LIES FROM WITHIN
Chapter 37

Shawn pulled up a block away from the warehouse Randy's dot was coming from on the tracker. He cut the engine and got out of the car. "We can't just go barging in there, Shawn." Paul tried to reason as he stepped out of the passenger seat. Shawn turned to look at his best friend, although he was glaring evilly at him.

"What do you expect us to do? We are unarmed, and don't have anything other than this car. And we can't exactly go driving in there. But if we don't go in, Randy may end up dying. And I'm sorry Paul, but I can't have that on my hands. Especially knowing how Roxy will react if Randy is killed," Shawn stated with a pained look on his face. Paul sighed but nodded and walked around the car to stand next to him.

"Well, any plan other than walking right in?" Paul asked, less than hopeful.

Shawn shook his head in defeat. Knowing Cena, there wouldn't be any other way in other than the front door. The two started their trek to the warehouse in silence. They walked in through the opened gates and walked towards the ominous front door of the warehouse. Shawn glanced at Paul and, without a second thought, opened the door and walked in.

Once the door closed behind them, they were jumped by the Spirit Squad, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. After exchanging a few blows, the group of Chain Gang cronies got Shawn and Paul tied to chairs in the middle of the room. They smiled at the two as the two members of D-X glared and cursed under their breath. "Well, well, well. Right on time." John Cena announced.

"Hello, honey. I've missed you." Vince continued, smiling sweetly at his wife when she looked at him in shock.

"Vince! Thank God you're here! These two buffoons…"

"Shut up, Linda," Vince shouted, scaring Linda enough to make her stop talking. He looked over at Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters, who were standing behind Shane looking extremely afraid for their lives. "If you two don't get the hell out of here, I swear to God, I'll fire your asses and send you to jail faster than lightning," Vince watched as the two Chain Gang members ran for their lives and looked back at his wife. "My, my. How the tables have turned."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Linda asked, crossing her arms over her chest, conveniently pointing the loaded gun at her son.

"I just think it's funny that, for once in our on-camera careers, you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy. If anyone thought a McMahon was going to join the Chain Gang, I'm sure the fingers would have been pointed at me. Seriously, Linda? Has it really come down to this?"

"I didn't want it to. I was just telling Shane that I knew Shawn wouldn't keep his mouth shut. I knew someone was going to arrive for him eventually… Never thought it would be you, though. I thought you would send Randy or Paul or someone else you and Shawn have manipulated into hating the Chain Gang."

"I didn't manipulate them, Linda. They're naturally good hearted people, so it's only obvious they would see through your bullshit lies. I don't see why either one of them would go as far as you have. Randy got out because he didn't appreciate what you and Cena were doing to Shawn and his family. And, I'm sorry, but the moment you decided to go ahead and allow Cena to shoot my son in the head… You're dead to me, Linda. I thought you were better than this."

"I wouldn't try to intimidate the person who still happens to be holding a loaded gun, Vince. It's not very wise… I mean… How do you think Shane got shot in the first place?"

Before anyone could think to stop her, Stephanie stormed over to Linda and slapped her across the face so hard, the older woman stumbled back. "Shut up, you stupid ungrateful bitch! I will never forgive you for what you've done to my husband's best friend, his kids and, of course, my own brother!" Stephanie shouted, allowing Vince to pull her away when she finished talking.

Linda rubbed the point of contact on her cheek and glared at her husband. She turned the glare to Stephanie, then remembered who had the upper hand at the moment. She walked back over to Shane and put the gun against the left side of his head. Linda enjoyed the look of fear on Vince's face almost as much as she enjoyed feeling the tremors run through Shane's body whenever a gun was pointed at him.

She rested her head on top of Shane's head and looked over at Vince. "Shall we make it even, Vince? Maybe, this time, he'll remember everything when he wakes up. Or, maybe he won't wake up. Who knows?"

Vince looked Shane in the eyes and saw nothing but sadness, although he still had a bored look on his face. He took a step towards his wife and son and put a hand out to stop her. "Please… Please, Linda. Don't do this. Let me know what it is you want and I'll try to get it for you. Just… Please, leave Shane out of this."

Linda cocked the gun and looked Vince in the eyes. "And what if I don't want to?"

Aiden pulled up a block behind where they saw Shawn's rental car. "So what's the plan, because knowing those two idiots… There was no plan and they just barged in guns blazing."

Roxy nodded and sighed. Her father was known for not being good with thinking things through before running in. "Why don't we scope the place out and then decide on what we're going to do. Make sure your phone's on vibrate or silent and text anything you find out. Sound good?"

"Text Marissa, I 'borrowed' her phone." Aiden smiled sheepishly and the two split up, Roxy walking down the road and checking on the rental sitting a block ahead and Aiden walked around the other warehouse to head through the back and side alleys along the way.

Roxy crept towards the rental car silently and looked in. Everything looked to be in one piece and nothing seemed out of place. She tried the door and sighed at the face that it was unlocked. She checked around the glove compartment and other areas of the car and didn't find anything related to the two idiots or anything that looked to be left behind. Theoretically, they left the car there, this was good. She sent a quick text to Aiden telling him that the two didn't look like the two had been forced out of the car.

She got to the corner of the warehouse and glanced ahead. She groaned quietly as she saw Khali standing outside the main entrance of the warehouse. She sent a quick text to Aiden and crept along the side wall of the warehouse to see if there was anything else going on. She glanced down at her phone when it vibrated to see Aiden had texted her. He had seen two of the Spirit Squad members sitting in a beat up car seemingly waiting for orders.

Roxy sprinted up to the wall of the watched warehouse and ducked down. She took a deep breath and glanced into the window. 'Cade and Murdoch are playing cards in one of the rooms. I think they're stationed there to keep watch for something.' She sent quickly and looked both ways and all around her before sprinting back to the warehouse she'd been standing by previously.

"The other three Spirit Squad dicks are guarding the back door," Aiden whispered in her ear, nearly giving her a heart attack. She smacked his shoulder softly. "Sorry."

She nodded and sighed. "So what are we going to do? Both entrances are blocked, so we're going to have to get pretty sneaky to get past them."

Aiden nodded and closed his eyes in thought. "We either need to take out one of the guard stations, and both seem hard. Khali's hard to make move regardless, and the spirit idiots aren't hard…Although Kenny has some moves…But yeah, three makes it a little more difficult, and if we make too much noise… We're going to be stuck in the same situation that dad and Paul are in."

"What if we find the fire escape, we can check out the roof and sneak in that way." Aiden nodded and the two crept towards the nearest fire escape they saw. Aiden jumped up and pulled the escape down, cringing at the noise it made. He quickly started climbing with Roxy close behind. He peeked around the roof and walked up, offering his hand to his sister once he knew the there was no one up there.

They walked towards the door leading into the warehouse. Aiden turned the knob and rolled his eyes at the fact that it was locked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. He started messing around with the lock and smirked triumphantly when he heard the lock click. He locked eyes with Roxy and she nodded. He opened the door and the two crept in.

Linda cocked the gun and looked Vince in the eyes. "And what if I don't want to?"

"You're not going to win, you know."

Linda was distracted when Shane decided to speak for the first time since Vince and Stephanie arrived. She moved the gun away from his head and looked down at him. "Oh, really? And what makes you so sure?"

Shane looked Vince in the eyes, then looked at Stephanie. "You're stalling, and you've been doing so for awhile now. There's either something you need or something you want but don't have the balls to ask for…"

Linda's eyes widened in fury. "You little… I should definitely…"

"You're not going to shoot anyone."

Vince and Stephanie eyed one another, trying to decide if they should intervene or not. It definitely wasn't wise of Shane to ruffle Linda's feathers more than they were, but it was serving as a distraction. Then again, he brought up an interesting point.

"Wait a second..," Linda and Shane looked over at Vince. "He's right. There's something you want… That much is obvious. Why aren't you asking for anything in exchange..?"

"I have to wait for a call." Linda replied, clearly standing her ground.

"From who?" Stephanie asked.

"Don't be stupid. She's clearly waiting for Cena to say something to her. Probably something about Randy or Shawn," Shane paused to look over his left shoulder. "Am I right?"

Linda glared at the back of Shane's head. "I don't know how… But yes, you are."

"What do you want with Randy?"

Linda looked over at Vince. "He betrayed the Chain Gang in favor of Shawn, so we're…"

"Using him as bait." Shane finished for her, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

Vince looked back and forth from Shane to Linda. "What..? You do know he's in love with Roxy, don't you?"

"Yes, but we don't care. John doesn't want Randy and Roxy together, so it won't happen. She'll get hers soon enough," Linda's voice trailed off as she reached into her pocket. Vince's face turned red in anger. He watched, silently, as Linda pulled out her phone to read a text message she received. "Ah. Looks like the party is about to start."

Shawn and Paul looked over at John Cena and glared.

"You can't honestly say you're surprised to see me..? I thought someone would've spilled the beans by now… I mean… There are so many members in the Chain Gang, and so little of them can be trusted…"

"You're going to burn in hell for shooting my brother-in-law." Paul spit out, too angry to keep the words under control any longer.

John's eyes widened in surprise at the statement, then reverted back to his usual cool and calm expression. "Orders are orders, Pinocchio. I follow them well, no matter how fucked up I might think they are. Believe me, Shane was never my intended target during this war. I wanted him on my side, but he's just… Well… He was too damn loyal to his friends. Especially you, Shawn."

"What the hell do you mean by 'was'?!" Paul shouted.

"I took Vince's precious baby boy and turned him into a fraction of the person he was this time last year. He'll never regain any of the person he was. He's a fucking idiot and there's nothing any of you can do about it."

"You bastard!"

Shawn watched with wide eyes as Paul was able to catapult himself, chair and all, at John, successfully knocking both men to the floor. Cade and Murdoch scrambled to grab the chair Paul was tied to and pull it backwards, then drag it back to where it originally was. John stood up and brushed his clothes off, then stomped closer to the members of D-X and glared at them.

"You're going to pay for that… But first," John paused and took out his cell phone. Shawn and Paul watched as he most likely typed out a text and sent it, then pocketed his phone and looked back at them. "Now that that's taken care of… We can have some fun."

John nodded at Cade and Murdoch, who grabbed Paul's chair and pulled it away from Shawn's, then held it down to the ground so Paul couldn't move at all.

Shawn briefly locked eyes with Paul, then looked over at John. "Divide and conquer, huh?"

John chuckled, taking a gun out of his pocket and fiddling with it. "Well… Orders are orders… You understand that, don't you?"

Shawn's eyes never left the gun. "For the most part."

John looked up at Shawn, who soon realized the younger man was looking at him and decided to look John in the eyes for the first time in a very long time. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Well, you know what they say… If you have fun at work, it's not work…" The room was silenced; save for the crack the gun made when it connected with Shawn's face.

"Shawn!" Paul shouted, watching as Shawn's chair teetered to the side before John grabbed it and steadied it in front of him.

John studied Shawn's face and smirked. "Not feeling so chipper, are we?"

Shawn glared, then leaned forward and spat blood in John's face.

"You stupid bastard!" Paul shouted from his spot in the room.

John leaned closer to Shawn's face and wiped the spit off of his own. "You should listen to your friend, you know. He has a head on his shoulders, and he's kept you alive for a long time now. I thought you never did something unless you had Pinocchio's permission..? Or was it that you didn't do something without Vince's permission..? Sorry, I get so mixed up sometimes… It's hard to tell where one of you starts and the other ends…"

"Same could be said about you and your Chain Gang." Paul winced as yet another blow was brought down on Shawn.

John once again leaned closer to Shawn. "You don't know when to stop talking, do you?"

A/n: Alright, so I know it's been awhile but we've both been rather busy with things. It's also hard to write out some of these things without doing a bunch of research to make sure what's happening in the story makes sense and is somewhat following a somewhat logical ending for the situation. Not looking very good for Shane or Shawn is it?

I hope we met expectations and you liked reading it. Let us know what you thought with a review and as always, thanks for reading! And random note, but the title credit from this chapter goes to Critical Acclaim by Avenged Sevenfold.