Sarge V. Nightshade

--

It wasn’t the first time Percival had been called down to his boss’s office. He absently adjusted the back of his white polo shirt into his freshly ironed khakis. This wasn’t the first time he’d been called down there and past experience had taught him that a semi-formal outfit went over far better with the boss than the usual shirt and shorts that the wrestlers rocked whenever they weren’t in uniform. He could thank years of army drills and reporting to the top brass for that.

Percival resumed walking and made his way to the office of Sebastian Perez. He was stopped just outside the door by a pair of burly security guards that were flanked on either side of the door.

“Wait one moment,” said the guard on his right, a physically impressive german shepherd, who had signaled for the equally muscular Rottweiler on the other side of the door to knock.

This seems incredibly unnecessary…  Percival thought to himself as he watched the dogs go through their overly complicated ritual. Not one moment later a voice called out from behind the door.

“He’s here,” said the first dog.

“Alright then,” said the voice from behind the door. “Let him in.”

There was a large clicking sound as the door unlocked itself. The first guard opened the door and gestured for Percival to step through. Percival stepped briskly into the large office. The guards gave quick nod before the door closed behind him.

“You wanted to see me Mr. Perez,” asked Percival as he stood just beyond the door, admiring not for the first time the FWL owner’s expansive and well-kept office.

“Yes Percival,” said a voice from a large desk at the other end of the room. The hulking rhino followed the voice to the caramel brown bat sitting in a large chair on the other side of said desk. “Please, take a seat,” said the bat, as he gestured towards a huge chair in front of his desk.   

“Thank you sir,” said Percival, before quickly crossing the not-inconsiderable distance between the door and the boss’s desk. Despite never having a bad reason for coming to the office he never looked forward to the visits. And it wasn’t because of the office itself. He rather liked the multitude of diversity and the way it all went together. No what made him uneasy was Sebastian himself. He couldn’t put his finger on it but there was something about the bat that set off all the warning bells in his brain. And he’d been through too much to dismiss them offhand.  

Sebastian, for his part, was content to watch Percival’s stride across the room. He took some stray papers on his desk and shuffled them into a pile to make it look like he was doing something important instead of discretely observing the muscle-bound rhino’s advance across his office. Watching the way Percival move made it easy to understand why he was such a crowd favorite. His every step was so carefully measured. His movements held an almost mesmeric quality to them. Sebastian hoped that the burly rhino would go along with his plan.

“I’m glad that you can join me Percival,” said Sebastian as he held out his hand, “I was hoping to run something by you.”

Percival looked at the hand for a moment before returning the handshake. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling he got from just touching the bat’s hand. “The pleasure’s all mine,” asserted the rhino, “now if I may, what is it that you wanted from me?

Sebastian regarded Percival for a brief moment before answering.  “Right down to business? I can respect that.” He pulled his hand away and pulled down a drawer.  Reaching inside Sebastian pulled out a set of papers and a pen. “I’ll be brief,” he explained, his eyes now on the spreadsheets in front of him, “I am about to launch a new wrestling line and I’d like you to be the first to join in.”

Percival’s eyes lit up at that. “What kind of wrestling did you have in mind,” he asked eagerly.

Sebastian’s eyes glimmered and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. “I was thinking of something a little more family friendly,” he said simply, “Something similar to the other federations have. This way we can scout out some new talent and hopefully drum up some new business. How does that sound?”

“That sounds good but why did you chose me?” It was intriguing but Percival had his doubts. Such as, why he was asked to do this instead of someone else? He was reasonable certain that Sebastian fancied that gorilla with the green mask. The one who was usually too good to be seen showering with the rest of them after a match and who always showed up wearing his wrestling outfits beforehand.

“I remember you saying that you had some prior wrestling experience.” Sebastian reached into a drawer and pulled out a folder, one which had Percival’s name and picture one it. “And it says there that you’ve wrestled before,” he said, as he flipped through the files, “I figured that, even your experience on the subject you’d be the best one to have trying this out. I have even decided on your opponent.”

That surprised Percival. “Oh,” asked the rhino with an arch of his eyebrows, “who is it?”

“Nightshade was who I was thinking about sending you up against.” He took out a page and held it out for Percival. “Everything that you will need to know is on here. I trust that you won’t have a problem with that?”

Percival shook his head. “No sir,” he answered as he took the paper from Sebastian, “There’s not a problem with that at all. Thank you sir.”

Sebastian beamed across the desk at the rhino. “Excellent!” Pushing the chair away Sebastian rounded the desk and made his way to Percival’s side.

Taking the not-to-subtle hint Percival rose from his seat as well. Folding the paper and tucking it into his shirt pocket he walked with Sebastian towards the door.

“I’ll contact Nightshade myself and let him know what’s going.” Sebastian knocked loudly on the door and stepped back to let Percival step out. “If anything comes up I’ll let you know myself.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Percival replied, stepping through the large doorway, “Thank you.” And with that he left. Sebastian waited for the sound of the rhino’s heavy footsteps to stop echoing throughout the hallway before he had the guards close the door behind him. He was already in motion as the door slammed shut behind him and had already returned to his desk.

A dark grin grew on his handsome face as he crouched down and pulled out the bottom most drawer revealing a distinctive golden mask and small bottle filled with a similarly-colored fluid.

“Well Nightshade,” he said to the mask, “looks like you’re up.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

It was decided that the match was to be held within one of the smaller rooms adjacent to the larger arena. The space was large enough for both the wrestlers and the camera crew. They expected there to be some hiccups to be sure but seeing as this was to be the first match it was decided to just let things go as they were.

Percival, or rather Sarge, as he was known whenever he put his mask on, was the first one to enter the room, sporting his iconic army camo trunks and shredded tan jacket. Casting a quick glance and a smirk at the nearest cameraman Sarge turned towards and climbed into the ring, stretching his neck and legs while he waited for his opponent to arrive.

And he didn’t have to wait long. Not two minutes after Sarge had gotten comfortable did his opponent Nightshade step through the door. Unlike Sarge Nightshade didn’t spare a glance at any of the cameras. His gaze was fixed solely on the rhino already in the ring.

Nightshade took his time entering the ring. It was obvious from his gaunt that he didn’t think too much about his opponent. That he’d never wrestled him before wasn’t something he figured that he had to worry about. After all, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

The last to enter the ring was a heavily built german shepherd in a pair of red and white trunks with a matching bow tie. His sharp eyes and graying muzzle betrayed years of experience and fortitude. With a gesture of his hands he called both wrestlers to the center of the ring. Once there he laid down the ground rules. 1-fall. No disqualifications.  

Taking several steps back the ref stuck his hand out and glanced at both wrestlers.

“Are you ready,” he first asked them both. Once he’d received an affirmative from the two combatants he slashed the air in front of him and the bell rang out, signaling the start of the match.

Sarge and Nightshade meet at the center of the ring. Not wanting to give the other an early advantage they started to circle each other, probing for weaknesses. There were a few feints here and there. Mostly from Sarge, whose grin widened with each passing moment. It was almost as if he was getting some kind of pleasure of out faking out the high-flying bat.

Nightshade however held firm. To his credit, he realized that simply charging the larger, beefier rhino would have been a terrible idea. The latter held the advantage in both height as well as weight. As such he opted to continue waiting. He hoped that, barring him finding a hole in Sarge’s defense, he could find a way to put one in there and build off of that.

But Sarge didn’t give him a chance to do either. Dashing forward with a speed that belied his heftier build Sarge darted behind Nightshade and wrapped his arms around him. Then Sarge picked him up and slammed a startled and screaming Nightshade into the canvas. He felt the bat attempting to pull away and did it again. And again. And again.

It was the fourth sidewalk slam that knocked the wind right out of Nightshade. He hadn’t expected the former army sergeant to put up this much of a fight. The match had barely started and already he was out of breath. Still, he was not out yet. Not by a long shot.

Every subsequent slam had taken just knocked just that much of the fight out of him. But despite being slammed into the mat so many times Nightshade still had some fight in him, and was still trying to squirm out of Sarge’s iron grip.  

Sarge had to give it to Nightshade, that bat could really take a beating. Not that he expected him to be taken out so quickly. The bat didn’t seem that weak. Still, it was a pleasant change of pace to be wrestling like this. It brought back vivid memories of basic. Sarge shook his head against the memetic onslaught; he needed to focus. Redirecting his attention back to the present Sarge gave himself a good shake and then rose to his feet, bringing a winded Nightshade up to his feet as well. Then he turned and threw Nightshade into the ropes and caught him just as he stumbled backwards. Then he wrapped his arms around him once again and in one fluid motion swung him into the air while bending his knee and sticking it out before bringing the bat back down and slamming the crack of his golden-clothed ass onto his outstretched knee.

Nightshade yowled piteously at the sudden drop. An anguished expression was frozen on the bat’s masked face as he felt Sarge pull away. The bat’s muscular knees hobbled and knocked together while his upper-body froze in place. As such, he was only dimly aware of the massive but surprisingly speedy rhino, who had taken off into the ropes behind him.

Running into the ropes Sarge then used the momentum to come back and deliver a devastating dropkick to Nightshade’s rightside.

The force of the blow sent Nightshade flying into a corner. Nightshade was barely able to catch himself before hitting the turnpost. Bringing himself up to a knee Nightshade steadied himself on the ropes. Sparing a glance upwards he saw Sarge across the ring. The bastard rhino had a huge smirk on his face.

His right side hurting like hell Nightshade started to bring himself fully onto his feet, using the ropes as leverage. Just as Nightshade’s hands reached for the top ropes his big bat ears picked up the sounds of someone stomping on the ground. Gingerly turning his head in the direction of the sound Nightshade’s scowl turned into a wide-eyed stare as he saw Sarge coming right for him, horn first, from all the way across the ring. Throwing his hands in instinct Nightshade in instead surprised when the noise suddenly stopped. Peeking out from behind his crisscrossed arms Nightshade looked up to find Sarge looming over him, staring down at him with unreadable eyes. Nightshade caught himself returning Sarge’s gaze with a bewildered, eyebrow-cocking look of his own. Just what was the rhino up to, he wondered. His surprise doubled when the masked sergeant reached out and pulled the startled bat into a deep, passionate kiss.

Through swift Sarge was not gentle, his tongue swiftly forcing itself into Nightshade’s mouth and pressed the latter’s tongue into submission. Sarge watched on as Nightshade’s eyes fluttered from the skillful kiss. He must not be getting a lot of them, Sarge realized. Then, just as the latter was beginning to exhale Sarge pulled away, a trail of translucent spit connecting the two wrestlers for a brief moment before falling away.

Nightshade’s eyes fluttered briefly as he felt the kiss end. Opening his eyes completely he looked up to see the rhino smirking down at him. He eyed the trail of spit that connected the two and caught himself leaning towards the rhino.  Blinking wildly as realization kicked in Nightshade’s bewilderment turned into rage. With a savage growl Nightshade grabbed Sarge’s jacket and flung him into the corner. There he went on to deliver a series of devastating chops to and blows to the rhino’s chest.

Or rather what he thought were devastating chops and blows.

Stepping out of the corner Sarge grabbed on the bat’s mane and threw him into the corner, apparently none the worse for wear for all the blows he’d just received. Sarge reared his arm back and swung but the bat saw the telegraphed punch and moved out of the way. Stepping behind him Nightshade grabbed Sarge by the shoulders, swung him around and then delivered a devastating uppercut to his scruffy grey chin, sending the big guy back into the corner. Once there Nightshade started back up on him, pummeling him with a series of punches and chops that proved to be much more successful than the other ones did, if Sarge’s grunts and winches were anything to go off of.

After he was finished, and once he was satisfied with what he’d done to him Nightshade took Sarge by the arm and whipped him out of the corner. But the massive rhino still had some fight left in him it seemed, and reversed the whip. Said reversal was immediately reversed, however, and Sarge found himself running into the corner. He just barely managed to catch himself on the top-ropes before he hit the turnbuckle.

Sarge heard Nightshade running behind him and stepped off to the side, allowing the bat to slide into the turnbuckle where he otherwise would have been. That Nightshade was able to catch himself on the ropes as he had didn’t surprise Sarge. All he needed was the momentary pause to catch the bat by the back of his head. And that he did. Once he had it Sarge then slammed Nightshade’s face into the post. Sarge did this three more times before letting go. Then Sarge dropped to his knees and slid his arm beneath the staggering Nightshade and looped it around up and over one of his legs. After which he shifted his shoulder and took advantage of the bat’s wobbly stance, pulling the bat’s legs out from under him and slamming him into the mat. While he did was doing this Sarge shifted his legs so that he was pressing down on the bat- whose furry shoulders were pressed evenly against the mat- using his arm to hold the bat and the weight of his body to help press him down.  

The grizzled referee was quick to slid down beside and pound out a pin-fall.  

1…

2…

3…

Hearing the ref count out to three Sarge dropped Nightshade onto the mat. The bells ringing almost immediately afterwards signaling his victory. At the ref’s insistence Sarge he jumped up, at first letting the grizzled shepherd raise his hand, before pulling away to jump around the ring. He went from post to post, jumping to the very top, proclaiming his superiority to each of the cameras, which hovered just beyond. He avoided the corner where the bat laid motionless, almost completely disregarding the opponent he’d just finished defeating.

Nightshade didn’t say anything, lying motionless in his corner while his opponent coveted the rest of the ring. He’d thrown an arm across his face, his muscular forearm obscuring his eyes. The lone camera that closed in on him failed to pick up on the way his eyes blazed behind his arm.

----

As they were the only ones in the locker room Percival expected there to be much less tension than there actually was. And as he stepped out of the shower his mind couldn’t help but go back to the match. It wouldn’t have been fair to call it a squash match; the bat did manage to get some pretty good hits in. And it wasn’t like they didn’t enjoy themselves. Or at least, he did.

Maybe I shouldn’t have left him in the ring, Percival thought to himself, as he walked up to his locker and put in his combination. Maybe I shouldn’t have left him there. But then again he didn’t do anything when I left. And he hasn’t said anything to me since.

Ultimately Percival was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the showers turn off and heard the soft pitter-patter of wet footsteps on white tile. Turning away from the shirt, shorts, and sandals he’d pulled out of his locker Percival turned his attention to the big purple bat that had stepped out of the showers. The steam made him look more appealing Percival had to admit, even if it wreaked havoc on his mane.

Percival watched the bat step out of the doorway and up to a locker. It surprised him a bit to find out that the locker the bat used wasn’t too far from his own. It certainly made what Sarge was about to do a whole lot easier.  Percival looked on at the bat entered his own combination and opened his locker, pulling out what appeared to be an expensive looking suit and shoes. Just who was this guy?

“Hey.” That didn’t get the bat’s attention. Percival had expected that.

“That was a good match,” Percival continued hopefully, “You’re a lot tougher than I thought you’d be.”

Percival wanted to kick himself almost as soon as he heard what he’d said. Luckily the bat didn’t seem to hear him say that either. He had started to towel himself off, focusing on his mane.

“Good match.” Sarge caught himself blinking. He hadn’t expected the bat to say anything.

“Um. What?”

“That was a good match,” reiterated the bat, his movements swift and through, “I didn’t expect you to be that quick or that powerful. It looks like I’ve got quite a long ways to go.”

Percival couldn’t help but grin at the bat’s humility. “You weren’t too bad,” said the rhino, not bothering to hide the grin that formed on his face. “You can certainly take a beating, that’s for sure! Was that your first time wrestling like that?”

“In a sense,” said the bat, “I’ve done some training but that was my first time doing the real thing. Are they always that fast? The matches I mean.”

Percival shook his head. “Not really. It usually comes down to skill strength and stamina. Though sometimes things can change based on what the promoters want.”

The bat cocked an eyebrow at that. “Really?”

Percival’s grin grew even wider. “Yeah!”

The two kept up the small talk for a good while before something started to ring from the inside of Percival’s locker.

“Excuse me,” said the rhino, as he quickly reached inside and pulled out an army camo duffle bag, out of which he pulled out a ringing phone. “I’ve got to take this.”

At the bat’s nod Percival stepped back and around the smaller wrestler, circling the locker room and stepping off into one of the smaller adjacent rooms where he knew he could get some privacy.

While he was doing this the bat simply continued to dry himself off. He pulled out another towel when the first one got too wet to be of use. His mane tended to need more than one towel after a good soak. It was nearly done when Percival returned. There was a hurried look on the rhino’s chiseled face.

“Something’s come up and I have to go,” he said, his tone almost apologetic, “Sorry to bail out on you like this.”

“No worries,” said the bat with a dismissive wave of his right hand, “these things happen. It’s no big deal. Will you be free to talk again later?”

Percival smirked down at the bat as he bent over to pick up and put on his clothes. “Sure. I’ll hit you up whenever I’m available and we can take up where we left off.”

The bat smiled over at the rhino. “Sure.”

Percival was dressed and out the door not too long after that. He did stop to give the bat a meaningful look and wave before closing the door behind him though. The sounds of the rhino’s heavy footsteps echoed throughout the locker room, slowly diminishing as he moved further away before ceasing altogether.

At that the bat turned his attention back to his locker. Reaching inside he pulled out a small brown box. Opening it revealed a small clear vial, filled with a strange substance that looked like rich caramel dotted with small glowing stars.

“You are late,” said the bat aloud, seemingly to no in particular.

“My apologies,” said a voice from out of nowhere. Almost immediately afterwards a small gust of wind burst out of the ground behind the bat. Thin ribbons of cerulean energy swirled and danced within the wind, accentuated here and there by glistening snowflakes. The cerulean panorama parted to reveal a hulking white polar bear.  Nearly as tall as the rhino and just as muscular, the polar bear certainly cut an impressive figure. His thick hands were adorned with fur-lined gloves, colored the same blue as not only the eldritch winds that brought him there but the boots, trunks, and mask. “It took some time for me to get here,” he explained, his deep white eyes boring holes into the back of the bat’s head.

“That doesn’t matter,” the bat snorted, as turned his gaze back to the vial in his hands, “Did you get what I asked for?” The masked bear gave him a sharp nod he knew he couldn’t see and an “affirmative” which he knew he could hear.

“Excellent. That will do quite nicely. Now, if you’ll give me a moment.” He popped the top off the vial and downed the curious caramel-colored substance in one swift gulp, winching at the vile taste. Almost immediately afterwards he started to shrink, losing a couple of inches in both height and weight. And while this was going on his luxurious purple fur had begun to fade away, taking on the same caramel-tone as the substance of the potion he’d just drank. His periwinkle mane faded into the color of faded oak, contrasting nicely with the rest of the body. The end result of the transformation was not Nightshade, the high-flying wrestler who’d just gotten his ass handed to him but Sebastian Perez, owner and promoter of the FWL.

Sebastian bit back a shudder as he felt the potion’s finishing its job, returning his fur to his natural hue. And once that was finished he put the now-empty bottle back into its tight brown box and stuffed it back into his locker. Then, he turned around and started to look himself over in the mirror that adorned the inside of his locker’s door. “It always gives me such a rush when I take that stuff. I always” he said as he returned to face the bear, the potion’s effects having traveled to even his voice. The voice he had as Nightshade was a bit louder and further reaching than his natural voice. That made it easier to distance him and his alter-ego in the minds of others.

“But I suppose that you’re not here for that.” He didn’t need the silence that followed to know that. “Very well then. Onto business.” Turning around Sebastian took up the suit that he had laid out and started to get dressed, seemingly disregarding the hulking masked polar-bear who’d just magicked himself into his locker room in a swirl of ice and snow. “I take it that you’re aware of what had just transpired,” he asked over his shoulder, “Good. That makes things easier. You were right about the rhino. He will do quite nicely.”

“I thought so,” doled the aforementioned bear, “That is why I showed him to you. He will make an excellent addition, no?”

“Yes he will,” Sebastian responded, as he buttoned up his shirt, “Did you have anyone else in mind?”

“Him.” The bear had let his voice hang just long enough for the bat to deduce just who it was that he wanted.

“Him,” Sebastian scoffed, “You want him?”

“Yes.” The polar bear was surprisingly dogmatic about this.

“Why am I not surprised?” Turning to stare into the white eyes of his ursine compatriot and sighed.  “Very well then, you can have him. Just take care not to damage him too terribly. Remember, he is still under contract. Not to mention one of my highest grossing performers.”

“Do not worry. I will make sure that he is not broken.”

“Excellent.” By the time they’d finished up their negotiations Sebastian had already finished getting dressed. He had turned to check himself out once more in a mirror, smiling at the way his outfit accentuated his form. “Then if that is all I should return to my office. No doubt that paperwork has doubled in the last few days. To say nothing about the amount of fine-tuning this new line is going to require.” Sebastian sighed, “So much paperwork.”

The big polar bear said nothing as he watched Sebastian prattle on, watching the bat pack the remainder of his things and stuff them back into his locker before turning to walk out the door.

“I will be sure to contact you once I have managed to acquire what I need on my end.” And with that Sebastian left the locker room, the ursine disappearing in a swirl of sparkling blue sparkles as the door closed shut behind his “boss”.

----

The rhino steps out into the clear night air, breathing deeply of the crisp night air. Undaunted he walks out onto the parking-lot, paying little mind to the police cruiser parked on the other side of the lot.

“Is that him, Clark” asked the cougar in the passenger’s side.

The silver-furred gorilla in the driver’s seat shook his head and sighed, “No Greg, that’s not him. That’s just the rhino I told you about.”

The scruffy cougar gave his partner a weary glance. “Do you think that he’ll come out this way?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. Then with a savage growl he slammed his fist into the wheel, barely missing the car horn and surprising the hell out of his partner. “I should’ve put that bug in my locker when I had the chance!”

Greg took his time before responding, making sure to keep his tone soft and mellow as he spoke. “But that wouldn’t have worked right? You yourself said that Perez was onto you and was probably going through your locker. You did all that you could Clark.”

The gorilla threw his head back and sighed. “We’re no closer to capturing him now than we were a year ago when this operation started.”

His friend struggled to find “Maybe you’re just looking at this the wrong way. You said that he was interested in you right?”

Clark covered his face up as the memories of his escapades forced a blush onto his weather-beaten face. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything,” he argued back, “For all we know, he could already be onto me.”

“But that isn’t set in stone right,” his partner fired right back, “We still don’t if he’s found you out or if he’s just taking a fancy to you. Didn’t you say that he’s gotten really sweet on you?”

The blush on Clark’s face intensified. “Maybe.”

“Then let’s work with that,” said the cougar, continuing his argument even as he shackled  his fears about his partner being in too deep and stuffed them into a box in the back of his mind, “Just keep going to those events and looking for something that can put that guy away. It shouldn’t be that hard, now that we know that you’ve got his attention.”

He stared at his partner in silence for a minute, letting his words sink in. He was rewarded when Clark’s hands slid off his face and a small smile on his lips. “You’re right,” he heard him say, “Thanks Greg.”

“Don’t mention it.” He’d have to have a talk with the captain about all of this when he had the chance. Sebastian Perez was a dominant man: what he wanted he got. Having a plan B in case things got messy  wasn’t a bad idea. “Now, what say we get a bite to eat?”

Clark gave his partner a small grin before turning the ignition. “Sounds like a plan,” he stated, as he right hand shifted the gears, “Got any place in mind?”

“How about that one chinese place that just opened up on Parker,” asked Greg, his tone wistfully hopeful.

Clark grunted his approval even as he started to drive. “Sounds good to me,” he said with a grin, “I’m so hungry I don’t care what we eat.”

“I can tell,” cooed the cougar, as he patted his partner playfully on the stomach “You’ve been packing on the pounds. Been hitting those donut shops between matches?”

“Oh, so you got jokes now?”

The two bantered back and forth, swapping playful stories and anecdotes as they drove off into the night, the only thing on their minds was finding somewhere to get some food. Neither of them spoke another word about the case for the remainder of the evening.