By: Jay Winger
Note: this is set immediately after "Storm Warning: Cold Front," and two months before "Viper's Revenge - Rapid Strike" by Boulder.
To recap: following his attack on Right to Censor, the Storm was booked in a match against Val Venis. Prior to the match, the Storm duped Richards into believing he was going to join RTC, then laid out Richards with a Downdraft. He dominated Val and forced him to tap out to the Necksnapper, then did the same to Richards. On RAW, the Storm was booked in a hardcore match against Raven, and once again completely dominated his opponent, then threatened to do worse to Jericho. Finally, on Smackdown!, the Storm battled against Billy Gunn, who was accompanied by Chyna. In the early going, the Storm had the lead, but when the referee was knocked out, Chyna interfered and helped Billy take out the Storm. Before Billy could make the win, however, a mysterious woman ran down to the ring and took out Chyna, then assisted the Storm in taking out Billy to get the pin. Now the question is, who is she?
MONDAY: RAW is WAR, Mar. 22
The Storm walked into the arena with the mysterious woman along side him. The Storm was wearing a leather duster over his street clothes, and the woman was wearing a leather jacket. Her eyes, like the Storm's, were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, but hers were round. Her wavy hair hung in strands around her head, and one strand dangled in front of her pretty face. Michael Cole came up to them. "Storm, if I could have a word?"
The Storm and the woman stopped and looked at him, then at each other. The Storm shrugged and turned to Cole, shouldering his duffel bag. "What do you want?" he snapped.
Cole replied, "Well, everyone is wondering, why this sudden change in your behavior as of late, and of course, just who is this woman who helped you in defeating Billy Gunn last Thursday on Smackdown!"
"Change in my behavior?" the Storm repeated. "There's no change. I've always been like this. It's like I told you all when I got here -- I am a Force of Nature, and Nature doesn't pull any punches. Neither do I. So you people can either accept that or get set to get wrecked, `cuz I ain't stoppin' until I get what's around Jericho's waist."
Now he gave a creepy little smirk as he draped an arm around the shoulders of the woman beside him. "As for my... companion here," the Storm said, "she will be supplying me with her managerial skills in getting me my Intercontinental title back."
"Steph, eat your heart out," the woman smirked. Her voice was silky and cool...and there was an underlying chilling tone to it. This woman was definitely not a cowering whimpering little wench like Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.
"Who is she?" the Storm said. He smiled. "Well, what Storm is complete without a little Rain?" With that, he and the woman walked away from Cole, who shrugged to the camera.
* * *
The door to the Lone Star dressing room opened. Stone Cold, the Acolytes, and Jacqueline all looked up to see the Storm and Rain enter the room. "Everyone," the Storm said with a smile, "meet Rain. Rain, everyone."
"Hello," Rain purred as she shrugged out of her leather jacket and hung it in a locker. She was wearing the gray shirt and dark blue tight pants that she'd been wearing on Thursday. She was also wearing a dull gray bracer on her left wrist. She brushed the dangling strand of her dark hair out of her face and then removed her sunglasses. Her eyes were an eerie pale blue color.
"Where'd she come from?" Austin inquired as he popped open a can of beer.
"Same place as me," the Storm said as he sat down at the poker table. "Dallas. We started out at the same gym and wrestling school. Rain here actually has some very good martial arts training." He chuckled as he grabbed a can of beer for himself. "Just look at that kick she gave Chyna last week."
"You gonna go after the Women's title?" Jackie asked Rain.
Rain looked coolly back at Jackie as she pulled up a chair next to the Storm. "Perhaps. Right now, Storm and I are going to focus on getting the Intercontinental title."
"And besides, Jackie," the Storm smirked, "if you were to go up against Rain, she'd probably kick your ass. No offense."
Jackie glared at Rain for a moment, then swept some empty beer cans off the table and planted her elbow in the middle and held up her hand at Rain. The four men paused and looked at Jackie, then at Rain, who gazed back at Jackie, then shrugged and planted her elbow and grasped Jackie's hand. The Storm smiled and placed his hand on top of the two. "On three. One, two, three." He released his hand.
Muscles on Jackie's arm tensed and she started to push Rain's hand toward the table. They stopped about an inch from the tabletop, and then Jackie looked up at Rain, who had not taken her eyes off of Jackie. "Are you even trying?" Jackie asked airily.
"Actually," Rain said, "no." Abruptly, her arm swung up and Jackie's hand smacked into the table. The black woman gave a little yelp of pain and snatched her hand back. Rain smiled and raised her arm, then flexed. Muscles rippled on her bare arm. Jackie stared for a moment, then rubbed her hand and grumbled.
"Beer me," Rain said quietly. Bradshaw tossed her one and she casually plucked it out of the air and downed a mouthful.
"That's my girl," the Storm said with a smile.
* * *
"The following match is an intergender tag-team match and is scheduled for one fall."
Jazz-like guitar music played as the words The 1 - Billy - Gunn flashed. Billy and Chyna walked out on the stage, then down the ramp. Billy looked all-business; no smiles today. Chyna was in a similar mood. "Introducing first, the Ninth Wonder of the World CHYNA...and "The One" BILLY GUNN!" Cheers for the two former DX mainstays, who paced the ring a bit, then turned to face the TitanTron.
The siren started up and then came his voice: "Seek shelter... The Storm... has... ARRIVED!" Pyros went off, and the Storm and Rain emerged from the smoke. The Storm was in his Seek Shelter shirt tonight. The two stood at the top of the ramp, gazing out over the audience. The Storm raised a fist in the air as Rain raised her arms to the sides and threw her head back. The Storm lowered his hand and made a cutting motion in the air. "And their opponents...from Dallas, Texas...THE STORM and RAIN!"
The two ran down to the ring and slid in, then picked their targets. The Storm went low and snatched Billy's leg, folding it and lifting him up, then bringing Billy's shin down on his knee. Rain, meanwhile, ducked a forearm from Chyna and tackled her with a spear. The Storm stomped on Billy's shoulders as Rain rolled Chyna out of the ring, then flipped herself over the ropes in a plancha onto her. Billy was pulled up and whipped into the ropes, coming back into a Lou Thesz press and then getting his face knuckled over.
Rain was in the corner now, as was Chyna in her own. The Storm looked at her and nodded, then pulled Billy to his feet and grabbed his arm and executed a flawless martial arts throw that landed Billy hard on his back near the corner. Rain was already airborne as Billy landed and flipped in the air, coming down knee-first on Billy's stomach. The former Mr. Ass gasped for breath as the Storm walked over and slapped Rain's hand, officially tagging her in. She pulled Billy up and grabbed his tights, then completed a textbook snap suplex.
She stood up and brushed the dangling strand of hair out of her face, then knelt over his head and started unloading punches to his face -- punches, not forearms. Up and into the ropes, but Billy grabbed the ropes and halted his rebound, causing Rain to miss the dropkick she'd been aiming. She came down and bounced over onto her stomach and stood back up as Billy quickly tagged in Chyna, who started forward to Rain, who calmly waited.
Chyna charged, but Rain ducked her clothesline and sweep-kicked her legs out from under her, then hit her in the face. Rain covered. 1...2...and Chyna hurled the other woman off of her. She got back up and nailed Rain in the head with a harsh right hook, then whipped her into the corner. Rain slumped a bit as Chyna backed up and started her famous handspring manuever. Moments before Chyna finished the splash, however, Rain moved aside and kicked Chyna in the stomach. The Ninth Wonder doubled over, allowing Rain to pull her out a bit and reposition herself on the second rope, Chyna's head grasped under her arm. Rain pushed off and swung around Chyna, planting her head in a tornado DDT.
Rain went over to the Storm and tagged him in, then turned Chyna over. She grabbed Chyna's legs under her arms and tossed her back and up, where the Storm tackled her in mid-air in a high-impact Lou Thesz press. The Storm rolled off of Chyna and started stomping away on her as Rain exited the ring. Chyna was pulled up and thrown into the ropes, and she came back into a powerslam. The Storm made a cover. 1...2...and Billy Gunn dashed in and kicked the Storm in the back of the head. Chyna got back to her feet and slugged the Storm with her fist, but he fired back with two punches of his own, then kicked her in the stomach for a DDT.
Chyna lay motionless in the middle of the ring again, so the Storm tagged in Rain once more. She went over to Chyna and lifted one of her legs, placing her foot squarely on top of her other ankle. She smirked at Billy, then wrapped her arms around Chyna's foot and ankle, then applied the Twister anklelock. Chyna shouted in pain and tried to pull herself toward the ropes or her partner, but Rain had a good grip on her. Finally, Rain released her and pulled her up, throwing her in the corner. She tagged in the Storm. He and Rain stomped away on Chyna for a few moments before she left the ring. He pulled Chyna back up and pulled her out to the center of the ring, then snagged her arms in a full nelson. He tried to lift her for the Downdraft, but she halted his lift by kicking his legs. He snarled and tried again, but she again resisted. He started to go for a third attempt, but was stopped cold when her leg kicked up and nailed him in the gonads. He groaned and released her, falling to his knees, and that's when Chyna hit the tag to Billy.
Billy sprinted in and kicked the Storm in the face, then ducked a flying reverse elbow from Rain, who had dashed out of her corner. Rain hit the mat and started to rise, but Chyna was there to kick her back down. Rain quickly rolled out of the ring, prompting Chyna to try and follow, but Rain slugged her in the head as she stepped through the ropes, then hopped up on the apron. She grabbed Chyna's head and executed a DDT onto the steel stairs. Chyna flopped to the floor, unmoving.
Meanwhile, Billy Gunn was tearing into the Storm with a fury he'd previously used exclusively on Right to Censor -- back when Val Venis had hospitalized Chyna. He had backed the Storm into a corner, then went to whip him. The Storm reversed the whip and knocked Billy down with a short-arm clothesline. Maintaining his grip on Billy's arm, he locked his legs around it in an armbar, then snarled, wrenching it painfully. Billy screamed in pain as his left arm was stressed, then gave a gasp of relief as the armbar was released, but then he glimpsed the Storm make the chop to his shoulder. He pulled Billy up and whipped him, but yanked him back. Billy quickly let go as he came back at the Storm, but the Force of Nature spun away from Billy's charge and kicked him in the shoulder.
Billy grimaced in pain and clutched at his shoulder. The Storm moved in, grabbing Billy's arm and spinning him around into a hammerlock. Before Billy could resist, the Storm clipped his legs from under him and pinned him down with his knee, then wrapped his hands around his jaw in the Necksnapper. He wrenched back and snarled, "Let's hear the snap!" Billy screamed in pain again, then started tapping the mat with his free hand. The referee saw this and called for the bell. Rain stepped back into the ring and looked at Billy as the Storm released him.
The Storm accepted his sunglasses from Rain and put them on in synch with Rain, then both looked down at Billy. The Storm tilted his head to the side, then looked up. He raised his fist in the air as Rain lifted her arms in the air and threw her head back. "The winners of this match as the result of a submission...RAIN and THE STORM!"
* * *
The Storm and Rain were en route to the Lone Star dressing room when Mick Foley approached them. "Hey, Storm," Foley said in a cheerful tone, "what's up?"
"Sky's up," the Storm said blandly. "What's new, Mick?"
"Haircut," the commish replied, indicating his newly-shorn `do. "I saw your match just now."
"Ah?" the Storm said with a smirk. He draped an arm around Rain's shoulders. "What d'you think of Rain's performance?"
"Great talent," Foley said. "The women's division needs some freshness."
"I'm not fighting them," Rain said abruptly, "until Storm's got gold."
Foley blinked and looked at the two of them, then said, "That reminds me, Storm... Listen, I appreciate your little quest for gold here, but your little violent streak hasn't gone unnoticed."
"That was the idea," the Storm said.
"I know, but I can't have you nearly hospitalizing everyone on the roster," Foley replied. "That's bad for business, and if that happens, then I'm going to have Vince McMahon breathing down my neck, and nobody wants that. So what would it take to get you to stop for a while?"
"Give me Jericho," the Storm stated.
Mick Foley hmmed and stroked his beard. "Tell you what," he said, "I'll book you and Jericho in a match at Wrestlemania, and it'll be for his Intercontinental Championship. That good enough?"
The Storm looked at Rain. She looked back. There was some sort of silent communication there, and then the Storm looked up. "That's good."
"So you'll stop with the violent streak?"
The Storm gave an unpleasant little smirk. "As you like to say, Mick, I'll take that under advisement." He laughed exactly once, then sauntered off with Rain.
THURSDAY: Smackdown!, Mar. 25
It was during Chris Jericho's match against Perry Saturn that Rain showed up again. Terri was cheering her client on from ringside, then abruptly stopped as the gray-clad woman appeared at the top of the ramp. Jericho had Saturn locked in the Walls of Jericho, but was facing the ramp and spotted Rain, who wore her leather jacket and held a wooden stick in her hand. On the end of the stick was one of the Y2J hockey jerseys. She held it aloft, then lowered it and produced a Zippo lighter. She flicked it and held it under the jersey, igniting it and holding it out, watching it burn.
Jericho released Saturn and left the ring, sprinting up the ramp toward her. As he got close, she dropped the burning jersey off the ramp and hit a front karate kick to Jericho's face. He flipped backward from the blow, his head cracking on the ramp painfully. As he lay in pain, a form stepped out from the side of the scaffolding. The Storm held a long black pool cue in his hand. Stenciled on the side was the word UGLY. The Storm raised it overhead and brought it down into Jericho's ribs. He screamed in pain and rolled away, curling up into a fetal position. The Storm passed the new ugly-stick to Rain, then picked Jericho up. He grabbed him in a full-nelson, then flipped him up into the Downdraft -- right onto the steel stage.
The referee had long since called for the bell and was now heading up the ramp to check on Jericho. The Storm and Rain stood over the sprawled Y2J, and then the Storm took the ugly-stick back, twirled it once between his fingers and raised it in the air.
* * *
Foley was livid as he came up to the Storm and Rain later that night as they were headed out to the parking lot. "Storm!" Foley bellowed. "Get back here!"
"Commish," the Storm replied coolly. "What can I do ya for?"
"Stop with the violent streak!!"
"Why?" the Storm said with that creepy smirk. "It's fun."
"Because I have a good mind to suspend you indefinitely!" Foley snapped. "I've never tolerated interference in matches, despite what you may think, and this latest spree has pissed me off enough. You interfere in one more match, and you can forget about your title shot against Jericho at Wrestlemania, or any further title shots against anyone as long as I'm WWF Commissioner!"
"S'way harsh, Mick," the Storm said. The smirk was gone and his face was cold, even though his eyes were hidden by his sunglasses. "And if that's really the way you operate, I can do something that'll get Vince McMahon on your ass faster'n you rip out a cheap pop."
"You do that," Foley growled, stepping closer to the Storm to glare at his sunglasses, "and I promise I will make all your lives a living hell."
The two stood there, glaring at each other, until finally the Storm smirked again. Behind his shades, he had glanced over at Rain, who was calmly examining her fingernails with a similar smirk. The Storm stepped back and looked at the commissioner. "All right, Foley. I promise I won't interfere in anymore matches until Wrestlemania. You just get that hyperactive, blond-haired, short-tempered Jerkyho to promise the same."
"Fine," Foley grated. "But, Storm, this is your warning. When I say I'll prevent all future title shots if you interfere again, then that decision is final!"
"Fine," the Storm smirked. Rain had climbed into their car in the passenger's side, and now the Storm sat down in the driver's seat, starting the car. He leaned out the open window. "By the way, Mick, have a nice day!" He drove off.
Foley ground his teeth together and headed back for the boiler room where he'd set up his office tonight and stopped dead as he found one of the stuffed toy puppies hung from the ceiling by a rope. Pinned to the puppy's head was a note that read, Screw me over, and this'll be you. This is your Storm Warning.
-more to come-
Disclaimer: All things WWF are property of Titan Sports. The Storm is a completely fictional character. I do incorporate a few traits from existing WWF wrestlers, but for the most part, he's my idea. The next part will feature the Storm's match with Jericho at Wrestlemania, and there's going to be a new twist to the match. If you have any ideas for who you think the Storm would team up with or go up against, let me know. Drop me a line at jay_winger_2k@hotmail.com
-=Jay 2K Winger=-