Gabriel Ohio vs Hairicin

October 24th, 2021
Knox-Maguire House
New Orleans, LA
OFF-Camera

Sitting in a small office, we see the back of Katrina Knox poring over a desk full of documents. Lines of highlighter all over the pages. As we scan the walls of this office, we can see a bookshelf full of medical books blended in with books on bodybuilding and motorcycles. On the opposite wall is a degree from LSU. Beside Katrina’s name on the degree is the abbreviation, Psy. D. Knox picks up a small personal tape recorder and holds it to her mouth.

“August 14th, 1999, Anton Briggs was charged with assault, rape, and murder of his family. I will not dictate the details here as this is a personal retelling and not an actual investigation, but one child survived. That child was Gabriel Ohio.”

Katrina pauses the tape.

“Does it say who the arresting officer was at the time?”

Katrina rifles through her papers and finds a photocopy of the arrest itself then slowly taps the paper and pulls her phone out, frantically dialing it. As she leaves the phone on the desk on speakerphone, we can see a picture of the person she is calling. Wendy “Zombie” Pellegrini.

“Hey Knox, what’s up?”
“Hey, so I’ve been researching Gabriel Ohio’s case and…”
“Knox, you’ll be chasing ghosts forever with that case. They sealed it years ago.”
“I have all of it here. Did you happen to remember who the arresting officer was?”
“It was before I became a cop myself, I’d have no idea.”
“Actually, I have it here, I hope you’re sitting down…”

There is a pause as neither say anything. Finally after a minute, there’s a long sigh that comes through the phone.

“You figured it out, didn’t you?”
“How long have you known?”
“SInce I joined the precinct. That’s why it was sealed. We dropped the ball on that case and hadn’t given it much thought until I crossed paths with Gabriel a couple of years ago. The things he told me. I had to see for myself.”
“What do you think he wants?”
“What he’s always wanted. Death. He sees his father in everyone and because he’s yet to find Briggs, he takes his rage out on others.”
“And Titaness is like his mother. Jesus fuck he’s messed up.”
“And you went and wilfully locked yourself in a cage with him. You saw what he was easily able to do to me. What the fuck were you thinking?”

Again, a silence falls between them.

“I run this train now. You’re down. CJ’s got balls but she’s not ready. Reina, she’s… green. Una’s in Japan, so it leaves me.”
“Listen to yourself, Knox. You are talking and playing right into his hand.”
“What other option do I have, Wendy? I’m not going to lay the fuck down for some serial asshole because he has daddy issues.”
“No, quite the opposite. You’re not fighting Gabriel, you’re fighting Trauma. There’s only one way it can end.”
“San Rafael…”
“Yep.”
“Fuck. Hey, how are you healing up?”
“Slowly, but that’s expected. Likely won’t see the inside of a gym until around Thanksgiving, should be back to good by the new year. Those two months after Black Magic fell at the right time.”
“Yeah, but don’t think I’m going to let you rest on your laurels during that time. I’m going to need you.”
“For?”
“I’ll send you pictures later. You’ll want to be in on this. Actually, I’ll NEED you specifically.”

Katrina taps away on her phone for a few minutes before…

"Holy shit, Knox. Was that what you were…"
"Posting cryptic videos of on Efedder? Yeah."
"How do you…"
"Let us handle that. I'll call you when it's done."
"Who else knows of this?"
"Considering where it is, I'd say everyone?"
"What's the plan?"

Knox rubs the top of her head in frustration.

"Hippocratic oath."

October 26, 2021
Unknown Location
ON-Camera

It is pitch-black, though one can hear the sounds of nocturnal nature in the background before the sound of broken twigs and shuffling feet, with another set of footfalls sounding more assured. The ruffle of a jacket, and the clicking of a button.





“Back that up if you can. His last sentence.” before the sound of a tape rewinding.





The tape is paused as a low growl can be heard. “No you didn’t… boy.” The clicking of the button can be heard again and the tape continues to play.





“Lies, all of it. I can’t believe this.” but before the tape starts again, a second voice, a woman’s, can be heard.

“There’s more.”





The tape machine clicks again, and the chuckling continues.

“Have you heard enough?” the woman said. “Maybe it’s time you show yourself. He’s been looking for you for a long time, Mr. Briggs.”

“You sure that’s wise?”

“If you don't show your face, I’ll do it for you.”

The camera turns and we catch the side of a hoodie and a partial view of an unknown face. The phone then moves farther back, revealing a person with their back to the camera. Hunched over a bit as if age has caught up to them. After a few seconds, the person turns, revealing an older man as he takes off his hoodie.

“Hello, son. It’s me. Your father. Listen, Gabriel, there isn’t anything I can say that will change your mind about me, but you have to believe me. I didn’t do the things you say I did. Your mother... she… it was all her. It’s time you heard the truth. It’s time the world knew the truth.”

The man shuffles over to a log and sits down. Whoever is behind the camera steps forward to frame the man in view.

“Your mother, she loved you more than any mother should love her son. You were young, manipulated. Groomed. Your sister, she… she got too close, and in a jealous rage, your mother beat her as well. The night you think you remember is all backwards. Your mother hid it all from me. When I discovered everything, I tried to save you. Your mother wanted me out, she came at me. I did stab her, and yes she died from her injuries. Your sister came at me as well, defending her mother. She… she didn’t make it. Thing is, you vowed to defend her, and I cannot fault you for that, you didn’t know any better. She fucked with your head. That pattern seems to follow you still…”

As the man spoke, his voice began to change. The low rasp became a little more sing-sing, the tone and timber rose. The accent moving from New York to more Cajun. As he spoke, he’d scratch his head. What could be considered nerves became a peeling of his skin before we realize it was a mask. The hood comes down to reveal long dark hair, the face underneath becoming very familiar as pieces of the mask stick to her face.

“Hello Gabriel, and hello Trauma. I bet you right now, the screaming in your head is deafening. You’re splintering because one of you wants to rage and the other wants to crawl into the fetal position and cry, hoping what he saw wasn’t real. Don’t worry, Gabe, I’ll protect you. He is no more.”

Hairicin removes the last bits of the mask and takes off the hoodie and throws it off-camera.

“Halloween night, the night where all the monsters become real, and you are locked inside a cage with the biggest monster of them all. A monster not created by trauma, though I’ve had my share. A monster created by people like you who can’t get out of their own way and blame others for their own shortcomings.

You are a man of irony. A man who hates people like me and what we stand for, and yet grew affinities for two of our own. Why walk the tightrope? That was the question I asked myself for years when it came to you. And I found the answer, I found the key. I learned your secret.

You are not Trauma, and Trauma is not you.”

Hairicin taps her temple.

“It’s a mindfuck, and the only victim is yourself. Oh sure, you have the need to bring everyone else down, it’s the only way you look better. It’s the only way you FEEL better, and why? Because darkness is all you’ve known. Darkness, pain, suffering, trauma, it’s not a way of life, it’s YOUR life. And you hate it, though you say different, because it’s all you know. It’s why you hunt. You need to hurt people so that they feel what you feel. From the outside looking in, you carry yourself as a bully. The big superior monster that cannot be slayed. But I’m inside your head, and you know it. And you are not superior, quite the opposite.”

Hairicin starts to snarl.

“You’re still very much the same child you’ve always been. Deep down, that never changed. You did evolve, though. Every scar, every cut, every bruise, every war hardened you. Your shell got stronger, you learned to fight. Every wall, every layer, emboldened you to the point where you feel untouchable. Righteous. Everybody must hurt just as you did. Everybody is worthless because you… are… worthless.

You came for Wendy because you blame your father for not helping you. You fought her because she was the only piece left of a dying hatred you had for a system who failed you. Justice was blinded to you. Psycho used literal acid to blind you. Those are the times when you disappeared because you were lost. But Trauma? Trauma was going to lead the way. Trauma could protect you, finally somebody who felt like an ally. Finally, you weren’t alone.

Trauma is only a mask, just as I wore one earlier. And they are both of the same person.”

Hairicin shakes her head and looks down.

“It’s the only coping mechanism you’ve ever known, but the fact is, you never actually learned to cope. You’re projecting, and you are as deaf to it as you are blinded. And you have no fucking idea of any of it. But you will, but not in the way you’ve been used to.

You see, there was a time where you and I were the same. I was once on a trajectory of self-hatred. My parents practiced voodoo before I was born. From a very young age, it was instilled in me that I would create the biggest change in our family. Thirteen years, three months, and twenty-eight days after I was born, my parents’ prediction came true. A hurricane hit New Orleans, THE hurricane hit New Orleans. They called the hurricane… Katrina.

Imagine having to live for years, the echoes of your family’s words ringing in your ears that you would be the… biggest change… and then your parents disappear? Imagine having to live for years feeling like their death was my fault. I could have turned out just like you, Gabriel, but I didn’t, or didn’t I? Did I not build myself up under layers in hopes that I would appear stronger than I was? Did I not immerse myself in others’ disciplines so that I may come out better in the end? Did I not channel my own hate, my own rage, to be able to stand here today? It appears so.

I became exactly what my parents predicted, but on my own terms.”

Hairicin looks up, a smirk on her face, a low chuckle behind the smirk.

“Just like you.

And imagine my surprise when I looked into the lore of Gabriel Ohio versus The Shieldmaidens and saw patterns. Psycho had lived through true darkness, true hell, and she affected you probably more than anybody else. Titaness, you tried to break her, you thought she was the one who can save you, and for a brief time, she succeeded. That success scared you, so The Bard faded away no sooner than it arrived. How dare you try to live a normal life? How dare you be happy? You had the tools, but you still had the guilt, and guilt is the strongest force in this universe. You’ve reflected on history and religion in the past, you know exactly what I mean.

Guilt leads because guilt don’t care who it affects.

Guilt is what fuels you. Your own guilt, the guilt you can drain from the others. I told you I found your secret, Gabriel, but how many more are there, hmm?

Here’s the rub… yes, Gabriel, they are your words. I’m not Skrabz who is nothing but emptiness and propaganda. I’m not a false Queen. I’m not a bloated, toothless schmuck. Nor am I loaded up on chemicals to the point where I crave death because rehab doesn’t work.

I’m Salvation, Gabriel.

And Salvation is holding the same title that started all of this. The Hardcore Title. A title you compared to Legos but the truth is? Despite all the bravado, despite everything you built yourself up to be, you couldn't get your hands on this license to kill. So you mocked it, you belittled it, because you couldn't admit to yourself that you really were weak. That you really were useless. That you really were, under everything, a child throwing a tantrum because you were denied yet again.

But, unlike with Psycho, unlike with every other opponent you have faced, I'm coming into Black Magic to beat you. I am coming to save you. I will play your game, but I will be changing the rules. And you will follow because I have left just enough bread crumbs to get your attention.

I can give you the easy way out, or I can lead you to something better. I challenge you to unleash everything in you onto me. In fact, I demand it. Open yourself up the only way you know how. Violence. Pain. Trauma. Give me all of it, and in return, I can show you another way.”

Hairicin motions to the camera, before Charlie “Maneater” Jennings, Reina Valhalla, Wendy “Zombie” Pellegrini and dozens of other Shieldmaidens come into view.

“All you have to do is say please.”