Following Seth into Hunter's office backstage at Smackdown, Ronda saw that the Chairman wasn't the only one who was there for the impromptu meeting. Four people had been engaged in conversation until the door opened. Stephanie was perched on the corner of her husband's desk, with Hunter standing beside her. Cesaro and Elena were also standing in the office. Greetings were exchanged all round before Hunter clapped him hands together once, his usual way of signalling the start of the important part of a conversation.

"Okay guys, just a couple of things about the storyline. First of all, Daga, Ronda, great job with those scenes you filmed a couple of weeks ago."

"Yes, that was excellent work," Stephanie added with a smile. "It was nice to see another side of you, Ronda. And Daga, well, you're becoming a truly outstanding heel."

"Thank you," Elena replied appreciatively, while Ronda just nodded.

"Exactly," Hunter said, meaning that he agreed with his wife's comments. "In fact, what we decided when we discussed it at a creative meeting yesterday, is that we liked the way you slightly changed up the last scene so much that we're going to make changes of our own to work with it. The impression both Steph and I got when we watched it was that it seemed like Daga had mentally broken Ronda. We liked that, but to have Ronda released tonight and then show up next week spoiling for a fight doesn't seem to sit right."

"I thought the same thing when I watched it last night," Cesaro said.

"So what's the new idea?" Ronda asked, successfully keeping any potential edge out of her voice.

"You'll be released as we already discussed before," Hunter said. "But now I want no dialog from you at all, Ronda. All I want is Seth untying you, telling you it's going to be okay. Then we cut back to the commentary table, where the guys question exactly what state Ronda Rousey is in, will she ever be the same again, that kind of thing."

"I think that makes sense," Seth said, nodding. "If that's the way we're going, we probably shouldn't see Ronda again at all until Battleground."

"Yes," Elena joined in. "There could be a question if Ronda will even show up for the fight."

Ronda stood and listened, struggling to bite her tongue as Hunter carried on. The suggestion that she wouldn't show up for a fight had gotten right under her skin, even though she knew Elena had meant no offense.

"You guys are thinking along the same lines as we are," the boss was saying. "Daga, you just said exactly what I'm going to have happen. Your character will carry the buildup to the unsanctioned match, challenging Ronda to it, but then saying that you doubt she will actually show up because you've broken her for good. Ronda Rousey is a coward and she's finished, all of that stuff that will have the fans ready to tear you a new one."

"There's only one problem I can see with that," Seth said thoughtfully.

Hunter turned to him. "Go on."

"If there's that big of a question over Ronda's state of mind and we're suggesting she might not even return, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for me to be on Smackdown either. Even if I'm trying to beat the hell out of Cesaro for masterminding the whole thing, I would have still left my wife in her time of need. Does that make sense, or am I sounding stupid?"

"No, I think it's a good point," Stephanie said, looking at Hunter, who took a moment to think about it.

"Leaving you off TV as well, Seth, would mean that we have two huge pay-per-view matches being built by only one of the people in them. I'm not exactly high on that idea."

"It's only for a couple of weeks," Stephanie pointed out. "And the abduction thing is already some pretty powerful buildup work."

"That's true," the Chairman conceded.

"I don't think Daga and I will have any problem carrying the buildup," Cesaro said. "Give us some promos to do, maybe run the abduction scenes again, and the fans will be hyped up to see us both get our asses kicked. Of course, that will give me even more heat when I win the title."

"Alright," Hunter decided after a moment of thought. "We'll go with that. Everyone happy?" Nods and mumbles of agreement came from everyone. "Ronda? You've been very quiet."

To her own surprise, Ronda had calmed down as she had listened to the debate. Replaying Seth's words in her mind had helped a lot. She had to tell herself that her character appearing weak for the first time was a good thing. No one had seen it before, which would mean it captivated the audience. The fans would want to see her come back, and when she did in fact come back and beat the living shit out of the woman who had tortured her, the payoff would be fantastic. With those things in mind, she was able to respond to Hunter with a joke. "Since when has that been a bad thing?"

Both Hunter and Stephanie laughed, Stephanie a little louder than Ronda would have liked. The comment had obviously resonated with her.

"That's it then, guys," Hunter announced, bringing the meeting to a close. "Ronda, stay behind for a minute will you?"

As the other three visitors filed out of the room, Stephanie also made her excuses and followed them, which didn't surprise Ronda. She knew that she was viewed by the bosses as difficult to manage - rightly so, she had to admit, after some of the things that had happened in the past. Although she was a lot better in that regard than she had once been, Hunter often liked to spend a couple of minutes with her to make sure she was okay with everything that was happening, knowing about the mental health issues she had to deal with. Some people might have found the extra attention patronising, but then Hunter probably wouldn't have been giving those people individual attention to begin with. Personally, she appreciated the fact that he took the time when he didn't have to. It did sometimes make keeping her emotions under control easier.

"Ever played poker, Ronda?" the boss asked when his wife closed the door. There was a cheerful smile on his face.

"Huh? No, why?"

Hunter laughed. "You'd be terrible at it. I saw you trying to bite your tongue just now."

"Not trying, I did bite my tongue," Ronda pointed out with a small grin of her own.

"True. I know your character being booked as the weak one in a rivalry is a new thing for you, and I can understand why you would struggle with it a bit. What I wanted to say is, I think you did a really great job with those scenes. You were very convincing, particularly with the last one. Not only that, the whole thing made Daga look like a million dollars. I'm not sure we've ever had a female heel as good as her."

"You haven't," Ronda replied simply.

"I think it's a good idea if we work with this idea of a weaker Ronda for a future storyline, too. I'm not sure who we're going to put you with after your program with Daga is done, but I like the idea of that person saying that they're not afraid of you either. They would claim that Elena showed the whole roster that there's no reason to be afraid of Ronda Rousey. That gives us a lot of new options in terms of booking you, and that's a good thing."

"Although I ended up kicking her ass twice and taking her title," Ronda said, thinking aloud. "I don't know how weak that really makes me look." To her own surprise, she almost suggested losing the unsanctioned match to Elena instead of winning it, but no, that would bury her too much. After how weak she had looked during the abduction, she thought that losing the match as well could ruin her character for good.

"Hmmm," Hunter mumbled, deep in thought. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it would be better if you won the unsanctioned match, then lost the title match at Summerslam. Ultimately, that has Daga coming out on top of the rivalry and leaves people asking, what's next for Ronda? Is she the force she once was? Of course, it pushes Daga big time as well."

"Let's do that," Ronda said, finding the words coming out surprisingly easily. Of course, it helped that Elena was her friend, and really was deserving of a huge push.

"I'll put some thought into it and talk it over with Steph and the rest of the creative team. Thanks, Ronda, you can go."

"Okay, thank you, Hunter." Ronda turned and left the room, feeling strangely pleased and confident about the way things were going.


"I'm going to keep this simple," Cesaro said over the loud chorus of boos that rained down on him after his entrance music faded out. He was dressed immaculately in a black business suit and a light blue shirt. In his left hand was a clipboard with several sheets of paper fixed to it, which he raised to show the crowd as he continued. "What I have here is a contract guaranteeing me a match with Seth Rollins at Battleground for the WWE Championship. What's going to happen now is, Seth, you're going to make a decision. I would expect it to be a simple one to make. Either you come out here right now and sign this contract, and in return I will guarantee your wife, Ronda Rousey, will be released from captivity. Or you can refuse to sign it, and your wife won't be released from captivity. Then it's up to Elena D'Agostino to decide what to do with her. It's your choice, Rollins. What's it going to be?"

Almost instantaneously, Seth's music hit and he came charging out onto the stage with a look of fury on his face.

"Woah! Stop right there!" Cesaro shouted at him. "Not another step closer, Rollins, or the deal is off. I'll have the contract brought to you, if you are out here to sign it?"

"Where's my wife?" Seth raged into his microphone. "I want Ronda out here right now!"

"Seth, Seth, Seth," Cesaro replied condescendingly. "One of us is in a position to be making demands in this situation, but I don't think it's you. All you need to do is tell me whether you're going to sign this contract or not?"

"Of course I'll sign the stupid contract, but I want Ronda out here first or how do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't," Cesaro shrugged. "But that's not my problem, is it?"

"Alright, alright," Seth said, frustration boiling over. "Get the contract up here and I'll sign it."

Cesaro turned towards the timekeepers area. "JoJo, get your ass in here."

JoJo stood up, looking at lot less than enthusiastic about going near Cesaro. "Hurry up! I don't have all day to stand here!" he barked at her.

Intimidated, the ring announcer scurried up the ring steps as quickly as she could and got in the ring.

"Take that up to Rollins," Cesaro said, holding the clipboard out to her. "Let him sign it, then bring it back to me. Think you can manage that?"

Risking giving Cesaro a look of contempt, JoJo took the clipboard from him then carried it up to Seth, who waited impatiently on the stage. The WWE Champion took it from her and quickly signed it.

"I signed the damned thing, now where's my wife?" Seth demanded as JoJo headed back to the ring.

"Patience, Seth, patience." Cesaro walked over to the ropes as the ring announcer approached the ring and snatched the clipboard from her when she offered it to him. He then took a ridiculously long time to read it over, obviously toying with Seth by making him wait. "Okay, this all appears to be in order," he decided eventually. "As everyone knows, I'm a man of my word. Let me call Elena and arrange for your wife to be released."

Taking out his phone, he dialed a number and waited for the call to connect. A shot appeared on the big screen, showing Elena standing in a dimly lit room. Exactly where she was was not clear. She took a ringing phone out of her pocket and answered the incoming call. "Cesaro?"

"Rollins signed the contract," he announced without bothering with a greeting. "You can let what's left of that piece of trash go now."

"What a pity," Elena said, shaking her head sadly. She ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket, then walked across the room, which appeared to be a boiler room. Ronda was lying on her side on the floor in a corner, ankles and wrists bound with rope, hands behind her back. She was also gagged with duct tape in Elena's customary style. It was unclear in the dim lighting if she was conscious or not. If she was, there was no sign of any resistance from her.

"Seth, she's down here in the boiler room if you want her." One of her trademark cruel smiles appeared on her face. "You might want to hurry, before I change my mind and take her with me. I was having so much fun with her."

Seth had sprinted through the curtain before she even finished speaking. A cameraman followed him through the backstage areas, struggling to keep up. In less than a minute, Seth reached the boiler room and pushed the door open with a hint of caution in case Elena was lying in wait with a weapon of some kind. There was no sign of the Italian.

"Ronda?" Seth called out as he began to search the room for his wife. "I'm here, honey! Where are you?"

There was no response, but Seth rounded a stack of metal storage containers and saw his wife lying motionless on the floor in exactly the same place as she had been when Elena had been there. "Ronda! Honey!" Seth gasped out in relief as he hurried over there and crouched down beside her.

Getting no response, Seth began the task of freeing her by starting to unwrap the tape. "It's okay, honey. It's all over now. I'm here."