"Not some Punk kid." 

:: BEGIN ::

Camera flickers to life and we open on complete darkness... A hand reaches up and pulls a string that illuminates a tiny portion where we see someone standing looking down at the floor.

"So the big bad finally decided to come out and play." said the man.

It's obvious who this guy is, no longer he doesn't have long blonde hair anymore. Something about change... You know? Come to think of it, maybe you don't but it's not about you. It's about change, it's always about change. The guys head up and we can now see his face... A smile that would scare normal people appears across the face and he cocks his head to the side.

"It took me a little while to figure it all out but I knew..." he says.

The smile disappears from his face and he folds his arms over his chest.

"What happened at Defiance? It wasn't supposed to happen that way. I could stand here all day and night making excuses for why or how you got the jump on me but when it all comes down to it? I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready for this change, I mean sure I cut my hair so it's short now but that was just something i'd been meaning to do for awhile... You caught me off guard and ya know something? It's not the first time that it's happened and it probably won't be the last but for you to call me... What was it? Did you call me weak?" He scoffs at the judgement. "Weak huh? That's what you think about me?" 

He nods his head up and and smiles again as he lets his arms fall to their sides.

"That's good. I'm glad you still think of me as that same weak punk kid you met all those years ago because for you to really think that you know me would mean that you'd have gotten inside my head and that? That's something that just doesn't fly... Not with me, I was finished playing the scared little boy when I met my wife. I just don't think you understand what YOU'VE gotten yourself into Bryce... Tell me, have you heard that i'm kinda unstable?" He starts tapping the side of his head. "I'm a little unstable up here and that shot you gave me at Defiance? That maybe wasn't the smartest thing you've ever done."

His hands return to their sides as he continues.

"I already had a couple screws loose up there and you just... You went and shook the foundation and that knocked a couple more loose. I'm glad you want to play games, I like playing games." He smiles. "I play this game with my wife where we take a deck of cards..."

He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a deck and shows it to us.

"Just like this one." He deals out seven cards and places the desk out of frame. "You start with seven cards and you take the faces and discard the rest..." He looks around and tosses them away. "Let's see what we've got, shall we?" He shows three face cards, a King, Queen and a Joker. "Oooooh this is a good hand. You see Bryce, the let's say that the King symbolizes you... You think of yourself as this high and mighty, larger than life, once in a lifetime experience much like all the old Kings in history did... We saw what happened to all of them didn't we? Have you read your history book Bryce? Cause I have and... Spoiler Alert! It doesn't turn out too well for them... But you know what? Let's continue!" He tosses the card away. "The Queen, who could this represent? Hmm... Let's call the Queen... Let's call the Queen Decaine." He grins and holds it up just like he did the King. "Now the Queen is special. She runs the house, makes sure that things run just like they're supposed to and she goes up on a perch that just can't seem to be reached by anyone but you know something? Decaine... Decaine can't really be classified as a Queen can he? Because the Queen gives the orders and the kingdom follows those orders and Decaine? Decaine follows orders, he followed your orders didn't he? Don't you tell him what to do?" He nods his head up and down with a smile. "You see, I have a Queen and instead of the relationship being one sided it's much more then what people really see. I don't order her around like you do with Decaine because... Well I don't have to and we listen to each other and that brings me to the next card. The card that trumps ALL including the King and Queen." He tosses the card away and shows the Joker with a HUGE smile on his face. "This is the card that trumps all, it's greater than the King and Queen and even the Ace...  Now I wanna tell you something Bryce, this wasn't me before. I could never have been the Joker when you knew me but now? Now thats just not the case."

He shakes his head back and forth from side to side.

"I WAS weak. When you first met me, yeah, I was weak but you know what happens? It's like you said, things begin to change and one of the changes that I made a long time ago was that if I ever ran into you again that I would know exactly what to do and how to do it." He looks away from the camera. "See I spent years trying to prepare myself for what was inevitable and when you cracked me in the back of the head with that chair at Defiance... That showed me something... It showed me that I didn't have to sit away somewhere and plan all this stuff because when you plan and plan and plan... Well it just messes with your mind and that's when things can go wrong, this time? No, I don't have a plan and i'm going to do everything as I go because you? You're a different kind of big bad and I think that it's finally time someone beat you physically and at your own stupid game." He looks back to the camera. "I'm not stupid. This 'god' complex that you have? Yeah that's going to get you in trouble around here and I don't care who you've got in your back pocket because it's not going to save you." He shakes head from side to side with a smile. "Nope, not gonna happen this time pal!"

He stops looking directly at the camera and off into the distance.

"Anarchy is going to get here mighty quick and i'll be in the house. I wouldn't dream of missing this show and not only are you going to see me in action, not that it's against anymore worth my time, but i'll also be showing up in the middle of the show... You know what? Scratch that. I'll show up whenever I feel like it and if you happen to rear your ugly mug and get involved... Which who are we kidding? We all know that you're going to show up and try to ruin whatever it is I have to say and then you'll more then likely rant about change and how you and the fat man are the greatest things in this industry which is pretty much just you AND him talking out of both of your asses."

He shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

"What? You can try denying it but we all know it's true." He nods his head up and down. "And i'm really tired of talking about you two so i'll save the rest of what I have to say for Anarchy and that's where I leave you."

As he says these words he reaches back up and pulls the switch connected to the light above his head and as the image begins the fade the last sound we hear is that of glass shattering.

:: END ::

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The Rocket.