http://pub26.ezboard.com/fewa10716frm15.showMessage?topicID=7.topic

A quick introduction, if I may. This is an old post from LWN... so why is it here? Well, my character has carried over from LWN to EWA. More importantly, this is the best post I've ever done. Hands down. So, I wanted to see it back up here. Hope you don't mind my narcissistic posting self-fellatio. And enjoy. Oh, and for the record; originally posted 19 January 2000 at the LWN Efed.

The shot opens with an aerial view of the helipad at the top of Rebel Towers in downtown Washington, DC. A helicopter (obviously not the one the camera is on) is shown descending to said helipad as a group of men in suits bustle out onto the roof. The scene changes to one of the rooftop. Bubba is standing there with Driscoll, waiting as The Silicon Toad comes out of the copter, which subsequently lifts off. Unlike previous times when we have seen the Toad, he is wearing a black suit with a black shirt and a red tie, and wraparound mirrored sunglasses. The crystal is still around his neck, though, and he still looks deathly pale.

Silicon Toad: (speaking relatively loud over the chopper noise and the winds on the roof) What is this?

Bubba: Mr. Hoya needs to see you.

Silicon: About?

Driscoll: Come on. We don't know, but he said he wants to speak with you in his office.

The three men walk to an enclosure on the roof, where they enter an express elevator. The camera reopens on the floor of the Executive Suite at Rebel Towers. Driscoll and Silicon get off the elevator, but Bubba stays on as the doors close. The two men, without a word to each other, walk to Hoya's office door. It's closed. Driscoll knocks, then admits Silicon through the door, closes the door, and departs. Silicon enters the office. It's fancy -- almost a library meets a museum. It's been redecorated recently, in fact, he notices the scent of wood in the air. The shelves are lined with books. There's a wool topcoat and a pair of gloves on the floor, belonging to the man in the chair at the desk -- Hoyakillah. He's on the phone, and checking something on his computer at the same time, with his feet up on the desk. But he puts his feet down and motions Silicon to take a seat in front of his desk. He concludes his phone conversation, and turns to Silicon.

Hoyakillah: (still on the phone) ...Tell strategic planning that I need a White Paper up here in the next few days. Topic B. ...Understood? ...Excellent. Talk to you later. He presses a couple buttons on his phone console. Clare? ...Mr. Toad has arrived. Please hold all calls. ...Even him. If he needs me, tell him to page me or get me on my cell. Turn the phone in here off, if you would. ...Thank you. ...Yes, we will be. I'll be on-net, don't worry. Thanks.

He hangs up the phone, stands, and takes Silicon's hand, shaking it.

Hoya: Take your coat?

Silicon: I'm fine, thank you. Why did you call me in here?

Hoya: Well, first of all, Silicon, I wanted to introduce you to this place. It's going to be sort of home to you from now on, in some ways. There's a lot of interesting things here -- you'll get to learn it.

He sits down on the edge of the table, looking remarkably relaxed for someone who has been under as much stress as he has been as of late.

Hoya: But my motives are a little more selfish, in some ways as well.

Silicon: What do you mean?

Hoya: Follow me.

Puzzled, Silicon gets up out of his chair and heads for the door.

Hoya: No. Silicon looks even more confused. Follow me.

He leads him over to a bay window, overlooking Washington, DC. The window juts out enough so that both men stand comfortably on it.

Hoya: See this? Silicon nods. We control much of this. But that's not why you're here.

He presses a button on a device in his pocket, and the floor hums a bit. Then, it starts to descend, just the bay window. Silicon looks a little uneasy at first.

Hoya: Don't worry. It's cool.

The floor moves down, to the point where the two Southern Gentlemen are actually beneath Hoya's office. Behind is all black, but the bay window is still there, so they can see out into DC. The hidden elevator stops one floor down.

Hoya: You'll notice, someday, that there is a missing floor here. We take care of it very simply by making all the elevators stop at the second-to-top floor, and then if someone is going to the Executive Suite, through the security "cordon sanitaire", they go up an elevator which goes directly up. To the world, this floor doesn't exist.

He presses a button, and the black doors slide open. The two men step into... no, not a garden paradise. A relatively large room, functional. One wall is all windows, mirrored so that people can see out, but not in. The other walls are simple. The room itself is about the size of, say, two wrestling rings put together, although there is nothing of business or wrestling in the room. Rather, there is a bar, three or four couches, a stereo, television, computer, etc. Like a well-furnished den.

Silicon: What's the point?

Hoya: This is my real office. No one outside the SG has ever seen it before. Now, you do.

Silicon: This doesn't take up the entire floor...

Hoya: No, it doesn't. Rebel has a much larger suite here, and if I'm not mistaken, Healius has one as well, although I could be wrong. If he does, it's a relatively new addition. You may have noticed the smells in my "office" upstairs. Silicon nods. That's all new renovation. Ever since Andrew and DC joined up... well, there have been some changes here. Let's just leave it at that.

Silicon: You mean... since your rapprochement with the Southern Gentlemen?

Hoya: Exactly. Bourbon? Silicon nods, and Hoya walks over to the bar, pulling out a bottle of Booker's bourbon, a bottle of Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey, two glasses, and ice. I didn't know how you took it.

Silicon: Jack. Neat.

Hoya pours a measure for Silicon, and a measure of Booker's on ice for himself. He hands it to Silicon, who walks around the office, or den, which is a better word for it. Hoya walks over to the Bang and Olufsen stereo in the wall, and presses a button. Orbital's "Halcyon and On and On" starts to play in the background. Silicon is looking out the windowwall, and Hoya walks up next to him.

Silicon: All this wealth. How?

Hoya: Ever heard of arbitrage? Silicon shakes his head. It involves super-fast trading of currencies for each other to catch miniscule deviations. You pocket the difference, and if you do enough, fast enough, you can make a lot. I learned under a fellow by the name of George Soros. I don't know if you've ever heard of him -- he's an international financier. I was one of his prize pupils, back in the day.

Silicon: Back in the day? You're younger than me.

Hoya: Back in the day... well, believe it or not, that means high school. Rebel introduced me to him.

Silicon: Is Rebel your...

Hoya: No, he's not my father. My parents are good old-fashioned middle-class folks, who actually live in the area. Rebel's an old family friend. I've known him... god, like my whole life.

Silicon: Family friend?

Hoya: Yeah. Anyhow, in seventh and eighth grade, Rebel saw to it that I was bumped ahead in math classes by a couple years, then given some economics instruction at Georgetown.

Silicon: The Georgetown connection?

Hoya: Yeah. Anyhow, by the time I was fifteen, I knew the markets pretty well. Spent three years with Soros. Got my family out of middle class into financial security, but more importantly, put a lot of money away in an account no one knew about.

Silicon: Why?

Hoya: Ever since I was little, I was always taught to prepare for contingencies.

Silicon: Since you were little? Sounds like an odd childhood.

Hoya: (chuckling) Actually, it was perfectly normal. The CD changes to something unfamiliar, acoustic guitars and percussion.

Silicon: What's this?

Hoya: They're called Guster. I've worked with them -- they're out of Boston.

Silicon: What's with you and music?

Hoya: I took piano lessons for years, then picked up the guitar in high school. I learned that I have an uncanny ability to tell what sounds good and what doesn't. That's what led to one of my jobs in college.

Silicon: At Georgetown?

Hoya: School of Foreign Service. No, I was introduced to a guy named Ahmet Ertegun. He runs Arista Records. Anyhow, he gave me an A&R job. I did pretty well.

Silicon: Who did you sign?

Hoya: A bunch of bands. And I learned about a lot more that are just absolutely mind-blowing, and who I think will break. Like these guys. There's another one that I worked with... they're called Agents of Good Roots... He trails off.

Silicon: What is it?

Hoya: Nothing... just... they were playing on the radio on the way to Richmond that night... something I'd rather not think about.

Silicon: So, you go off to college at Georgetown. You work for a record label. What else?

Hoya: I worked for the Dean at the time, a guy named Peter Krogh. Arrogant, but powerful, and well connected. He taught me how to play the cocktail game.

Silicon: And that is?

Hoya: How to be someone the general public never hears of, but who the powerful people always talk about at their cocktail parties. Good lesson. Anyhow, I graduate from Georgetown, and go off for a few years.

Silicon: And do?

Hoya: I consulted for the Mitre Corporation and SAIC for a while. Government contracts. Met a lot of people.

Silicon: You never worked for --

Hoya: No.

Silicon: Hmph.

Hoya: (moving on quickly) Anyhow, I consulted for a few years, and then went back to school. Johns Hopkins, in Dupont Circle, the School for Advanced International Studies. I would go down to Georgetown a lot, to see Rebel -- this was when he was getting his master's in National Security Studies from SFS. And that's when I met Healius.

Silicon: How?

Hoya: He was working for a law firm here in town, White and Case. They're on our payroll here, as is Williams and Connolly. And he was attending Georgetown Law at the same time. So we met through Rebel, who was doing a joint JD/MSFS with Georgetown.

Silicon: So you've known Healius for a few years?

Hoya: Yeah. I met Luch then, too.

Silicon: Was he still as fat?

Hoya: Actually, he was rail thin.

Silicon: (spitting out a little bit of his drink) You're kidding me!

Hoya: Nope. Let me refill that. He walks over to the bar, talking as he pours. He was called Luch of the Luchadores for a reason. He's the one who got me into shootfighting. But he got into some financial trouble, and well, it was because he owned a bar. So he started eating bar food and drinking beer and whiskey all the time, stopped wrestling, and put on all that weight.

Silicon: Jesus, maybe I shouldn't have that drink.

Hoya: You'll be fine. Luch epitomizes what we're against here at Rebel Enterprises.

Silicon: And that is?

Hoya: The lack of a safety net. We have enough capital here scattered in enough places, and trust me THAT took a lot of work, that even if, say, the NYSE was to crash to zero, we could all still live quite comfortably.

Silicon: Really?

Hoya: Yeah. Welcome to the world of stability, Silicon.

Silicon: It's got to be nice.

Hoya: It is. In fact... we just got a major break pumping up our available capital. We work with a group in California called IVP, which does venture capital. We just hit it BIG TIME with an IPO.

Silicon: All this financial stuff is making my head hurt.

Hoya: It's ok. You won't be working on that.

Silicon: What exactly will I be doing?

Hoya: Here at Rebel Inc.? You'll be a Junior Vice President for Research and Development. It reports directly to me as Executive Vice President, and I report to Rebel. Nice, smooth chain of command.

Silicon: Wow.

Hoya: But I didn't call you in here to talk about Rebel Inc, nor did I call you in here to talk about my life story.

Silicon: I know.

Hoya: So why did you do it?

Silicon: What do you mean?

Hoya: Why did you approach one of my people with interests? Why did you want to join?

Silicon: ...I'd rather not say. He is standing behind Hoya's desk, with an empty glass, which Hoya wordlessly takes with him. Looking at the desk, he sees a picture of a girl. Blond hair, a bit too much makeup, but a nice enough smile. Who's this?

Hoya: (from the bar) Who?

Silicon: Her. The blond.

Hoya walks from the bar with Silicon's glass, a cigar in his hand.

Hoya: Do you mind?

Silicon shakes his head, so Hoya cuts it, lights it, and walks to the windowwall, silently. Silicon stands back, looking at the picture.

Hoya: (appearing to talk to the wall) Her name's Kelly. She's an old "friend."

Silicon: Ah, an ex-girlfriend?

Hoya: No, just a "friend."

Silicon: Then why do you have her picture here?

Hoya: Because she was also Healius' "friend."

Silicon is silent, looking at the picture.

Hoya: (continuing on, looking out the window) Back in BIF, Healius and I fought over her. In real life, as well. You see, the BIF was so tricky because it was shootfighting, and it wasn't booked, so you never knew who was going to win, but more importantly, things became personal real quick. She came between us. He turns from the window, looking at Silicon. I keep her picture because she was the first woman to come between me and someone in the Organization.

Silicon: I thought the Southern Gentlemen didn't exist until LWN...

Hoya: No, we still existed back then. Almost didn't, thanks to her.

Silicon: Whatever happened to her?

Hoya: Last time I checked, she was in Mexico City.

Silicon: So...

Hoya: You see, Silicon. We exist because of people like her. Not just the women that might try to drive us apart. But because people are looking to keep us down.

Silicon walks over to the window, standing next to Hoya, sipping his whiskey.

Hoya: The people out there are generally sheep. They let themselves be controlled.

Silicon and Hoya stare out the window into the hive of activity that is Washington, DC, in rush hour.

Hoya: Silicon, there are those that are controlled, and those that control. Here, we control.

Silicon: Ah...

Hoya: We have to look beyond the distractions which occupy usual people. This applies to Rebel Inc and to the SG.

Silicon: Explain.

Hoya: You see the Commissioner? Well, we don't control everything. But we maintain some grip on the events in LWN. It's not easy -- the Executive Committee is tilted against us. But we hold our own, as you have seen.

Silicon: Why?

Hoya: When I came into LWN, there was a Great Insidious Evil present. I don't know if you've heard the stories...

Silicon: Yes. Go on.

Hoya: He was intent on making my life a living hell. And he did. I fought back. Then he left. And left me unfulfilled.

Silicon: You never got revenge?

Hoya: Precisely. Then, the mWo, which became the ruling faction, smiled upon me. I won the CruiserPost title.

Silicon: Yes...

Hoya: And the night after, I was in a bar, with Healius, Rebel, and a couple others -- ODW from BIF, and an old friend, Big Daddy Aziz. We were talking. And after that night, I convinced Rebel to come to LWN. That's when the Southern Gentlemen came to LWN. And I was convinced I wasn't going to be out of control any more.

Silicon: But...

Hoya: Then Kalli came along. She was with this guy, FTW. Remember him?

Silicon: Yes. Go on...

"Shape of my Heart" by Sting is playing in the background.

Hoya: I fell for her. Hard. You remember all that business, last June, last July.

Silicon: I wasn't with LWN, but I remember seeing it all.

Hoya: You were watching?

Silicon nods, and a half-grin flashes across Hoya's face, quickly gone.

Hoya: Through all this, Hey Kid joins the SG. Anyhow, one night, at NitRAW, over there (he points) at the MCI Center --

Silicon: -- Isn't that the site for Lightning tomorrow night?

Hoya: -- yes. Anyhow, DoPlo was the Commissioner at the time, and he booked me and Hey Kid to fight Kalli and FTW, I think it was for the tag titles. Understandably, I balked.

Silicon: Of course.

Hoya: FTW was a heel back then. I guess HK and I were faces, it was kinda ambiguous. Anyhow, I walked out there at the MCI Center, and I said no.

Silicon: What do you mean?

Hoya: I walked out there, and said I wouldn't wrestle. Wouldn't hit a girl, much less... much less the girl I was in love with.

Silicon: I understand.

Hoya: So I said no. Then DoPlo comes out, all arrogant, and says I have to. So what do I do? I walk through the ropes, walk up to him, and deck him.

Silicon: You decked him?

Hoya: Yeah. Full force. Walked out. And I lost the CruiserPost belt because of that. That's when Rebel and I realized that something needed to be done about the mWo. So we took them to court.

Silicon: I remember that. It was all over the news.

Hoya: (by now talking half to Silicon, half to himself) We won. The mWo lost everything. And DoPlo lost the Commissionership. That's when the Executive Committee was created -- of course, it was completely different then than it is today. And then, J.J. McDerrick made Rebel the Commissioner.

Silicon: How did that happen, anyway?

Hoya: McDerrick was in financial trouble. We helped.

Silicon: Really...

Hoya: Yeah. And that's when we began the power climb. Healius came on board from BIF. All that fun stuff.

Silicon: And then there was you and...

Hoya: Look, I'd really rather not go into that right now.

Silicon: Open wounds?

Hoya: Call it... a lack of focus. Anyhow, now that DC and Andrew joined up, we became one of the top factions here. Especially after we crashed out some of our biggest competitors...

Silicon: THAT WAS YOU?

Hoya: It's not something we discuss here. This room is secure. But not necessarily secure enough. Anyhow, with your arrival, we're in a position of relative strength, especially looking to WinterWar.

Silicon: I guess... we... are.

Hoya just looks out the window. The sun is starting to set over the buildings. He and Silicon look out, as Silicon knocks back the last of his drink. He then walks over to the elevator platform.

Hoya: Come. There's much to do.

Silicon walks over to the elevator. The black doors close, and the sunset comes in the window as the elevator goes up to the formal "office." He stoops, and picks up his coat.

Silicon: Where to?

Hoya: To work.

He escorts Silicon to the door, and opens it. Silicon steps through, and Hoya follows him, letting the door close on the camera, as it fades to grey...