ATM: The Bonehead and the Brain – Red or Dead
Seth Rollins comes between the DX family and Brock Lesnar makes Becky Lynch an offer she can't refuse as DX fight to keep NXT away from Stephanie McMahon.
Chapter Nine – Hangman
Hayworth's apartment, Midtown, New York City, NY
Hayworth's apartment was packed with DX family members, close friends and pro wrestlers. His New York brownstone wasn't small but it seemed smaller with so many muscular people inside it. His father Triple H had been out with Shawn Michaels all morning but there was a confrontation coming that could not be avoided.
After everything Hayworth had seen and heard since New Year's Eve he was fully persuaded that his father had absolutely no reason to fire Seth Rollins. Besides sticking up for marriage, Hayworth could see no problem with anything Seth did regarding Montez Ford and if his father wanted to use the locker room code as an excuse to fire one of the best people Hayworth ever met, then it was about to get even uglier for the Cerebral Assassin this New Year's morning.
Charlene MacKenzie dragged Cassidy Montenegro and Carla McCool over to the island in the kitchen to talk to her two best friends in the whole world about the situation. They were supposed to spend the day planning her wedding but after what happened in Times Square, Mac decided to shelve that for another day.
"Hello?" Mac said answering her cell-phone. It was Miss Glee from Clearwater Baptist Church, "What?!"
Cassidy and Carla looked over Mac concerned and she explained to them what was going on, "My father had a heart attack during the watch night service on New Year's Eve,"
Cassidy and Carla gasped, "OMG!" Carla cried.
"He's okay though, Seth Rollins is there with Bianca Belair and he's fully recovered," Mac said with a smile and Cassidy and Carla hugged each other gratefully.
"Mac, what would you do without Seth Rollins?" Carla said and Mac nodded.
"I don't know but I think I'd be planning a funeral instead of a wedding if it wasn't for Seth," Mac said. "I need to tell Hayworth what happened, I'll be right back,"
As Mac went to tell Hayworth what happened in Clearwater, Aurora Rose and Elizabeth Hardy came over and joined them at the island.
"So you're gonna be bridesmaids huh?" Aurora asked the 2C's and Cassidy and Carla nodded.
"Why? Do you guys wanna be bridesmaids too?" Carla asked her stepsisters.
"We don't do weddings," Aurora Rose said pointing to Beth Hardy and herself, "we love Hayworth though and it would be worth it just to see the look on Daddy's face knowing that Charlene MacKenzie is going to be a part of the DX family. I mean, who would have thought that the Preying Mantis would become a Helmsley in 2024?"
"Not me," Beth Hardy said.
"I know Mom would definitely get a kick out of it," Aurora said and Beth Hardy frowned at the mention of her mother.
"Your mom will not be invited to the wedding," Carla said and Aurora and Beth nodded.
"She won't be invited but that doesn't mean she won't be coming. Mom is a drama magnet, especially when it comes to this family," Aurora said.
Carla and Cassidy sighed, "This wedding could be a headache for HayMac, I just hope we'll have Seth Rollins on standby to help us keep your Mom at arm's length. Do you know what Seth did today?" Carla asked Aurora and Beth who shook their heads that they didn't. "He saved Mac's father from a fatal heart attack at Clearwater Baptist church,"
Aurora and Beth smiled brightly; they were not surprised. "Seth is so awesome," Aurora said.
"Yeah he is and your Dad is trying to fire him," Carla said offended.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Hayworth said coming over to the 2C's, Aurora Rose and Beth Hardy with Mac. "Dad's going to have to walk through fire if he's going to get rid of Seth. My Dad's made a lot of Bonehead decisions but firing Seth Rollins would be the worst decision of them all,"
"You're going to tell Daddy how to run his company Brain? He got you to leave Harvard early and start a Hot Dog business. There's no way you're going to get him to change his mind about firing Seth," Aurora Rose said.
"You could help me guys, Beth, you're Seth's biggest fan outside of Alexa Bliss and Bayley, why don't you speak up for him when Dad gets back here?" Hayworth asked Beth Hardy who pulled up her hoodie sleeves and played with her numerous bangles.
"I'll give it a shot," Beth said. "You guys should know that my Mom has plans for Seth outside of DX Inc. I heard her talking to Daddy about this advertising campaign for Jimmy Choo and Georgio Armani featuring Seth Rollins and Bayley,"
"That sounds like old people clothes," Aurora Rose said derisively.
"It's not just clothes Ro, its perfume as-well, you know Mom likes things high end. Its part of the publicity for the Rock's new web series. Mom's launching a whole new range called 'Black Heart' and she wants Seth to be a major part of it," Beth Hardy said.
"That sounds terrible, why would Seth want to work with Bayley after all the Hell she puts him through on a regular basis?" Hayworth said.
"Is Seth interested in doing this?" Carla asked Beth.
"I don't know but Mom sure is. The Damsels of Destruction are doing the PR for it, so it will be everywhere if it gets off the ground," Beth said.
"I think Seth would rather wrestle than model," Hayworth said and Cassidy smiled.
"I'd buy stuff from your Mom if Seth and Bayley were wearing it," she said.
Stephanie McMahon and the Rock weren't the only people interested in Seth Rollins, "My father wants Seth to pastor full time at Clearwater Baptist church," Mac said.
"Now that I can see happening," Carla McCool said.
"I agree with that completely but ultimately it is Seth's decision and until he's ready to leave, I say he stays at DX Inc," Hayworth said.
Hunter and Shawn returned and joined the DX family in the kitchen, "Sounds like my ex-wife is not the only person planning to take over our company Shawn, my son seems to think he knows how to run DX Inc better than we do," Hunter said and Mac swallowed nervously.
"I think I'm going to go see my father in Clearwater, he did just recover from a heart attack and I'm sure he wants to see me," Mac said.
"Okay I'll come with you," Hayworth said.
"No, you stay here and talk to your father. I'll go with the girls," Mac said and she kissed Hayworth on the cheek before leaving with Carla and Cassidy.
The confrontation was about to take place between Hayworth and Hunter and Mac certainly didn't want to be around for round one.
Meanwhile in Hayworth's bedroom, Sasha was still asleep but Dean and Roman could hear the sound of angry voices rising in the apartment and they knew they had to get her out of there.
"Let's ask Beth Hardy to Transcend us back to LA," Roman Reigns said.
"Without Seth, we can't do that!" Dean Ambrose said.
"Well she can't stay here while Hunter's fighting over Seth with his son, she'll get upset if wakes up and hears all the commotion. We have to get her out of here now," Roman said.
"Let me just call Seth and find out where he is first," Dean Ambrose said.
"No we have to leave right now," Roman said and Dean Ambrose sighed.
"Okay I'll go get Beth," he said but he had a really bad feeling about taking Sasha anywhere without Seth's permission. With all that was going on today the last thing Dean wanted to do was give Seth another reason to be mad at his Shield brothers. Now that he was almost out the door at DX Inc, as far as Dean was concerned, he and Roman were the only friends Seth had left.
Ambrose poked his head around the kitchen entrance and gestured towards Beth Hardy who was listening to Hayworth defend Seth with Aurora Rose.
"Yo Beth!" Ambrose whispered and Beth Hardy saw Dean and went over to him.
"What's up Ambrose?" she said with a smile, her green eyes lighting up in the early morning.
"I need you to Transcend me and Roman to LA with Sasha before she wakes up," Ambrose said and Beth Hardy furrowed her brow.
"You're leaving? But what about Seth? Isn't he coming back to New York to pick her up?" Beth asked.
"I'm sure he is but he's not answering his phone and we don't want Sasha to wake up and hear Hunter and Hayworth arguing over Seth, she might get upset and if she gets upset, Seth will get really upset," Ambrose said.
"So you're just going to take Sasha and run? What happens when Seth gets here and he sees that you've all left him behind to deal with Hunter by himself?" Beth Hardy said and Dean Ambrose nodded.
"I know, I don't like it either. I wanted to stay and wait for Seth but Roman wants to leave now," Ambrose said and Roman Reigns appeared next to Dean.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked Ambrose and Hunter turned and saw the Shield talking to Beth.
"You guys aren't going anywhere, we're all going to talk right now. Get in here," Hunter said and Roman sighed.
"Now we don't have a choice we have to stay. I just hope Sasha doesn't wake up anytime soon," Roman said and he walked over to Triple H with Dean Ambrose, neither of them wanted to hear what the Game had to say but as employees of DX Inc there was nothing they could do about it.
Aurora Rose could tell from the look on Dean and Roman's faces that they had heard enough of her father; they were having the worst New Year's Day ever just because they were friends with Seth Rollins.
"This New Year officially blows," Aurora said to Beth who nodded and Hunter turned to his daughter with disapproval.
"You can go to your mother if you want girls, this really doesn't have anything to do with you," he told them.
"Yes it does Daddy, if you and Hayworth don't stop fighting, the whole family will be affected. The snowball effect has already started; LC and Cameron want to know what Seth did wrong and Remi and RJ Orton want to know why no-one is talking about them right now," Aurora Rose said.
"Why would we talk about RJ and Remi?" Hayworth asked furrowing his brow.
"Well they are having a baby in a few months," Shawn said, he was soon to be a grandfather for the second time.
"So am I but you don't hear me bragging," came the voice of Sasha Rollins as she pushed her messy morning hair out of her face and staggered sleepily over to the island where Aurora and Beth were sitting. "Happy New Year guys,"
"Happy New Year Boss!" Aurora and Beth said to the former Women's Champion.
"Do you want something to eat?" Roman asked her.
"Yeah, thanks Big Dog. Where's Seth?" Sasha asked before yawning.
"He's in Clearwater with Bianca Belair. MacKenzie's father had a heart attack but Seth and Bianca helped him recover. Mac's on her way to Clearwater right now to see him," Hayworth said and the Shield gasped.
"Seth saves Mr MacKenzie's life?!" Roman said and Dean smiled proudly.
"Why are you guys surprised? My husband is amazing, saving people's lives is what he does. Some people just can't appreciate how awesome Seth Rollins really is," Sasha said referring to Hunter and Shawn got in front of Hunter so he didn't go off on the pregnant Boss.
"I have a lot of things that I want to say to you Sasha but the husband and father in me wants to show restraint. It's the business man in me that wants to cut you down to size. You and Seth both think you know better than me, well last time I checked, unemployed people don't get an audience with the boss, so why don't you take your little blue-haired butt outta my son's apartment and go to that ungrateful though oh-so-adorable husband of yours?" Hunter said.
Hayworth had finally heard enough, "You know what Dad, this is my apartment and I get to decide who stays and who goes and right now the only person I want leaving, is you." Hayworth said. "I don't want you here right now Dad, so please just leave, quietly,"
Aurora and Beth exchanged nervous glances and Beth decided to call an audible before things got any more heated between Hunter and Hayworth.
"You know what, why don't we all leave?" Beth said and before Hunter could say anything, Beth Hardy Transcended the entire DX family plus the Shield and Sasha Rollins to the Sandbox in Connecticut. The Sandbox was the official DX family home, a huge palatial estate in Greenwich where all members of the DX family found refuge in times of crisis. As far as Beth Hardy was concerned there was no bigger crisis in the DX family than the one brewing between the two Helmsley patriarchs and it had to be dealt with urgently before it got too big for anyone to deal with.