The room is darkly lit. There is barely enough light to see in the room. The room is obviously a bedroom, but everything in the room is either blood red or black. Desperado is lying in his bed with the black sheets up to his waist. He is tossing and turning furiously. Crying out in small whimpers. Tears are falling from his eyes in his sleep. His fists are clenched hard holding the sheets. He screams out in his sleep.

“ Maria!!! Maria!!! No not Maria!!! Maria!!!”

Desperado rolls over into a fetal position and cries softly to himself as his body is wracked with physical pain to go along with his obvious emotional pain.

A bright white light appears in flash into the room. After the light shimmers down it leaves a beautiful black haired women in it’s place. She looks down at Desperado and smiles. She is a stunning beauty. She has long flowing black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a smile that can light up any room. He face is that of radiance. There are no blemishes, no scars, and no pain of any kind showing on it. She stands about 5 foot 10 inches tall, and is obviously very lean and muscular. She is wearing a brilliantly white robe, that flows to her ankles, but you can obviously tell that she has a very nice body on her. He feet are in a pair of bright shining sandals.

The women then walks over to the bed where Desperado is laying, and runs her fingers through his hair. He immediately stops crying, and shaking in his sleep. She kneels down beside his bed and starts to whisper into his ear.

“It wasn’t your fault. It still isn’t your fault, and I still love you. Even in my death I never stopped loving you. I have watched over you every day since then. I want you to see the man I saw. The man I see. Come back with me to a better time. A time before the pain.”

With that the room seems to spin a little, and the scene changes to a hill side. It is obviously springtime, and the birds are singing. There is a couple having a picnic under a oak tree. A motorcycle is parked at the bottom of the hill. The women has her head laid in the man’s lap. He is just looking into her eyes, and seemingly getting lost in them. She smiles at him, and runs her fingers through his long hair. The man is obviously a much younger version of Desperado. He is about 20 years old, and she is 21. He is wearing a button up shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. The women is Maria, but without obvious perfection of being in heaven showing. She is wearing a summer dress, that is pink with a few flowers on it. It is painfully obvious that these two are in love.


“What is the matter Mark? You haven’t stopped looking at me since we got here. You haven’t said a word to me. Is everything okay?” Maria asks.

Desperado looks away for a few seconds, and then looks back at her. Tears are forming in his eyes. He starts to sob slowly.

“I decided to give up leadership of the skulls. I just didn’t want to do it any more. Every since I met you my life just hasn’t made sense to me. I want something more. I want a nice house, with you and our kids someday. Hell I will even work a 9 to fiver, just to be the man that holds you every night. I love you Maria, I love you so much I am willing to leave my old life no matter the consequences.”

Maria smiles at Desperado and pulls him into her and gives him a deep long passionate kiss.

“That is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, but that isn’t what has you upset is it?”
Desperado smiles, and chuckles for a few seconds. Then he sighs and answers her.

“Can’t hide anything from you can I? Well it turns out leaving the Skulls isn’t so simple. If I leave I leave in disgrace and a world of pain, or I leave in a body bag. They were very adamant that I think it over, cause if I go against the code, I have to pay the penalty. “

“The code? Penalty? What the hell are you talking about?” Maria asks quickly.

She is visibly shocked at what she is hearing.

Desperado puts his head down in his hands and then bends over his knees. Then he sits back up and sighs.

“It was one of the bylaws of the gang. No one could leave the group after they had been involved in everything we did. I figured it was a way to keep people from snitching. Hell I even hurt people, killed people, or threatened their family because someone was leaving. I never thought it would be used on me.”

“I know all about your past. It still hurts me to know what all you used to do. But didn’t you have to deal with a situation like this before. Where someone has a change of heart, and wants a new life?”

“Yeah we did, but I didn’t handle it the best. One guy got beat so bad that he ended up in the hospital, and just to make sure he didn’t talk we threatened his little sister. I have hurt so many people in my life. I know a lot of the people in the gang know or are related to people I have hurt. They are going to want my head on a pike for this. It would be the ultimate revenge for everyone I have done wrong.”

Desperado pulls her close to him and just closes his eyes and holds her.

“I am worried about you. I am worried they will try to hurt you to get at me. I don’t want anything to happen to you. You are my angel. You are everything that is good in this life to me. You make me want to be the man I see when I look at you. I am tired of the fights, guns, drugs, and being lonely. I want to love you for ever. I couldn’t make it without you.”

Maria pulls herself away from Desperado, and picks his head up and looks into his eyes.

“I am not going anywhere. I am not afraid of anything with you by my side. We can make it through this. I promise.”


Just as she was finishing with what she was saying to Desperado a truck comes fling down the road. Desperado sees the truck and his eyes grow wild. He reaches to push Maria down, but doesn’t get to her in time as a loud pop rips through the air. Desperado looks at the truck in time to see a man drop a m-16 and fall down into the truck bed.

“Maria!!!”

Desperado reaches for her and pulls her close to him. He looks down at her, and sees a hole in her chest that blood is just flowing through. He looks up to her eyes, but see the normally vibrant eyes starting to grow dim. Blood is trickling down her mouth. Desperado pulls her closer to him and starts to cry, as she dies in his arms.

“You are my angel. You can’t die. I love you !! Please don’t leave me. Maria, please don’t …..”

Desperado starts to cry hard and painfully screaming into the mid afternoon sky.


The angel steps forward and speaks gently to the sky.

“Enough!! The pain is still raw. Go back to your sleep, and dream no more. In the morning you will remember the dream, but we can start working on putting you back together. Just remember I have never stopped loving you. I have and will always be there for you. Arise my sweet prince. “

The scene fades back into Desperado’s bedroom where he jumps immediately out of his sleep. He pants and sighs for the pain is still real to him. He wipes away the tears in his eyes. He then notices that the clock radio is playing ‘I’ll be there” by The Escape Club. He pauses as he listens to the song and feels strangely comforted.

Over mountains, over trees
Over oceans, over seas
Across the deserts
I'll be there
In a whisper on the wind
On the smile of a new friend
Just think of me
And I'll be there

CHORUS: Don't be afraid, oh my love
I'll be watching you from above
And I'd give all the world tonight to be with you
'Cause I'm on your side, and I still care
I may have died, but I've gone nowhere Just think of me, and I'll be there



Desperado throws the sheet off of himself, and swings both legs off the bed. He stands up only in a pair of blood red boxers. He walks into his bathroom and looks into the mirror. He stares deeply at himself for a minute. Then he shakes his head. It was time for a change. Time to let go of the pain. Time to make himself into the man, that he wanted to be with his Maria. It would start today, well it would start on Saturday, he needed the pain and anger for his fight with Stoner. After that though it was time for a change. He felt strangely comforted by a sense that things are better, that he is forgiven and the world was going to be made right again.

Stoner is seen walking in front of a mountain somewhere in Mid-Asia. He has on a pair of denim cargo pants and a white t-shirt dreched in sweat. Around his waist is a belt with three canteens of water, a knife, and a grappling hook, just in case.

Stoner: Most people don't know this about me but, I'm a bit of an adventurer. I'll admit, its not the safest of hobbies but when you get a chance like this, well, you don't pass it up.

Stoner turns away and begins making his way up to a cave in the mountainside. He stops at the entrance way, pointing at what looks like a stalagmite near the opening.

That there is one of the signs of what we're looking for. Deep in this cave is a city. And I'm not talkin like mole people type thing, I'm talking about a three story two mile long city that was able to support upwards of three thousand people for months at a time. It was rough, but sure enough the people of the time were able to do it. We're about to get to go down there and see what they saw, experience what they experienced.

And I'll get to show off some of my knowledge along the way. I'm a lot smarter than many people give me credit for.

He winks and walks into the opening. Both Stoner and the camera man turn on flashlights. Thy pass a few rooms before Stoner stops, pointing at a section of the wall that looks like it was drilled through, as well as looking like there are primitive sinks carved in as well.

As you can guess, two thousand years ago, the people didn't exactly have drills. Or power tools of any kind. So this hole here,

he puts his hand through the hole.

Has to be chisled out by hand. It was used to tie the animals up. The big emtpy sink looking things are where they put the food. And yes, they were carved out of the side of the mountain by hand as well. Tough people our anestors.

He takes a drink of his water before continuing on.

You'll notice the hallways are really thin, and the floor seems to be in a sort of wave motion. There are many reasons for this, and you'll understand more and more as we go further.

Sure enough, they came to a hallway where the walls were close to one another, and the floor indeed did rise and fall.

The first reason is that it works as a sort of ventilation for the city. This way, fresh air could get all the way thrugh the city easily.

Continuing the walk, he stops a few yards further pointing to the ceiling. A smile crosses his face as the camera looks up, and little circles no more than two inches thick are visible.

Another reason for the halls being like this is defense. You see, this whole thing was made as a kind of bomb shelter. Only they didn't worry about bombs so much as they worried about being attacked. With the halls being this thin, you'll notice we have to walk through here one at a time. That seriously ups the amount of time it takes to get an army through here.

These holes above our heads were used by the people shoving spears down on the heads of the people attacking their city. Thats right, we are walking through death right at this very moment. Countless numbers of people died right at this very spot. But there's more.

He continues the walk, every so often taking time to rub the stone walls, trying to tap into some long forgotten memory held within the ancient rock. A face, a laugh, something to help him understand this marvel.

They come upon a big room, and Stoner turns around, pointing at something so the camera can see it. Upon making that 180 degree spin, a giant mill stone can be seen next to the door opening.

(

Millstone. Only without the hole in the middle.)

This here? It weighs about two tons. Defensive teams would be on this side of the stone, and would close the opening with it if anyone made it this far. The thing is, the stone is bigger than the doorway, meaning that on the otherside, this becomes a wall. One that can't be rolled out of the way if you are on the wrong side. Meaning it often became a dead end for the enemy, meaning they have to go back the other way. You know, the head spears.

He rubs his neck, smiling as he continues the walk yet again. They come to another hall, as thin as the previous one, and begin to walk through it. After a few yards of silence, Stoner again points up. Much like the holes with spears before, there are holes in this ceiling as well. Although these holes are wider, about the size of a fist.

So you're attacking this mountain city right? You've had to climb over the bodies of your dead friends, while dodging spears coming at you from above, and somehow made it past a two ton wall. Now you get here, and bam, boiling hot tar is poured on you from above. Cut me some slack right? It gets better, keep going.

By this point, Stoner has finished the first of the three canteens of water, but in his excitement he continues his journy through the city.

Notice that this millstone is on this side of the wall, it becomes important in this next room.

He points to his right as he walks through the opening and sure enough, a giant millstone is on the attacking side of the doorway. The camera man walks into the room after Stoner, who is standing in the center of the room. He pulls out of his right cargo pocket a flare and triggers it, spreading light throughout the room. It quickly becomes apparent that this is the end of the line.

Somehow, after making it through all of that mess, you've made it this far. You and maybe thrity other of your men. You come to this room, and spread out as you are trained to look for an exit. Then you realize this is the end of the long hallway, and that you must have missed an alternate path somewhere along the line. So you all turn to leave the way you came in, dreading the hot oil and spears that are likely waiting for you along the way.

Then the exit is sealed by that big millstone. And you've only got so much oxygen. The last advantage to the halls being the way they are is simple, the noise is amazingly loud. The vibrations and sounds of the millstone being put into place, sealing you in this tomb, are easily covered up by the sounds of people screaming in either pain and agony or fear and trepidation.

This room is more or less the original mass burial pit. A scary thought am I right?

He takes out of his back pocket a single flower before walking over to the far wall and setting it on the floor.

My ancestry can be traced back all the way here. Believe it or not, I am an actual decendant of someone who lived here for a time. You see, even my ancestors knew what Hardcore was. They knew it wasn't about being the strongest, it wasn't about being the fastest, or even the most skilled. It was about being creative enough, inventive enough, with just enough self reliance, to do what it takes to get the job done.

This "Indian Strap/Fist of Glass" match? Its just another fancy word for Hardcore. And when it comes to Hardcore, well, I think we've seen its in my blood now isn't it. I'm not afraid to shed this blood of mine, not in the least. So by all means Deso, be ready to take a nice big hit.

Because when its finished, you will be the one left coughing it up.

He smiles cockily as the camera fades to black.