Albany, New York

Royal Rumble - this Sunday

3 hours before Raw

Seth was in the office of Vince McMahon who at the time was slowly beginning to be referred to as the owner of WWF.

Now Seth was being shouted at for not following the script.

"You ass," McMahon shouted. "You were supposed to get hit by that Pedigree and pinned. You were not supposed to win!"

"I understand that," Seth said. "But you see Vince… I could tell the crowd would have hated that. So why not, you know, do something different for once? Almost everything WWF has done, no offence, it's all the same. One guy beats another guy, one guy cheats to win, another attacks another guy, disqualifications, count outs even the tag matches are the same. Actually this just came to me, why would you want one of your employees to beat up a kid?"

"You knew what you were doing."

"Yeah," Hardy said. "But… still. Anyway you got my point of WWF doing the same."

"I understand that," Vince said as if nothing had strayed the conversation. "But that doesn't mean you can just ignore the storyline. And quite frankly, Seth, you aren't even employed here!"

"I know," Seth said. "Which is why I respectfully ask for a contract."

McMahon just stared at Hardy in disbelief. "You want a contract? Ha! There are a lot of things why that won't happen. One, you didn't follow the storyline. Two, you don't have enough training. Three, for God's sake your 10!"

"11," Seth corrected. "I'll be 12 in March."

"That's not the point!" McMahon snapped. "Just think about it for a second. What would your mother think of your decision?"

Seth bit his lip. "Truthfully, she doesn't know I came up here."

"What?"

"She doesn't know I came to Albany," Seth said. "What part of that didn't you understand?"

"So, you, an 11 year old boy, boards a plane from…" Vince paused. "Where did you say you were from again?"

"Cameron."

"You board a plane from Cameron to Albany to compete in a one-off match. And you don't even tell your mother?" Vince asked.

"Yeah. Well… technically I hitch-hiked."

"Why?"

"Because I thought I'd surprise her," Seth answered. "She definitely knows about it now. My brothers are fans." He rummaged around his pocket and handed Vince a piece of paper. "That's my Mom's number."

Vince stared at the kid in shock. "You are one messed up kid."

"Thanks."

Raw

Vince McMahon walked into his office. Seth had been forced to stay in there for the whole of Raw.

"I've spoken to your mother," Vince said. "She said she doesn't approve of this whole thing. But she also said that you hadn't shut up about wanting to be here. Apparently it's been a dream of yours."

"It has."

"She said to give you a chance, if you beat Hunter at Royal Rumble on Sunday. I'll give you that contract you want. Hell, you can even officially be IC Champion."

"Sweet."

"Yeah," McMahon said. "Now stay in here for rest of the show." He turned and left.

As soon as the door closed, Seth leaped out of the chair and grabbed a pair of scissors he had in his pocket. He walked over to a portrait of McMahon and sliced it three times.

That's for calling me an ass, he thought.