Act Two

Master of Puppets

It was two weeks after No Surrender that Alex Shelley's antics nearly got the best of him in the form of Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal.

The two X-Division wrestlers had searched for Chris Sabin for hours after his bloodthirsty attack on Petey Williams at the pay-per-view. Their minds had been a mess of confused thoughts, gory images and tangled emotions as they had tried to make sense of the carnage they had just witnessed at the hands of their friend (or someone they had believed to be their friend). There had been no understanding it; Sabin had acted completely out of character and, even in his worst mood, they would never have thought him capable of what he had done.

To top it all off, he had disappeared from the building along with his new mentors, Raven and Jackie Gayda. Dutt and Lethal had no way of finding out the motive behind Sabin's actions. Thus, they had, in their frustration, resolved to seek out Shelley and made good on the promise they had made after his partner, Kevin Nash, had obliterated Sabin at Hard Justice: to rearrange his face.

Much to their chagrin, Shelley and his cohorts had been nowhere to be found.

Somehow Shelley managed to completely elude them through the following Impact show (taking great personal delight in hearing of their growing anxiety), but they inevitably caught up with him the next week. Due to an atypical lapse in judgment, Shelley found himself cornered outside the washroom without any backup.

"Guys!" he smiled nervously. "Where ya been? I was looking all over for you after the pay-per—"

"Can it, Shelley."

"—view…um, kay."

"This is all your doing, isn't it?" Dutt demanded. "You set Chris up so that Raven could mess with his head. This is all some stupid payback from the World X Cup, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, reel it back in there, Slick! When did you become a conspiracy theorist, anyway?" Shelley was preparing to do some fast talking. "If you recall, I tried to warn you all about Big Kev before the finals," he said, referring to the video footage he had shown his then-Team USA teammates, documenting Kevin Nash's intention of destroying the X-Division. "Why would I have done that if I held any grudges against you? Even if you did do your best to alienate me."

"You joined Nash right after that!"

"Well, if you're going to nitpick then we're clearly not going to get anywhere. Look, Alex Shelley has to do what's right for Alex Shelley."

"And that includes handing Chris over to Raven?" Lethal reiterated Dutt's earlier claim.

"I don't know anything about that!"

"Bullshit, Shelley! We saw you watching the match at No Surrender," Dutt countered. "You looked way more interested than your everyday spectator."

"Well, yeah – to get an idea of your boy's new attitude. Big Kev wanted me 'n Johnny—"

Dutt grabbed the front of Shelley's orange 'Eye Spy' Paparazzi Productions t-shirt with both hands. "Wanted you to what? To take notes on how to finish him off? You know what, Shelley? You've had this coming for months now. I'm so going to enjoy this."

It was Shelley, however, who would have the last laugh. His dark eyes darted around in search of a means of escape until he spied Jerry Lynn emerge from another room, clipboard in hand, intently studying a pile of notes. A wry grin spread across his face.

"Not as much as I will," he replied smugly and proceeded to scream bloody murder. Lynn was on the scene before either Dutt or Lethal knew what was happening.

"Sonjay! Break it up, now!" Lynn commanded, tearing him off Shelley. "What is going on here?"

"Captain Aggravated Assault here totally jumped me for no reason!" Shelley squawked, holding his arm as though Dutt had injured it.

Lynn ignored him. "Didn't I tell you – both of you – not to do anything stupid?"

"Stupid?" Dutt spat, the vein in his forehead dangerously close to bursting. "It's pretty much the best idea I've had in a long time!"

"Since what happened to Chris is his fault and all!" Lethal agreed.

"This is because I'm white, isn't it?"

"I don't care whose fault it is," Lynn continued to pretend not to hear Shelley. "I specifically told you to steer clear. And when I tell you to do something, you do it!"

"This is a hate crime, you know!"

"Shut up, Shelley!" Dutt snarled, taking a swing at him. Shelley narrowly jumped out of the way.

"Alex, out!" Lynn grabbed him by the back of the neck and all-but-threw him in the opposite direction before going back to chewing out the other two men.

As he dragged his feet down the hall, Alex Shelley cast one last pathetically simple look over his shoulder and whined, "Big Kev's gonna hear about this!" before cracking a smile and fighting the urge to laugh until he was safely out of hearing range. The sound was an equal mix of satisfaction and relief.

If they only knew…

"How close they come, yet how decidedly short they fall."

Raven chuckled audibly; with every passing moment he was more impressed with Alex Shelley's subtle manipulation. The confrontation he had just witnessed below couldn't have gone better if the young man had planned it. Clearly Shelley realized that he could only duck opponents – and livid ones, at that – for so long without appearing smarter than he was letting on. No doubt he had been prepared to 'take one for the team' had the opportunity to play the cowardly squealer not presented itself. Either outcome supported his role of hapless tool in the employ of Kevin Nash. His secret agenda was in no danger of being exposed.

The respect he felt forming for Shelley's tactics greatly amused Raven, as did the slight pang of jealousy toward the boy's under-the-radar position. Part of him wished he still had that luxury, before his superior intellect had become common knowledge.

The rest of him reveled using that intellect to pull the strings of each and every puppet he encountered.

Raven put his musings aside and leaned toward Chris Sabin, who sat at his left. The youth, new to the vantage point of the rafter perch, had taken in the scene with eager, wide eyes. He had learned remarkably quickly in his short time as Raven's pupil, and had hungrily devoured every scrap of truth his mentor had fed him. These secrets that had previously been hidden from him (though Raven insisted that they would never have been hidden had he possessed the discipline to open his eyes) had become addictive and he frequently begged to hear more.

Now, as Raven extended his arm to point at Shelley, Sabin's spine straightened and he fixed rapt attention on the target.

"Even from his distance you can read his face, can you not? Can you see the insincerity that masks his true thoughts? Can you sense the lie that reinforces his feigned cowardice?"

Sabin felt like he was seeing Shelley for the first time. He had faced him in the ring on multiple occasions, and it was no secret that Shelley was a strong, fast and technically sound competitor. But just now he had called for Jerry Lynn to break off Dutt and Lethal where they had cornered him. Though all signs indicated that he was afraid of them, logically that conclusion made no sense. And now, the look on his face…

"Why would he punk out if he didn't have to?" he asked. "Guys like that, like Bentley and Petey—" and here he smirked remorselessly, "—usually they're trying to look like the big man and picking fights. Mouth writing cheques the ass can't cash, y'know? Getting Jerry to rescue him makes him the little bitch. Nobody will respect him. At least if he'd gotten his ass kicked he'd have some credibility."

Raven exchanged a knowing smile with Jackie, who sat at his right. "Those are precisely the questions we asked ourselves when we first began watching him."

The missing puzzle piece clicked into place in Sabin's brain. "If nobody suspects him now, nobody will see it coming when he makes his move." His eyes shone. "That's genius."

"So, um, we might have a little problem."

"Oh, really? What's up? Or down? That's what the kids say these days, right?"

"Yeah, 'what's going down' or 'what's the 411' or, actually, y'know big guy, to be perfectly honest, the kids these days say whatever you say."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh, absolutely, you're the trendsetter."

"Yeah, like, you're the role model for the youth of America."

"Aren't you Canadian?"

"Exactly. That's how big you are, dude."

"Wow."

"Impressive, isn't it, Kev?"

"Wow"

Alex Shelley's latest 'Paparazzi Productions' video was rolling for a captivated audience, both backstage and in the Impact Zone. As usual, Shelley and Devine had begun by feeding Nash's considerable ego.

"So, what was that problem?"

"Well, I'm just a little confused, I guess. I mean, all the stuff you've been teaching us was designed to take Sabin out, if I'm not mistaken. Like, pretty much grind him under the boots, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, but me 'n Johnny were watching his match at No Surrender, 'cause we thought it was a little questionable that he was back since you took care of him and all. And, I mean, I dunno, Kev. He's all bad ass and shit now."

"Totally bad ass."

"And it just occurred to us that this little transformation may be cause for concern."

"Had you not—"

"Right, had you not taken care of him already."

"Okay, I can see where you guys are coming from with this, but I have to tell you, there's really no need to worry your pretty little heads about it."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah – he's playing right into my hands. Take a look at what history has to teach us about 'The Big Return.' Everybody tries to come back after having their teeth kicked down their throat – which, might I add, I think actually improved Sabin's looks."

"You did a tremendous job."

"Exactly. So anyway, they come back with a new look and tough-guy attitude and strut around like they're all that and a bag of potato chips. Sting, for example."

"You mean how he shed the surfer digs for the Crow look and hunted Hogan for a year before finally beating him for the title?"

"Okay, bad example. The point is: I've got him right where I want him."

"I am so relieved."

"As if we doubted you."

"I'm ashamed, actually."

"Totally ashamed."

"Listen, don't dwell on it. Contrary to what people may believe, I am not out to destroy the X-Division; I want to help it! I know my methods are a little unorthodox, but rest-assured you will all be better for it. From now on, just let me handle the thinking and you two just stand there, run the camera and look good."

"Oh, will do!"

"But, if it will calm your minds, why don't I just go ahead and settle this once and for all? I will postpone that X-Division title shot that I deserve after all these years of dedication and challenge Sabin to a grudge match."

"You would do that?"

"As God as my witness, I will take one for the team."

"You, Kevin Nash, are a prince."

"A peach."

"A gem."

"Guys, stop! You're embarrassing me!"

"Okay."

"Wait…you're really stopping?"

"A saint."

"A doll."

"I am in awe."