactly wrong either.” Said Lucy. Seb flashed a look in her direction once, twice, and then the third time didn’t break his gaze. He got this mischievous look on his face.

“Congrats on the win, champ.” He said quietly. Lucy rolled her eyes, but she smiled.

“Thank you, Seb.” She said. Seb started to make his eyebrows jump up and down. “What? What? … Oh god… Okay… Fine.”

And Seb broke into a wide smile before striding across the ring and pulling her into a crushing hug. She let out a low groan as the air disappeared from her lungs.

“Alright, Seb, you’re gonna kill me.” She said. “Shall we get back to the training thing.”

“I guess.” Said Seb, pulling away. “But maybe don’t try and kick my head off this time, yeah?”

“If you insist.” Said Lucy, before she gave him a playful punch to the shoulder.

 

Well after their training session had finished, Lucy remained, sat upon the same apron that she’d been seated on when Seb had arrived earlier that afternoon. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically – and it didn’t help that she’d pushed herself beyond what she should have, considering she was still healing from whatever that was the previous Monday against Konrad.

When Rogan walked into the gym, he found her leaned back against the ropes with her eyes closed. He stopped and watched her for a few moments, noticing immediately how uncomfortable she looked. There wasn’t anything peaceful about her demeanor, so he did what he does, he coughed and she immediately opened her eyes and looked around until she found him.

“Hey, you’re here.” She said, sitting up and pulling her bag up onto her shoulder without actually sliding off the apron.

Rogan shook his head as he approached and slid her bag off her shoulder, placing it on his. “I got you, Lass. How’d it go?”

Lucy sighed.

“That well, huh?”

Lucy shook her head. “It didn’t go amazingly well, no.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked as he leaned against the apron beside her.

“What’s there to say? We didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the whole ‘Lucy’s Chaos Champion’ thing. Quite a few ‘fuck you’s’ were said and..” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Rogan let out a sigh of his own.

“I think you knew that was going to be the case, though, didn’t you?”

“I told you.”

“But I assume it wasn’t all bad, yeah?”

Lucy shot him a look but nodded her head anyway. “It wasn’t all bad. I understand where he’s coming from, even if I get the feeling he doesn’t exactly understand how I’m feeling about it. But it doesn’t change how I feel about the title.”

“I didn’t expect it to, Lass. You’re a stubborn one.”

“No shit.” She chuckled softly. “But it did help me, in a way, our talk, I mean.  Seb gave me something to think about.”

Rogan’s eyebrows arched, “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean, I know I’ll never be able to do what Seb did – That’s the ultimate goal, I suppose. But I just have to be a different type of Chaos Champion. Maybe not disrespect what my best friend did with the belt, but do something different with it and make it my own.”

“And how’re you planning on doin that?”

“I haven’t quite figured that part out yet… I’ll make sure to let you know when I do. But for now…” She said as she slid off the apron and her feet hit the ground. “For now, we’ve got a match this week to think about.”

“How’re you feeling about that?” Rogan asked, stepping in beside her as they strode towards the door.

She didn’t answer right away, opting to focus on their exit more than the question itself, that was, until they got outside and Rogan again asked her. This time she was obligated to answer.

“I feel fine about it.”

“First time you’ve faced Joe since…”

“Since then. Yeah, I’m well aware. A lot has changed since then, but then again, not much has changed either. Joe is still Joe. He’s not gonna go easy on us. Even if his partner isn’t the one he really wanted to partner with.”

Rogan nodded his head.

“Seb and I know how dangerous he is, let alone how dangerous he is when he’s frustrated. And lately, he’s gotta be frustrated. So it should be fun.”

Rogan chuckled. “Fun.”

“Yeah, why not? It’s not like Joe and I aren’t familiar with how each other operates. We’ve been friends for a long time… Among other things.”

Silence settled between them as they got to the car, and as they got in, Rogan turned to say something else, but Lucy stopped him.

“And don’t even ask about Montague. I’ve talked enough about his magical ass to last me a lifetime.” She wanted to stop there, but then she herself chuckled and shook her head. “Besides, I don’t think his biggest enemy is on the opposing team this time.”

“Aye. I’d be feelin the same way if I were Joe.”

“I don’t know if Monty knows what kind of fire he’s dealing with. But I guess we’ll find out. I’m looking forward to it, regardless.”

“You are, yeah?”

Lucy nodded again. “Contrary to popular belief, I enjoy testing myself against Joe. He’s a damn good wrestler, and as boring as it might be – I respect him and I know he respects me. We’ve had our issues, but as long as Montague behaves… It shouldn’t be a shit show.”

“Montague behaving..”

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s gonna happen either.”