The Fight For Nora Part Two: The Finale

The girl rolled out of bed, looked at the calendar, and sighed.

“Here we go,” she said to nobody.

The girl got herself dressed, went downstairs, and found a note scrawled on the countertop.

We’re down there already. You can start watchin em when you get there

Another deep, heavy sigh, the type of sigh only teenagers can give. Then, with that sigh changing to a deep breath of determination, the girl left the house and started down the hill. "This day is gonna suck," she muttered to herself.

_______

“Oh God, oh God, oh God.” Julie Dunn couldn’t say anything else as she ran up to the stretcher that Paxton Ray was being placed on. She reached for him but Shweta pulled her back.

“Be strong, Julie.”

“I can’t,” she said as the stretcher went by, followed by PRIME camera crews and Matt Mills holding a microphone in the air. “If he isn’t strong, then I can’t be.”

“You know he’s strong,” Shweta replied. “No matter what it looks like right now, he is strong, and so we must be strong.”

Julie didn’t answer. She simply looked at the stretcher as it carted towards the ambulance, looking for some sort of motion that never came.

_______

“And now that we are five on five, let the final fight for Nora begin.”

Paxton couldn’t look at Bathory. All he could see was his ex-wife standing in front of him, the same cool smile she always smiled when she won an argument. “What the fuck are ya doin’ out here, Melissa?”

“Trying to save our daughter. These men – this organization is good for her. It’s a welcome home where she can be safe and secure.”

“Like those kids lying together in a pile?” Julie asked, pointing out of the room.

Melissa sneered at her. “Who’s the whore?”

“Enough,” Paxton said, finally turning to Bathory. “Let’s do this, whatever it is.”

“It is simple,” Bathory boomed, raising a hand slightly, which caused Melissa to nod and join him behind the table. “We have something you want. You ask us for it, tell us why you should receive it, and we will consider your proposal.”

Shweta stepped forward. “Very well. You know what we want. We want Nora back. We want Magen Nackedy back.”

“Understood. Tha–” Bathory started, but Shweta cut through his words.

“I was not finished. We want all children in this camp released. We want all children in all compounds released. We would like you to remove your claws from what was formerly Gray’s Wrestling Academy and return it to its rightful owner, Jonathan Rhine. We would like you to stay away from PRIME Wrestling…”

“And we’d like you to fuck your own asshole,” Foster responded.

“Foster!”

“That last one’s non-negotiable.”

Julian Bathory grinned, leaning back in his chair. “That’s an awful lot to ask for, Ms. Kallemullah. Nora and Magen, those are small pieces. But you are talking about critical infrastructure.”

“They’re children, you monster!” Julie’s eyes welled up. Paxton reached down and grabbed her hand.

“They’re valuable parts of the MESSIAH family. In any case, you haven’t told me why we should do these things.”

“We found your compound. We have information on other compounds. We have a former member of MESSIAH who can testify to the atrocities you’ve committed. What’s to stop us from going to the authorities about this? Or the media?”

Julian laughed. “Come now, Ms. Kallemullah. I think you would understand the landscape better than that. MESSIAH has friends on all levels who will protect us. And this former member you speak of…you don’t mean Paxton, do you?” Before Shweta could answer, Julian clicked his tongue. “No, of course not. You mean Creighton.” Julian reached under his desk and tossed something in front of his guests.

Julie buried her face against Paxton’s arm. The Bayou Butcher merely stared at the photograph, which was in black and white, but he could almost see the color red all over the mangled body.

“I’m afraid Creighton won’t be able to testify to much. What else do you have?”

_______

The girl’s steps were slow as she descended the hill. The crisp autumn air made her smile. She wasn’t used to actually seeing different colors in the leaves. Even after her family moved from her hometown, they stayed in places that didn’t have this sort of color, this sort of life. Though she dreaded what she was about to do, at least the scenery was nice.

Massachusetts felt like a different country, truly. The girl got lost in her thoughts and realized she hadn’t moved for a few minutes. She looked in the distance and thought she saw the house she was going to, but she froze again when she saw a house a few doors down.

The stone that comprised its walls was something out of a history book, and it reminded her again of how old this country was. But it also reminded her of something else.

Stone walls. Barbed wire.

Compounds.

The girl shuddered, pulling her jacket tighter, as she continued to descend the hill.

_______

Jonathan Rhine tried to keep his feelings inside as he waited in the hotel room near the hospital. But Foster wouldn’t let him.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

The New Life looked at his lap. “I’m trying not to.”

“You don’t have to try. I understand it. When you’re hurt, and you’re bitter, you like seeing others go through the same thing. And if Paxton never walks again…well that’s karma, isn’t it? He did it to you. He deserves to have it happen to him.”

“Exactly,” Rhine said. “But I also can’t stop thinking about Nora. Was this all worth it? Will Paxton think it’s worth it?”

Foster laughed. “Who are we talking about? I guarantee you if you ask him once he wakes up, he’ll say he would’ve gone through it a hundred times, just like he told Bathory. Sometimes there’s a cost for winning, and a cost for cheating. Paxton did both. And he’ll gladly pay that price.”

_______

“You’re a monster,” Foster growled.

“I’m a patriarch,” Bathory responded. “I take care of my family. If there is a threat to the family I will handle it. I try to handle them peacefully, like we are doing here. But if I cannot, other means become necessary. Now, what else do you have?”

“We got this,” Paxton said, holding up a book. “This journal's got everythin’. Where the compounds are. The other shit y’all run. There’s even a section on who’s on the fuckin’ payroll.”

Bathory’s eyes widened for a moment, then relaxed. “That could all be fake. No one in MESSIAH would have that information, nor would they put it in writing.”

“Not unless they were tryin’ t’help us.” Paxton gripped Julie’s hand tighter. He realized now what Petra did for them.

And Julian’s eyes narrowed as he realized too. “You’re bluffing.”

“I could be,” Paxton agreed. “I could also be holdin’ the knife that I’m gonna plunge in your fuckin’ heart.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Bathory said, then flicked his eyes to the side briefly. Before he could move, von Krauser reached out and grabbed the notebook, then tossed it onto the desk. Julian reached forward and perused it, frowning. “A double shame. Shame that I have been betrayed by a loyal soldier, and a shame that you lost this evidence.” Bathory quickly reached forward, flicking a lighter open and setting the journal ablaze. The open air compound got slightly warmer as the paper quickly burned.

The Carpathian Devil’s grin faded as he saw that Shweta matched it. “What is so amusing, Ms. Kallemullah?”

“The fact that you think we’re dumb enough to bring the real journal here. It’s safe, and its contents are in a draft on a news site. All I have to do is speak into this walkie-talkie and the button is pressed, the journal is published, and everyone knows exactly what MESSIAH has been up to.”

No one spoke. Paxton watched the members of MESSIAH look at each other. He saw uncertainty in his ex-wife’s eyes.

Finally, Shweta continued. “So that is what we want, and that is what we have. Time for you to do some considering, and I’d make it quick, because the piece will also launch if they don’t hear from me for an hour.”

Bathory considered, then nodded. “Fine. But now I make my demands.”

_______

The sounds reached the girl’s ears as she continued walking down the hill. She heard laughter. And dogs barking, and then the smells hit.

Steak, she thought. They better save some for me.

She heard the giggles of coos and children, and she sighed and pushed onward. At the bottom of the hill she ran into a man carrying two children, and her grin hurt her cheeks.

“Hi, Mr. Jared.”

"Hey, Nora," he started to answer, before Jared Sykes found a tiny hand clamped over his mouth. It was attached to a girl, no more than four years old, laughing as she moved her arm to keep him from getting free.

"You shush," she said through her giggle. Her green eyes sparkled in the sun, ever the spitting image of her mother. "No talking."

Jared eased her and the baby boy to the ground.

"She's in a rare mood today," he said to Nora. "We're doing this thing where apparently we don't like naps anymore."

"No," Andrea protested, her voice taking on the early makings of a whine. "No babysitting."

"Honey, it's just for a little bit, okay? And then..."

"I don't want her to babysit. I'm not a baby."

Jared shifted the weight of the child he was still carrying as he tried to crouch. If he could get on his daughter's level then maybe, maybe, he would have a chance to put the pin back in this particular grenade before it exploded into a full on tantrum.

"Andrea, I promise it's just an express-"

Boom.

"I want Nora to have a playdate with me! I'm not a baby. I'm a big kid. I. Want. A. Playdate."

Nora giggled, crouching so she was eye level with the girl. “That’s what it is! It’s a play date. You and I are playin' and watchin' baby JJ. Are you ready to play?”

And then Jared was gone, and she was left with the two children. “It’s gonna be a long time before you realize how weird this whole thing is,” she told them.

The younger one, the boy, stared straight at her and began pooping in his diaper.

_______

Shweta sat in the hotel room by herself, shaking her head.

Despite what she told Julie, she was not feeling strong. She felt like a failure.

She let Bathory dictate the terms. She let Paxton agree. She let Paxton shut her out of it. She should’ve fought harder. She should’ve told him no. She should’ve chosen herself instead.

Her inner spiral was interrupted by a knock on the door. She walked over and opened it to reveal Magen Nackedy. “Hello.”

“Hi.” Foster’s ex-wife was reserved, unsure. She wouldn’t meet her eyes. “She wanted to see you.” Magen stepped to the side and Nora Matthews walked into the room.

Nora turned around and smiled. “Thanks Ms. Magen. I’ll be okay by myself.” Without another word Magen left and shut the door.

“Hello, Nora,” Shweta said. “How—“ she stopped herself, but Nora picked up on it.

“Not good,” Nora replied. “Have you heard anything new?”

“No.” Shweta sat down on the bed and gestured for Nora to do the same. “Your dad is a fighter. He will fight to his very last breath. It’s what he did to get you home.”

“I know, and I know he’ll be okay.”

This caused Shweta to raise her eyebrows. “You seem very sure.”

“Of course I’m sure. He did everything to get me home. It wouldn’t be fair if he didn’t make it through.”

Shweta sighed. “Fair…is a funny word, Nora. It’s hard to pin down. What’s fair for someone isn’t fair for someone else. Your dad is going to do everything he can to make it to you, and that’s all that matters.” Shweta stood and Nora walked with her to the door. “Stay with Magen and be safe.”

“Thank you,” Nora said, then left the hotel room. Shweta watched her go, then flung herself onto the bed.

“Fair is hard to pin down?” She asked herself, shaking her head. “What am I saying? Do I…do I want him to make it out of this?”

_______

“You may have Nora back. You may have Magen back. I will shut down my compounds, I will leave Gray’s Academy, and I will disappear so you never see me again. But I will only do all of this if you do one thing for me.”

“An’ what’s that?” Paxton asked.

“You have made a public show of trying to stray from MESSIAH. From doing the so-called moral thing. For repenting for your sins. And if we are going to allow you to also cut into our private infrastructure, you must pay for this publicly.”

Paxton stared at Bathory. “Motherfucker, I’m a high school dropout. What the fuck are ya talkin’ ‘bout?”

“At Colossus, after your match, you will be attacked. You will be hurt. You will face the same fate that you gave Jonathan Rhine.”

“What?!” Julie shouted.

“Fuck off,” Foster said.

“Let’s see what happens if you try, pig,” said Sage.

“Absolutely not,” said Shweta.

Julian’s grin did not fade. “I have heard responses from your party, but nothing from you. If you want your daughter back, if you want to walk away from all of this, it will not be on your own two legs. What do you say, Paxton?”

Paxton didn’t look at any of his team. He didn’t even look at Bathory. He instead looked at the former love of his life, the woman who he helped make the girl that became the light of his life. Then, he nodded. “Deal.”

_______

“Were you waitin' until you got here to do that?” Nora asked the little boy, laying him down on the blanket as she went through the diaper bag that Jared had provided.

Andrea, from behind her, crouched down. Nora saw her in the corner of her eye and whirled around. “Not you too?!”

But Andrea merely farted and said, “That’s how my butt says hello.”

Nora laughed in spite of herself, then wrapped up the diaper changing for JJ. Standing him up, she ushered him towards the toy trucks. He grabbed one and held it to her, saying “Hup, hup, hup.”

“What?”

“He wants help,” Andrea said.

“With what?” She grabbed the truck and moved it on the ground, causing JJ to laugh and do the same.

As she played with the trucks and the children, Nora looked down the hill and saw the man in the wheelchair, scratching his beard, and she smiled.

_______

Foster heard a knock on the door in his hotel room. He opened it to see his ex-wife standing there. “Come in,” he said, offering her an arm she didn’t take.

Magen floated to the bed and sat down. “What the hell has happened to our lives?”

Foster chuckled. “In 2004 a professional wrestler nearly choked our son to death. This has always been our lives. You just took a break from it.”

“I wish I could take a longer break from it.” She sighed and laid back on the bed.

“Well then maybe you shouldn’t have hooked up with a professional wrestler again.” Foster was grinning, but it faded as he saw Magen’s expression.

“All that time in the compound. Alone, separated from the world. And...and Roosevelt didn’t look for me.”

“Fuck,” Foster said, looking at the floor. “That’s…fuck, Mags, I’m sorry. Not excusing it, but he’s a champion in Japan. It’s really isolated. It’s hard to…”

“You looked for me. You went to Japan to look for me. You worked with people you hate, an ex-girlfriend…”

“Fake ex-girlfriend.”

“...for me. Roosevelt didn’t do that.” Magen sighed. “It’s why I haven’t reached out to him. Maybe I will, later.”

Foster nodded, then leaned towards her.

“Oh, no,” she said, laughing and standing up. “You’re still my asshole drunk ex-husband who conspired to paralyze a former friend of his. I just appreciate what you did, is all.”

“I resent that,” Foster said, chuckling. “I’ve been sober for three months. The rest? Yeah, that’s all true.”

Magen walked towards the door and stopped in the doorway. “No matter what happens with Paxton, just know that you did a good thing. More than that, a good thing for someone else. Thank you.” Hugging him, she walked out of the hotel room. Foster smiled, then flopped backwards on the bed.

“Well at least you didn’t get paralyzed for no reason,” Foster said aloud. “I got a hug!”

_______

“No!” it seemed everyone shouted at once. Shweta stepped forward. “No, Paxton. You can’t do this.”

“Ain’t your decision,” Paxton said, continuing to stare at Bathory and Melissa. “She’s my daughter. An’ if I gotta do this so she’s safe? Hundred times outta hundred.” He felt the pull on his hand from Julie, but he refused to look at her.

“Excellent,” Bathory said. “You will find Magen and Nora here, and Bertrand will be waiting for Jonathan in New Orleans to hand over the Academy. And I give you my word that the compounds will be cleared over the next few months.”

“How can we trust you?” Shweta asked.

“You can’t. But you’re getting an awful lot from me.”

“We’re giving a lot too,” Foster muttered.

“A true compromise is where everyone walks away unhappy. And make no mistake,” Julian said, his eyes flashing, “I am absolutely livid.” Paxton looked to the picture of Creighton still on the table, and his stomach fell into his knees. Petra.

But there was nothing he could do. “Can we go see her now?”

“In a moment. I would kindly ask all of your party and my family to leave us alone for a few minutes.”

“Why?” Foster asked. “Gonna do the deed now?”

“No,” Bathory said, chuckling. “I want to go over a few things with my former Monster. Call it an exit interview.”

Moments passed as each person left the room. Von Krauser hovered in the doorway. "Director Bathory. About the journal..."

Bathory nodded. "Find her. You know what to do." Von Krauser smiled and left. Paxton remained sitting as all but one person left. He finally looked into Julie’s eyes, then immediately looked away as she passed through the doorway.

Once they were alone, Bathory smiled. “People have called me a monster for years. Your former friend did it to my face while he still had the ability to walk. I’ve had nothing but derision from these so-called do-gooders that I should delight in playing the part for them. I could easily continue to be that monster, but today I am going to show that despite what they say, I am no monster.”

“Jesus Christ, Jules, ya get paid by the word? What’s the frickin’ point?”

“The point is, Paxton, that I have another deal for you. The real deal. Are you ready to hear the terms?”

_______

The time passed slowly, especially as the smell of steak wafted over. Nora kept taking her eyes off the kids to look at the adults in the distance. “I wonder when they’ll be done,” she said to herself. Then she looked over to Andrea to quickly apologize before she realized the young girl was busy playing with baby JJ.

Nora allowed her mind to wander, which isn’t always good practice with all the things swirling in her head. Especially when she knew who her dad was interacting with.

She pulled out her phone, something her dad told her never to do when watching kids. But they were distracted, and she had a desire to see some old pictures. It took her a few minutes to scroll through her history to find it, but she found the album she made of her dad’s former life. Pictures of her dad and JJ’s dad hugging. Pictures of her dad and Andrea’s dad fighting. She landed on a picture that made her gasp: she had forgotten about it.

“What that?” Andrea asked, causing Nora to hide the phone.

“Nothin'…it was a picture of my dad when he…he got really hurt once.”

“Big boo boo?”

“Yeah…really big boo boo.”

_______

“You will leave this place, and we'll make our attack. But you will not be paralyzed.”

The team that went to Utah for Nora, sans Sage, huddled at the back of the hospital. They were sad, confused, bewildered.

“You will be transferred to a hospital, and you will be released after a day. From there, you are free to live your life apart from MESSIAH, with your family, with the following conditions.”

They discussed why they had been summoned here by a phone call, with no other information. They wondered what was happening. They commiserated in the injuries that brought them together.

“You must never return to PRIME. As far as anyone who works there is concerned, your career has been ended by MESSIAH. You will never wrestle again. You will not make public appearances as a former member of PRIME. Your life as a wrestler is over.”

As Julie cried and Nora stood under them with her eyes on the ground, Shweta looked up at the glass doors at the back of the hospital and gasped.

“Do not look for MESSIAH. Do not look for your ex-wife. She belongs to us now. Starting on the day you leave the hospital, you will never see me again. Your life starts anew, and you can do what you wish with that life.”

Julie and the others looked up as Paxton Ray walked towards them and stood, hands on hips, with a smile. Nora ran into his arms and he picked her up, swinging her in the air.

“Congratulations, Mr. Ray. You have won the fight for Nora. Do not squander it.”

_______

“Did the boo boo get better?” Andrea asked as Nora saw a man approaching up the hill.

“Yeah,” Nora smiled, letting her body fold into Paxton’s, “it got better.” To her dad she said, “Are y’all done?”

“Yep, ya can all come down here and run around now.”

Paxton scooped up baby JJ as Nora held Andrea’s hand in one hand and Paxton’s in the other. “What did you need to talk about anyway?” Nora asked.

“Just borin’ adult stuff, sweetheart,” Paxton answered, smiling at Julie, who sat in the chair at the bottom of the hill. “Sometimes ya jus’ gotta grab a beer and talk with some friends.”

Nora smiled and bent down to hug Jonathan Rhine in his wheelchair. “I like your beard,” she said.

“It definitely looks better than your dad’s,” Jon said.

“Yeah right,” Paxton said, kissing Julie on the forehead and putting a hand on her rounded stomach.

"Feeling okay, MJ?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, just a little tired," Julie answered, smiling.

"MJ?" asked Andrea. "Who's that?"

Nora beamed. "My Momma Julie."

Paxton grinned and nodded towards the table. “Go ‘head, Nora, get ya some steak.”

Andrea ran over to her dad as Paxton handed JJ to Shweta, and Nora walked over to the table to make herself a plate. Turning around and looking at all of the adults and children running around, she smiled and realized today had been a better day than she thought it would be.