11:
"John, are you alright?"
I opened my eyes and saw Punk standing over me. The pain I felt was almost overwhelming as he helped me slowly to my feet. I asked in a daze, "What happened?"
"Nexus knocked you out and left to the ring for their scheduled match," Punk informed me.
I reached up and felt my head. Gabriel had kicked me hard, but he didn't leave much damage. Punk went on, explaining, "I heard what Dave Otunga said, about no one being able to help Randy. That's not entirely true, because Nexus doesn't know that I know what's going on."
"Are you saying you want to help me and Randy?" I asked, confused.
He clarified, saying, "I wouldn't be doing it for you or Randy. I just don't want to see The Nexus get away with any more shit."
"What exactly would you say?" I asked.
Punk led me out into the hallway and toward the meeting room where I last saw Randy, explaining as we went, "I would convince them that Randy isn't hurting you without telling them about your relationship. All I ask is that you tell The Nexus nothing about my involvement. I'm already in hot water after..."
He drifted off. I saw the look on Punk's face, and it was all too familiar to me.
The Nexus had as much dirt on him as they had on everyone else.
Punk regained his composure and pushed me along, saying, "We've got to work fast, before Nexus gets back from their match."
:-:
I paced the hallway for almost half an hour, waiting for Punk to come out with Vince and Randy, but time was dwindling down and no one had made an appearance. I was beginning to lose confidence that Punk was even making a dent in the argument. Then suddenly, the door opened, and Randy stepped out first.
Relief washed over me, and I couldn't help smiling at him. He smiled back for a moment to let me know that he was alright, then he went straight faced when Vince came out, followed by Punk and two geeky looking investigators in suits. Both investigators came over to shake my hand. The blond one said, "Everything has been settled, John. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call us."
He whipped out a card from his suit pocket and handed it to me. The other guy simply nodded and turned away, but the blond one kept beaming at me as they walked off.
He was obviously a fan.
Vince took me aside and whispered, "If there is something going on that you're not telling me, or you can't tell me, let the investigators know. They might be able to help."
He gave me a reassuring look and a quick slap on the back before he turned and took off after the investigators, walking the same way he always did: like he has a stick up his ass.
I looked back and saw that Punk had already left. Randy nodded for me to follow him, and we found an abandoned room, locking ourselves inside. Randy took my head in his hands and kissed me passionately, then he broke away and asked immediately, "What did they do to you?"
"To me? I was worried about you!" I answered.
Randy shook his head, saying, "Doesn't matter what happened to me. Did they do anything to you? Did they run tests on you? If they did you wrong, I swear to fucking God..."
"They let me go," I said.
Randy gave me a quizzical expression, so I explained, "I told Vince that if I went back to Wade, this would all be over. Wade came and picked me up, but I realized too late that he wasn't going to help you."
Clenching his jaw over the mention of Wade, Randy held his tongue, letting me continue, "Wade took me back to The Nexus and left me alone with them. They kicked the shit out of me and Gabriel knocked me out. Thankfully Punk was there to wake me up, and he promised he'd get you out to spite The Nexus."
Randy was silent, then he closed his eyes and drifted off to that place where I could never follow him. I spoke to bring him back, asking, "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking about all the ways I can dismember Nexus and hide the bodies," Randy answered smoothly.
"I think I've got a better idea," I said, making Randy open his eyes to look at me intriguingly.
:-:
"What the fuck, Cena? Get out of my light!" Slater yelled at me, shoving me over.
We were all packed into the limo, headed to the nearest hotel after the show. I found Wade as soon as I parted ways with Randy, and Nexus was none the wiser that anything had developed since they left me out cold on the arena floor. Wade smiled arrogantly at me from his seat just across, thinking that he had all but demolished me since he got me back.
"How many tickets were purchased for this event? One thousand? Two thousand?" Otunga asked the group.
"Fourteen-hundred," Gabriel said, casting me a quick glance before he returned his attention to the window.
"Any hooded figures in the audience?" I asked aloud, referencing the mysterious attacker that came after me and Randy, but had not made an appearance since I was left stranded in Manchester.
The limo went quiet, and Wade and Nexus all stopped to stare at me. I glanced at each of their faces, but no one was registering anything suspicious. I shrugged and remarked passively, "Just making conversation."
"Whatever, Cena! It's best if you don't talk," Slater shot me the loser sign and chaos resumed.
"Wha' do you mean by hooded figga?" Wade asked me curiously.
I pretended like it was no big deal, answering, "Well, sometimes wrestling matches have hooded figures who interfere and they turn out to be another wrestler. It's a good suspenseful story line, but we haven't done it in a while."
Scoffing, Wade mentioned, "Maybe we should look into tha' again."
I nodded and glanced at Gabriel again. He was still looking out the window, but he had a strange look on his face.
He looked like he was pissed.
"Driver! Hey driver!" McGillicutty yelled to the front, knocking on the privacy window.
The limo slowed to a stop and the privacy window rolled down. I already knew who it was, but Wade and The Nexus were all stunned when the death-masked driver let go of the wheel and turned to face them, saying in a distorted voice, "How is everyone back there? Enjoying your evening?"
I knew it was Cody Rhodes, but the rest of the guys didn't. They all went for the doors to bail, but as soon as they were outside, they were bombarded by a group of well masked thugs, or as I knew them, good friends from the RAW and Smackdown roster.
Covered from head-to-toe in costume, it wasn't easy to tell who the masked avengers were, but I spotted Randy easily because of his fluid like motions. He had painted his face to look like The Joker in the recent Batman film, and he was even donning a stringy wig that shielded his features and made his Viper-like expression even more venomous.
It was easy to see he was completely enjoying himself.
The Nexus was in a panic. I saw Slater get beat down by whom I assumed to be Mark Henry, while Otunga received a punch to the throat from Teddy DiBiase. I thought it was Sheamus and Morrison who took down Gabriel, while Cody got out from the driver's seat and launched into his former NXT rookie, Husky Harris. McGillicutty tried to make a run for it, but he was slaughtered by a literal sidewalk slam from someone I didn't quite recognize, but I could have sworn it was The Undertaker.
Randy was focused only on Wade, but Wade wasn't about to be taken down easily. Wade used his streetwise to throw some punches, and he caught Randy in the shoulder, but Randy head-butted Wade and sent him to the pavement, then Randy launched into him with a series of kicks and punches.
The other masked avengers scattered and disappeared in different directions as planned, leaving only Randy and I behind. I could see Wade was fading fast, but Randy looked like he wasn't about to stop. I knew that if I let Randy continue, Wade would wake up in a hospital.
"Hey!" I shouted.
Randy stopped and looked up at me. I did as we had already rehearsed, acting like I had no idea who the masked men were. I charged up to Randy and shouted, "Get the hell out of here!"
I glanced at Wade to see if he was still conscious. He was barely awake, but he looked up at me with an almost grateful expression, whispering weakly, "Help me, John..."
I grabbed Randy like I was going to stop him, but he pulled me along and we pretended to wrestle each other until we were out of range, then we took off to find our getaway car and drove out of there as fast as we could.
Randy and I were laughing all the way back to the hotel. We laughed as we passed the hotel staff, and they went wide eyed from seeing Randy's Joker face. Randy was almost in tears from laughing so hard as we took the elevator up to his room. We chuckled down the hallway, and we could barely keep it together as Randy unlocked his room and we slipped inside.
As soon as Randy locked the door, we both became serious. He stared me down with a predatory expression, amplified by his Joker face. He grabbed me and pulled me into him, and we shared furious kisses that smeared his makeup all over and inside of my mouth and his, spreading it with our fingers as we grabbed each other and pulled at each other and undressed each other.
All that was left were our boxers and Randy's Joker wig as he pulled me into bed with him, but I felt a sharp pain from my injury and I pulled away from him quickly. Randy looked at me with a solemn expression, saying thickly, "Let me see it."
I was reluctant to reveal myself to him. I knew my injury was probably much worse than before, and I didn't know how he would react. He sat up and tugged the rim of my boxers, then he looked up at me to ask me wordlessly if it was alright to go on.
I nodded, and he slowly pulled my boxers down, letting them go past my knees so they fell to the floor. I stepped out of them and turned around, asking in a joking tone, "How do I look?"
Randy was silent. I looked over my shoulder at him, asking, "Randy?"
He was staring at my backside with his jaw clenched. His eyes were red with fury.
No. His eyes were red with tears.
I became worried, rushing to the bathroom to see the damage for myself. I turned into the mirror, and what I saw made me cry out in shock.
From the base of my spine to just above my knees, my entire backside was covered with black blotches from multiple bruises. It almost looked like it was painted on, but when I touched it, the pain reminded me that the injury was real.
I saw Randy storm past me and I rushed back out just as he reached the door. I shouted, "Where are you going?"
"This ends now. Wade ends now," Randy stated.
"No, you're not going back out there!" I argued.
Randy turned to face me, asking angrily, "Why the hell not?"
"Because I want you now," I said.
Randy's eyes studied my naked body for several seconds while he considered what I said. He sighed and let go of the door, telling me with his usual dry humor, "What you just said is total cheese-fest, Cena."
I smiled, answering, "It worked on you, didn't it?"
He shoved me back into bed, but he was careful not to inspire my pain as he climbed in on top of me and used smooth kisses to tingle my skin. He became more aggressive when his lips came back to my mouth, groaning with pleasure as he reached down and massaged my balls between his fingers.
The effect of his touch was rapidly stimulating me, but he suddenly let go of me completely and looked away with a shameful expression. I asked, "What's wrong? Why did you stop?"
He closed his eyes, drifting to that faraway place again. He came back within seconds, telling me, "It's too selfish. I don't want to say it out loud."
"Tell me," I demanded.
Randy locked eyes with me and said somberly, "I want to fuck you so badly right now."
He looked away again, as if he should be punished for what he said. I told him honestly, "I would be asking you to if I wasn't in so much pain right now."
Sighing with understanding, Randy said thickly, "There's nothing like being in you, John."
I lifted a brow in surprise, asking jokingly, "Was that a cheese-fest line, Mr. Orton?"
He retorted dryly, "No, that was an all-I-think-about-is-sex-with-you-in-any-position-at-any-given-time line, Mr. Cena."
I laughed out loud, then I said, "Alright, if we can't do it, then we'll talk about something else."
"What?" Orton asked, giving me a funny look.
"Tell me what you would do to Wade if you could do anything," I said.
Randy smiled deviously and answered, "I think I would kick him in the face so many times, his features would look like mashed potatoes."
I busted out laughing, and Randy had to roll off of me to keep me from hurting myself underneath him. I told him when I caught my breath again, "That's ridiculous!"
"What? I'm from Misery, and they do shit like that all the time down there," Randy jokingly referenced his Southern home state of Missouri.
"You know what I would like to see? I would like to see you RKO Wade down a flight of stairs, without hurting yourself. I don't think that's possible, though," I said.
Randy closed his eyes to imagine it, then he opened them again and said, "I could plan it out so it would work."
"Oh really?" I asked incredulously.
"No problem," Randy answered, and I busted into a fit of laughter again, making him laugh as well.
