The monster heard the pop of the crowd like he hadn't in years...
Why was he in the ring? The last thing he remembered he was being backstage meeting with the other members of the Authority as the Director of Operations. Slowly his eyelids peeled open scraping across his stinging mismatched eyes to blink at the intense stage lights overhead. Why did it feel like he had been crying? This didn't make sense at... was that X-pac standing in front of him? Did he have hair? The last he recalled the sniveling forgotten member of Degeneration X was balding and pot-bellied.
Was that Tori?
Now he could feel it resting against his face. The mask that he had hid behind for years thanks to Paul Bearer. The mask he had worn when he had ripped the door off the Hell in a Cell and tombstoned the Undertaker to Hell. That was insane though. He hadn't worn that mask since sometime around the turn of the millennium... Hell he hadn't even seen it since he tore it off his imposter years ago.
But, here it was playing out in front of him. The infamous X-pac and Tori Christmas Story was playing out in front of him once more. What was going on. The chains binding his hands was beginning to cause his arms to grow sore and without thinking about it he brought his hands down, snapping the thin linking metal like tissue paper.
Oh, he had forgotten how strong he once was. How powerful his body was in the days before he unmasked, before he got soft. He made to stand but found his progress impeded by the likes of Road Dogg and Billy Gunn trying to keep him down. A quick elbow to the gut and an upper cut had the New Age Outlaws laid out on the mat allowing him to rise to his true imposing height. His near seven foot frame towering over the cheating love and the former partner.
His body was on autopilot as he turned in time to walk right into a chair to the face by Triple H that barely even staggered him. This must have been before Hunter had started using the sledgehammer if he remembered right. Nearby he could see J.R. and King giving commentary, not that he really paid them any mind. Hunter was throwing himself against the ropes to get another chair shot, and a quick boot to the face put the future C.O.O. onto the ground.
Whatever they tried, it had done its intended purpose obviously because as he turned around, X-pac was pulling Tori up the ramp. How sad, he was about to wish the two the best of luck. Suddenly his music hit as the lights went to a deep red color and 'Burned' began to play over the speakers. By all the forces in Hell he was going to have to get that music changed. Maybe he could talk Vince into giving him a vacation to get in shape?
As he stepped over the rope, ignoring the fire exploding from the ring-posts, he tried to think of a plan. He had to figure out just where he was, if not when. And if it was a matter of when, who had the power to send him there? Paul was dead in the future, the Undertaker a fragmented memory who stumbled into the arena once a year when his powers were at their greatest to fight at Wrestlemania. Neither had the power to send him to the past that he could recall.
Walking through the curtain made him freeze though. Standing around one of the monitors showing the ring were three people he dearly hoped he wouldn't see, but seeing it sort of cemented the idea he was in the past. The Hardy Boyz stood on either side of the red head that still played with his mind from time to time. She had been just as good at mind games as he had been, so much so he never saw the betrayal coming.
His head sank as he walked by his ex-wife or future wife... whatever it was. He didn't want to look at her. The bleeding wound from his relationship with her had never fully healed, now he had to see her and Tori at the same time. His greatest betrayers made flesh once more before his eyes. Tori was a nothing more than scar tissue on his heart by this point, some fifteen years later to him. Lita... he could still see her flushing her wedding ring down the toilet.
He froze as he heard a soft voice behind him that made his body tense up.
"That was pretty harsh," he heard Lita whisper to her boyfriend Matt Hardy.
"How strong is he anyway," that was Jeff with a hint of awe in his voice. "I've never seen anyone just snap a set of cuffs so easy."
It was Matt who answered his brother, ignoring Lita's comment. "He's strong enough to beat you, that's all you need to know," he said to his brother before he began to lead the three away from the Big Red Machine.
It was just like Lita to care about others, well it was before he and Edge got through with her. She had become a self obsessed monster as bad as the both of them by the time she had finally retired. The caring woman he had chosen to bear his offspring had died along with their child, and, if it was anything to the memory of that sweet girl who just walked away, he wouldn't let that happen this time.
First thing was first though. He knew the lay out of the WWF/E's future for the next fifteen years. He had a body that was in good shape but could be in better, he could still remember the shock of the crowed when he had lifted the Big Show, but that wasn't much of an achievement in the future. He needed to talk to Vince about a vacation and he needed to make a plan.
It had been nearly two months since he had been in a WWF ring and he was quite proud of the progress he had made. Kane stood in the parking lot waiting for the right moment to head out to the ring, chains were wrapped around his upper arms as he attached hooks locked onto the other end on the front end of a sedan and began to do arm curls, lifting the front end of the car up off the ground with each pull on the chains.
The sound of clicking heel's made the monster stop short of his rep as he turned to look at the approaching figure. A smirk danced on his now visible lips as he noticed that though she was younger now, in the future the curvacious blonde had lost none of her figure. "Well, you look pretty strong," the woman wearing a pink cowboy hat and matching shirt that barely covered her ample breasts and a short pink skirt beneath a long black sleeveless fur
coat said with a grin. "My name is Trish, and I'm," she paused as if thinking of the right words, " looking for something in particular. I'm hoping to become a manager to a future champion and make my mark."
For tonight he had decided to forget about the inverted black and red suit he had originally returned in, instead sporting his gear from 2003. The black see through top with the red straps and black pants allowed him better movement then solid leather outfits of old. Still, he had decided to wear the black and red mask just for nostalgia sake. It was this meeting in particular why he had decided to return to Sunday Night Heat. While he was over Tori, he knew that somewhere she still had feelings for him, and what better payback was there then crushing her by showing up with a new woman?
This though was the bad part about the meeting. He had been mute so long it had taken years to get his vocal cords working the first time and seemed it would do so again. Closing his eyes in shame at his weakness, he reached into his pocket and produced his artificial voice box and placed it to his neck. "I will show you want you want," the grating voice spoke out.
"Oh," Trish said, seemingly stunned as she looked at the mechanical voice machine. "Tall, dark and with a painful past," she whispered as she put her hand on his arm. The blonde knew she could be a royal bitch when she wanted to be, but most of the time she was sympathetic and kind. She had seen the shame in the big man's eyes at having to use the device and decided not to comment on the incident at all. "Hey, you know Mr. McMahon asked me to look at a possible tag team, some guys named Test and Albert. I think he wants a team that makes a T&A pun with, but maybe if you prove your superiority, I won't be stuck with such a joke gimmick."
Putting his forced crutch away, Kane nodded toward blonde and let the chains fall from his arms, the hooks falling away from the sedan they had been hooked on. Walking past the well endowed future diva, the Devil's Favorite Demon grabbed something from nearby that she hadn't noticed before.
If he already wore that mask that covered his face than why had he bothered grabbing a welding mask?
Trish frowned as she watched the match between Test and pretend vampire Gangrel. Neither of the blondes was giving a very good showing as for her despite the rumors she had let leak about her seeking out talent in the WWF. There was a lot of back and forth punching and moves and near pins, but the two seemed far to distracted by her appearance for her liking. Usually she loved to turn a man's head but good lord they were supposed to be trying to win a match.
Without warning though just as Test was going for the pin after a devastating clothesline the lights shut off bathing the arena in darkness. Being halfway up the ramp, she couldn't hear the commentators spiel about losing sight of her as she suddenly the arena's temperature spike. She had watching wrestling enough to know that darkness was usually a power kept for the Undertaker, but the sound of mournful violin's filled her ears before a wall of flames nearly as tall as the Titantron exploded as a chorus of pained wails filled the arena.
What stood on the other side of the wall of flames made her heart freeze as she spotted the orange reflection off the blacked out eyes of a welder's mask and she knew who it was. He was a monster of muscle and fire as he stalked down the ramp, his eyes locked on the ring as he walked by her position with hardly a glance. She almost went deaf as the crowd realized who it was and began to cheer causing the steel beneath her feet to vibrate with its intensity.
Her brown eyes chanced to look at the ring and all she saw was fear. Her fellow Canadian and the vampire were frozen in shock as the man she met in the parking lot climbed over the top rope. The music grew quiet as the lights returned to normal and now she could see that both men, smaller than Kane by only a few inches were pale white with fright.
Trish watched as Test, a man stricken with panic, leaped at Kane preparing to topple the giant, only to meet a boot to the face that flattened him. Using the step as a stride, Kane stalked Gangrel for only a second before grabbing the trembling vampire by the throat and lifting him off the ground with one hand. The impact as Gangrel met the mat actually cracked the hard surface beneath the men's feet and left him in a half buried heap.
The black haired man twisted around with a speed that she didn't expect and grabbed the 6'6" blonde as he struggled to his knees. With what seemed to be ease he tossed the blonde over his shoulder before turning him upside down and locking his arms around the man's middle. Like lightning Kane dropped to his knees, slamming Test on his head with a sickening crunch.
She didn't realize her mouth was hanging open until the nearly seven foot tall giant raised his arms and brought them down to his sides, causing another explosion of flames, this time from the turnbuckles as his welder's mask continued to reflect the lights from around him. Despite the blacked out eyes, she felt his eyes burning into her own, before she turned and made her way back up the ramp. She had promised Vince McMahon she would watch Test and Albert's matches, and she would keep her promise.
However, she already knew who her new client would be.
The life of a Diva as Vince called them was never easy. She almost felt embarrassed as she walked back out to the ring in a blue snakeskin number this time, and a leather long coat. She didn't know why they had insisted she change clothes after scouting just one match, but whatever. Now she had to watch a guy who looked like he had just escaped a S&M dungeon, with way to much back hair, wrestle a guy in khaki pants and a sweater vest.
First of all, she would never manage a man who looked like Prince Albert and really what kind of name was that? Who chose their wrestling name after a dick piercing? They would have had better luck dressing him up in stereotypical Asian garb and having him speak Japanese or something. She ignored the two other sweater vest wearers at ringside as she watched the match. She rolled her eyes as Albert went for a roll-up pin while his opponent was to busy looking at her.
She didn't have warning this time as an explosion of fire went off behind her causing her to jump in the air, her platform boots nearly sliding out from under her body. The violin's wailed as the hulking form of Kane walked by her yet again. He had told her in the parking lot he would show her what she wanted to see, and now he was living up to that.
The men at ring side scattered as the Big Red Machine reached for the ropes and pulled himself up. Albert was at least braver then Joey Abs who quickly dove under the ropes at a surprising speed for a man his side and cowered on the other side of the ring with his friends. The hair covered wrestler much like Test earlier that night ran at Kane in the hopes of landing a few blows, only to receive an upper cut from the faster and bigger man.
But Kane wasn't done with Albert yet it seemed. He grabbed Albert by his skin tight black lather one piece garb and hauled him to his feet. With a flash of movement Albert was sent into the corner only to be crushed seconds later by Kane's massive frame. The Monster began to beat on Albert like a drum as he slung the more rotund man around ring like a doll.
Finally he delivered a kick to Albert's stomach and as the man folded over, Kane pulled the man's head between his legs. With strength she was only beginning to suspect lay within the masked man's arms, he heaved Albert up over his head before driving him back down in a power bomb that sank yet another man through the mat. With another rise and fall of his arms more fire leaped from the turnbuckle before Kane exited the ring.
This time she purposefully stood in his way as he made his way up the ramp. A smirk pulled its way across her pink plump lips as she looked Kane over again making him halt his trip up the ramp. She almost giggled as he tilted his head, almost like a confused puppy before turning away from him and nearly bouncing up the ramp to his music leaving him behind. She had found her client, she was sure of it and she was already planning their big debut as manager and wrestler.
Kane paced backstage the following night on Monday Night Raw. He had a private room, well almost private, as Vince was keeping his return a secret from his daughter and son-in-law. The only problem was that he now shared his room with Trish who was sitting in front of the room's only mirror applying her makeup for their big reveal. She was already dressed in a pair of red leather pants and a black shirt that might as well have been a bra for all it covered on her.
Not that he minded but he felt his stomach knotting up at the thought of his return. Other than wrecking the team that would have become T&A he hadn't really wrestled in months, even before his jaunt back in time. He needed to figure out who had done it, but like a trying to hold water in his hand the answer slipped through his fingers. Luckily, he had another goal he could grasp with time; the WWF Championship.
Who said monsters didn't like gold?
"Will you relax," Trish said suddenly from beside him causing him to almost jump. Damn he was more nervous then he thought if she could sneak up on him and have him react. "Its all going to go according to plan. Mr. McMahon was very compliant with our wish for a one on one match to take place tonight. No matter what the McMahon-Helmsley Faction believe, they still have to follow Vince's orders and keeping you hushed up was really difficult. We had to have a whole bunch of wrestler's promise not to tell anyone you're back."
He nodded at her words and sighed through his mask. "I... know," he gasped out, flexing his vocal cords. Damn he wished he could talk normally again but it was going to be a long drawn out process. He almost winced as he felt the pressure of her hand against his mask. Why was she being so nice to him? They only just met yesterday for crying out loud.
"Come on, its almost time for your match and I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we come out," Trish said before grabbing her sleeveless black leather coat and cowgirl hat and putting them on. They could already hear the sound of Kane's opponent's music blaring throughout the stadium as they left the locker room.
X-pac smirked as he paced the ring, the girlfriend he stole off his former partner hanging from his arm wearing black and green colors. Degeneration X was back, and thanks to Hunter marrying Stephanie they were ruling the WWF at last! He flicked his long black hair out of his face and leaned in to get a kiss from his taller girlfriend for luck when the lights throughout the stadium began to shut off one by one.
His eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what was going on. Hunter and Stephanie hadn't said who the match was against, but he knew the Undertaker wasn't back, and certainly wouldn't waste a return on him. Kane hadn't been seen in months to his knowledge, rumor was that he was locked up in the asylum again after his and Tori's reveal. But still as the darkness lingered he couldn't help but worry, sweat trickled down his face as he felt in his bone's that something was wrong.
Beside her man, Tori clung to X-pac's arm as she looked around for some sort of light. A few camera flashes was all they had to go on for a long stretch before a single spot light landed in front of the Titantron. Tori instinctively crossed an arm over her chest as she compared herself to the blonde at the top of the ramp holding a microphone. There were rumors that Trish Stratus was looking for talent in the WWF, but there was no way she was going to give up X-pac to some new hussy.
On stage, Trish smiled as she heard the crowd cheer for her. Most of them had probably watched Heat the night before, but what happened behind the scenes last night was a well kept secret by only three people. "Ladies and Gentlemen," she began her speech after the crowd's pop had died down. "My name is Trish Stratus." She had to pause again as the crowd erupted into cheers at her name and she had to fight a blush from such a large reaction to her. "As some of you know, I came to the WWF to scout talent, to find a special person or persons worth my time. I'm proud to announce that as a manager I have found my client!"
Thankfully the eruption of fire behind her didn't make her scream as the violin's tore through the air. Veil of Fire rang out through the arena as the 7' giant walked through the flames, his welder's mask fit tightly around his head. "Meet my client, the Big Red Machine, the Devil's Favorite Demon, KANE," she called out as he stepped by her, forcing her to follow him to the ring. Luckily he didn't walk that fast and she didn't have to try and run down to the ring in her platform knee high boots.
In the ring, X-pac and slumped to his knees at the sight of the man he had betrayed. Kane was a giant before, one he had toppled, but now... He didn't have words to describe this beast making his way towards him. He didn't even notice Tori's body become as stiff as a board as the blonde glared at the woman she felt was her replacement. The two could only watch as Kane heaved himself over the top rope as Trish climbed the steel steps before parting them to let her through easier.
Kane, Trish nor X-pac expected the emerald and black blur that was Tori as she dashed across the ring and jumped on Trish pushing her to the ground. Kane was actually dumbfounded as his ex tackled his new manager grabbed the younger woman's hair and began to pull. Snapping out of his daze quickly though, he grabbed the green shirt of his ex-girlfriend and hauled her off his new manager and set her to the side before helping Trish up.
"What the Hell, Kane," Tori screamed seemingly ignoring X-pac as she balled her hands into fists and glared at her former lover. "Who is she?"
"Weren't you listening," Trish countered glaring at the other blonde with a snarl on her lips. "I'm his new manager! You threw him away but I took him in," she yelled back. "Go back to your little man over in the corner and make sure he didn't wet himself and leave me and my client alone!"
Tori wasn't going to sit back on that, with a rage filled cry she leaped at Trish again only this time the younger bodybuilder was ready. In what was supposed to be a match between Kane and X-pac it had degenerated into a brawl between the two women who had come out with the men.
Seeing his opportunity, the smaller man attacked. With a running leap he slammed into Kane's broad back... and didn't budge him. He could only watch in terror as his former tag-team partner turned his head to take him in before grabbing him by the throat. X-pac looked toward the ramp, hoping to see his fellow members of D-X come to save him, only to see nothing but the ceiling the next moment as he was slammed onto the mat.
Reaching for the two women, Kane tore them away from each other again, pushing them to either side as he stepped between them. Damn his more matured mind, he would love to see these two tear each others clothes off on a normal day in his youth, but he was older in mind now. With both blondes glaring at each other around his massive frame he groaned. This wasn't how he wanted to do his reveal, but he had no choice. X-pac was unconscious on the ground and with a groan he lifted his hands to his head and unsnapped the welder's mask, revealing the black and red mask underneath.
He listened to the crowd go wild before he suddenly felt his arms grabbed and hugged to two rather impressive chests. Looking to one side he saw his ex apparently defending what she still thought of as hers, and turning to the other side revealed his new manager protecting her new client. He should have known better than try and plan ahead and get revenge at the same time. His luck never worked out like that.
Author's Note: I'm a big wrestling fan and thought I would give old Harry Potter a rest and focus on my favorite wrestler, Kane. The Big Red Machine needs some love and I thought I wold pass it around. Luckily the WWF/E has quite a few women I can add to make a Kane/Harem story, though don't expect Tori to last real freaking long. So, Kane is back in the Attitude Era, but maybe a few more people will join him. Will the Devil's Favorite Demon reunite with his Ex-wife or hook up with the Horny Little Devil, Terri? What about the unhinged Victoria or the Vampire Ariel? Leave comments and suggestions please!