Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Comerica Park
October 17th, 2013
9:47 pm

It was madness. Champagne raining from the clear Detroit sky, 25 exhausted champions mobbed at the pitcher's mound. Brandon sprinted from the dugout onto the field and was quickly met by Jeff and Craig. The three men all had smiles on their face, like they could finally relax. Brandon couldn't believe what he was seeing! He was a part of the greatest single season turnaround in MLB History. No team had ever lost 95+ games the season before and ended up winning the World Series before...nevertheless winning 100 games in the regular season to boot.

Bud Selig walked up to the microphone at home plate and began his congratulations. He announced that Carlos Gonzalez had won the MVP honors of the series, sporting a .435 average with 5 homers and 12 RBIs. After the speech, everyone went back to celebrating. Well everyone except the hometown fans of course. They were probably happy for Bondo, but upset about yet another blown chance at a WS title. Brandon couldn't forget what had happened last night, and it was time to tell Jeff and Craig what he had known for a couple weeks.

FLASHBACK
Brandon Gillespie's Office
October 16th, 2013
12:22pm

Jim, I don't see the problem here. Even if you and Sergei didn't take care of Mark, the government got their hands on the weapon he had. And to top it all off, he's disappeared and not able to cause problems for us in the foreseeable future.

The problem is that Mark isn't taken care of. He may be gone for now, but there's no way that his plane crashed without him wanting it to happen. We need to figure out what angle he's playing, and quickly.

Why? Jim...Mark is gone, and there's only two possibilities. Either A: he's actually dead, or B: he's presumed dead because he wants to disappear. No matter which of those is the real answer, he isn't a problem for us right now. If he did disappear intentionally, he would only have one reason to do it; to avoid whoever that warhead was for.

No! We can't let him fade away. He'll only come back, and we have to be ready for that inevitable possibility.

Is that what this job is always going to be Jim? Looking over my shoulder, prepping for the final battle. Baseball on the back burner? I don't think I can do this anymore. I came to you two years ago looking to break into baseball, not special ops. After the World Series, I'm going to turn in my resignation. I need a break from this nonsense.

Brandon, we couldn't have gotten this far without you. You really want to throw away your dream job because of a little work you didn't expect to do?

Jim, there's nothing you can say to change my mind. If I keep working here, I'll probably end up dead. Or presumed dead, or a defected Russian assassin. I'm going home to take some time off, and then I'll start at the bottom again. Try to find a job in baseball that's about baseball. This is about so much more than that.

PRESENT TIME

Brandon knew he'd made up his mind. He turned to Craig and Jeff and opened his mouth, but Jeff interrupted him.

We know Brandon. We know you want to leave, and probably have been thinking about it for awhile. This isn't your scene, you're a good kid and this sort of business isn't what you signed up for. We'll start looking for your replacement in the morning. You've been a great asset to this organization, and helped us keep Cuban away from the Astros. We owe you one. If you ever want anything from us, just give either me or Craig a call.

Thanks guys. I've gotta get back to Houston and get my apartment packed up. This has been a great year, and I'll miss you guys.

Brandon walked away amidst the celebration, finally feeling at peace. He found Lisa sitting in the right field bleachers with a smile on her face.

You guys did it! How does it feel to be the General Manager of a World Series champion?

I don't know, maybe you should ask the guy they get to do that job.

You didn't take the job? So you finally decided huh?

Yeah I did.

Well where to now? Now that you're unemployed and all.

Disney World. I'm going to Disney World.

Ha ha. Very funny. Clearly we need to get back to Houston and pack our apartment up. But you already know that, my question was about after that. What are we gonna do after that?

Home. We're going to go home after that.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Parts Unknown
??, 2013
Midnight

A shadowy figure sits next to a campfire in a forest. The fire burns bright and warm, two necessary things considering it's the middle of the night in a jungle. The figure pokes the fire with a stick to adjust the tinder. Another man walks back to the fire to join his companion, holding some more logs and sticks.

The plan went off without a hitch. We took care of everything flawlessly. The government took possession of the warhead, everyone in the media thinks we're all dead. And even better, everyone we were worried about thinks we're gone as well.

The second shadowy figure steps towards the fire and reveals himself to be Mark Cuban.

Excellent. Now we just have to lay low for a couple weeks, that ZIP file that happened to be on the plane was a nice touch. It was a genius idea to keep that file as a bailout plan. Slightly editing documents to stick this all on Crane was an even better touch. The file will lead the government right to the guys who would cause us harm, and as soon as they're caught, we can come out and reveal the "truth"

Dah. How you were kidnapped and your plane hijacked. How Jim Crane orchestrated his escape from prison by working with some less than savory characters, terrorists if you will. And these terrorists wanted something in return. How you barely escaped the wreck of your plane with no phone, no idea where you were, and survived in the wilds for much time. The people will have an all time high respect for you.

And Selig will have a whole new kind of pressure on him to sell to me. The Astros will still become mine, and Crane going down in the process is just icing on the cake! A hero's welcome will await me. And a bounty of money and riches await you, Sergei.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

With that my friends. Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2 is at it's conclusion. It may have taken me a little longer to get the end out, but I'd like to think the end is good enough to have justified waiting that long for.

What a ride this season was. The Astros improved by almost 40 wins, won a World Series, acquired talented players, and saw the resurgence of one Jeremy Bonderman.

They saw a fake Jeff Luhnow and a real Jeff Luhnow murdered, Mark Cuban disappear, Jim Crane reappear. JA Happ turn into a Russian Assassin? You can't make this stuff up (well actually, you can. Because I did.)

I know exactly where the story goes from here, but as I currently stand this story probably won't be advancing anytime soon. I'm debating continuing the plot line if I decide to pull the trigger on a next gen console over the holidays. The Show 14 already has amazing rosters out, released, and ready to go for me if I did this. But there's the question of how much continuity do I have? My Astros have CarGo, Pena, Ryan Theriot, etc. that have all been acquired over the past couple seasons and the team that just won a World Series is far different than the one trotting out there in 2014 IRL. As far as I'm concerned, the Astros are WS Champions in my universe, no matter what roster I roll with in 2014. I grew to love these Astros over the two years I played in The Show 12...and every other attempt I've had to play a franchise just hasn't been the same.

At this point, I'd like to take a couple lines to thank the readers once again. I know Game 4 of the WS featured an at length thank you for following along. But I'd like to offer up some more thanks to those who've commented/been taking a look since this thing bumped up yesterday. The views went up by roughly 250-300 in about 4-5 hours. Which is pretty incredible. It tells me that ya'll appreciate what I do, and let me reiterate how much I appreciate all of you.

With all of that out of the way, stay tuned for a potential part 3: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 3: From Russia With Glove