The Tree of Liberty

[Thomas Uriel Bates]

Scene I “Kid’s Got Game”
Hotel – Reading, Pennsylvania

The color scheme of this hotel was horrendous. A person could puke on nearly everything and it would improve the look, and even smell of the room. Thomas Uriel Bates had money, at one time, he could have afforded a better hotel room, once. He could even phone his uncle and have the nicest hotel in the entire State, but he felt he used all of his favors with his uncle in the election. The election he lost. Just like the last match he lost, or the match before that, or the one before that. Thomas Uriel Bates, the Impassable Mountain, the Total Ultimate Badass, was nothing more than what the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee would call a “loser”.

Where was his focus? The thought dug into his mind as he tossed his duffle bag across the room, forcing it to crash into the wall with a sickening thud. He winched. The sickening thud reminded him of his trip to Mexico a year ago, and the horrifying events that played in the back while the DRG achieved their greatest success. It’s been on his mind, along with many other things. Maybe a bit too much.

He sat on the edge of the bed and buried his face into his hands. He was physically tired, mentally fatigued, and emotionally drained. What more could he do? Would he close his eyes, as heavy as they are, and surrender to the mysteries of his own mind? Should he stop holding himself up, and collapse at the weight of the world upon his shoulders? Should he cease feeling, and allow the darkness to seep in?

He closed his eyes, and could see the dark of the Mexican night. He could see his brothers, and he could see firmly his failure; Bryan Payne. His eyes shot open as if attempting to avoid burning the image into his mind, but it was too late. Even staring at the moldy ceiling, he could see the beheaded face of his DRG Brother. The decaying lips moved, and seemed to be calling out to him, whispering something that just seemed so distant.

He tried so hard to put it behind him. He tried so hard to ignore the heavy loss. Sure, it must have looked like he was putting on a brave face for all of his Brothers, pushing them forward after such a loss. It seemed more, at least to him now, that he was running away from it. Once the Trios Cup was won, once the Stable Wars were won, he could hide to more. Maybe the guilt from Payne’s death caused him to lose to Howard Black. Maybe it cost him his matches against Dune for the World Heavyweight Championship. Maybe it cost him his match against James “The Game” Chevalier. Maybe he was just making excuses.

Most big men are slow, but Thomas Uriel Bates is an exception to the rule. He’s fast, he’s agile, he’s strong, and he can get technical with the best of them. His knees are just as strong, and just as weak as everyone else’s. His body, although strong, can still break. The old belief that to take out a giant, one must take out his legs is true, but if you take out anyone’s leg you’re going to take them out. His knees were once very strong. They hurt now.

He rubs his left knee. Maybe the pain there was real, or maybe just his imagination from the pain that was there just so recently. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. He popped the top open as if it was a longneck beer, and chugged down on the medicine just as one would expect an alcoholic drowning his lungs with the liquid poison.

His other hand fumbled around in his leather jacket. He finally found his phone, and withdrew it from the jacket’s pocket. He wasn’t ready for this. He wanted to just lay down and not get up until Sunday, but the show must go on. The game must continue.

He set his phone near the hotel room’s television and pushed the screen button to record. He sat back, breathed in, and focused his eyes on the phone.

Thomas Uriel Bates: So the gamer can fight. He’s fast, he’s agile, he’s everything you expect a stereotypical small guy to be. So, James “The Game” Chevalier, I congratulate you on your skill in the ring. Too bad you couldn’t use that to carry away the victory.

You were proving so much to the world, James. You were proving so much to me. You could fight! You could stand up to a giant, and you could make your presence known. If given the right amount of time, if dodged enough powerful strikes, you could have won fair and square. That’s not what happened though, is it?

No, you needed help, or at least you felt you needed help. You needed to make sure that if things were going bad for you, if you found yourself in trouble, you could call for help. You could have Logan come down to the rescue. You could have your boss, no, your master come to your aid. His music hit, and you took advantage.

So enjoy your win, Game. It won’t be happening again. The last time you had the benefit of surprise. I will be able to see Logan, and I will be able to see Dag. All of you are together, and now all of you will fall. I know to expect dirty tricks from all of you, and I know to keep my eyes open.

I’ve got all three of you right where I want you.

He reaches forward, grabbing the phone and cutting the video. He touches the screen several times, sharing the video on social media sites associated with the WCF. Satisfied, he tosses the phone to the side, closes his lead filled eyes, and allows his body to collapse, drifting away to whatever bliss, or horrors his mind finds.

Scene II “Stench of Betrayal”
City Park, Reading, Pennsylvania

The tree was quite big, and out of all of the branches, one was bigger and stuck out further than the others, as if pointing towards the sky. A great tree for this wonderful park in Reading, Pennsylvania. Kids could climb the tree, tire swings could hang from the tree, bodies could hang from the tree.

In a rare sight, one of the tallest men in the WCF was dwarfed by the tree. Thomas Uriel Bates simply looked up, staring at the large limb. As children played around the tree, and a WCF Cameraman recording every movement of the WCF superstar, the mountain began to speak in a sing-song voice.

Thomas Uriel Bates: In eighteen hundred and ninth year,
At half past four at morn,
The fourteenth day of February,
The unhappy child was born.

So far misled this sinner was,
So much bewildered she,
That she her helpless infant’s soul,
Sent to eternity.

The giant looked away from the branch, and now focused on the camera. He smiled as he pointed to the tree.

Thomas Uriel Bates: Susanna Cox, hung for infanticide in eighteen hundred and nine. The unfeasible betrayal, the ultimate sin, murder of your own child. A newborn child is the most trusting creature on God’s green earth. It trusts that it’s mother will feed it, shelter it, protect it. It trusts it’s tiny life to the mother, to the father, to its new family. To take that trust and plunge the dagger of betrayal into that tiny child; what evil one must possess in her heart.

Now Susanna Cox may have been innocent. She may have had a stillborn child as she claimed, and she may have been a victim of bad law in much need of updating. She may have told the story in an attempt to avoid the hanging. Her guilt may be in question, but one person’s guilt is assured; Seth Lerch.

No, Seth didn’t kill his newborn child. I don’t much care for him, but to my knowledge he is not guilty of such an evil. No, his betrayal is to his people. He betrayed the WCF. He betrayed the locker room, he betrayed the fans, he betrayed our families. All for the sake of those who have warped his mind, claiming that they are his family. Dag Riddik, Logan, and their puppet James Chevalier. My opponents this week.

They are stepping in this match, and they’ve already lost it before we even get to the arena. James is already having his doubts, and Logan is too self-centered to realize that Dag is falling apart at the seams as he attempts to push his Communist agenda to no avail.

Seth is expecting that his Family will do away with the biggest threats facing him. What Seth won’t be expecting, is the blood, sweat, tears, piss, and shit that will be left in the middle of that ring when I’m finished with Logan, Dag Riddik, and The Game. He expects us to fall apart because we’re not a real team.

What Seth doesn’t understand, is that we’re working together. I have spoken with Jeff Purse, and with Oblivion. Whatever issues we have had in the past, we’re putting them aside for the good of the WCF. We are working together, Seth, to tear apart your Family.

You see, Seth, we have all drawn our line in the sand. You have brought this company down on its knees all for your pet Logan, but we will take no more. We stand firmly against Logan, even if it means being against you. Maybe you’ll start to see that you’ve been played, or maybe not.

You have stabbed us in the back far too long, Seth. I won’t be plunging a knife deep in your back, I will crush the life from your pet’s body as I stare into his eyes, and into your soul. As he gasps for air, you will feel the freeze of the deepest pit of Hell, and you will know that I had the decency to warn you ahead of time.

Bates takes another look at the branch before turning and walking away.

Scene III “Stars”
Somewhere

There, out in the darkness

The darkness of the past; a symbol of Seth Lerch’s reign in the WCF as he blindly supports Logan.

A fugitive running

They have earned the distain of nearly the entire locker room.

Fallen from God

Their darkness knows no bounds, their evil knows no limitations.

Fallen from grace

They are the cause of the WCF’s collapse more than once.

God be my witness

They will watch,

I never shall yield

As I burn their world to the ground.

Till we come face to face.

I will face Logan.

Till we come face to face.

He knows his way in the dark

This is his territory.

Mine is the way of the Lord

I follow a Code, and that Code demands I take action.

Those who follow the path of the righteous, shall have their reward

I will not stray from my path.

And if they fall as Lucifer fell, the flames, the sword!

I will strike down all evil with the flaming sword of justice.

Stars
In your multitudes

Though quiet, I am one of many.

Scarce to be counted

I shall take my stand.

Filling the darkness
With order and light

I will be a beacon of righteousness in a dark world.

You are the sentinels

I will be the protector of Light.

Silent and sure

Keeping watch in the night
Keeping watch in the night

I will be vigilant.

You know your place in the sky

I know my path.

You hold your course and your aim

I will not falter.

And each in your seasons
Returns and returns
And is always the same

I will be the constant.

And if you fall as Lucifer fell, you fall in flame!

If I falter, I will cease to be.

And so it must be, for so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter and those who fall
Must pay the price!

Logan faltered, Logan fell. He must pay the price.

Lord, let me find him

I have found him.

That I may see him

He has walked into my crosshairs.

Safe behind bars

Justice will prevail.

I will never rest
Tell then
This I swear
This I swear by the stars!

This I swear by the stars!

Scene IV “The Tree of Liberty”
Independence Hall – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Here, at the birthplace of American Independency, and the birthplace of our Constitutional Republic, the Assembly Room of Independence Hall, we find the defender of the WCF’s independence; Thomas Uriel Bates. He wears black three-piece suit in spite of the heat, and sits at a desk with a feather quill, bottle of ink, and paper. The giant takes quill to paper, writing in the long forgotten Copperplate Script once used by the very men in this hall to pen the most important documents in our Nation’s history. Today, it is used to defend them.

The beautifully skilled hand of Thomas Uriel Bates pens each word with perfection, as a surgeon operating on a patient. As if just now becoming aware of the invasive camera, Thomas Uriel Bates looks up, and places the quill in the ink well. He wears upon his face the look not of anger, but of determination. The conviction in his voice carries as pronounced as his Southern accent.

Thomas Uriel Bates: Nearly two hundred and forty years ago, our Forefathers stood in this very room and declared independency from the largest and most powerful empire on the face of the earth. It was also here, that those who once fought to free us from the tyranny of the English King, ensured the tyranny of the Federalist Constitution. This abuse of power was reigned in at Federal Hall in New York City with the Bill of Rights, creating the very system of government in which we are supposed to be governed by.

Yet there are those who would take something so profound, something so important to the National identity, and distort its meaning and hijack its cause. People like Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and John Marshall did that very thing, revoking their part in the Massachusetts Compromise and betraying the very Nation they helped to build.

What does all of this have to do with our current situation? How is this relevant to Seth Lerch, Logan, James Chevalier, or Dag Riddik? It’s simple really, they distort the very meaning of the WCF and seek to destroy that which they helped to build. This location was chosen to remind people that every idea had a beginning, and anything corrupted can be taken back to its foundation and repaired.

Now this is a bit too much for Logan. Such a topic I fear would go well over his head. James Chevalier would most likely get bored and pull out his cell phone and play on his apps like the rest of his generation. Seth, well he’d be too drunk to even know what State we are in. This is addressed to the apparent intellectual of The Family; Dag Riddik.

Yes, Dag, I’m saying you’re the smart one of the bunch. Don’t get your ego up, Dag, this is not quite a compliment, as having one bulb that hardly works in a box of a dozen that don’t work at all, is not quite a good thing.

You have spent your time reading the Communist Manifesto, Principles of Communism, and other Socialist and Communist books. You keep reading all about a failed system, and like a kicked puppy, you keep coming back to it expecting a different result. Yet you’re not satisfied, and you won’t be satisfied, until you have expanded across the world in your view of Utopia.

A Utopia in which not all men are created equal, as some men have to lead the world. You feel that the modern Scandinavian should rule over all other races, which should be subservient to you. No one else can be good enough, but you of course will be the good Master and fight for their equality, just so long as you’re above them. This is what went wrong with Communism in the first place.

Yes, socialism, communism, all sounds like a great idea. They just forgot to include the Human Equation. That is why they failed Dag, and that is why you will fail in the end. You forgot that men yearn to be free. Free to choose their own path in life, to be happy, to seek their own goals and build their own legacy. Men are indeed created equal, but they can rise or fall on their own accord, and should not be made to remain equal in status or they will eventually rebel. Free Will, Dag, it is the human equation.

You’re like the kid that burns his hand on the stove, but puts his hand right back up time and time again. You insult the liberals for doing exactly what you yourself are doing, Dag. You put them down, you laugh at them, all the while there goes your hand on the stove yet again. You think you’re superior, but by your superior beliefs you have made yourself inferior. You’re like the average Trump supporter, you insult the very thing you are, and can’t even see the mirror in which you speak.

We have gone back and forth on the internet, Dag. From Twitter to Facebook, all the while trying to one up each other. You push your Communist beliefs, your racism, your bigotry, and your complete ignorance of history. You think you’re so much better, but you’re not, Dag. You’re below average.

I do find something else funny with you, Dag. You’re so hell bent on Scandinavian Superiority, that you are of the master race, but you’re not even the master of your own “Family”, are you? No, your master is Logan. A man so treacherous that Loki himself feels ashamed. A man so depressed over his loss to Oblivion, one of my team mates during this match, that he has barely even been seen lately. A man well known for casting away friendships, and even “Family” when he feels they no longer benefit him.

That is your Master, not you. You are not the superior, you are not the Alpha, you’re not even the Beta. You are just another lapdog in the history of WCF’s most hated man, and I don’t mean Adam Young.

Then there’s James “The Game” Chevalier. He is going along like the good puppy he is, for now. He’s got that look in his eyes though, Dag. That look of the Beta ready to challenge the Alpha. He’s already tearing down the Classics tournament, much to the surprise of many of us here, but he’s got his eyes on winning the WCF World Championship, and putting to rest his affiliation with The Family. Dag, in order to get to Logan, James knows he needs to get through you.

So you’re stepping into this match already with five targets on your back. No one has your back. No one will protect you, not at the expense of themselves. Look at what I have in my corner, Dag. I don’t just have Oblivion and Jeff Purse, I have the WCF. We are fighting not for domination, but survival itself.

Oblivion is stepping in that ring to stop you and your Family from destroying everything he has accomplished so far. You want the monster out; he’s fighting to contain it. He’s fighting because the WCF is his home, and you’re trying to take it away from him.

Jeff Purse is taking his stand also for the WCF. Just like with Oblivion, just like with me, this is his home. He built his legacy here. He poured his blood, sweat, and tears into this place day after day, and year after year. He’ll be damned before you take it away from him.

The three of us, we’re stepping in that ring not as best friends, not as pretend family, we’re stepping in that right as allies for the common good, in the effort to eliminate once and for all the evil that has plagued the WCF for far too long.

As Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Thomas Uriel Bates turns back to his paper and retrieves the quill from the ink well. He once again puts ink to paper and artfully writes his letter as the camera moves away, revealing an image of the giant in the historic Independence Hall of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Scene V “The Allies”
Garage Strength Powerlifting Gym – Reading, Pennsylvania

In a room full of heavy weights and other exercise machines, we find the WCF’s strongest man, Thomas Uriel Bates, with his right leg pinned to the wall behind him as he kneels down. He lifts himself up, placing his back on the wall as his leg is pinned to the wall. This is the position that Jeff Purse and Oblivion find the Mountain of WCF, right in the middle of a wall quad stretch to build up his knees. The second tallest, but biggest man in WCF stands up and walks to his two new allies with his hand stretched out. Purse is the first to take it.

Thomas Uriel Bates: Thank you both, for coming.

Jeff Purse: I’m doing this for the WCF, nothing more.

Bates smiles and nods.

Thomas Uriel Bates: Of course.

Oblivion: Sethie Poo won’t know what hit him.

Bates motions for the two to sit at a bench. Oblivion and Purse have a seat as Bates sits opposite of them.

Thomas Uriel Bates: Logan has warped Seth’s mind, just as much as the alcohol and the drugs. Seth might be a good person somewhere deep inside, but as long as Logan and The Family are around, we’ll never see it.

Jeff Purse: I don’t know. I’ve known Seth for a long time. If there’s anything good in there, it’s buried deep.

Oblivion: Looks like Logan might take care of that himself. He’s lost it.

Thomas Uriel Bates: I’ve seen that. The whole gun in the mouth bit. I’m not so sure Logan would pull it off. I think it’s more likely a game.

Jeff Purse: He does like treachery.

Thomas Uriel Bates: Yes, he does. Now, the biggest problem we have, is that we’re not a team. The Family, they’re a team. We’re just a bunch of people fed up with Logan’s crap.

Oblivion: So what do you suggest we do about that?

Thomas Uriel Bates: We train. From right now, to the night of the event. If need be, we train even further just so long as we make sure that Seth Lerch, Logan, Dag Riddik, and their lapdog The Game never jeopardizes the WCF again.

Bates smiles as he stands up, grabs a rather large dumbbell, and hands it to Oblivion. The weight is clearly more than he expected, but he holds on. Bates hands a smaller dumbbell to Purse, but it has the same effect.

Thomas Uriel Bates: After the workout, we’ll get in the ring and work on some tag team moves.

The new alliance begins their training regimen as they embark on a journey to retake the WCF.