THE CAGE
Part Fourteen – WWF New York
Disclaimer – this story is completely a work of fiction. All characters are owned by the WWF or are works of the author. No infringement intended. Any likeness to characters or incidents described is purely coincidental. No Jeffs were hurt in the making of this production.
A small flashlight hung out of Matt Hardy's mouth, while his hands leafed through a file of documents. Vince McMahon's enormous office was filled with opulent red oak furniture, a huge mirrored wall, a black leather chair, and harsh metal filing cabinets filled with document after document. Matt had been searching for over an hour.
"It would've been nice to have some help." He muttered quietly to himself. Mark had taken off as soon as he had gotten Matt into the office. Matt sighed as he put the file back in its place and picked up another one. He could only imagine how well Jeff and Amy were doing.
And there it was; a contract, with Glen Jacob's name on it. Matt's eyes widened as he quickly scanned the contract. Glen wasn't to go into contract negotiations until the next year. But there was a stipulation; if Glen were to be caught abusing drugs, there would be an immediate suspension without pay. But why did Vince want to get rid of Glen? Matt's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He folded the contract in half and stuffed it into the inside pocket of his leather jacket. He glanced about the room, wondering what else he could possible dig up. He still didn't understand it. But maybe Jeff and Amy were having better luck.
Then again, maybe not. The door burst open to the office, fluorescent lights flooded the room, causing Matt to squint against the harshness. Forcing his eyes open, he saw Vince, standing with his arms crossed, right beside Mr. McGarvey, holding a briefcase. Vince looked extremely pissed off. Matt gulped.
"Well, sorry to disturb you Mr. Hardy. If I had known you were going to be snooping about my office, I would have called Security to help you out. So let me ask you, did you find whatever it was that you were looking for?"
Matt was at a lost for words. His mouth went dry, and his palms began to sweat. "Um, yeah, actually I did." He attempted to sound a lot surer of himself than he felt, but failed miserably.
Vince's eyebrows shot up in surprise. A small grin formed on the edges of his lips. "Oh really? Because I think I've got what you're looking for."
McGarvey set his briefcase down on the desk and opened it. He took out a handful of papers and handed them to Vince. "You see, Mr. Hardy, Glen Jacobs tried to play hardball, and lost miserably."
Matt looked at the papers, still clutched in Vince's hands. "What do you mean?"
"Surely you remember the sale of WCW, do you not?"
Matt nodded.
"But do you know the fine lines of the sale?"
Matt shook his head.
"Well, lets just say that Glen went and stuck his nose where he shouldn't have, and found out about the fine print. Now Mister Jacobs, being the dimwit that he is, or was, decided he was going to further his career in the WWF with it. Now Mr. Hardy, even you wouldn't be dumb enough to try to go up against me, now would you?"
Matt's face went bright red, despite his best efforts to conceal it.
"No, I didn't think you would. But Glen was in a league all to his own. I don't take too kindly to threats, and Glen learnt that the hard way."
"You tried to kill him."
Vince shook his head. "No, no, no. It wasn't like that. You see, we knew that Glen was using steroids. We just wanted the world to know too. So we made sure that his regular dose, just got something extra. Honestly, we didn't know he was going to go that far."
"I'm so sure." Matt smirked at Vince, and received a deathly glare in return.
"Would I lie to you Matt? We didn't know he was going to turn into a vegetable for God's sake."
Matt cocked his head. "So the lawsuit, that was all planned too, hey?"
Vince flinched. His lawyer spoke up. "No. That was a misjudgment on our part. We're working swiftly to correct it though."
Vince pointed at Matt's chest. "And that, my boy, is where you come in."
Matt nearly choked. "Huh?"
Vince smiled. "I can't have another blow to the WWF. And I know how much you dearly love your job, right Matt? You are going to go to Discoveries, and then you are going to stand trial, and you are going to say how you saw, without a doubt, Glen Jacobs abuse steroids, attack your brother, and attack an innocent bystander."
"What?!?" Matt couldn't believe his ears. "And just why the hell would I do that?"
"Well for one thing, I've caught you red-handed breaking and entering into my office. And if that's not enough to convince you…"
The door swung open again, and this time two huge men stormed in, one with a kicking and muffled Amy, the other with a staggering Jeff.
"Amy!"
Amy stopped kicking and struggling enough to acknowledge Matt. The man used it to his advantage to stuff Amy into a chair; hands clamped on her shoulders. Amy shot him a dirty look.
The other man led Jeff into a chair, who now had blood caked around his hairline. He didn't look up at Matt, but instead kept his hand on his gash, and closed both eyes.
"I think we can use these two at the bargaining table, don't you Matt?" Vince smirked at Matt.
Matt glared at Vince, hands unconsciously clenching into fists, and relaxing again. "What are you going to do to them."
"Nothing, unless you decide to open your big fat mouth. Your silence, for their safety."
"And if I don't?"
Vince shrugged. "Jeff might have another fall, this time maybe he won't be so lucky." He tapped Jeff on the shoulder, but Jeff didn't even notice. "Amy could even have a terrible, career-ending injury somehow." He clasped her shoulder, and she swore through her rag at him. "I don't think that's a polite thing to say, 'Lita'."
Matt's shoulders began to sink in defeat.
"So what do you say, Matthew? You and your cohorts can continue working in the WWF with fruitful careers ahead of you, or one of you could take the plunge, so to speak."
Matt opened his mouth to speak, when the entire room was disrupted with the sound of a high pitched ring. Even Jeff looked up. Vince, McGarvey, and Matt all dug around for their cell phones. In synch with one another, they opened up their cell phones and answered. Matt heard a voice in his. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Vince and McGarvey snapped back their cell phones, and replaced them in their coat pockets. Suddenly, Matt handed his phone to Vince.
"It's for you."
Vince studied Matt's face, of which he could tell nothing. Matt's expression was set in stone. Immediately, Vince began to suspect something. Gingerly, he took the phone from Matt's unwavering hand.
"Hello?"
Everyone in the room studied Vince, as his expression became more and more tense. He motioned to his cronies. They roughly pushed Matt towards the chairs as Vince stood in the same spot Matt was just in.
"Are you guys okay?" Matt whispered to Amy and Jeff.
"Mmmffghhmpt." Amy replied.
"I love you too babe."
Matt tapped Jeff on the shoulder. Jeff jerked awake, eyes lazily looking at Matt.
"Hmm, what?"
Matt inspected his wound. "Yeah, you're gonna need some stitches there bro."
"Hmmm." Jeff nodded absently and went back to resting his head on his hand, eyes closing once again.
Matt looked up at Vince. His eyebrows were now set together furiously, his mouth took a definite downward approach. Suddenly he looked at the mirrored wall, then threw the phone on the desk. He looked wildly about him, stared at Amy and Matt. He came thundering towards them, both their eyes widening in shock. He swiped Amy out of the chair, then picked up the empty chair. Matt kept a hand on Amy's arm, as both stared flabbergasted at Vince's actions. He threw the chair at the wall. With a crash that made everyone jump, one portion of the mirrors came shattering to the floor. And behind it was a small hand held camcorder, the red light shinning brightly in the blackness that surrounded it.
Vince bellowed a string of swears that made even his cronies cringe. He knocked over the camcorder, and picked up the phone again.
"Where the hell are you taping this from, Mark?"
Amy and Matt exchanged smiles.
Vince's expression took a dramatically different shade. Instead of fury, it began to look… nervous. Matt had never seen Vince McMahon actually nervous. It almost made Matt nervous.
Slowly, Vince snapped the phone shut, and turned to face Matt, Amy, and the snoozing Jeff. Matt couldn't read into what his expression could mean for their well being.