Post by Jon Willis on Dec 9, 2020 0:26:24 GMT -5
OOC: Much love to JC for letting me play in his sandbox. Multiverses... some of them are pretty strange.
Pure Evil/Dead Inside
With a flash of light, The Avenger leapt through his Multiversal Portal to find himself...
Wait.
Something's wrong.
The Avenger finds himself in a version of the Carnage Arena, or more accurately, what's left of it. He can smell smoke. He can see a distant fire. Rubble is strewn about everywhere. Rubble, and bodies.
The bodies of his friends.
The bodies of his enemies.
The bodies of everyone.
All of Carnage Wrestling lays before him, their bodies bent and broken and bleeding, several of them injured badly, several of them showing no signs of life at all. All except for one man, standing in a ring covered in dust and debris.
This is the hour of judgement.
This is the hour of their greatest defeat.
This is the day Carnage Wrestling dies.
A single man stands in the ring, but he's not alone. He appears to be standing over an injured Kelly Carmichael. Kelly is holding her ankle, bleeding from the side of her head, softly crying, and pleading with the man looming over her. He grabs a busted microphone, bends down, and shoves it in her face.
"Say it. Say the words."
Kelly tries backing away, backing into a corner of the ring, but she can't seem to move her leg even an inch without screaming in pain. She says weakly:
"Please... It's not even working. It's not connected to anything. It's... It's all gone. It doesn't matter. Please... don't."
Coldly, humorlessly, the man answers back.
"It matters to me. Say it. Or I break the other ankle too."
He shoves the dead, lifeless microphone into Kelly's face. Kelly speaks in a pained expression, barely above a whisper.
"The winner of... of Carnage Wrestling's Final Victory Gauntlet Match is... is..."
"SAY IT."
"...Is Jonathan Willis."
Jon smiles, gets up, drops the microphone, and then kicks Kelly Carmichael full-force in the face. A sickening snap is heard as Kelly's neck whips backward at a hideous angle, and she crumples lifelessly into the corner.
"Thank you."
Jonathan turns and sees The Avenger staring at him.
“I was wondering when another one of you would show up."
“Aw darn it, not the apocalypse world again! This is like the fifth one!”
The Avenger sees that, much like everything else around him, something is very wrong with this world's version of Jonathan Willis. Jonathan has painted his entire face in a ghoulish, macabre distortion of his signature half-skull face-paint. A mass of scar tissue covers his "Nothing's Over Until You're Underground" tattoo, and carved into that scar tissue are the words "Pure Evil". The same thing has happened to Jon's "I Am Relentless" tattoo: the skin where the word "Relentless" was is now reduced to a mass of scar tissue, and carved into that scar tissue are two words, transforming "I Am Relentless" into "I Am Dead Inside".
Fresh blood trickles down from several open wounds all across Jon's body, but still, he raises his hand in
victory and motions The Avenger to get in the ring with him. Avenger shakes his head and takes a step back.
“This is the last time I do a taco run to Earth #1962.”
Jonathan wipes some blood off of his face and then licks it, smiling a red smile to The Avenger.
"I'm glad at least one of you is here to see this final victory. This universe's Avenger isn't around to see me finally win. Because I beat him to death."
The Avenger does a high-pitch fake laugh and continues backing away, reaching behind his back to press a button on the Multiversal Remote to get him out of there.
“Yeah, sure looks like you had a lot of fun buddy. Hope you don’t mind if I skedaddle, Fat Me really doesn’t like me to use this thing on my own.”
“You’re pretty funny. You were always pretty funny. Always knew just the right thing to say. Right up until the end. I know you probably want to know why. How did this happen? When did it all go so wrong? I've been many things in my life, Avenger, but I've never been a cliché. This isn't the moment where the villain launches into a dramatic speech because his ego won't let him just accept the fact that he won. You won't be getting anything from me, no grand plans or secret confessions that maybe you could go back and use to help your Jon not become me. But out of respect, you won't be walking away from here with nothing. Normally, it would be considered a blessing that I simply let you walk away from here at all. But I've just killed Carnage Wrestling, so I'm in a celebratory and giving mood."
Jon laughs and smiles.
The Avenger keeps hitting the device but for some reason it’s not letting him leave yet. He keeps a smile on to try not to give away what he’s doing.
“I am so very glad I’m the only one who can hear the narrator.”
"Out of respect for The Avenger of my universe, there is one thing about this place I'll let you know, before I let you go. And you will go. No exploring, no adventures, no crossover meetups. You leave after we're done talking. Or else you'll suffer a worse fate than this world's Avenger. I don't respect you as much as I do him, so your death won't be nearly as quick as his. I'll take my time with you, and savor all the little details I missed the first time around. So, once we're done, your two options become this: leave. Or die. Sound good?"
“Sure, sure buddy. I’ll be happy to go. Universes to save, tacos to eat.”
"Good. Good. At least you’re a version of The Avenger that listens to reason. So, before I let you go, the one thing I wanted you to know is this: you nearly got me. For so long, everyone in this world considered you a joke. I'm sure you're dealing with something similar in your own Carnage Wrestling. But when it happened, when I happened, when I made it my life's work to destroy Carnage Wrestling... not this champion or that champion, not this wrestler or that wrestler, but everyone... I want you to know that it was you that nearly pulled everyone back from the brink. You were the one that stepped up to stop me. You united them all. You showed them how to fight. You were John Connor with a cape and a mask."
"And I still beat you. Then I beat everyone. And now, Carnage Wrestling is no more. This match I just won, the Final Victory Gauntlet Match, makes it official. The arena came down all around us as the best and brightest of Carnage Wrestling's stars met me in one final battle, one final time, one final match to determine the ultimate fate of the promotion. And you came in right after it was all over. So sorry, my friend. You would've loved it. Everyone put up such a good fight. Several of them almost had me. But this place, this world... I learned a while back that this isn't the place where the good guys win, Avenger."
Avenger nods and says nothing. He’s not the smartest, but he knows when to shut up.
"But I wanted you to know... for as brief as it was... even though it ended up not mattering in the end... The Avenger that was here was truly a hero. If no one else out in the infinite multiverse respects you or your equivalents, just know that I do. All of you, all of your kind, all across the multiverse, have great potential. I hope one day you yourself will realize the potential that is locked inside you. Because it'll be more fulfilling that way when your universe's Jon takes that from you. Trust me. I know. And now you can get the fuck out of my universe. I'm afraid I'm just too busy to spend any more time with you. I've got a celebration to plan. And several funerals."
The Avenger stops fiddling with the device and becomes genuinely upset. He’s many things, but most of all he believes in #JUSTICE. Even if he knows he shouldn’t risk dying or letting this Willis get his hands on the MR, he stands defiant, as only someone who constantly loses but keeps coming back for more could.
“Look, I may not be the brightest out there, but you’re crazy pants. Good guys always win! It might take a long time or may even seem hopeless, but I know that eventually someone here is gonna take up the Avenger mantle and stop you. May not happen today, may not happen tomorrow, but you are gonna face #JUSTICE, criminal!”
The MR begins to whir again, and he hits the button he knows will take him home.
“Oh and BY THE WAY, you’re not even the first person to kill an Avenger. Get some new material, champ!”
He takes a step backward after unleashing his most clever remark and vanishes with a flash.
When The Avenger passes back through his Multiversal Portal, he arrives back in the Carnage Arena, on the eve of Ultimate Carnage 6. It's an hour before showtime. He's in the merchandise section of the Carnage Arena. He sees a merchandise stall with Jonathan Willis himself sitting behind it. Half of Jon's face is painted, he's smiling, he's wearing a facemask, and he's taking pictures and signing autographs with the fans that are keeping the required six feet of distance between each other and also wearing protective face coverings.
Jon is selling both "Team Rock Lobster" and "Team Tree Lobster" T-Shirts. In addition to all of this, he's signing people up for a raffle where $5 gets you a ticket to be entered to win one of twenty exclusive, customized Jonathan Willis Funko Pops, with all proceeds going to the Toys for Tots charity. Jonathan is even wearing a silly little Santa hat for the occasion.
“Definitely. Definitely. Definitely done doing taco runs. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks!”
Jon spots The Avenger and smiles, motioning him over.
"Hey dude. What's up? Want a shirt?"
Jonathan nonchalantly tosses The Avenger a Team Tree Lobster shirt. Avenger puts the shirt on over his superhero costume as though his life depends on it.
"That one's on me. Good luck on your match out there tonight. #1 Contendership matches are a lot of fun but also a lot of pressure. You need anything? Want any advice?"
Jonathan's attention is distracted momentarily as he poses for a selfie with a fan, smiling.
“No, no I’m good. Superpowers and all. Um...you, you okay, bud? Feeling bloodthirsty?”
Jon laughs and shakes his head.
“That’s a joke, right? You’re pretty funny. Superpowers or no superpowers, I’ll be rooting for you tonight. Knock ‘em dead out there.”
“NOBODY IS DYING TONIGHT!”
The Avenger gives Willis a weird look and runs off, clearly rattled.
Jon looks confused, but shrugs.
“Weird. I can never get a good read on that guy. Oh well. We’ve all got our secrets I guess.”
Jon goes back to posing for pictures, signing autographs, and signing people up for his charity raffle as the scene fades.