Yo yo yo, who's back for another round of Next Level? I know I am! Since I'm the author, but still! Things are really going to pick up here as we near the Royal Rumble, and as you know, Cena will be returning at the PPV to take on Randy Orton and also take part in the Royal Rumble! However, he has to keep a low profile until then. But what about the other angles? What is everybody else up to exactly? Let's find out, so here's chapter 26!

Chapter 26: Nefarious

CM Punk sighed heavily to himself as he walked out of a suspicious dark secluded room, with a note in hand. He couldn't believe he had brought himself into doing this, but he had a point to make. He needed to prove that he was the greatest WWE Champion of all time and he wasn't about to let some overrated star from Hollywood come back into the WWE on his stomping grounds, and steal his thunder. That's why he had made the deal.

He hired the Shield to attack the Rock, and needless to say, the plan worked out to perfection. Punk watched on with Heyman from the skybox, perched perfectly like a champion of the world. He couldn't help but let that dastardly smile come across his face as he watched the Great One crawl, his body quivering as he coughed up blood in the center of the ring. The Shield had done their job, and now it was time for Punk to finish it this Sunday at the Rumble.

Standing up from the seat in the skybox, Punk stretched and yawned. Things had seemed quite awkward lately without John Cena and AJ Lee around. In fact, he knew something was up and couldn't help but wonder exactly where the two were, but as of right now, that wasn't his concern. After all, AJ was still a key part of his plan, but he'd worry about her after he took care of business with the Rock.

Saying goodbye to Heyman, Punk made his way down the hall where a shadowy, stalkish figure in Randy Orton waited for him. He was tapping his foot fervently and impatiently, because quite frankly Randy Orton wasn't a patient man.

"So, how did it go?" Randy asked, a grin just anxious to appear on his face. Punk smirked back, patting the title belt on his shoulder. "It all went according to plan, of course. I will permanently put the Brahma Bull on the shelf this Sunday at the Rumble. That was smart thinking there Randal," he said.

Randy furrowed his brows at the mention of his name, but nonetheless continued. "I'd ask for your thanks, but it wouldn't mean much anyway," he smirked, making Punk snarl his upper lip at the Viper.

"Well, my work here is done. Good luck against the Rock though Punk, because you're gonna need it," Randy said smirking. Little did Punk know that beforehand, Randy had spoken with the Shield prior to Punk, and had planted a seed of doubt in at least one of the members' heads. You could call it a family connection, if you will.

With the Punk and Shield business done, Randy had other matters he needed to focus on; namely John Cena. Before he could get to John though, there was one other thing he had to take care of. Pulling out his phone, he quickly began texting away on his iPhone, determined to lay the groundwork for his plan to get revenge on a certain Diva who needed her come-uppance.

Backstage at RAW, January 21, 2013

Sheamus leaned against the back of a crate taking in the delicious substance of Gatorade. After all, he had earned himself this drink after making quick work of those clown jobbers, 3MB. "Those three are ah bunch of horses' arses," the Irishman commented, making his friend and high flyer Kofi Kingston laugh out loud as he grabbed a drink from the table.

"I'll say," Kofi agreed, "I don't know how those three were able to earn spots in the Rumble, but I'll take great pleasure in throwing them right over that top rope." He gave Sheamus a fist bump, before noticing the Divas champion making her way down the hallway, a huge smile on her face as she looked at her BlackBerry Storm.

Sheamus stood right up, ready to greet her with a hug, but instead, Kaitlyn walked right into the Irishman's chest, and fell flat, not realizing where she was going.

"Ouch!" the Houston native said, looking up. "Sorry Sheamus! Didn't mean to run into you like that!" Kaitlyn looked alarmed to Sheamus quite frankly.

"Whoa whoa, take it easy lass. What's the crack?" the Irishman asked, looking at her with concerned eyebrows raised. Kofi took in the sight of a worried Sheamus; something you didn't exactly see too often.

Kaitlyn felt her body rivet with excitement as she held up her iPhone to Sheamus's face. "I have a secret admirer!" she squealed with delight. Sheamus was taken aback by Kaitlyn's delight, but put on a smile on his face nonetheless. Kofi felt bad for his friend and decided to step in on his behalf.

"How do you know it's a secret admirer Kaitlyn? It could probably be a stalker for all we know," he offered his input. Kaitlyn only shook her head, refusing to believe that.

"I don't think so Kofi. We've been reciting lines and episode names from the Simpsons for the last hour and a half now!" she smiled, turning her attention back to her phone and began rapidly texting away again. "Hey Sheamus, we still down for bowling tonight? I know we've been putting it off for a while, but tonight I'm all ready to go and kick butt! What do you say?" she asked.

Sheamus only scratched the back of his head and held in some thought. As he watched Kofi motion him on to agree, the big Irishman hesitated. He wasn't so sure if tonight would be a good night to go with Kaitlyn now that there was talk of her having a secret admirer. Quite frankly to boot, the Houston native had seemed smitten with him already as well.

"Sorry Kaitie, but ah just remembered that ah have other plans," Sheamus buffed out. Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Like what?" she asked. Sheamus stammered as he answered Kaitlyn's questioning gaze. "Ah, well ah heard that there was a good place ta shoot some pool at in the city, and Kofi talked meh into goin'," he finally finished, feeling every morsel of regret for lying. Just for confirmation, Kaitlyn turned to Kofi.

"Is this true Kofi?" she asked. The Wildcat didn't miss a beat as he caught right on to Sheamus' act. "Yeah of course. We made a bet and we still gotta complete it, you know what I mean?"

The Houston native nodded her head slowly and shallow. Something didn't seem right here, but she would let the issue go…for now. "Well, I hope you guys have fun! Let me know who wins the bet!" she said, pulling her phone out once more and texting rapidly again, and walked away.

"Will do lass!" Sheamus called after her, and when she was gone, wiped the sweat from his forehead as Kofi snickered. "What's so funny fella?"

"You have no game. Dude, you suck," Kofi laughed. "Shut up."

Randy looked between the small cracks of the crates from his hiding place as he smirked. Secret admirer? Sure Kaitlyn, if that's what you want to call it, Randy smirked.

Somewhere Else Backstage

Roman Reigns huffed a big sigh as he gathered the rest of his wrestling gear and shoved it in his bag. "Meet you guys in the car," Ambrose called to them, and left. Once the leader of the Shield was gone, Rollins quickly spun Reigns around by the shoulder and stared him down.

"Alright ya big Samoan, talk. What the hell is going on with you? You looked so lost out there tonight," Rollins said. Reigns only sighed and took a seat. "We attacked my family man. We attacked Dwayne tonight," he said.

Rollins looked confused. "Why are you so upset about it then? The Rock is an injustice to the WWE. The way he comes back easily and just gets a title shot handed to him. You think that's fair?"

"Well of course not," Reigns shot back. "But he came back for the people remember? The people who practically pay our checks to see us go out there and perform. We've been acting like assholes to everybody, even attacking people who don't deserve an ass whooping," he continued.

Rollins only facepalmed himself. "Seriously? What, you think we attacked people like Ryback for no reason? Sheamus? John Cena? The Rock? They've all committed injustices. In case you have forgotten Roman, justice isn't free." Reigns stood up in immediate frustration. "You don't think I get that?!"

Reigns slammed the locker door shut. "Then why the hell did we attack Sin Cara? He didn't do shit to anybody! Then we just attacked my family…that's my cousin man. You may not have family around here, but I do. It's in my blood Seth. You know that," Reigns said. "Maybe she was right. Maybe I am wrong for doing this. I don't know, but sooner or later I'll find out whether I'm doing the right thing or not. Tell Dean I'm taking my own ride home tonight," Reigns said. He then picked up his bag and headed out.

Seth Rollins stood there with a blank look on his face, before he blinked himself back into reality. The only thing that ran through his mind was: who in the blue hell was 'she'?

Welp, that's the closer for chapter 26 folks! Sorry for the slight shortness, but I do hope that you did enjoy it! Updates might be coming a bit slower though, with the other writing projects that I'm going to be working on. Co-writing Most Dangerous Game with xxFeistyxx with a new chap coming in the next few days, check out the fic I'm co-writing with MelRyderLove43 called Castaway, featuring yours truly! Also got spinoffs of this to work on, Roses & Thorns, and Electrify Me! Busy busy, huh? Not to worry though, I'm still gonna be churning out as much as I can!

One more thing, I do have an "Open Fic Challenge" going on, so if you'd like to submit an idea, just head to my page and click on the story! All you need is a title, plot, pairing, and rating and you should be good to go! Rules are inside!

Until then, thanks for reading you guys! Chapter 27 coming soon!

-Ronnie