Zack was left in by a grumpy Ryback, only to find an upbeat AJ bouncing on the bed. This surprised him, seeing how it was like two or three in the morning.

"Hi, Zacky! Why are you here?" She asked, stopping the jumping to stand in the middle of the bed with a large smile.

Zack gave a questioning look to Ryback, who only shook his head, "She keeps insisting on a team name. The devil hasn't let me sleep in days."

Zack nodded sympathetically, then turned to AJ, "We've got a problem."

AJ's smile dropped at this, stepping down from the bed to walk towards him. "What do you mean?"

Zack fidgeted under the intense gaze of both wrestlers, saying, "The Shield. They know about us. And sayd either we follow their rules, or we're ousted to the rest of the of world."

The Devious Diva growled in frustration as she roughly started pulling her hair, all the while Ryback glared at him cooly. Even though it was still a glare, it wasn't as evil as before, so Zack was actually surprised by this.

"Those bastards! How dare they threaten my master plan?! They're going to pay! Pay I tell-"

AJ had started to rant, pacing around the room as both males stared after her, but she was cut off by Ryback covering her mouth with his hand, holding her in place as she thrashed and tried to be freed. Ryback only looked at Zack, who's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and nodded, "What did they say?"

Zack looked from the thrashing Diva to the behemoth Superstar, and spoke, "Ambrose said he doesn't mind us dishing out our own justice, but they don't want us going rogue. And instead of forcing us into early retirement, he wants them to joins us."

AJ stopped in her struggles, eyes blinking at the news, shocked, "Mey mant mo moin mus?" She mumbled from behind Ryback's hand, only to grow frustrated and bite it.

Ryback growled as he retracted his hand, the Diva glaring at him. Then she turned back to Zack, facial expression unreadable, "They want to joins us? Not the other way around?"

Zack shrugged as he rubbed at his sleep depraved eyes, "They didn't specify, AJ. Just said they wanted all of us to be a faction. The most dominant group that the WWE has ever seen."

Both of the other wrestlers in the room looked at each other, actually feeling worried about the weary and tired Zack in front of them, and AJ calmly said, "If you'd like, Zack, we don't have to think about this right now. You can go back to your room, rest up, do what your schedule says you have to do, then meet up with us tomorrow. It's no biggie."

Ryback nodded as the man blinked rapidly, the bags in his eyes seemingly having grown in the few minutes that had passed since he entered the room to tell them the news.

"It's nothing, guys. I just really want to finish all this before I end up being attacked by the Shield." Zack answered, a yawn escaping after he did so.

AJ nodded, and told him, "We're in. If they're going to help us overthrow the regime, I'm okay with it."

Ryback agreed with her, which made Zack smile wearily. "You sure? Those guys can be a ticking time bomb at times."

Both of them nodded, Ryback saying, "We're in, but if they hurt any of us, it's their heads. Even if we're going to be working together and they're going to be helping us with our mission, they touch either of you and they're dead."

Zack's eyes were wide after he said this, his sleep seemingly forgotten as he stared at the man, surprised at his confession, while AJ smiled happily.

"I told you Ry-Ry was warming up to you."

Zack nodded dumbly and wiped at his eyes, saying, "Just a bit shocked. Always thought you didn't like me."

Ryback grunted as he crossed his arms. "I don't like you, Ryder. But your with us, and because you mean so much to AJ, I have to make sure nothing happens to you."

Zack smiled dumbly, nodding, "Should've known that you didn't like me." He muttered to himself, then clapped his hands together. "I'm staying with you for some sleep."

And with that he passed out on the bed nearest to him, snoring up a storm as AJ giggled and Ryback sneered.

"Guess you're sleeping on the couch now, Ry-Ry." AJ sang as she made her way to her own bed, ducking underneath the covers before Ryback could grab her.

The man just growled at both of them, but made his way to the pull-out couch, somewhat relieved because AJ had finally left the issue of the name alone.

"Hey! We never figured out a name!" AJ gasped as Ryback got comfortable on the bed, only to make him sigh and curse himself.

"Go to sleep."


That same day, the Shield somehow got Zack to his plane without waking him up, which surprised him, but still made him smile. Guess they really did want the loyalty their small faction had. Anyways, the week passed by pretty uneventfully until that Friday, which was the first day the Shield would meet with the rest of the group.

"They were supposed to be here ten minutes ago." Dean growled as he paced, Seth sitting on a crate behind him while rolling his eyes.

"Zack told us they weren't too big on timing. Vickie's a tough woman to please." Seth told him, which only got a silent nod from Roman, who was leaning against said crate with his arms crossed.

"We're on in an hour, Seth! It's a matter of keeping our appearance!"

"Don't get so riled!" Zack's voice called from the entrance of the hidden room, making all three Shield members look towards it.

There Zack stood with AJ on his back, Ryback following him and Vickie beside the behemoth. AJ's smile was bright as she caught sight of the three members of the Shield, all the while Ryback stayed quiet and Vickie looked at them disdainfully. She hadn't agreed with them joining, mostly because the Shield was unpredictable and their loyalties were blurred, but after some convincing on Zack's part, she had slightly opened up to the idea.

"Finally." Seth breathed, then jumped down from the crate. "Dean's being pissy and we need to come up with a game plan tonight."

Zack nodded, "Right. Well, AJ and Ryback have their match after Sandow and Cara, and after that I'm up against Del Rio."

The three members of the Shield nodded at this, then Vickie stepped in, "We were speaking, and the best plan to follow would be you three attacking Zack, much like Ryback did on his and AJ's debut week. Zack would win the fight via D.Q, and could give way to a new rivalry between the Shield and whoever Zack could get on his side."

Now AJ had transferred from Zack's back to Roman's, which made the Samoan raise an eyebrow but just shrug. "And that would give way to our plan of Zack coming out with a BANG!" She jumped at the last word, then quickly grasped the Samoan to not fall while chuckling embarrassedly.

Dean nodded, ignoring AJ's little scene, and asked, "So, we could say that Zack; with whoever he can find to join him; would be going against the Shield at the nearest Pay Per View that we can take over, where he would turn on them and come out as a member of our faction?"

"And that would also be the event in which Ryback and AJ would be coming out as your partners, too." Vickie told him, which got a nod of approval from all three men.

"That's good. We're in."

"We're all in now."

Sorry about the time skip, but I didn't think the chapter would be good enough then so I just skipped the week and now you know what the Shield's plan is. But don't worry, I'm just getting started.

Please review.