A/N: And the crazy adventures off the Twisted continue.
Punk burst into the locker room nearly out of breath. He stopped in his tracks looking incredulously as he sees Matt, Jeff, Randy, Dave and Adam just sitting about.
"What the hell guys! Didn't any of you hear your entrance cues?" He walked into the middle of the room his hands on his hips, as no one responded to his question, and in fact, none even raised their eyes from the spots on the floor where they continued to settle. "Didn't you guys here me? You friggin missed the damn match! We were short and no one knew what to do since Randy was supposed to win the damn thing." Again he stops waiting for some to explain to him why 6 of the top talents that were supposed to be in the main event never showed. "Are you guys deaf or something? Talk to me, what's going on?" he looks at each of the men before him and frowns, it was then it hit him that that these men had been crying. "Huh guys, what's going on?" his tone changing from one of anger and confusion, to one of concern and dread.
Finally Jeff looks up the fact he had been crying is now clearer then ever, as Punk sees the red rims about his eyes. "He got them" It is all he says, but it does not take Punk long to figure out who "He" was.
"Oh my god" the young man stumbles back leading on his rear in shock, his eyes wide with fear, as he thinks to his family he thought was safe in Colorado. "Whe..where's Glen?" It's all he can say now, as he tries to think past the ramifications of what he has just heard are.
The others shake their heads, indicating they are unaware of the location Glen. "Have not seen him or Paul since we got here" adds Matt. He sighs looking over to his fellow wrestler seeing he is in as much shock, as the rest of them are. "He sent men to tell us. He is giving us another chance to join him or…" he can not finish the sentence, it would make things worse in his mind if he vocalized what they all knew. 'They join this nut, or he would kill their families without a moments hesitation.
"What are we going to do?" Asks Adam, "If we join him, then the world is screwed, if we don't, then…" He too can't complete the thought out loud.
"He said he was aware of our decision, how? And how did he know where they were?" chimes in Dave, "I mean had he known all along?"
"Possibly," begins Randy, "He could have known where we were all the time and was just playing with us, but something tell me, that if he did, he would not have gone through the effort of faking an attack to get Paul away from Steph so he could give her his message." He sighs running his hand over his close cropped hair, "At anytime he could have threaten the kids at the compound and not taken a chance of drawing attention to himself, if he had to go after our families. Fact of the matter is, if he knew about the place before him, he would have taken everyone at any time." He shakes his head, "No, he only recently found out where it was, and I don't think it was due to us moving the families there."
Adam stands up suddenly looking angrily at Randy, "You're not getting at what I think you are getting at." It was a statement, not a question, "None of us would betray the others like that" he has finally put words to the fear that had been with all of them since they had been contacted, the fear that one of them was a traitor.
"Face it Adam, it's the only answer" Jeff chimes in, in defense of Orton, "Only we knew what we had planned. Either one of us talked, or someone we know and was told talked."
"Couldn't he have just figured it out when our families started disappearing?" asks Matt
"Yeah," responses Jeff to his brother's question, "but then all he would have known is we where planning on turning him down, not where to find them"
"This is all well and good, but it does not answer the question of what do we do now" Punk breaks in. He can see this arguing was getting them nowhere, if someone had betrayed them they would find out in time, they had to make a very big decision. To abandon their families to this madman or turn their backs on the human race and join his side. For Punk there was no question to the answer to that.
"Phil's right" All heads turn to the door where Paul, with Glen behind him, stand, "Glen told me what happened." He walks in followed by a very somber Glen, "What do we do now. He holds out families lives in his head, can we ignore it this time?"
Paul is taken aback as Dave stands and walks up to him and pokes him in the chest, "What do you mean 'our' families? Your family's safe, your family is not god knows where held captive by a nut job. And why is that Paul? Why is it none of your family was kidnapped?"
Adam jumps up and yanks Dave around, "Ease up there big guy, your not blaming Paul. He did not rat us out, none of us would do that!" Adam's eyes narrow dangerously, the last thing he will believe is that one of them would be a traitor, not even Paul.
Paul blinks, seemingly aghast at the accusation leveled at him by Batista, backs up looking the big man in the eyes, "I had nothing to do with any of this. Maybe the reason my family is not with yours is cause they were here, surrounded by Vince's guards. And hundreds of by standers"
"We can't do this guys" interrupts Phil, "We can't start pointing fingers at each other, not now, not while my family is in danger!" the last was screamed at the other men, forcing them all to glance guiltily at each other.
"Phil is right, this is not the time." Glen says as he takes a seat, "Our plan was found out, now the people we love are in harms way. We have a choice to make and we have to make it tonight; he is not giving us time to stratigies or plan." He runs a hand over his baldhead, "I've tried to come up with ways to get out of this, but I have nothing. God I wish Mark was here, he's much better at planning on the fly then I am." He chuckles slightly, "Truth of it is, I bet Mark could understand this guy better then any of us, he was always better at chess then me."
The others wonder what Glen meant by that, but it was clear he was not going to elaborate on his words. "So, makes no sense holding off anymore. If we decide to turn him down they we need all the time we can get to plan a way to find him and save out families, if we are going to join him, there really is no sense in delaying the inevitable."
Sighing he suddenly stands his eyes down caste a bit, "I'm joining this guy" the others look at him in shock, "He's got my brother, he's all I got left of blood on this whole planet. We fight a lot, but we still care for each other and I can't, no I won't let him die, when I can stop it." He finally raises his head looking them all in the eyes, "Don't let me persuade any of you either way. This is my decision based on me. You have to make the right choice for you"
With that Glen walks out f the room, in spite of his words, he is torn up inside, he is allowing another person control his life once more and it angers him greatly. He also fears, his choice might have influenced the others, but he cannot dwell on that, he had to do whatever he had to, to assure his brother would have a body to come back to; if he ever did.
Paul is the next to speak, once the shock of Glen's words wears off. "Look, as it's been pointed out, my family is safe, for now, so I'm going to go with whatever the majority decide" with that he turns and follows Glen's path out of the room.
This leave the remaining six Twisted to look at each other, no one spoke, each to afraid to speak, for they knew that once they did, there would be no turning back. Yet it was that thought, that Jeff's eyes narrow in thought, he then stands and addresses the others, "Me and Matt are going with Glen" Even Matt looks at his brother confused. It was not that he agreed or disagreed, but it would have been nice if he had allowed him to make his own choice on a matter this important. "Trust me guys, this is the only move to make."
The others glance back and forth, then Randy smiles slightly and nods, followed slowly by the others. "OK it's settled," chimes up Phil, "this guy has just gained the services of the most powerful beings on the planet"
"Yep, comes back Jeff, "Hope he's ready to pay the full price for those services"
"And I hope we know what we are doing" mutters Adam.
A/N: What a choice our heroes had to make huh? Hope they know what they are doing. Have to admire Paul for not taking a vote, seeing as his family is safe..for now. Wonder what the Twisted will fit in with this anti-human madman? Ah well, guess we'll have to see next chapter.