Title: Righteousness, Revelations and Enigmas: Locked Up in Los Angeles
Author: Kaykyaka
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WWE and TNA characters used within this fictional story. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made by this work of fiction.
Ratings: K+
Characters: Shawn, Cameron, Rebecca and Cheyenne Michaels, Amy 'Lita' Dumas Michaels, Hunter Hurst Helmsley, LC Helmsley, Aurora Rose Helmsley, Chyna Helmsley, Trish, Randy and Randy Orton Jr, Melina, Johnny and Romeo Hennigan, Jeff, Stephanie and Elizabeth Hardy, Angelo and Angela Jericho, Vince McMahon, Marion Cena, CM Punk, Dave Batista, Brie and Justin Danner, Adam "Edge", Angelina Love and Angelica Copeland, Alannah Pirelli and Charlotte, Dan and Carla McCool.
Summary: With their friends on trial for attempted murder Batista and CM Punk try to find Brie to testify against Chris Jericho. Will her testimony be enough to stop ATM, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy and Joanie Helmsley from going to prison for a crime they didn't commit?
Chapter Ten – Legal Ease
The Sandbox, 9am, Friday December 9th 2021
While the ARK Angels were in L.A and Rebecca was at school Vince spoke with the District Attorney that was representing Shawn, Amy, Trish, Randy, Chyna and Jeff Hardy and Linda and the Nashes hung around for moral support.
"Mr. McMahon it is imperative that Brie Danner testify against Jericho. Her testimony will be enough to cause reasonable doubt and that means that there's no way a judge will sentence my clients to twenty-five years in prison," Arthur Metcalfe said.
"Don't worry the ARK Angels have got her locked down she ain't going nowhere," Vince said, he was absolutely determined that Jericho was gonna lose this case.
"Who?" Arthur Metcalfe said, he was not familiar with the term 'ARK Angels'.
"Oh that's what we call LC, Cameron and Cheyenne – the ARK Angels of DX," Vince explained.
"Ah I see. During the trial we'll be talking about why Jericho tried to kill DX and I would like to get some input from you all about that. Starting with you Mr. McMahon," Arthur Metcalfe said and Vince sat down opposite the attorney next to his wife while the Nashes sat adjacent to him.
"Well its simple Arthur – Jericho is insane," Mr. McMahon said. "In fact if you get a psychiatrist to examine him I assure you that you'll find evidence of deeply embedded psychosis,"
"The prosecution will be examining Jericho for the trial so we'll see how that plays out. Aside form his deprived mental state is there anything else that can explain Jericho's actions?" Arthur asked and Vince shook his head.
"Not really, well there's one thing," Vince said rubbing the back of his head.
"Yes and what's that?" Mr. Metcalfe asked.
"A little while after Aurora was born, Stephanie and Hunter separated. Jericho reached out to Stephanie for support but Hunter wanted to reconcile the marriage. One day in Orlando, FL Hunter saw Jericho and Stephanie talking at a pizzeria and he got so mad he threw an electric wheelchair threw the glass window and a shard of glass hit Jericho in the face and caused him to lose sight in his left eye," Mr. McMahon explained.
"And Jericho's hated Hunter ever since?" Mr. Metcalfe asked.
"No Jericho always hated Hunter, they've hated each other since the first time they met, which is ironic because they have so much of the same stuff; the same job, women, children," Vince explained.
"So this hatred could have been born out of a rivalry which ultimately went way too far?" Mr. Metcalfe asked.
"Yes absolutely," Vince aid.
"So although the prosecution will argue that Hunter provoked Jericho, it was Jericho that ultimately wanted to kill Hunter and the other two members of the original DX faction, Joanie Laurer and Shawn Michaels," Mr. Metcalfe said.
"Yes, when he tried to kill them by dropping them in the fifth largest cave in the world – Lechuguilla. Punk and Batista will testify to that," Vince said.
"Yes I know that Mr. Brooks and Mr. Batista were involved in that but due to the fact that both are close to DX I would much rather have Brie Danner's testimony to support theirs," Mr. Metcalfe said and he turned to Kevin Nash. "Now Mr. Nash you are extremely close to these people, why do you think Jericho tried to kill them?"
"Because the Kliq is and always has been the most powerful group in professional wrestling. All Jericho wanted to do was take over the wrestling world. He had some insane fantasy about running things with the McMahons and he would stop at nothing to see that happen," Kevin Nash said. "So he tried to kill DX to make his demented and demonic dreams come true,"
"Did Shawn and Hunter ever talk about killing Jericho?" Mr. Metcalfe asked.
"No they wanted peace but Jericho weren't having it. He even went as far as to create some kind of robotic dog to control Hunter's mind. He made one for Trish as-well, if you search his old apartment in L.A I'm sure you'll find what's left of it," Nash said.
"My Dad's talking the truth, I disassembled the one he sent to Trish Orton and saw a curse that Jericho has written on its chest," Tristen said.
"Do you still have the dog?" the attorney asked.
"No Trish gave it away to Edge's god-daughter; you'd have to ask her for it. If you do and its still working that dog should tell you everything," Tristen said.
"I will track her down that's the kind of evidence we need to paint Jericho as the psychopath he obviously is. I find it quite disturbing that this man would go so far simply because he wants revenge against Triple H," Arthur Metcalfe said.
"Believe us he would," Linda McMahon said.
"What's Edge's god-daughter's name?" Arthur asked Tristen.
"Alannah Pirelli," Tristen replied.
"Nico Pirelli's daughter? Wow," Arthur said surprised, Nico Pirelli was one of most notorious mafia bosses in the world. "Okay I'm gonna try and find her and get that dog as evidence. I'll be right back," Mr. Metcalfe said before getting up to use his cell-phone.
"Have you told Arthur about your sordid history with Jericho and DX?" Tamara Nash asked Vince.
"No I haven't, I hardly think its relevant," Vince replied and Tamara gasped.
"You don't think its relevant that you worked with Jericho to get DX in that cave?" she said incredulous.
"No I can't tell him that he'll use it against me," Vince said.
"No he won't but the prosecution will," Tamara said.
"Look Tammy I've fallen out with Shawn and Hunter in the past but its all water under the bridge now. We're all on the same side and that's all that matters," Kevin Nash said.
"Exactly," Vince concurred but Tamara was adamant that he was wrong.
"I still think Arthur needs to know, you want him to get blindsided while you're on the stand testifying against Jericho?" Tamara said and Vince and Kevin exchanged glances as Arthur came back into the living room.
"I've found Alannah and requested a subpoena to get her and her dog on the stand," Arthur said sitting back down to continue discussing the case.
"That's great Art but there's something I think you should know," Vince said and Mr. Metcalfe narrowed his eyes at the wrestling mogul.
"And what's that?" he asked intrigued.
"Jericho wasn't solely responsible for dropping Shawn, Hunter and Chyna in that cave and leaving them there for dead. I was involved too," Vince said.
"We all were - Vince, Shane and me," Linda McMahon added.
"Oh man," Arthur said shaking his head. "Why did you do it?"
"Because I was furious with DX – they took my company, a company that's been in the McMahon family for generations and I wanted them out for the picture!" Vince explained and Mr. Metcalfe gave a deep sigh.
"So you tried to kill three innocent people?" he said unimpressed and Vince lowered his head ashamed.
"I'm not proud of my actions, in hindsight I should have used better judgment," Vince said. "But there's nothing we can do about the past is there?"
"Well I'll tell you one thing I'm gonna do about your past and that's not bring it up. In fact I'm not going to put you on the stand at all," Arthur replied.
"What?" Mr. McMahon cried standing to his feet.
"I can't risk the prosecution bringing this all out during the trial, not only will it do damage to you as a business man it will allow the prosecution to argue that you caused Jericho to do what he did and he'll make Jericho look like the victim and not the perpetrator," Arthur explained.
"How could they possibly argue that?" Vince demanded.
"Because you're Vince McMahon! You've dominated the wrestling industry for almost fifty years! The prosecution will say that Jericho was too intimidated by you to say no and that you forced him to do away with DX," Arthur said.
"But it also proves that Jericho did try to kill DX because we worked together to try and bring them down," Vince countered but Mr. Metcalfe shook his heads.
"Jericho can deny everything and the judge will see you as nothing more than a ruthless black-hearted icon who wanted his Daddy's company back," Arthur said.
"And disowned his only daughter - twice!" Tamara added and Vince scowled at Kevin Nash's wife.
"Yes thank you Tamara Nash," Vince said sarcastically.
"Oh Vince," Art sighed. "If I put you on that stand Jericho could blame you for everything. He could argue that you were working with DX the whole time to get rid of him and Stephanie because you hated them both. The prosecution could also argue that Chyna and Hunter had a lot to gain by getting rid of Jericho. Its bad enough that they're going to put Stephanie on the stand to say how rotten you were to her and how DX apparently ignored her cried for help after Jericho disappeared and caused her to have a nervous breakdown, something that wouldn't have happened if Shawn and Hunter werne't fighting for their company that you were trying your hardest to put out of business back in 2007, am I right?" Art said and Vince lowered his face dejected by the horrible mistakes of his past where DX and Stephanie were concerned.
"I've ruined it for DX, this is all my fault I'm to blame for all this," he said sadly and Linda felt bad too.
"All that time we should have been there for Stephanie, fighting for her instead of against her but instead we were trying to settle an old score with DX," Linda said regretfully.
"I can't put you on the stand but I can use Brie Danner and Alannah Pirelli. Their testimonies should be enough to win this case," Arthur said.
"Boy the past sure has a way of catching up with you," Vince said rhetorically.
"Its like you said Mr. McMahon, you can't change the past but you can make a difference to your future by learning from it," Arthur said knowing now that his argument in court had to be strong and convincing enough to save the future of nine innocent people.