Vignette 36: Brotherhood

"You gonna watch them tomorrow?" Christian asked Jeff Hardy as the two of them sat side by side, getting dressed for the night's RAW.
"Yeah... I mean, he's still my brother. No matter how much of an asshole he was. You?"
"I guess. For professional reasons though. Edge and I stopped being friends when he jumped ship on WWFE without telling me anything about it."
"You don't mean that and you know it Christian."
"Whatever."
Jeff watched Christian stalk off angrily and sighed, pulling at what few strands of hair he still had on his wildly colored head. Unlike Christian, he understood his brother's move. For some reason the head writer, i.e. Stephanie, had only been willing to push Jeff as a single wrestler while leaving Matt to cool his heels on the sidelines. As for Lita, she'd gone from women's champion to valet, regardless of her in-ring ability. They'd both had their reasons to leave. And had NWW offered him the opportunity to join their roster, he might have taken them up on it. But things were better this way, weren't they?

Vignette 37: Blackmail

"You guys looked pretty amazing out there," Trish told Chyna as she rolled out of the ring after both her and Madusa had tangled with Lance Storm and Perry Saturn.
"Thanks, we try."
"I like the lighter hair color, it suits you."
"Thanks again. You're just full of compliments, aren't you?"
"You deserve all of them."
"You coming on to me Stratus?"
"Only if you agree to having dinner with me tomorrow night after the show."
"And if I don't?" Chyna asked with a grin.
"Then I'm just making conversation."
"Hate to break this up ladies," Raven said from the ring, "but Trish here needs to give Miss Holly a practice ass whipping."
"So?" Trish asked Chyna, before rolling into the ring.
"Sounds an awful like blackmail."
"But with such a wonderful reward."
Chyna leaned on the ring apron and watch Molly and Trish go at it, amazed by the improvement of the Canadian's skills. Finally, Trish pinned the self-proclaimed good girl and rolled out of the ring where Chyna waited for her.
"Who did you train with?"
"Hunter and Molly Holly."
"Cool. It shows."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Statement of fact."
"Statement of fact. Cute."
"I think so. By the way..."
"Yeah..."
"I'd like to check out the KEG in Toronto. I heard good things about it."
"I'll get us a table."

Vignette 38: Late

"Dad it's Shane."
"Where the hell are you?"
"I'm stuck in Miami. My flight was overbooked. I have to take the next flight out."
"What? Damn it Shane!"
"Dad, getting mad isn't going to solve anything."
"And standing by like a twit isn't helping any either. I'm sending you the jet."
"No use. I have a flight out in an hour. I'll be there in three hours."
"I don't like this Shane. You're going to get here late."
"I can't just snap my fingers and appear Dad. I'll be there ASAP."
Which isn't anywhere near being soon enough, Vince thought as he snapped his tiny phone shut.

Vignette 39: Comparison shopping

This was going to be a McMahon-free SMACKDOWN taping. Shane was going to be arriving late and the other McMahons and JR were going to be riveted to two monitors, one for the pre-taped WWFE show and the other for the new NWW show, ADRENALINE RUSH. The opening theme for AR was a rare collaboration between Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and Eminem and the accompanying video was a montage of all of their wrestlers and the singers performing the theme song. Finally, the song ended and the inside of the packed Air Canada Center was shown, the fans screaming their heads off. Finally, a dirge began, bringing back memories of the Lord of Darkness, memories that became even more vivid when beings in long hooded black robes started flowing out of the backstage area to surround the ring until they were two people deep.
A vein pulsing in his neck, Vince watched as three more people joined the in-ring procession, wearing black robes as well, but more richly made in silk. They got into the ring and stood in silence while a voice that made shivers run down everyone's spine filled the arena.
"Once upon a time, a man stood, surrounded by his minions, his power at a premium and he ruled with an iron hand. But soon, those he ruled over decided to take charge of their own fates and became strong on their own and looked for a new leader..." With every word, each one of the NWW performers flipped off their hoods and revealed themselves to the ecstatic crowd. The three in the ring were the last to complete the unveiling, first Chyna, then Hunter. "A fearless leader with all the necessary power to lead them... and they found that leader in a power that was great... greater... greatest... Ladies, gentlemen... Vince? I give you The Greatest Power."
The final hood was flipped and The Greatest Power was revealed to the world.

Vignette 40: Matters of the heart

"It was only a slight heart attack brought on by the shock," Dr. Harris was telling the McMahons. "Vince will be up and about in two days."
"But... a heart attack... you gave him such a clean bill of health a few months ago."
"I know, Linda, and Vince is still a marvelously healthy man for his age. He's just been shocked out of his skin. That combined with the stress of NWW, it doesn't help."
"I just want him to be healthy Ron."
"I know. And he will be. I'm going to go in to see him. Then it'll be one person at a time, no more than five minutes. He still needs the rest."
As soon as Dr. Harris left, Linda turned to her children and slapped Shane's face. He'd been expecting that.
"Where the bloody hell is your head? You stupid little piece of shit! You ungrateful little turd!"
"..."
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"I learned from the best."
"You asshole!" Stephanie hissed, landing a sharp punch to her brother's kidneys.
"Face it Steph, you're madder because I did it to Dad before you could do it to me."
"I would never do that to you!"
"You so would. Dad raised us to be ambitious... and I got tired of waiting for him to step down and hand me what I'd worked so hard for. So I did the next best thing. I got my own."
"We gave you so much," Linda sighed.
"Exactly. You should be proud of everything I've accomplished, thanks to your parenting techniques. You groomed me for this."
"Vince is ready to see you now," Dr. Harris said, coming into the private waiting room, stopping Linda from slapping her son again.
"I'll go in first," Shane smirked. "Should be fun."

More Extension
More Series Fics
More Fan Fic
Main Page