After having to stand on the stage and listen to more of Randy going on about him being the face of the WWE now for ten more minutes, the roster was free to head backstage so that they could prepare for any matches and segments they had later in the show. Splitting off from the larger group, Cody, AJ, and Kaitlyn walked off in search of Alex.
"How did we manage to lose track of Alex?" AJ asked, scanning the hall they were walking down.
"We didn't lose track of her, AJ," Kaitlyn said, looking around under some the tables that were set up. "We were all paying so much attention to Randy, Vince, Stephanie, and Hunter that Alex must've decided to bolt while we weren't looking."
"I wonder why she took off," Cody said, worry coloring his voice. "You don't think she got upset about something out there, do you?"
"I wouldn't say that she got upset about something that was said, but this is Alex we're talking about," AJ said. "She has her reasons for doing lots of the things that she does."
"That much I know," Cody said. "I just can't seem to guess why it was that she would just take off without telling one of us."
"Maybe we'll be able to find that out once we find her," Kaitlyn said. Suddenly hearing Alex's voice, Kaitlyn said "And I think she might be closer than we think."
"What makes you say that, Kait?" AJ asked, before she heard Alex's voice as well. Leaning in to better hear where Alex might be, AJ said "She's down that hallway."
"Well, then let's go get her," Kaitlyn said, walking down the hallway with AJ and Cody following behind her. After walking a ways past a few tables and chairs, the trio finally found Alex sitting on one of the crates with her earbuds in her ears, singing along with the Phoenix song, S.O.S. in Bel Air. Walking to stand in front of Alex, Kaitlyn tapped Alex on the shoulder.
Her eyes snapping open, Alex looked around and saw two of her best friends and her boyfriend all looking at her with concerned looks on their faces. Taking out her earbuds, Alex said "Hey guys. Is Randy's bit over already?"
"Yeah, it's been over for about a good ten minutes now," AJ said, hopping up on the crate beside Alex.
"Mind telling us why you decided to ditch the whole thing?" Kaitlyn asked.
Shaking her head and hopping down from the crate she was sitting on, Alex said "I'd really rather not. It's a long story and I don't want to risk having my blood pressure spike because of it."
"Do you think you could maybe tell us later?" Cody asked.
Looking up at her boyfriend, Alex said "Maybe I could. All just depends on how I feel after the show's over. So, what kind of matches are up for tonight?"
"Well, Punk kind of shot off at Steph and Hunter, so he's got a match later tonight against a surprise opponent," AJ said, leaping off of the crate as well.
"Surprise opponent, huh?" Alex asked. "Almost makes you wonder who that could be."
"It could be anyone on the roster," Kaitlyn said. "Guess we'll have to find out later tonight."
Watching on as his girlfriend talked on with two of her friends, Cody couldn't help but let a sinking feeling crawl over him. He knew he shouldn't worry too much about Alex, but there was a part of him that just felt uneasy about how Alex had been behaving. Not wanting to make all that big of a deal about it, Cody fell into step with the girls as they headed for their locker room.
…
Making it back to their office and slamming the door shut behind them, Hunter, Stephanie, and Vince all took seats on the couches that were in their office.
"How dare Phil think he can just shoot off at us like that?" Hunter asked, clenching and unclenching one of his fists.
"Phil is obviously in need of an attitude adjustment," Stephanie said, placing a hand on one of her husband's knees. "One that we may just have to give him."
"And how exactly do you propose we do that?" Hunter asked.
Scratching his chin before he got hit with an idea, Vince said "Stephanie already said that Phil's in action later tonight, right? How about we show him during his match?"
Listening to the suggestion his father-in-law just made, Hunter said "That actually doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. Who did you have in mind?"
Smiling one of his signature smirks, Vince said "You'll see later."
…
The show for the night had gone relatively smoothly with some of the typical matches that were on the card with Cody taking on Dean Ambrose of The Shield, Dolph taking on Alberto Del Rio, AJ, Kaitlyn, and Alex teaming together to take on the team of Aksana, Summer Rae, and Fandango, and a few segments that only served as filler. The buzz floating amongst the roster, as well as the fans in attendance, was all over who Punk's opponent was going to be later in the night. Many were thinking that it was going to be Randy since Punk interrupted his 'crowning' ceremony earlier in the night.
"How do you even prepare to fight a guy like Randy anyways?" Jimmy asked, as he changed into his street clothes after having a match with his brother where the two took on the Prime Time Players.
"As cryptic as this may sound, you don't prepare to fight a guy like Randy," Punk said, taping his wrists. "You just go out there and hope you don't get caught offguard by him."
"We wish you well in your match," Jey said. "Try not to let him beat you."
Smirking as he finished his wrists, Punk said "I wouldn't dream of it. Now, if you kind people will excuse me, I've got a main event to go put on."
"Good luck," Kaitlyn called over her shoulder.
Not wanting to sit idly while Punk left, AJ hopped up from her seat beside Kaitlyn. Throwing a quick lie over her shoulder, AJ sped out of the locker room to catch Punk before he got too far away.
"Punk! Hey Punk!" AJ shouted as she tried to keep up with him.
Hearing his voice being called behind him, Punk turned around to see a slightly red-faced AJ speeding after him. "AJ, what's up?" Punk asked, confused about why the younger Diva would be hurrying after him at a time like this.
Finally catching Punk, AJ stopped to catch her breath. After having managed to get her wind back, AJ said "Be careful out there."
Chuckling a bit, Punk said "Being careful is for those that don't know what they're doing. I don't fall into that category, so I'll be fine."
"I know, but still. Promise me that you'll be careful out there," AJ said, a worried look on her face. "I'm aware that you've been up against guys like Randy before, but just promise that you'll be careful out there, Phil."
Seeing the look on AJ's face and hearing her use his real name instead of his ring name, Punk grabbed AJ by her shoulders. Looking down into AJ's eyes, Punk said "April, I promise I'll be fine out there. I've been up against Randy numerous times before. You've got nothing to worry about."
Looking into Punk's eyes, AJ could see that Punk was confident in his ability to win. Sighing, AJ said "I guess you're right. But, can you blame me for being worried about you, Phil? You did take a pretty rough beating from Brock last night."
Smiling at the fact that AJ noticed that, Punk pulled AJ in for a hug and said "Oh, April. I've taken worse beatings than that one before. Besides, if I do end up against Orton, then I won't even be out there long."
Returning Punk's hug, AJ smiled and, looking into Punk's eyes, said "You're right. After all, it's going to take more than some Viper to beat the Best in the World."
Pulling away only to mess up AJ's hair, Punk laughed and said "That's my girl. Now, watch me do what I do best" as he turned and sped off to the gorilla position just as the opening guitar riff of 'Cult of Personality' started to play through the arena.
"Good luck out there!" AJ yelled after Punk, which got a thumbs-up from the older man.
…
Punk made it to the gorilla and through the curtain just in time enough to do his entrance and make it to the ring. He had just taken off his shirt and thrown it out into the crowd when 'No Chance in Hell' started to play through the arena. Looking on in confusion as Vince McMahon walked out onto the stage, Punk shook his head and laughed as he asked for a microphone. Bringing the microphone to his lips, Punk asked "Um, Vince. I think you're in the wrong place. This isn't your cushy office, so why are you out here?"
Smirking as he brought his own microphone to his lips, Vince said "Well, Punk. I'm out here because I'm here to announce your opponent for the night."
"Well, it's about damn time. Don't keep me waiting any longer," Punk said. "The suspense is killing me."
His smirk growing, Vince said "No need to worry about waiting a minute longer. Because here he is!"
Punk waited on until the sounds of 'Next Big Thing' played through the arena. Any signs of a smirk that were on his face disappeared the minute he saw Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman step through the curtain.
Shaking Vince's hand as the older man went backstage, Paul brought a microphone to his lips and said "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise? Brock gets to fight you two nights in a row."
Bringing his own microphone back up, Punk said "Try as he might, but Brock won't beat me so easily tonight."
Laughing, Paul said "Oh, I don't think Brock has anything to worry about as far as you are concerned. After all, it looks to me like you're still in no condition to compete at all tonight."
Looking down at the tape that was wrapped around his waist, Punk said "I've had worse injuries before, Paul. But, I'm not going to let a bit of bruising stop me from kicking Brock's ass around this ring."
Smirking, Paul said "We'll see if you can back up what that mouth of yours is saying." Nodding his head at Brock, Brock took that as a sign to head down to the ring for his match.
Throwing the microphone aside as Brock stepped into the ring, Punk braced himself for whatever damage Brock would cause him tonight.
…
Watching on as Punk and Brock continued their match, Alex and the others couldn't help but notice how physical things were starting to get between the two men.
Moaning, AJ rocked in her seat between Kaitlyn and Dolph as the two men exchanged hits with each other. "I am not liking how this is looking for Phil," AJ said. "Brock keeps going for his stomach, and Phil's really showing that it's affecting him."
Placing a hand on AJ's shoulder, Kaitlyn said "AJ, you have to remember. This is CM Punk we're talking about. He's the guy that's been through more hell in his matches than most other people we know."
"Kait's right, AJ," Dolph said. "Anyways, we all promised that we'd keep an eye on the match in case things started to get bad."
"Anyways, I don't think you've got anything to really worry about, AJ," Jimmy said from where he was sitting beside his brother. "Besides, look. Punk's got Brock set to do a GTS, so this match is just as good as won."
"Uhh, Jimmy. I wouldn't say that so soon," Alex said. Pointing at the TV screen, she said "Look."
As everyone turned to see what it was that Alex was talking about, they all got shocked at how the match had broken down: Punk had Brock set to do a GTS, only to get distracted by Paul leaping up on the apron and trying to get in the ring. Dropping Brock, Punk ran over to the ropes and made a move to punch Paul, only to just miss hitting Paul with a punch. Turning around, Punk walked right into a kick from Brock which got coupled together with an F5. Not wanting to waste any time, Brock quickly covered Punk and got the three-count for the win. Brock then stood up only for the sound of 'Voices' to fill the arena.
"I don't get it," Dolph said. "What's Randy doing going out there?"
Before anyone could answer, they all watched as Randy yelled at Brock to pick Punk up. Doing as the WWE Champion said, Brock picked up Punk, who tried but failed to fight his way out of the larger man's grip only to get kneed in the stomach. Smirking, Randy did an RKO on Punk before Punk could try to do anything else to defend himself. Looking down at a now fallen CM Punk, Randy put one of his feet on Punk's chest and did his Legend Killer pose, which drew a large amount of heat from the fans.
Not wanting to believe what had just happened, AJ started to cry as she yelled "Well, don't just sit back here! Someone go down there and help Punk!"
Sharing a look, Dolph and the Uso brothers leapt up from their seats and ran out the locker room to go help Punk out of the ring and to the medic's office before any more harm could be dealt to him.
Pulling AJ in for a hug as she tried to calm the younger woman down, Kaitlyn rubbed AJ's back and asked "Why the hell would Randy even do something like that?! Punk did nothing to hurt him, so why would he go out of his way to attack Punk when he couldn't fight back?"
"That's just Randy's deal," Cody said, still not quite comprehending the motive behind Randy's attack himself. "He just does what he wants when he pleases. But, not even he's so low as to want to hit a man when he's already down."
"Well, he'd better give us something in the way of an answer," Kaitlyn said, still working at trying to console AJ.
Watching on as Kaitlyn and Cody had more of their back-and-forth, Alex listened on as she took in how each of her friends were dealing with this turn of events: Kaitlyn was furious, AJ was immensely upset, and Cody couldn't seem to believe what had just happened. 'That was low, even for Randy. Kaitlyn's right. Orton had better give us an answer soon,' Alex thought, as she got up and moved over to AJ's other side and worked at trying to calm her friend down.
*sighs* Okk, so I know I might not be following the events that have been happening canonically with the Authority storyline, but I feel that at the very least I'm going to touch on some of the key things that have been happening in it.
Anyways, looks like Punk had to be the one to feel the Authority's wrath first...and poor AJ's worried sick about it. Maybe Alex and the others will get the answer from Randy that they're looking for soon. Until then, don't forget to R&R. =)
