The sound of a snare drum starts up. It plays the kind of song that is heard in military movies which star the likes of Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone and even Arnold Shwarznegger. The military rhythm goes on as an important-looking man in his fifties walks down a corridor. He is dressed in camouflage military garb with several medals decorating the front of his uniform. He looks to be the rank of General. Despite the sunglasses on his face, he looks familiar. Of course, the black cane in his hand would be a dead giveaway for Lance Gold, the manager of Vain and Vicious. He makes his way down the hall, his face like stone. He stops in front of a door with a sign. It reads, ‘Meeting Room 6’. He enters the dimly lit room.

At the center of the room is a long table surrounded by a dozen chairs. At one end of the room is a projector screen and the opposite end is a projector. Two men stand at attention as General Gold enters the room. They are none other than the WWA tag team members of Vain and Vicious, Mick Vain and Vic Vicious. The military song ends. They stand stiffly until Lance speaks.

“At ease gentlemen and have a seat.”

The two men obey without saying a word. They sit near the head of the table where the projector screen is located. Lance stands next to the screen and places his camouflaged hat and cane on the table. He picks up a remote control from the table top and asks for the lights to be turns off. The projector lights up showing an image of the Devil Dogs members, Adam Tangle and William Johnson, in a simple team pose. Lance addresses his team as a military leader would address his troops.

“Gentlemen! Here you see our objective. Your mission is to target these two and completely decimate them. Destroy your targets and you will be assured a chance at glory unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Failure is not an option.” Lance Gold speaks without much emotion.

Mick and Vic are sitting up straight and nod at Lance.

“What are our objective’s weaknesses, sir?” Mick is the first to ask a question.

“Their weaknesses are too many to list. They will be easily exposed, as they are predictable to a fault. Tangle and Johnson are good at following but terrible at leading. This will make our plan easier to execute.”

“Sir! So you’re saying that these targets will be easily destroyed?” Vic asks.

“There lies a problem private, Tangle and Johnson may attempt something that is out of character for them, like perform a complicated wrestling move, but that will likely fall in our favor. They are prone to making mistakes and will therefore be open for opportune attacks. It will be up to you gentlemen to make them pay for their foolishness. Right men?” Lance’s eyes narrow.

Both Mick and Vic answer simultaneously, “yes sir!”

“Right men?!” Lance asks again but with more gusto.

“Yes sir!” Mick and Vic yell a little louder.

“RIGHT MEN!”

“YES SIR!!!” Mick and Vic yell out at the top of their lungs.

“Ack! This uniform is terribly uncomfortable! How can anyone wear this garbage?!” Lance unbuttons a few of the top buttons of his uniform. He also undoes a few medals and nonchalantly tosses them on the table. Mick turns on the lights, which brighten the room immediately.

Vic sneers, “yeah man, this totally sucks! People actually talk like that every day?” He begins to speak in a mocking voice, “Yes sir, no sir, how high do you want me to jump sir?” Vic’s lips curl as he continues. “What a freakin’ joke!”

“I agree Vic, this life of people telling someone when to get up, eat, sleep and whatever else...” Mick rolls his eyes and shakes his head, “it’s sickening! Whoever wants to subject himself to this cr*p has to be an absolute uneducated twit who loves to be lead around by the end of his nose. What a bunch of losers.”

Lance has removed the jacket of his uniform and Mick looks at it with disgust. He cannot help but comment. “And those uniforms are most definitely not stylish. I know it’s so that a soldier isn’t seen with those on in jungles or whatever, but the way the uniform is so damn ugly, who would want to be seen in it anywhere?”

“Well, we won’t have to worry about looks. You two did a great job at Day of the Dead beating out the League of Goodness and KaOs,” Lance says eyeing his team.

Vic cuts in, “Not to mention we had to fend off Dumb and Dumber in the Devil Dogs to get the W. Those two idiots tried to cost us, their own team, the match!”

“Fear will do that to people Vic. Remember, these guys had their asses handed to them only a few short weeks ago by the Vain and Vicious Express. They want no part of us again. So, in an attempt to avoid another embarrassing and painful defeat, they thought they’d try and cost us the match at Day of the Dead.” Mick adds, smiling his wry smile. “But they did that night what they will do at the next Meltdown, fail miserably.”

Vic smiles wickedly.

Lance tells his team, “Just remember gentlemen, the Devil Dogs are the final hurdle to reaching our goal of facing the WWA tag team champions at Birthday Bash. I’ve said it a hundred times and I’ll say it again, this is the biggest match of your careers. It will be treated as such as we prepare to annihilate the Devil Dogs. We certainly won’t let a pair no-talent bums keep us from reaching our ultimate goal.”

“Oh, don’t worry Lance, I have a trainin’ regimen that will make sure we are in top form physically for this match.” Vic says, looking rather confident.

Mick eyes his tag team partner warily, knowing full well how grueling Vic’s training sessions are. He smiles smugly nonetheless and adds, “And I have a few training sessions that will help our psyche for our upcoming match.”

Surprised by this announcement, Vic looks at Mick curiously.

“What?” Mick asks, feeling as if Vic has his doubts of his plans. “Trust me Vic. The workouts I have planned will help balance the mental with the physical stuff you have planned for us.”

Mick flashes one of his charming, confident and innocent smiles. Vic shrugs his shoulders, accepting Mick’s idea, whatever it may be.

Lance walks towards the exit door but stops to relay one last message.

“Mick, Victor, make sure you are prepared for this match. No mistakes. We don’t overlook these guys and we don’t look past them. Keep your focus and let’s make sure to do our homework. I have a meeting with Reebok to sign an endorsement deal for you by the end of the week. I’ll be out of town and so expect a call. Until then...”

Lance leaves and the door close behind him. Mick and Vic look at each other and shrug.

“Like we don’t know how to prepare for matches.” Mick says, walking towards the door.

“Mick, it's time Vain and Vicious takes it up a notch. Let’s make an example of the Devil Dogs. There are still a bunch of skeptics in the WWA who don’t think Vain and Vicious are for real. Let’s show all of them what we’re all about. Yeah, I know. We’ve taken care of business so far, but we need to take it to the next level. I want to incite dread in all of our opponents at the mere thought of havin’ to face Vain and Vicious. We’ll let our actions next Monday night relay that message to the entire WWA.” Vic speaks with a far away look in his eyes. Those eyes cold and callous.

Mick slowly nods in agreement. “All right Vic, let’s introduce the Devil Dogs to a whole new level of ferocity and intensity. Let’s not forget exhilaration, leaving them laying there knowing all too well that they have just been beaten again by the best. Yeah, I like it Vic.”

“Great! I’m hungry. Let’s get out of here.”

Both Mick and Vic leave as the snare drum starts up again and plays the military ditty. Everything fades to black.