Bernard Core's Epiphany (Final RP)
Feb 20, 2016 8:07:20 GMT -5
Joey Flash, God King Dune, and 10 more like this
Post by Headmaster Bernard Core on Feb 20, 2016 8:07:20 GMT -5
Mikey eXtreme and Bernard Core are lying in the middle of the ring. Both men are exhausted. A few seconds before, Mikey had Core in a gogoplata while Core tried choking Mikey with his steel pole. Now, they are each trying to be the first back to their feet. Mikey crawls over to his kendo stick and picks it up. Core’s pole is already in his hand. Both men get up, holding their weapons.
Mikey swings first and hits Core in the arm.
Core swings back and hits Mikey in the arm.
Mikey hits Core in the side.
Core hits Mikey in the side.
Mikey hits Core in the leg.
Core hits Mikey in the leg.
Mikey is getting frustrated that Core is answering his every shot.
Mikey hits a flurry of shots with the kendo stick that back Core into the ropes.
Core responds with three shots to the gut that send Mikey back a few steps each time. His final swing hits Mikey in the side of his face.
Core moves back to the center of the ring, hunched over and exhausted.
Mikey starts pounding his kendo stick on the mat.
Mikey eXtreme: Just give up! This is Mikey’s America!
Bernard Core: No! America belongs to me!
Both men take huge, Babe Ruth like swings at each other. Their weapons connect, but the kendo stick flies out of Mikey’s hand.
Mikey looks to see his weapon fly away. When he turns his head back to Core, Core rams the butt end of the pole right into Mikey’s forehead. Mikey collapses to the ground, holding his head. Core stands ready to use his pole again.
Mikey gets to his feet. His forehead has been busted open. Core hits him again. Mikey falls down. He gets on his stomach and pushes himself up and gets to his feet. Another shot to the head. Mikey gets to his feet but is spaghetti legged. Another shot to the head.
Bernard Core: Stay down!
Mikey gets right back up and shakes his head. Core is trembling with anger.
Core rams the pole into Mikey’s gut. He smashes the pole over the back of Mikey’s head. Mikey falls to the ground. He starts hitting Mikey with the pole over and over again in the legs, back, and shoulder blades. Then, he takes the butt end and begins jabbing it into Mikey’s neck over and over again. He throws the pole to the ground and traps Mikey in the Headmaster Lock. Core sits back in the hold, bending Mikey’s back as far as it will go.
Mikey refuses to tap out, instead trying to reach for his kendo stick. He finally gets a hand on it and lifts it up. Core sees what’s happening. He takes his knee and holds it down on Mikey’s neck.
Mikey eXtreme: AHHHHHHHH! SON OF A BITCH!!!!!
Mikey’s body goes limp. His eyes close and he drops the kendo stick.
The ref checks on Mikey and then calls for the bell.
“Wing Fortress Zone” plays.
Kyle Steel: The winner of this contest, and the NEW WCF United States Champion, Headmaster Bernard Core!
Core releases the hold. Medics immediately hit the ring to check on Mikey. The ref hands Core the belt. Core looks unhappy. He yells at Kyle Steel to give him the microphone. Core takes the microphone and his music stops.
Bernard Core: Kyle Steel, from now on, when you introduce me, you will not call me the WCF United States Champion!
He holds his belt up.
Bernard Core: You will refer to me as the Champion of the United States!
Core picks up his flag, walks over to where the medics are checking on Mikey, and throws them out of the way.
Bernard Core: And one more thing…
Wolf appears in the ring out of nowhere.
Wolf: Headmaster Core.
Bernard Core: Dean Wolf! Here, hold my belt.
Wolf takes the belt.
Bernard Core: Hold it in the air, Wolf!
Core addresses the crowd.
Bernard Core: Now, as your CHAMPION, I demand that you all rise and join me in reciting the revised version of the Core Institute Pledge of Allegiance.
The crowd boos insanely.
Core puts one foot on Mikey’s chest, puts his hand over his heart, and faces the U.S. belt.
Bernard Core: I pledge allegiance to the BELT of the United States of America, and to the MAN BY WHOM IT’S HELD, one nation, under HEADMASTER CORE, indivisible, with UNIFORMITY and STANDARDIZATION for all.
Core spits on Mikey.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOO!
“Wing Fortress Zone” plays again. Core stands on the second rope holding his American flag and his belt high in the air.
Dean Wolf: Headmaster Core
Bernard Core: Just one second, Wolf. I need to enjoy this moment!
Core and Wolf walk up the ramp. Core turns around to see the carnage in the ring, smiles, and lifts his belt and flag high in the air one more time.
Dean Wolf: Headmaster Core
Bernard Core: Wolf! Can’t you see I’m…wait a minute. What are you doing here? I thought Freakshow took you out.
Wolf just stares at Core and finally yells in his face.
Dean Wolf: HEADMASTER CORE!
Core suddenly looked up at Wolf. He realized that he’d been daydreaming. Instead of celebrating with the Championship of the United States in the middle of the Wells Fargo Center, he was sitting in a private dressing room in the FedEx Forum, title less and thinking about what could have been.
Bernard Core: Um…yeah, what’s up, Wolf?
Dean Wolf: It’s time for the State of the Union Address, sir.
Core looked around the room.
Bernard Core: Where are Claudette and Jeffrey?
Dean Wolf: The ushers are taking them to their seats.
Core looked away and nodded his head.
Bernard Core: Okay. Let’s do it.
It had been quite a week since Fifteen. He arrived home in Albany on Monday morning and went straight to bed, where he stayed until Wednesday morning. He didn’t want to get up. He didn’t want to exist. The pain and embarrassment of losing to Mikey eXtreme and failing to fulfill his destiny as the new Champion of the United States left him unable to function. Never before had he felt so impotent. The only thing that got him out of bed was the Core Institute Entrance Lottery. The thought of being embarrassed by cancelling the event or not showing up was too much to bear after what happened at Fifteen.
The Entrance Lottery was a success. Thousands of parents showed up with their children. Some of them had to stand in the lobby. Thirty children were chosen for each grade. The rest were put into a supplemental draft where they were put on a waiting list if they were chosen.
The success of the night was overwhelming and helped restore Core’s confidence. He decided that his fight against Mikey’s America wasn’t over. He was going to continue to fight for the American people no matter how misguided they were; but first, he needed to restore the public’s confidence in him and asked Seth Lerch to give him TV time to address the country.
He spent three nights writing his speech. He called every important person that he knew and asked them to attend. He planned every single facet of the event, from the setup in the ring to the seating arrangement for all his special guests. A successful State of the Union Address combined with the triumph of the Entrance Lottery would wipe away whatever happened at Fifteen.
Now, it was happening. Everything was running like clockwork. The ring was set up as he asked. The “dignitaries” he hired all showed up. Seth Lerch wasn’t drunk. Everything was running like clockwork.
Then, Core began his speech.
And the fans booed.
And heckled.
And chanted derogatorily.
Core tried to get the fans to stop, but it was no use. He finally tried to connect with them on an emotional level.
Bernard Core: When I joined the WCF three months ago, I did so with the intention of inspiring all of you to be better. I failed to be your inspiration last Sunday, but I promise, whether I have to beat Mikey eXtreme or Vengeance or any other man in the locker room, I WILL be the Champion of the United States. I WILL be your inspiration. I WILL be your savior. All you have to do is trust me and believe that I know what’s best for you and America.
They did not accept Core’s altruism.
Crowd: NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
Time stopped for Bernard Core at this point. He thought about what happened after the Two out of Three Falls All American Weapons Match ended. He wasn’t all there. He had just come to after an elbow drop and a triangle choke. He stared down the ramp at Mikey, who was at the top of it, holding his American flag kendo stick and the United States Championship.
MY championship.
He was also cognizant enough to notice the reaction of the fans as Mikey gloated at the top of the ramp. The fans were cheering. The man who one month before was vilified for attacking a woman on a stretcher was now being cheered because he had defeated a man who only wanted to save his country from people like Mikey eXtreme.
It’s not fair. It doesn’t make any sense.
While he was helped down the aisle by paramedics, the fans shouted nasty, vulgar comments at him.
“Fuck you, Core!”
“Mikey kicked your ass, Core!”
“Go home and lick your wounds, or is that Wolf’s job?!”
“Looks like you got schooled, bitch!”
How could they say such things to me? Even if I didn’t win, how could they not respect my effort? Did they not respect what I did for them?
He started thinking about the pain he was in when he got up out of bed each day. His back ached from the shots he took with the kendo stick. He had a bump on his head from being dropped onto his steel pole. He had neck pain as well, and of course, he was still wearing a bandage from where Mikey jabbed the kendo stick into his forehead.
I endured so much pain for the people and what did I get in return? Scorn. Derision. Ridicule. Contempt. Mockery. Chastisement.
He thought about all the work he had put in to try to make the United States better and how it was all for naught.
Teachers and parents fought me over Common Core. These retard WCF fans couldn’t be reasoned with no matter how much I told them their children’s education was bad for them. I bled buckets and suffered abnormal amounts of pain in an attempt to save the country and I was called horrible names for it. Now I’m opening up a school to try to show that education in America isn’t dead. Why? No one’s going to appreciate it. No one’s going to care.
What’s the point of it all?
He brought his attention back to the crowd.
And let them have it.
Bernard Core: Do you people even know what it’s like to strive for something that you’ve coveted more than anything else in your life? No, you don’t, because you people are mediocre, slacker losers who have no goals or ambitions…
At the end of his tirade, he went mad.
Bernard Core: I’m going back to the Old Testament! I’m going to be like the God of Exodus, who was spiteful, vengeful, and angered that the Egyptians were enslaving his people. Except this time, you people are the enslavers and America is the enslaved! She’s a slave to your ignorance! And just like God sent his angel of death to kill the first born of every household, I’m going to send my own angel of death to exact revenge on those who supported my destruction at the hands of Mikey eXtreme! And he’s going to start with…
He scanned the crowd and spotted a young man in the front row wearing a Mikey eXtreme t-shirt. Core pointed at the fan.
Bernard Core:…you.
The fan looked around, turned to Core, and pointed at himself.
Fan: Me?
Core looked back at Wolf and nodded his head once.
Time to seek the wolf.
Wolf knew exactly what Headmaster Core expected of him and nodded back.
With pleasure.
Wolf commenced with his attack on the doomed fan.
While Bernard Core watched Wolf do his handiwork, he felt a peace come over him that he hadn’t known since before he was appointed New York State Education Commissioner. He didn’t see a young man in a Mikey eXtreme t-shirt being brutalized by the dean of discipline. He saw the parents that came to his town hall meetings and complained that their children’s standardized state tests were too hard. He saw the teachers who went to the anti-Common Core rallies and protested the fact that teaching was actual work, not just a vehicle for building up a pension. He saw Carol Burris, the principal whose rant at his last town hall meeting finally convinced him to quit his education job and join the WCF. He saw fans of all shapes, sizes, and colors asking for forgiveness. And most importantly, he saw Mikey eXtreme begging and pleading for his life.
He slowly and casually walked over to Dean Wolf’s chair and sat in it. While people were trying to stop Wolf from killing the embodiment of everything that Core hated, Lerch was yelling something in his face.
Seth Lerch: Core! What are you doing?! Don’t just stand there! Make him stop!
I don’t have to do anything, Lerch.
Seth Lerch: Core, please! He’s going to kill him!
Perhaps.
Seth Lerch: This is going to ruin my company! You’ve got to do something! Please! Get him to stop!
Core didn’t look at Lerch. He didn’t acknowledge his presence. He just continued observing the massacre happening a few feet in front of him. A smile came over his face. All of his frustrations had been released. Any pressure he felt to be any type of savior was gone. Seeing the people’s pain made him happy.
Lerch just stared at Core in confused bewilderment.
Seth Lerch: What is wrong with you?!
More people came in to try and pry Wolf off of the poor lad, but they didn’t realize that once Wolf got going, he couldn’t be stopped. It would take the National Guard to put an end to it, and even then, their chances were 50/50.
Bernard Core would have been fine with Wolf murdering the fan, but he wasn’t a man of excess. He felt satisfied with what he had seen and wanted to go back to his dressing room. He calmly got up from his chair, buttoned his jacket, walked over to Wolf, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Wolf immediately responded by ending the attack. The others looked on in amazement at the hold that Bernard Core had over his charge.
Wolf stood up, straightened himself out, and fixed his tie and jacket. The two began to walk out of the ring, but Core stopped at the microphone one last time.
Bernard Core: The State of the Union may be weak, but the State of the Core Institute is very, very strong!
They left the ring and walked up the ramp. The fans booed and shouted obscenities, but Core ignored them. He knew there was fear in their hearts now. Everyone thought that he was the refined, cultured, educational reformist. They didn’t realize that reform entailed capital punishment of the highest order.
At the top of the ramp, the two turned around and observed the bedlam in the ring. Medics were frantically trying to tend to the bloodied and battered fan. Lerch was rattled beyond explanation. Some of the female dignitaries that he had invited were crying.
Core put his arm around Wolf’s shoulder.
Bernard Core: Wolf, have you ever seen anything more beautiful in your life?
Dean Wolf: Never.
They stood in silence for a few more seconds to enjoy the frenzied scene before Core spoke up again.
Bernard Core: From now on, whatever I do, I do for me, not for America.
Wolf nodded his head slowly.
Bernard Core: Come on; let’s go start us a school.
Core waved to the crowed like Nixon before he boarded the plane on the day of his resignation. He and Wolf turned around and walked through the curtain, ready to bring their brand of education to the first (and perhaps unfortunate) students of the Core Institute.
Mikey swings first and hits Core in the arm.
Core swings back and hits Mikey in the arm.
Mikey hits Core in the side.
Core hits Mikey in the side.
Mikey hits Core in the leg.
Core hits Mikey in the leg.
Mikey is getting frustrated that Core is answering his every shot.
Mikey hits a flurry of shots with the kendo stick that back Core into the ropes.
Core responds with three shots to the gut that send Mikey back a few steps each time. His final swing hits Mikey in the side of his face.
Core moves back to the center of the ring, hunched over and exhausted.
Mikey starts pounding his kendo stick on the mat.
Mikey eXtreme: Just give up! This is Mikey’s America!
Bernard Core: No! America belongs to me!
Both men take huge, Babe Ruth like swings at each other. Their weapons connect, but the kendo stick flies out of Mikey’s hand.
Mikey looks to see his weapon fly away. When he turns his head back to Core, Core rams the butt end of the pole right into Mikey’s forehead. Mikey collapses to the ground, holding his head. Core stands ready to use his pole again.
Mikey gets to his feet. His forehead has been busted open. Core hits him again. Mikey falls down. He gets on his stomach and pushes himself up and gets to his feet. Another shot to the head. Mikey gets to his feet but is spaghetti legged. Another shot to the head.
Bernard Core: Stay down!
Mikey gets right back up and shakes his head. Core is trembling with anger.
Core rams the pole into Mikey’s gut. He smashes the pole over the back of Mikey’s head. Mikey falls to the ground. He starts hitting Mikey with the pole over and over again in the legs, back, and shoulder blades. Then, he takes the butt end and begins jabbing it into Mikey’s neck over and over again. He throws the pole to the ground and traps Mikey in the Headmaster Lock. Core sits back in the hold, bending Mikey’s back as far as it will go.
Mikey refuses to tap out, instead trying to reach for his kendo stick. He finally gets a hand on it and lifts it up. Core sees what’s happening. He takes his knee and holds it down on Mikey’s neck.
Mikey eXtreme: AHHHHHHHH! SON OF A BITCH!!!!!
Mikey’s body goes limp. His eyes close and he drops the kendo stick.
The ref checks on Mikey and then calls for the bell.
“Wing Fortress Zone” plays.
Kyle Steel: The winner of this contest, and the NEW WCF United States Champion, Headmaster Bernard Core!
Core releases the hold. Medics immediately hit the ring to check on Mikey. The ref hands Core the belt. Core looks unhappy. He yells at Kyle Steel to give him the microphone. Core takes the microphone and his music stops.
Bernard Core: Kyle Steel, from now on, when you introduce me, you will not call me the WCF United States Champion!
He holds his belt up.
Bernard Core: You will refer to me as the Champion of the United States!
Core picks up his flag, walks over to where the medics are checking on Mikey, and throws them out of the way.
Bernard Core: And one more thing…
Wolf appears in the ring out of nowhere.
Wolf: Headmaster Core.
Bernard Core: Dean Wolf! Here, hold my belt.
Wolf takes the belt.
Bernard Core: Hold it in the air, Wolf!
Core addresses the crowd.
Bernard Core: Now, as your CHAMPION, I demand that you all rise and join me in reciting the revised version of the Core Institute Pledge of Allegiance.
The crowd boos insanely.
Core puts one foot on Mikey’s chest, puts his hand over his heart, and faces the U.S. belt.
Bernard Core: I pledge allegiance to the BELT of the United States of America, and to the MAN BY WHOM IT’S HELD, one nation, under HEADMASTER CORE, indivisible, with UNIFORMITY and STANDARDIZATION for all.
Core spits on Mikey.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOO!
“Wing Fortress Zone” plays again. Core stands on the second rope holding his American flag and his belt high in the air.
Dean Wolf: Headmaster Core
Bernard Core: Just one second, Wolf. I need to enjoy this moment!
Core and Wolf walk up the ramp. Core turns around to see the carnage in the ring, smiles, and lifts his belt and flag high in the air one more time.
Dean Wolf: Headmaster Core
Bernard Core: Wolf! Can’t you see I’m…wait a minute. What are you doing here? I thought Freakshow took you out.
Wolf just stares at Core and finally yells in his face.
Dean Wolf: HEADMASTER CORE!
Slam, February 7, 2016- Memphis, Tennessee
Core suddenly looked up at Wolf. He realized that he’d been daydreaming. Instead of celebrating with the Championship of the United States in the middle of the Wells Fargo Center, he was sitting in a private dressing room in the FedEx Forum, title less and thinking about what could have been.
Bernard Core: Um…yeah, what’s up, Wolf?
Dean Wolf: It’s time for the State of the Union Address, sir.
Core looked around the room.
Bernard Core: Where are Claudette and Jeffrey?
Dean Wolf: The ushers are taking them to their seats.
Core looked away and nodded his head.
Bernard Core: Okay. Let’s do it.
It had been quite a week since Fifteen. He arrived home in Albany on Monday morning and went straight to bed, where he stayed until Wednesday morning. He didn’t want to get up. He didn’t want to exist. The pain and embarrassment of losing to Mikey eXtreme and failing to fulfill his destiny as the new Champion of the United States left him unable to function. Never before had he felt so impotent. The only thing that got him out of bed was the Core Institute Entrance Lottery. The thought of being embarrassed by cancelling the event or not showing up was too much to bear after what happened at Fifteen.
The Entrance Lottery was a success. Thousands of parents showed up with their children. Some of them had to stand in the lobby. Thirty children were chosen for each grade. The rest were put into a supplemental draft where they were put on a waiting list if they were chosen.
The success of the night was overwhelming and helped restore Core’s confidence. He decided that his fight against Mikey’s America wasn’t over. He was going to continue to fight for the American people no matter how misguided they were; but first, he needed to restore the public’s confidence in him and asked Seth Lerch to give him TV time to address the country.
He spent three nights writing his speech. He called every important person that he knew and asked them to attend. He planned every single facet of the event, from the setup in the ring to the seating arrangement for all his special guests. A successful State of the Union Address combined with the triumph of the Entrance Lottery would wipe away whatever happened at Fifteen.
Now, it was happening. Everything was running like clockwork. The ring was set up as he asked. The “dignitaries” he hired all showed up. Seth Lerch wasn’t drunk. Everything was running like clockwork.
Then, Core began his speech.
And the fans booed.
And heckled.
And chanted derogatorily.
Core tried to get the fans to stop, but it was no use. He finally tried to connect with them on an emotional level.
Bernard Core: When I joined the WCF three months ago, I did so with the intention of inspiring all of you to be better. I failed to be your inspiration last Sunday, but I promise, whether I have to beat Mikey eXtreme or Vengeance or any other man in the locker room, I WILL be the Champion of the United States. I WILL be your inspiration. I WILL be your savior. All you have to do is trust me and believe that I know what’s best for you and America.
They did not accept Core’s altruism.
Crowd: NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
Time stopped for Bernard Core at this point. He thought about what happened after the Two out of Three Falls All American Weapons Match ended. He wasn’t all there. He had just come to after an elbow drop and a triangle choke. He stared down the ramp at Mikey, who was at the top of it, holding his American flag kendo stick and the United States Championship.
MY championship.
He was also cognizant enough to notice the reaction of the fans as Mikey gloated at the top of the ramp. The fans were cheering. The man who one month before was vilified for attacking a woman on a stretcher was now being cheered because he had defeated a man who only wanted to save his country from people like Mikey eXtreme.
It’s not fair. It doesn’t make any sense.
While he was helped down the aisle by paramedics, the fans shouted nasty, vulgar comments at him.
“Fuck you, Core!”
“Mikey kicked your ass, Core!”
“Go home and lick your wounds, or is that Wolf’s job?!”
“Looks like you got schooled, bitch!”
How could they say such things to me? Even if I didn’t win, how could they not respect my effort? Did they not respect what I did for them?
He started thinking about the pain he was in when he got up out of bed each day. His back ached from the shots he took with the kendo stick. He had a bump on his head from being dropped onto his steel pole. He had neck pain as well, and of course, he was still wearing a bandage from where Mikey jabbed the kendo stick into his forehead.
I endured so much pain for the people and what did I get in return? Scorn. Derision. Ridicule. Contempt. Mockery. Chastisement.
He thought about all the work he had put in to try to make the United States better and how it was all for naught.
Teachers and parents fought me over Common Core. These retard WCF fans couldn’t be reasoned with no matter how much I told them their children’s education was bad for them. I bled buckets and suffered abnormal amounts of pain in an attempt to save the country and I was called horrible names for it. Now I’m opening up a school to try to show that education in America isn’t dead. Why? No one’s going to appreciate it. No one’s going to care.
What’s the point of it all?
He brought his attention back to the crowd.
And let them have it.
Bernard Core: Do you people even know what it’s like to strive for something that you’ve coveted more than anything else in your life? No, you don’t, because you people are mediocre, slacker losers who have no goals or ambitions…
At the end of his tirade, he went mad.
Bernard Core: I’m going back to the Old Testament! I’m going to be like the God of Exodus, who was spiteful, vengeful, and angered that the Egyptians were enslaving his people. Except this time, you people are the enslavers and America is the enslaved! She’s a slave to your ignorance! And just like God sent his angel of death to kill the first born of every household, I’m going to send my own angel of death to exact revenge on those who supported my destruction at the hands of Mikey eXtreme! And he’s going to start with…
He scanned the crowd and spotted a young man in the front row wearing a Mikey eXtreme t-shirt. Core pointed at the fan.
Bernard Core:…you.
The fan looked around, turned to Core, and pointed at himself.
Fan: Me?
Core looked back at Wolf and nodded his head once.
Time to seek the wolf.
Wolf knew exactly what Headmaster Core expected of him and nodded back.
With pleasure.
Wolf commenced with his attack on the doomed fan.
While Bernard Core watched Wolf do his handiwork, he felt a peace come over him that he hadn’t known since before he was appointed New York State Education Commissioner. He didn’t see a young man in a Mikey eXtreme t-shirt being brutalized by the dean of discipline. He saw the parents that came to his town hall meetings and complained that their children’s standardized state tests were too hard. He saw the teachers who went to the anti-Common Core rallies and protested the fact that teaching was actual work, not just a vehicle for building up a pension. He saw Carol Burris, the principal whose rant at his last town hall meeting finally convinced him to quit his education job and join the WCF. He saw fans of all shapes, sizes, and colors asking for forgiveness. And most importantly, he saw Mikey eXtreme begging and pleading for his life.
He slowly and casually walked over to Dean Wolf’s chair and sat in it. While people were trying to stop Wolf from killing the embodiment of everything that Core hated, Lerch was yelling something in his face.
Seth Lerch: Core! What are you doing?! Don’t just stand there! Make him stop!
I don’t have to do anything, Lerch.
Seth Lerch: Core, please! He’s going to kill him!
Perhaps.
Seth Lerch: This is going to ruin my company! You’ve got to do something! Please! Get him to stop!
Core didn’t look at Lerch. He didn’t acknowledge his presence. He just continued observing the massacre happening a few feet in front of him. A smile came over his face. All of his frustrations had been released. Any pressure he felt to be any type of savior was gone. Seeing the people’s pain made him happy.
Lerch just stared at Core in confused bewilderment.
Seth Lerch: What is wrong with you?!
More people came in to try and pry Wolf off of the poor lad, but they didn’t realize that once Wolf got going, he couldn’t be stopped. It would take the National Guard to put an end to it, and even then, their chances were 50/50.
Bernard Core would have been fine with Wolf murdering the fan, but he wasn’t a man of excess. He felt satisfied with what he had seen and wanted to go back to his dressing room. He calmly got up from his chair, buttoned his jacket, walked over to Wolf, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Wolf immediately responded by ending the attack. The others looked on in amazement at the hold that Bernard Core had over his charge.
Wolf stood up, straightened himself out, and fixed his tie and jacket. The two began to walk out of the ring, but Core stopped at the microphone one last time.
Bernard Core: The State of the Union may be weak, but the State of the Core Institute is very, very strong!
They left the ring and walked up the ramp. The fans booed and shouted obscenities, but Core ignored them. He knew there was fear in their hearts now. Everyone thought that he was the refined, cultured, educational reformist. They didn’t realize that reform entailed capital punishment of the highest order.
At the top of the ramp, the two turned around and observed the bedlam in the ring. Medics were frantically trying to tend to the bloodied and battered fan. Lerch was rattled beyond explanation. Some of the female dignitaries that he had invited were crying.
Core put his arm around Wolf’s shoulder.
Bernard Core: Wolf, have you ever seen anything more beautiful in your life?
Dean Wolf: Never.
They stood in silence for a few more seconds to enjoy the frenzied scene before Core spoke up again.
Bernard Core: From now on, whatever I do, I do for me, not for America.
Wolf nodded his head slowly.
Bernard Core: Come on; let’s go start us a school.
Core waved to the crowed like Nixon before he boarded the plane on the day of his resignation. He and Wolf turned around and walked through the curtain, ready to bring their brand of education to the first (and perhaps unfortunate) students of the Core Institute.
THE END
