In Too Deep
Chapter 21

Pete and Chris turned their attention to Shane, who was standing at the bottom of the rampway with the steel chair in his left hand. Pete found it funny that he wasn't even bothered by the smirk plastered on Shane's face, even though it made him sick for the last couple of months.

Vince suddenly took an interest in Shane and started making his way down the ramp. The younger McMahon, however, seemed to want no part of his father, and ran backstage via the path to the left of the ramp. Vince continued his path and slid into the ring, stood up and turned to face Pete and Chris. He grabbed Chris and Pete's arm and raised them in the air.

Sarah, Brian and Marissa were watching Survivor Series as it was getting ready to go off the air. Sarah was slightly concerned with the way Marissa was acting, but she was too excited about the victory to question it.

That is, until Shane came crashing through the door.

Everyone turned to look at the young McMahon, who was standing in the doorway, huffing and puffing and looking around with wild eyes. When he saw Marissa, he calmed down immediately.

"Oh thank God."

"Are you okay?" Marissa asked.

"I'm fine. When I couldn't see Joey, I got concerned and ran back here..."

"Why?" Brian inquired.

"Because Joey is crazy, that's why! If he wasn't going to attack me outside of the ring, I was pretty sure he would-"

Before Shane got to finish his statement, Joey appeared behind him, spun him around and punched him in the face. Shane stumbled back a few steps, giving Joey the opportunity to tackle him to the ground and repeatedly punch him anywhere he possibly could.

"Joey! Stop it!"

Brian ran up to Joey and grabbed him, trying to get him away from Shane. Joey, however, elbowed Brian in the abdomen, punched him in the face and shoved him backwards, making Brian stumble back into the wall. Once Brian was down, Joey looked up from Shane to see Sarah and Marissa. He smirked at them, stood up, and turned to face them.

"Stop it!" Sarah shouted.

"Don't interfere with my business."

"Stop being an asshole!"

Joey looked over at Marissa and narrowed his eyes at her. "What did you just say?"

Marissa and Sarah shared at look, then looked back at Joey. "I said... Stop being an asshole."

"Why do I have to stop being an asshole?! I'm not the one who just screwed over my own goddamn business. There are a shit ton of employees who are really pissed off right now because they just got put out of a job and you're yelling at me for letting off some steam?!"

"There are certain ways of going about that..."

"I don't care! I'm doing things my way!"

"Your way is outdated. Act like a civilized human being!"

"Shut the hell up, slut!"

"Joey!"

Just as Joey was about to take a step towards Marissa and Sarah, Shane's voice echoed in the locker-room. The bigger man turned around to look at Shane, smirking at how angry the smaller man obviously was.

"Yes?" Joey asked.

"Stay the hell away from them."

"But, Shane... We're friends, remember..? The posse from Greenwich..?"

"You don't belong anywhere near them. I'll say it again... Stay the hell away from them."

"Why? Because big, bad Shane McMahon told me to?"

"Sure, let's go with that..."

"Oh, give me a break."

Before Shane could think to defend himself, Joey once again charged at him, tackled him to the ground and started punching him.

"Get off of him!"

Joey froze mid-punch and slowly turned to face the doorway, which was where Vince McMahon was standing with Pete Gas and Chris Jericho at his sides.

"Buzz off, McMahon."

Pete and Chris exchanged a look, then entered the room and made their way over to Joey.

"No," Pete firmly stated, reaching down and grabbing Joey by the shirt. "You buzz off."

After some scuffling, Chris and Pete threw Joey out of the room, slamming and locking the door behind him.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Chris stated, literally wiping his hands of the situation.

Marissa ran over to Shane, who was covering his bleeding nose. "Baby, are you okay?!"

"I think the bastard broke my nose!"

Vince made his way over to the two at that point and knelt down. There was already bruising around Shane's nose and under his eyes. "Want me to handle that?"

Shane looked at Vince, raising a confused eyebrow. When he saw Vince was being serious, he sighed. "Fine."

Pete and Chris chose that moment to turn their attention to Brian to make sure he was okay. When a resounding 'crack' echoed in the room, followed by a highly irritated 'goddammit,' they knew it was safe to turn their attention back to the McMahons.

After all, who in their right mind wanted to watch someone shift a broken nose back into place?

Vince helped Shane sit up and have him a handkerchief for his nose, then sighed and looked his son in the eyes. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Screw the Alliance over. Duh." Chris stated.

Shane looked around the room and noticed all eyes were on him. He sighed and looked back at Vince. "I guess everyone wants an answer now..?"

"The suspense is killing me." Vince replied.

"Well... The whole WCW trying to mess with the WWF thing was fun in the beginning... But that started changing when I realized some of the guys didn't want to listen to me... They started doing their own things and next thing I knew, Paul Heyman and Stephanie were on my ass about ECW getting involved..."

"Let me guess... Then they started calling the shots?" Pete asked.

"Exactly. I mean, I wouldn't have any problems with that if they didn't constantly go behind my back and make deals and insult me to the employees."

"So... You were telling the truth about Rodney?" Pete asked.

"Yes, for the thousandth time. I didn't know anything about that until I got to Raw that one night... But having Rod in the Alliance helped me realized that I wanted nothing to do with it anymore. You were right when you said I bleed World Wrestling Federation. My place isn't with WCW... It's here. This is home," Shane turned to look Vince in the eyes again. "And, besides... Who else is gonna come running to help me at three in the morning?"

Vince looked surprised. "You remember that?"

"Of course I remember that."

Vince reached out and patted Shane on the shoulder. "Now... What are you doing to do about your sister..?"

Shane raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have to do something?"

"Well, you're either with me or with her..." Vince stated.

"I'm obviously with you."

"Yeah, he's the mole for God's sake."

Shane looked over at Brian. "I'm not the mole."

Everyone looked around, clearly confused.

"But... You screwed the Alliance over." Sarah stated.

"That doesn't mean I'm the mole," Shane replied, standing up and walking over to the door. "This is the mole." Shane opened the door, making everyone raise their eyebrows in shock.

"...Rodney..?"

"Are you seriously that surprised..?" Shane asked, raising a confused eyebrow.

"But... How are you the mole when he screwed them over..?"

Vince cleared his throat, making everyone turn to look at him. "There's a reason why Shane didn't know about Rodney being in the Alliance... And that's because he never officially signed with them. I sent him there to be the mole."

"What he means is... He sent me to the Alliance to convince Shane to do the right thing," Rodney stated, patting Shane on the back. "All I had to do was remind him of his roots, and he was more than happy to help me out."

The room was in absolute silence. Everyone was taking the time to let the information settle a little.

"I'm so confused!" Brian shouted.