Earlier that day
"Bayley, turning you heel was a long-term project for us. We can't go back on it after just a few months, so you're going to be turning on Zelina tonight and leaving the cartel."
"Oh, man," Bayley sighed in obvious disappointment.
The entire cartel group were in Hunter Helmsley's office, and looked at each other in surprise at the bad news they had just gotten from the boss.
A further awful thought dawned on Bayley and she looked close to tears. "I won't have to stop traveling on the bus, will I?"
"Why is that such a problem?" Hunter asked, finding it an overreaction for a change in travel arrangements.
"I'm, uh, dating Elena, our driver," she said reluctantly, forced to come out to her boss. "If I stop traveling on the bus, I'll hardly see her. Please don't make me do that, Hunter."
"Hmm," Hunter said, deep in thought. "I can't see how we can go on having you travel on the Vega bus after you've left the team. I understand that..."
"What if it wasn't the Vega bus?" Seth cut in.
Hunter gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"What if, between us, we bought the bus from you? We could get it resprayed and get the Vega logo taken off it, making it a regular tour bus. People travel together regardless of their kayfabe relationship all the time, so the problem here is the Vega logo on the bus as much as anything else, right?"
Considering that, Hunter nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I suppose it is."
"It's been a while since we've even been filmed on it for a show, so far as I can remember," Zelina put in.
"That's true," Joe said. "And if we're turning face now, now would be a good time to lose it as part of our act, if we're going to."
"I'll tell you what I'll do," Hunter said after weighing things up. "I think the bus has served the purpose we wanted it to serve, so I'll speak to Vince about selling it to you. But are you all sure you're willing to buy it? It's up to you guys to sort the money out between you."
General mutterings of agreement came from the group, but Bayley stepped in. "That won't be necessary. I'll talk to Daga about it. She's been looking to buy a new bus for her company since she sold the one we're using to WWE. She can just buy it back again, if Vince agrees to sell it, of course."
"Are you sure she'll want to do that?" Joe asked.
"If it means I get to stay on the bus with her and the rest of you guys, of course she will. I don't want any of you to have to pay out for it. This is something Daga and I should take care of."
"But we all want you to stay with us," Bobby said with uncharacteristic tenderness.
Standing next to him, Zelina looked up at him and saw that he looked genuinely wounded by the prospect of losing one of their traveling group. As strange as it might have seemed to an outsider, there was a real closeness between them all.
"I can see what it means to all of you, so I'll put the idea to Vince with my recommendation to agree to it," Hunter said. "Fair enough?"
"Fair enough," Bayley nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, Hunter."
"I'll let you know by the end of the night," Hunter added to further put her at ease. "Now, as I said, Bayley will be turning on Zelina and the cartel tonight. She'll be taking Sonya with her. Bayley, the deal will be that she's now your hired security, having agreed to walk away from Zelina and work for you instead. It helps us to keep booking you as the cowardly heel you've been playing for the past couple of months, and Sonya as the unscrupulous mercenary."
"I'm down for all of that," Bayley said, wanting to seem as positive as possible after her objection about the bus. "I like working with Sonya a lot. Her new gimmick is badass. I assume we'll be in a rivalry with Zel?"
Hunter nodded. "You will. And so will a member of the new faction we're bringing in to go against the cartel."
"Bringing in?" Seth queried, having picked up on that choice of wording.
"Bringing up would probably have been a better way to put it. Sanity will be debuting tonight, and their first run is against you guys."
"Yes! I love that," Joe said. "Three guys and a girl, all of them seriously tough. It's perfect."
"Yeah. I love their stuff as well," Bobby said. "This could be a lot of fun."
"I'm glad you're all keen on the idea," Hunter said, reading positive reactions on the faces of those who hadn't voiced their excitement. "It's going to start with a run in at the end of the show tonight. You'll find details on your formats, and you'll get together with Sanity before the show to work out some spots, of course."
"Of course," Seth said.
"Any questions on any of that?" Hunter asked. No one had any, so he brought the meeting to an end. "Good. That'll do for now. Everyone apart from Zelina can go."
"In trouble again," she said as a lame joke as Seth smiled at her before making his way to the door. Once all of her teammates had left the room, she spoke to the boss. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"
"Not at all," he chuckled. "Just a few quick things I need to run through with you. First of all, as we discussed Sunday night, we want you and Paige promoting Fighting with My Family together. We've lined up your first appearance for this Thursday. We've done a deal for you to appear in multiple Barnes & Noble stores across the country over the coming month until the movie launches."
"Great!" Zelina said excitedly. "Is it a signing, or just a photo op?"
"Photo op only, in front of a backdrop promoting the movie."
"Okay, sounds good."
"There are a couple of other things, too. Firstly, we've had a bit of restructure of some staff. One thing you'll notice is that from next week, Coach will be moving to Raw. Booker T has asked to step away from the commentary table to focus on other things, and his request has been granted. To replace Coach on Smackdown, we're bringing up Brody Alexander from NXT. As far as your matches are concerned, since he always played such a Vega mark on NXT, he's going to continue that here, albeit with you now in a face role."
"Makes sense. Since Corey is the heel guy, he can't keep sucking up to me now," Zelina said with a smile. "Brody's a good commentator. I'm glad he's getting the chance to step up."
"There are other people getting called up, too, which brings me to the second thing I wanted to let you know. We've also brought up two other people you're familiar with. Andrade Almas debuts tonight."
"Oh, excellent! I'm glad he's over his injury," Zelina smiled, thinking that her former on-screen client deserved a break after his long injury layoff. "What do you have for him creatively? He needs someone to talk for him, of course."
"Right," Hunter agreed. "He's having a debut match tonight against Randy Orton in the US Championship open challenge. Then next week, we're going to see him form a team with Kevin Owens."
"Yeah, that'll work," she said, still smiling. "I'll have to make sure I say hi to him at some point tonight. You mentioned two people, though. Who's the other?"
"We've moved some road agents around as well, to freshen things up a bit. Moving forward, we've assigned someone to your matches who you're going to be familiar with. We've brought Sam Monte up from NXT. I know you worked together a lot when you were there."
"Yeah, Sam and I got along great," Zelina said with a fresh smile. "It'll be good to work with him again, as much as I'll miss working with TJ. He's been great since I moved to Smackdown."
"TJ will still be around," Hunter assured her. "He'll actually be working with Seth, so you'll get to see plenty of him."
"That's good to know."
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Hunter called.
The door opened and a tall guy with greying hair and a beard walked in. When he saw Zelina was in the office, a huge smile appeared on his face. "Hunter," he greeted the boss first out of politeness before approaching Zelina. "Great to see you again, Zel."
"And you, Sam," she said warmly, giving the much taller man a brief but affectionate hug. "You helped me to bring out some of my best performances on NXT. I'm so glad we can work together again."
"Me too. And congrats on the title win. The belt looks great on you."
"Thank you. We're going to be working with Nikki Cross!"
"So I hear."
While that happy conversation continued in Hunter's office, Seth walked back into the men's locker room, followed by Bobby and Joe. During the time that they had been gone, the room had pretty much filled up. Seth was surprised to see Andrade Almas in there. Apparently Sanity were not the only ones making a fresh start for themselves that night. Since the guy had worked with Zelina before, Seth decided to go over and say hello.
"Hey, man," he said pleasantly as he approached, offering his hand. "I didn't know you were getting the call up."
Almas shook Seth's hand, but there was no feeling in the gesture. "Seth."
"Zelina will be pleased to see you, I'm sure," Seth ventured with a smile, surprised at the lack of warmth he was getting from the guy.
"You think?" Almas grunted.
"Uh, yeah," Seth said, narrowing his eyes. "Why wouldn't she be?"
Almas shrugged. "She didn't care while I was injured," he said in awkward English with a heavy Spanish accent. "One call and two text message I get when I was gone," he added, butchering the language.
Seth was surprised to hear that Zelina hadn't contacted Andrade more than that during his recovery. He could understand why there would be some bitterness there. He would have taken offense if that had happened to him.
"And now you sleeping with her. Be careful, man. I sleep with her too; look where it got me. First time you not good for her, she bounce."
Seth stood there for a second with his mouth open. Zelina had slept with Andrade Almas? That was news to him, and it had his blood boiling instantly. How could she not have at least fucking told him? Now here he was with the asshole she had slept with telling him his girl would bounce on him the first time a better offer came along. The most sickening thing was that if what Almas said was true, maybe she was that kind of girl. He really didn't want to think that, but the thought was there in his head now.
"She not even tell you?" Almas asked, shaking his head with a look of something close to pity on his face.
"You just stay away from me," Seth snapped, pointing a finger in his face. He wasn't even sure why he was getting heated with Almas. So long as he was telling the truth, he wasn't the one to be angry with.
"Seth, you okay?" Bobby asked him as he turned and headed for the door.
Seth figured his friend had seen the expression on his face, which probably looked like thunder. "Not now," he told his friend, a real hard edge to his voice.
Yanking the locker room door open and storming out into the corridor, Seth felt himself getting more angry by the second. After everything he and Zelina had been through, she hadn't even confided in him the fact that she had slept with Almas. He felt disrespected. He felt used. Had Sasha Banks actually been right when she had accused Zelina of sleeping with Almas and then him to forward her own career? She hadn't exactly struggled on her journey to the top, had she?
He had headed off along the hallway towards Hunter's office, not even knowing if she was still there, or what to do if she was. He could hardly kick the boss's door in and start yelling at her. It turned out not to be a problem he had to deal with, for Zelina rounded the corner just up ahead, coming in his direction.
"Oh, hey," she said happily. "You'll never guess who they've brought up from NXT!"
"Hmm, let me try," Seth said venomously. "How about the guy you were fucking while you were on NXT, until he got injured?"
"Excuse me?" she asked, taken aback.
"You heard. Almas told me you were fucking him. See, that's something I'd have thought you would have mentioned," he raged.
His aggression made Zelina start getting fired up. That didn't surprise him, but in that moment he didn't care. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to like that?" she demanded.
"I notice you haven't denied it," he fired back.
"Yes, I slept with Andrade," she shouted at him. "And no, I didn't tell you. It didn't exactly come up in conversation, did it?"
"No, of course it didn't," Seth said theatrically. "Why would it? It's not like you'd want everyone to know you fuck every client they give you."
Zelina slapped him hard across the face before he even saw it coming. "Don't you ever... ever speak to me like that again!" she screamed at him, shaking with anger. She stormed past him and off towards the locker rooms.
"Maybe Sasha was right all along!" he yelled after her, wishing he hadn't as soon as he had done it.
Zelina didn't respond to that nasty parting shot, but he knew she had heard it. After she disappeared out of site around the corner, he kicked a nearby equipment case hard. "Fuck!" he raged, at himself, at Zelina, at the situation. He had thought theirs was a beautiful relationship. Now it felt like all of that had been an illusion; an illusion that was now crashing down around him. He felt like there was no trust there now, and without trust there was nothing.
"You okay, Seth?" It was Joe's voice, sounding concerned. "We heard shouting. I came out to see what was going on and Zel came past almost in tears. She refused to speak to me and ran into the women's locker room. What's going on?"
Seth turned to face his friend and failed to reign his anger in. "She was fucking Almas when they were on NXT. She never even told me, Joe. She was fucking him down there, then she gets the call up to manage me and only a couple of weeks in, I'm in bed with her. It feels like I've been played, man."
"Come on, Seth," Joe said, shaking his head. "I get why you're angry, but Zel's not like that. Besides, a blind man could see she loves you."
"That's what I used to think," Seth said bitterly, turning and walking away. "Don't follow me. I need some time to myself."
After the show
Bayley and Zelina being last to come out of the arena to board the bus was certainly not a rare occurrence. However, this time they were later than usual. The reason became apparent when Bayley eventually trudged up the steps. "Zelina's not coming," she reported to the group as a whole.
"What do you mean not coming?" Seth demanded as Elena simultaneously asked a very similar question. She got up from the driver's seat to go and secure the luggage compartment.
"She insisted I tell Daga to go without her. She's going to travel with Sonya instead. I tried to talk her around, telling her it was better to come and talk to you, Seth, but she wouldn't have it."
Still in a bad mood, Seth had been pacing up and down the bus for a while, to the annoyance of everyone else. "What did she say?" he asked in a confrontational tone.
"Seth, cool it," Bobby warned him. "Don't start on Bay, she's the messenger."
Seth sighed and held up an apologetic hand. "Sorry, Bay. What did she say?" he repeated in a much more acceptable tone.
"I really don't think you want me to answer that, so I'll just say she's seriously mad at you."
"Oh, she's seriously mad at me?" Seth asked incredulously. "Well that's fucking rich isn't it? She's not the one who just found out..."
Joe stood up. He wasn't acting confrontationally, but the fact that he stood up out of his chair still stopped Seth in his tracks. "We all feel for you, Seth, we do," the big guy said. "But I'm not going to have you shouting at Bay. Why don't you go cool off in the bedroom?"
It had been phrased as a suggestion, but Seth knew it really hadn't been. He was upsetting the group with his anger, and it wasn't their fault. Without saying anything, he turned and walked back to where the double bed was, which they all termed the bedroom. He closed the curtain to separate himself from the others and flopped down onto the bed.
Shortly, Elena had the bus moving. They really had left without Zelina. Seth took out his phone, seriously tempted to vent everything he was feeling in a text rant to her. Somehow, he stopped himself, knowing that it would only make things a lot worse if he went through with it.
He lay there stewing for an hour and a half, glad that no one came to disturb him, until he was able to tell by the motion of the bus that Elena was parking it up for the night. After the engine was turned off, he lay there listening to the others moving about and talking without paying attention to what was being said. He didn't really care. All he could think about was Zelina and how he felt betrayed by her. And she had the nerve to tell Bayley she was mad at him over the whole thing! He really couldn't see a way to fix what had happened. Who knew if she even wanted to fix it? Apparently, she might be happy to go and move on to another guy.
After a couple of minutes, to his surprise, someone opened the curtain. Even more surprising was who it was.
"Right, Seth, we are going to talk, yes?"
Seth sighed. "Okay, Daga. Sounds like fun."
A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review last time!
That escalated quickly, didn't it? Let me know your thoughts. The question this time is the obvious one: Will Seth and Zelina be able to work things out?
