Post by Donovan Basch on May 19, 2018 2:31:43 GMT -5
BaschTech HQ
Oceanside, California
Scene opens inside Donovan Basch’s office, where he is at his desk poring over paperwork, an ever-present mug of coffee in his hand. A few seconds pass before his intercom pipes up.
Secretary: Mr. Basch, you asked me to remind you about your 10:00 meeting with Jim Anderson from Development….
Donovan: Yes, Martha, I'm going over the notes he sent earlier. If he's here, send him in.
Martha: Right away, Mr. Basch…
Donovan goes back to his paperwork and enjoys his coffee for a moment before the door to his office opens. A nervous-looking man, roughly the same age as Donovan steps in with a sheaf of papers in his hands.
Anderson: T-thank you for seeing me, Mr Basch….
Donovan: Please have a seat, Mr Anderson. Coffee?
Anderson: N-no, thank you. I've already had enough for today…
Anderson sits down.
Donovan: First things first. There's no need to be nervous….
Anderson: Sorry, Mr Basch. I've never been all that good at things like this….
Donovan: Are you referring to product development or corporate meetings?
Anderson: The corporate side of it. This is a bit outside of my comfort zone.
Donovan: Well, I've read over your notes on this proposal, and even though it's a bit rough, the concept looks interesting.
Anderson: Thank you. Right now, the video game industry controls a considerable market share. So my team started brainstorming to see how BaschTech could tap into that.
Donovan: Thus far, we've kept a fairly low profile as far as mass market items go, but I've gone over your numbers, and the idea of producing high-end gaming peripherals seems feasible. But i did have one question….
Anderson: Yes, sir?
Donovan: The idea of licensing Marvel Comics characters, where did that come from?
Anderson meekly points to the shelf on the wall full of Spider-man memorabilia.
Donovan: I see….
He flips through the papers on his desk.
Donovan: That would explain these figures…
Anderson: I did make a few initial inquiries….
Donovan: Ah, showing some initiative. Very good. I can assume that you and your team are prepared to see this all the way through, correct?
Anderson breaks into a grin.
Anderson: Yes, sir!
Donovan grins as well.
Donovan: Then I'll go ahead and present your plan to the Board of Directors. I can't guarantee that they'll approve it, but I will give it my endorsement.
Anderson nearly leaps out of his seat as Donovan stands up and extends his hand.
Anderson: Thank you, Mr Basch!
The elated engineer hastens out of the office, nearly colliding with Donovan's wife, WCG South Bay Champion Danielle Basch. He mutters a quick apology and hurries on his way.
Danielle: He was in an awful big hurry. Did he get called on the carpet or something?
Donovan: On the contrary; he came to me with an interesting proposal…
Donovan slides the papers across the desk. Danielle picks them up and starts reading them.
Danielle: Video game peripherals? I thought you wanted to stay out of this market….
Donovan: It's not that; one of the engineers in the Cerberus Division had mentioned developing a game console using a stripped down version of the Cerberus AI shortly after the system went on the market.
Danielle: Whatever happened with that?
Donovan: It was more of a problem with the software side of things. The hardware would have been easy enough to produce, but getting publishers, especially the big ones, to make games for it would have been difficult.
Danielle: Oh. Anyway, we need to get a move-on I'd we don't want to be late for our training session. Dev and Alicia went to the effort to travel out here, so we shouldn't keep them waiting.
Donovan powers down his computer and opens the door for her, following behind her as they both leave. Scene fades out.
Scene fades bank in with a shot of a shower, which is not running at the moment. From out of frame, Donovan enters wearing only a towel.
Donovan: Well, Hunter, it seems that you got what you wanted… a shot at my West Coast Championship. But, instead of earning it, like your paramour Tasmin Richards did, you took a page out of the playbook of the Destroyers and took shortcuts to get it.
Alas, there's a huge difference between having a title opportunity and capitalizing on it. Unlike you and those that you seek to emulate, I worked diligently to get to where I am today. No shortcuts, no cutting corners. I endured nearly 9 months of waiting before I was able to wrestle for the West Coast Championship, so you can stop complaining about waiting 70 days for your “guaranteed” title shot.
It was NEVER stipulated that you would receive a title match against me if you came out victorious against me, Hunter. The only reason the West Coast Championship is on the line is because of ME. I'm the one that lobbied for this contest to be for the title.
Donovan turns to the shower and turns it on. He waits a moment before testing the temperature. Once he's satisfied with it, He turns back to the camera.
Donovan: I knew that my title would be the glittering prize that you couldn't resist. For a man that is supposed to be a master huntsman, I thought you would've realized when you're being baited. Then again, this is more than you're used to. Like a poor man's Ted Nugent, you're accustomed to canned hunts against “prey” that poses no real danger to you. When you came up against a real challenge, you resorted to cheap tactics to garner a tainted victory. You did it with me and you pulled the same garbage with my wife. That alone shows that your “skills” simply aren't up to the task of procuring a championship.
Rest assured, Hunter, now that i know what depths you'll sink to in order to win, I'm much more prepared to deal with you. At Hype, I'm not simply out to retain the West Coast Championship. No, I plan on a little retribution. So, whatever space you had set aside to display MY championship belt is going to remain empty, to reflect your empty dreams of walking away from Hype as champion.
Scene ends as Donovan removes his towel and covers the camera lens with it.