At a private hospital. UOW Interviewer and former Jeremiah Vastrix girlfriend, Rose Johnston, and current Jeremiah Vastrix fiance, Olivia Cooke, sit in a waiting room.
"God's Gift" Jeremiah Vastrix had been taken back hours ago so that cybernetic specialists could work to repair the cybernetics in Jeremiah's head. His cybernetic eyes and nanotech hard drive had been damaged at the last UOW show when Lulu Biggs used a small EMP device to short out the cybernetics during the match to blind Jeremiah and even the odds against him.
ROSE JOHNSTON: How much longer do you think they will be?
Olivia shrugs, looking at her phone to watch the replay of Jeremiah's last wrestling match. Lulu's hooker friends had attacked Rose after the EMP was used and Olivia herself was dragged into the ring and soundly spanked by Lulu. She grips the phone tight as she relives her shame. Jeremiah couldn't stop such actions undertaken by Lulu and his crew as he had been incapacitated. She wipes away a tear.
OLIVIA COOKE: I never should have come down to the ring.
ROSE JOHNSTON: Oh no, Liv! Are you watching that again? You were a great source of inspiration for Jeremiah in the ring. He would have won that match if not for the EMP device!
Olivia nods, shutting down the video.
OLIVIA COOKE: I know. I know. It's just that. I didn't expect to get pulled into the match like that. I don't want to blame Jeremiah, since he couldn't help, but still-
ROSE JOHNSTON: Still, you want to blame him for what happened. You also want to blame me for wanting to come down to the ring in the first place so that a repeat of what had happened when Jeremiah and Lulu first faced off in the ring wouldn't happen again.
Olivia smiles. When Jeremiah and Lulu had first faced each other in the ring, Lulu had questioned Jeremiah's manliness. Jeremiah proved that he could land any woman by planting a kiss on Rose Johnston's lips. After defeating Lulu, Rose had helped celebrate by planting a kiss on Jeremiah. It was an awkward situation still with Jeremiah's current girl and one of his past girls on the same page, but here they were.
OLIVIA COOKE: I would be lying if I said that I wasn't still jealous of you getting to share in his wrestling life. I wanted, needed, to be a part of that. I will remain strong and at his side for him, but-
ROSE JOHNSTON: But you don't want to be attacked again. I get it, but we may have to be more on the offensive when Jeremiah and Lulu face each other in the steel cage. Though that isn't his next match, you know.
OLIVIA COOKE: I know. He goes through this portal thingie to face Rajiv Khan in the XHF End of Days tournament. I tried to find everything I could on this Rajiv, but all I found is that he was working in Seattle at the time of the nuke. Some other wrestling company that got wiped off the planet when North Korea attacked us.
Rose Johnston pulls out her own cell phone with a saved webpage on it. She smiles triumphantly.
ROSE JOHNSTON: I figured that a search here would bring up local info on Rajiv. Yes, him and all of SWAT died in Seattle. On the other side of the portal on the other hand, SWAT and Rajiv Khan are still very much alive.
OLIVIA COOKE: When did you have the time to go through this portal? Oh never mind. What did you find out about him?
ROSE JOHNSTON: He's a former banker in India that turned wrestler and cab driver to pay for his way for living in America. He's a bit of a daredevil in the ring, but nothing that Jeremiah can't handle. He doesn't even change into a wrestling uniform, but wrestles in his cabbie outfit!
OLIVIA COOKE: That's crazy!
ROSE JOHNSTON: I already emailed the info to Jeremiah so that when his systems are back online, he'll have it.
Olivia's eyes narrow, but only for a moment. That quick flash of jealousy where Rose Johnston is just so on top of things comes to the fore. It's nothing, really, but Rose just does too much. Olivia bites back responding "Thanks, but he's not your fiance". She just smiles and hugs Rose instead. She means well and likely doesn't think of herself in competition for Jeremiah's affections. Olivia keeps her jealousy to herself.
OLIVIA COOKE: I never thought about that. That there would be two Rajiv Khans. I wonder if there's another Jeremiah Vastrix over there with another Olivia Cooke?
ROSE JOHNSTON: There is, but he's single and a bit of a floozy, but we know that it's a shield so that his father doesn't want to kill him.
OLIVIA COOKE: So then you could have a Jeremiah of your own?
Rose laughs like she had not already considered moving to this other dimension and courting Jeremiah Vastrix. In truth she had. She had also contemplated stealing Olivia's Jeremiah and sending her to this other universe. It was all very complicated.
ROSE JOHNSTON: Oh, Liv. I'm fine being an ex- girlfriend. I don't need to go stake my claim on a Jeremiah from some other universe. Besides, howe do I know that another Rose Johnston has already thought of such things?
She hadn't. The other Rose Johnston had become entangled with someone named Johnathan Mills and was in the end murdered by him. There was no "Other Rose Johnston" anymore. Rose sighs.
ROSE JOHNSTON: I hope they get done soon.
OLIVIA COOKE: We do him no good sitting here and waiting. We should go get something to eat. They'll call when he wakes up.
ROSE JOHNSTON: Sounds good. To the cafeteria!
We change scenes as Rose and Olivia head toward the cafeteria to get food. We see Jeremiah Vastrix laying on a table, his new cybernetic eyes laying on a counter while his new nanotech hard drive is being put in. No, Jeremiah is not asleep for this, nor is there any medicine being used to keep him sedated. Dr. Virgil Shultz solders the last connection into place for the hard drive inside Jeremiah's head through the left eye socket.
DR SHULTZ: You know. Some people would have insisted to be knocked out for a procedure like this.
Jeremiah gives a micro-shrug in order to not mess up the Doctor.
JEREMIAH VASTRIX: I'm capable of remaining still and it doesn't hurt. So why not be awake?
DR. SHULTZ: Well everything should be in place. I just need to pop in the eyes. Can you see the database yet? You should be able to see that without your eyes being hooked up since it's internal.
JEREMIAH VASTRIX: I can see it. I see that Rose had emailed me a biography of my End of Days opponent. Rajiv Khan. A former banker and current taxi driver? Why am I not shocked about this?
DR SHULTZ: Hold still while I put in your eyes. They should latch onto the interfaces once I pop them in. A current taxi driver? How does he find the time to wrestle?
JEREMIAH VASTRIX: Beats the heck outta me. I run a global company in my spare time. Don't judge.
Dr. Shultz glides one eye in after the other. There is a vague mechanical sound as they connect to the cybernetic interface inside of Jeremiah's skull. That had taken the longest to repair. The parts were easily replaced, but where the cybernetics interfaced with the organic was not. That part should have taken some sedatives, but Jeremiah had refused so that he could remain conscious during the process. Jeremiah sits up once he is finished, his eyes gleaming blue for a moment before going back to normal. He looks around the room with a smile.
JEREMIAH VASTRIX: Looks like they work better than ever, Doc! I'm going to kick this taxi driver's butt and win this entire End of Days tournament!
DR SHULTZ: Good that you say that, but we are going to do a battery of tests before I let you down from this table. Those girls will wait.
Jeremiah groans, but keeps his expression happy.
JEREMIAH VASTRIX: Well? Let's get started then. Shall we?