“Can you explain to me again, why I got this assignment, at half twelve at night, to go walking round a graveyard?”

The voice was unmistakeably whiney, for it belonged to Mary Bingham.

“Simple, none of the others were available, hey Mary, you think I’m happy at being out here at this time?”

The cameraman was true; it’s not the best time to be doing interviews. Walking through the graveyard, they step over tombstones, Mary walking right over graves, the cameraman and sound technician a little more respectful.

“I mean honestly, a graveyard, I thought he had gotten over this schtick!”

Mary is not best pleased, that we can tell.

“Well, he is the champion, he can interview where he likes, really.”

The soundman soon finds that the icy stare of Bingham proves him wrong. Kash, as it seems, can only interview when Bingham says so.

“Well, he had better be here soon, because I’m not standing up to my ass in tombstones for too long.”

The cameraman and the sound engineer exchange remarks about the size of Mary’s ass, and they laugh quietly amongst themselves.

“If you too don’t stop laughing, I’ll get you doing J.C. Swinger promos till you die.”

Silence.

“Good.”

The three intrepid individuals wander through the graveyard, should we name them Heather, Mike and Josh? Maybe somewhere down the line. They head deeper into the undergrowth that envelops the wider parts of the graveyard, where people have been laying at peace for centuries.

“Where the hell is this goddamn freak hiding, eh? Everytime I have to do an interview with him, he screws me around.”

“He is the champion, it’s the unwritten rule, he can be as much of a pain as he wants.”

“Not when I’m involved he bloody can’t.”

Mary turns a corner into an even darker corner and she spies a sign of what she is after.

“A candle, least we know he is around here somewhere.”

The three of them look around, the cameraman setting his camera down to look at the surroundings, and they see instantly that something is amiss.

“Mary, come take a look at this!”

Bingham grudgingly walks over to the spot where the cameraman is crouched, and she reads what he has illuminated by lighter flame. It is a tombstone, but the writing on it is a portent of something rather than a marking of passing.

Chance. Born 13th October 1981. Died 3rd August 2003.

“Look at this one!”

Enigma. Born 3rd January 1978. Died 3rd August 2003

“Good God, what is this?”

Bingham steps backwards, away from the tombstones, then disappears into the ground.

“Get me OUTTA HERE!!”

The cameraman leaps up and helps pull Mary out of a six foot deep hole in the ground. The soundman looks very nervy, and all three of them have no idea what to expect next.

“Get some shots of those slabs, and then we are leaving, screw the assignment.”

The cameraman does a sweep of all the tombstones, bearing the names of Grunge, Nick Adams, Shaman, Tracer Bullet. He does a last sweep of the open grave Mary fell into, and sees that the tombstone is blank.

“I wonder why that is blank?”

All three jump about a foot back when the answer is given.

“Because it is for an unknown target.”

Kash steps out from the shadows, his arms bandaged from the cuts he inflicted on himself on his last Insider.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Mary is, understandably, shocked by everything.

“Please, you three, take a seat, we have no need for an interview, more an audience.”

The three take seats on a stone bench behind them and Kash takes a seat on the blank tombstone.

“Why have we gone to all this trouble, why have we created this little corner? Why have we depicted the death of our competitors?”

The three look and nod.

“It is quite simple really. It seems to us, that since Independce Day Rumble, there has been a certain amount of … disrespect for us. We have been not been treated as the threat that we are. Challengers seemingly smelling blood in the water are crawling from the woodwork, eager to fight for the World Title, which we do not have because some coward has seen fit to take it from us.”

Kash throws a handful of dirt into the grave, listening as it hits the bottom.

“But why the graves?”

Mary plucks up the courage to ask a question.

“A good question. Why graves, why death, why the graveyard? The answer is simple. As of this moment, we are putting the WWA on alert. Every challenger for our title had better take heed. As of this moment, there is a price on all your heads. You will not feel it coming, but when you step in the ring for the title, the price will be extracted, and you will be consigned to one of these graves. One at a time, you will all fall.”

Kash gets to his feet and walks towards the other tombstones, pointing to them as he speaks.

“You see, Chance and us, we had a great match, we need to settle that issue so I can put him in the ground. Enigma has seen fit to issue us with a challenge for Fiesta, to show up and face him. Nick Adams has his shot at us at Labour Day Brawl, Tracer Bullet still clings to that pathetic chance he might get another shot.”

Kash pauses, thinking about Tracer, then continues.

“And we have Grunge, the US Champion who has to be in line for a shot, Leviathan, Shaman, they are all seen to be in line for a chance at MY title, and then we have that ninja who saw fit to steal our title. Well, all of you, I say this now, getting the title from us will be as getting blood from a stone.”

Kash stops at the edge of the open grave.

“And this grave, this empty grave is, well, this grave is reserved for that ninja. We do not care who you are, or how Tracer Bullet finds you. You play your games with the detective, but when you are revealed, and your hood falls, you will wish you had stayed in the shadows, for we are making a promise to you. The man who stole that title, the man who took that gold, will not live to see 2004. The man who stole that title will be dead once we get our hands on him.”

Kash turns to the three sitting on the bench.

“Take your shots, and your tapes, send this message to the WWA. Show this to Matthew Warr; let him know I want answers from him. Show it to Ricky Harrington; let him know that whatever happens to his precious wrestlers, I will not be held accountable for.”

Kash walks off into the darkness, leaving three very confused people remaining there.