Game Over: Police Cracking Down On 'Fish Table Games' in ...

Part one lives here. It'll make more sense if you it first. https://www.reddit.com/Revblackrage/comments/hxikru/bulls_heart_texas/
I was half way to my car before I knew it, fresh cup of coffee in my hand. Ellie wouldn't let me leave without one.
I set the cup of coffee down on the roof of the Dodge and started digging around in my pockets. Looking for my keys. A scream ripped out of the restaurant behind me. It was long and loud. Sounded like someone had just stuck their hand in a deep fat fryer. Or had it forced into one. It startled me and I jumped, So much so that I dropped my keys.
I heard a snort. Which sounded suspiciously like it was at my expense. I looked over my shoulder as I bent over to grab my keys.
Murray's horse, Pistola, was tied up in a parking spot, about three spaces down from me. It was technically against city ordinance to tie an animal up in a commercial parking lot. Outside of Rodeo season of course, And there was special emphasis on undead mammals.
But if you won't tell, I won't. The skeletal equine was staring at me over a feed bag strapped to his face. I pretended not to notice that the feed bag was stained brown, with a suspicious blackish liquid dripping from the stained burlap. Sometime's in Bull's Heart, the answers just aren't worth the questions.
"Cut me some slack, dude" I said. With a voice that may or may not have registered a bit of annoyance. "I'm not a three hundred year old dead horse. Shit creeps me out sometimes."
I could have sworn that old Pistola, rolled his eyes at that. But that may have been just me giving the horse too much credit.
Another shorter scream erupted from the diner. This one ending suddenly. The context clues I had at my disposal, told me it was Marcel who was doing the screaming in there. Now were I a normal Sheriff's Deputy it would be my job to run into that Diner, ready to get to the bottom of it. But. I already knew the score and felt no need to investigate further. Plus, fuck that guy. Stripers had no protections under the law and I was specifically instructed to ensure their safety at my discretion and i discresified that Marcel was a worthless piece of human wreckage, who should be fed to a wood chipper. His death would truely be a net benefit to humanity as a whole. And that was about as far as I was willing to take it.
Just as I scooped up my keys, I heard a low nervous sound from the undead horse. One of those 'Hey I'm not cool with this' sounds horses make. A rustle of feathers creeping out of the night sky, the horse's call of unease it's only accompaniment.
"Fuck" I swore outloud. A rustle of feathers on a night time breeze could mean only a few things in Bull's Heart and only one of them would creep out a horse. I stood up straight. Looking for it. Resting my paw on the handle of my Smoke Wagon. My fingers wrapping around the checkered grip of the ridiculously large revolver. They always come when the stink of blood is on the air. They bring the cold with them too. As was attested to by the shiver running down my spine and the light steam I was suddenly exhaling. The hairs on my bare arms stood up in response to the suddenly frigid air. On one level I knew that I was under no immediate threat.... But you tell that to two hundred thousand years of evolutional preservational instincts. Shit was there for a reason. Yes I suppose you could say the thing perched over the door of Earl's diner made me uncomfortable. Just a touch.
The neon lighting from the diner's sign cast an odd neon red hue across it. The light seemed to accentuate the shadows it lurked in. But I wouldn't even have to look at the damn thing to know it was watching me. The whole site of the thing was like watching a demon stalk you.
Nobody was really sure where they had came from. Nobody who'd been to the Great Beyond, or any other such ports of mystical or metaphysical call, could recall such a creature in any of their travels.
I would describe it as a humanoid, with big ragged vultures wings. Bipedal body. Bird's legs. A man's chest. I usually saw a big fuck off beak, that was attached to a face that looked similar to a plague doctor's mask.
But rarely did two people see the same thing when they looked at the creatures. Well for the most part. The going theory was that they were some matter of shape shifters. But that still left a lot to explain. Everyone described the same ragged wings and the same piercing eyes. Orbs of a pure white, that burned with a mix of corruption and malevolent anger. Like spotlights of hate on a greasy black night.
But nobody could agree on secondary characteristics. To me they all looked the same, but if I tried to describe what I saw, you wouldn't know what I was talking about, because you saw a horses head with a seagulls beak for a face, or some other such silliness.
This particular creature's wings were drooped over it like a cloak. I could see the eyes boring into me from the inky black recesses of it's wings. No notion of a head, or shoulders, or anything could be discerned from the shadows.
I glared back at it for a moment, before I took a good weaver style shooting position, drew my smoke wagon and planted it's front site post right smack dab between those dumbass eyes. It did nothing but glare back at me with those huge hate filled peepers. I couldn't even tell if it understood what was happening. But I could make out it's inky black talons flexing on it's perch, as if it was about to throw itself forward and rip my belly clean open in a fit of avian fury. Everything in me told me to pull the trigger on my Magnum Research BFR and send a .45-70 Government Consecrated Exploding Sabot round right into the thing's forehead. Everything in me wanted to send that unearthly thing back to whatever soulless void it spawned from. The things aren't right for this world and everything in me was telling me to send it back where it belonged. To the pit it crawled out of.
But technically........Under Texas department of Fish and Game code, They are classified as an endangered species.
So all I could do was whisper "Bang" like a petulant child and reluctantly holster my weapon. I am not horribly mature, I admit.
Yeah, sure they stole dead bodies. Sure they flew around from Dusk till Dawn creeping the living fuck out of people. Sure they had all the sentience of a learning disabled possum. But some genius decided to call them an endangered species and grant them protected habitats. Like the forests surrounding Bull's Heart. Because where the fuck else would they be able to go?
The thrice cursed things are Illegal to hunt for sport or harvest. And if you kill one by accident, you better have your ducks in a row. Because you are about to be investigated for Poaching. Which in Texas, means you are going to face a lot of Jail time.
Which is some Fucking liberal bullshit, if you ask me.
Our local game warden, a fella named Lingelsou, was very particular about the animals of what he calls 'His Forest.'
He also had zero problem running in Deputys for violations to the Texas Fish and Game code. He once arrested a Deputy named Landis for taking one down. Even though he had a good reason for it..... well maybe not a good reason exactly, but a pretty damn good excuse.
About once a month or so, Deputy Landis has a condition that.... Well it's just best that he gets away from people for a couple days or so. He goes a little wild in that time frame. So he goes out to a plot of land he owns out in the woods and just rides it out. Safer for everyone that way.
During one of these..... Fits I guess you could call it. He took down one of the creatures and ate half of it. Warden Lingelsou took him in for it. It didn't matter that Deputy Landis wasn't in his right frame of mind. He still didn't have a population control hunting license, which was the only way to legally hunt them.
Sheriff Onryu had gone to bat for the Deputy, going so far as to site the American's with disabilities act of 1990, trying to point out that Landis had a condition and certain accessions had to be made in order to provide a fair and equal environment for him. Including free reign hunting rights for the thing that lived inside of him. Lingelsou wasn't buying it though. "Laws be laws" The Game Warden had said. "In my forest and in my jurisdiction, the laws be respected"
Sanctimonious do-gooder Prick. But the creatures did a good job of keeping their number's low and they didn't really go out of their way to attack people. Unless cornered. Which is a good thing. Because when they are worked up into a good lather, they can take and dish out a lot of punishment before they finally go down. Kind of like a skybourne Armadillo. Only less cute.
This specimen, as if sensing my unease, leaned forward and screeched at me. I got the impression of a beak sticking out from between it's wings. The screech was loud in the frigid silence. It gave off the audio sensation of nails on a chalkboard mixed with a crying newborn. A pretty unpleasant mixing of audible input.
Than the burning eyes turned back to Pistola, and I briefly wondered if the Creature was going to go after the undead horse. I mean they were death eaters and technically the horse was dead after a fashion.
I would legally be allowed to shoot it at the point, as Pistola was technically livestock....Deadstock?..... Anyway, in Bull's Heart, you could defend tame animals from wild Animals. Especially with all of the weird crap that lives in our woods.
But before I could sink much thought into it, the creature reared on it's haunches, gave one last terrifying screech and took wing, quickly disappearing into the night sky. My caveman ego wanted to believe that it was because the Creature was made uncomfortable by my presence.
But more than likely it figured that the staff of Toothy Earl's weren't going to toss Marcel's corpse out the front door, so there was no point in hanging around. Either way Pistola seemed to be okay with the end result, as he let out a sigh of equine relief as the potential predator made it's exit.
I watched the night sky in the direction it flew off for a moment, wondering if it was going to change it's mind and come back.
They have a name.
Like we don't just call them 'Creatures.' I just happen to think the name is stupid. Real fucking stupid. Because it's not a hot chick on a winged horse swinging a sword.
It is in no way shape or form a Valkerye. And yes that is a hill that I am willing to die on.
It's a fucking bird monster, not a chick who escorts dead warriors to the All Father's table. Can't put that shit on the side of a panel van from the seventies. End of discussion.
I just call them 'Shitbirds.'
When I was certain that the Shitbird was gone for good, I turned and gave Pistola a nod.
"You're safe now, Sir." I said with a professional smile. "You're welcome."
The Horse just stared back at me with Milky dead eyes. He seemed super unimpressed.
"Fine" I said with a bit of feigned exasperation "act like that thing didn't have you scared out of your peanut sized mind"
The Horse snorted at me again and again I swear he managed to roll his pupiless white eyes at me. That damn horse was smarter than he was letting on. I shook my head and turned back to the Charger. But as I got into the Dodge, I thought I heard something. Like words floating out of the dark. Scratchy. Raspy. Just at the point of hearing. The point were you aren't sure if it's your inner monolog or your ears, and i definitely wasn't quite sure which one it was.
"The.... Master.... Comes...."
I stared off in the direction the creature had flown. Well that was odd. I couldn't be sure that I had heard it.... But I couldn't completely write it off either.
*
I knew the way to the Miller's house like the back of my hand. We were out there enough after all. The Miller's were two people that shouldn't have been together. But they were also both extremely stubborn. Neither was going to be the one who broke first and left. They also refused to admit they had problems. Even when they were doing their best to rip each other apart. Made conflict mediation between the two parties a royal bitch.
They were one of the reasons I hated this God forsaken town.
I was going to meet up with Gruk and Daliwal at the foot of the Miller's drive and we would go up their property as a group.
It's usually best to go out on calls with as much back up as possible. Especially in this town.
I briefly thought about Gruk's condition. I glanced down towards the Digital Defensive Control Suite sitting in the middle of my Patrol car's center console. The screen showed that the U.V. Defensive lighting rig that sat on the roof of the Uparmored Charger Hell Cat cruiser was off. I reached down and tapped the off button just to be sure. I than reached over and hit the manual safety, locking it out of action.
A lot of citizen's of Bull's Heart had one condition or another that made U.V. light anything from annoying to downright lethal, so much so that the local Government classified U.V. lights as destructive devices. If you had some? You had better have a very damn good reason for having them or you were going to jail. Occasionally certain people would kick up a stink about it, make some noise about it being a violation of the 2nd Amendment, but they usually didn't get much support because.... well it's hard to get people real worked up about lightbulbs.
It would have been a damn shame to take Gruk and possibly Daliwal out of action, due to some avoidable asshatted dipshittery. I actually wasn't sure if U.V. would take Daliwal down or out, but I did know his kind were nocturnal, so better safe than sorry.
I turned down the dirt road that would take me to the Miller's front gate. Something about the way the lights of my cruiser played down the narrow tree lined dirt road gave it an ominous feeling. I was hoping it wasn't a sign of things to come.
"Here the fuck we go" I grumbled outloud.
I saw Gruk's S.U.V. and Daliwal's cruiser parked next to the Miller's cattle gate. Gruk had to drive one of the bigger S.U.V.s due to her massive size.
"More like her massive ass" I said to myself, giving myself a slight chuckle in response, finding myself hilarious. And before you ask, yes I am aware that I am an idiot.
I parked behind the big SUV and got out, but not before I let dispatch know where I was. "Jen, Whiskey Hotel, 10-23 at the Miller's" I told dispatch over the radio.
"Roger that, Whiskey Hotel, good luck!"
"Roger. Thanks. Out."
Daliwal and Gruk were standing in front of the latter's cruiser, looking up the property. Gruk turned her massive head my way. The black pupils of her eyes seemed to dig right through me as she stared. Her lips parted slightly and she gave me a disdainful sneer.
"Oh look..." She said said sounding gruff and vaguely British, like a bad guy from a Lord of The Rings Movie "'Ey sent a pathetic little 'Oomie to back us up..."
The look on her face could have frozen fire. She looked like she wanted to rip open my belly and play with what she found there. She squared up her shoulders like she was ready to throw down and raised her hands up to shoulder height. Flexing every muscle she had in her upper body. Her jaw fell open revealing some seriously nasty gleaming white canines. A Threat display if there ever was one. Her Body Armor and her duty belt did nothing except add to idea that she was preped and ready for a real slobberknocker.
She took a step forward, looking every bit of the bruiser she really was. From the top of her pony tail to the soles of her size twenty black Bates combat boots, she was built for war. Literally. Thats what her race had been bred for.
"Only thing 'Oomies is good for is filling bellys...."
Daliwal looked over at her with a 'what the fuck?' Look on his face. He seemed genuinely suprised by her words and aggressive actions. He looked over at me, his big yellow-green eyes going wide. He raised a hand to his beard and stroked it a few times. Looking back and forth between us. I got the feeling that was how his nerves liked to showed themselves.
The palm of his hand faced outwards and his fingers seemed to go backwards like their joints were reversed. He was a transfer from another town like Bull's Heart, somewhere in Florida. Thunder? Or maybe it was Cougar Teeth? Not that it mattered I guess. He had only been with the Sheriff's department a few weeks now, and most of that had been training time. He may have been a veteran. But here in Texas, he was 'The new guy' and he was still trying to figure out what was what.
The look on his face said that he wasn't quite sure what he had found himself in the middle of here, but he wasn't a fan of it.
I wasn't used to the backwards hands thing yet and it was still a little weird for me. Tiger head was off putting too, but that was easier to get used to. Seemed like a hell of a nice guy so far though. Like he was really working hard to dispell the negative views most people had towards free form shape shifters. He didn't need to though. He wouldn't have earned his Star if he were an asshole.
I tried to come up with a witty zinger to shoot back at Gruk, but I was drawing a blank. I almost went with 'ol reliable,' a Shrek reference. But I wasn't feeling it. So I just raised my hands to the waist, making sure not to spill my coffee, and mugged a sarcastically terrified expression at her.
"Ohhhh scary" I said in the most mockingly insincere voice I could muster, rolling my eyes as hard as I could. "Cut the fuckin' shit, Gruk, you're scaring the new guy" "Watch your language!" Gruk said suddenly, dropping the bad movie Orc accent like a bad habit. Her real voice sounded more like a housewife from somewhere in the mid west. Like Nebraska or some shit. Flat but somehow bubbly. You always had a suspicion that the next word out of her mouth was going to be 'Ope.'
"And besides, He isn't scared he already knows I'm a total sweetie" She said fixing him with a wide smile. Which despite the fact that it showed off her massive fanged canines, still managed to come across as incredibly warm and inviting. Like someone's mom. "I gave him some of my famous oatmeal cookies, would a big nasty evil orc make cookies for the new guy?"
She directed the last question at Daliwal. He looked like he was still in shock at the rapid shift in tones. His eyes were wide and his jaw was still slightly hanging open. I could tell that he wasn't exactly sure if we weren't playing a game of 'fuck with the new guy' His shifted his gaze between our faces. He swallowed, a bit nervously.
"Well...." His voice had that crisp English accent that alot of educated Indian Immigrants had, when they learned their English at a British founded University. You could tell from his tone that he wasn't super comfortable in the situation.
".....The .....'Cookies'--" I got the feeling that he had to mentally restrain himself from saying 'biscuits' "--did have Raisins in them, so the question of your being a 'Sweetie' or something of a malicious sort hasn't really been settled just yet."
It took me a second, but I got the humor. Fucker was just so goddamn dry in his delivery, that it almost didn't land. I gave him a chuckle. I got the notion that he was gonna be an okay guy to work with. Once He got settled that is.
Gruk however stared at him for a moment. She didn't quite give a laugh, but she did give him another award winning smile. She placed her left fist on her waist and pointed at him with her other hand.
"I'm gonna have to keep my eye on you, Mister!" She said with a bit of humor in her voice. "And don't you worry about the Raisins, just my way of messing with the new guy, I guess. But don't worry. They help a body increase blood production. Thats good for you..... and Me."
Daliwal waited a beat before giving Gruk a wide-eyed nervous chuckle, before breaking eye-contact and looking down to make sure his boots were still on his feet.
His timid response set me off. I let lose with a stifled laugh. I squeezed my eyes shut and laughed into the back of my hand. My sides shaking. Now Daliwal wasn't a small guy, he was broad across the shoulders. Had Fangs and Claws of his own. A Gun too. I didn't know him too well, but I would bet that He could take care of himself in a fight. His kind were usually pretty good with their mitts. Or at least thats what I had heard about them. (That might just be a stereotype though. If it is, and anyone of you out there reading this are of the Raksasha people and have a problem with it, please know that I meant nothing by it.)
But when a Person of Gruk's size and ability, friendly disposition or not, makes a mention of your platelet count it could be a little disconcerting.
Especially since Gruk, in addition to being one of the largest specimens of Orc you would ever meet was also afflicted with Vampirism.
She was hell on wheels without the condition. Half the department had called her 'Mama Bear' because if you were down and bleeding and you needed someone to drag your ass out of the fire, she was the one you would want arriving on scene.
Believe me. I know what it's like to be laying on your back, getting the shit kicked out of you, looking up and seeing Gruk come charging onto the scene like a cross between The Incredible Hulk and Jesus Christ. But as to how she came across the Vampirism, It's actually kind of a sweet story.
A few years back she fell for a local gal named Maddie and they got married. Maddie was a vampire. In good standing of course. But than again she had to be, because rogue Vampires get run out of town pretty quick, if not staked down for the morning sun.
A man by the name of Kincade ran the local Vampire Coven and he was a stickler for 'The Rules of Fair Conduct' which 'The United Night Walker Covens and Clans of The United States, Mexico, and Canada' had applied to towns like Bull's Heart.
Kincade ran a tight ship and The Sheriff's Department had rarely if ever had reason to pick a fight with the Blood Suckers. Well.... Except that one time..... But thats neither here nor there. Plus we don't like to talk about it around here. It would be especially impolite to discuss it with outsiders.
Anyway the point is, that with the Vampirism accentuating her already considerable strength and hardiness.... she had gone from Hell On Wheels to a One Woman SEAL Company.
Part of the lovely couple's wedding vows had been Maddie converting Gruk into a Vampire. Maddie had taken Gruk's name and Gruk had taken on Maddie's condition. I had to admit. It twanged on the dusty strings of my heart. For some reason, it struck me as beautiful. To not only tell someone you want to be with them forever, but to take steps to actually do so? Well, I'm not gonna lie. I shed a few happy tears at the wedding.
I guess I'm a bit of a softy.
"Senior Deputy Gruk" I said, doing my best to come to Daliwal's rescue "if you could quit subtley terrifying the New Guy for a moment? I think we got us a wellness visit to make, if you would like to take charge and lead your valiant warriors on a crusade in the name of public safety? Now would be a good time for that."
"Oh, party pooper" Gruk said. But she drew up to her full height and turned to look up at the Miller's House. It was a white ranch style sitting on top of a slight hill. The lights were off and nobody appeared to be home.
"Okay" She said looking down at me "First things first, Cowboy."
She pointed down at the Magnum Research BFR in my Holster.
"Go to the trunk of your car and get a gun that isn't stupid"
"Goddamnit" I grumbled.
*
Five minutes later we were walking up the Miller's Driveway. A fifth Generation Glock 40 sitting in my Holster. We had to hoof it up the property. Because the cattle gate across the driveway was locked. Which wouldn't have mattered.
Because once a car crossed the Miller's gate, it tends to experience engine trouble. Never getting more than twenty feet before shutting down completely. Radios had issues too. Hell the 3D RMR Night Site on my pistol was probably dead. Like it's 10 year battery was burnt out. It was something to do with the Nature of the Millers..... and the Magic they threw around. Electronics hated the stuff for some reason. So normally we just left anything that had a battery in the car.
I was staring up at the House as I walked. It was odd. Usually at this point we could hear them screaming at each other, the pop and fizzle of Magic spells going off. Inhuman roaring as demons were summoned. Not to attack, but to help bolster arguments. Dishes breaking.
Tonight though? It was different. Dead silence. Like the house was a tomb. My eyes were going from window to window. Looking for any sign of life and finding none. No fluttering curtains. Lights popping on and off. No nothing.
Just the crunch of our boots on old asphalt. I almost didn't notice the temperature drop, until I was exhaling steam. I shivered inside my uniform. I was just about to ask 'Where the fuck did that come from'
When Daliwal spoke up.
"We are being watched" He said quietly.
"I see them too" Gruk said. All merriment lost from her voice. She was switched on now and jokes would be unprofessional. She eased the AR Pistol she carried off of her belt. It was chambered in .458 Socom, and of course the entire lower was custom made to fit her gigantic hand. Including a massive grip that resembled the handle of a 1911 Pistol rather than the traditional AR group. Making it the next best thing to a Bolter.
"I count twelve in the trees on the West side of the clearing"
"I count eight on my side" Daliwal replied, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"I can't see shit" I said, wishing I had some form of natural night vision, like my creature of the night comrades.
"Valkerye" was all Gruk said.
"Shit" I muttered.
"Language" Gruk gently admonished, without taking her eyes off of the Trees on the edges of the clearing.
I followed her gaze out to the trees. I could just barely make out the little pinpoints of white light, that would have been the eyes of the Shitbirds.
I whistled lowly. There were a bunch of them out there. I had never seen so many in one place. Usually when there is more than two or three in one spot, they would fight each other. It looked like these assholes were just coping a squat and having a watch. Very odd behavior for Shit Birds.
"I've never seen so many..." Daliwal said, a tremor of discomfort in his voice. I noticed that his tail was held down, close to his leg. That might have been a good tactical decision to keep the appendage out of the way....... or it might have been an involuntary fear based response.
"Don't let them get to you" Gruk said, her voice soaked in matronly concern. "They never come for us..... just for the dead."
"Yeah" I said, turning my attention to the house. "Boss Lady is right. Pay them no mind."
I took a sip from the Coffee cup I was still holding. I was intentionally trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Partially for the new guy, partially for the fact that I wasn't going to give the Shit Birds the satisfaction of spooking me twice in one night. I did my best to walk like I didn't have a care in the world. Daliwal looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes widened slightly when he recognized the stylized Alligator on the cup. Toothy Earl's logo.
"You were at Toothy Earl's earlier?" He asked me, his ears perking straight up "Was.... Um.... Was Miss Ellie working?"
"Yup" I Responded "She was breaking in a New Striper. Didn't go so hot for him"
"Ah" The new guy said "Do you happen to know if.... If.... She is...uh... talking to anyone?"
"She talks to a lot of people" I said playing dumb "it's part of her job, silly boots"
"Oh... Uh... No..." He said, turning back to watch his side of the clearing, and the Valkerye in the Trees beyond. "I meant is she.... In a relationship with anyone?"
"Well" I said continuing on in the playing dumb vein "I'm sure she has a lot of relationships, with a lot of people--"
"Oh be nice" Gruk grunted at me "You know what he meant." She said to me. To Daliwal she said "Yes there's a fella she talks too, but I don't know if it's serious. Tall, blonde, human, a lot of people think he might really be that one lightning guy, the one with the hammer.... oh what is his name.... oh it doesn't matter." Her voice picked up a little more Growl as she went on. Apparently remembering that we were supposed to be focusing on the task at hand "Both of you need to pay attention to your sectors. Or I'll treat you both like a couple of juice boxs and call out another couple of Dumb Dumbs to back me up, when I've sucked you both dry."
"Yes ma'am!" Daliwal said, responding to the matronly authority in her voice.
"Yeah" I said, properly scolded, not even attempting to go for the obvious joke there. "Sorry, Boss."
She was right. Now wasn't the time for jaw jacking. She had left it unsaid, but there were more Shit Birds out here than anyone had ever seen in one spot. They were acting strangely. This was the quietest 'Millers Call' I had ever been out on. I would wager that it was Gruk's quietest one too. It was too weird of a night to be acting like a dumbass rookie. There was a time to fuck with the new guy and this wasn't it clearly.
I followed Gruk's lead and drew my Glock. I checked the RMR site and noticed that my Dot was in fact no longer illuminated on the glass. Like the battery was dead.
Fucking Miller's and their spooky ass hoodoo. The rest of the short walk was quiet. I watched the front, where the house was. Gruk and Daliwal watched the sides. They stayed quiet.
I would occasionally peek off to the side, at the trees in the distance. White Eyes Beamed back at me, making them look like under dressed sparsely decorated Christmas Trees.
I kind of wished we were talking more. As the feeling of all those eyes on me was driving me crazy. Felt like ants skittering up and down my spine. Some light conversation would be great to take the mind off of current events.
When we reached the house, Gruk mounted the steps to the porch and paused. She looked around. She tilted her head up to the side and sniffed the air around her. She suddenly tensed up
"What?" I asked her.
"Blood" She responded "Lots of it. Human."
Now were this the movies. The Vampire would look at me like I was a pot roast and get a strange look in her eye. But this isn't the movies and Senior Deputy LaVonda Gruk is a goddamn professional and I'll not have you imply otherwise. She treated it like a call for help and instantly got ready to run into an unknown situation to potentially save a life.
She raised her massive pistol and trained it on the door. She motioned to me with her head, telling me to kick the door for her. She looked at Daliwal and patted herself on the backside, wordlessly telling him to stack on her. He nodded and did as he was instructed.
I leaned against the opposite side of the door, back against the wall. I raised my leg and swung it back, giving the door a solid donkey kick. The door flew open in an explosion of cheap trim and paint flakes. Gruk and Daliwal flowed into the house. Gruk having to duck down in the doorway, so she wouldn't bang her head on the door jamb.
"Sheriff's Department!" She yelled.
The living room was empty of life. There was a stone table set up where a coffee table would be in a normal house, with stone bowls and unidentifiable powders in them. Jars full of God knows what lined a massive book shelf that covered an entire wall. Candles lit the space, some burned all the way down. Looked like they had been going for a while. Strange symbols were painted everywhere. I recognized a couple of them, just from being on the job so long.This looked like a Wizard's lab or a Witch's brewery. It probably was too, knowing the Millers.
"Clear!" I heard Daliwal yell. His voice a bit more of a roar, with the adrenaline surging through his veins. Gruk looked over at me. She pointed to her nose and than pointed towards a door leading off the living room, she than patted her backside again. I got behind her, ready to go wherever she would take me.
Gruk always took point. She was the most likely to survive a Shotgun blast to the face and stay in the fight. So it made good tactical sense. But it was also just the way she led. From the front.
We left Daliwal in the living room. To hold our only known exit, in case someone squirted past us. Gruk and I cleared the rest of the house, finding nothing. We came to a stop at a closed door at the end of the main hall. She looked at me and tapped her nose again. I got her meaning. This was where the smell was strongest.
I nodded and reached down for the door knob, i jiggled the handle finding it unlocked. I shoved it open and in went Gruk, pistol at the ready. I flowed in behind her. The smell of tangy copper hit me in the snout like a bag of hammers. I involuntarily gagged. I couldn't see anything. It was pitch black. But I knew it was bad. Room smelled like a badly run slaughterhouse. I felt around for a light switch. Found a candlebra instead.
'Good enough' I thought to myself as i dug in my pocket for a lighter. I gave the bic a couple of test flicks.
"Wait" Gruk said from somewhere in the darkness. "It's bad. It's real bad."
"Yeah" I said. I had gathered that much from the smell. "But how bad can it be?"
I lit the candle. It must have been a candle with some magic to it. Because it lit that room like a surgery ward and Gruk was right. It was bad. It was real bad. It was a bedroom. You could tell because a massive California King-size bed occupied the center of the room.
The comforter was soaked in reddish brown blood. There was a lump of meat in the center of the bed, that I slowly realized was a woman's torso. On one night stand there were ten neatly severed fingers. In two columns of five each. On the other night stand was a head. Devoid of a face. Just ragged skull staring at the doorway. At the foot of the bed were two legs, crossed over each other like an X. I realized that various organs and bits of body were arranged around the torso in a circle.
I looked over at Gruk. She was staring wide eyed at the wall above the headboard. I followed her gaze. The face of Giselda Miller stared back at us from the wall, where it had been nailed up like a trophy on display. Eyeless of course, because the eyes were still in the skull. But I knew that face. It had screamed all matter of venom and curse at me before.
There was something weird about this. Well, yeah no shit it was weird. But there was a strange sort of order to where everything was placed in the room. I looked over at Gruk. She looked back at me. I saw her swallow a few times, like she wasn't sure what to make of this all. Her face looked almost helpless and I felt bad for the Giant Orc.
"We...." She started to speak. Her voice a little unsteady. She paused and closed her eyes. She swallowed a few more times.
"We need to get out of this room" she said, more in control of her voice.
"Yeah" I said moving towards the door. I had seen this level of carnage before. Part of the job. People say when you see shit like this enough, eventually you get used to it. Well I'm still waiting on that fucking day.
"Forensics will have our butts" Gruk said, command voice firmly back in place "if we mess something up"
"Yeah" I said. Not particularly giving a shit why we got out of the room, but just happy to do so. We pulled Daliwal out of the House with us. Gruk closing the door behind us, to preserve the crime scene. We spun him up on what we had seen. His eyes narrowed in thought.
"What?" Gruk asked.
"Back in Florida. We had a Necromancer in town....."
"Awww fuck" I interrupted with a sigh, knowing where this was going. Necromancers were bastards and I didn't want to deal with chasing one down. I had one throw a dead cat at me once. It bit me. Shit was weird.
Gruk did that hand-shake shushing thing that mom's do when you were interrupting their shows. She wanted me to stick a sock in it. Probably had a problem with the cursing too.
"What you describe...." Daliwal went on "sounds like a ritual she did. We never found out why she did it. We figured out who it was and showed up at her door step with a lot of firepower. She did not come peacefully." The look on his face, and the way he stroked his beard, said it was a bad memory. Gruk had an uncomfortable look on her face too. I couldn't say as I blamed Her.
This could be real bad. If somebody was going around killing people for some silly necromancer bullshit..... well my week was about to get a lot fucking busier.
It's always something with this fucking town.
"Okay" Gruk said "So let's get down past the Gate and see if we can get some back up out here."
"Gonna have to wake up the Sheriff" I sighed.
"She'll be pissed if we don't. But in the mean time, we need to get people out looking for Mark Miller. His whereabouts are unknown, so that makes him our only suspect at this point."
And since the power's that be have a sense of fucking humor......
I heard a rustle of wings above our heads. Right before about two hundred pounds of meat was dropped right in the middle of our little pow-wow. It was a body. The legs caught me square in the chest, knocking me on my ass.
The face attached to the body's head, sure looked a lot like Mark Miller's face. Albeit a little more battered and beaten than usual. Dead bodies have a certain look about them and Mark Miller was rocking the fuck out of that look, broken neck and all. All three of us looked up. A Valkerye hovered about twenty feet above us. It's wings wide open, like it was riding a thermal. It's eyes blazed as it glared at us from on high. I had never seen one not skulking in shadows. I had never seen one this brazen.
"THE MASTER COMES!" It screeched down at us.
Thats when all hell decided to break loose.

Part one lives here. It'll make more sense if you read it first. https://www.reddit.com/Revblackrage/comments/hxikru/bulls_heart_texas/
I was half way to my car before I knew it, fresh cup of coffee in my hand. Ellie wouldn't let me leave without one.
I set the cup of coffee down on the roof of the Dodge and started digging around in my pockets. Looking for my keys. A scream ripped out of the restaurant behind me. It was long and loud. Sounded like someone had just stuck their hand in a deep fat fryer. Or had it forced into one. It startled me and I jumped, So much so that I dropped my keys.
I heard a snort. Which sounded suspiciously like it was at my expense. I looked over my shoulder as I bent over to grab my keys.
Murray's horse, Pistola, was tied up in a parking spot, about three spaces down from me. It was technically against city ordinance to tie an animal up in a commercial parking lot. Outside of Rodeo season of course, And there was special emphasis on undead mammals.
But if you won't tell, I won't. The skeletal equine was staring at me over a feed bag strapped to his face. I pretended not to notice that the feed bag was stained brown, with a suspicious blackish liquid dripping from the stained burlap. Sometime's in Bull's Heart, the answers just aren't worth the questions.
"Cut me some slack, dude" I said. With a voice that may or may not have registered a bit of annoyance. "I'm not a three hundred year old dead horse. Shit creeps me out sometimes."
I could have sworn that old Pistola, rolled his eyes at that. But that may have been just me giving the horse too much credit.
Another shorter scream erupted from the diner. This one ending suddenly. The context clues I had at my disposal, told me it was Marcel who was doing the screaming in there. Now were I a normal Sheriff's Deputy it would be my job to run into that Diner, ready to get to the bottom of it. But. I already knew the score and felt no need to investigate further. Plus, fuck that guy. Stripers had no protections under the law and I was specifically instructed to ensure their safety at my discretion and i discresified that Marcel was a worthless piece of human wreckage, who should be fed to a wood chipper. His death would truely be a net benefit to humanity as a whole. And that was about as far as I was willing to take it.
Just as I scooped up my keys, I heard a low nervous sound from the undead horse. One of those 'Hey I'm not cool with this' sounds horses make. A rustle of feathers creeping out of the night sky, the horse's call of unease it's only accompaniment.
"Fuck" I swore outloud. A rustle of feathers on a night time breeze could mean only a few things in Bull's Heart and only one of them would creep out a horse. I stood up straight. Looking for it. Resting my paw on the handle of my Smoke Wagon. My fingers wrapping around the checkered grip of the ridiculously large revolver. They always come when the stink of blood is on the air. They bring the cold with them too. As was attested to by the shiver running down my spine and the light steam I was suddenly exhaling. The hairs on my bare arms stood up in response to the suddenly frigid air.
On one level I knew that I was under no immediate threat.... But you tell that to two hundred thousand years of evolutional preservational instincts. Shit was there for a reason. Yes I suppose you could say the thing perched over the door of Earl's diner made me uncomfortable. Just a touch.
The neon lighting from the diner's sign cast an odd neon red hue across it. The light seemed to accentuate the shadows it lurked in. But I wouldn't even have to look at the damn thing to know it was watching me. The whole site of the thing was like watching a demon stalk you.
Nobody was really sure where they had came from. Nobody who'd been to the Great Beyond, or any other such ports of mystical or metaphysical call, could recall such a creature in any of their travels.
I would describe it as a humanoid, with big ragged vultures wings. Bipedal body. Bird's legs. A man's chest. I usually saw a big fuck off beak, that was attached to a face that looked similar to a plague doctor's mask.
But rarely did two people see the same thing when they looked at the creatures. Well for the most part. The going theory was that they were some matter of shape shifters. But that still left a lot to explain. Everyone described the same ragged wings and the same piercing eyes. Orbs of a pure white, that burned with a mix of corruption and malevolent anger. Like spotlights of hate on a greasy black night.
But nobody could agree on secondary characteristics. To me they all looked the same, but if I tried to describe what I saw, you wouldn't know what I was talking about, because you saw a horses head with a seagulls beak for a face, or some other such silliness.
This particular creature's wings were drooped over it like a cloak. I could see the eyes boring into me from the inky black recesses of it's wings. No notion of a head, or shoulders, or anything could be discerned from the shadows.
I glared back at it for a moment, before I took a good weaver style shooting position, drew my smoke wagon and planted it's front site post right smack dab between those dumbass eyes. It did nothing but glare back at me with those huge hate filled peepers. I couldn't even tell if it understood what was happening. But I could make out it's inky black talons flexing on it's perch, as if it was about to throw itself forward and rip my belly clean open in a fit of avian fury. Everything in me told me to pull the trigger on my Magnum Research BFR and send a .45-70 Government Consecrated Exploding Sabot round right into the thing's forehead. Everything in me wanted to send that unearthly thing back to whatever soulless void it spawned from. The things aren't right for this world and everything in me was telling me to send it back where it belonged. To the pit it crawled out of.
But technically........Under Texas department of Fish and Game code, They are classified as an endangered species.
So all I could do was whisper "Bang" like a petulant child and reluctantly holster my weapon. I am not horribly mature, I admit.
Yeah, sure they stole dead bodies. Sure they flew around from Dusk till Dawn creeping the living fuck out of people. Sure they had all the sentience of a learning disabled possum. But some genius decided to call them an endangered species and grant them protected habitats. Like the forests surrounding Bull's Heart. Because where the fuck else would they be able to go?
The thrice cursed things are Illegal to hunt for sport or harvest. And if you kill one by accident, you better have your ducks in a row. Because you are about to be investigated for Poaching. Which in Texas, means you are going to face a lot of Jail time.
Which is some Fucking liberal bullshit, if you ask me.
Our local game warden, a fella named Lingelsou, was very particular about the animals of what he calls 'His Forest.'
He also had zero problem running in Deputys for violations to the Texas Fish and Game code. He once arrested a Deputy named Landis for taking one down. Even though he had a good reason for it..... well maybe not a good reason exactly, but a pretty damn good excuse.
About once a month or so, Deputy Landis has a condition that.... Well it's just best that he gets away from people for a couple days or so. He goes a little wild in that time frame. So he goes out to a plot of land he owns out in the woods and just rides it out. Safer for everyone that way.
During one of these..... Fits I guess you could call it. He took down one of the creatures and ate half of it. Warden Lingelsou took him in for it. It didn't matter that Deputy Landis wasn't in his right frame of mind. He still didn't have a population control hunting license, which was the only way to legally hunt them.
Sherrif Onryu had gone to bat for the Deputy, going so far as to site the American's with disabilities act of 1990, trying to point out that Landis had a condition and certain accessions had to be made in order to provide a fair and equal environment for him. Including free reign hunting rights for the thing that lived inside of him. Lingelsou wasn't buying it though.
"Laws be laws" The Game Warden had said. "In my forest and in my jurisdiction, the laws be respected"
Sanctimonious do-gooder Prick.
But the creatures did a good job of keeping their number's low and they didn't really go out of their way to attack people. Unless cornered. Which is a good thing. Because when they are worked up into a good lather, they can take and dish out a lot of punishment before they finally go down. Kind of like a skybourne Armadillo.Only less cute.
This specimen, as if sensing my unease, leaned forward and screeched at me. I got the impression of a beak sticking out from between it's wings. The screech was loud in the frigid silence. It gave off the audio sensation of nails on a chalkboard mixed with a crying newborn. A pretty unpleasant mixing of audible input.
Than the burning eyes turned back to Pistola, and I briefly wondered if the Creature was going to go after the undead horse. I mean they were death eaters and technically the horse was dead after a fashion.
I would legally be allowed to shoot it at the point, as Pistola was technically livestock....Deadstock?..... Anyway, in Bull's Heart, you could defend tame animals from wild Animals. Especially with all of the weird crap that lives in our woods.
But before I could sink much thought into it, the creature reared on it's haunches, gave one last terrifying screech and took wing, quickly disappearing into the night sky. My caveman ego wanted to believe that it was because the Creature was made uncomfortable by my presence.
But more than likely it figured that the staff of Toothy Earl's weren't going to toss Marcel's corpse out the front door, so there was no point in hanging around. Either way Pistola seemed to be okay with the end result, as he let out a sigh of equine relief as the potential predator made it's exit.
I watched the night sky in the direction it flew off for a moment, wondering if it was going to change it's mind and come back.
They have a name.
Like we don't just call them 'Creatures.' I just happen to think the name is stupid. Real fucking stupid. Because it's not a hot chick on a winged horse swinging a sword.
It is in no way shape or form a Valkerye. And yes that is a hill that I am willing to die on.
It's a fucking bird monster, not a chick who escorts dead warriors to the All Father's table. Can't put that shit on the side of a panel van from the seventies. End of discussion.
I just call them 'Shitbirds.'
When I was certain that the Shitbird was gone for good, I turned and gave Pistola a nod.
"You're safe now, Sir." I said with a professional smile. "You're welcome."
The Horse just stared back at me with Milky dead eyes. He seemed super unimpressed.
"Fine" I said with a bit of feigned exasperation "act like that thing didn't have you scared out of your peanut sized mind"
The Horse snorted at me again and again I swear he managed to roll his pupiless white eyes at me. That damn horse was smarter than he was letting on. I shook my head and turned back to the Charger. But as I got into the Dodge, I thought I heard something. Like words floating out of the dark. Scratchy. Raspy. Just at the point of hearing. The point were you aren't sure if it's your inner monolog or your ears, and i definitely wasn't quite sure which one it was.
"The.... Master.... Comes...."
I stared off in the direction the creature had flown. Well that was odd. I couldn't be sure that I had heard it.... But I couldn't completely write it off either.
*
I knew the way to the Miller's house like the back of my hand. We were out there enough after all. The Miller's were two people that shouldn't have been together. But they were also both extremely stubborn. Neither was going to be the one who broke first and left. They also refused to admit they had problems. Even when they were doing their best to rip each other apart. Made conflict mediation between the two parties a royal bitch.
They were one of the reasons I hated this God forsaken town.
I was going to meet up with Gruk and Daliwal at the foot of the Miller's drive and we would go up their property as a group.
It's usually best to go out on calls with as much back up as possible. Especially in this town.
I briefly thought about Gruk's condition. I glanced down towards the Digital Defensive Control Suite sitting in the middle of my Patrol car's center console. The screen showed that the U.V. Defensive lighting rig that sat on the roof of the Uparmored Charger Hell Cat cruiser was off. I reached down and tapped the off button just to be sure. I than reached over and hit the manual safety, locking it out of action.
A lot of citizen's of Bull's Heart had one condition or another that made U.V. light anything from annoying to downright lethal, so much so that the local Government classified U.V. lights as destructive devices. If you had some? You had better have a very damn good reason for having them or you were going to jail. Occasionally certain people would kick up a stink about it, make some noise about it being a violation of the 2nd Amendment, but they usually didn't get much support because.... well it's hard to get people real worked up about lightbulbs.
It would have been a damn shame to take Gruk and possibly Daliwal out of action, due to some avoidable asshatted dipshittery. I actually wasn't sure if U.V. would take Daliwal down or out, but I did know his kind were nocturnal, so better safe than sorry.
I turned down the dirt road that would take me to the Miller's front gate. Something about the way the lights of my cruiser played down the narrow tree lined dirt road gave it an ominous feeling. I was hoping it wasn't a sign of things to come.
"Here the fuck we go" I grumbled outloud.
I saw Gruk's S.U.V. and Daliwal's cruiser parked next to the Miller's cattle gate. Gruk had to drive one of the bigger S.U.V.s due to her massive size.
"More like her massive ass" I said to myself, giving myself a slight chuckle in response, finding myself hilarious. And before you ask, yes I am aware that I am an idiot.
I parked behind the big SUV and got out, but not before I let dispatch know where I was.
"Jen, Whiskey Hotel, 10-23 at the Miller's" I told dispatch over the radio.
"Roger that, Whiskey Hotel, good luck!"
"Roger. Thanks. Out."
Daliwal and Gruk were standing in front of the latter's cruiser, looking up the property. Gruk turned her massive head my way. The black pupils of her eyes seemed to dig right through me as she stared. Her lips parted slightly and she gave me a disdainful sneer.
"Oh look..." She said said sounding gruff and vaguely British, like a bad guy from a Lord of The Rings Movie "'Ey sent a pathetic little 'Oomie to back us up..."
The look on her face could have frozen fire. She looked like she wanted to rip open my belly and play with what she found there. She squared up her shoulders like she was ready to throw down and raised her hands up to shoulder height. Flexing every muscle she had in her upper body. Her jaw fell open revealing some seriously nasty gleaming white canines. A Threat display if there ever was one. Her Body Armor and her duty belt did nothing except add to idea that she was preped and ready for a real slobberknocker.
She took a step forward, looking every bit of the bruiser she really was. From the top of her pony tail to the soles of her size twenty black Bates combat boots, she was built for war. Literally. Thats what her race had been bred for.
"Only thing 'Oomies is good for is filling bellys...."
Daliwal looked over at her with a 'what the fuck?' Look on his face. He seemed genuinely suprised by her words and aggressive actions. He looked over at me, his big yellow-green eyes going wide. He raised a hand to his beard and stroked it a few times. Looking back and forth between us. I got the feeling that was how his nerves liked to showed themselves.
The palm of his hand faced outwards and his fingers seemed to go backwards like their joints were reversed. He was a transfer from another town like Bull's Heart, somewhere in Florida. Thunder? Or maybe it was Cougar Teeth? Not that it mattered I guess. He had only been with the Sheriff's department a few weeks now, and most of that had been training time. He may have been a veteran. But here in Texas, he was 'The new guy' and he was still trying to figure out what was what.
The look on his face said that he wasn't quite sure what he had found himself in the middle of here, but he wasn't a fan of it.
I wasn't used to the backwards hands thing yet and it was still a little weird for me. Tiger head was off putting too, but that was easier to get used to. Seemed like a hell of a nice guy so far though. Like he was really working hard to dispell the negative views most people had towards free form shape shifters. He didn't need to though. He wouldn't have earned his Star if he were an asshole.
I tried to come up with a witty zinger to shoot back at Gruk, but I was drawing a blank. I almost went with 'ol reliable,' a Shrek reference. But I wasn't feeling it. So I just raised my hands to the waist, making sure not to spill my coffee, and mugged a sarcastically terrified expression at her.
"Ohhhh scary" I said in the most mockingly insincere voice I could muster, rolling my eyes as hard as I could. "Cut the fuckin' shit, Gruk, you're scaring the new guy"
"Watch your language!" Gruk said suddenly, dropping the bad movie Orc accent like a bad habit. Her real voice sounded more like a housewife from somewhere in the mid west. Like Nebraska or some shit. Flat but somehow bubbly. You always had a suspicion that the next word out of her mouth was going to be 'Ope.'
"And besides, He isn't scared he already knows I'm a total sweetie" She said fixing him with a wide smile. Which despite the fact that it showed off her massive fanged canines, still managed to come across as incredibly warm and inviting. Like someone's mom. "I gave him some of my famous oatmeal cookies, would a big nasty evil orc make cookies for the new guy?"
She directed the last question at Daliwal. He looked like he was still in shock at the rapid shift in tones. His eyes were wide and his jaw was still slightly hanging open. I could tell that he wasn't exactly sure if we weren't playing a game of 'fuck with the new guy' His shifted his gaze between our faces. He swallowed, a bit nervously.
"Well...." His voice had that crisp English accent that alot of educated Indian Immigrants had, when they learned their English at a British founded University. You could tell from his tone that he wasn't super comfortable in the situation.
".....The .....'Cookies'--" I got the feeling that he had to mentally restrain himself from saying 'biscuits' "--did have Raisins in them, so the question of your being a 'Sweetie' or something of a malicious sort hasn't really been settled just yet."
It took me a second, but I got the humor. Fucker was just so goddamn dry in his delivery, that it almost didn't land. I gave him a chuckle. I got the notion that he was gonna be an okay guy to work with. Once He got settled that is.
Gruk however stared at him for a moment. She didn't quite give a laugh, but she did give him another award winning smile. She placed her left fist on her waist and pointed at him with her other hand.
"I'm gonna have to keep my eye on you, Mister!" She said with a bit of humor in her voice. "And don't you worry about the Raisins, just my way of messing with the new guy, I guess. But don't worry. They help a body increase blood production. Thats good for you..... and Me."
Daliwal waited a beat before giving Gruk a wide-eyed nervous chuckle, before breaking eye-contact and looking down to make sure his boots were still on his feet.
His timid response set me off. I let lose with a stifled laugh. I squeezed my eyes shut and laughed into the back of my hand. My sides shaking. Now Daliwal wasn't a small guy, he was broad across the shoulders. Had Fangs and Claws of his own. A Gun too. I didn't know him too well, but I would bet that He could take care of himself in a fight. His kind were usually pretty good with their mitts. Or at least thats what I had heard about them. (That might just be a stereotype though. If it is, and anyone of you out there reading this are of the Raksasha people and have a problem with it, please know that I meant nothing by it.)
But when a Person of Gruk's size and ability, friendly disposition or not, makes a mention of your platelet count it could be a little disconcerting.
Especially since Gruk, in addition to being one of the largest specimens of Orc you would ever meet was also afflicted with Vampirism.
She was hell on wheels without the condition. Half the department had called her 'Mama Bear' because if you were down and bleeding and you needed someone to drag your ass out of the fire, she was the one you would want arriving on scene.
Believe me. I know what it's like to be laying on your back, getting the shit kicked out of you, looking up and seeing Gruk come charging onto the scene like a cross between The Incredible Hulk and Jesus Christ. But as to how she came across the Vampirism, It's actually kind of a sweet story.
A few years back she fell for a local gal named Maddie and they got married. Maddie was a vampire. In good standing of course. But than again she had to be, because rogue Vampires get run out of town pretty quick, if not staked down for the morning sun.
A man by the name of Kincade ran the local Vampire Coven and he was a stickler for 'The Rules of Fair Conduct' which 'The United Night Walker Covens and Clans of The United States, Mexico, and Canada' had applied to towns like Bull's Heart.
Kincade ran a tight ship and The Sheriff's Department had rarely if ever had reason to pick a fight with the Blood Suckers. Well.... Except that one time..... But thats neither here nor there. Plus we don't like to talk about it around here. It would be especially impolite to discuss it with outsiders.
Anyway the point is, that with the Vampirism accentuating her already considerable strength and hardiness.... she had gone from Hell On Wheels to a One Woman SEAL Team.
Part of the lovely couple's wedding vows had been Maddie converting Gruk into a Vampire. Maddie had taken Gruk's name and Gruk had taken on Maddie's condition. I had to admit. It twanged on the dusty strings of my heart. For some reason, it struck me as beautiful. To not only tell someone you want to be with them forever, but to take steps to actually do so? Well, I'm not gonna lie. I shed a few happy tears at the wedding.
I guess I'm a bit of a softy.
"Senior Deputy Gruk" I said, doing my best to come to Daliwal's rescue "if you could quit subtley terrifying the New Guy for a moment? I think we got us a wellness visit to make, if you would like to take charge and lead your valiant warriors on a crusade in the name of public safety? Now would be a good time for that."
"Oh, party pooper" Gruk said. But she drew up to her full height and turned to look up at the Miller's House. It was a white ranch style sitting on top of a slight hill. The lights were off and nobody appeared to be home.
"Okay" She said looking down at me "First things first, Cowboy."
She pointed down at the Magnum Research BFR in my Holster.
"Go to the trunk of your car and get a gun that isn't stupid"
"Goddamnit" I grumbled.
* Five minutes later we were walking up the Miller's Driveway. A fifth Generation Glock 40 sitting in my Holster. We had to hoof it up the property. Because the cattle gate across the driveway was locked. Which wouldn't have mattered.
Because once a car crossed the Miller's gate, it tends to experience engine trouble. Never getting more than twenty feet before shutting down completely. Radios had issues too. Hell the 3D RMR Night Site on my pistol was probably dead. Like it's 10 year battery was burnt out. It was something to do with the Nature of the Millers..... and the Magic they threw around. Electronics hated the stuff for some reason. So normally we just left anything that had a battery in the car.
I was staring up at the House as I walked. It was odd. Usually at this point we could hear them screaming at each other, the pop and fizzle of Magic spells going off. Inhuman roaring as demons were summoned. Not to attack, but to help bolster arguments. Dishes breaking.
Tonight though? It was different. Dead silence. Like the house was a tomb. My eyes were going from window to window. Looking for any sign of life and finding none. No fluttering curtains. Lights popping on and off. No nothing.
Just the crunch of our boots on old asphalt. I almost didn't notice the temperature drop, until I was exhaling steam. I shivered inside my uniform. I was just about to ask 'Where the fuck did that come from'
When Daliwal spoke up.
"We are being watched" He said quietly.
"I see them too" Gruk said. All merriment lost from her voice. She was switched on now and jokes would be unprofessional. She eased the AR Pistol she carried off of her belt. It was chambered in .458 Socom, and of course the entire lower was custom made to fit her gigantic hand. Including a massive grip that resembled the handle of a 1911 Pistol rather than the traditional AR group. Making it the next best thing to a Bolter.
"I count twelve in the trees on the West side of the clearing"
"I count eight on my side" Daliwal replied, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"I can't see shit" I said, wishing I had some form of natural night vision, like my creature of the night comrades.
"Valkerye" was all Gruk said.
"Shit" I muttered.
"Language" Gruk gently admonished, without taking her eyes off of the Trees on the edges of the clearing.
I followed her eyes out to the trees. I could just barely make out the little pinpoints of white light, that would have been the eyes of the Shitbirds.
I whistled lowly. There were a bunch of them out there. I had never seen so many in one place. Usually when there is more than two or three in one spot, they would fight each other. It looked like these assholes were just coping a squat and having a watch. Very odd behavior for Shit Birds.
"I've never seen so many..." Daliwal said, a tremor of discomfort in his voice. I noticed that his tail was held down, close to his leg. That might have been a good tactical decision to keep the appendage out of the way....... or it might have been an involuntary fear based response.
"Don't let them get to you" Gruk said, her voice soaked in matronly concern. "They never come for us..... just for the dead."
"Yeah" I said, turning my attention to the house.
"Boss Lady is right. Pay them no mind."
I took a sip from the Coffee cup I was still holding. I was intentionally trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Partially for the new guy, partially for the fact that I wasn't going to give the Shit Birds the satisfaction of spooking me twice in one night. I did my best to walk like I didn't have a care in the world. Daliwal looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes widened slightly when he recognized the stylized Alligator on the cup. Toothy Earl's logo.
"You were at Toothy Earl's earlier?" He asked me, his ears perking straight up "Was.... Um.... Was Miss Ellie working?"
"Yup" I Responded "She was breaking in a New Striper. Didn't go so hot for him"
"Ah" The new guy said "Do you happen to know if.... If.... She is...uh... talking to anyone?"
"She talks to a lot of people" I said playing dumb "it's part of her job, silly boots"
"Oh... Uh... No..." He said, turning back to watch his side of the clearing, and the Valkerye in the Trees beyond. "I meant is she.... In a relationship with anyone?"
"Well" I said continuing on in the playing dumb vein "I'm sure she has a lot of relationships, with a lot of people--"
"Oh be nice" Gruk grunted at me "You know what he meant." She said to me. To Daliwal she said "Yes there's a fella she talks too, but I don't know if it's serious. Tall, blonde, human, a lot of people think he might really be that one lightning guy, the one with the hammer.... oh what is his name.... oh it doesn't matter." Her voice picked up a little more Growl as she went on. Apparently remembering that we were supposed to be focusing on the task at hand "Both of you need to pay attention to your sectors. Or I'll treat you both like a couple of juice boxs and call out another couple of Dumb Dumbs to back me up, when I've sucked you both dry."
"Yes ma'am!" Daliwal said, responding to the matronly authority in her voice.
"Yeah" I said, properly scolded, not even attempting to go for the obvious joke there. "Sorry, Boss."
She was right. Now wasn't the time for jaw jacking. She had left it unsaid, but there were more Shit Birds out here than anyone had ever seen in one spot. They were acting strangely. This was the quietest 'Millers Call' I had ever been out on. I would wager that it was Gruk's quietest one too. It was too weird of a night to be acting like a dumbass rookie. There was a time to fuck with the new guy and this wasn't it clearly.
I followed Gruk's lead and drew my Glock. I checked the RMR site and noticed that my Dot was in fact no longer illuminated on the glass. Like the battery was dead.
Fucking Miller's and their spooky ass hoodoo. The rest of the short walk was quiet. I watched the front, where the house was. Gruk and Daliwal watched the sides. They stayed quiet.
I would occasionally peek off to the side, at the trees in the distance. White Eyes Beamed back at me, making them look like under dressed sparsely decorated Christmas Trees.
I kind of wished we were talking more. As the feeling of all those eyes on me was driving me crazy. Felt like ants skittering up and down my spine. Some light conversation would be great to take the mind off of current events.
When we reached the house, Gruk mounted the steps to the porch and paused. She looked around. She tilted her head up to the side and sniffed the air around her. She suddenly tensed up
"What?" I asked her.
"Blood" She responded "Lots of it. Human."
Now were this the movies. The Vampire would look at me like I was a pot roast and get a strange look in her eye. But this isn't the movies and Senior Deputy LaVonda Gruk is a goddamn professional and I'll not have you imply otherwise. She treated it like a call for help and instantly got ready to run into an unknown situation to potentially save a life.
She raised her massive pistol and trained it on the door. She motioned to me with her head, telling me to kick the door for her. She looked at Daliwal and patted herself on the backside, wordlessly telling him to stack on her. He nodded and did as he was instructed.
I leaned against the opposite side of the door, back against the wall. I raised my leg and swung it back, giving the door a solid donkey kick. The door flew open in an explosion of cheap trim and paint flakes. Gruk and Daliwal flowed into the house. Gruk having to duck down in the doorway, so she wouldn't bang her head on the door jamb.
"Sheriff's Department!" She yelled.
The living room was empty of life. There was a stone table set up where a coffee table would be in a normal house, with stone bowls and unidentifiable powders in them. Jars full of God knows what lined a massive book shelf that covered an entire wall. Candles lit the space, some burned all the way down. Looked like they had been going for a while. Strange symbols were painted everywhere. I recognized a couple of them, just from being on the job so long.This looked like a Wizard's lab or a Witch's brewery. It probably was too, knowing the Millers.
"Clear!" I heard Daliwal yell. His voice a bit more of a roar, with the adrenaline surging through his veins. Gruk looked over at me. She pointed to her nose and than pointed towards a door leading off the living room, she than patted her backside again. I got behind her, ready to go wherever she would take me.
Gruk always took point. She was the most likely to survive a Shotgun blast to the face and stay in the fight. So it made good tactical sense. But it was also just the way she led. From the front.
We left Daliwal in the living room. To hold our only known exit, in case someone squirted past us. Gruk and I cleared the rest of the house, finding nothing. We came to a stop at a closed door at the end of the main hall. She looked at me and tapped her nose again. I got her meaning. This was where the smell was strongest.
I nodded and reached down for the door knob, i jiggled the handle finding it unlocked. I shoved it open and in went Gruk, pistol at the ready. I flowed in behind her. The smell of tangy copper hit me in the snout like a bag of hammers. I involuntarily gagged. I couldn't see anything. It was pitch black. But I knew it was bad. Room smelled like a badly run slaughterhouse. I felt around for a light switch. Found a candlebra instead.
'Good enough' I thought to myself as i dug in my pocket for a lighter. I gave the bic a couple of test flicks.
"Wait" Gruk said from somewhere in the darkness. "It's bad. It's real bad."
"Yeah" I said. I had gathered that much from the smell. "But how bad can it be?"
I lit the candle. It must have been a candle with some magic to it. Because it lit that room like a surgery ward and Gruk was right. It was bad. It was real bad. It was a bedroom. You could tell because a massive California King-size bed occupied the center of the room.
The comforter was soaked in reddish brown blood. There was a lump of meat in the center of the bed, that I slowly realized was a woman's torso. On one night stand there were ten neatly severed fingers. In two columns of five each. On the other night stand was a head. Devoid of a face. Just ragged skull staring at the doorway. At the foot of the bed were two legs, crossed over each other like an X. I realized that various organs and bits of body were arranged around the torso in a circle.
I looked over at Gruk. She was staring wide eyed at the wall above the headboard. I followed her gaze. The face of Giselda Miller stared back at us from the wall, where it had been nailed up like a trophy on display. Eyeless of course, because the eyes were still in the skull. But I knew that face. It had screamed all matter of venom and curse at me before.
There was something weird about this. Well, yeah no shit it was weird. But there was a strange sort of order to where everything was placed in the room. I looked over at Gruk. She looked back at me. I saw her swallow a few times, like she wasn't sure what to make of this all. Her face looked almost helpless and I felt bad for the Giant Orc.
"We...." She started to speak. Her voice a little unsteady. She paused and closed her eyes. She swallowed a few more times.
"We need to get out of this room" she said, more in control of her voice.
"Yeah" I said moving towards the door. I had seen this level of carnage before. Part of the job. People say when you see shit like this enough, eventually you get used to it. Well I'm still waiting on that fucking day.
"Forensics will have our butts" Gruk said, command voice firmly back in place "if we mess something up"
"Yeah" I said. Not particularly giving a shit why we got out of the room, but just happy to do so. We pulled Daliwal out of the House with us. Gruk closing the door behind us, to preserve the crime scene. We spun him up on what we had seen. His eyes narrowed in thought.
"What?" Gruk asked.
"Back in Florida. We had a Necromancer in town....."
"Awww fuck" I interrupted with a sigh, knowing where this was going. Necromancers were bastards and I didn't want to deal with chasing one down. I had one throw a dead cat at me once. It bit me. Shit was weird.
Gruk did that hand-shake shushing thing that mom's do when you were interrupting their shows. She wanted me to stick a sock in it. Probably had a problem with the cursing too.
"What you describe...." Daliwal went on "sounds like a ritual she did. We never found out why she did it. We figured out who it was and showed up at her door step with a lot of firepower. She did not come peacefully." The look on his face, and the way he stroked his beard, said it was a bad memory. Gruk had an uncomfortable look on her face too. I couldn't say as I blamed Her.
This could be real bad. If somebody was going around killing people for some silly necromancer bullshit..... well my week was about to get a lot fucking busier.
It's always something with this fucking town.
"Okay" Gruk said "So let's get down past the Gate and see if we can get some back up out here."
"Gonna have to wake up the Sheriff" I sighed.
"She'll be pissed if we don't. But in the mean time, we need to get people out looking for Mark Miller. His whereabouts are unknown, so that makes him our only suspect at this point."
And since the power's that be have a sense of fucking humor......
I heard a rustle of wings above our heads. Right before about two hundred pounds of meat was dropped right in the middle of our little pow-wow. It was a body. The legs caught me square in the chest, knocking me on my ass.
The face attached to the body's head, sure looked a lot like Mark Miller's face. Albeit a little more battered and beaten than usual. Dead bodies have a certain look about them and Mark Miller was rocking the fuck out of that look, broken neck and all. All three of us looked up. A Valkerye hovered about twenty feet above us. It's wings wide open, like it was riding a thermal. It's eyes blazed as it glared at us from on high. I had never seen one not skulking in shadows. I had never seen one this brazen.
"THE MASTER COMES!" It screeched down at us

British Strong Style are an official/unofficial NXT faction formed in the famous UK independent promotion - PROGRESS, where they ran the show holding all the gold. They’ve yet to have a big break through in NXT or NXT UK, but that’s bound to happen. What’s really on my mind is - how do they fare on the main roster? That’s a question we’ll answer. We have to wait for the Coronavirus pandemic to be gone or at least at a smaller level, so we’re going to skip ahead into 2022. We start where so many famous debuts do - the Royal Rumble.
Royal Rumble 2022:
30-man Men’s Royal Rumble Match
Opening the show tonight we start off with the prestigious Royal Rumble match. Last year in 2021 we saw “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Sasha Banks win the two royal rumbles, but it’s a new year and a new road to a new WrestleMania. Starting off the show and starting off the Royal Rumble with a bang, it’s Tyler Bate! The baseball stadium go mental at the arrival of Bate, who twiddles his moustache, shakes everyone’s hand and awaits his two to tango. The arena goes to darkness...and then guitar string. “Hello, my name is Elias.”
Elias comes out playing a song about how much he hates Britain and strong style. He finishes on one last delayed note - AND THEN GUITAR SHOT!! BATE DROPKICKS THE GUITAR INTO ELIAS’ FACE!!! The match is underway and we’ve started with a bang. UPPERCUT TO ELIAS! HE CLUTCHES HIM AROUND THE WAIST; GERMAN SUPLEXS ELIAS OVER THE TOP!! HE’S OUT!!! Bate strokes his moustache and shakes his hand in Elias’ direction as the fans applaud. Elias is furious and bangs his fists on the apron in frustration. Then number 3....IS DOLPH ZIGGLER!!!
Ziggler comes down and starts to work technical with Bate. Ziggler goes for a Zigzag but Tyler pushes him off and hits a Hip Toss! OVERHEAD BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX INTO THE CORNER!! Ziggler sells like he’s had his spine stabbed and writhes on the mat. Bate then throws him out and waits for Number 4...BOBBY LASHLEY!! Tyler has finally met his match, and someone who can probably eat Bate and be looking for seconds. Lashley powers Tyler out of his restholds and dominates the small man. The ring then fills but most of them are eaten by Lashley. That’s until number 8 comes out...BRAUN STROWMAN! Lashley and Strowman both rush for each other and start to beat each other to all hell. They throw fists and slams until they got caught up in the corner. TYLER BATE THEN SLIDES UP BEHIND AND SLIPS BOTH LASHLEY AND STROWMAN OUT!
Kyle O’Reilly enters at Number 9 and is soon followed by Bobby Fish at Number 11. They gang up on Bate until TRENT SEVEN MAKES THE SAVE AT NUMBER 12!! MOUSTACHE MOUNTAIN ARE HIRE AND FIGHTING THE UNDISPUTED ERA IN THE ROYAL RUMBLE!! They keep fighting as more people come and go. After a bit of time, TYLER BATE GETS BOBBY FISH UP IN A FIREMAN’S CARRY WITH KYLE O’REILLY GOING AROUND IN A GIANT SWING!! Undisputed Era HIT THE AX AND SMASH followed by an Inverted Atomic Drop + Front Missile Dropkick to Bate! SEVEN THEN COMES BEHIND WITH AN O’CONNOR ROLL AND GERMAN SUPLEX COMBO!!! They keep fighting throughout the match up until number 20.
Roderick Strong enters before his number at 20 to PULL SEVEN OUT!! This causes outrage with Bate who SUICIDE DIVES OUT AT STRONG!! HE HITS RODDY WITH A HALF AND HALF SUPLEX ONTO THE STEEL RAMP!! Bate is then hit by an AX AND SMASH ON THE OUTSIDE!!! All of The Undisputed Era then walk in and wreck the place. But that’s all until Number 23: PETE DUNNE!! THE BRUISERWEIGHT IS IN!! Dunne takes out each of UE one by one with elbows and headbutts. HE THROWS BOBBY FISH OUT!! KYLE O’REILLY IS DUMPED OUT!! Strong hits a SICK KICK TO DUNNE!! DUNNE REBOUNDS OFF THE ROPES WITH A CLOTHESLINE - INTO A BITTER END!!! HE THROWS RODDY OUT!! Dunne then looks up the ramp and gestures to come on...and it’s ADAM COLE!!
Adam Cole comes out and him and Pete Dunne go big. They rehash a lot of spots from their Survivor Series encounter, fitting all the big moments in here. SUPERKICK BY COLE!! FOLLOWED BY A PANAMA SUNRISE ATTEMPT - INTO AN INVERTED TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER!! DUNNE GOES TO THROW HIM OUT - BUT COLE COUNTERS WITH A FALLING DDT!! HE HITS TWO SUPERKICKS IN A ROW!! LAST SHOT!!! HE PICKS DUNNE UP TO DROP HIM OUT, BUT DUNNE HITS AN X PLEX!!! HE PICKS COLE UP TO THROW HIM OUT OF THE RING - BUT COLE SLINGSHOTS OFF THE ROPES AND FINALLY CONNECTS THE PANAMA SUNRISE!!! They both lay dead in the ring until they stand: O’Reilly and Cole vs. Dunne and Bate. They eliminate each other after Bate tips O’Reilly and Cole over. He’s pulled out with them though. Dunne is then hit by a Coaymore from behind to be eliminated. Keith Lee then eventually goes on to win.
Keith Lee wins the Men’s Royal Rumble last eliminating Drew McIntyre (55:25)
With the aftermath of the Royal Rumble there is a lot of questions being asked. Keith Lee won the Men’s match while Becky Lynch returned to win the Women’s. Who will they face? What will be happening? Well that’s not my story to tell for now, instead we deal with the fallout of British Strong Style’s star making performance. They made enemies out of their former rivals - The Undisputed Era. British Strong Style debut on SmackDown the Friday after the Rumble for their debuting ceremony.
A hype package for their arrival opens the show, showing off all their accolades in PROGRESS and NXT as Jack White’s “Love is Blindness” plays. It finishes on the three of them standing together in the Rumble last night - before we cut to back in the arena. They arrive to a chorus of cheers from the audience, coming out in their signature gear topped with custom bomber jackets. Dunne takes the mic, snarling as he paces himself while Trent and Tyler stand behind him. He lists off the names of each UE member, and calls them “cowards.” He calls them out for blindsiding Trent and trying to pick a fight with dogs bigger than them.
They bring up Cole’s failure to grab the world title. “You would grab the brass ring - but you’re not tall enough to reach it.” That’s when Adam and his posse arrive, walking out with purpose. Cole says everything they did is just business. He mocks their pristine clean cut British act, in his best Oliver Twist voice mocking them pleading to William Regal to sign them. “We’re ever so useless, please sign us, not for any reason other than Triple H likes us!” He says while the rest of UE jeer. Dunne has had enough and boots Cole in the mouth, leading to a brawl. It’s left 2-on-3 as Dunne and Cole fight on the outside.
A match is made for the next week, where Dunne and Cole fight for a spot in the Universal Championship #1 Contenders Elimination Chamber match. Dunne counters the Panama Sunrise into an X-Plex and tries for a pin, but Fish pulls Cole’s foot onto the first rope. Dunne then goes on hog wild on the outside, hitting Fish with an X-Plex on the apron! He tries for the Better End but Cole flips behind him and hits a Superkick followed by Last Shot. 1.........2........3. Adam Cole pins Pete Dunne for the second time in a row. Dunne isn’t going to make it to the Elimination Chamber.
A match is made for Elimination Chamber, with Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) of British Strong Style taking on Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong - two men they’ve waged many wars with. Bate and O’Reilly were the two iron men of the match, fighting throughout until the last few minutes. Roddy then was the guy who entered before his number to sneak eliminate Seven, meaning they have a problem. Seven and Strong face off o an episode of SmackDown, ending with Seven getting a roll up pinfall victory. They then stare down afterwards, which is the last shot before their pay-per-view bout.
Elimination Chamber 2020:
British Strong Style (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) vs. The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong) in a Tag Team Match
These two open the show in a non-title tag team bout, just a straight up grudge match. British Strong Style come out dressed as the Peaky Blinders - because of course. Roddy does his own Goldberg entrance on the ramp, karate chops and kicks while O’Reilly plays air guitar with nothing - how sad. Roddy tries to lock up with Seven but he’s IMMEDIATELY HIT BY A GERMAN SUPLEX!! Roddy stumbles up into the corner after that shock attack. SEVEN THEN HITS A DRAGON SUPLEX! Strong writhes in the bottom corner. Seven lifts him up for an Airplane Spin but Strong navigates out and hits a Backhand Chop! FOLLOWED BY A DOUBLE UNDERHOOK SUPLEX!!
Strong goes for a kick to the head but SEVEN SPINS HIM AROUND INTO A HIGH-ANGLE GERMAN SUPLEX!! HE ROLLS THROUGH INTO AN O’CONNOR ROLL!!! 1.........2......STRONG KICKS OUT! SEVEN THEN TRIES FOR ANOTHER DRAGON SUPLEX!! Roddy lets an arm loose and spins into a DISCUS ELBOW!! Roddy readjusts the armband and signals for a KNEE STRIKE!! RODDY THEN HITS A POWERBOMB ONTO HIS KNEE!! 1.......2....KICK OUT!! Roddy then makes the tag for O’Reilly. Kyle comes in with a running knee and starts to beat down on Seven with elbows. He bangs him off the corner and hits a RUNNING BACK ELBOW!! He tries for a VERTICAL SUPLEX! BUT SEVEN LANDS ON HIS FEET, SWINGS INTO A NECKBREAKER!! MAKES THE TAG TO TYLER BATE!!
Bate slingshots over the ropes but KOR IMMEDIATELY GOES FOR A YAKUZA KICK!! BATE DODGES AND HITS A DEADLIFT GERMAN SUPLEX!! 1....2.....O’REILLY KICKS OUT!! Kyle gets up and swings a closed fist to Bate’s head! ANOTHER TO THE JAW!! Tyler is down on the mat and O’Reilly sinks in an Ankle Lock! BATE STRUGGLES FOR THE ROPES!! Bate then clutches O’Reilly in a Chinlock! They’re both curled on the mat. TYLER THEN SLOWLY LIFTS HIM OFF THE FLOOR INTO A DEADLIFT POWERBOMB!! 1.....2.....O’REILLY ROLLS BACK INTO HIS OWN PINFALL!! TYLER BATE KICKS OUT! DOUBLE DOWN STEREO LARIATS!!
O’Reilly slides to the outside to recover. Bate meanwhile regained himself in the ring. The fans clap in symphony at the action that just unfolded. Tyler gets an adrenaline rush from their support and points to KOR. “Oh? Oh yes.” SUICIDE DIVE BY BATE! O’Reilly topples into the guardrail. Bate gets a fan to hold KOR in place as he runs up for a JUMPING KNEE STRIKE!! HE GOES FOR A NORTHERN LIGHTS SUPLEX ON THE OUTSIDE! KOR GETS OUT!! HE HITS A RIPCORD KNEE AND THROWS BATE BACK IN!! HIM AND RODDY HIT THE AX AND SMASH!!! 1.........2.......SEVEN BREAKS THE PINFALL!! SEVEN HITS A SAMOAN DROP TO KYLE!! Kyle rolls out as well as Tyler, who both tag in their partners. SEVEN THEN HITS THE FIVE STAR LARIAT!!! 1.........2........KICK OUT!!!!
Seven gets up with triumph of the fans support. He pumps his fists on the canvas, and tries for another. BUT STRONG DUCKS AND HITS A GIBSON DRIVER!! HE THEN HITS A SICK KICK!!!! 1...........2..........BATE BARELY BREAKS IT UP!!! RODDY CALLS FOR AN AX AND SMASH, BUT HE’S HIT BY A SEVENTH HEAVENS!!! TYLER BATE THEN FLIES WITH A 450 SPLASH!!!! 1..........2...........3!!!!! BRITISH STRONG STYLE WIN THEIR DEBUT MATCH!! Moustache Mountain hug it out after the match as the fans give them a round of applause for the corker of a match they just saw. Pete Dunne comes out afterwards and congratulates his friends on their win.
British Strong Style defeat The Undisputed Era (17:28)
We’re fully on the road to WrestleMania, and there’s one key person here - Pete Dunne. Dunne didn’t wrestle at Elimination Chamber and is yet to have his PPV match. He’s itching for fingers to snap and bones to break. Dunne is interviewed on the SmackDown after Elimination Chamber, where he’s asked by Kayla Braxton what his primary motivations are on the main roster. Dunne tells her with a snarl that he’s here to win, and be the best in WWE. Not just the UK, not just NXT, not just SmackDown - WWE. He’s got his boys, but for now he wants to take on as many challengers as possible.
Dunne then interrupts a New Day match later on, and challenges them to a match. He says the days of them as the best trio in WWE are long gone, and now there are new players in town: British Strong Style. Trent Sven and Tyler Bate come out and stare down the opposing trio. They all look at the WrestleMania sign as the fans get rowdy. The Undisputed Era then come out, with Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish backing Cole. Adam calls out Pete Dunne to a match at Fastlane to settle their differences. However Kingston intervenes and says that neither of them should be placed above New Day, who have been doing this for 8 years. A triple threat is made for Fastlane between all of them to truly settle who is the best faction in WWE.
Fastlane 2022:
Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole vs. Kofi Kingston - Triple Threat Match
It’s the war to settle the score as we’ll see three members of the three top factions in WWE wage war here tonight. Dunne snarls to the camera and fans, pushing aside cameraman who try and capture shots of him. He raises two fists in the air and bites towards the hard cam. Kofi then comes out with pancakes topped with ice cream coated in Booty O’s because...what else are you going to use against Pete Dunne. Adam Cole then sells them both to suck it because he’s a twat - that’s why. Once all three are in the ring the bell is rung and the bout has begun.
The three men approach each other, scouting out who makes the the first move. Cole rolls outside because he can’t be asked to do this. He waits for Dunne and Kofi to fight out while he takes a seat the commentary desk. Kofi heads to the apron to watch Cole kick his feet up on the desk. KOFI THEN JUMPS OFF THE APRON ONTO THE ANNOUNCE TABLE!! HE GRABS COLE BY THE HAIR AND THROWS HIM BACK INSIDE. Dunne then pulls his fingers apart in glee. Pete lifts him up for a Vertical Suplex, which Kingston accompanies with a SPRINGBOARD DIVING CROSSBODY!! This leaves it to Kofi and Cole.
Kingston leapfrogs Cole who runs forward at him. He then rolls back into a Wheelbarrow Arm Drag! Cole runs under Kofi’s clothesline attempt, who runs the ropes and rebounds with a Single-leg Dropkick! Cole then lifts Kofi up with an Enziguri! He tries for a SUPERKICK FROM THE CORNER BUT KINGSTON CATCHES WITH A HURRICANERANA!!! KOFI WITH A MONKEY FLIP TO THE CORNER, FOLLOWED BY MOUNTED PUNCHES!!! HE HITS A EUROPEAN UPPERCUT!!! Kofi throws Cole out the ring with Dunne. Dunne and Cole and then hit by a SOMMERSAULT PLANCHA BY KOFI!!!
Once they’re back in the ring it’s now the three-man chaos. Everyone is countering everything, throwing it into someone. It’s like hot potato but with people and wrestling moves. Kofi hits a TROUBLE IN PARADISE!!! BUT THEN FROM BEHIND IS HIT BY A LAST SHOT!! DUNNE THEN LIFTS COLE UP FOR A BITTER END - BUT COLE GETS OUT AND HITS THE FLORIDA KEYS!!! 1..........2........KOFI BREAKS IT UP WITH A BOOM DROP!!! KOFI HITS A TORNADO DDT TO ADAM COLE!! This takes Cole outside. This leaves Dunne and Kofi, who start to chop each other for shit.
Dunne throws Kofi into the corner and runs for him but he’s hit by a PENDULUM KICK!! HE GOES FOR A SPRINGBOARD ATTACK, BUT DUNNE COUNTERS WITU THE FOUR STAR FOREARM!!! HE THEN TRIES AN X-PLEX!! KOFI GETS OUT AND HITS A TROUBLE IN PARADISE!!!! We get a double down as Kingston can’t make it for the cover. Cole sneaks up from behind with a LAST SHOT TO KOFI!!! 1.........2.........3!!!!!!!!! ADAM COLE WINS THE MATCH FOR HIMSELF AND THE UNDISPUTED ERA!! Cole wins in the most on-brand way imaginable, leaving everyone but his cohorts angry.
*Adam Cole defeats Pete Dunne and Kofi Kingston (14:55)
After Fastlane we’ve fully entered the road to WrestleMania, we are approaching the big show soon and there’s a lot to unpack. The New Day and British Strong Style‘s feud is what we are focusing on today. Kofi and Dunne took themselves out of the match last Sunday, leading to Cole winning. This left both teams dissatisfied. This was the build to their WrestleMania encounter.
WrestleMania 38:
The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs. British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) - Six-man Tag Team Match
The two teams open the show in a clinic. This ends with British Strong Style winning the match, after Trent Seven pins Big E with a Seventh Heaven followed by a Five Star Lariat.
British Strong Style defeat The New Day (15:01)
With them after math of WrestleMania, British Strong Style are now one of the hottest commodities in WWE. They’re win over the New Day sent shockwaves through the roster of SmackDown. Dunne is vying for the Intercontinental Championship, currently held by Aleister Black, meanwhile Seven and Bate want The Street’s Profits tag straps. In a promo on the SmackDown after WrestleMania, Dunne addresses their critics. “Are we good guys? Are we bad guys? Yes, no, yes and no. We are the shades of grey you don’t see. We are unclear in if we are black or white. You don’t know, and don’t need to. This is about no one but us - and our mission for success.”
“We will take the titles we so please the only way we can - by making it happen.” They do that, as Aleister Black is met by British Strong Style backstage. Dunne calls out Black to a match for Extreme Rules, but Aleister doesn’t give it out like candy. He wants to see Dunne prove he can do it one-on-one - because he hadn’t done that yet, whereas there a lot of guys in the back who have. So Pete wrestles in the main event that night, in a winning effort. The match is then made for Extreme Rules: Aleister Black defending his Intercontinental Championship against The Bruiserweight. Dunne snaps his opponents fingers after the match to close the show.
Meanwhile Seven and Bate of Moustache Mountain are looking to get a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. They interrupt The Street Profits after a successful tag titles defence. Seven tells them they are a very good team...for how. They may have dominated the division for the past 3 years, but now the REAL dominators are here. This is a new age of tag team wrestling, and Tez and Angie’s time is up. Move aside now - new boys in town. Profits rebound that there is a reason it took Seven and Bate 5 years to arrive to the main roster, whereas it took them 1. They have dominated the division for so long because they’ve been the best for so long, and will continue to be. So they’ll gladly humble these two British boys at Extreme Rules.
Extreme Rules 2022:
British Strong Style vs. The Street Profits - SmackDown Tag Team Championships
Street Profits don’t come out through the crowd, but instead come down the stage with Dawkins behind Montez has he walks down with all the swagger of the world. Moustache Mountain do it differently, as Tyler Bate adjusts his moustache, cleans his boots and shakes the hands of the Street Profits. Trent Seven politely folds the towels for the ringkeeper. Once the bell rings we’re underway.
Angelo Dawkins and Tyler Bate start the match off hot with Angelo Dawkins using his size to try and get an edge. Tyler Bate, using his speed and some of that ol’ rough housin, manages to overcome Angelo Dawkins though by using his thick British style. Angelo Dawkins goes for a Forearm Smash, but Tyler Bate ducks and HITS A GERMAN SUPLEX FOLLOWED BY A SAMOAN DROP!!!! Tyler Bate locks in a resthold, trying time make Angelo submit. HE MANAGES TO ROLL OUT OF IT AND HIT A FACEBUSTER!!!! Angelo Dawkins starts to pick up his pace a little and hits a Running Shoulder Tackle!!! Tyler Bate trips him up and locks in a CROSSFACE!!
DAWKINS ESCAPES AND TRIES TO HIT A SITOUT POWERBOMB!! BUT BATE COUNTETS WITH A HURRICANERANA!! BATE THEN LOCKS IN A SINGLE LEG BOSTON CRAB!! DAWKINS ESCAPES TO MAKE A HOT TAG!! The crowd go wild as Montez Ford springboards in with a FLYING FOREARM SMASH! Ford runs up the ropes; DIVING CROSSBODY! Tyler Bate goes for a Clothesline, Ford ducks and HITS A SPIKE DDT!! TYLER BATE IRISH WHIPS MONTEZ FORD, BUT HE SPRINGBOARDS OFF THE ROPES WITH A MOONSAULT!!! MONTEZ FORD JUMPS FOR A JUMPING DOUBLE KNEES - BUT BATE CATCHES WITH A POWERBOMB - INTO A GIANT SWING!! He goes around and around for 10 swings, before they both collapse. BATE THEN CRAWLS OVER FOR A HOT TAG TO SEVEN!!!
Trent Seven comes in hot, SCOOPING MONTEZ FORD UP FOR A ROLLING FIREMAN’S CARRY ROLL!!! Trent Seven hits A DEATH VALLEY DRIVER AND GOES FOR THE COVER!!! 1..........2.......KICK OUT!! SEVEN GOES FOR A SPINNING BACKFIST, BUT FORD GETS OUT!! HE TRIES A SPINEBUSTER BUT MONTEZ FORD COUNTERS OUT WITH A HURRICANERANA!!! HE THEN FOLLOWS IT WITH A SPRINGBOARD MISSILE DROPKICK. Ford then crawls to his corner, where he gets a TAG ON ANGELO DAWKINS!!
Dawkins comes in fast and furious hitting A BIG BOOT TO TRENT SEVEN. Angelo Dawkins then scoops him up and hits a POWERSLAM. He Irish Whips him into the corner and hits a series of stiff chops to the chest!! Trent Seven though counters, putting him into the corner then hitting his own batch of chops!! Angelo Dawkins reverses that though, putting Trent Seven in the corner and hitting his own round of chops! Dawkins has enough and KICKS SEVEN IN THE FACE!! BEFORE HE HITS AN EXPLODER SUPLEX INTO THE CORNER!!! HE TAGS IN MONTEZ!! Angelo Dawkins hits a SPEAR TO TRENT SEVEN - FOLLOWED BY A FROGSPLASH BY FORD!!! 1....2.....TYLER BATE BREAKS IT UP! DDT FROM BATE TO FORD!!
Bate rolls to the outside - BUT HE’S HIT BY A DAWKINS SPEAR ON THE FLOOR!! Montez Ford gets to his feet in the ring but he’s met by a Spinning Backfist!!! MONTEZ FORD REPLIES TO THIS WITH AN ENZIGURI!! He runs off the ropes but TRENT SEVEN HITS A SEVEN STAR LARIAT!! Trent Seven gets a Tag in on Tyler Bate who comes in fiery. TYLER BATE HITS A RUNNING ACE HANDLE AND LOCKS IN A REAR NAKED CHOKE!!! Montez Ford struggles in it and looks like he’s out but ANGELO DAWKINS BREAKS IT UP!!!! MONTE FORD GOES TO THE MIDDLE ROPES AND HITS A TORNADO DDT!!!! HE GOES TO COVER, BUT TRENT SEVEN PULLS HIM OUTSIDE; DEATH VALLEY DRIVER ON THE RING APRON!!! Seeing as Montez is the legal man, Angelo has to drag Montez back in and tag himself in.
Tyler Bate looks at him devilishly which Dawkins grins at. TYLER BATE RUNS AT HIM WITH A BIG BOOT, BUT DAWKINS CATCHES AND HITS A DISCUS LARIAT!!! ANGELO DAWKINS GOES TO THE CORNER FOR A SPEAR, BUT BATE LEAPFROGS WITH A DOUBLE FOOT STOMP!!! HE HITS A DRAGOH SUPLEX!!! TYLER BATE GOES FOR A MOONSAULT BUT DAWKINS GETS HIS KNEES UP!! DAWKINS THEN HITS A SNAP SUPLEX!! He tags in Montez Ford and signals a double team move. ANGELO IRISH WHIPS MONTEZ OFF THE ROPES - THEN AS FORD COMES RUNNING AT HIM, DAWKINS THROWS HIM IN THE AIR AS MONTEZ COMES LANDING DOWN WITH A FROGSPLASH! 1....2....KICK OUT!!!
Street Profits are FURIOUS and grabs the chairs. The fans boo but they look at each other with anger, and agree this has to be done. TRENT SEVEN COMES UP FROM BEHIND AND HITS A BACKSTABBER TO MONTEZ FORD!!! This distracts Angelo Dawkins, so he looks the opposite way. This allows TYLER BATE TO HIT A CHAIR-ASSISTED RUNNING BULLDOG! Street Profits stumble to their feet. MONTEZ FORD HITS A SUPERKICK TO TRENT SEVEN!! HE TURNS AROUND TO TYLER BATE, WHO HITS A AIRPLANE SPIN AND GIANT SWING COMBO!!! Trent Seven stumbles into the ring, DEADLIFT POWERBOMB TO MONTEZ FORD! TYLER BATE FINALLY HITS THE TYLER DRIVER 97’!!!!!! 1.....2.....3!!!!!!! MUSTACHE MOUNTAIN ARE YOUR NEW SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!!
British Strong Style defeat The Street Profits (c) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships
Pete Dunne vs. Aleister Black (c) - Intercontinental Championship
Dunne and Black are very similar style wise, both being aggressive guys who can legit shoot beat the shit out of you. Black however is strikes and martial arts based, while Dunne is more ground and grappling focused. That’s the narrative of the match. Pete Dunne ultimately wins with a Bitter End off the top rope. Seven and Bate then come out to celebrate winning all the titles with him.
Pete Dunne defeats Aleister Black (c) to win the Intercontinental Championship
Now holding all the gold, with each member having a title belt to their name, British Strong Style are reigning more supreme than ever. The only title that alludes them is the Universal Championship. With this rise to glory so fast they start to get a bit of a reputation, primarily Pete Dunne. Seven and Bate seem to still work well together, but Dunne only ever wrestles solo. This is subtle, and not especially pointed out by commentary, but if you pay attention you’ll see. We’re leading up to Backlash where they’ll prove if their rocket launch to stardom will fully take blast.
Ricochet comes around looking for an Intercontinental Championship match. He says he’s worked hard enough in the Midcard to earn this opportunity. He confronts Pete Dunne on an episode of SmackDown, and brings up when they used to be buddies a couple years back in NXT - and competed in WarGames together. Dunne gives Ricochet the match he desires, but with aggressive underlying intentions. “Say you’re intact bones goodbye.” The match is advertised for the following week on SmackDown, where it will main event the show. Of course, we need Peaky Blinders attire for a special occasion like this.
Ricochet and Dunne go 15 minutes, their clashing styles making for a work of art. In the end it ends up as a Countout, due to Bate double checking Dunne isn’t injured before he tries and renter the ring. This ends the show in drama. So, Ricochet brings in his old pals The War Raiders for Backlash, where the two opposing take will face off in a Six-man Tag Team Match.
Backlash 2022:
British Strong Style vs. Ricochet and The War Raiders - Six-man Tag Team Match
In the finishing sequence: Bate takes out both of Hanson and Rowe with a Giant Swing + Samoan Drop. Ricochet’s 630 then is broken up, which leads to a Better End by Dunne and a triple pin for the win.
British Strong Style defeat Ricochet and The War Raiders (21:31)
Ricochet comes back looking for his Intercontinental Championship match. However he’s already got it, so back of the line. Ricochet then follows in the teachings of Pete Dunne - take matters into your own hands and GET matches yourself. He does this by nearly costing Dunne’s buddies the tag titles in a defence against The War Raiders. So now Dunne is more than happy to give him another match, but this time it will be No Countout and No Disqualification - meaning they can go as wild as they want and Dunne won’t be sabotaged by his partners again. Seven and Bate offer Dunne help in the match, but he denies - wanting to go solo.
Money in the Bank 2022:
Pete Dunne (c) vs. Ricochet - No Countout and No Disqualification Match for the Intercontinental Championship
The bout is utter carnage, with weapons and fuckery galore. Dunne gets incredibly vicious with his attacks, stamping on Ricochet’s limbs covered in chairs. Dunne retains after an X Plex off the top rope through a table.
Pete Dunne defeats Ricochet (17:44)
Johnny Gargano recently made his debut on the main roster, arriving to SmackDown in the money in the bank ladder match. He targets Pete Dunne and his Intercontinental Championship. Meanwhile The War Raiders are looking for revenge on Moustache Mountain of Trent Seven and Tyler Bate. They get it, and it’s made a Ladder Match.
SummerSlam 2022:
British Strong Style (c) vs. The War Raiders - Ladder Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships
This is both teams first time competing in a Ladder Match in WWE and it will certainly be one to remember. The match ends with Hanson and Rowe both pushing Seven and Bate off the same ladder, making them fall from opposite sides through other ladders. The War Raiders then climb up to win.
The War Raiders defeat British Strong Style (20:09)
Pete Dunne (c) vs. Johnny Gargano - Intercontinental Championship
Dunne and Gargano face off for the first time ever in a WWE ring in this encounter. They go a long time, very much an endurance based bout. In the end Gargano makes Dunne tap, despite Seven and Bate’s best efforts to help him. In one night, they lose it all.

Build to Extreme Rules
The current Smackdown Tag Team Champions, the Usos, are on an episode of Miz TV, and they talk about how great it felt to beat the New Day at Backlash to retain their tag titles, but now they look to the future, and the Usos want to know who's next for them to face. Miz and Morrison complain to the Usos that they are being overlooked, and the Usos agree to face Miz and Morrison in a non-title match which if they can win, they earn a title shot.
The Usos beat Miz and Morrison, with Morrison taking the pinfall (this is all for building towards Miz vs Morrison at Summerslam). After the match, the Usos celebrate in the ring with their championships when the music of the Undisputed Era hits. Adam Cole steps out from guerrilla, Money in the Bank briefcase at hand. The Usos stare at Cole, confused by his appearance, when Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly jump the barricade and attack the Usos from behind. Adam Cole walks to the ring announcer and grabs a microphone, before getting into the ring. Adam Cole stands between Fish and O'Reilly, as the Usos lay hurt on the ground.
Cole says "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Adam Cole. Myself, along with Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish here, are bringing in a new era to Friday Night Smackdown. And that era, is Undisputed". Cole drops the microphone before throwing his arms in the air, shouting "ADAM COLE BAY BAY!"
​
It is announced that this week the Undisputed Era will be having their first match on Smackdown, with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly going up against the New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston), for an opportunity to face the Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Usos in a title match at Extreme Rules.
Due to Adam Cole's interferences from ringside, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly are able to pick up the win, with Kyle O'Reilly pinning Kofi Kingston after the legsweep flying fish hook finisher.
​
During a promo segment between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and number 1 contender Braun Strowman, Adam Cole interrupts to announce that now he's on Smackdown, he has every intention of cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase, whether that be against Roman Reigns or Braun Strowman. Roman notices a referee standing at ringside, telling him to get in the ring. Roman then challenges Adam Cole to cash in the contract right then and there, but Cole chuckles, refusing to cash in at that point, before leaving the ring. Roman looks at Cole as Cole walks back up the entranceway, but turns around into a running powerslam by Braun Strowman.
Later that night, Bobby Fish faces off with Jey Uso in a singles match. After 10 minutes, Jey Uso hits a superkick on Bobby Fish, and goes to climb the top rope to hit a splash, but Kyle O'Reilly jumps onto the apron and pushes Jey Uso off the top rope, causing a DQ. A brawl ensues between the two teams, with the Usos standing tall after hitting simultaneous superkicks to Fish and O'Reilly, who roll out of the ring, fleeing from the champs.
​
Extreme Rules
The Usos vs the Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
The Undisputed Era are the heels for this match, and they make the champions look strong whilst also showing their technical prowess to wear down the Usos. When Jimmy Uso begins to gain some momentum, O'Reilly tags in Fish, which shifts that momentum, slowing down the pace of the match and allowing Fish to get some rest holds in. When the Undisputed Era begin working as a team to wear down Jimmy with a series of holds, Jimmy manages to break free from one of Fish's holds and makes a hot tag to Jey, who comes in with momentum, taking out Fish, who flees out of the ring. Jey then hits a suicide dive to Fish. Whilst the referee is distracted looking at Fish, O'Reilly grabs Jey and hurls him into the barricade, but eats a superkick from Jimmy Uso.
The match ends when Jimmy Uso is the legal man, and O'Reilly puts him in the ARMageddon submission finisher. Jimmy is struggling with the move, but Jey enters the ring to try and break up the submission, when Adam Cole appears and takes out Jey Uso with a superkick when the referee doesn't see it. Jimmy Uso then taps out to the ARMageddon in the centre of the ring.
The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) def. the Usos to win the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
Adam Cole celebrates in the ring with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, with the Usos looking on, pissed off by Adam Cole's interference.
Later that night, Roman Reigns successfully defends his Universal Championship in an extreme rules match against Braun Strowman, covering the Monster Among Men following a spear through a table 1, 2, 3.
​
On the next episode of Smackdown, Roman Reigns appears on an episode of Miz TV, where he has a promo battle with the Miz and John Morrison. John Morrison challenges Roman Reigns to face the Miz that night, and Roman Reigns agrees to the match. Due to exhaustion from having to face Braun Strowman in an Extreme Rules match from the recent PPV, the Miz is able to capitalise and further weaken the champ. However Roman Reigns makes a comeback, fighting through his pain and hitting a spear to the Miz, covering him for the 1, 2, 3.
Roman Reigns lays in the ring, exhausted, struggling to get to his feet, when the Undisputed Era's music hits. Down comes Adam Cole, briefcase in hand, ready to cash in. Adam Cole gets in the ring and hands the contract to the referee. Cole then stands on the opposite side of the ring, ready for the match to begin, when the Usos music hits. The Usos quickly run down and attack Adam Cole before the bell has even rung, meaning Cole never cashed in. Adam Cole flees the ring, retrieving his briefcase as the Usos check on Roman Reigns to see that he's okay.
​
Roman Reigns cuts a promo on Adam Cole this week, challenging Cole to be a man and cash in on Roman when he's at 100%. Adam Cole comes down, but he is flanked by Fish and O'Reilly, and the three men batter Roman Reigns. Fish hits Roman with a flying fish hook, and O'Reilly hits Roman with the Regalplex. Adam Cole then orders the Undisputed Era to set up the Last Shot, when the Usos come down and make the save. The Usos take Fish and O'Reilly to the outside, leaving Cole alone in the ring with Roman Reigns. Cole runs at Roman but is with a spear from the Universal Champion. Fish and O'Reilly then help Cole get out of the ring as Roman and the Usos stand tall in the ring together.
​
The Undisputed Era are booked in a 6 man tag team match against the team of Roman Reigns and the Usos. The match is a showcase that both teams are able to work together coherently, but at the end of match, when the other four men have been taken out, and it's down to Kyle O'Reilly and Jey Uso, O'Reilly manages to hit the Regalplex on Jey, pinning him for the 1, 2, 3. The Undisputed Era celebrate in the ring as Roman Reigns and the Usos head back up the entranceway with their heads held low.
Later that night in a backstage interview, the Undisputed Era are asked when they will have their first title defence, and they announce that they will hold an open challenge for their titles the following episode of Smackdown.
​
The Undisputed Era issue an open challenge to any tag team in the back who want to receive a title shot, and that challenge is answered by the Forgotten Sons who come down ready to fight. However, before the bell rings, the Usos' music hits. The Usos walk down the entranceway and join the commentary table for this match. The Undisputed Era go on to win this match, with Bobby Fish making Jaxson Ryker tap out with the Fish Hook submission. After the match, the Usos get in the ring and have a face off with Fish and O'Reilly.
​
On an episode of Miz TV, Roman Reigns is challenged by the fact he doesn't have an opponent set for Summerslam. Roman admits that he wants to face Adam Cole at Summerslam, but he won't offer Cole a title shot unless he cashes in the Money in the Bank contract to get it. The Undisputed Era interrupt, and come down to defend Cole's decision not to cash in. Cole says that if Roman has the guts he should just man up and face Cole at Summerslam. Cole is interrupted by the Usos, who say that they still want a piece of the Undisputed Era. Roman and the Usos stand together on one side of the ring, whilst the Undisputed Era stand on the other, with the Miz leaving the ring (he and Morrison have split at this point). Before any brawling occurs, Triple H appears on the titantron to announce that at Summerslam, the Undisputed Era will take on the Usos and Roman Reigns in a 6 man tag team match. However, this match will also be an elimination tag team match. Both sides nod in agreement as the segment closes.
​
Summerslam
Roman Reigns and the Usos vs the Undisputed Era in a 6 man tag team match
Starting off in the ring are Kyle O'Reilly and Jey Uso. Kyle O'Reilly uses quick tags to wear down Jey, working his leg and preventing him from making a tag. However, Jey Uso eventually hits a step-up enziguri to Bobby Fish, and makes a hot tag to Jimmy Uso, who comes in with some momentum. To slow the momentum, Fish tags in Adam Cole, who begins locking up with Jimmy, but Jimmy then tags in Roman Reigns, and the Big Dog begins to dominate the match, forcing Adam Cole to hot tag to Kyle O'Reilly. Using quick tags with Fish, O'Reilly manages to slow the momentum of Reigns and allow the Undisputed Era to keep some control.
As O'Reilly is working on Roman's left arm, Roman gets a surge of energy and mounts a comeback. Adam Cole gets in the ring to try and distract Roman, but eats a superman punch. Bobby Fish grabs Roman, but Roman forces a release and punches Fish off the apron. O'Reilly goes for a clothesline to Roman, who turns around and ducks underneath it, before running the ropes and rebounding back at O'Reilly with a spear, covering O'Reilly 1, 2, 3. Kyle O'Reilly is eliminated.
Roman Reigns then tags in Jey Uso, who locks up with now legal man Bobby Fish. Bobby Fish gets Jey Uso in a headlock, but Jey Uso forces his way out, running the ropes to hit a flying forearm to Fish. Jey grabs Fish and goes to irish whip Fish to the ropes, but Fish reverses it with an irish whip of his own to the ropes. Adam Cole sneakily pulls down the top rope to send Jey Uso flying over the top rope and out of the ring. Fish then tags in Adam Cole, who gets into the ring and performs a suicide dive to Jey Uso, before dragging Jey back into the ring and hitting him with a Panama Sunrise, covering him for the 1, 2, 3. Jey Uso is eliminated.
Roman Reigns enters the ring to face off with Bobby Fish. Due to the excellent teamwork of Bobby Fish and Adam Cole, Roman Reigns gets put on the back foot and is forced to make a hot tag to Jimmy Uso, who comes in with a lot of momentum, but is blindsided by the sneak tag of Adam to Bobby Fish. Fish surprises Jimmy with sleeping with the fishes, following it up with the Fish Hook submission finisher to force Jimmy Uso to tap out. Jimmy Uso is eliminated.
Roman Reigns stays unconscious outside the ring as Cole and Fish laugh in the ring that they are going to win by count out. Roman stirs and on 9 rolls back into the ring, much to the anger of Fish and Cole. Fish goes to cover Roman Reigns who pops up at 2. Fish walks over to talk to Cole as Roman lays on the ground, who looks unconscious. Cole directs Fish to try and finish the match himself. Fish nervously glances at Roman, looking back at Cole and nodding in agreement before turning back Roman Reigns to be hit with a spear! Roman covers Fish, 1, 2, 3. Bobby Fish is eliminated.
Roman is still reeling from hitting the spear, selling his sore arm from earlier in the match. Adam Cole gets in the ring to try and capitalise, but Roman mounts a comeback, forcing Cole to escape the ring. Cole gets back into the ring and we give the pair a solid 10 minutes with each other (with the match at around the 15 minute mark by now). Cole and Roman go back and forth until Roman Reigns is able to pull out a Superman punch to Adam Cole, covering Cole for a 2 count. Cole soon hits a Brainbuster to Roman Reigns, who kicks out at 2. Out of nowhere, Roman Reigns hits a spear on Adam Cole, and takes a few seconds to make the cover, but when he eventually drags himself onto Cole, it's 1, 2, KICKOUT BY ADAM COLE! Roman Reigns jumps back in shock that Cole kicked out. Roman Reigns gets to his feet to line up another spear. As Cole staggers to his feet, Roman runs at Cole but Cole jumps over Reigns, avoiding the spear. Roman turns around to be kicked in the gut by Cole, knocking Roman to the mat. Cole stands behind Roman and pulls down his knee pad. As Roman gets to his knees, Cole runs at Roman and hits him with the exposed Last Shot. Cole then covers Roman, 1, 2, 3.
The Undisputed Era def. Roman Reigns and the Usos (25:22).
After the match, Fish and O'Reilly join Adam Cole in the ring, who tells his teammates to hand him the Money in the Bank contract, he's ready to cash in. Whilst the Undisputed Era retrieve the briefcase, the Usos grab Roman Reigns and pull him out of the ring and help him up the entranceway, leaving Cole in the ring with the contract, still not cashed in.
Following Summerslam, Roman Reigns will go on to face Bray Wyatt (happy one) at Clash of Champions, with a follow-up match against the Fiend at Hell in a Cell (who has remained undefeated since Wrestlemania).
​
Build to Clash of Champions
On the Smackdown following Summerslam, Adam Cole would brag about how great it felt for the Undisputed Era to be victorious at Summerslam, and that the current Universal Champion should know that Mr Money in the Bank has his number. Cole is interrupted by Matt Riddle, who calls out Adam Cole for being too much of a wuss to cash in the Money in the Bank contract against Roman Reigns at the various opportunities he's had so far. Adam Cole tells Riddle to shut his mouth, challenging Riddle to have a match right there and there. Riddle accepts the match and it gets underway.
During the match, the Undisputed Era make their way to ringside to cause various distractions for Riddle. However, they do one distraction too many which gets them ejected from ringside. Whilst this is happening, Cole gets distracted complaining to the referee, allowing Riddle to sneak behind and roll up Adam Cole for the 1, 2, 3. Matt Riddle escapes the ring as Adam Cole stands in the ring complaining about the loss.
​
The following week Matt Riddle is booked in a match with Mojo Rawley, which Riddle wins with ease after hitting the BroDerek on Rawley to get the 1, 2, 3. As Matt Riddle is celebrating his win, Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era jump Matt Riddle, beating him down, before Adam Cole finishes off the beatdown with the Last Shot.
​
It is announced that this week the Undisputed Era will defend their Smackdown Tag Team Championships against Heavy Machinery. Adam Cole stands at ringside throughout the match, preventing any momentum Otis and Tucker get through distractions. During the match, when Bobby Fish and Tucker have been taken out, Otis goes for the Worm on O'Reilly, but as he's doing the move, Adam Cole slides into the ring and hits Otis with a superkick, causing a DQ.
Fish recovers and joins the rest of UE as they begin beating down Otis, but it ends up being Matt Riddle who runs down to make the save. With Tucker joining the action soon after, the Undisputed Era are fended off, forced to flee and fight another day.
​
In a backstage segment, Kyle O'Reilly is seen talking to Mandy, trying to impress her with his air guitar strumming, which Mandy isn't a fan of. Otis shows up, much to the joy of Mandy, with Otis questioning what O'Reilly is doing. They start shouting at each other when Adam Cole turns up to pull O'Reilly away and de-escalate the situation. As the Undisputed Era walk away, Otis is seen trying the air guitar that O'Reilly was doing, which makes Mandy laugh.
​
It is announced that at Clash of Champions, the Undisputed Era will defend their Smackdown Tag Team Championships against Heavy Machinery. Roman Reigns will also be defending his Universal Championship against Mr Rogers Bray Wyatt at Clash of Champions.
Because Heavy Machinery technically beat the Undisputed Era on Smackdown, Otis is shown backstage to have made his own championship belts for him and Tucker, with a picture of some steaks on the front. Tucker proudly takes the strap made by Otis, and they will proudly wear them into their match against the Undisputed Era, since they are the real champions in Otis' eyes.
​
Clash of Champions
The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) w/ Adam Cole vs Heavy Machinery w/ Mandy Rose for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship
Since Adam Cole is not involved in the match, the part of this match that's relevant to Adam Cole is the ending, so I'm going to skip ahead to that part, but the important thing to note is that the Undisputed Era have been able to work as a unit to keep Heavy Machinery at bay.
The match ends when Tucker is in the ring with Bobby Fish. Fish hits Swimming with the Fishes on Tucker, covers him but Tucker gets the shoulder up. Fish then applies the Fish Hook submission hold on Tucker. Tucker struggles with the move but is able to crawl his way to the ropes, grabbing them, however Adam Cole has jumped onto the apron to distract the referee so he doesn't see the rope break. In the meantime Tucker is still being held in the Fish Hook, screaming in agony, when Matt Riddle's music hits. Riddle runs down the entranceway, and is met about halfway by Adam Cole, who proceeds to fight Riddle on the ramp. Back in the ring Bobby Fish has let go of the hold to look at Riddle and Cole fighting. This allows Otis to get tagged in, and Heavy Machinery then grab Bobby Fish and hit him with the Compactor, pinning him for the 1, 2, 3.
Heavy Machinery def. the Undisputed Era to win the Smackdown Tag Team Championship (18:37)
Cole stops fighting Riddle when he hears the bell ring and looks towards the ring to see Otis and Tucker holding the tag titles. Cole then turns back to Riddle who is already up the entrance ramp, waving his signature "too cool" hand signs at Cole.
​
Build to Hell in a Cell
Heavy Machinery are invited on as the guests of a Moment of Bliss to celebrate their victory at Clash of Champions. Heavy Machinery talk about how proud they are to have finally won the Smackdown Tag Team Championship, when the Undisputed Era arrives claiming they are going to "dispute" the victory at Clash of Champions. Kyle O'Reilly steps forward and blames the loss on the sudden interference of Matt Riddle, which distracted Bobby Fish, allowing Heavy Machinery to capitalise. Alexa Bliss interjects by asking what Adam Cole was doing at ringside, disputing O'Reilly's point, creating much frustration for O'Reilly.
Cole takes O'Reilly's microphone and says that Matt Riddle will get what's coming to him sooner rather than later, and in the meantime, Heavy Machinery need to give Fish and O'Reilly a rematch. Heavy Machinery reveal that Tucker's leg is still injured from Clash of Champions, but the week after they agree to face the Undisputed Era in a 6 man tag team match with a partner of their own choosing, and if Undisputed Era win that, they get at title shot. Cole says that seems fair, but rubs in the fact that nobody in the back will agree to be their tag partner, before dropping the microphone and leaving the ring.
​
The 6 man tag team match pitting the Undisputed Era against Heavy Machinery and a mystery partner is underway. Heavy Machinery make their way up the ramp, and get ready to fight. The Undisputed Era laugh, asking where their partner is, when suddenly we hear "BROOOOOOOO", Matt Riddle's music hits and out comes the Original Bro himself. Riddle comes down to the ring, flings his flip flops into the crowd and poses. Riddle then high fives Otis and Tucker and the match gets underway.
During the match, whenever Cole begins to gain control, he gets distracted by Riddle doing something silly to put him off his game. After getting his leg worked some more in this match, Tucker manages to make a hot tag to Matt Riddle, who hits all of the Undisputed Era with a series of blows with a surge of momentum. He then hits Adam Cole with the BroDerek, covering him but O'Reilly breaks up the pin.
The match slows down a bit with Riddle and Cole working each others' limbs, but Cole is able to make a tag to Fish. Fish continues working Riddle's limbs until Riddle can make a tag to Otis who comes in with a ball of momentum, taking out Adam Cole in the process. Otis dominates Fish, but Fish catches Otis with a Flying Fish Hook, knocking Otis back to his own corner. Tucker tags himself in and goes at it with Fish, but eventually Fish is able to lock in the Fish Hook on Tucker's injured leg. Matt Riddle recovers and goes to make the save, but eats a superkick from Adam Cole. Tucker then taps out in the centre of the ring, earning Fish and O'Reilly a championship rematch at Hell in a Cell.
​
Adam Cole cuts a heated promo on Matt Riddle the following week on Smackdown, saying that he wants to settle his issues with Riddle once and for all. Riddle got a roll-up pin on him in the build to Clash of Champions, cost his friends the tag team championships at that PPV, then tries to ensure they don't get a rematch. Cole calls out Riddle, and Riddle comes down, telling Cole to chill for a moment. Cole rebuts that, saying he doesn't want to chill, he wants to fight. Riddle says "well if it's a fight you want. Let's do it this Sunday at Hell in a Cell. Adam Cole vs Matt Riddle, it's money right there". Cole stutters to explain that he was going to suggest that himself, but agrees to the match, holding out his hand to Riddle. Riddle takes it, but Cole pulls him in and kicks Riddle in the nuts, leaving Riddle writhing in pain as Cole walks to the back.
​
Hell in a Cell
Earlier in the night, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly successfully won back the Smackdown Tag Team Championship from Heavy Machinery
Matt Riddle vs Adam Cole
Matt Riddle and Adam Cole have a very evenly matched back and forth match. Each person takes turns showing off their signature offence, with a series of near falls. Matt Riddle manages to lock in the Fujiwara Armbar, but Cole is able to reach the ropes and break the hold. Adam Cole is able to hit the Florida Keys on Riddle, which Riddle kicks out of. After some more back and forth, Riddle manages to hit Adam Cole with the BroDerek, covering Cole, 1, 2, kickout by Adam Cole. Riddle collapses in exhaustion that the move wasn't enough.
After some more back and forth action, Adam Cole irish whips Riddle to the turnbuckle, but Riddle collides with the referee. Riddle stands over the referee trying to wake him up, but Cole comes up behind and kicks Riddle in the nuts. Cole then gets on the second rope and hits Matt Riddle with the Panama Sunrise, covering him as the referee slowly recovers to count a very slow, 1... 2... kickout by Matt Riddle. Adam Cole turns over to the referee to complain about not counting fast enough, but Riddle recovers, grabbing Adam Cole and putting him in the Bro-Mission. Adam Cole struggles with the move but eventually is forced to tap out in the centre of the ring.
Matt Riddle def. Adam Cole (17:49)
Later that night, Roman Reigns successfully retains the Universal Championship against "the Fiend" Bray Wyatt.
*Note: the Fiend's loss here is extremely important for the story they should tell with Bray Wyatt. This story involves the Fiend beginning to be haunted by the failures of his past e.g. Hell in a Cell, the Universal Championship and people who use spears. You create an original story for the Fiend (because an unstoppable monster character has been done before see Undertaker when he first arrived). The Fiend struggles to progress because of those failures tormenting him. This angle would conclude at Wrestlemania 37, where the Fiend beats Roman Reigns, overcoming those past failures in one fell swoop, before going on a proper run. With that out of the way, back to booking Adam Cole.
As Roman Reigns lays in the ring, struggling to even move after the hellacious battle against the Fiend, boos filling the arena as people believe they've seen the Fiend buried at Hell in a Cell again (little do they know about the importance of this match for the Fiend moving forward). However, those boos are disrupted when we hear "SHOCK... THE SYSTEM!!". The music of the Undisputed Era hits and down the entrance way comes Adam Cole, Money in the Bank contract in hand. Cole hands the contract to the referee, yelling at the ref to ring the bell. The ring announcer reveals that Adam Cole is cashing in his Money in the Bank contract, the bell rings and the match is underway.
Adam Cole immediately rushes at the exhausted champion, pushing him to the turnbuckle with lefts and rights. The referee pulls Cole away, and Cole begins to complain, giving Roman a window of opportunity to land a superman punch to Adam Cole. Roman Reigns winces in pain, still hurt from his match against the Fiend, but still goes to the turnbuckle and lines up the spear. As Cole staggers to his feet, Roman runs, but Cole gives Roman a superkick. Cole then stands behind Roman Reigns, pulls down his knee pad and hits Roman Reigns with the Last Shot, covering Roman for the 1, 2, 3.
Adam Cole def. Roman Reigns (c) to win the Universal Championship (1:26).

Shock the System: Part One: - No Holds Barred
Shock the System - Part Two: The Messiah of the Back breaker.
Ladies and gentlemen, the time has arrived. Live from Scotiabank Arena here in Toronto, we welcome you to NXT TakeOver: Toronto! And tonight we have three huge title matches as every member of the Undisputed Era is in a championship match and tonight we could see the crowning of new Tag Team Champions, North American Champion, and NXT Champion, Will the prophecy that The Undisputed Era keeps talking about come true or will they fall. With Fish and O'Reilly taking on the Street Profits in a sure-fire classic and The Velveteen Dream defending his championship against a very game Roderick Strong. And finally, the rivalry that has caught the fans attention and hearts, and it all ends here. Adam Cole, the leader of the Undisputed Era. Going up against Johnny Gargano, the NXT Champion. This match would be spectacular on its own but now it is an 'I Quit' match, the stakes become higher and the action, more dangerous. With that, let's get the show underway with the NXT Tag Team Championship match.
First out are the NXT Champions, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, the Street Profits. They come out wearing purple and red ring gear. They come out to a great pop from the Toronto crowd and hype as ever. Next out, the challengers. Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, the Undisputed Era. They come out with their game faces on as tonight is their night and they will fulfil the prophecy. The two teams stare each other down and the match has a big match feel to it. The referee shows the Undisputed Era the championship and they know that it will be theirs. The titles are then lifted by the referee and as soon as the ring announcer has introduced both teams, the bell is rung and the match gets underway.
O'Reilly and Montez Ford start us off with a lock-up in the centre of the ring. O'Reilly quickly turns it into a waist lock but Ford is able to power up. They look to lock up again but O'Reilly kicks the leg of Ford and sends Ford into the corner. He attempts a corner splash but Ford gets out of the way and hits a clothesline of his own. He then follows that up with a belly-to-belly suplex and tags in Dawkins who comes in guns blazing hitting clothesline after clothesline and then finally into a spine buster. O'Reilly slowly crawls to his partner and makes the tag to Fish but he suffers the same fate and has to roll outside to the ring while as the crowd continue to heat up, Dawkins goes to the outside but Fish is able to get a kick to the gut followed by an inverted atomic drop. He brings him inside and climbs to the top rope to hit the Frankenstein before going for the pinfall. Dawkins quickly looks to tag out but Fish stops him and isolates him in the opposite corner as he and O'Reilly just stomp at him in the corner and ending with O'Reilly snap suplexing him and going for the cover which is kicked out of. O'Reilly beings to use strikes to the legs as well as chops to the chest, almost turning it red. He then follows that up with huge lariat to the outside of the ring, Kyle doesn't stop the offence there and throws him into the steel steps, as well as continuing to work on the previously injured leg of Dawkins. Kyle then tags Fish in and he keeps the pressure high, stomping at the ankle and jumping from the second rope onto the ankle. Dawkins continues to try and tag in Ford but they keep him isolated and work on his ankle. Dawkins is barely able to stand at this point but finds a second wind after reversing kick to the gut and then hitting the spine buster on Fish.
Dawkins in finally able to make the tag to For just as Fish makes the tag to O'Reilly. They both run at each other but Ford comes in with the jumping clotheslines followed by another and when O'Reilly tries on of his own, Ford ducks under and hits him with a huge uppercut and then an elbow to the back of the head. He then climbs to the top rope and hits a frog splash and the referee begins the count. 1...2...No! Bobby Fish breaks it up. Ford is furious and throws Bobby Fish back outside but turns around right into arm drag followed by a dropkick which sends Ford into the corner. Kyle runs at the corner but Ford moves out of the way and hits him with a dropkick of his own before tagging Dawkins back in. Dawkins picks O'Reilly up and slams him back down to the mat with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex and then a spear before going for the pin. 1...2...NO! O'Reilly kicks our and keeps them in the match. Dawkins tries it again but O'Reilly moves out of the way which sends Dawkins right into the corner. He is stunned even more as O'Reilly takes him down and locks in the ankle lock to the already injured ankle of Dawkins. He cries out in pain and looks like he is about to tap when he finds a second win and reaches the bottom rope.
Fish is tagged back in and so is Ford and the two begin a back and forth, both vying for power but going move for move. Eventually, it is Ford who gets control and tries a superman punch but Fish has it scouted after a kick to the gut, he lifts Ford up and slams him back into the mat with a falcon arrow before going for the pin which is kicked out of. Fish doesn't stop there, however, and locks in a crossface, looking to mat Ford tape but he is able to reach the bottom rope. Finally, Ford is able to regain control of the match and almost has it won after a standing shooting star press but Fish finds the strength and power to kick out. Ford tags in Dawkins and he goes to wor immediately on and attempts a sit-out powerbomb but Fish escapes and scurries over and makes the tag to O'Reilly. Kyle comes out strong with multiple clotheslines but it soon goes down the drain as he is caught with a sit-out powerbomb but again, he finds a way to kick out. He then tries to go for the ankle lock again but Dawkins makes the tag out. With both teams exhausted, they have a huge staredown. They all confront each other and it boils over into a brawl with the referee losing control of the situation.
Eventually, he is able to get control back and the two legal men, O'Reilly and Ford continue their back and forth with both using every trick up their sleeve. O'Reilly comes out on top of this exchange and hits the Brainbuster, he hits it. He reaches over for the cover and as the referee is about to count the three, Dawkins breaks it up. Fish gets in there and the two end up brawling to the outside, Once things calm down, Ford finds himself in control of the match and goes for his finisher, the Frog Splash but O'Reilly gets the knees up. Dawkins tags himself in and takes the fight to O'Reilly, throwing him everywhere. What he doesn't know however is that Fish made the blind tag and is no the legal man. Once Dawkins hits O'Reilly with the spear, Fish comes from behind and locks in the Fish Hook Deluxe on Dawkins and on the bad leg as well. He puts up a valiant effort and tries to stay in it as long as possible but Dawkins has no choice but to tap.
The Undisputed Era defeat The Street Profits to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions. (18:37)
They've done it, Fish and O'Reilly have won the NXT Tag Team Championships once again. They grab their titles and celebrate their win are Ford checks on his partner and his injured leg. They win the first of three title matches the Undisputed Era have and become one step closer to fulfilling the prophecy. One down, two to go. The ring announcer bellows "Here are you winners and NEW NXT Tag Team Champions, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, The Undisputed Era!" The referee raises their hands and they hold their titles proudly in what is a great way to start the show.
Now time for the North American Championship match. Out first is the champion, Velveteen Dream. He comes out with the championship proudly around his waist and with a confident swagger about himself, completely reassured that he is going to win the match. Out next is Roderick Strong and he is out alone, with Fish and O'Reilly still recovering for their match and Adam Cole getting ready for his sure to be a brutal contest against Johnny Gargano. That doesn't matter, however, and he knows that he can get the job done by himself. Before the match even begins, Dream is already playing mind games and posing with the title over Strong, before the referee finally collects the belt. He told it in the air and the bell rings and we are off.
They lock up and immediately it is Strong who is going for a backbreaker but Dream is able to reverse it and hit a reverse STO into a DDT. He runs off the ropes and hits a running leg drop. He goes for the pin but Strong kicks out. Dream quickly scales to the top rope and attempts an early Purple Rainmaker but Strong rolls to the outside and tries to create some separation. Dream does give him any breathing room, however, and jumps to the outside hitting a diving double axehandle. He then poses to the crowd as they go crazy. He picks him up and tries a snap suplex on the outside but Strong holds his ground and after a few punches to the ribs, he is able to hit a suplex of his own. He then drags him into the ring and tries to Irish whip him into the corner but Dream reverses and instead, it is Strong who goes hurdling into the corner. He then trie a corner splash but Strong moves out of the way and lifts up Dream before hitting a backbreaker. He goes for the pin but Dream kicks out. Strong keeps the onslaught going with a knee to the face and sending him into the corner and then followed by a corner clothesline into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Dream is desperate and as Strong attempts a Gibson driver, he lands on his feet and hits a quick DDT to create some much-needed separation.
Dream then hits some big moves of his own after a couple of clotheslines, he connects with a spine buster. He then gives strong a little taste of his own medicine as he hits him with a spinning backbreaker before going for the pin which is kicked out of. He doesn't stop there and begins to look for an opening to hit the Dream Valley Driver but Stong has him scouted and is able to escape multiple attempts and always has a counter with a backbreaker but Dream always finds a way to kick out. Strong goes for a standing suplex but Dream knees him in the head while in the vertical position and falls down before super kicking Strong right in the jaw. He collapses backwards and Dream goes for the cover but Strong kicks out in the last possible moment. Dream doesn't know what else to do but sends Strong into the corner and ascends the ropes, looking for a superplex. Strong realises the danger that is posed to him and begins to fight back, leaving both men in a dangerous situation. Strong is able to sling back down and right into position to hit with a huge powerbomb before going for the cover which Dream again kicks out of. Strong is beginning to get really annoyed that he can't put Dream down for the count and throws him outside of the ring, and follows him outside. There he attempts to throw him into the barricade but Dream reverses it and instead sends him into the barricade instead.
He throws him into the ring post and well as trying to slam his face into the announce table, but Strong fights out and slams Dreams face into the announce table repeatedly before throwing him back into the ring. He then throws him into the corner followed by a corner splash. before finally ending the sequence with a backbreaker and then the pin but Dream refuses to do down and kicks out again. Roderick Strong is livid at this point and has had enough, he calls for the End of Heartache but Dream reverse it ad pushes off into a superkick and then the DEATH VALLEY DRIVER! He hits it and collapses onto the body of Strong as the referee begins the count. 1...2...No! Roderick Strong stays in the match and Velveteen Dream cannot believe it, and neither can the NXT faithful, as they erupt into a frenzy. Dream doesn't waste much time and lifts Strong up and goes for another one but Strong rolls of and hits Velveteen Dream with a superkick of his own before collapsing, leaving both men down. The referee begins to count and it isn't till he reaches a count of seven before they start getting back up, both just getting up before the referee reaches a ten and the match continues. With both men up, they charge at each other and light into each other with clubbing punches, neither willing to give an inch. Finally, it is Strong who carves out and advantage and hits the Gibson Driver before going for the pin and he thinks he has it won but Dream has his bottom foot on the rope, causing the break. Strong is livid and takes his anger out and he throws Dream into the corner and begins to light him up with backhand chop after backhand chop, lighting up the chest of Dream.
Dream is finally able to escape and hit another superkick into the famouser and goes for the pin but Roderick Strong finds the strength and energy to kick out, much to the dismay of Dream. He then tries to take the submission route and locks in the ankle lock, trying to channel his inner Kurt Angle and make Strong tap. Roderick is in pain and writes around, trying to reach the bottom rope. He is eventually able to reach the rope but with heavy damage done to his ankle. Dream is starting to get really frustrated and lifts up Strong and tries to attempt another superkick but Strong ducks moves out of the way and Dream inadvertently kicks the referee. Dream can't believe it but when Strong tries to capitalize, he fails miserably and Dream drops him with the Death Valley Driver and pins Strong. But there is no one to make the cover. Dream gets the audible three count as the crowd count it, but it isn't official. Dream is as pissed off as he can be but calls for the end, this time he means it. He slowly but surely scales to the rope and after doing his signature taunt, jumps off looking to hit the Purple Rainmaker, but no! Strong moves out of the way and ducks under a clothesline from Dream to LOW BLOW HIM! HE WENT LOW! Strong kicks clonks him right in the knockers and then follows it up with an End of Heartache. He then picks up Dream, as the referee slowly gets back up, and hits a second End of Heartache, just to be safe. The referee slowly counts the 1...2...3.
Roderick Strong defeats Velveteen Dream to win the NXT North American Championship (20:59)
Strong has done it and has defeated Velveteen Dream to become the new NXT North American Champion. While his tactics were questionable, the result is undeniable and the Undisputed Era is one step close to fulfilling the prophecy. 2 down, 1 to go. Strong grabs the belt and holds the championship up in victory as although he is tired and hurt, the adrenaline is pumping through his body and he doesn't feel a thing. He continues to celebrate the win, He makes his way up the ramp as Dream is slowly getting back to his feet, realising what has just happened. He is mad and has a look that screams Revenge on his face. Strong just continues to celebrate the biggest win of his career up to now, Backstage, he meets up with Fish and O'Reilly and they have a funny little bit where they show off their newly won titles.
We finally reach our main event and the anticipation in the air has reached a boiling point. The end of a personal and brutal rivalry fought over the NXT Championship ends here tonight. Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano in an 'I Quit' match, the first one in NXT and the first since 2017. This will be brutal and physical but would you accept anything otherwise. Out first is the NXT Champion, Johnny Gargano comes out and is donning Wolverine inspired ring gear, with the title around his waist. He has held that championship for 127 days entering the match and looks to keep it going. He has his game face on and knows the war he is about to endure. Out next, Adam Cole. He comes out and has a serious look in his eyes, he didn't come to play. The title is presented to Adam Cole before the referee holds it in the air and when the bell rings, the crowd let out a loud cheer and we are underway.
Immediately, Adam Cole rolls to the outside and grabs a chair before coming back into the ring. He attempts to hit Johnny Gargano with the chair but he ducks under and superkicks Cole in the gut, before grabbing the chair and slamming it into the back of Cole, who writhes around in pain, before rolling to the outside. Johnny Gargano does stop there however and follows him to the outside and where he throws him onto the steel steps. Gargano continues the assault, showing no mercy and remembering what Cole did to him on the previous episode of NXT. He continues to ask the referee to see if Cole quits but he refuses every time and Gargano continues the assault. He tries to throw him into the barricade but Cole reverses it and instead sends Gargano flying into and over the barricade. Cole doesn't stop, however, and continues to follow him into the crowd and lays into him with lefts and rights. When he stumbles upon a kendo stick, he begins to beat down Gargano and shouting at him to quit, which Gargano continues to shake his head and continues to take the punishment. They fight onto the stage and there are multiple times where it looks like one of them is going over but both are able to stay on the stage and begin to fight down the ramp.
Once at ringside, it is Johnny Gargano in control. He throws Cole into the apron and looks under the ring for any weapons he can find and sure enough, he finds a lead pipe. He tells Cole to quit but he refuses and is struck across the midsection with the pipe. Gargano continues to use the weapon until they are right in front of the announce table and timekeepers area. Gargano is still dishing out the punishment when Cole is able to get his hands on the ring bell and clonk Gargano in the head with it and create some separation. He finally gets his bearing together and gets the steel chair from in the ring and breaks it on the back of Gargano, he just hits him again and again, yelling at him to quit, and yet Gargano can't bring himself to do it. Cole breaks the chair and goes under the ring where he finds a table and a couple of kendo sticks, throwing them all into the ring. He throws Gargano into the ring but something catches his eye. He goes under the ring and finds a bag. He brings it inside and opens it up to find the bag is full of thumbtacks. He spills the bag and the thumbtacks fall onto the mat. Adam Cole climbs to the second rope and attempts to hit Panama Sunrise but Gargano gets out of the way and superkicks Cole, who then falls into the thumbtacks. Cole cries out in pain as his body is exposed to the thumbtacks. The referee asks him if he wants to quit but he cannot even talk and just shakes his head, signalling no. Gargano picks him up eventually and has an idea. He goes to the apron and jumps over the rope and attempts a slingshot DDT but Cole pushes him off and hit lands onto the thumbtacks himself, and if that wasn't bad enough, Adam Cole begins to light into him with kendo stick shot and yelling at him to quit but Gargano refuses.
Cole realises that Gargano won't quit and goes under the ring searching for weapons. There he finds another kendo stick, well no exactly. He gets a barbwire kendo stick and a sadistic smile is draped across his face. He attempts to hit Gargano with it but he ducks under and hits a superkick followed but by a suplex onto the thumbtacks though he goes through them too. Both men are down and when they finally get back to their feet, they see the barbwire kendo stick in the middle of the ring. It is a rush to who gets it first and it is won by Johnny Gargano who beats the absolute piss out of Colem, he is bleeding from the back but refuses to quit. And so Gargano has an idea. He clears the ring of the thumbtacks and locks Cole in the Gargano Escape, but reaches and grabs the kendo stick, attempting to use a kendo stick assisted Gargano Escape. Immediately the rest of Undisputed Era Irish down to stop it but they just get beaten down by Gargano with the kendo stick. This gives Adam Cole time to recover, however, and kick Gargano in the guy before hiring the Last Shot. He then goes to the outside of the ring and grabs the championship belt and putting it on the floor and hitting a DDT onto the belt with Gargano's head bouncing off the championship. He looks to be out cold but Adam Cole gets a water bottle from ringside and pours it on Gargano, waking him up. The referee again asks Gargano if he wants to quit but he refuses. Adam Cole is furious and grabs a nearby kendo stick and just hits and hits Adam Cole refusing to stop. Eventually, he attempts the Florida Keys but Gargano reverses it and into a standing enziguri.
He then throws Cole to the outside and over the announce table. Gargano looks under the ring and low and behold, he finds Triple H's signature sledgehammer. He then waits for Cole to get up and hits him the hammer across the head. Gargano continues to ask to referee to check on if Cole would quit but he refuses and continues to take him on. Gargano slams him onto the announce table repeatedly as well as throwing him into the steel steps. He then pulls the protective padding off the floor and attempts to hit the DDT onto the floor but Cole reverses it and instead it is Gargano who goes back first into the hard concrete. He cries out in pain and the referee asks him he wants to tap but he again refuses it. Adam Cole is starting to run out of options as Gargano refuses to quit. He then grabs the NXT Championship before yelling at Gargano "This is going to be mine and I'll make sure of it!" before smashing it into hit face multiple times. He then slowly drags Gargano into the ring and finally sets up the table that has been sitting there. He then places Gargano onto the table and climbs to the top rope and looks to jump off but Gargano is able to move out of the way just in the knick of time and Adam Cole goes crashing through the table. Gargano quickly regains his hearing and capitalize onto the situation and locks in the Gargano Escape on Adam Cole. Cole writhes around in pain and tries to reach the bottom rope but alas, there is no rope break in this type of match. Luckily for him, there happens to be a kendo stick and he crawls to it and begins to smack it at Gargano, forcing him to break the hold. Adam Cole is able to let out a huge sigh of relieve.
Adam Cole slowly gets back to his feet and picks up Johnny Gargano and suplexes him and then follows that up with a running leg drop, He then brings in the sledgehammer which Gargano used against him early and batter his head with it. He continues to beat him down with the hammer and yet Gargano continues to stay in the match. The match now surpassing 50 minutes, things look like they will never end and Cole doesn't know what else he can do. He grabs the barb-wired kendo stick but Gargano is able to stop him before he can use it and superkicks him followed by another and finally sends Adam Cole into the corner with a Lawn Dart. But Gargano is also starting to run out of things as he has tried just about everything. He goes under the ring trying to find anything of use and he does, he finds a pair of handcuffs. He then walks over to Cole and tries to lock it in on one hand but Cole fights out of it and hits a superkick to Gargano. He then handcuffs one hand and ties te other to the ring post, meaning Gargano is handcuffed to the ring post and has nowhere to go. Cole sees his opportunity and yells at to quit but he refuses. Cole then beats him with the barb-wired kendo stick to the point where Gargano passes out. Cole won't let it be that easy and again uses water to wake Gargano up and continue to beat him down. Finally, Candice LaRae comes down to the ring and pleads with Adam Cole to stop, pleads with him to just let it end. Cole thinks about it, then superkicks her. He then grabs the kendo stick and tells Gargano; "I will destroy her! Is the title more important than your wife? Because it sure is to me! So quit or I will not hesitate to destroy her!" Seeing his wife in danger, Gargano has no choice but to mutter the words 'I quit' in defeat.
Adam Cole defeats Johnny Gargano to win the NXT Championship (57:18)
Adam Cole has done it, the Undisputed Era has done it. They have completed the prophecy and hold all the gold. After almost an hour of back and forth and brutal fighting, Adam Cole was able to use Gargano's wife against him and win the NXT Championship. The rest of Undisputed Era come out with all their championships and they celebrate the biggest night in NXT history as the reign of terror of the Undisputed Era has begun and Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano write the final chapter in their storied rivalry. Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick Strong all pose with their titles as Adam Cole yells out, "Toronto belongs to the Undisputed Era!" As Johnny Gargano is getting uncuffed and checks on his wife, she realises what she has done, she cost him his title. Gargano tells her that it isn't her fault and walks up the stage with her as they both have dejected looks but are given standing ovations form the Toronto crowd. And that is NXT TakeOver: Toronto and what a night it has been, we saw three all-time classic, especially this 'I Quit' match and the prophecy the Undisputed Era have talked about for so long has finally happened, ladies and gentleman, thanks for tuning in to NXT TakeOver: Toronto!
Epilogue
With the normal layoff week after Toronto in which it shows the results of TakeOver and the Undisputed Era dominating and winning all the gold. The next weeks episode of NXT has them come out and address what happened at NXT Takeover. They come out cocky and brass and while Adam Cole is still showing the battle scars from his victory, he is a happy camper with his NXT Championship. All the members of the UE show off their newly won gold and promise that this will be a regular thing and that they will run NXT like they said they would and that is with an iron fist. Things take a huge turn when on October 2, 2019, Tommasso Ciampa comes back from injury and he is back for the championship he never lost. However, there are two important things to worry about first. One, Wargames. Adam Cole and the Undisputed Era are scheduled to face off against a team of Ciampa's choosing. His eventual team is Pete Dunne, Dominik Dijakovic, and Keith Lee. The match at Wargames is brutal and full of spots and cool moments, but Pete Dunne is unable to compete due to an injury caused by the Unidpusted Era, again. He is then replaced by none other than Kevin Owens. The match goes on and the Undisputed Era is able to pull off the gutsy victory as one last hurrah while on top.
The second thing they have to worry about, Survivor Series. Because of the attacks he suffered at the hands of the Undisuptued Era, Pete Dunne is given and NXT Championship match at Survivor Series. Despite being heavily injured and taped because of Wargames, Adam Cole is able to successfully defend his title thanks to the help of his UE brothers. But just as things started at Toronto, they end in a spectacular fashion at Portland. For Adam Cole, he has spent his title reign boasting while beating some rope quality names, mainly Finn Balor. But Tommaso Ciampa is hungry and gets a match against Adam Cole set for Portland. After a great 25 minute match that doesn't have a million kick-outs, Ciampa is able to win and take back 'Goldy' while Adam Cole does put a great showing.
For Roderick Strong, he has been a fighting champion if you will. He has defeated Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, and Riddle all on NXT television to retain his championship, but someone has caught the attention of the fans, Keith Lee. He has been on a roll and defeats Strong in a non-title match on TV giving him a Championship match come TakeOver: Portland. The match is great and showcases both men's skill but after around 18 minutes, Lee hits the Spirit Bomb and wins the Championship. And finally, the NXT Tag Team Championships. Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly defeat the Street Profits in a rematch and a few other teams, until the Dusty Rhodes Classic. With the winning team getting shots at the NXT Tag Team Championships. The makeshift team of Dunne and Riddle somehow find a way to win the tournament and go on to defeat the Undisputed Era and win the titles in a fun and fast-paced match to win the championships.
All in all, the Undisputed Era were champions for 191 days before losing all the gold. This begins to cause some turmoil in the group but they are able to work it out and stay together before debuting on the main roster the night After WrestleMania and getting into a feud with Edge, saying that he takes the spotlight off young talent. In the end, Adam Cole is able to defeat Edge at SummerSlam and gain some huge momentum. But turmoil would again show up in the group as Adam Cole would win the Interconintel Championship, now transferred to Raw. And lead to an all Undisputed Era fatal four-way at WrestleMania 37 for the Intercontinental Championship which would be won by Kyle O'Reilly as he begins his mid-card push and Adam Cole ascends to the main event scene on Raw fulfilling dream matches against Styles, Nakamura, Orton, Reigns... The list goes on and one.
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.