"It's a shameful thing, lost her head

A careless man would wind up dead

You wear your sin like it's some kind of prize

Too many lies, too many lies…"

Sheamus let the lights eat at his anxiety, feeding off the crowd as he took to the right of the stage allow AJ equal room beside him. He helped her up onto the ring and sat on the middle rope to let her in.

"Quite the gentleman, Sheamus is," King commented.

"Wait until the bell rings," replied Cole.

He found that he couldn't give himself to the fans just yet, so he stood looking around at all of them; reading the signs for him and against him; reading the signs for her. He expected to hear Daniel Bryan's theme, but instead he heard another.

"I hear voices in my head

They council me, they understand

They talk to me…"

Randy Orton stepped out, much to the delight of the crowd.

"Looks like Randy's out here to supervise his sister's match. I've heard rumors she's not even allowed to talk to the other male wrestlers," Cole commented as Randy approached the ring. Sheamus took to the ropes, following Randy's slow calculated stride over to the announce table.

"You think he feels the same way about commentators?"

"You should ask him, King; he's taking a seat with us."

"On second thought…"

Randy sat down and put a headset on, never once taking his eyes off Sheamus. Daniel Bryan's theme began; a smattering of cheers not quite as strong as Randy's filled the arena. Adaen came out first, holding Daniel by the arm. They raised their free arms together, inciting a strong reaction from the crowd.

"Daniel Bryan sure doesn't like having a left arm, does he?" Randy muttered. Cole scooted away from him subtly.

It was strange to walk so slowly down to the ring with so much adrenaline pumping through her veins. Her heart nearly flipped when she locked eyes with Sheamus. It was show-time and if there was anyone more competitive in this match than Sheamus, it was Adaen. Daniel followed her up the steels steps, holding her waist as she stepped onto the apron. She smiled quickly to AJ before leaping over the top rope into the ring; Daniel ducked under the ropes behind her. Sheamus stepped forward, willing to be the first participant in the match, but Adaen didn't back down.

"What is she doing? Does she want to start the match off against Sheamus? Is she crazy?" Cole said in disbelief. Adaen was taunting Sheamus now, standing in the corner next to Daniel and shouting at him to 'bring it'.

"She's not crazy. She's an Orton," Randy replied, smiling a little.

"I'm not ta be fightin' ya, love. Let aside so the men can start," Sheamus said, barely audible over the chants of her name. Adaen shook her head.

"I'm starting this match. It's you or her, I'm fine either way," she replied. Daniel touched her shoulder, leaning in to speak to her.

"Do you think it wise to offer a man like him an ultimatum?" he asked. Adaen turned her head, her face very close to his.

"What exactly do you think Sheamus will do to me?"

"Nothing with me here," Daniel replied quickly, watching AJ come back into the ring as Sheamus finally backed down.

"Let's show them what we're made of, Dragon," Adaen said. As soon as Daniel crossed the ropes AJ slammed into Adaen, tackling her to the mat. She was shouting something that Adaen couldn't understand because she was shielding her head from a flurry of punches. What had gotten into this girl? Adaen pushed her back as hard as she could, gaining her footing before AJ and taking her down to the mat in a wrist lock. Adaen pressed her knee in between AJ's shoulder-blades, holding her to the ground and twisting on her arm. What the hell had that been about? Whatever it was, cheap shots didn't sit well with Adaen.

"Tap out!" Adaen shouted, pressing her knee harder into AJ's back. She cried out, putting alarm on Sheamus' face. Adaen was closer than she'd like to be to Sheamus, and she made the mistake of letting him distract her.

"Let up on her, love! You're going to break 'er damn arm!" he shouted, causing Adaen to lose focus. Why did he call her love? And why did it make her feel the slightest bit jealous that he was defending AJ? AJ grabbed the bottom rope with her free arm, causing the ref to start a five-count for Adaen to release her. Adaen pressed down on her back again hard before letting up. The ref pushed her back to her corner, allowing AJ time to get up.

"This girl is definitely a Vipress if there was ever any doubt before. That bloodthirsty look on her face is something we see on yours every time you step into the ring, Randy," Cole said, entrenched in the action on his monitor.

"You want to play dirty, Adaen?" AJ shouted from the corner, ignoring Sheamus' pleads to tag herself out of the match. AJ flexed her arm uncomfortably, the damage was done but she wasn't going to let it keep her out. She charged at Adaen, who almost wanted to shake her head and say, 'silly girl'. She side-stepped the predictable girl just as she leapt up into a drop-kick, which instead hit Daniel in the chest; knocking him from the apron and onto his back adjacent to the steel steps. He hadn't been expecting it, and he hit the scarce padding hard. AJ's eyes were saucers; the last thing she'd wanted to do was cause any harm to Daniel.

"Is that what you call playing dirty, little girl? I'll show you playing dirty," Adaen grabbed her by the back of her hair and dragged her into the center of the ring, the referee protesting to no avail. Hurting Daniel was very real and very unacceptable, and it left her without a partner but she was focused only on showing this girl how the game was really played. Adaen picked her up around the waist and suplexed her to the mat, feeling the impact reverberate through the ring. The smile on her face she would see later looked equally as maniacal as it felt, and yet another clear representation that she was indeed an Orton.

AJ tried to scramble away but Adaen grabbed her by the same arm she'd injured earlier and dragged her back. The pained look on AJ's face said she was already suffering from pulled muscles but that was exactly what she deserved. Nobody made Adaen Orton look like a fool. She quickly wrapped her up in the Lebell lock, the move that Daniel often used as a finisher. AJ was pulling, twisting; trying everything she could to get out.

"Adaen stop! You're gonna tear 'er damn arm off! What the hell are ya doing?!" Sheamus began to step through the ropes, looking as though he was about to interfere.

"You want something done well, don't let a pipsqueak like Bryan do it," Randy said, rising from his seat and tearing off his headset, running to the ring and grabbing Sheamus by the boot he still had on the apron.

"You're not a legal man in this match, Sheamus! You're supposed to stand and watch! Enjoy the show, Sheamus!" Randy shouted, with help from the referee Sheamus pulled back. The distraction of Randy getting up gave AJ the advantage. She managed to squirm away quickly, using the last of her reserves to scramble up and tag Sheamus in. Adaen was on her knees ready to get up and tag in Daniel, but he wasn't there. He was still on the ground, trying to catch his breath because in reality it had only been minutes since AJ had kicked it out of him. Sheamus stood still on the apron, this was the position that this love wasn't supposed to put him in. Sheamus slowly stepped through the ropes, Adaen hadn't moved from her place in her corner of the ring. For the first time in a long time, she felt paralyzed with fear. She just stared up at Sheamus, not really seeing him but seeing someone else, someone as big and as easily able to over-power her; pin her down, hurt her; in a different time, in a darker ring with no lights and no escape.

Randy was behind her, pulling Daniel up on his feet and slamming his hand onto Daniel's back, trying to bring the breath back into him.

"Get her out of there! NOW!" he shouted, pushing Daniel to the ring. He climbed up on the ropes, pressing his hand onto Adaen's back and tagging himself in.

"S'about time, fella!" Sheamus said, throwing himself into a grapple with Daniel. Adaen slid out of the ring, running hands through her hair and trying to make sense of why she'd froze.

"What's wrong, Adaen?" Randy said, taking her by the shoulders.

"I just… saw someone else. I saw Joey. I saw him… instead of Sheamus," she answered slowly, bringing herself to the realization as she told Randy. Nothing brought Randy closer to capsizing a small yacht with his bare hands more than hearing Joey's name. But now wasn't the time. Daniel was not 100% and he was giving it everything he had to keep up with a fresh Sheamus. He'd gotten Sheamus down on his knees, and delivered a roundhouse kick straight to Sheamus' chest. He was winded though, and Adaen knew what kind of pain he was in. It could take an hour for him to start breathing right again, and here was trying to fight his way through a match.

"Daniel! Daniel! Let me in!" Adaen shouted, leaping back up onto the apron. Daniel shook his head, doubling over for a second while Sheamus was on his back. Adaen reached out as far as she could and smacked him, tagging herself in.

"What are you doing?" Both Daniel and Randy shouted to her. She was about to show them.