NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This one took some time to bang out, not because of time restraints, but because I suffered some minor writer's block. It was harder for me to put Stephanie's confrontation together than I thought, but I hope this was worth the wait.
BTW, if anyone is interested in hearing the entrance music I picked out for Nicole Bass, please send me a private message. I'll be happy to send you a Mediafire link so that you can download the track.
Better fasten your seatbelts for this chapter, and make sure your seatbacks and trays are locked and in the upright position...;)
Chapter Thirty-eight
"Do you think Mark's gonna let us keep our jobs?" Shane ventured, as the limo he and his father were riding in rolled into its parking space at the arena.
Vince stared at his son incredulously. "You're talking like he's already won, Shane," he said. "I've talked to my lawyer. The marriage can be annulled. We can easily argue that Stephanie was married by force. Once we get it annulled, then we can work to take back what's ours."
Over the past week, Vince had been in conversation with his personal attorney, who reassured him that he had a good case for annulling Mark's forced marriage to Stephanie. The lawyer had explained to the elder McMahon that fraud, physical or mental incapacity, force, or duress, were legitimate grounds for annulment in the state of Connecticut.
"I really hate to say this," Vince sighed. "But we need to put Austin on the back burner for now. What's more important is getting your sister back and killing that damnable marriage." It was the most difficult admission he had to make, but it was true. Vince's plans for revenge would have to be put aside. Stephanie's well-being and safety were a much higher priority.
"Okay. We get the marriage annulled and get Stephanie back home safe," Shane nodded. "Then what? Even if we can annul the marriage, Mark's not gonna give up this company so quickly. Especially since you practically handed it to him-"
"Shane, you don't need to remind me of that."
Shane couldn't help himself. "Hate to say I told you so, Dad-"
"Then don't!" Vince snapped, and Shane fell silent. A moment of uncomfortable silence passed, and then the elder McMahon sighed. "I'm sorry, Shane. And you're right. I did practically hand this company over to Mark. But how was I to know that he was planning this?"
"You didn't. And I shouldn't have provoked you like I just did, Dad. I'm sorry." Shane paused. "So, what are we gonna do after we get Stephanie back?"
"We're gonna cross that bridge when we get to it." Vince glanced over in time to see the chauffeur open the limo door. "Guess it's showtime..."
~~~MOD~~~
"On their way to the ring," JR said, as the Ministry's music rumbled through the arena. "And look!" he spat angrily. "They are literally holding her hostage. Farooq, Bradshaw in the front, and Paul Bearer, Midian and Viscera bringing up the rear. And there he is. Right in the center. The most vile, twisted human being I've ever laid eyes on, and I don't care if that SOB signs my paychecks."
In the center of the mob, with her eyes downcast and her arms wrapped tightly around herself, Stephanie plodded along slowly, two paces behind Mark. Her dress rustled faintly as she walked, and she was surprised at how comfortable it really was. A twinkle was in her kohl-smudged blue eyes, and a faint smirk crossed her purple lips. She knew she looked stunning, and she would have loved to strut confidently right at her husband's side. But she couldn't just yet. She still had to give off the impression that she was being held against her will.
The Ministry stepped into the ring, Stephanie making it a point to look like she wanted to be anywhere but with her new employees. Midian held the ropes open for her, and she crept in quietly. Her eyes were still downcast as she wrapped her arms around herself again.
Mark picked up a mike, and the rest of his Ministry milled around. "McMahon," he began, putting his massive arm across his wife's chest to make it look like he was restraining her. "Or, Dad..." (Stephanie smirked inwardly when she heard that) "I made a promise to myself, and to all my followers, that I would own the World Wrestling Federation. And I'm a man who keeps his promises. You really thought you could stop me with your Corporation. But you were wrong. Bossman, Shamrock, Big Show, Test, even my brother Kane...one by one, they all fell down. Did you really think that Steve Austin was your biggest problem? Well, you should have paid more attention to my Ministry. You underestimated us. And look what it's cost you.
"But that's beside the point. The point is, Dad, that I'm a man who keeps my promises. And I made a promise to you last week that I'd bring your precious little girl out here with me so you can see that I'm taking real good care of her. So, Dad, why don't you come out here? Just you and me, maybe even my new brother-in-law, and my lovely wife. We can all have a nice conversation like civilized adults."
Vince's music filled the arena, and a determined looking Shane and Vince walked with purpose towards the ring to confront the new owner. There was no doubt that Vince would demand Stephanie's safe return. But as Jerry Lawler pointed out so succinctly to the viewing audience, why would Taker want to return Vince's daughter? For one, he and his new wife were holding all the cards. And for another (unknown to the viewers), why would Stephanie want to come back to her father, especially after all he'd done to her?
As Vince stepped into the ring, his heart sank. It was the first time he and Shane had seen Stephanie since Backlash. Stephanie was staring down at her boots, her expression utterly miserable. Her eyes were smudged with dark eye shadow, and her purple-colored lips pouted in grief. She held her head down and had wrapped her bare arms around herself like she was cold. What have they done to her? Vince thought in shock. Mark's words, You'll be happy to know that your little girl saved herself for marriage...and that I was her first rang in Vince's ears and made his skin crawl, and they made him want to take apart the self-proclaimed Lord of Darkness for breaking his daughter's spirit.
But first things first. "Undertaker," Vince began, his voice calm but authoritative. "You promised last week that you'd bring my daughter out to me. Now, if you keep your promises like you say you do, then let me see her."
Mark nudged his wife forward gently. Stephanie pretended to stumble and regained her balance as she glanced up at her father.
"If you can't feel any compassion for this innocent girl," JR remarked, "Then you have no soul."
"Stephanie," Vince began, his voice thick with emotion. "Your mom, your brother, and I...well, we all want you to know that we love you. I know these past few weeks have been extremely difficult for you, and that this is the last place you want to be. I know how helpless you feel right now. But I promise to you that we're gonna do everything we can to get this marriage annulled and bring you back home."
Cautiously, Stephanie took the microphone from her dad's hand. Her voice was small and meek. "Dad, is that what you'll do for me? You're gonna annul the marriage and bring me home? Bring me home to Mom, to Shane, and to you?"
"We'll do everything we can, Sweetheart."
Stephanie lifted her head, her expression unreadable. "Dad? What makes you think that's what I want, and what makes you think that I'm not already home?"
Vince tilted his head and studied his daughter, puzzled.
Stephanie narrowed her eyes, and suddenly Vince didn't like the flinty look he saw in them. He shuddered.
"Dad, all this time you said you've been trying to keep me safe," she began, her voice growing icy. "You've been trying to protect me from the Ministry, and especially the big, bad Undertaker. That's what you've been telling me all this time." She paused and then narrowed her eyes. "Well, Dad, has it ever occurred to you that while you trying to protect me from the big, bad Undertaker," she said, putting the words Protect me in air quotes, "The big, bad Undertaker was trying to protect me from you."
Vince tensed up as a murmur went up from the crowd. Cautiously, he turned to his son, his expression shocked and guilty. Shane met his gaze and mouthed. She knows!
Lawler shook his head. "What is she talking about?"
"I think I know, King," JR answered.
Stephanie glared coldly at her father, and then smacked him across the face as hard as she could. The crowd yelled in shock as Vince grabbed his cheek in astonishment and Shane looked on in stunned silence.
"Whoa!" shouted Lawler and JR at once.
Finally, it was time to unleash.
"How DARE you, Dad!" Stephanie snarled. "How dare you use me! Do you really hate another human being so much that you would be willing to put your own family in danger to get back at him?"
Vince shook his head in desperation. "I—I don't know what you're talking about-"
"I think you do, Dad. You and Shane both!" Stephanie squared her shoulders and stepped towards her father. "All this time, you kept me on a short leash, you watched over my shoulder, you followed me everywhere. Everywhere I went, everything I said, everything I did—you were always there, playing Papa Wolf, trying to keep the Ministry of Darkness away from me! I couldn't even blow my nose without you asking about it. And the worst part was, I actually had to pretend to be grateful!
Vince and Shane shook their heads, unable to speak.
Mark glanced at his crew, who all had smirks on their faces. None of them stepped in to speak; Stephanie was doing fine on her own.
"You look like I don't know what I'm talking about. Let me bring you up to speed. Dad, you're busy dealing with the Ministry, and you, Shane, take his Corporation out from under him. Two separate issues, but they both had one thing in common." A pause. "Taking down Stone Cold Steve Austin!" At the mention of Austin's name, the crowd roared.
JR shook his head. "What?!"
"What do the Ministry and the Corporation have to do with Steve Austin?" Lawler wondered.
"It was all a matter of misdirection, Dad. Everyone knows how much you hate Steve Austin. And we all know that you'd sell out to the Devil for a chance to take him down. Especially after Wrestlemania 14, and the accident that broke Shawn Michaels' back.
"Shawn was going to be your face of the WWF, wasn't he?" At that point, Vince nodded. Stephanie continued. "You were so hell-bent on making him your face that you'd stop at nothing. You wanna deny that? I was there in Montreal, I saw what went down, I know how you operate! And when Shawn got hurt in that accident—and that's what it was, an accident!-you had to find your scapegoat. And who better...than Steve Austin?
"Of course, going after him head-on wouldn't work. You've done that already. Everybody's tired of you gunning for Austin. But, if you used the right group of guys, and did things properly, then the suspicion would be off of you and on someone else. All you had to do was point the audience in another direction so that you could work behind the scenes. So, you created the Ministry Of Darkness, and used me as bait!"
"Am I hearing things, JR? Stephanie's implying that her own father created the Ministry."
"Shane and Vince look completely dumbfounded!"
Stephanie continued her tirade. "It was all so simple. Create the Ministry. Have them threaten (air quotes) me. Have them trail me, have them destroy my property, and have them kidnap me. Have them put me in a vulnerable position, so then you, Dad, would swoop in and save me. You would drop the business like a bad habit, but that's okay, because someone would be waiting to pick up the pieces. And that was you, Shane."
Stephanie locked eyes with her brother. "You would swoop in and take over the Corporation. Then, you'd merge and create the Corporate Ministry." A pause, and then Stephanie rolled her eyes. "What kind of moronic name is that, Shane? Corporate Ministry? Sounds like some cheap televangelist. Of course, if you both had your way, we'd all know how it would end. Austin would get screwed out of his championship. You and Dad would continue to pretend to butt heads until Dad revealed himself as the Higher Power and revealed that you were both in on everything."
A pause, as Stephanie began to pace the ring. "And it would have worked, wouldn't it? Sweet and innocent, the perfect Daddy's Little Girl. Threaten me, and the most powerful man in sports entertainment crumbles to the ground.
"Dad, I know that there's no price you won't pay, and no depth to which you won't stoop, to make Steve Austin's life here on Earth a total and complete living hell. And it doesn't matter if you sacrifice your own family to do it, because in your head, the ends justify the means. But there was just one little detail you and Shane never counted on. You assumed that I would never find out about your wicked little scheme."
Vince turned away, unable to meet his daughter's gaze. Stephanie's blue eyes were cold as ice and filled with utter disgust. "You can't seem to leave well enough alone, Dad. Everything has to lead to you and your big ego. It's always been about what you want, what you like. Even at the expense of your own family—it doesn't matter what you do to your immediate family. You can make fools out of your own flesh and blood—but as long as your ego gets stroked, everything's fine, isn't it?"
"Speaking of family, Daddy's Little Girl died the day she stepped into the limo at Backlash. I'm doing things MY way now—no, let's rephrase that—we're doing things our way now. And if you saw Smackdown and Heat, you'll know that we've been doing a pretty good job." Stephanie paused for dramatic effect. "And by we, I mean me...and my husband. Because like it or not...Mark and I are married."
With that, Stephanie held up her hand and wiggled her fingers to show off her wedding set. "I have to admit that the wedding was the one good thing that came out of all of this. So Dad, I wanna thank you for paying for my wedding. And Shane, thanks for picking out my wedding dress. It was the BOMB!"
For the first time in his life, Vince McMahon was completely speechless.
"And good luck trying to annul this marriage, Dad." A reptilian smile crept across Stephanie's lips. "Because Paul Bearer is an ordained minister, and Mark and I both signed marriage licenses a month before the wedding. On the night that you had me abducted and locked in the basement."
The crowd erupted into cheers.
"JR! JR!" Lawler was shocked. "Am I hearing things? Vince's little girl and the Undertaker planned to get married?!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, the script just got flipped!" JR explained to the viewing audience. "If I'm hearing this right, then Vince McMahon and his son Shane were in on this all along! A twisted plot to take down the Rattlesnake."
Vince paled and shook his head, and then managed to compose himself and picked up a mike of his own. "Stephanie Marie!" he snapped. "I can't believe you would point such…accusations at me! I'm your father, for crying out loud! I have been trying for weeks to keep you safe, and you pull a stunt like this?! For you to defy me right under my nose?"
Stephanie shook her head and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Glancing over her shoulder, she gestured for Mark to join her. "You didn't want me dating a wrestler unless he's a yes man who's got old money, and you and Shane had Mark act like he was obsessed with me? You have to love the irony, Dad. Remember last week, when Mark was touching my face, during our wedding? I looked like I was all disgusted and scared? It was all I could do to keep from melting into his touch.
"Every other guy I dated before Mark was nice to me only because they were afraid I'd run to Daddy if they so much as looked at me wrong. But Mark..." Stephanie's voice trailed off, and she let a sly smile creep across her lips. "Mark was different. I used to get butterflies whenever Mark looked at me—just the way he would carry himself, he was so - STRONG and powerful. And he's the only man I know who treats me like a woman.
"It didn't matter to him that I was your little girl. He knew that the life I was leading wasn't the one I wanted. It was the one you wanted me to lead. And long ago, Dad, long before this Ministry nonsense started...he decided that he was gonna help me live the life I wanted. It wasn't a matter of if I was gonna break away. It was a matter of when. And when the Ministry of Darkness was created...well...I found my ticket out."
It suddenly dawned on Vince. Mark told Stephanie everything. He glanced around the ring, unable to find a sympathetic face.
"Vince is looking really guilty, JR!" King observed.
"King, if half of what Stephanie is accusing her father of is true, then he's gonna have a building full of talent that's waiting to tar and feather him."
"Remember what I said about the big, bad Undertaker protecting me from you? Well, he did. He wasn't there to protect me physically, but he warned me about the pictures that you had taken of me. He was thoughtful enough to call and warn me that the Ministry was going to pay a visit to the house while you were on the other side of the country threatening to put Midian's eyes out." Stephanie smiled at the Ministry's eyes and ears. "By the way, Midian, thanks for taking one for the team. Hope you liked your dinner last week."
Turning back to her father and brother, the young owner continued. "And speaking of house, remember the night we came home after Wrestlemania? Someone had ransacked my bedroom? All of my personal and private things were thrown all over the place. There were strange things written on my bathroom mirror that you didn't want me to talk about when Jerry Lawler interviewed us. You wanna know what was on my mirror? It was, Mine. She will belong to me, Vince! Which would have frightened me, but I know what Mark's handwriting looks like—and what was on the mirror wasn't Mark's handwriting."
Stephanie fixed her cold blue gaze on Shane, who seemed to shrink a couple of inches. His face was white.
"Dad, Shane? How could you hurt me like you did? How could you be so cruel to me? If you were so hell-bent on beating Steve Austin, why didn't you just rely on your talent to do the job? Do you have that little confidence in your existing talent that you thought you had to go through all of this? What was going through your heads when you thought this was a good idea?"
Finally, Stephanie lowered her microphone (she didn't set it down, in case she needed to speak up again) and stepped back. Vince stared her surprised that she was giving him an opportunity to explain himself.
Cautiously, Vince began. "We weren't trying to be cruel—we weren't trying to hurt you Stephanie - it was just business. Love doesn't have anything to do with it - it's just business. We still love you, Stephanie..." He turned to Shane and nodded.
Shane found his own voice and said, "You…you were never in any kind of danger, Stephanie. Dad and I love you, and we did everything we could to make sure you weren't hurt by all of this."
"I wasn't hurt physically," Stephanie fired back, turning her fierce gaze back to her father. "But I was hurt emotionally. The fact that you and Shane were so willing to endanger Mom and me like you did, it just tells me all I need to know about you both. I guess you don't care about Mom. I guess you don't care about me either. Because all my life it's always been about you. How YOU wanted me to act, who YOU wanted me to be. I'm your daughter, for God's sake! How could you, in good conscience, do what you did to me?! I could tear your eyes out right now, but then if I did, then how would you and Shane be able to look at yourselves? What a selfish, self-centered, self-serving excuse for a human being you are, Dad! You and Shane both!" Stephanie paused, as the crowd watched in disbelief.
"This was the last thing Mr. McMahon expected to hear from his daughter Stephanie!" JR exclaimed, as the crowd shouted their support and outrage.
Vince sighed. "Look, Stephanie…I…I guess the cat's out of the proverbial bag, isn't it? But you have to understand…Steve Austin is a disgrace and an embarrassment to this company. Drinking beer, profanity, disrespecting my authority. Shane and I had to take him down a few notches and make him remember who he works for."
"Well, Dad. You seem to have left out one little detail." Stephanie let another smirk spread across her lips. "Steve Austin no longer works for you. Steve Austin works for me now." At the mention of Austin's new employee, the crowd shouted in excitement.
The tension in the ring was so thick, it could be sliced. Vince took a moment to compose himself. If his daughter thought she could embarrass him like she just did, she was sadly mistaken.
Vince locked eyes with his daughter, his eyes going just as flinty as hers. "So you think you've beaten me. You think you can marry the Lord of Darkness and take over the WWF. You think you've taken my own creation and used it against me. You and the Undertaker. Owners of the World Wrestling Federation. You just graduated college, Stephanie! You don't have a single clue as to how to run a multi-million dollar business! And your…husband… (Vince spat out the word husband like it was a mouthful of poison) If it wasn't for me, he would still be in some Podunk promotion struggling to get noticed by some no-talent agent.
"So you think you got what you wanted?" Vince snorted. "Well, that's just great. Congratulations. But let me make one thing clear. You may be the Undertaker's wife. And you own the World Wrestling Federation. For now. What that means is, as soon as this show is over, I am getting on the phone with my lawyers, and I will fight you in court if I have to, so I can get this company back. I'm more than ready to argue mental duress as the reason to take back ownership."
A pause, as the fans booed in reply, and a look of apprehension crossed Stephanie's face. "I spent nearly two decades growing this company from a regional promotion to the multi-million dollar industry that it is today, and I'll be DAMMED if I'm going to lose it to some little girl who's barely out of college and her undead husband. So enjoy your victory while you can. Because once I walk out of this ring tonight, family will go RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW. I WILL get this company back, when I do, I WILL cast you and your miscreant husband out into the cold without so much as a penny to your name!"
"Good luck with that, Vince! You don't have a leg to stand on, and you know it!" snapped a sharp female voice.
The crowd erupted as they turned towards the ring entrance ramp. Whatever bravado Vince had left vanished, and he and his son gulped.
"JR!" shouted Lawler, from the broadcast table. "Is that who I think it is?"
"I'm not sure, I—King! It is! I think Stephanie and her new husband have some backup!"
A look of relief washed across Stephanie's face as she, Mark, and the rest of the Ministry glanced over to the entrance ramp. A tall, well-heeled woman with neatly coiffed blonde hair and wearing a neatly tailored black two-piece pantsuit stood with her arms folded across her chest. A stern look was splashed across her classic features.
"It's Linda McMahon!"
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Wow! One more chapter to go! Maybe two, depending on how much I'm able to crank out. Somehow, the promo's not sounding as epic as it did in my head. Let me know if you like it or not.
Anyhoo, if you're interested in the entrance music I picked for Nicole Bass, PM me with a valid email address, and I'll send you the mediafire link. The song's called Instrumental #3 from the Dan Reed Network.
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