The flight from Orlando to Denver has been relatively quiet. Ken, Kyra and Adina sit on pillows to try and make the otherwise uncomfortable sleep slightly tolerable. Sitting in the middle seat, Ken does his best not to move. With Kyra asleep holding his hand and her head resting on his chest. Adina was passed out with her head against the window. Their flight had been delayed, so they were given little choice but to fly in the middle of the night. Ken had no idea what time it was, just that they were about an hour or so away from their destination. Despite being rerouted to Orlando from their original, direct flight, this trip was going to be fun, or so Ken decided. He was determined not to let this little snafu ruin the entire trip. Suddenly, Adina shoots awake as the plane begins to shake, grabbing Ken’s arm and digging her little nails into it.

“It’s okay, baby girl. It’s just turbulence. When you are this high in the air, the wind feels a little bit stronger up here.” Ken reassures her. “Everything is fine. Remember, if something was wrong, those masks would come down and there would be a ton of people sleeping. Hell, I bet your mom would even wake up.”

Kyra wasn’t really sleeping peacefully. She had passed out from exhaustion. She was just that worn out. Ken wasn’t sure if talking with a therapist was actually helping her or not. But, if she was getting some rest, he sure as hell wasn’t going to interrupt that. For some reason, no matter how tired he was, no matter what time of night, no matter how long the trip, Ken simply could not sleep on flights. Even the fourteen to fifteen hour flight from Boston to Tokyo wasn’t enough to wear him out. Looking down, Ken kisses Kyra on the forehead and she subconsciously snuggles into him further.

Ken looks back down at his phone, where he is watching a replay of the Incendium match against the Baltimore Elite that took place at the UGWC/Carnage Wrestling joint event from last year. Might as well make the best of his time. Adina leans in and watches as Ken steps through the ropes and goes to stomp Gabriel Baal on the back of the head. Gabriel sees him and pulls away from the cover, and the two exchange words as the referee now has to run across the ring to get Davison back on the outside.

“OH FUCK YOU KEN… LET YOUR WOMAN GET HER ASS KICKED ON HER OWN!” former Carnage commentator Johnny Vegas yells.

“He’s protective of his lady, I can dig that. Even though from what I’ve seen his lady is a blood thirsty bitch.” Covert J responds.

“Why’d he call mama a bitch?” Adina says before covering her mouth because she had just uttered a bad word. Ken lets out a quiet chuckle.

“You’re fine. You were repeating what he said. Just don’t make a habit of it. Got it?” Adina nods while Ken pauses.

“Because I am,” Kyra mutters, half asleep before falling back into a catatonic stupor.

“Let’s just say your mother is a tough woman who is willing to stand up for herself and a lot of insecure men, like Mr. Vegas, are intimidated by that.”

“Was you intimi…” Adina pauses. “Whatever that word was?”

“Not at all. All she needed was someone to believe in her and I did. I saw the woman she was and the woman she could be and I fell in love with it. As hard as we fight with each other sometimes, we will both fight even harder for the people we love.”

Ken smiles as he utters the words.

“Including me?”

“Especially you, kiddo.”

“Good.” Adina bounces in place excitedly. “Cause I’d fight for you, too.”

“And why would you ever have to do that?” Ken probes, legitimately curious why Adina would ever think that.

“Because I love you, too,” the child says before her ADD kicks in and she looks over at the window, opening it and with it, a brightness that causes Ken the squint and raise his hand over Kyra’s eyes. “IT’S SOOOOOOOOO PRETTY!!!”

It is hard to argue that. The orange morning sky with the sun hanging above then while the clouds move beneath them.

“Hey, Do me a favor. Take this.” Ken lifts his hand a little, motioning towards Adina. “Take a picture so we can show your mother when she wakes up.”

Adina gladly takes Ken’s phone and begins snapping picture after picture after picture out the window of the plane. Ken just takes it all in, having another one of his ‘this is my life now’ moments and smiling as he leans back and strokes Kyra’s hair.

“This really is my life,” he says quietly to himself, as if to remind himself that.

Ken Davison stands inside of an ornately decorated room. The floors are made of various stones, the perimeter of the room a polished black stone, surrounded by a gray marble, etched to look like diagonally interlocking granite. These, too, are polished over and completely smooth. The interior is a reddish-orange stone, with a cream colored pattern of interlocking ovals running through the center of each tile. Ken is surrounded by various sculptures from Ancient Greece, each being displayed proudly on a black marble base. Standing in front of the displays, the black of his robes almost blend in with the marble behind him.

“Here I stand in the J Paul Getty Museum, more specifically in the Greek History section. The Getty Villa, as it is more commonly known, has allowed me to take in pieces of culture from the times of the Egyptian pharaohs, the Roman Empire, and obviously, the time of ancient Greece.  Here you can learn about the ancient theater, athletes and competition, and most importantly to my story, gods, goddesses, and other mythology.”

“At Synergy, I face you, Gabriel Baal. You call yourself “The Chimera” because, why? You think that being three faced is better than being two faced like your wife? But that nickname of yours is exactly why I’m here. I felt that I should tell you a little story about your namesake.”

Ken walks slowly towards another room, taking time to admire the sculptures as he passes them.

“You see, Gabey baby, I am something of an expert when it comes to Greek mythology. I’ve read the Iliad. I know the story of the Chimera, more importantly, it’s demise. You, however, are a fucking idiot. You know nothing about the Chimera except for the fact that you said “Hey, it’s a 3 headed monster that breathes fire. That sounds like a cool name.”  Do you even realize that the chimera is female? Didn’t think so.”

Ken walks over to a bronze statue with the body and head of a lion, as well as the head of ghost and a trail with a snake’s head at the end. Ken leans down and inspects the statue’s groin.

“Just as I suspected, no balls. Just like you, Gabey baby. Explains a lot.” Ken smirks before continuing. “A whole lot.”

“This is the famed Chimera of Arezzo. Now, I’m not going to bore you with the full story of the Chimera.  I’m just gonna give you the ‘too long; didn’t read’ version.  In the Iliad, Bellerophon was offered by the King of Lydia to slay the fearsome Chimera. In fact, the king was hoping that the chimera would slay Bellerophon. Despite this, with the help of pegasus the chimera was slain.”

Ken walks in front of the statue and sits in the base of it.

“I know how this game is played. You’re basically me 15 years ago. You’re gonna sit there and you’re gonna talk talk about how the last time we met, you and Eden were victorious. That’s all fine and good. That’s quite frankly expected and cliche. You can bring up that match. You can bring up anything else in my past and I Really don’t give a shit. The past is the past.”

“Today, in the here and now, Kyra and I have been busting our asses week in and week out since we joined the Coalition. While you were sitting on the sidelines, scratching your balls, or at least scratching like you actually had a pair, we, we were doing what we do best.” 

Ken’s voice quivers a bit, as his emotions start to get the better of him. 

“I said it last week and I will repeat it this week for those in the back who didn’t hear it. You and Eden were GIVEN a title match for no reason other than your history. You did not earn that match. You did not deserve that match. Since you got that match, I give you all the credit in the world because you did what you’re supposed to do when opportunity knocks. The Baltimore Elite, we do not get handouts. We are not given anything.  We earn, hear that word, EARN? Each and every opportunity we get. When the Carnage Wrestling Tag Team Champions were unable to face you, we stepped up.  Is when those very same champions come out is champion’s, and I use that term loosely, refused to show up for the Carnage Wrestling finale, we were given the Tag Team Championships by forfeit.  That didn’t set well with us, so we went out and defended those championships. That’s who we are and that is what we do.”

“At Synergy, you and I are going to look each other in the eyes… You are going to see that the man I was is not the man I am.  Is in that time I’ve become soft. Yet, that has hardened me. I have found things that hurt. I have found things that I treasure more than my own life. All the walls I built over the years, all the feelings I locked up, I have found them. Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, I felt everything. I know pain beyond the physical. I know this hurt on a level that I did not before.”

Ken starts tearing up. Unlike the last time, he doesn’t try to hide it. 

“That is exactly why I have to assert my dominance. I understand that you think you’re the alpha male in this equation. That’s all fine and good.  They say that you never hear the shot that kills you. You will hear this shot because the fact of the matter is, I don’t wanna kill you. I want to hurt you. I want you to know that the next time you and Eden step in the ring with Kyra Johnson and the GKD, “Godly” Ken Davison that history will NOT repeat itself. So this isn’t a match, this is a message and I am going to make Kendamned sure you get it.”

The camera faces out as Ken quickly leaves the room.