Chapter 25:

Replaced

The Raw General Manager's office was a barren but well-decorated space, with a TV mounted to the corner. It cast a faint red light. Positioned beside it was a plant. The walls were littered with WWE advertisements, including an ad for Mick's reality show on the WWE Network, Holy Foley. Mick was alone in his office, dressed in a red and black checkered suit. Christmas had long passed, but it wasn't a secret that Mick really loved the holiday.

Without knocking, Seth walked into the General Manager's office, hair already wet. He was dressed in his ring gear, with his latest shirt. "Hey, Mick. You wanted to see me?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Mick nodded, taking a step towards him.

"Yeah, I did. Stephanie wanted me to let you know that tonight, you have a match against Sami Zayn."

Seth blinked, unable to hide the confusion on his face. Uncrossing his arms, he cocked his head to the side. "Why? Sami and I were a tag team just last week," Seth pointed out.

"It's not my idea, it's Stephanie's. She wants to play up the idea that it's every man for himself with the Rumble coming up," Mick explained. It sounded like a flimsy excuse in both of their ears, but Seth let it slide. With a sigh, Mick's shoulders slouched. "There's more."

"There's always more when it comes to that woman. Spit it out."

"I need to preface this by saying I personally don't agree with this, but Stephanie McMahon is my boss." Seth looked at him wearily. "The stipulation is that if you lose tonight, then Sami will get your spot in the Royal Rumble match. I'm sorry, Seth..."

"Nah. It's good. It's fine. I see what's going on here. So what? I'll beat Sami tonight, and then I'll go on to win the Rumble and recapture the title I never lost at WrestleMania. And after I do that, I can throw all of this right back in their stupid faces. In hers, and in that coward's she calls a husband." With that, Seth turned and left the office, almost slamming the door in his frustration. It shut heavily, and Mick released a sigh when he was sure that Seth was out of earshot.

Mick didn't blame Seth for being unhappy, but the reality was that the situation was completely out of his hands. He ran the show, but he still had to run things by Stephanie. Every week, the relationship between General Manager and Commissioner seemed to unravel more and more, and one of their biggest bones of contention was Seth. Mick constantly had to remind Stephanie that she chose to draft him first, that she chose to hand him every perk in his first month or two on the brand. Mick wasn't clueless; he knew that Stephanie was trying her best to shove Seth out of The Authority in favor of somebody new, and probably from NXT. Everyone thought it was going to be Kevin Owens because of what Hunter had done, but that seemed to be a dead-end. It left Mick wondering who Mick and Stephanie had resting in their back pockets.

Despite the rockiness of the first little bit, Mick liked Seth. He thought that Seth was going to be a reliable hand and a top-level talent for a long, long time. He'd been a fan of all the talent in the Shield, and when Seth branched out to be a singles wrestler, Mick had been impressed by his talent. Since coming back, he noticed that Seth had upped his game; the blond in his hair was gone, and he moved even better than he did before he had the reconstructive surgery. But at the end of the day, none of that seemed to be good enough for Hunter and Stephanie. He'd given everything to them until his body gave out, and now it seemed like they were ready to put him out to pasture once and for all.

With Sami laid out on the canvas, Seth scrambled over to the fallen Canadian to make the cover and win the match. He hadn't reached Sami's prone body when the lights turned green and the familiar riff of Motorhead blared through the arena speakers. The music suddenly made Seth alert, and he was on his feet quickly, his gaze moving to the stage. Everything was green now, from the video walls to the stage.

"Time to play the Game!"

Seth hobbled towards the rope. Rubbing his face, he assumed his best fighting stance. "Come on!" he shouted. Five months ago, Hunter had ripped Seth's dreams apart with his bare hands. For five long months, Hunter had gone radio silent, refusing to answer any of Seth's messages, phone calls, e-mails or tweets. Seth shifted, still waiting for Hunter to come out.

But nothing happened.

Nobody emerged from behind the curtain. Not Stephanie, not Hunter, nobody. Seth turned, expecting somebody to run into the ring to attack him from behind, but there was nothing still. Seth moved around Sami's prone body, waiting for something, anything to happen. It didn't take Seth long to realize that it had been a dirty underhanded trick, that nothing was going to happen.

"Oh, fuck this," Seth said, dismissing everything with a wave of his hand. Seth turned his attention back to Sami, who had been playing possum on the mat. With a roll-up pin, the referee counted three, and Hunter's entrance videos and music were replaced with Sami's.

Sami rolled out of the ring quickly, resting himself against the barricade. Seth was kneeling in the ring, stunned, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging. He couldn't believe it, but deep down, he knew he should have suspected it. Seth remained on his knees, every emotion running through him. Motherfucking son of a...

He looked at Sami, who looked absolutely exhausted. He wasn't angry at Sami, but his blood boiled at the stunt that cost him his spot in the Royal Rumble. It was impossible for Seth to ignore the fact that Hunter and Stephanie were now actively trying to make him fail. As angry as he was at losing his spot in the Rumble, he realized there were other roads to WrestleMania. He just hoped his road would lead him right to Triple H.

Seth stormed backstage, breathing heavily, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of Mick Foley. He caught a guy on his cell phone and his blood boiled. "Where's he at, huh? Where's he at? Put that down." Seth slapped the phone out of the man's hand. It clattered to the floor, but Seth didn't stop to apologize or help. "Where's he at?" Seth's voice raised to a yell. "Somebody knows something around here!" he accused. He huffed. "I want answers!"

"Seth!"

Seth turned to see Mick. He approached angrily. "What? What do you got for me? You got answers?"

"I did not know!" Mick yelled. "I know nothing about this. But Stephanie...I'm not saying it was Stephanie...but she, or obviously someone, was in touch with the production truck..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...You think it's production? I think it's a conspiracy!" he spat angrily. "This has been my dream. He took away a year of my life! Somebody knows something around here..." Seth stormed away, ranting and raving.

"I swear I'll get down to the bottom of it!" Mick assured him. "I'm going to get answers."

He sighed as Seth turned the corner and disappeared from his view. Every week things seemed to be getting worse, and Mick was starting to realize that he didn't have a handle on any situation when Stephanie McMahon was in the same building.

"So, what kind of bullshit was that?"

With a sigh, Mick turned to see Jory standing behind him with a hand on her hip. She wasn't on the match card, thanks to the giant white bandage on her arm that was currently covered with a long-sleeved black sweater. "I'm trying to figure it out, Jordana."

"I'll talk to him." She looked down the hall and shook her head. "It might be for the best if I do it instead of you."

Mick studied her. He wondered what was going on between the two of them. But he nodded. "Yeah. That's probably for the best. Thank you."

She shook her head. "Poor Seth. He's got to be devastated."

"I didn't know anything," Mick insisted.

"I believe you." Mick was relieved.

"Thank you. How is your arm?"

"It's okay. But while we're on the subject, I'd like you to sign off on something for me, since I'll never get Stephanie to do it."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"I want a match at the Royal Rumble against Alexa Bliss. I want her to pay for this." She held up her arm. "I want a street fight with Alexa Bliss at the Royal Rumble."

"You got it." Jory looked at Mick, her expression softening. She could see the job was beginning to really wear him down. There were also rumblings that he needed to get hip replacement surgery pretty quickly. "Are you going to be at TakeOver this weekend?" he asked.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss that for anything."

"Do you think we could meet after the show? Outside of things? I need to talk to you."

Suspicion flickered in Jory's eyes. "Yeah, sure. We can do that."

"Great."

"If you'll excuse me, though, I really should go look in on Seth."

"Yeah, do your thing." Jory left, moving down the hall in the direction Seth had gone. Mick sighed. "I need a vacation."

She found Seth pacing back and forth in the parking lot, shirtless, one hand on his hip and another one in his hair. As if he could sense her approaching, he turned to see her standing behind him, her arms crossed over her chest. "Hey," she greeted, a tight, bemused smile on her face. Seth quit pacing, both of his hands moving to his hips. "I'd ask how you're doing, but I think I have an idea."

"Did you see what happened out there?" Seth raged. She nodded.

"I did, and it's not right," she told him quickly. Seth huffed, pushing the hair out of his face. "Seth..."

"I had the Rumble spot in my hands..."

"This isn't your fault, Seth."

"I just...I don't know what to do here," Seth said, holding his arms out. Jory surprised him by walking into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. It only took a second for him to register what he had to do. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "I just..."

"This isn't the end of it. All roads lead to WrestleMania. You'll get there."

"You're coming with me," he promised. "Some way, somehow, you're coming with me."