Damaged Goods

[Joe Zhivago]

The rain was lashing down and washing small shards of broken glass down the sidewalk as Joe ducked under the police tape blocking the entrance to his Uncle’s jazz club. Not long had passed since Big Ed, In a fit of ruthless vengeance, came to this place with his goons and violently attacked Joe's Uncle - leaving him in a critical condition in hospital.

 

As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Joe began to take in the full extent of the damage. The place looked like it had been through a blender. All the musical trinkets Johnny had collected over the years had been destroyed. Joe clenched his fists tightly in his jacket pockets.

 

Joe waded through the overturned tables and chairs to Johnny's office behind the bar. It had been ransacked, an old CRT monitor lay smashed to pieces on the floor. In amongst the chaos, Joe saw an old framed photo, he reached down and gently removed it from the broken glass. It was a photo of his father, the man he was named after, Joseph Zhivago. In the photo his father was in the middle of a wrestling ring, locked into a figure-four (which he called the "Thistly Cross") with a unknown opponent who looked like he was going to tap at any moment, his tag partner Johnny Blake Burns was standing on the apron with a wicked expression cheering him on. He smiled to himself as he carefully put the photo in his inside pocket.

 

Joe found what he came for - he wasn't long gone before the deafening roar of Ed and his gang arrived on their motorcycles. Joe didn't know what they wanted with the place, but he wasn't about to stick around and find out.

[Joe Zhivago]

Just so you all know, I plan on taking the figure four as Joe's second finisher so if ever lock it in I will be trying to end the match.