The Casey Chronicles- Part Three

Eve

That was my codename…the name that every single member of The Insurgency knew they had to know and recognize…the name that commanded power and respect whenever it was heard.

And I had nothing to do with picking it

Normally, a member of The Insurgency gets to pick their own codenames. They normally pick something that has some deeper meaning to them; something that they think characterizes them so well that they could go by that name forever. Picking your own codename is a time honored tradition amongst the members of The Insurgency. When I first joined up, I immediately began thinking of possible codenames for myself. I was so excited to become a full-fledged member of The Insurgency and finally having a codename that I often dreamt about possible codenames. But then my father not only discovered that his only daughter had joined up with The Insurgency…he discovered my secret…

It happened during a particularly violent battle between the New England branch and the Mid-Atlantic branch. My father and I were dug into a trench and were under heavy fire from the Mid-Atlantic forces. Our branch was getting our asses kicked and our command post had almost been completely wiped out. I remember reaching into my pocket and grabbing my favorite Booster…the Wasp Booster.

I still, to this day, don’t know why the Wasp Booster is my favorite. Maybe it’s the rush I get knowing that I am injecting genetically altered Wasp larva straight into my blood stream…maybe it’s the feeling I get when miniature wasps crawl out of pores and suddenly begin to rapidly grow into full sized African Wasps as soon as they come into contact with the air…or maybe it’s just the fact that I love being able to control a gigantic swarm of African Killer Wasps and seeing them swarming around someone and stinging them to death. Whatever the reason…the Wasp Booster is definitely my favorite one.

Anyways, I remember grabbing the Wasp Booster and jamming it into my arm. I pushed down on the plunger of the needle, feeling the larva begin to mix into my bloodstream. I remember letting the empty booster injector fall to the ground as I waited for the effects of the booster to kick in. Then, I remember my father turning to me and screaming something about it being time for a storm. My father reached into his pocket and removed to Lightning Boosters…his favorite kind. He tried to tell me when I was little that he used to be able to throw fireballs and command lightning without needing a booster…but I always suspected he was lying.

My father injected himself with the Lightning Booster and then tried to hand the second one to me. But, suddenly, the sound of an explosion rang out as an enemy RPG collided with the remaining pieces of what was once our command bunker. I remember rolling towards my father in an attempt to avoid a piece of falling concrete. As I got near my father, he screamed something that sounded like “it’s time” before grabbing the Lightning Booster and plunging it into my arm.

I remember feeling this rush…unlike anything I had ever felt before. My blood began to race through my bloodstream at impossibly fast speeds, causing an electric current to surge through my veins. At the same time, the effects of the Wasp Booster began to show as the tiny wasps began to crawl out of my pores. I then blacked out. My father had to tell me the rest of the story after the battle.

Apparently I had gone limp for a second or two as both boosters mixed inside of me. Then, my father said, I climbed to my feet and held up my hands. One hand was crawling with wasps and the other hand was bright blue and random charges of electricity would leap from my fist. My father said he had never seen anything like it before in his entire life. Apparently I looked at my father and, without saying a word, slowly nodded my head before walking out of the trench he and I were hiding in. My father said once I walked out of that trench, all he could hear were screams of agony, buzzing of an endless swarm of wasps and the sound of lightning striking everything around.

After the screams had subsided, my father said that he peeked his head over the edge of the trench and say me lying in the middle of the battle field…surrounded by the dead bodies of every single last member of the Mid-Atlantic Branch. My father said he walked over to me, slung me over his shoulder and carried me all the way back to the nearest New England Branch outpost…which was 4 miles away from where the battle was being fought.

I remember waking up in a bed and looking down. IV’s were hooked up to my arms and I had a breathing apparatus up my nose. My father was sitting by my bed, a smirk on his face. I asked him what happened and told him the last thing I remembered was him injecting me with the Lightning Booster. My father then proceeded to tell me the rest of the story. When he finished telling me the story, I was in complete disbelief. I said to him “I thought it was impossible for a person to handle being injected with two boosters at once.” I will never, for as long as I live, forget what my father said next:

“For most people that’s true. But you are something far greater than a normal person. You are the perfect human…you are the second coming of Eve…”

From that point on my father never went anywhere without me trailing behind him. At every public appearance, at every single speech, at every single meeting of the Section Chiefs, my father let it be known that his daughter was the second coming of Eve…that his daughter mixed two boosters at once and lived to tell the tale.

From that point on…my father began using me in order to unite the warring branches of The Insurgency

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Part One: The Call

Outside of Massachusetts Bay Federal Prison
Section 7 (South-Western Massachusetts)
September 2035

I walk out of the prison, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. It never ceased to amaze me how good it felt just to be able to breathe fresh clean air. Being inside that disgusting and disease-ridden prison always made me appreciate the small things, like a deep lung full of fresh air. Granted, the air didn’t smell all that great…but still, it was better than constantly breathing in the smell of death, despair, and human feces like I forced myself to do every single time I went to visit my father.

I adjust my rucksack on my shoulders and begin walking back towards the cave I had slept in the previous night. As I walk, my mind begins to wander as I think about all the things that should be happening back at Insurgency HQ. All of a sudden, I feel my wrist communicator begin to rhythmically vibrate. I look down at my communicator and see that there is an incoming hologram call. Normally, I would have let the caller just leave a message but the name on the caller ID makes me immediately pick up the call…

It was Titan

I press the “answer” button and a small hologram of a man wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt pops up

Titan
Hello Eve

I smirk slightly. Titan knew my real name, just like I knew his…but the two of us still referred to each other by codenames…as a safety precaution

Raylyn Casey
Hello Titan

Titan
I have new intel that I wish to share with you face to face

My smirk widens. When Titan requested these face to face meetings it usually meant that he had something big to tell me. Something that couldn’t be shared over such an vulnerable method of communication like hologram. I nod my head

Raylyn Casey
Meet me at my father’s old apartment in Providence, Rhode Island…shall we say noontime tomorrow?

Titan
See you then

And just like that, Titan’s image disappears. I chuckle…my father’s old apartment building was a long abandoned Insurgency stronghold in the heart of the city of Providence. I was sure that Titan wanted to discuss some facet of the coming operation…after all, he was the one who came up with some of the specifics of the operation to begin with. It seemed almost fitting that Titan and I were going to meet in my father’s old apartment…

I suddenly snap my fingers, I needed a method of transportation and I needed to inform Abby of the change of plans…



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Part Two: The Meeting

Corey Casey’s Old Apartment
Section 3, Grid Alpha (Providence, Rhode Island)
September 2035

I kick my feet up on an old desk and lean back in my chair. I glance down at the time on my wrist communicator:

11am

I sigh, knowing full well that I just needed to relax and be patient. Titan always showed up a few minutes late…it was kind of his calling card. Then again, if I were a man in his position and with his job title, I would feel a little entitled as well. I hear the faintest sound of a person stepping on a small piece of broken glass. I feel my heart skip a beat as I remove my feet from the desk and crouch down into a squatting position behind the desk.

I reach into my rucksack and wrap my fingers around the first booster I come into contact with. By the icy cold feeling in the palm of my hand, I can tell that it’s a Blizzard Booster. I wait silently, my eyes trained on the poorly lit hallway from whence I had heard the noise from. My strain my eyes in an attempt to see through the darkness. I suddenly see the faint outline of a man walking down the hallway. The sound of the man’s voice suddenly drifts up to my ears

Titan
Let go of that Blizzard Booster and come out from behind the desk Eve

I relax my grip on the booster and slowly pull myself to my feet

Raylyn Casey
How did you know what booster I was going to use?

The man steps out of the shadows and stands right in front of me. He is wearing the same pair of ripped jeans I had seen him wearing in the hologram but, instead of the same hooded sweatshirt, Titan was wearing a black mask that had a large star on both sides where his ears were and a large star in the middle of the forehead. His eyes were covered by tinted goggles that seemed to be sown into the mask

Titan
I could see your hand getting colder

Titan taps the goggles

Titan
Infrared high definition goggles

I shake my head

Raylyn Casey
Nice

Titan shrugs his shoulders. He reaches up and presses a button on the side of the mask. The goggles suddenly lift up and seem to melt right into the mask its self.

Titan
And, when I press this button, the goggles are reduced to a flat glass panel and slide right up into the mask, which allows the user to feel unencumbered by heavy goggles sitting upon their head

I roll my eyes. Titan always loved to talk about any new product the boys in his lab were almost ready to release to the public. I think he did it as an attempt to try and make me jealous. If so…it never worked. Mostly because I knew that Titan would be shipping The Insurgency a massive batch of them the week before they hit the stores.

Raylyn Casey
Did you call me all the way out here to show me your new toy? Cause if so…I’m leaving

Titan smirks as he looks around for a place to sit. Eventually he spots a dusty couch in the middle of the room. Titan walks over to the couch and plops down

Titan
As awesome as this mask is…it’s not the reason I called to arrange this meeting

I turn and grab the chair I had been sitting on and drag it over towards the couch. I position the chair across from Titan and sit down

Raylyn Casey
Well then…what did you want?

Titan smiles mischievously

Titan
I wanted to check in with you and see if you were almost ready to carry out your part of Operation: Game Over

Operation: Game Over. I had actually thought of the name during one of my visits with my father. My father had suddenly began spewing nonsense about his old wrestling federation and then just started screaming “Game Over! Game Over! Game On!” over and over again. I decided right then and there that the game truly needed to be over. When I suggested the name to Titan, he agreed with me that the name had a certain ironic feeling to it given the relationship between the two targets marked for execution in this mission…

Raylyn Casey
My team is just about ready. We only need a few more days…two…three at the most. How are things on your end?

Titan
We have blueprints of the prison and, thanks to your Intel, we know where all the guards are located and what kind of resistance to expect…speaking of which…there has been a development concerning your target and the amount of people staying in his house that night

I frown slightly. It wasn’t good to change the number of targets this close to the time of the mission…

Raylyn Casey
What do you mean?

Titan chuckles, noticing the look of concern on my face

Titan
Don’t get your panties all up in a bunch. It’s just one more person sleeping in his mansion that night. It turns out his son Brian will be staying with him this weekend for some reason. Brian isn’t that good with weapons considering he works in the IRS as a bean counter or some such nonsense…

Raylyn Casey
Should I expect him to put up any sort of serious resistance?

Titan
Like I said…he’s a fucking bean counter for the IRS. The only thing that guy could hurt you with is a calculator and a pen.

I nod my head. It’s good that Titan told me about this development. Our plan hinged on meticulous detail…we both had to know what kind of resistance to expect, what kind of weapons to expect being fired at us, what kind of weather…

Titan
Oh…and I need you to do one more thing for me dearest Eve…

I snap back into the moment and eye Titan suspiciously

Raylyn Casey
Let me guess…you want me to kill your target too?

Titan laughs and shakes his head

Titan
Absolutely not! I have been looking forward to kill this ass hole pretty much since the day that he took me away from The City. No…I need The Insurgency to, shall we say, “Inconvenience” a certain doctor in Chicago.

I feel my heart skip a beat…somehow; I knew exactly what Titan was going to ask me. An evil smile appears on Titan’s face as he stares me dead in the eyes

Titan
I need The Insurgency to kill a doctor named Gavin Price for me

I feel a sense of panic wash over me for a split second before I quickly repress the feeling. Gavin Price meant nothing to me. He was just another target…just another victim…

Raylyn Casey
Any particular reason you want him dead?

Titan
Well, he is treating someone that I would rather not see treated. Someone whom, up until recently, I had thought to be dead. Dr. Gavin Price is the attending physician of one Ashley Matthews

His name cuts through me like a knife

Raylyn Casey
Impossible! I killed her! I watched her face melt away!

Titan speaks in a very matter-of-fact tone

Titan
Well…it would seem like you failed to get the job done 100% because she is still very much alive. An error that I plan on correcting sooner rather than later I can assure you. Dr. Price isn’t marked for execution simply because he is Ashley Matthews’ doctor though…he also has to die because he keeps curing my loyal users…and, should Operation Game Over go off without a hitch…Dr. Gavin Price could be a serious threat later on down the line

I felt like I should be shocked or scared or dismayed…but, instead, a sadistic grin creeps across my features. Like father like daughter…

Raylyn Casey
I will see to the matter of Dr. Price personally

Titan claps his hands together

Titan
Excellent! Oh…this time…please make sure that you get the job done 100%. I would hate for you to fuck up yet another job

I could feel anger beginning to well up inside of me. Ashley’s severely burned face suddenly flashes before my eyes. I could have sworn I had killed her…I could have sworn I heard her curse my name with her dying breath…hadn’t i…?

Raylyn Casey
There will be no mistakes this time. Dr. Price will die by my hand

Titan slowly stands up, a twisted smile dancing upon his features

Titan
Oh I have no doubt about it Eve

I stand up as well. Titan and I begin walking out of the run-down apartment. We exit my father’s old apartment and begin walking down the stairs. Titan looks around the now empty and crumbling stairwell and shakes his head in disappointment

Titan
It’s a shame…a place like this must’ve been so beautiful during its hay day

I look around the stairwell and feel the cold grip of the past reaching up from its shallow grave to grip my stomach. There were so many memories here…so many times spent hiding…so many tears shed while walking down these stairs…I hated these stairs, I hated this place…I hated my father and my brother for leaving me alone…for not understanding just why I was so important.

Neither of them got it…but soon, they would realize the error of their ways…



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Part Three: Ghosts of the Past

Doctor Gavin Pierce’s Apartment
Section 10 Grid Delta (Chicago, Illinois)
October 2035

Dr. Price suddenly sits bolt upright in his bed. His gaze darts to the shades that cover his barred windows. He knew you had to bar your windows these days. In the old days, glass was enough to keep people out of your house, despite the fact that glass was easily broken. Things had been easier when he had been a kid…well…some things had been easier back then.

The sound of hundreds of voices can be heard chanting out in the streets just outside his house. They all chant as one…

“Down with Matthews! Down with boosters!”

Dr. Pierce sighs. The Insurgency had picked his street again for another one of their nightly rallies.

Dr. Price
Wonderful…

Dr. Gavin Price suddenly thinks to himself

“did I remember to set the security system?”

It had been a long day and Dr. Price had been exhausted when he had gotten home from the office today. He had seen Ashley Matthews again and the two had discussed, who else, Nick. The fact that she wouldn’t just let him go was clearly a sign that she thought that there was some chance that the two would get back together…which would only end poorly for poor Ashley. Dr. Price rolls out of his bed and quickly runs downstairs. He runs to the front door of his 2 story apartment and double checks the security system. He presses the code on his security system’s activation pad and checks to make sure the system was on the correct setting.

After setting the security system to the proper setting, Dr. Price turns and walks slowly up the stairs leading back up to his bedroom and his nice warm bed. He knew he needed a good night’s sleep…tomorrow would be another long day filled with injecting people with boosters and attempting to stop his patient’s hearts from exploding.

As Dr. Price gets to the top of the stairs, he notices that there is a light on in his bedroom. A confused look appears on Dr. Price’s face

Dr. Price
Did I turn a light on when I got up?

Dr. Price feels his heart begin to beat faster as he slowly creeps towards his open bedroom door. He reaches out and slowly pushes the door open. Dr. Price looks around the inside of his bedroom…but he doesn’t see a single person. Dr. Price heaves a sigh of relief as he stands up straight and walks over to his bed stand. He turns the light off and is about to climb back into his bed when, suddenly, he hears the faint sounds of music playing.

I lie here paralytic
Inside this soul
Screaming for you till my throat is numb
I wanna break out I need a way out
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I'm suffocating

Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen
I take you in
I've died

Dr. Price feels an icy chill shoot down his spine as he recognizes the song…

Dr. Price
“Rebirthing”…Skillet…

He knew that song very well. It had been the song that his father had made famous…the song that his father had slowly sauntered to the ring to when he was still a professional wrestler…

And the music was coming from under his pillow

Dr. Price suddenly grabs his pillow and throws it across the room. At the same time, Dr. Price springs out of his bed and dives to the floor. He stays on the floor for a moment, his heart pounding. He had expected his bed to blow up…or his pillow to burst into flames…or something…but the longer he waited the more certain he was that nothing was going to happen.

Dr. Price slowly pulls himself to his feet and looks at the spot where his pillow had been. There was a small recording device playing the song “Rebirthing” and a note attached to the device. Dr. Price slowly reaches out and grabs the note. He unfolds the note and the color drains from his face as he reads it:

“Dear Brother,
I will see you soon

Love
Your sister
~Raylyn”

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+The Match+
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+Destiny’s Chosen One+
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Now, before I get into the tough challenge that faces Chris and I this week, I would like to take a few moments to recap what happened at IWF’s very first Pay Per View…Demolition Day. Heading into the PPV I told the world that it was my destiny to be crowned the very first IWF World Champion. I told the world that destiny had chosen me to become the man that leads IWF into the future…I told the world that fate had chosen to be the one that places this company firmly on his shoulders and carries it forward into this new era.

And guess what? I was right

At Demolition Day I fulfilled my destiny and defeated Brandon Macdonald. Brandon Macdonald…the man that they said was unstoppable…the man that everyone said I didn’t stand a chance against…the man that the masses believed would beat me pillar to post. I showed up at Demolition Day, walked down the ramp, ducked into the ring, and proceeded to put on a match that will go down in IWF history as not only the first title match…but also as the first instant classic match in the history of IWF. Brandon and I put on a wrestling clinic in the main event at Demolition Day. The two of us showed every single man, woman and child that was watching the PPV EXACTLY what wrestling should look like.

But, at the end of the clinic…at the end of the first truly instant classic…I emerged victorious…I emerged from that battle as the first ever IWF World Champion.

Which brings me to this week

It seems that the powers that be have decided that Brandon and I are not quite done with each other yet. The powers that be have seemingly decided that the last time Brandon and I face each other in a tag team match, things didn’t quite get resolved. But see, this week, my partner is someone I know that I can count on 110% to carry his own weight. This week, I won’t have to come up with some clever scheme to find a new partner at the last minute. This week I won’t have to go out and find someone that I know hates the Right Honorable Gentlemen as much as I do

Because this week…my partner is none other than my best man…the godfather to my unborn children…the man that, at one point, was on a seemingly endless winning streak. This week…my partner is none other than the great Chris Matthews. It’s perfect…the powers that be paired me with the one man that I would actually pick to fight by my side if I was given a choice. Chris Matthews is the one man that I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, hates the Right Honorable Gentlemen as much as I do. How do I know this?

THEY BEAT HIM DOWN SO BADLY HE HAD TO MISS A WEEK!

I mean, if Chris is anything like Chuckles than you just know that he’s going to be fired up for the match this week! You just know that Chris is going to truly bring the fucking intensity and legendary mat wrestling techniques that he is known for. Chris and I are going to show the Right Honorable Jackasses just what it means to present a united front.

Chris and I will be facing off against Brandon and his partner…Sir Ian Blackwing. Sir Ian, first and foremost, welcome to IWF. I’m not sure if we’ve ever met but I’d just like to introduce myself:

My name is Corey Casey. I am the co-owner of IWF…I am the first and current IWF World Heavyweight Champion…and I am undefeated.

Meanwhile…just what the fuck have you done? You jumped Luke Sly…which resulted in me replacing Luke with death-Angel. You’ve faced off against Death-Angel…and been destroyed. You’ve lost a Hawk’s Nest match. You’re daddy has publically emasculated you on national television. Other than that you’ve pretty much done nothing to contribute to the furthering of not only your own career…but to benefit the Right Honorable Gentlemen or IWF as a whole. Long story short Ian:


You’re a waste of time, space, and humanity.

Speaking of Brandon and his boys…the last time that Brandon partnered with a fellow member of the RHG he had his winning streak ended. The legendary streak that extended across two different wrestling promotions was brought to an abrupt and violent end. Granted, Brandon wasn’t pinned or made to submit in that match…but it marked the beginning of the end for you didn’t it Brandon? Because the very next week, at Demolition Day, I pinned Brandon Macdonald to hand him his first loss since losing to a girl in the ashes.

But, this is a new week…a fresh start for IWF. This week marks the beginning of a new road…a road that will lead us down the path to Bloody Sunday. I’m sure that I will be seeing you again real soon Brandon, so I want you to take notes. I want you to look back to two weeks ago in that tag team match…I want you to look back to Demolition Day…and I want you to look ahead towards this tag team match. I want you to realize something that you claim to already know…

You can’t…
…Stop…
…Destiny!