The action continues throughout this chapter. We begin to see the severe attitude shifts of Matthew affect who he truly is. Can Randy turn his brother's demeanor back to what he used to be? Oh, and one more thing.

Get ready for a major change in tone for this story.

Hope you enjoy it! Please, please, read and review!

Matt sat by himself in the locker room, counting the number of tiles on the floor. Triple H and Flair were out in the ring in a tag match against someone that he couldn't remember. Only one thing was on his mind: stopping the World Tag Team title reign of Kane and the Hurricane. Nothing else mattered. He hadn't brought his ring gear to the arena; Matt wanted to blend in with the crowd in normal street clothes. The plan was to jump out of the audience when the referee was distracted and knock either the Big Red Machine or the Little Green Superzero out with what was on the other side of the room: a lead pipe.

Matt took a long look at the pipe on the table in front of him. He could do an incredible amount of damage with it, damage beyond costing someone their titles. He could bash the Hurricane's head in or even break Kane's legs. The less competition around, the better his chances of bringing a championship to Evolution.

Hearing the faint sound of glass breaking, Matthew reached into his pocket to answer his cell phone. However, he hesitated when he read who it was on the caller ID: "Randy". Matthew put the phone down on the bench and let it ring. He was still pissed off at his brother from what transpired the previous night. Matt still had a giant red mark on his chest from where Randy had hit him with a vicious chop in the living room. Finally, the phone stopped ringing. After putting it in his pocket, it started to ring again. Matthew rolled his eyes; Randy just wanted to hold his little brother back. After the phone rang for a third and fourth time, Matthew gave in and finally answered it.

"Hello?"

"Matthew! Don't hang up! You don't know what you're fixing to get yourself into."

"... I don't need your concern, Randy."

"How ... how can you say that? I'm only trying..."

"You're just jealous. You can't stand the sight of your own little brother busting his butt over and over again when you're just sitting at home on your ass. All you want me to do is fail."

"Matthew, it's nothing like that at all. I couldn't be more proud of you making a name for yourself out there."

"Bullshit. I'm stealing your light and you'd do anything to stop me. That's why you hit me last night. Hell, if you didn't have that injured shoulder, I bet you would have RKOed me right then and there, whatever the hell it is."

Matthew hung up and threw the cell phone against the wall. The rage in his heart was growing greater with each second; Randy could go to hell for all he cared. The locker room door opened and Hunter and Flair walked into the room, fresh off their win. They tried to start conversation with Matthew, but he walked right past them, putting on a hat and a pair of sunglasses while carrying the lead pipe. Hunter looked back at Matthew heading to ringside and grinned.

Randy heard the other side of the line go dead. He tossed the phone onto the couch in defeat. Matthew was partially right; if Randy's shoulder was good and healthy, he would have delivered the first RKO to his brother. Such was the Orton temper.

Standing up, Randy went to the kitchen to get a glass of water to calm his nerves. He didn't want to hold Matthew back. He didn't want to see his little brother fail. Sure, he was a little overprotective, but that couldn't be avoided. Randy spend most of his life worrying about Matthew. He couldn't help but assume the role of "big brother" in every single manner; Randy hadn't had the opportunity to do so in sixteen years.

Randy noticed the television emit a red glow in the living room. Kane was on his way to the ring. Orton sat down on the couch, anxious to see what would take place. Christian and Chris Jericho had the early momentum, keeping the Hurricane from tagging in Kane. Hurricane turned it around with a last ditch Shining Wizard and tagged in the Big Red Machine. Kane withstood a barrage of punches and shoved both of his opponents down to the ground. Unfortunately for him, the referee was standing behind Christian, and he suffered as a consequence. Randy heard the phone ring and quickly answered, only to hear two words:

"Watch this."

Randy looked on as someone jumped the divider and whacked the Hurricane hard in the back with a lead pipe. Hearing his partner scream out in agony, Kane turned around to see a fan standing over the Hurricane. The man climbed into the ring and took off his hat and sunglasses, revealing his identity to both the crowd and Kane. Kane charged at Matthew with a clothesline, but missed. Matt took aim and smacked Kane hard across the face. The red freak fell to the ground as Christian and Chris Jericho looked on in shock. Matthew landed more shots to the head as well as blows to the stomach, legs, and chest; Matt wanted to make sure Kane didn't get back up.

Randy looked on with despair; Kane wasn't going to forget any of this anytime soon. Randy now feared for his brother's life. Matthew stepped out of the ring quickly as the referee started to stir back to life. Christian quickly rolled Kane on his back and went for the pin.

"1...2...3!"

"Here are you winners, and the new World Tag Team Champions, Chris Jericho and Christian!"

Matthew stood proudly at the top of the ramp while the new champions walked on by him, belts in tow. He held the lead pipe up in the air in triumph, despite the intense boos coming from the crowd. The Hurricane had made it back to his feet and was attending to his fallen partner. Randy recoiled back as he saw the most hateful, evil grin spread across Matthew's face; his nightmare had come to life. Matthew wasn't Matthew anymore. He was an insane madman trying to eliminate ... permanently ... anyone that stepped in his way.

Suddenly, the crowd went silent. Kane had sat back up. Matthew looked surprised, but stood firm right where he was. Kane snatched a microphone from ringside and yelled at Matthew.

"FORGET THE STEEL CAGE! I WANT YOU IN HELL IN A CELL!"

The crowd went crazy. Randy nearly had a heart attack. Matthew smiled and nodded his head as RAW went to commercial.

Matthew had let himself into the house at 1:00 in the morning. It was late at night because Matthew had chosen to take a later flight back home to avoid getting confronted by Randy. Creeping upstairs, he saw that the door to Randy's room was wide open. Matthew peeked in, and saw his brother sleeping. He contemplated putting a sleeper hold on Randy; it would definitely relieve some of his stress. After standing in the doorway for a while, Matthew decided against it and walked down the hall to his own room. He quickly changed into some loose shorts to sleep in. Looking at the mirror to check on the bruises on his back, Matthew saw Randy creeping up behind him. Matt turned around to confront his older brother, who had the first words to say.

"I'm not going to let you go through with this."

Matthew chuckled. "I'd like to see you try."

Randy looked Matthew straight in the eye, knowing that Matthew could easily best him in a fight.

"What's wrong, Randy?" Matthew said in a cold, unhuman voice. "Are you chicken?"

Randy started to shake in anger. He wanted to do something, but the thought of injuring his shoulder again stopped him.

"Come on, Randy. I'll even let you have the first shot." Matthew pointed straight to his chin.

"... I'm not going to hit you."

"You didn't have any problem doing it last night. The only reason that you're even standing on your own two feet is because Hunter and Eric stepped in to save your sorry ass."

Randy couldn't stand it anymore. Matthew's words cut into him; each one stabbing Randy straight in his heart. Finally, Randy made his move; he stepped forward and tightly hugged his brother while starting to cry.

"Matthew, I'm just afraid of losing you again. You don't realize how I felt when you disappeared that day. With how you've angered Kane now, I'm afraid something's gonna happen to you." Randy spoke the whole time between sobs.

Matt didn't know how to respond. All the haughtiness, all the cockiness, all the malevolent feelings disappeared from his mind. He caught sight of the picture Randy showed him that night in San Antonio slipped into the corner of the dresser mirror. Guilt instantly permeated all throughout Matthew and he embraced his brother in return.

"Randy ... I'm ... I'm sorry. I didn't know how you felt about me."

Randy responded by squeezing his brother even harder. Matthew never expected for his brother to get so emotional; it went completely against his cocky, self-centered personality.

"Listen. I can't back down from Kane now. I have to go through with it. You know Hunter wouldn't approve if I quit now."

"Its only your fourth match ... Hell in a Cell ... don't you realize how dangerous that kind of match is!?"

"Randy ... come on. Stop crying. I'm going to do my best next week. You're gonna be in the locker room with me and that's all the encouraging I need. This match is going to be all for you."

"Do you promise to calm down afterwards?"

"Of course."

The two brothers let go of each other, and each went on to bed to recover from their ordeal.

The week passed by quickly. Randy and Matthew worked out together as much as they could; Matthew wanted to repair the bond between himself and his brother. Along with Batista, the brothers started to weight train together; Randy used free weights with his good arm in tune to Matthew's reps. On the walk back to the house, Matthew took off in a sprint. Randy soon followed and Batista, not wanting to be left out, followed as well. Although they were goofing off, the guys had dramatically improved: Dave had more stamina from running with the Ortons, Matthew could lift more than ever before from Batista's regimen, and Randy had recovered some of his lost body tone with the encouragement from his brother. Monday night finally rolled around. Elaine had given her son new trunks, red with black letters. She kissed him and sent him on his way.

The Hell in a Cell match was the night's main event; Matthew used all the time he could to warm up. Randy sat with him in the locker room, smiling. He felt like Matthew was unstoppable. Dave kept giving Matthew pointers on what power moves to try out, and Flair kept reminding Matt to use the cell as a weapon. Triple H said he had snuck a sledgehammer under the ring just in case Matthew needed it. Five minutes before the match started, Hunter pulled Matthew aside.

"Kid, I want you to slaughter Kane. Don't let him stay on his feet. Go for the legs and keep him down."

"I'm gonna do my best, Hunter."

"Do your best? You're going to win, no doubt about it, you hear me?"

Matthew looked up at Hunter. "I hear ya."

"Good. Now go out there and kick some ass."

Matthew headed for the door, but Randy stood in front of it. One more hug later, Matthew started his trek to the entrance ramp. No one even looked at him walking by; they all felt that this could possibly be Matthew's last match in the WWE. Kane wasn't known for showing mercy. Reaching the curtain, Matthew took one last deep breath before stepping out onto the ramp, his music blaring loudly.

"The following contest is a Hell in a Cell match. Introducing first, from San Antonio, Texas, weighing in at 239 pounds, Matthew Orton!"

Matthew froze and looked at the cell. He had seen it plenty of times on television, but he never had seen one in person. It was a massive structure, steel chained around steel. It was truly one hell of a cell. Walking down the ramp, he thought about his strategy through the jeers of the crowd. Nothing was going to get in his head. Stepping into the cell and jumping into the ring, Matt shuffled around, preparing himself for his hit and run tactics. His music stopped and Matthew turned around to face the TitanTron. The red fires exploded from the grating and Kane walked out onto the stage.

"And his opponent, weighing in at 326 pounds, Kane!"

Matthew could feel the heat of the fire on his skin, causing him to shudder. The sound level of the cheering for Kane was near deafening. Matt's heartrate began to accelerate quickly as Kane got closer and closer to the ring. The two stood toe to toe in the middle of the ring, eyes locked in an intense stare down. The two didn't say anything to each other because their eyes did all the talking.

And then, the bell rang.

Immediately, Kane and Matthew started punching the hell out of each other. Kane started to build momentum and backed Matthew into a corner. Knees to the stomach came next, forcing the wind out of Orton. With Matthew weakened, Kane wrapped his hand around Matthew's neck and choked him. Orton struggled to breathe; this was far worse than any of Randy's sleepers. Nearing a black out, Matthew aimed a kick at Kane's crotch and was successful. While Kane stumbled to the center of the ring, Matthew slipped out to recover his breath. His back to the cage, Matthew started to fish under the ring, looking for Triple H's sledgehammer. All he could find was a steel chair. Before he could pull it out, he felt a hand yank on his hair. Kane had recovered, and he was climbing out of the ring. He grabbed the back of Matt's neck and slammed his face straight into the cell.

Randy cringed upon seeing this on the monitor backstage. He was silent, but in his mind, he was yelling and cheering his little brother on. The rest of the group could be heard groaning when Matt would get hit hard and going nuts when Matt successfully landed something on Kane.

Kane had shoved Matthew back into the ring. A couple of leg drops later, Matthew was clutching his neck in pain. Kane then put Matt in the powerbomb position; it seemed as if Kane was going to send Matthew on the Last Ride. Randy gasped as his brother was lifted up in the air. However, Matt retailated with punches to the side of the head as he was sitting on Kane's shoulders. Kane started to stumble, and Matthew was able to convert it into a DDT. Slipping back outside to a different side of the ring, Matthew found what he was looking for. Grabbing the sledgehammer from under the ring, Matthew climbed back in, ready to assault his opponent. As Kane stood up, Matthew slammed the sledgehammer into Kane's stomach, making the big man yelp out in pain. With Kane doubled over, Matthew quickly put Kane's head under his arm, lifted him with all of his power, and hit the MKO.

Randy jumped up in excitement.

"COVER HIM! HURRY UP!", he yelled at the monitor.

Matthew seemed to hear Randy's cries from all the way backstage and went for the pin.

"1 ..."

Matthew was sent flying across the ring and through the ropes to the floor. Getting up, he looked at Kane on his feet.

"How the hell?"

The group backstage was saying the same thing. Matthew looked on in fright as Kane picked up the sledgehammer himself and gave chase. Matthew quickly got the steel chair he saw earlier to defend himself, but Kane only knocked it out of his hands with a huge swipe from the sledgehammer. Running around the ring, Matthew had no escape; he had to do something. He scampered back into the ring, only to have Kane in his path again. Kane reared the sledgehammer back, ready to strike. Matthew ducked and the momentum from the sledgehammer sent Kane into the ropes. Matthew rebounded off the opposite ropes and clotheslined Kane over the top rope, sending him into the door of the cell. The lock snapped, and Matthew quickly opened the door. He contemplated running up the ramp back to the locker room, but instantly decided against it. This was between him and Kane, no one else.

There was only one other way of escape: climbing up the side. Kane was already staggering up, so Matthew started to make his way up to the top. A feeling of dread filled Randy as Matthew made it to the top of the cage; Kane was halfway there, sledgehammer in hand. Now there was no escape except sixteen feet down to the ground.

"Dave, go help him!", Randy yelled out of concern, but he couldn't be heard over the volume of the both the crowd and his buddies yelling at the top of their lungs.

Kane and Matthew stared each other down one more time before Kane took another swipe at Matthew, barely grazing the side of his arm. Matthew managed to get a hand on the sledgehammer, and the two men started to struggle for control of it. With Kane pulling hard on it, Matthew let go, letting Kane's own momentum push him back. Tripping on the pipes, Kane fell on the mesh and dangled on the edge of the top of the cell. He dropped the sledgehammer off the side, eliticing a sigh of relief from the younger Orton. Matthew dragged Kane back to the center and put him in the powerbomb position.

Randy thought to himself, "There's no way he can do that ... not on Kane ... and definitely not on top of the cage."

Almost as if Batista heard his thoughts, he said, "He's got this! I know he can do it!"

Matthew focused all his energy into lifting up Kane and slamming him down on the mesh. It took all of his upper body strength for the second powerbomb, and all the adrenaline in him for the third. But upon slamming Kane down the third time, Matthew felt the mesh below him give way.

Both Randy and Matthew spoke two words: "Oh god..."

Kane fell through the cell and landed on the mat hard. Matthew caught the edge with one arm, but fell to the mat after hearing a loud "pop" and letting go of the pipe. Both men were on the ground; Kane wasn't moving at all and Matthew was clutching his shoulder, screaming in agony.

Randy instantly knew what was wrong. He watched as the referee inside wave his hands at the timekeeper to stop the match. The cell was raised and EMTs were called down to ringside. The sound of Matthew's yelling was louder than the murmurs of the crowd. Randy couldn't move at all; fear and shock took control of his body.

His brother had separated his shoulder.

My own shoulder hurts writing that last bit. Randy wanted to spend more time with his brother, and he may have had his wish fulfilled. What will Matthew's condition be? How will Randy deal with his injured kin? And how will the Hunter, Ric, Dave, and Eric react?

R&R


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