AMA Stagefright and Barcodes

[WelshyBOI]

Stagefright and Barcodes

Written by:
@WelshyBOI (Bellatrix Bordeaux)
and
@Patriot Pants (Bret Bordeaux)



The promo begins in the Gorilla Position, during AMA's Manifest Destiny PPV, where we see a highly frantic looking Bellatrix Bordeaux pacing back and forth before peering out of the curtain that separates the backstage area from the stage. We can hear the various crowd noises that come with watching a wrestling match, as the fans react appreciatively at the violence that’s being displayed before them. As she continues to pace and peer, a few AMA staff members can be seen wearing different looks on their faces, ranging from concerned to freaked out, as Trixie begins to mutter to herself inaudibly.

As Trixie’s panic attack continues, once again peering through the curtain and glimpsing the sea of AMA fans, we hear a voice coming from out of shot.

“Aye, cool, you're already here. I was hoping you wouldn't forget about the mat-"

Trix’s head swivels around violently, a look of dread on her face, completely stopping her brother in his tracks. His face shifts from confidence to confusion with a sprinkle of worry as he takes out his Bluetooth headphones and looks at his sister.

"You uh…you good?"

Visibly shaking, Bellatrix glares a hole through her brother, causing Bret to tense up. She begins to speak frantically.

"Am I good?! AM I GOOD?! NO! I’m not smurfing good! Have you seen it out there?! LOOK! There’s millions of them! Millions of people! With EYES! -"

Bret exhales a sigh of relief before smirking at his sister, seemingly understanding Trix’s predicament.

"Stagefright…yeah, I remember my first time performing in front of people. Really, it's not that ba-"

"NO, DUDE!"

Trixie's outburst causes Bret to jump. Realizing that several people are now staring at them, she lowers her voice to a whisper.

“I don’t wanna go to jail, Bret…I can’t go through with it.”

As she speaks, her voice begins to tremble anxiously.

“Operation Cakewalk is off…there are too many witnesses. I don’t wanna go to jail, Bret…I wouldn’t last.”

As Bret’s eyes widened with the remembrance that he lied about their occupation, he suddenly garners a feeling of shame as his lie sends his sister ever deeper into a sea of trepidation. Brushing this feeling aside and looking to lighten the mood, he quips.

"Pretty sure you'd be in solitary for hitmanning. Which is probably better than being in general pop."

The smirk on Bret’s face after what he perceived to be a funny joke dissipates as he stares at his sister, who’s looking as though she’s about to explode into a thunderstorm of tears as the thought of being locked away envelopes her over-imaginative mind. Realizing that he’s just made things worse, he gently grasps Trix by the shoulders, causing his sister to wince, before speaking in a soft, reassuring voice.

"Look…the people out there? The ones watching? They're, uh…they're in on the whole thing."

Looking up at her brother, Trixie snivels, with the water from her eyes causing mascara to run slowly down her face. Her look of fear breaks slightly, with a glimmer of hope entering her eyes.

"Whatchu mean?"

Seeing that he’s making progress, Bret doubles down on his comment.

"Oh, yeah. They’re here to uh…evaluate how we do. I must've forgotten to tell you that. It's all very official, ya know? The company hired us, and they want to make sure that we're the real deal."

Slowly calming down as she contemplates her brother’s explanation, Trix responds, her voice still shaky.

“Soooooo, they’re not gonna take me to the slammer?”

Bret chuckles, trying to mask the ever-growing feeling of guilt that’s eating away at his stomach, before speaking in a reassuring voice.

“Noooooo, of course not. I wouldn’t let anything like that happen to you. You know that, right?”

Wiping her eyes, resulting in her mascara becoming smudged and untidy, and sniffling some escaping snot back up her nose, she nods. Bret, beaming that he’s successfully calmed his sister, removes his hands from her shoulders before continuing.

“Good…now then, let's go out there and show those judges how real hitmen and hitwomen do it, yeah?”

Trixie, her face looking a mess, does a snorty laugh as a smile escapes her for seemingly the first time today before responding to her brother.

“Yeah, let's kick some butt!”

Chucking in response to his sister’s newfound enthusiasm, Bret gestures with his hand for her to follow as he walks towards the curtain leading to the stage. He stops just shy of the curtain before beginning to jump on the spot, looking to get his body warmed up before being given the signal to make their entrance.

Bret turns his head to look at his sister, now standing beside him to his left, and notices something. On her right shoulder, as clear as day, there lays a tattoo…a barcode tattoo. Bret, completely perplexed, stares at it for a few moments before asking.

“Uh, Trix…what’s that?”

Trixie turns her head to face Bret, who’s still looking directly at the shoulder that’s currently housing the tattoo, and not putting two and two together as to the nature of his question, she responds.

“What’s what?”

Rolling his eyes at Trix’s cluelessness, Bret raises his hand and pokes her still tender shoulder with his left index finger.

“That.”

Letting out an “Ouch!” at the poke, with the tattoo seemingly being a very recent addition to her attire, Trixie responds.

“I’ve been playing that Hitman game thingy with Miss Cali X from Twitter, and apparently, hitmen are supposed to have a tattoo of a barcode. I think it’s so people know how much it costs to hire them…why? Where’s yours?”

Bret, looking utterly dumbfounded that Trix has gotten a tattoo on account of some information given to her by a video game, answers.

"Oh, mine? Yeah, it’s uh, under my tights. I didn't think to put it in a great spot like you, so I'm like…kinda jealous! Looks good, though."

Bret, screaming on the inside that his white lie has caused his sister to become permanently marked in the style of a grocery, is forced to look on with a smile that’s trying so hard not to turn into a grimace. Trix beams at him in response to his not entirely honest compliment before they both turn to once again face the curtain that leads out towards the sea of “Hitman Judges”, awaiting their cue, as the scene fades to black.


THE END!​