Title: ATM and the ARK Angels of DX: Wrestling World War II
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 and Linda McMahon, Kevin, Tamara and Tristen Nash, Adam "Edge", Angelina and Angelica Copeland, Phil "CM Punk", Jamie "Velvet Sky" and Ravine Brooks, Marion Cena, the Undertaker, Garrett Calloway, Sting and Steven Borden, Batista, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Kelly Kelly, Brie and Justin Danner, Alannah Pirelli and Charlotte, Dan and Carla McCool.
Summary: Shawn Michaels has to decide between Lita and the Kliq and the wrestling world falls into disarray while awaiting his decision.
Chapter Fourteen – Up From the Mud
Stamford, Connecticut
The ARK Angels of DX finally got out of Los Angeles after the police had finished interrogating Cameron and Batista about the n.W.o graffiti on the residents' homes in Santa Monica and arrived in Connecticut where the DX Inc building was burnt to a crisp. After Cameron told everyone that something bad was going to happen to the WWE roster Batista decided to accompany them and his eyes bulged out of his head at the horrible sight of the now ruined building that he had gone to countless times over the years.
"I can't believe this happened," Batista said shaking his head, "And you're saying the Kliq did this?" he asked Cameron.
"Oh yes and they went to L.A and defaced those houses so the police would want to question us meaning we couldn't leave California and warn Stephanie about what they were planning," Cameron said.
"The whole roster was in the building when they set fire to it, that means there could have been causalities, was that their intention Cameron, to take the lives of the WWE Superstars and employees?" Cheyenne asked her brother but Cameron shrugged.
"I think they just wanted to send Stephanie a message, they didn't want to kill anyone. The real damage is to the WWE's reputation, there are going to be serious legal ramifications for the fire," Cameron said.
"Stephanie must be so pissed," Batista said.
"She's in Jamaica with DX right now, Melina is healing the injured Superstars including the Undertaker," Cameron said and Garrett Calloway grew nervous at the mention of his father. Cheyenne noticed his concern and she put a comforting arm around him.
"Don't worry you're father's going to be okay," she said and suddenly Garrett felt a lot better.
"Yeah my mom's got the Gift of healing I'm sure everyone's feeling like new right now," Romeo Hennigan said. "Can we go see her?" Romeo asked Batista.
"Of course, you guys wanna come with?" Batista asked the ARK Angels and Garrett Calloway.
"Yes but there's someone we have to help out first," Cameron said.
"Who?" Batista asked.
"Jeff Hardy, the Kliq attacked him and he's in the woods alone in Cameron, North Carolina," Cameron said.
"Well let's go," Batista said and they all jumped into his rental car and headed for Cameron while Garrett saw the actions of the Kliq in a whole new light. A few days ago he might have laughed at the chaos the famous faction had caused but today their actions made him sick to his stomach.
Cameron, North Carolina
Matt Hardy arrived at his brother's house after failing to contact him on his mobile over the last few hours but he didn't see his truck parked outside. Jeff told him that he'd be cleaning out his home so he expected him to be there and thought maybe he'd gone to pick up some things from the store, that was until he saw that the front door was open. Matt frowned, something wasn't right then he poked his head out of his car window and noticed tire tracks leading into the woods and decided to follow them. After driving for awhile he was deep in the woods and a little flash of color not far away caused him to peer into the distance and he realized that the color was from a truck. It was Jeff's truck and it was turned upside down. Matt pulled up next to the truck and ran over to it. He couldn't see anything but he had a feeling Jeff was inside.
"Jeff!" Matt called into the truck but no answer came. He pulled at the roof of the car to try and pull it upright but he wasn't strong enough. Nervously he thought what to do next when he looked up and saw some kind of giant bug heading towards him, when the bug drew closer he realized it was Bebe, Jeff's pet Bumblebee. The fact that Bebe was here assured Matt that Jeff was definitely under the turned over truck and he grew anxious. "Bebe we have to get him out of here," he said to the supernatural creature but Bebe wasn't alone, Spy was with him sitting on his back and Spy had a plan. He grew to a great size and Matt stepped back as he began to weave a giant web but the web looked long and straight and Matt realized that Spy was weaving a giant rope. "Spy you're a genius!" he said and he fed the massive web rope into the truck and stuck his head by the mud where the truck was turned and called out to his brother. "Jeff please I know you're in there, I need you to hold onto this rope and I'm gonna pull you out okay?"
Matt heard a groan and his heart jumped for joy knowing it was Jeff and he was alive, "Jeff its gonna be alright just take hold of the rope and hold onto it as tight as you can okay?" Matt said and Jeff groaned again. "I'll take that as a yes," Matt said and he wrapped the incredibly well weaved rope and pulled onto it as hard as he could. He could feel Jeff's weight on the other end but he was too heavy for Matt to pull out alone. Bebe decided to make himself useful too and he grabbed onto Matt Hardy's shirt and pulled him up into the air yanking Jeff from underneath his truck, out of the mud and up into the air for all to see. "Jeff!" Matt cried as Bebe put him back on the ground and he ran to his brother who could not stand because of the injuries to his legs and arms. When Matt saw the state his brother was in the first thing he thought was to take him to a hospital. "Jeff I'm gonna put you in my car and I'm gonna take you to the hospital okay?"
"No, need to go to Jamaica, need to see DX, warn them about the Kliq," Jeff said and Matt frowned.
"How did this happen to you?" Matt asked confused then in the distance a car drew towards them and it pulled up and out spilled the ARK Angels of DX, Batista, Romeo and a kid Matt didn't recognize.
"Those sons of bitches," Batista snarled when he saw Jeff and the ARK Angels gathered around him.
"I went to his house and he wasn't there so I followed these tire tracks and he was here under his truck," Matt explained.
"They left you under your truck?" Garrett said to Jeff and he nodded while Matt frowned at Garrett.
"Who left him under his truck?" Matt asked.
"The Kliq, they did this to him Matt," Batista said and Matt stared him in disbelief.
"You heard about what happened to DX Inc right?" LC said and Matt nodded.
"Yeah I was coming here to get Jeff because Stephanie said she couldn't get through to him," Matt said.
"Well the Kliq started the fire and they attacked Jeff because they didn't want him to get there and stop them," Cameron said.
"So that's why he wants to go to Jamaica and see DX, to tell them what Scott Hall and Sean Waltman did to him," Matt realized.
"He needs to go to Jamaica anyway so my mom can heal him," Romeo said. "Come on let's get him in the car,"
"You guys help him up I'm gonna turn this truck right side up," Cheyenne said and with a simple flex of her arms Jeff's truck was in upright position. Garrett smiled in amazement and Jeff noticed him among all the other familiar faces. The fact that Spy and Bebe weren't attacking him told Jeff that something good had happened to Garrett Calloway since he last saw him and he was sure Cheyenne and the ARK Angels had something to do with that.
Bebe and Spy came close to Jeff. "Guys I'm gonna be fine, go back to the Sandbox and keep an eye on things while I'm in Jamaica thanks for helping Matt get me out of the mud," Jeff said to Bee and Spy and they flew away while Matt and Batista helped Jeff into Matt's car. Matt drove ahead while Cameron, LC, Garrett, Batista and Romeo followed behind them. Cheyenne drove Jeff's car back to his house and locked his front door.
"Why do I have the feeling that we're about to fly into a storm?" LC said to Cameron as they picked up Cheyenne and headed to the airport.
"Because we are," Cameron said. As disturbing as DX Inc burning down with the WWE roster inside was the attack on Jeff was bound to tip Stephanie and the Hardy family over the edge.
Kingston, Jamaica
The WWE roster was completely healed by Melina the Miraculous and all conversation had turned to the Kliq and what to do about them. For Joanie, Shawn and Amy the answer was a no brainer but the timing couldn't be worse for Triple H who was in his annoyance phase and was unable to digest the severity of what the Kliq had done to his company and workers. Shawn and Amy tried to explain to Stephanie why Triple H was defending the Kliq to the roster but Stephanie was in no mood for Hunter's behavior right now. She needed sound support and Hunter was not able to provide it which frustrated her very much given that he was co-owner of the WWE and decisions could not be made without his approval.
"Hunter don't you understand that we could lose the company because of what Scott Hall, Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash did?" Stephanie said while shielding her eyes from Hunter's bright orange shorts.
"There's no proof that Kevin was involved and we don't even know that it was Scott and Sean that started the fire at DX Inc, if anything it was Tristen Nash in an attempt to get one over on the WWE," Hunter said.
"Babe that's ridiculous, Tristen would never do something like this and even if he did he couldn't have done it without his father's help," Joanie said.
"Kevin's laid up in a hospital bed in San Antonio how could he possibly be involved in this?" Hunter said. "The guy is recovering from a serious hit and run injury give him a break,"
"As banged up as he is his mind is still working, obviously he's the brains behind all this, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman wouldn't do this without him," Undertaker said flexing his now perfectly healed arm. "This arson attack is the next stage in a series of attacks against the WWE, Hall and Waltman aren't calculating enough to pull something like this off,"
"I don't buy it," Hunter said ignoring everyone's convincing arguments.
"You need to buy yourself some glasses because you obviously can't see what's going on and everyone else can," R Truth said.
"Put a sock in it Truth, Triple H is the co-owner of our company and if he says the Kliq hasn't done anything wrong then we should believe him," Damien Sandow said and Sheamus turned his nose up at him.
"Thank you Damien," Hunter said.
"You're welcome boss, nice shorts by the way," Sandow added.
"Yeah nice shorts if you work for Tropicana," Sheamus said. "Do you have cotton stuffed in your ears or something Trips because you're not hearing a word we're saying to you,"
"Stephanie will get to the bottom of this won't you Steph?" Hunter said to the interim CEO and Stephanie looked at him like he was crazy.
"Hunter the entire roster was almost burned to death, the DX Inc building is gone and there's a chance the WWE could be shut down and fined for violating basic health and safety regulations, what part of this situation do you think I can handle without your help?" Stephanie said frustrated.
"And you're idea of a solution is to blame three of my oldest friends for your mismanagement? Stephanie why did you have a meeting at DX Inc if you knew the fire alarms and fire extinguishers weren't working?" Hunter said and Shawn and Amy shook their heads at Hunter's logic.
"The fire alarms and extinguishers were removed on purpose, the whole thing was a setup can't you see that?!" Stephanie yelled and Trish patted her on the shoulder to calm her down.
"No he can't see it and he won't for awhile Steph so calm down," Trish said and Stephanie sighed in frustration as reasoning with Hunter seemed more and more like an exercise in futility.
"Thanks for seeing things my way Trish, you make a pretty good corporate stooge why don't you work for me once Stephanie sorted out this whole mess in Connecticut?" Hunter said and Trish squeezed Stephanie's shoulders to calm her as Hunter once again put the onus on fixing what the Kliq had done on her and not them.
"I do work for you Hunter and I have for several years," Trish replied.
"No that was a different Trish, she had blond hair and she was Canadian," Hunter argued.
"Yes that was me, I dyed my hair and moved to New York City," Trish said and Hunter frowned.
"Well how come you live here in Jamaica?" he asked her and Randy looked at Trish.
"Don't say one more word to him," he said and Trish obeyed. He wouldn't be able to shut Stephanie up once Jeff Hardy arrived and he was anticipating a very ugly outburst when the wounded wrestler arrived in Kingston, Jamaica.
Amy left Shawn's side temporarily to talk to Edge who gone to DX Inc to see Angelina Love and was there when the building was set on fire.
"I'm glad you're okay," she said to him.
"How could I not be with friends like Melina?" Edge said. "You know what I'm wondering though?"
"What?" Amy asked him.
"How you can tolerate living with Shawn and Hunter knowing that they're best friends with a group of sadistic thugs like the Kliq," Edge said. "There could have been some serious damage done in Connecticut today and Shawn and Hunter would have just looked the other way and made excuses for them like they are now,"
"Shawn's not making excuses its Hunter he's the one in denial, although it's a little more complicated than that," Amy said.
"What do you mean?" Edge asked her.
"Hunter's in his super annoying phase right now so he's not thinking straight so you can't believe everything he says," Amy said.
"Well that explains the pants but is this phase really that severe?" Edge said and Amy nodded.
"He stole Brie Danner's bikini bottoms and wore them and he pretended to be Shawn and wrote in my diary," Amy said and Edge snickered. "He's impossible to reason with right now so you'll have to be a little patient with him, once this phase is over he'll be a lot easier to talk to,"
"Are you sure you're not just saying that?" Edge said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked and Edge shrugged.
"Maybe you're just making excuses for him, after all you're a Kliq chick," Edge said and Amy was offended by that term.
"Don't you ever call me that I don't have anything to do with the Kliq and I never will," Amy said.
"I remember when you were proud to be associated with them, when I see you sitting with Shawn and Hunter I can't help but wonder if any of that has changed," Edge said and Amy was about to protest when something else caught her attention.
"JEFF!" Stephanie hollered as Matt Hardy, Batista, Romeo, Garrett Calloway and the ARK Angels arrived with the bruised and battered wrestling world champion. The WWE roster circled around Jeff as Stephanie fell over him with tears in her eyes.
"What happened to him?" Edge asked concerned.
"The Kliq attacked him so he couldn't put out the fire they started at DX Inc," Cameron said and Stephanie looked at Cameron along with everyone else, only Hunter was rolling his eyes as if unaffected by what Cameron said. Melina gently touched Stephanie to get her attention from her beaten up husband.
"Come with me Stephanie, you can watch God heal him so he'll be like new," Melina said to her gently and John Morrison helped Matt carry his brother inside so his wife could heal him. Before she left Stephanie turned and looked at Hunter who was ignoring her, so she turned to Shawn instead.
"When God's healed my husband you and I are going to have a little talk about that Kliq of yours," Stephanie said to Shawn.
"Stephanie they're not my Kliq," Shawn said.
"Well prove it! Since Hunter is in no frame of mind to make any executive decisions you will give me permission to take those bastards to court and get them locked up for life," Stephanie said and Hunter laughed much to Shawn's concern.
"There's no way that's going to happen," Hunter said but Stephanie ignored him and kept her eyes on Shawn.
"We'll talk," she said to him before going inside to be with Jeff Hardy.
Shawn turned to Amy, "I'm gonna have to do it, Stephanie's right the Kliq can't get away with this," he said and Amy smiled and hugged Shawn, she was happy that Edge was right there to hear Shawn severe ties with the Kliq in front of everyone.
"You guys are all over-reacting," Hunter said and he was about to say more when the air suddenly grew cold and a strong wind blew against them then Beth Hardy, the A Twins, Rebecca Michelle and RJ Orton appeared with Aurora Rose.
"Your father's inside," Trish said to them knowing why they were here, "He's going to be fine,"
"Is it true that the Kliq beat him up?" Aurora asked Trish, her weather powers were clearly on standby as she was moments away from using them.
"Yes its true," Trish said. "But I would strongly advise you not to retaliate and let your mother take care of this Aurora,"
"My mother can't take care of this Aunt Trish, if she could this would never of happened. Its time I took action and when I get hold of them those three pieces of crap are going to regret the day they ever messed with my family," Aurora said and Beth and the A Twins nodded in total support of Aurora's decision.
"Um excuse me Ro-Ro but I'm your family too and I believe that Helmsley trumps Hardy by quite a bit," Hunter said and Trish sighed knowing what was coming next.
"Aurora why don't you go inside I need to talk to your father," Trish said and Randy ushered the children inside while his wife tried to diffuse what would have been a pretty big bomb if Hunter had kept speaking to his daughter.
"Why did you interrupt me I wanted to talk to my daughter, she's obviously forgotten the Kliq bylaws which state that no Kliq family member can injure a Kliq member," Hunter said. "From the way she was talking it sounded like she wanted to do damage to Scott, Sean and Kevin,"
"Aurora has another family, a family that only has one law and that is to look after each other, you can't attack her for that," Trish said.
"Like I said Helmsley trumps Hardy and if my daughter lays one ice cold finger on any of my boys she won't be my daughter anymore," Hunter said and Shawn went to shove Hunter hard on the ground but Cheyenne stopped him.
"He's not well is he?" Garrett asked Trish. "No-one in their right mind would disown Aurora Rose Helmsley,"
"Well he's not in his right mind and he can't really be talking to her while he's like this," Trish said.
"Your friends are baboons; I should know I've worked with them. Thank God I made some new friends, maybe you should make some too," Garrett said to Hunter and The Game shoved him much to Undertaker's horror.
"How dare you shove my boy! After everything that's happened this is how you respond? Well I've had it Hunter I quit!" Undertaker snapped and he marched off while Hunter watched him go indifferently.
"Deadman wait!" Shawn yelled going after him while Garrett smiled loving the fact that his father just stood up for him.
"Did Undertaker just quit?" Edge said in shock.
"No he'll be back he just needs to calm down," Trish said.
"Maybe he should quit, I think you're all crazy to work for a company that condones people who should be locked up," Edge said and he turned to Amy, "That includes you too Amy or doesn't what happened to Jeff bother you enough for you to admit that you're part of the problem?"
Edge left Amy before she could answer to check on Jeff, she followed him shortly to do the same, his words weighing heavily on her because there wasn't much that Edge said that she disagreed with.