Underneath a lonely street lamp, a figure in a worn brown trench coat and fedora smokes a cigarette in a short black holder. The smoke from it joins the fog that swirls around the figure and when her head lifts, we see the face of Bianca Reed. Her hair is brown and arranged in elegant pin curls, her makeup understated except for a bold red lip.
“August eleventh. Of all the wrestling companies in all the world, these two crazy dames walked right into mine. Not only that, they walked into my biggest singles match in Prestige Championship Wrestling to date, and they completely ruined it. I had Emmanuelle right there in the middle of the ring, ready to tap out… and Danielle Page was there to push the rope toward her so she could break the count.”
With a heavy sigh, Bianca ashes the cigarette and takes another drag, shaking her head. She enters an office building and finds the door marked Reed Detective Agency, which she pushes open. Inside is a small desk with a green-shaded lamp on it, a typewriter, and papers strewn all over the surface. A tall filing cabinet in one corner and a coat rack in the other don’t leave much room for the chair in front of the desk, but Bianca doesn’t appear to mind. She shrugs off her coat and hangs both her coat and her hat up, revealing the tight black skirt and lavender blouse underneath.
“Both Akane Nakatomi and Danielle Page are newcomers to PCW. Not necessarily unknown quantities - they’ve both had their fair share of in-ring experience. Earlier on that August 11th show, we saw Danielle lose to James Christ. Hell of a match for Danielle to get one week after coming up short in her debut triple threat, right? But no, that wasn’t enough spotlight for one fifth of the Page family brain trust. It wasn’t enough for her to be put up against a champion who hasn’t lost a match in months, no. She had to come and stick her reconstructed nose in my business with Emmanuelle, who truth be told I’ve had beef with since Conquest Colosseum.”
Detective Reed moves to sit behind her desk, setting her still-lit cigarette in a glass ashtray as she rifles through the papers and notebooks in front of her.
“And then we have Akane Nakatomi, who decided to make her PCW debut during my match to deal with Danielle Page. Not that it helped - by the time she got her hands on Danielle Page, I’d already been arguing with that dumbfuck ref to get her out of there for entirely too long. Solving the mystery of why everyone who works backstage in this company is a complete fucking moron will be the next mystery I take on. For now though, I’m busy trying to figure out what Akane thought she was accomplishing, except causing further distraction to me during a match that I already had won before Danielle decided to throw it in Emmanuelle’s favor by giving her that rope break. I should be the Valor Champion right now, but no. These two had to show up and take that from me.”
Finally, Bianca pulls out what she was looking for - a handwritten stat sheet, with a summary of the results from the last few PCW shows. She smiles to herself, leaning back in her chair and kicking her patent leather heels up on top of the desk as she reads and smokes her cigarette.
“I saw what Akane Nakatomi did to Augustus Dornberg. Watching her beat him… it gave me a lot of insight. Of course, I still don’t know why the fuck she decided that during my match was the optimal time for her to make her first appearance in PCW, but I at least was able to get a feel for what she’ll be like in the ring. These joshi types are tough as old boots and Ayane’s no exception. Wearing her down is gonna take a lot so hopefully one of the other Page sisters is using the family brain cell at Standing Room Only and I can let Danielle throw herself at Ayane for awhile while I wait for my moment. After all, I already Cracker Jacked Danielle Page, so it’s only fair Ayane gets some too, you know?”
Leaning over, she reaches over for the ashtray and drags it closer, presumably so that she can put out her cigarette. First though, she picks up a black and white photo of Ayane Nakatomi and places it in the bottom of the ashtray, followed by a similar picture of Danielle Page. With them stacked on top of one another, she stabs the lit cigarette smack dab in the middle of Danielle’s face. Her grin widens as she watches the photos start to burn, and a laugh bubbles up from within her.
“These two women might think they know who they were messing with, but they’re not ready for the hell that’s about to be unleashed on them at Standing Room Only, because their very presence on this show is offensive to me. Danielle Page decided to use me to try and further her own career here in PCW, and in doing so summoned Ayane Nakatomi who tried and failed to be the avenging hero. She was too little, too late. There’s only one real hero in this company, the one who’s trying to save PCW from the cancer that’s eating it alive from the inside out.”
She opens up a drawer in her desk and pulls out two file folders, each labeled with the name of one of her opponents.
“I’ve done my research on both Danielle and Akane. I have spent so much time and energy preparing for this match mentally as well as physically, because I am not letting this slip through my fingers. I cannot allow this kind of behavior to be rewarded by the Mayonnaise Collective. Instead of giving me the kind of title match I was owed, they brushed me and the blatant interference from Danielle and Akane aside and moved right on to the next challenger - a man who traded on his prior reputation to get the shot in the first place and then proceeded to get his ass handed him to by Kasey Kash. I have been in this company for six months, have shown up and consistently proven myself to be one of the top performers in PCW, and this asshole shows up and the Mayonnaise Collective hands him everything before he even steps into the ring for a match.”
With another heavy sigh, Bianca places a new cigarette into its holder and lights it, exhaling a steady stream of smoke into the air.
“But that’s just the way the business works, sweetcheeks. Call me a whiner and a crybaby all you want but I know when I’m not getting what I’m due. I know when I’m staring injustice in the fuckin’ face cause I’ve gotten real familiar with what it looks like over the years. Y’all can gaslight brainless bimbos like Danielle Page and people desperate to prove themselves like Akane Nakatomi into believing the lies, but not me. Not anymore. And you wanna know what kills me? It’s these exact people that I’m trying to save and they can’t even fuckin’ tell, because they’ve been so brainwashed into believing that the business only works the way people tell them it does.”
She takes a thoughtful drag, shaking her head.
“If I don’t stop this shit in its tracks, people like Danielle and Ayane are going to believe that this is how they should act in order to get what they want. They’re going to believe that it’s okay to coast on the accomplishments of others and that they have to step on others in order to climb the ladder of success. We can be better - wrestling can be better. But it’s not going to be unless more people stop to think critically about what’s going on. So since Danielle Page and Akane Nakatomi are complicit in keeping the status quo? They’re going get what they deserve at Standing Room Only. Either they can realize I’m right, or I can beat their heads in until they’re no longer standing against me. The choice is theirs, but I have a feeling they’ve already made it.”
Bianca chuckles, rolling her eyes as she drops her feet to the floor and stands up.
“The only mystery left is the biggest one of them all - who was behind the attack on August 11th? Was it really Danielle Page deciding to go into business for herself, and Ayane trying to save the day? Or is there something more insidious going on inside PCW? The more I look into it, the more it becomes clear - this company needs to be saved from itself, and I am the only one who has what it takes to save this company and this business.”
Today at 12:05 pm by 
Subject: Hollywood Noir 
