chap 19 [ Vince's office ]

Vince stalked back and forth in his office, in the background the tv was blaring with recaps of Booker T coming to Stephanie's rescue. Stephanie had been a second away from going through glass but then Booker T had to come out and catch Stephanie and to make it worse, the hug between Booker T and Stephanie would be seen for weeks, this was NOT helping his company.

"Look Vince..." Hunter said, limping into Vince's office, with DDP by his side.

Vince stopped his pacing and turned to Hunter. "I gave you a simple order, send my daughter through that glass and you can't even do that Hunter, and DDP I specifically told you to win my son at that street fight."

DDP scratched his head. "I almost did but then Stephanie had to come out."

Vince shook his head. "I don't care what your perverted fascination is with my daughter all I asked you two was to make my son and daughter pay and from what I see you two didn't come through for me."

Hunter threw his hands up. "I almost had her through the glass but then Booker T came out and caught her, how in the hell was I supposed to know that Booker T was going to come to her rescue? I did hurt her though, didn't you see me take her down with me when I fell off the titantron? That had to hurt, I landed on top of her, so my body weight was on her too, that had to hurt like hell." Hunter grinned.

DDP laughed. "Yeah for real boss, your daughter got some pain."

Vince rubbed his temples, it should have been so easy, he had set everything up, all they had to do was make Shane and Stephanie pay and in the end, yet again Shane and Stephanie won over him. How many times were Stephanie and Shane going to make him look like an idiot? "But did she go through glass?"

Hunter shook his head. "No but..."

Vince brought his hand out. "That's all I needed to know. Shane making me look like a fool is expected, but Stephanie, she was my little girl and she turned her back on me. She stabbed me in the back, and worse she talked Stone Cold Steve Austin to join her little team of misfits, I'm Vince McMahon damn it and I won't be treated this way!"

DDP nodded. "So what do you want us to do next?"

Vince thought for a second when DDP's question floated into his ears, he had to make their next plan a good one, one that would cause pain on Stephanie, a plan that would terrify her... make her be afraid to walk in the hallways alone, without Andrew and Shane by her side. "I got it."

Hunter perked up when Vince turned back to them with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "What is it Vince? We'll do anything."

DDP nodded. "Yeah boss, anything."

Vince rubbed his hands together. "You two will stalk Stephanie. Follow her around, take some pictures of her, leave cryptic notes, make her terrified. I want my daughter to crumble underneath my feet, I want her to crumble back to daddy, begging for protection."

Hunter nodded. "And then I'll get her back as well?"

DDP stared at Hunter, rolling his eyes. All that boy thought about was getting back the princess, DDP was just about up to his head with Hunter's obsession with winning Stephanie back, although DDP could see the attraction, Stephanie McMahon was going to be DDP's newest obsession, first it had been Sara but that wore out too quickly, Sara was happily married to the Undertaker, but Stephanie... oh Stephanie might just be a little more fun then Sara had been. "Who gives the shit Hunter? Let's just do this."

Hunter turned to DDP. "No one asked you DDP, you're just the sidekick in this, while me and Vince are the main men in this plan."

DDP raised his eyebrow. "Is that so? Because I know I have more stalking experience then you, and obviously I was needed so maybe you need to shut your cocky mouth up, before I shut it up for you."

Vince got in the middle of DDP and Hunter. "Hey both of you! Shut both your mouths and get to stalking my daughter, don't hold back, scare the living shit out of her."

Hunter nodded and looked at DDP and motioned for them to leave. "Will do Vince."

DDP shut the door behind him and grinned. "Ready partner?" DDP put his hand out.

Hunter grinned and shook it. "First we stalk Stephanie, scare the living shit out of her, and then we take down Vince McMahon, this is too good."

DDP laughed. "We are that damn good."

[ Stephanie's locker-room ]

"Stephanie are you sure you're okay?" Shane asked, staring at Stephanie who was sitting on the couch.

Stephanie nodded, combing her hair; They had just recently gotten in the locker-room, so Andrew and Shane were still worried about her too much to be pissed off about the fact that she had put herself in danger by interfering in the street match, but Stephanie knew that any minute they were going to start blowing up on her.

Shane turned to Andrew. "I can't believe you let her come down to the match!"

Stephanie turned her attention away from her hair, and looked at Shane in surprise, he wasn't pissed off at her? "Now wait Shane, Andrew wasn't even here..." Stephanie stopped when she saw the look Andrew was giving her. "What?" Stephanie asked, confused.

Shane turned to Stephanie, but then shoved his finger into Andrew's chest. "I asked him to watch over you, no wait not over you, just to stay with you and not to fight Hunter..." Shane stopped for a second and then glared. "You fought Hunter didn't you?"

Andrew pushed Shane's hand away and then sighed. "Yeah I did, what was I supposed to do? Just let him get away with slapping my girlfriend?"

Stephanie crossed her arms. "Excuse me? Who said I needed your protection? What happened to all that stuff you told me in the hospital? That you were going to stop treating me like a piece of glass, and treat me like an equal?"

Andrew groaned. "Well excuse the hell out of me, in a moment of weakness I attacked the man who slapped you, and has been treating you like shit and making your life like hell for the past month, I promise I won't do it again!"

Booker T stood in the locker-room watching the arguing between Stephanie, Shane and Andrew; He smirked it reminded him of his family, they loved each other more then anything but they always fought, they fought ALL the time. Booker T let his eyes glance over to Stephanie, he could easily see the bruise on her face, he hadn't seen it earlier, due to the fact that she just hung on him, he usually didn't allow that sort of contact but looking into her blue eyes he could see that she was spent, she was scared and hurt and Booker T had instantly wanted to help her, so he allowed her to keep holding on to him, but now looking at her he could see the bruise and the cut lip, which made him even more mad at Hunter for attacking her. Booker T let his eyes glance over to Shane next, he had a few cuts on his face, his eyes were twisted up in anger; Booker T shook his head and looked at Andrew who just kept throwing his hands up in the air and sighing loudly to show he didn't appreciate being lectured by both McMahons. Booker T smiled to himself, this felt like home to him, this was how his home was... everyone fighting, but not really knowing why, just fighting to fight.

"Alright you three calm down, you were all in the wrong." Booker T said walking up to them. "But right now we have to concentrate on Hunter and DDP's next move, because obviously they won't be ---"

Booker T stopped talking when he saw three people enter the room, one a woman, a fiery redhead, the other two men... one with dark hair and the other with mulit-colored hair.

"We have something to tell you." Jeff said, ignoring Booker T. "Something you might find interesting."

[ Crash's locker-room ]

"Where's Molly? We're going to be late." Crash said to Hardcore, while stretching. "I'm going out to that ring with or without Molly, and I'm going to be walking out that ring the new light heavyweight champion, even if they are carrying me out on a gurney."

Hardcore smirked, while watching Crash stretch, Hardcore, a part of him was glad that Crash was ready to come back and wrestle so soon after the ambush attack by X-Factor, or now recently just Albert and X-Pac since Justin Credible seemed to be befriend Team RECK. But the other part of him agreed with Molly, Crash's body might not be ready for this match, he had seen Crash limping earlier but when he asked Crash about it, Crash had denied that he had limped. Hardcore wasn't one to pry so he hadn't said anything more about it, but he could see that Crash was in pain, the way he stretched, there was glint of pain in Crash's eyes, but as usual Crash hid it and demanded that he was fine and ready for this match. "Crash..."

Crash stopped stretching and turned to Hardcore, instantly Crash saw the worried look in Hardcore's eyes. "I can do this Hardcore, really, stop worrying. I'm going to go out there and kick X-Pac's ass, and if you're doubting me then just stop it right there! I was the one that got the ambush attack by X-Factor and I was also the one that walked into this arena with my head held up in the air when anyone else would have admitted defeat, so don't start doubting me and if you are, leave my locker-room now."

Hardcore opened his mouth to say something but shut it when he saw Molly walk into the locker-room.

"Ready Crash?" Molly said, cocking her head to the side, waiting for Crash.

Crash nodded, glancing at Hardcore. "Yeah let's go, we'll be back Hardcore." Crash watched Molly wave and then he walked towards the titantron. "I'm going to win." Crash muttered.

Molly watched her cousin quicken his paces with a determined look on his face, Molly sighed following shortly behind Crash, she loved Crash with all her heart, but sometimes Crash Holly did NOT know how to admit that he was hurt, or that he needed help, and that made him exactly like Hardcore. Both of them were stubborn as can be, neither would admit when they needed each other, and both of them had too much pride to give up a fight, yeah Hardcore and Crash Holly were exactly alike.

[ Crash Holly/X-Pac LHW title match ]

"And to continue this eventful night we got Crash Holly fighting X-Pac for the light heavyweight championship belt, and to even more shock the audience tonight, Crash is being escorted to the ring by his little cousin Molly Holly! It's rare that you see these two together." JR said, watching Crash walk down the titantron quickly, Crash slid into the ring and waiting for X-Pac to come down.

"Do you actually think Crash Holly is ready for this match? It hasn't even been a week since his injury at the hands of X-Factor, or the recently broken up X-Factor." Paul said, watching X-Pac walk down the titantron.

"You never know, but one thing everybody does know in this arena, is that Crash Holly is one tough guy, little or tall he can take X-Pac if he wants to. If anyone can give X-Pac a run for his money, it's Crash Holly. This guy set the path for all the hardcore champions, he set the 24/7 rule, Crash Holly is 13 time hardcore champion, that Crash Holly is a tough guy tonight and he's going to show X-Pac what he is made of." JR commented.

X-Pac ran towards Crash but before X-Pac could get a move on Crash, Crash grabbed X-Pac by the arm and threw him into the ropes and did a running clotheslines, throwing X-Pac down onto the mat. Crash jumped on the top turnbuckle, Crash waited for X-Pac to get up, the minute he did Crash jumped off the turnbuckle giving X-Pac a missile drop-kick. Crash pushed himself up and turned to the crowd, he sighed and turned back around just in time to get a spinning heel kick, throwing him down to the ground.

"Crash was doing good in the match until he turned his back on X-Pac for a second, when he turned back around he walked right into a spinning heel kick, a devastating spinning heel kick that has seemed to put more pain on Crash's body then there already was." Paul said, as he watched Crash push himself up slowly.

"The look on Crash's face is full of pain, that spinning heel kick seems to be too much." JR said.

Crash caught X-Pac's leg when X-Pac tried to do another spinning heel kick, Crash took in a deep breath and threw X-Pac down to the mat and then did a knee smash to X-Pac's face. Crash went to do another knee smash but X-Pac rolled out of the way, Crash rolled over in pain when his knee came in contact with the mat. X-Pac picked Crash and threw him into the post corner; The corners of X-Pac's mouth twitched as he saw Crash passed out in the post corner, X-Pac looked at the crowd for a second before doing the crotch chop and running towards Crash; Molly pulled Crash out of the ring before X-Pac could do the bronco buster.

"Oh wow! X-Pac had Crash Holly set up for the bronco buster but before he could do it, Molly Holly pulled her cousin out of the ring! X-Pac is in pain!" Paul screamed, watching X-Pac get up, holding his crotch.

"Crash Holly came back into the ring, X-Pac is down after a big boot to the face by Crash! The crowd is going crazy!" JR said, watching the match.

Crash leaned over, catching his breath, as he watched X-Pac on the mat, this would give him time to get his energy back, he had lost a lot of his energy when he got that spinning heel kick by X-Pac. Crash looked up when he heard Albert's music come on, Crash looked back at Molly then back at Albert who was making his way towards the ring. Crash fell to the ground as X-Pac used the school boy pin on him.

"1...2..." The referee started but stopped at two when Crash kicked out violently.

"Crash had been distracted when Albert came out that he was almost pinned by X-Pac for the win!" Paul said, watching the action.

"Yeah but Crash kicked out at two! Two count!" JR said, watching Albert walking past the ring and descending towards Molly. "Oh come on!" JR screamed.

Albert ignored the boo-ing of the crowd and walked all the way up to Molly who was too busy cheering Crash on to see Albert and the evil grin he was wearing on his face. Molly turned around and staggered back when she finally saw Albert, Molly Holly looked behind her and tried to run but before she could Albert grabbed her by the hair roughly.

"Crash, your cousin seems to be in a lot of trouble here!" Paul said, watching Molly trying to get out of the hold Albert had on her hair.

"This is not a good situation Molly Holly has gotten herself into." JR commented.

Crash gave X-Pac another big boot and turned around just in time to see Albert holding Molly up by her hair trying to the british bulldog but Molly was struggling the whole way, Crash jumped up on the turnbuckle and went flying into Albert, sending them both crashing into the audience. Crash landed on the cement of the stadium with a thud next to Albert, the roaring of the crowd could be heard, Crash pushed himself up slowly, holding on to his ribs, he smiled small when he felt all the crowd's hands patting him on the back. Crash kicked Albert in the face before climbing back over the side, he walked over to Molly and stared at her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Crash asked, glancing back at X-Pac in the ring, who was slowly pushing himself up.

Molly nodded, smiling. "I'm fine, go Crash!"

"Crash Holly is back in the ring once more! He saved his cousin Molly from a painful move and now is back in the match!" Paul said smiling.

JR watched Albert walk towards the ring. "Albert seems to be wanting to join X-Pac, this does not look good."

Molly watched Albert try to get in the ring, she jumped on Albert's back to try to stop him from getting into the ring, Albert pushed Molly off of him, sending her flying into the announcer table; Albert climbed over the ring and knocked out the referee and grabbed Crash and gave him a british bulldog.

"This is unbelievable! Molly Holly tried to stop Albert from getting into the ring, but got thrown into the announcer table, Albert knocked out the referee and gave Crash a british bulldog... we need a referee..." Paul said, with wide eyes.

"And introducing tonight's troubleshooting referee... Hardcore Holly!" Lilian Garcia said, standing up.

"What?! Hardcore Holly is the referee now? I --- wow." JR said, watching Hardcore run down the titantron.

Crash fluttered his eyes open just in time to see Hardcore throwing Albert over the ropes, Crash groaned and pushed himself up weakly, he punched X-Pac and climbed up the turnbuckle, he took a deep breath and gave X-Pac a hurricaranna.

"Hurricaranna! That it! This is the end!" Paul screamed as he watched Crash pushed himself up again.

Crash groaned again and dropped to the mat and put his body over X-Pac, covering it for the pin.

"1...2...3... " Hardcore counted, Hardcore pulled Crash up once the bell rang.

"The winner of this match and your new light heavyweight champion, Crash Holly!" Lilian screamed into the microphone.

Molly Holly slipped into the ring holding her side, she walked on the other side of Crash and her and Hardcore raised both of Crash's hands up in victory. Sliding out of the ring with Hardcore's help, Crash got his belt, but fell to the ground. Hardcore kneeled down next to Crash, Hardcore wrapped his arms around Crash's injured body and pulled him up, Crash held onto his belt as he was carried up the titantron and backstage by Molly and Hardcore.

"Crash Holly proved to X-Pac that size does NOT matter! We got a new light heavyweight champion, and his name is Crash Holly!" JR screamed.

[ Stephanie's locker-room ]

Stephanie stared at Jeff with a shocked look in her eyes, Jeff had just told her that he had overheard Vince talking to DDP and Hunter this morning, and that Vince had told DDP to attack Shane, and that he had also told Hunter to come out there and attack her. Stephanie closed her eyes, not wanting to believe the words coming out of Jeff's mouth, but she knew that Jeff was telling the truth, but a part of her heart still wanted to believe that her dad could do no wrong, that this wasn't her dad's doing, and that her dad was actually a nice guy. But Stephanie knew what kind of man her father was and ever would be, Shane had told her... told her that the business meant everything to dad, and now Stephanie knew.

"This war." Stephanie said, picking up her cellphone.

"Steph?" Shane looked at Stephanie warily. "What are you doing?"

Stephanie looked at Shane and smiled. "Giving dad a taste of his own medicine." Stephanie turned away from Shane and dialed a phone number and waited for the person to pick up. "Hello? Hi Mick, is my mom there?"

Shane shrugged to Andrew, Booker T, Jeff, Matt and Lita; He had no idea what Stephanie had up her sleeve, but he knew that it had to be something big if Stephanie was calling their mom. "Dad is going to pay." Shane muttered, and smiled at Stephanie finally understanding.

[ Stone Cold Steve Austin/Kurt Angle & Dudley Boys Tag Team Title Match ]

"Here is our next title match!! It's going to be Stone Cold Steve Austin the WWF champion and my Olympic hero Kurt Angle fighting the Dudley Boys for the tag team titles!" Paul said, watching Steve standing at the titantron, with a grin on his face.

"Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle have been taking people by surprise lately ever since they formed an alliance underneath Vince McMahon's orders. But there seems to be more going on, Stone Cold Steve Austin betrayed Vince McMahon a few weeks ago when he attacked Triple H helping Kane pick up the win and become the new IC champion, but then Austin was taken down and received a broken tailbone at the hands on 'The One' Billy Gunn." JR said as he watched fireworks explode and Kurt standing by Steve.

"And now Stone Cold and Kurt Angle are going for tag team gold! Stone Cold and Kurt Angle have made it into the ring and the match has automatically begun!" Paul said, watching the action.

Kurt watched Steve and D-Von climb out of the ring and go to their corners, Kurt sighed and pushed his body into the ropes and gave Buh Buh Ray a clothesline, Kurt did a drop-kick once Buh Buh Ray got up. Kurt pushed himself back into the ropes to do another clothesline but fell to the mat once he was kicked in the face by Buh Buh Ray. Kurt rolled over and tagged Steve in right when Buh Buh Ray tagged D-Von in; Steve ducked D-Von's punch and kicked D-Von in the back and then grabbed onto D-Von and gave him a suplex. Steve gave D-Von an angry stomp and then picked D-Von by his neck and smashed his knee into D-Von's face, sending D-Von flying back into the post corner, Steve smirked and did the foot choke on D-Von.

"Wow! Stone Cold Steve Austin is not giving D-Von a chance to breathe, literally! That foot choke is taking the breath out of D-Von, and now Stone Cold is giving more to D-Von with those painful Austin punches." Paul said, he watched D-Von roll out of the way and tag in Buh Buh Ray.

"D-Von tags in Buh Buh Ray and Stone Cold tags in Kurt Angle. Kurt starts off with a kick to the face, Kurt's on the top turn buckle, he comes down with a leg drop to Buh Buh Ray's face." JR commented.

Kurt pushed himself up and grabbed Buh Buh Ray's ankle but Buh Buh Ray grabbed the ropes before Kurt could do the angle lock; Steve, while the referee isn't looking, kicked Buh Buh Ray's hand, making Buh Buh Ray let his grasp on the ropes go. Kurt pulled him in the middle of the ring and did the angle lock; Buh Buh Ray raised his hand to tap out but stopped in the middle of it, trying his best not to tap out, before he could though D-Von kicked Kurt in the back making Kurt release his grasp on Buh Buh Ray's ankle. Kurt groaned and ran over to Steve and tagged him in; Steve grabbed Buh Buh Ray and gave him a suplex before Buh Buh Ray could reach D-Von to tag him in. Steve threw Buh Buh Ray in the post corner and watched Kurt sneak behind D-Von, Kurt pulled out a table and placed right below D-Von.

"Kurt Angle is setting up the table... what in the world?" Paul asked with confusion dancing in his eyes.

"Don't ask me! It looks like Angle is setting up D-Von to go through a table." JR said calmly.

Steve kicked Buh Buh Ray in the face and ran over to D-Von and pushed him, shoving D-Von through the table, Steve laughed and then pointed over to the announcer table. Kurt nodded and ran over to the table and grabbed the Dudley Boys's glasses, Kurt smirked and slid into the ring.

"Kurt Angle just came over here and took the Dudley Boys's glasses..." Paul said, engrossed in the match.

"I think they're going to..." JR started but stopped as he heard the crowd get louder.

Kurt handed Steve a pair of the glasses, Steve grinned and put on the glasses the same time Kurt did, Steve pushed Kurt's chest. "Kurt.... get the tables!" Steve yelled loudly, still grinning.

Kurt nodded and jumped out of the ring, he grabbed another table and pulled it into the ring, he put it in the middle of the ring and motioned for Steve to put Buh Buh Ray on the table. Steve nodded and pulled Buh Buh Ray up and did the Stone Cold Stunner on Buh Buh Ray, Steve picked Buh Buh Ray up again and put him on the table. Kurt climbed up the turnbuckle and did the moonsault crashing both their bodies through the table, Kurt groaned and rolled out the minute the referee came back in after checking on D-Von.

"I can't believe this! Steve had pushed D-Von through a table, a table Kurt Angle had set up behind the referee's back, the referee had gone out of the ring to check on D-Von Dudley and while he was doing that Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin sent Buh Buh Ray through a table, but not before mocking the Dudley Boys!" Paul screamed, watching Steve hovering over Buh Buh Ray's body.

"Steve is going for the pin..." JR said.

"1...2...3..." The referee counted.

Steve jumped up and grinned, going over to the side and pulling Kurt up with him. Kurt looked at Steve and Steve looked back at Kurt.

"The winner of this match and your new WWF tag team champions; Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle!" Lilian Garcia screamed into the microphone.

Kurt and Steve looked at each other one more time before hugging.

"I... Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin are hugging! Hugging!" Paul said, watching them slide out of the ring with the belts and disappearing backstage.

"Well that was entertaining.... well that's all ... " JR stopped when Shane McMahon's music came exploding into the arena.

"What's Shane McMahon doing here?" Paul asked, curious as to why Shane was here.

Shane walked down the titantron, smiling and nodding at all the fans, Shane slipped into the ring and grabbed a microphone from Lilian, he smiled at her and mouthed 'thanks' before turning to the crowd. "Hello everyone in Sacramento, California!"

Shane raised his hands. "Come on give it up for Sacramento!" Shane laughed. "Okay enough of that, I have a little news for everybody, not just in Sacramento, but everywhere around the world, and especially in this federation, hey dad you mind coming out here? This is really important and I would love to have you out here with me."

"Now Vince McMahon is making his way down to the ring, he's shooting daggers at Shane!" JR replied.

Vince stopped in the middle of the titantron, and took out his microphone. "What do you want Shane? Here I am Shane, go ahead tell me."

Shane smirked. "Well only because you asked me so nicely dad! See dad, for a long time you and the WWF have been taking advantage of the WCW, treating them like crap, making sure the WCW would never be aired anywhere, but you taught another federation even shittier, and that's ECW!"

Paul nods. "Yep, ECW was treated like shit."

Shane smiled when he sees Vince shrug. "Well dad just like the WCW did, ECW is making a return! Yeah you heard me right dad, ECW is back and badder then ever!"

Vince's face blanched. "W-What?"

Paul stood up. "ECW is back?"

Shane nodded. "Yep dad, yep Paul, ECW is back! And now I want to introduce the owner of ECW, you might know this person very well dad, my little sister Stephanie McMahon!"

Vince looked behind him and stared at the pictures of the screen flash, a mix between Stephanie and Shane's; Stephanie came walking down the titantron, Shane's music playing behind her, Stephanie stopped momentarily and laughed in Vince's face before walking down the rest of the titantron.

"A hand up sis?" Shane asked reaching out his hand, smiling.

"Why thank you." Stephanie said, grabbing Shane's hand.

Shane raised Stephanie's hand up and pointed at her. "Stephanie McMahon everybody!"

Stephanie smiled and grabbed a microphone. "Well thank you Shane, now before everyone starts freaking out, I want to bring out the people who made this possible, Linda McMahon and the ECW commissioner Mick Foley!" Stephanie screamed into the microphone.

The color drained out of Vince's face as Mick Foley and Linda passed him by and walked into the ring with Stephanie and Shane. "Linda?" Vince asked, his voice quiet.

Linda smirked. "Vince, one thing I personally want to say to you before I let Stephanie finish... oh hell I'll just let Stephanie and Shane say it for me... kids?" Linda looked over at Shane and Stephanie.

Shane and Stephanie. "She wants a divorce!" They said in unison.

Linda smiled. "But you already knew that, but here is Vince, the final papers, we're divorced."

Stephanie smiled. "And one more thing dad, let's bring out the ECW stars: Tazz, Raven, Dudley Boys, Rhyno, Justin Credible..." Stephanie stopped for a second. "Well dad this last star is going to shock you, you treated him like shit, cheated him out of that belt, and now he's joined sides with us... The Rock!"

The crowd exploded as The Rock's music came on, The Rock walked down the titantron and climbed up the rings and stood next to Stephanie.

Stephanie smiled. "Dad..."

Stephanie handed The Rock the microphone.

"Finally The Rock has come back to Sacramento, California! Can you smell what The Rock ... is .... cookin'?" The Rock lowered the microphone and did his trademark eyebrow.