State of Takeover: Cause That's How I Roll!

by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Right as she declares unfinished business, Captain Charisma suddenly returns and is talking to her. The result is the first seed of a new Coalition set to turn the world upside down. Christian, Maryse, Tomko, Morrison, Miz. DISCONTINUED. Read end.

4. Ringing in a New Dawn

State of Takeover: Cause That's How I Roll! by Instant Classic Superstar Pac

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and this is not linked to any of my other stories.

Rating: T

Summary: Right as she declares unfinished business, Captain Charisma suddenly returns and is talking to her. The result is the first seed of a new Coalition set to turn the world upside down. (Christian, Maryse, Tomko, two others, and an eventual pairing.)

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NOTE: My apologies for the lateness of this chapter. But I assure you, everybody, the wait was well worth it. Wanna see why? Just take a close look.

Chapter 4: Ringing in a New Dawn

Event Date: Friday, September 26, 2008

Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

It was around 4:30 in the afternoon, when a red 1995 Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up into the Nationwide Arena parking lot and its engine stopped. Both front doors and the right back door opened up, and Christiain, Travis Tomko, and Maryse all got out of the car, closing their doors behind them as Christian used the keys to completely lock the car. Christian then tossed the keys to Tomko as the three of them walked over to the thunk, and the Problem Solver used the key to open it. The trio then lifted the trunk up and instantly, Christian saw something that bothered him a little.

"Tomko, come on! How many times do I have to tell you? It's my bag that goes on top! My bag, not yours!" Christian childishly whined, his grudge being the fact that Tomko's travel bag was on top of both his and Maryse's.

"Hey- dude- relax. At least I didn't put Maryse's back on top o' ours," Tomko pointed out. The reason why that one effectively shut the captain up was that while Tomko and Christian traveled with sports and duffel bags, Maryse kept her things in a hard plastic rolling suitcase. Christian had a couple of CDs in his suitcase which, if Maryse put enough stuff in hers, could've easily broken under the pressure during the drive here. On that note, Tom finally picked up his bag and wore it on his shoulder, allowing for Maryse to pull her suitcase and get it down without much effort and for Christian to pick up his bag. Tomko then closed the door and used his keys to lock it.

"You sure you got everything, Maryse? Your case a little light," Christian pointed out.

"Yes, boss. Unlike some people, I don't need to carry my entire wardrobe every night," Maryse remarked cleverly.

"Come on, guys, let's just go," Tomko interjected, trying to hurry things along - but before they could really get anywhere in walking, Eve Torres and a camera were running up to them again.

"Hey! Hold on a second!" Eve called to them as she was running and trying to catch up. The trio turned around, and Christian specifically did not look too pleased.

"Eve, hold on a second. Before you ask me anything, I just wanna know something right quick… did you really use to date Reggie Bush?" Christian decided to ask her, to which she just scoffed. He persisted, however. "If you're not willing to answer that, why should I answer your question?"

"Okay, fine. I did use to date Rgggie Bush," Eve disclosed irritably. "Noq can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure thing, go ahead," Christian replied, true to his word.

"Okay. Tonight, you and your 'Problem Solver' Travis Tomko will be competing in what for both of you will be your first match back in a WWE ring against former WWE Tag Team Champions, ECW's John Morrison and the Miz. First of all, the rumor is that you really ask for this match? And if so, why, or if not, what do you guys think about being in this match?"

"You know what, Eve? We're sick and tired of being asked a bunch of stupid questions that are either already gonna be answered tonight or should already be obvious. But just because you weren't afraid to be candid yourself, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and I'll answer this one for ya," Tomko remarked, stepping up in response. "Yes. We did ask for the match against John Morrison and the Miz. Not only did we ask, we had to pull a couple strings with some higher ups in order to get it. Now why did we pick such a good tag team like them to make our opponents? Simple. We wanna prove a point, and we want everybody to know just how powerful this unit really is." Christian broke into a confident laugh.

"D'ya hear that?" he then started talking to Eve. "Did you hear what Tomko just said? What he just said… should give you all the answers you're looking for." Walking up a few steps, then looking back to Tomko and Maryse, he then instructed, "Come on, peeps, let's go!"

And Christian's crew followed on behind him to head into the arena.

An hour and a half or so, after they were settled inside, the trio decided to split up across the arena. Part of this meantime included Christian having a little catch-up conversation with R-Truth, who actually reappeared on Smackdown a little earlier than Christian.

"Hey, you remember back when you and Road Dogg were stepping up in front of Debra, back when she used to be here and you were called K-Kwik-"

"You still remember dat?" R-Truth asked, a little surprised at how far back Christian's memory reached.

"Yeah, and then Edge and I came over there and Edge started talking about how you guys never got a tag team title and we had three yet we weren't being considered for the tag team title picture?" Christian continued nonetheless.

"Then y'all got a match against us, and y'all tried to rap, but y'all just sounded so wack-"

"Actually, we were pretty good," Christian cut in, paying Truth back for his earlier interruption. "As a matter of fact, we kicked your asses. We went on to win four more tag team titles. How many times did ya get those again, huh? Oh, wait a minute… you didn't. You didn't get a tag team title, you had to settle for that low entertainment cheap belt they call the Hardcore title, didn't ya?"

"You know what, Christian? How 'bout I remind you that-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I get it!" Christian continued reveling in all this as he cut off R-Truth again. "You didn't win any title last time you were here!"

"Actually, dawg, I won that belt twice when I was here last," R-Truth reminded Christian. "I think I remember beatin' Raven both times. You remember Raven, right?"

"Yeah, and let me guess: you lost it to Crash, God rest his soul, the same night. Both times. Right?" Christian contended.

"A'ight, fair 'nough. Ya got me," Truth admitted. "But I almost whipped yo' ass a couple years later."

"A couple years later? You serious?" Christian questioned.

"Yeah, you got a problem?" Truth challenged back.

"No, not a problem, except, uh… I didn't know six years counted as a couple. And the night you're talking about? I still beat ya," Christian pointed out, seriously putting a dent in any wrestling based argument Truth could come up with in his superiority banter.

Meanwhile, as this was happening, Maryse was already at the grooming table, where Jen the makeup lady was adding some finishing touches to Maryse's face. Finally, after taking what felt like hours to Maryse, though it probably did take about an hour due to how bossy and insistent on perfection the Artist of Sexiness herself was about making sure she was perfectly made up, Jen finally proclaimed that she was done.

"Well, it's about time," Maryse arrogantly replied, not even showing a ounce of appreciation to Jen for a job well done.

"Yeah, I guess it is. Admire yourself all you want, Maryse, I'm going to the bathroom," Jen then remarked, before walking away. Maryse scoffed in annoyance, having deemed this woman beneath her a long time ago, before picking up the small mirror and taking a look at her face. But before she could choose whether or not to admire Jen's handiwork as a job well done…

"Hey, Maryse!" she heard someone calling to her. Turning around, she had to laugh at what she saw. Maria - of all people, Maria, and in a short little mini dress, too - was actually walking up and trying to talk to her for something. In the middle of her laughing, Maryse managed to get herself to stand up and stop briefly.

"What? What's so funny?" Maria asked, causing Maryse to break into another short burst of laughter, sighing contentedly

"Okay, Maria, what do you want?" the blonde finally asked.

"Okay. First of all, why were you laughing?" Maria had to ask. This drove Maryse into yet another fit of laughter.

"I can't believe it," Maryse struggled to say through far from subtle giggles. "You're actually coming to me!" Of course, she continued to laugh, but in due time, her laughter subsided at the same time as Maria's pout grew more and more angry, despite the fact that she couldn't care less how angry the Radiant Redhead had gotten by now. "Okay, but seriously. What do you want?"

"Hey, I was just coming over to talk to you about Christian-"

"Tais toi," Maryse immediately interrupted, making it clear via a hand to Maria's face that she had just told Maria to shut up in French. "Okay? Right there, you must shut up. What I do in my spare time with Christian and Travis is none of your business."

"What you do with them in your spare time, huh?"

"Again; shut up. Before you get any ideas about what kind of gossip you're going to spread to your girly little friends Eve and Michelle and Bella, Christian and Tomko are both married, okay?" Maryse clarified in trademark prompt snide fashion. "They both have something Americans like you and French Canadians like ma call wives. Something that you are way too loose to ever be."

"I'm too loose? You've never even had a boyfriend," Maryse indignantly retort.

"Correction: no boyfriend has ever had me," Maryse corrected her, before stopping and thinking back on it. "…okay, fine. Maybe there's been one or two boyfriends. But that was before I became what I am today, and even back then I was never taken advantage of. You, on the other hand, you have been wined and dined and denied more than anyone I ever heard of."

"What the hell are you talking about? Tell me. Now," Maria daringly demanded, as foolish as that was. Foolish, that is, because Maryse was totally on point about it.

"Okay, I will. Despite you talking about it as soon as one picture came out, CM Punk never took your relationship to television before he dumped you."

"He did not dump me. We broke it off mutually, and we're still friends," Maria corrected her.

"Somehow, I don't believe that. See, you have been seduced and lured in by the ultimate manbearpig of all WWE, Batista," Maryse accused matter-of-factly.

"Maryse, I wasn't seduced! He was a gentleman the whole time!" Maria insisted, though obviously once again that did her more harm than good.

"No, Maria, he was not a gentleman. He was suave and all dressed up like he was supposed to be some sophisticated caveman," Maryse informed her in earnest. "Besides, it was never even brought up in public. You could have denied it. I don't know if it's shame or a clue, but certainly you are lacking something." All this, and yet she was sure it would go through the ears: in one, out the other. Elsewhere…

"Dude, are you sure she doesn't dig me?" the Miz was asking John Morrison as they hung out somewhere in the back.

"Yeah, Miz- look, not every single girl on this planet is going to fawn over any single one person. If that were the case, I'd have everybody screaming my name and Melina would've never left me," Johnny replied, even being casual about the subject of his ex-girlfriend. "Seriously, I've learned to face the facts. No one can be perfect." At the same time, unbeknownst to them, Tomko was walking through the neighborhood and became interested in their little discussion, slowly approaching them.

"But Johnny, I had a perfect record, bro!" Miz continued to complain. "This whole time I've run around as the Chick Magnet that I know I am, no girl has ever turned me down!"

"Well, then it was destined to happen sometime," Johnny deadpanned.

"Yeah, man, it was bound to happen eventually. Just because you got on reality TV shows doesn't mean you can't have missed spots. Now who are you guys talking about again?" Tomko suddenly spoke from behind, startling the Dirt Sheet duo.

"I think you may know full well who we're talking about. She happens to be a part of yours and Christian's little gang," Morrison contended, to which Tomko chuckled and broke out into a grin.

"What? What's so funny?" Miz questioned, getting irritated at Tomko's tone.

"Somehow, Miz, I am just not surprised," Tomko replied bluntly.

"Not surprised? What are you-"

"No, just stop it. Stop it right there, now let me tell you something," Tomko replied. "First of all, this is far from your first time. Christian keeps me informed, he tells me about this. Let's look at the members of your Extreme Exposé. First, there's Layla El. Before she became part of your personal escort service, she teased and played and tricked you into getting a lap dance from that losert big fat oily guy, on a pay-per-view, on your birthday. Then there's Kelly Kelly. While in your troupe, she tried to leave you high and dry to the point where you had to threaten her about a contract, and all for, of all people, Balls Mahoney. That had to be embarrassing." As he spoke on, he could see the anger and embarrassment building on Miz's face. Making it obvious that this was what he wanted, he kept on going. "Then there's the third one. Brooke Adams. When she got cut, she didn't even call you back. She took her modeling career and ran."

"What the hell is your point!?" Miz demanded, thinking he was a tough guy bowing up to Tomko.

"Do me a favor and get out of my face before I knock you out right here," Tomko warned him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Johnny finally interjected, pulling Miz back and looking straight at Tomko. "We don't need to knock people out all over the place. And aren't you and Christian our opponents tonight?"

"Yeah, but I'm trying to make a good point here, so you might wanna listen," Tomko explained, before turning back to Miz. "Now, my point here, Mike, is that instead of focusing on being a wrestler and getting serious, which if you were you could easily have won the ECW title by now just like your boy Johnny here, you're more busy worrying about your little Chick Magnet handle. It's the exact same thing as Maryse, except your arrogance ends up costing you at critical times. This is World Wrestling Entertainment. You're here to wrestle. You have a better chance of being memorable if you create a legacy based on how well you wrestle. Being hard party, hard candy material is fun and all, but unless you get serious in the ring, it's gonna fade quickly and everybody, including all these girls that flock to you, they're gonna forget all about you." And with that, he started to walk away.

"Hold it!" Miz shot, practically commanded, after Tomko took a few steps. The Problem Solver followed accordingly, simply so he could hear what Miz had to say. "Back even before my Real World season, I was running around with a toy championship belt. I had a dream that I was gonna take an unconventional route exclusive to the Miz in order to make it here, to be a WWE Superstar. See, when I was on those reality shows you talk about, I wasn't just picking up chicks. I went through excruciating Real World/Road Rules challenges. I went through Fear Factor. All of that required toughness. I came here through the Million Dollar Tough Enough challenge! I didn't win, but I impressed Vince McMahon enough to get a less lucrative contract.

"I worked my way up. I came here to Smackdown. That Network guy, Palmer Canon, kicked me out and got me pulled for a few weeks, then I came back again! And people thought I was a punk. JBL, for example, didn't think I'd last anymore than three weeks. Yet here I am, standing as one half of the greatest tag team WWE has seen since your very boys themselves, Edge and Christian!" At this point, he was growing a bass in his voice and stepping up to Tomko, who still had his back turned. "How dare you tell me that I don't have any focus, that I don't have a passion for wrestling! Everything I ever did has brought me HERE! In this company! In a successful tag team!" He then went around Tomko to face the front of him. "In your face!" And just as quickly, that ended, as Tomko suddenly picked Miz up by his shirt and pinned him against the wall nearby.

"You do not wanna get into a fight with me right now!" Tomko shouted at Miz.

"Hey, man, get off him!" Johnny yelled out, running up to them.

"Shut up! I'm trying to prove a point!" Tomko shouted back at him before turning to Miz again and letting go of the kid, letting him fall to his knees. "Think about what you just said, and come out tonight ready and willing to kick my ass. If you can't do that, Miz, I don't care what you say - you can't wrestle!" Then he actually added the icing on the cake - he slapped Miz right in the face and started to walk away!

Miz, of course, was agitated beyond control, instantly getting right up and attempting to lunge after Tomko, only to be held back by Morrison.

"You better come back here, you big dumb idiot! I may be the Grand Mizard of Lust, but that doesn't mean I can't be the Grand Mizard of Knocking You On Your Ass!" Miz shouted angrily as he continued to try and wriggle fee from Morrison's restraining arms. "You're lucky Johnny's holding me back, or I'd have you on your way to a hospital right now!" Then he started getting frustrated about it. "John, quit holding me back! I gotta kill this guy!"

"No way, man! Save it for the match!" Johnny tried to advise him. And Tomko was just grinning the whole time as he was walking away.

Back to Maryse's discussion with Maria…

"Maybe you weren't watching the same Raw I remember, because Santino didn't dump me. I dumped him," Maria recalled, as now their little conversation had turned the way of Santino Marella - the one Maria relationship that did make it to television.

"You're the one who was so loose, and worse yet, dense, that you couldn't even be trusted in the nude in front of other guys for a Playboy photo shoot. You may have chosen Playboy over him, but he made the judgment call. He dumped you," Maryse explained. "I never heard anything about Santino being ashamed of himself after you chose Playboy. You didn't dump him. You let him dump you. It's just you're too stupid to get it." And Maria gasped in shock.

"Do you see me crying for Santino to come back either? No. You don't," Maria responded, actually surprising Maryse. "I don't really care who you think dumped who, because that's all in the past now. I'm sure that between Santino and I, both of us think we dumped each other. But that doesn't matter. He's with Beth Phoenix, and even though I'm not with anybody right now, I'm still perfectly happy."

"Yes, you are perfectly happy. Every time you design clothes where you steal Christian's hood and think that you'll be able to impress him, clearly that means you are perfectly happy," Maryse repeated sarcastically.

"Hey, hold on a second. I think people have heard enough Diva snipping," Tomko suddenly said from behind Maryse, causing both her and Maria to turn and look at him.

"Hi Tomko!" Maria greeted with a cheery smile and a wave. Tomko merely waved back, barely acknowledging her otherwise as he turned back to Maryse.

"So, did you give them the message?" Maryse asked the big guy.

"Yep. I think they heard it loud and clear," Tomko replied with a confident nod.

"Okay. Let's go find Christian," Maryse suggested, before turning to Maria. "Oh, and I'll be finishing this little chat with you later."

"Don't hold your breath, but if you can find me, okay," Maria sort of semi-agreed. Maryse's only reply was a simple "right".

"Come on, Maryse, let's get outta here. Oh, and nice to see ya, Maria," Tomko said, as he and Maryse turned around and walked away.

"You would think Christian and Tomko would teach her some manners…" Maria muttered to herself as she went in the opposite direction. Speaking of Christian…

"Naw, but you see, it ain't gon' happen like that," Truth was saying.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, hold on a second. I actually agree with you on that one," Christian responded, stopping the subject of whatever they were talkig about as he noticed someone approaching.

"Hey, R, you might wanna look behind you and see who just popped in," Christian suggested, pointing behind R-Truth. Finally, as the seriously dark Suntan Superman turned around, United States Champion "the Gold Standard" Shelton Benjamin was standing right in front of him.

"What's up, dawg?" Truth asked Shelton casually, to which he immediately put on a scowl.

"First of all, R-Truth, I'm not your 'dawg'. And Christian, you better step the hell out of this before I strike you with Paydirt," Shelton warned, Christian putting his arms up and backing up a few feet as a sign of backing off. Not because he was afraid of anybody, but because this was seriously none of his business and he didn't want to be running interference in people's business just yet.

"Now," Shelton continued looking straight at R-Truth, "you. You come barging into Smackdown with your hooligan haircut, your raspy ghetto drawl, your sagging pants with your name in a stret font, your rap routine, your darker skin than Akon… you know what, just tell me this. What the hell can you bring to the table that you didn't get from jail, chump?" After hearing this question posed, R-Truth simple shook his head and threw his arms up.

"You see, Shelton, that's just your problem, man. You need to just relax! Take a chill pill and enjoy yourself, dawg!" Truth answered, kindly trying to reason with Benjamin.

"Dawg?" Shelton then repeated unfondly. "Dawg!? First of all, R-Truth, 'homey', I just wanna let you know that I'm not your 'dawg'. Second of all, I'm just gonna tell you what I think about you. See, I don't know if you udnrestand this word or not, but you, sir, are an embarrassment."

"An embarrassment?" Truth repeated questioningly as Christian simply turned around and walked away from the discussion.

"Yeah, that's right! I said it! You're nothing but an embarrassment to all black people everywhere! Your shtick, your act, whole entire charade is predicated on celebrating the ghetto!" Shelton shouted seriously.

"Hey, you learn how to go through problems in the ghetto! That's where I came up from!" Truth vehemently countered.

"Yeah!? Well, if every single black man alive today learned how to 'handle their lightweights' with guns and violence, not only would there not be a black man running for President, we would've had race relations set back 500 years!" And eventually, as this argument went on, so did Christian's walking, until finally he had turned around and the heated debate festivities were out of his earshot range. However, at the same time, there was a certain twosome coming into his earshot range.

"Wow, you really must have pissed him off," a certain feminine accented voice could be heard saying as the shadows of two figures started appearing on the wall.

"Well, that was pretty much the plan," an even more familiar masculine voice stated, before the two of them could be heard laughing.

"Hey, guys!" Christian called as he recognizing the two voices as those of Maryse and Tomko, running over to meet them in the hallway. "You sent the message?" he then asked Tomko as soon as they met up.

"Yep. Perfectly, loud and clear," Tomko reported.

"Terrific, man. Hey, whaddya say we all go grab a bite to eat and then come back here?" Christian suggested,.

"Sure, no problem," Maryse nonchalantly accorded.

"Sounds like a plan," Tomko agreed less tentatively. Christian already started walking. And they already started following.

"Great. But by the way, can we pick somewhere that's kinda cool and relaxed and stuff? Cause Maryse, I want me and Tomko to be able to tell you about a few of our adventures with our past peeps…"

Much later on, into the night, specifically on Friday Night Smackdown, at around 8:57 or so, long after they'd already gotten back into the building, the gang would soon find that they were not going to be allowed unadulterated peace before the match of Christian and Tomko against Miz and Morrison. Why? Because they were scheduled at that time for an interview with Eve Torres.

"Christian, Travis Tomko, tonight you two officially enter your first match back in WWE when you take on former tag team champions John Morrison and the Miz. What are your thoughts on what should be quite the challenge for the two of you?" Eve asked them. Christian actually took a small pause before answering her question.

"Are you done?" was the return question that came out of that pause.

"Uh… are you gonna answer my question?" Eve asked right back, trying to get a little defiantly witty.

"Wow, so you actually do have some spice to ya. Cute. But you know, you look like you should be chock full of energy in the first place. So as long as you're still gonna be interviewing people as opposed to giving yourself something to be interviewed about… at least try to work on that personality o' yours so you're not just some looker with a microphone and a bunch o' stupid questions," Christian finally replied without a question, though this left Eve gob smacked for a little while. "But back to business! Back to business. You asked me a decent question, you asked… what are our thoughts on being challenged by John Morrison and the Miz. Maybe you need to, um… read between the lines and try to figure it out. We asked for this match. Specifically, I asked for this match. Yeah, that's right, I called Shane McMahon and I asked him to get Vickie Guerrero to book the match for us."

"But why? You're just coming back from a three-year exile and already you're trying to face the longest reigning tag team champions in recent history?" Eve asked, pretty much repeating Johnny and the Miz's Dirt Sheet tagline.

"Exile? What are you talk… you know what? Don't even answer that. Why did we ask for this? Real simple. We got a point to prove to Morrison, to Miz, to everybody on Smackdown, to the entire WWE, and we are ready to go out there and prove that point," Tomko jumped in front of Christian to proclaim.

"Speaking of proving a point, an arena surveillance camera shows that earlier today in the back, you, Tomko, actually put your hands on and attacked the Miz earlier tonight. Let's see the footage," Eve requested.

In response, the Smackdown production crew played footage caught up high from said surveillance camera, specifically Tomko grabbing Miz and pinning him to the wall, then turning around as Johnny approached and verbally warding him off while blatantly dropping Miz, berating the kid, then reaching down to slap him before walking away.

As the feed returned to the live scene of the interview, fans could actually be heard cheering for this.

"Tomko, what the heck were you thinking?" Eve then questioned him, to which Christian smirked.

"You really want a scoop that badly, don't you?" Tomko returned the favor, Eve taken aback. "You want a crazy story, something you can write home and interview Christian about, don't you? Well, make sure you get yourself a pen and a clipboard like that Mike Adamle guy on Raw and pay close attention to what happens here tonight." And with that, Tomko and Christian finally walked off. Maryse then came up to Eve and flicked a bit of the former USC cheerleader's hair back, throwing on a smile before she left to follow the men off.

Some 15 minutes or so later, John Morrison's theme song "Ain't No Make Believe" suddenly came on for the Morrison and Miz vs. Christian and Tomko matchup. Coming out dressed to be fly and then compete as usual, Miz and Johnny both struck their high arm poses welcomed by the slo-mo graphic on Smackdown, but after walking down the ramp, they both just slid into the ring rather than use the steel steps (Morrison) or simply go on the apron (Miz) and cross the ropes as usual. Johnny then went on the near right turnbuckle, Miz on the far right one, and they both began to strike their poses again, only for their music to fade out on them prematurely and switch just as prematurely go into "Just Close Your Eyes", exploding the crowd in cheers. However, as Christian and Travis Tomko came out along with Maryse, there was something gapingly obvious. Maryse was not the only one in street clothes: all three of them were. Oh, and Christian had a microphone in hand.

"Hold on, hold on a minute here, wait just a second," Christian began on the mike, instantly stopping the music and raising the questions. "Well, if it isn't the Shaman of Sexy and the Chick Magnet, the Palace of Wisdom duo, John Morrison and the Miz themselves. Looks to me like we've just stumbled across the longest reigning WWE tag team champions since the guys that beat you for it, Morrison, back when you were running around in MNM." By this point, both Morrison and Miz had picked up microphones.

"Congratulations: you know who we are. Now if you could please explain to me what you're doing in street clothes, or is it that you got cold feet and decided to worm your way out of this match?" John Morrison daringly asked the popular duo on the stage.

"You know, John, for all your talent, you don't seem to be exercising a ton o' common sense right now," Christian replied, actually getting cheers for this one. "The one thing you've already started to fail to understand is that I didn't get the nickname of Captain Charisma from being an idiot. Only a guy like me can read into his wife thinking a handle is ridiculous and automatically see money and a connection with his peeps. You see, I'm just that smart. I'm just that big a visionary. And when I requested this match, I had a vision. And as you can tell, from the fact that Tomko and I are still in street clothes, that vision never entailed that we would actually wrestle a match tonight." And here came the disappointed groans and cheers from the fans.

"Hey! Hey, Christian! We're not gonna allow you to duck on us tonight!" Miz shouted into the mike, actually getting cheered for once. "After the way that your boy Tomko came into my face, embarrassed me in front of my partner, and pissed me off!?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Christian then asked Miz.

"Well, since he's obviously too stupid to keep you informed, I'm just gonna tell you the full story of that attack you saw from surveillance footage," Miz remarked, Tomko showing off a momentary scowl of acknowledgement. "See, earlier today, in the back, while I was talking to Johnny about a conversation I had with Maryse back on Tuesday night, Tomko came up to my face and dared to insinuate that chicks don't dig me, then he questioned my focus and my dedication to doing my thing in the ring! Then he frickin' picked me up, pinned me to a wall and dropped me like a bad habit! And if you think I'm gonna stand for that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second! Tomko!" Christian vehemently interrupted, snapping Tomko's way as he exclaimed the big man's name. "Please tell me you didn't do what he just said you did!"

"Uh, actually, let me be truthful with ya: yes," Tomko replied, resulting in an audience full of cheers again as Christian stood there apparently frozen in shock. But after a few seconds, he slowly broke into a sly grin, before turning straight to Miz and Morrison again.

"Need I remind you again about who you're talking to?" Christian then asked Miz, to which the Chick Magnet replied with a frustrated puff. "The fact is, we requested this so-called 'match' because we wanted to get a hold of you in this ring. And as far as Tomko bullying you around in the back? After hearing about the conversation you tried to have with Maryse off camera back on Tuesday night, I actually sent him there to piss you off to see what kind of a pulse you have! And seeing as how you're still clamoring and begging to get Tomko in the ring, I'd have to say I'm actually impressed."

"You're impressed? Well, you should be!" Morrison then declared. "We are the longest reigning tag team champions you have ever seen in a long, long time!"

"Sorry to break it to ya, Johnny, but E-V-E already told us that," Christian informed him. Now, instead of skirtin' around the issue, I think it would best serve us all if I could finally get to the point. You see, while Tomko and I were watching ECW, we noticed two things. One: how much ass Maryse kicked even while she still occasionally lost her focus. Two: the way the two of you were completely disrespected and totally abused by that biased idiot George Jefferson wannabe who dares to copy Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt with the informal shortening of that first name." The disses towards Long weren't received favorably by the audience. "We also ran into an Internet interview after the bell when you correctly pronounced that as the main reason ECW is entertaining, Teddy should be thanking you for selling tickets and making his show money instead of gettin' all bent out of shape when Evan Bland and Monkey Ortiz aren't hailed as gods. The way I see it, you would damn sure be doing yourself a ton of favors ditching Teddy Long and ECW and not just coming here to Smackdown, but coming here to Smackdown by joining our little family!" If he was marketing to the fans, he wouldn't have succeeded. The family reference brought back some unwelcome memories of a certain Edgemaster's crew and resulted in a chorus of boos.

"Sounds like you're really got a way with words," Johnny sarcastically quipped. "But even despite the bad family reference, we actually know that you're not exactly best friends with Vickie Guerrero either. So by coming here we'd just be switching over from the wrath of one biased General Manager to another. I don't see how that helps anybody."

"I don't think you've actually done well for yourselves handling the wrath of Teddy Long, now have you?" Christian made sure to point out. "The way I see it, you'd be better off handling the wrath of another biased General Manager, should she ever decide to break our little agreement to stay out of each other's business and use that wrath on us, while part of a five-person group with a leader as good as me!" And that note ended up getting him a mixed reaction, mostly a good one though.

"Why should we even accept this?" Miz then asked defiantly, still angry about what happened earlier. "Seriously, tell me! Cause I don't know! You sent Tomko to humiliate me and now you want us to join you, to be your little friends!?"

"First of all, I didn't ask him to do any specific thing. Just to piss you off and get you raring to go. Whatever bad memories he evoked, those are between you and him. That's none of my business," Christian noted again. "But even more importantly, you get to redeem your reputation with the Palace of Wisdom. See, after seeing some of the footage and hearing the story, I'm pretty sure most of your Mizfits over there were quite the embarrassed. We all know you wanted to bring the beautiful Maryse into the Palace anyway. Now you get the extra rep boost of bringing in not only her, but Captain Charisma and Tomko to boot! That can only do you mucho favors, and if you can't see that, well… I'm not even gonna dignify that with a response."

While Christian's cleverness with now finally met with full crowd approval again for the first time since giving the fans a bad flashback to La Familia, Miz and Morrison started to discuss the matter amongst themselves off-mike. After taking about twenty seconds in their decision making process, they finally turned to Christian and company again.

"Okay, Christian. While the Miz is apparently still pissed off about the fact that your boy embarrassed him in the back, he recognizes the benefits of joining forces enough to trust you cautiously. But I want a condition put into it, just to be sure you're not in this only for yourselves," Johnny then declared.

"And what's that?" Christian asked him.

"Later on, into our term as a unit, I still want this match," Johnny replied, bringing the crowd to a high note once again as Tomko asked Christian to give him the microphone.

"Deal," Tomko then announced, making it official. John Morrison and the Miz were officially now a part of the gang! And as the crowd actually celebrated this announcement, Tomko's theme track came on and Johnny and Miz exited the ring, making their way up the ramp and approaching a nodding trio of Tomko, Maryse, and Christian. Meanwhile, Jim Ross and Tazz at the announcer's table were marking out about the repercussions of this revelation upon Smackdown. As Morrison and Miz eventually made it up the ramp, Morrison shook hands with the three original members, while Miz was tentative to accept anything. Tomko noticed and called him over, saying the following:

"Listen, kid. I know I pissed you off in the back, but it's what I felt I had to do. Christian told me to light a fire under your ass, I just figured I'd do a little more than that. Everything you told me about, everything you shouted to me about the road you took to become a wrestler, think about all of it before you go into a match. When you come out at your arrogant self, think about what got you here. Miz, you can become a champion. Every single one of us here can. All you gotta do is be Miz to the best of your ability. I just felt like offering a little push, cause the five of us right here, we are set to take over. Just look at what's in front of you, man, cause this is something special. You got it?"

Miz nodded and with a "yeah," showing some understanding. Finally, Christian and Maryse welcomed him aboard, before the five of them lined up in the order of Tomko, Morrison, Christian, Maryse, and Miz, with their arms all raised high, as the show headed to a commercial break.

Some 6 minutes later, the quintet assembled by Christian was found and stopped by WWE dot com's Joey Styles and an Exclusive camera.

"Christian, while it can't be disputed that your return to the WWE has been nothing short of shocking, the actions you've taken and the group you've assembled can also best be described as unprecedented. You have always laid claim to be a man of vision, so I just have to ask you, what is this vision you have that has motivated you to do things the way you have so far?"

"You know what? Joey, usually this is the part where I tell some knock-knock joke and embarrass my interviewer, which I've already done to Eve tonight, but since I've already done it tonight and you're somewhat of a legend, I'm just gonna get straight to the point," Christian commenced. "See, this right here… this is just like the presidential election going on right now in this country. While one corner is involved in bitter partisanship, trying to dictate to people who's the real Christian America and who's the radical going-to-a-Christian-hate-church-for-20-years-but-somehow-is-still-Muslim terrorist while at the same time looking more close-minded, corrupt, and terrorist-like with every news article and piece of information that comes out about 'em, the other takes a path that's really… Jesus-esque, for all you Christians out there. That other side spreads a message of inclusion, taking people in, speaking and moving… for hope and change for the whole entire country. Not just those that are on their side, but everybody."

"Oh, and that other side has been vocally endorsed by me on the Dirt Sheet," Johnny made sure to remind the web viewers.

"Yeah, I kinda saw, you had some cool episodes there," Christian noted, to which Johnny said "thanks" before he turned back to the microphone being held up to his face by the former ECW announcer Styles. "Now, let's focus on the WWE. For years, for years upon years, and for years upon years upon years… we've been living in a world, living in a bubble, where wrestling has been divided in two. You got one side of the spectrum, they absolutely love the fans, they kiss up to 'em at every turn, and they make sure that they only team with fan favorites, and they douse themselves in a false feeling of virtue so they can feed off the crowd every match on a regular basis. Then there's the other side of the fans, the ones who absolutely hate 'em. Can't stand the way the audiences are sheep to the 'paragons of virtue' I mentioned earlier. And to purposefully piss them off, some of their tactics are the dirty and underhanded strokes o' genius that take advantage of the fact that a referee's health plan doesn't include vision. Well, you know what I say to that? I say both sides o' that spectrum are no different than the first side, the divisive side, of what I was talking about with the whole election thing."

"Then, you guys would be like… the other side? The side you described as being Jesus-esque?" Styles then asked him.

"Joey Styles, congratulations. Usually I would knock you for having a crush on Kelly Kelly," Johnny started, to which Miz interjected a third "Kelly," to parody Santino Marella, "and being a nerd, but tonight your nerdy side is actually working in your favor. See, we over here don't believe in partisanship. Not amongst a political discussion, and not amongst our view of the WWE wrestling fans. We understand that there are some people who can't understand our sophisticated brand of humor and entertainment. We also understand that there are some people who absolutely love it. We don't cater to either side of the coin. We rely on our charisma to galvanize both of these opinions together and listen to the melting pot of diverse emotions with pride."

"Yeah, exactly. And not only that, we're equal opportunity competitors. We don't need to duck or back down or form allies with people on either side," Christian continued, taking over the reins. "We will happily compete and beat the hell out of people like Matt Hardy and Triple H just as quickly as we would deal with guys like Edge, and Vladimir Kozlov, and Chris Jericho. Not only that, we're a team. We're a unit. We are in this together. We're not here just for ourselves, we're here for one another as well. And it's in that spirit that I guarantee you, we will be taking over Smackdown. And we will be setting in a new change, ringing in a new dawn, and ushering in a new era. And in this new era… well, just like I can tell you the stoic guy who wants to unite the country is probably gonna get elected as its President, I can also tell you that each and every one of us will serve as living proof that I am the champ."

"One last question, though, before you go, what exactly is your group's name?" Joey Styles then inquired once again.

"Our name? Are you serious? You want our name? Well, let me help you out here. I'm gonna let you sit down and think about my history. More specifically, sit and think about my history with this big man behind me, 'the Problem Solver' Travis Tomko. And when you go thinking about it long enough, it should bite you right in the ass," Christian started, again getting defiantly clever.

"But even if you get it, which we know you will, you'd do yourself a real favor by keeping your mouth shut," Tomko jumped in again. "Cause we will mark our name down in history, by proclaiming it once we make our first big move. Just in case you don't get it, though, I'm giving you one last clue: don't ever change the last name Styles. It brings back fond memories for me and Christian."

"Guys, I'm a little impatient right now. Can we just leave already?" Miz then asked, clearly exasperated by all this.

"You know, that's a really good idea right now," Maryse agreed. "Vraiment! Pourquoi sommes-nous toujours ici?" And the short French diatribe instantly confused everyone there, especially Miz.

"What was that?" the Chick Magnet eventually incredulously asked, finally saying what everyone wanted to.

"I… think that might've been French for the same question you feel like asking, Miz," Morrison deduced after a few seconds.

"Why are we still here?" Miz guessed.

"Exactly," Johnny answered, to which Maryse actually let on an impressed smile. "Just for the record, why are we still here?"

"Good question. Here's the answer: we're not," Christian stated, before walking off. The others simply looked at each other for a few seconds, which he turned back to notice. "Come on! What are you guys waiting for, some kind of an open invitation to smack your faces? Let's go!"

Sounds of "Oh yeah," "That's it," and "We're with ya, buddy," came from the others as they followed Christian out of here for the night. One thing was left for certain at the end of this night: Miz and Morrison's addition to Christian's new group certainly turned heads.

-

A/N: Though it did take too long to write and to some people to read, I think I did tell you guys it would be well worth it. Hopefully it lived up to that promise well enough. If I can get the next chapter done in quickly enough, I might be able to also finally finish and post a chapter of my anime crossover fanfic that I haven't even updated in about a year and a half as well. Oh, and if anybody wants to ask me why the story mentions a certain election as if it were still happening when we already know who the next President of the United States is… look at the story event date. Seriously, that hardly looks like November 4th. I haven't even gotten to No Mercy yet. But that's a couple chapters away.

Oh, and by the way, this is the same Smackdown where Shelton Benjamin came out and said R-Truth had no standards, only for Truth to piss him off and cause him to leave flustered thanks to the usual "what's up" routine. Plus Maria and Brie Bella defeated Natalya and Victoria with more under-the-ring shenanigans. In deleted events that had to make way for this story, Vladimir Kozlov's match with Khali featuring Jeff Hardy and Triple H run-ins and Chavo's victory over Jimmy Wang Yang were both canceled out - Kozlov instead got a video package.

Chavo did get some action, though, cause we're still counting when he and Vickie along with Big Show decided to try to smoke out the Undertaker, only for Taker to systemically tear apart the Guerreros by trashing Chavo in the office and then Tombstoning Vickie in the ring at the end of the show. Basically, this was the last Smackdown of the CW Network era. As we all know, MyNetworkTV is now the new home of Smackdown.

Well, now I'm off to remove the Scarlet Cloak story like I said I would in it. Or maybe I should wait on that until Renee finally sees the notice…

…anyway, I'm done here, guys and gals. Keep it cool. 'Til the next one.

Pac.