From Nexus, with Love

by Roselyne

Wade Barrett remembers of the reasons behind the NEXUS creation, as the GM asks that he and John Cena make a truce and shake hands. But if the "evil" Wade Barrett is ready to give it some beef, will John "Mr Nice Guy" Cena be ready to accept it?

Warning: Before you proceed, just keep in mind that english is NOT my mother language. So there will certainly be mistakes in this text. Yet, I'm eager to improve, so if you see some corrections to make, don't hesitate to contact me :-)

Author's note: I'm like the Devil's advocate here for the Nexus, but I gathered all the elements and info from the show as well as info given by Stuart Bennett (Wade Barrett) off show. I'll try to bring a - I hope - close version to the point of view of the Nexus about their actions done at the WWE. You can get interesting results when you put yourself in the "enemy's" shoes, sometimes ;-)

Background Music: As the atmosphere from a music can influence our mood and the way we write, here's the two that were mainly running, in case you'd like to dive into the atmosphere: X-Ray Dog: Truth and Lies and Rev. Theory - You're the One.

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FROM NEXUS WITH LOVE

(Sometimes, some people really get what they deserve !)

Chapter 1 - And I Quote !

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Stuart Alexander Bennett - better known to the public under the name of Wade Barrett - was standing in the middle of the ring. Alone. Tall and proud, but for once, alone. None of the other Nexus members were on sight. Wade's dark hair was combed backwards, and his green eyes seemed to rest on nothing in particular. He had a mike in his hand, but was remaining silent and still, like wondering where to start. The crowd around the ring didn't know either how to react first, and a wave of growing unease seemed to diffuse in the shape of concentric ripples from the center of the huge room. Any appearance of the chief of the Nexus troop never bode well for anybody. But in front of Wade's lack of reaction, they gained in confidence, and their cautious silence turned bit by bit into some growls, jeers, and occasional shouts. The murmur was slowly raising, and the hostile atmosphere was becoming thicker and thicker. But still, Wade remained silent.

It was not like he couldn't hear or didn't pay attention to the behaviour of the crowd. For his own safety, he always had to keep a look on the crowd behavior. You couldn't be sure there would never be one day some desperado, deciding that insults were not enough for him anymore, and moving into step two: physical action. And alone in the ring, he was exposed. He knew exactly the effect he had on people. His appearance, his rough voice, his Manchester sharp accent, the careful choice of his words, always provoked a feeling of hatred from the persons in front of him. Almost instantly.

He was the United States enemy. The 6 feet 5 inches barbarian, combining the brutality you would expect from an non-american, with an almost delicate arrogant side, typically British. The type of colossus you could easily imagine crushing his opponent's head with a mace, while drinking a cup of tea with the little finger up.

The only way for him to be even more hated than he already was, would probably be if he stopped shaving in order to have a long grown beard, added a turban around his head, and walked up the ring with a "Planes Piloting for Dummies" book under his arm.

But if it was the price to pay to make sure the other Nexus members would be safe, he would pay it with no regret. And he gladly paid it. As long as people would fear him, and fear the Nexus... As long as just the mention of "Nexus" would have the same effect on people than in another world the name "Voldemort" had, none of the former NXT rookies would have to worry about their future in the WWE.

In the next seconds of silence, Wade Barrett realised the irony of the situation. If a few weeks ago, he had played the classical rules when he won the NXT tournament, by now he would have had several occasions of standing in this ring alone, simply waiting for an opponent to join him. The crowd would have been neutral first, than maybe cheering him after awhile. But not hating him like now.

Ironically, if he really was the egoistical bastard they all believed he was, he would have walked away from NXT with his WWE contract in his pocket, leaving the other rookies back to their ordinary lives, and becoming just another WWE wrestler. In time, after some won battles, the crowd would even have loved him.

Ironically so, it was because he cared for his former co-rookies - those he had beaten during the NXT tournament - that the crowd now hated him. None of these people ever tried to ask him for the reasons of his actions. Not that he would have answered, though...

It had been his choice. Amongst the rookies he had once fought, some had a good potential, and deserved a second chance. So when his former mates - unemployed - had come at the RAW to try and fight pro wrestlers, in order to prove their value, it had been his choice to support them. He had walked with them to the RAW General Manager and had tried to negotiate so that all of them - and not just him - would get WWE contracts, as a test. The negotiation had been a little bit rough in the end, indeed... ("little bit" like in "Katrina damaged New Orleans a little bit"). But as a result, not only were the NXT rookies denied and mocked, but he, Wade Barrett, champion of the NXT tournament, had been fired from the WWE for stepping forward for them. After all he had been trough, he didn't like at all how they had been treated. None of them did.

And that's how the NEXUS was finally born. Out of pain, anger, bitterness, and revenge. Their name symbolized their link, the purpose uniting them. And Bret Hart, the GM who had fired them, had been the first on their list. Beaten down, locked in a car, smashed against other cars, then thrown - inside his car - in a canal, he had ended up in hospital for awhile. Maybe they had done a little bit too much... But you don't make omelette without breaking a few eggs.

It had been his choice. And now he was suffering the severe consequences. The whole Nexus was. But he had learned a long time ago, that in a world of violence, power and dominance, being nice and polite never paid the bill.

Oh, he was no angel for sure! He didn't even try to fool himself believing it. Everybody working for the WWE ended up by being somehow corrupted for the sake of the game (by the way, you all just lost at The Game). They were the RAW newbies. They had to display skills and strength to compensate their status. The least weakness, and the veterans would just dive on them like prey birds, with wide grins on their faces. They had really been treated like animals during their time at the NXT. He thought it was pretty normal that after all the time spent there, they ended up behaving like animals.

The NEXUS wolf-pack HAD to create fear. It was imperative that people dreaded them, tried to avoid them as much as possible, always looked above their shoulder, hoping not to be the next victim of their apparently random massacre. They had to be united souls, acting as one person. They had to be ONE. And they had to impose their law of terror on everyone, not letting them the slightest occasion to counteract. Not leaving them any rest. Not leaving them the opportunity to organize a rebellion. Not leaving them the time to even conceive the idea that they could gather against the Nexus, if only they could put aside their own feuds.

Yes, the veteran wrestlers had experience and field knowledge. They had the hang, they've had all the time to perfect their techniques. There had been there for quite a long time now. But it was also their main flaw: their quarrels were so deeply rooted that a lot of time - and for some of them, months of psychiatric sessions - would be needed for them to bury the many battleaxes, and create a strong and effective guild against the Nexus. But before that ever happened, the Nexus would have reached its goal.

Meanwhile, the Nexus was mainly aiming at the WWE Big Fishes, so that everybody would visualise them instantly at the top level. Attacking someone further down the card, would have brought no glory, and would have put the Nexus at that same low level. They had to attack the biggest, the strongest, the baddest, the filthiest,... And they had to attack together, quickly, effectively, violently, viciously, and leave the place right afterwards, without lingering. Leaving behind them a ring, speakers table, and opponents down to pieces. As a tornado.

The sad side of the story was at, in the end, all the Nexus members would be ill-fated. Either they failed in their path and would - each and everyone of them - have to leave the WWE and return to their ordinary and often poor lives ; or they would succeed, but would forever be seen as the bad ones, the shades, the pariahs. People to attack on sight. Forever would they be obliged to defend themselves from the others, attacking ceaselessly, in an infernal spiral. Wade initially explained the other Nexus members where this path would lead. And all of them accepted to follow him down to Hell. They all knew what he had sacrificed for them, and were thus totally devoted to him. And if Wade was sometimes speaking in a harsh, brutal or bossily way, it was not to hustle his troops, but to exhort them to hold on, to remember why there were there. He wasn't 100 pc sure though that they were fully understanding that.

Wade sighed without realising it, then remembered why he was there tonight. He lifted his head and gazed quietly at the crowd around him, wondering how long he had been lost in his train of thoughts. But his unusual silence seemed to make them feel nervous. Good. For a short moment, he got a sweet and natural smile, almost warm : he had been off-guard for a few seconds, but apparently none had noticed. Pfew ! He recomposed a severe face expression and took a deep breath while rising the mike.

"John Cena!". His voice was like a thunder in this huge room, reflected by the speakers disseminated high above the crowd. Automatically, the booing rose from the public. So loudly that Wade realised he wouldn't be able to make himself heard, even with the loudspeakers. He frowned and paused, annoyed, waiting for the angry shouts to quiet down before he spoke again. "Earlier tonight, the RAW General Manager asked that the two of us meet in this ring and call a truce. Shake hands."

The booing came back at once, like a solid wall, as well as occasional insults and exclamations. Apparently, the fans didn't like at all the idea of the two of them becoming buddies. He smiled softly and started pacing in the ring, still addressing himself to an unseen Cena. "Look. I'm not gonna try sugar-coat what the Nexus has done to you, but I want you to understand, that everything we've done had a purpose. It's just very unfortunate that you've been caught in the middle of us all". The crowd drown him in boos. He paused briefly, before going on: "So before I proceed, I would like to ask you to come here right now, so we can shake hands, like men".

He lowered his mike and waited. During several long seconds, nothing happened, and he could feel the crowd's hostility rising again. Then a hip-hop rap music exploded on the loudspeakers, releasing at once all the public tension and pressure into shouts of joy and relief: John Cena's theme.

The latter appeared at the top level of the lightning ramp, wearing his classical orange wide tee-shirt, his blue and orange cap, and his old jeans short. But he didn't look neither at the ring, nor at the Nexus leader. He first jumped and saluted the crowd, swinging in a kind of 'cool' dance, while his many fans cheered their joy to see their idol, their savior, coming and rescuing them from the awful Wade Barrett and his cutting accent. Cena proceeded towards the ring, shaking hands and clapping shoulders. He took a mike from one of the technicians and seized the ropes, propelling himself inside the ring and landing in front of the Englishman with an insolent and abashed grin. To Barrett, the American looked rather like waiting for the slightest excuse to jump at his throat, now that he had the dark leader in front of him, without the rest of the pack to protect his enemy.

Wade didn't flinch and went on, while he still could. John Cena was a champion of taking control of any speech when he decided, never letting it go while he still had a few molecules of air in his lungs. It usually turned out to be a long and somehow boring monolog; the Nexus leader wondered by the way how come Cena hadn't driven crazy all the other WWE wrestlers. Yet.

"Cena. We've caused you a lotta harm. I recon. We even cost you the WWE championship".

Cena got a bitter smile at that memory but remained quiet, encouraging Barrett to go on. "... But I wanna let you know, and I want you to believe when I say this: you are not in our future plans". Hearing that, some people in the crowd automatically booed, while they should have indeed cheered. Like they found it offending the fact that their hero didn't get any major role in the baddies plans.

Cena was staring at Barrett, an eyebrow slightly risen. The Englishman went on: "You see, I'm now here representing the Nexus because I wanna shake your hand, and put everything that happened in the past behind us. I wanna look to the future, I want us to be able to Move On". As he talked, Barrett was making wide gestures, as if he was talking to a daft, or a four years-old kid.

Vis-a-vis him, Cena remained stoical, and kept on silently staring at him for a moment that seemed like a eternity. Then the American rose his mike, slowly, and spoke.

"So...", he started with his low and firm voice. "We shake hands, right here, right now, and it stops?"

Wade nodded. He knew what John was referring to, no need to linger on this. The American went on: " No more attacks, no more chaos, looking over my shoulder everywhere that I go, it stops ?"

Wade answered nothing but did his best encouraging smile, once again a warm smile and not his usual cruel smirk. Cena hesitated. It seemed too beautiful to be true. And his experience with the Nexus had taught him that when it seemed too beautiful to be true, it was usually the case. Something flashed in his mind and he leant toward Barrett, as if he wanted to share a secret with him or even, to encourage the younger one to entrust to him. Around them, the crowd was silent, so much for the almost unreal situation.

"Listen man", Cena started. "I noticed the GM wanted us to make truce tonight. I need to know: 'Do you want it ?' ".

As an answer, Wade Barrett made one step towards him and extended his hand, open palm, not loosing his soft and warm smile. This was in total contrast with what he got people used from him, since the beginning. Barrett in his regular mood could be scary, but him smiling in a nice, soft and apparently sincere way, could be somehow utterly terrifying. Cena frowned, then he too made a step forward and reached out cautiously towards the Englishman.

The public was holding its breath as the hands were getting closer, almost in slow motion. Could a truce be possible between those two sworn enemies? Really? It would be wonderful, wouldn't it? It would be strange, wouldn't it? It would be unholy... wouldn't it?

Their palms were almost in contact, each of them could almost feel the heat radiating from the other's palm, when John Cena rose quickly his hand towards the ceiling, out of reach. Before Wade Barrett could understand what had just occurred, John rose his mike and shouted with a clear voice: "WHY STOP WHEN WE'RE HAVING SO MUCH FUN ?"

The crowd shouted in delight, full of savage joy. Yet, some amongst them booed Cena's negative attitude. Stunned by the American's reaction, Barrett forgot to notice that he was gaining some public members to his cause. Not a single word seemed willing to leave his throat, not eager to step outside in a world that looked like caving into complete madness. And now John Cena had the speech. And didn't look like giving it back anytime soon.

"You see, Wade ? We got a little bit in common, I don't dwell on the past either, I look forward the future."

Wade almost asked him why then did he refuse to shake his hand, but already John was facing the crowd with a Colgate Smile, and started playing with the public. "The Future... Such a wonderful time, isn't it ? We have flying cars, every kids have a sweet overboard. We have robots at home... and the NEXUS comes and destroy stuffs on the Monday Night Raw !".

Described like that, the Nexus terrible plan looked like an entertaining animation for tourists. Wade clenched his teeth. The situation was escaping his control and running in every directions, except the planned one. If he wanted to keep some authority and fear on people, he had to take back the control of the situation, NOW ! He breathed in deeply, with the thought of retorting, but Cena cut down his effort by standing suddenly right in front of him, staring deep into his green eyes.

"You take your truces, you take your handshakes, your future plans, your past plans, your long term plans, your short term plans...". He made a step towards the Englishman, never leaving his eyes. "Crumble them, and stuff them up your nexus !". Again, the crowd shouted in delight for their mighty hero.

Cena kept on walking slowly towards Barrett, not gazing away. The Englishman had to refrain the reflex of stepping back. It would have been a really bad idea. The American went on: "Just like you I look forward to the future. And you wanna know what the future is?". He stopped just a feet away from the Nexus leader, much closer than anyone had ever dared without suffering some very painful consequences. Barrett could almost feel Cena's breath on his face, but he forced himself to remain still as the American went on with his prediction : "I'll take you down". His voice was low and grumbling. "And not just you, Wade Barrett. Every. Single. One of you...", he closed the distance between them, their noses touching. "I'll take you DOWN !"

For a moment, the two sworn enemies remained still and silent. There would be many occasions in the future, where those two would be again staring hatefully at each other, nose-to-nose, leaving some imaginative people amongst the public wondering if they would one day misjudge the distance and end up kissing each other by accident. But today, they just remained like cats in a dark alley, observing and evaluating each other. Then John Cena stepped backwards, leaving Wade Barrett meditating on his words, and moved towards the ropes in order to leave the ring and get back to the locker rooms. Barrett understood that time was running out for him. His initial reaction would have been to jump at Cena's throat and make him pay dearly his insulting attitude. But he had orders: the General Manager wanted a truce and considering what was at stake, Barrett couldn't openly disobey by initiating some physical hostilities. But he couldn't also let his enemy leave with all the honors. The credibility and survival of the Nexus were at stake. He rose his mike as Cena had already swung his right leg over the rope.

"Cena! That you're even capable of standing in this ring today is a testament". Cena froze and turned towards Barrett, curious. The Englishman went on: "A testament for the fact that what we've done to you in the past is NOTHING compared to what we could do to you in the future. So, I'm warning you right now, this is your last chance!"

Wade extended his right hand again towards Cena. But this time, the soft and warm smile was gone. Any kind of smile was gone! His eyes were like ice. "Shake my hand", 'you stupid morron', he added mentally before going on: "...or I promise you, you're gonna face some severe SEVERE consequences!". His voice was no longer quiet and soft, but low, threatening, like a growling wolf, and his accent even more present than ever. The evil Wade Barrett, who everybody hated, was back. Oddly, many people in the public felt suddenly better. The world was back to normal, with the bad guys dressed in black and the good guys under the American flag.

Cena thought that the truce as proposed right now might be looking extremely odd to the public's eyes. But after all, what else to expect from a man whose ancestors had probably shouted to some ancient Scottish warriors cult-phrases like : "Accept the peace of the England Crown, or we'll torch your villages !".

Cena stayed still for awhile, like torn between deep thoughts. The Nexus was indeed totally able to make of his life a living hell. They could even ease off their attention on the other wrestlers, in order to focus all they had only on him. Slowly, Cena released the ropes, swung back his leg inside the ring, and walked back towards Barrett. His face expression was morose and his jaws were clenched. He dropped his mike on aside. At that moment, Barrett didn't pay attention to it.

First mistake.

Cena closed the last few yards separating him from the Englishman and his extended hand; and without any hesitation this time, he grabbed Barrett's hand in a frank and energetic way. The crowd made a reverent moment of silence as the two enemies were still shaking hands, like this very sight was announcing the coming of the Apocalypse. The American was staring at the Englishman deep into his eyes, with no expression on his face. After two seconds, the tension on Wade's face disappeared and his so-alien sweet smile came back. Still holding Cena's hand, he turned towards the commentators table behind him, just to make sure they were all witnesses that the GM request was fulfilled.

Second mistake.

The mistake of trusting John Cena...

Cena took benefit of that short moment of inattentiveness from his new ally to move his left hand around Barrett's immobilised wrist, and clench it like a vise, before pulling him violently towards him. Unbalanced, Wade hit against the American. For a brief moment, his bewildered green eyes were gazing the fierce blue eyes of the older wrestler, but before he could react, Cena threw him over his shoulders, one hand behind Barrett's knee and the other in the back of Barrett's neck. The message was clear: Cena was about to make his Attitude Adjustment, in order to violently project the Nexus leader on the matt and potentially break his back.

Barrett tried to struggle, but couldn't escape the American's hold, and already he could foresee a quite painful outcome for this truce. Then he felt the grip loosening a little. Something might have disturbed Cena. Barrett glanced around and saw a mop of red hair in the corner of his eyes. Heath Slater had come to rescue his leader. Cena evaluated the emergency of the situation and chose to temporary release Barrett in order to take care of the newcomer first. But he only got as far as punching Slater once in the face, before Barrett was on him again, his hands firmly on his shoulders and pulling him backwards on the floor to make him loose his balance. Meanwhile, the rest of the Nexus pack had reached the ring, preceded by angry voices from the crowd.

Very quickly, the seven members of the Nexus were threshing John Cena, as fair reprisal, ignoring the hysterical yells from the fans who were witnessing the fall of their hero.

TOO-GOO-DOOG !

TOO-GOO-DOOG !

Suddenly, six tunes pierced the global clutter and froze the Nexus in their movements. All of them turned their head towards the commentators table where Michael Cole was standing, a mike in his hand.

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE ?", he asked with a powerful voice, while rising his hand in order to request some silence. When the decibels took an acceptable value, he went on quietly. "I just received an email from the new General Manager who - I recall - prefers to remain anonymous".

Due to what had happened to the previous GM, none could blame him.

Michael Cole walked towards the lectern where a portable PC was resting. For once, the crowd was applauding the interruption of the butchery. On the ring, the Nexus were still, almost as statues. Down on the matt, Cena was still, almost like... suffering. Michael Cole opened the mail, and spoke again with his ever strong voice.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE GENERAL MANAGER TELLS, AND I QUOTE...". He took a deep breath, then realised the actual content of the mail ; and marked a pause.

"Uh... An oil bottle... Toilet paper... Two sponges... Ravioli...". Cole stopped talking, stunned, with a 'what the fuck?' almost written on his forehead. Over the ring, the Nexus were all standing on their feet, as puzzled. Barrett was thinking that in the end, all this absurd idea of truce and handshakes was finally quite clear. In comparison.

Yet, the Nexus were newbies at the WWE. Could this be code names ? Names for wrestling finishers, or some ordeals they were about to face ? Oil Bottle... Could it be a cleaner version of the classical mud fight ?

They were all staring at each other, waiting. Cena on the ring matt, was trying to catch his breath, for more beatings to come. Oh but he wouldn't fall alone! If they could give him just some more time to erase the pain from his senses - the pain that was almost paralysing his muscles - he would take down the Nexus leader with him. Without Wade Barrett, the Nexus would be like a snake whose head has been cut. Already he was inching slightly towards Barrett, to make sure he could catch the Englishman with one single leap. Just one more minute of rest, please. That's all he asked for.

But after only twenty seconds - while everyone still wondered how to interpret the GM's email, another double TOOGOODOOG! was heard, followed quickly by the Michael Cole's somehow strident voice.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN ! I just received ANOTHER email from the General Manager". A concert of whistling and boos rose from the crowd, Michael Cole lifted his hands again to request some silence before gazing towards the computer screen.

"AND I QUOTE !"

He unconsciously frowned while reading, expecting something strange again, then: "OOPS ! SORRY ! WRONG ADDRESS ! IT WAS THE GROCERY LIST ! FORGET ALL THIS ! DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO ME! GO AHEAD WITH WHATEVER YOU WERE DOING !"

There was only one way to describe the expression on John Cena's face at that very precise moment: The expression of a pidgin who just learned that the statue of the NRA president had just come to life and ordered an uzi from the John Woo trademark with unlimited ammo. Cena lifted his gaze on the Nexus circle above him.

He gulped with difficulty when he saw their Cheshire Cats smile.

.

Some people really get what they deserve...

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TO BE CONTINUED.

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Here it is! My first WWE fic! :)

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Why this fanfic?

As I said earlier, I played the Nexus Devil's Advocate. When we gather everything we know about them (and I'm talking about Wade Barrett's Nexus here, not CM Suck's New Nexus), from their point of view, they have really good reasons to do what they do. We can even consider that Wade Barrett had a noble attitude when he jeopardized his career to help the very guys he had defeated in the past at the NXT.

This is the real meaning of SACRIFICE. Not the comedy CM Sucks is doing in his rubbish brainwashing dictatorship.

All right, the method used is perhaps not politically correct, but - as explained in the story - they had no choice. (and you don't make omelette without breaking a few eggs).

I just hope that this fanfic will help you have another look on the WB's Nexus (and by extension, his evolution in THE CORRE now), and maybe you'll feel less hostile whenever you see them on stage ;-)

Note to all the WWE fans out there: Keep an eye on Chris Jericho. He's more implied into the Nexus than just by being the Palpatine-like master to Wade "Anakin" Barrett ;-)

Heaven Ice Day :)

(have a nice day)

::Roselyne::