Chris
glanced around the room. All the wrestlers he could think of were crowded
around the table. APA, Undertaker, Kane, Kurt, and even Tajiri—everyone. He
wasn't sure if they just felt compelled to go out of pity, or if they just
didn't even know what the hell the meeting was for. He hoped they all were
willing to help. He hoped that they considered her apart of them enough like he
did. What if they only tolerated her because of him? No, I have to think
positive.
Vince was the last to arrive, and he sat at the head of the table, his eyes scanning everyone's in the room. Instantly, the incessant chatter quieted, and Chris knew that the meeting was going to start. Vince stood up a few moments later, again looking over everyone solemnly. He paused on Chris, trying to understand his facial features.
"I'm glad to see you all here." He finally said. A low murmur of chatter came up. He waited until they stopped to continue. "As I'm sure you've heard, my daughter has been kidnapped. Our enemies, like the cruel and heartless ones they have proved themselves to be in the past, are using her as some sort of sick way to get under our skin. She's in danger, grave danger. This meeting it to propose the idea of going to save her." Another murmur. Chris tried not to show his nervousness. "And the one biggest advocate of this idea is Chris Jericho, our WWF champion. I will now put this meeting into his hands."
All ready? Chris took a breath. He almost wished he had written a speech like he had been planning on doing. He stood up, glancing at all the people watching him. "You know, the last year has been pretty insane, huh? All this Alliance horseshit." He noted everyone nodding in agreement. "And now this. Here I am, Chris Jericho, who at this time last year could have cared less about the safety of the spoiled little princess whom I thought had no feelings whatsoever. The entire notion was so farfetched to me. She was a bitch to everyone, loved to cause trouble, loved to cost matches—and I know you all felt the same way. But now—she's like family to me. The last few months she's really changed. I didn't think that was possible, but it's happened. I love her very much." He noticed he now really had everyone's attention.
"And I know you all must be thinking—what does that have to do with you? Well, that's pretty simple, she's apart of the WWF now. She has been for a good number of months. And even though some might not admit it, she's been nice to each one of you." He saw everyone look at each other.
"Well Chris, if you need the APA's help, hells yeah we'll help." Bradshaw finally said after a long silence. "She's the best damn card player I ever saw." Farooq nodded his head in agreement.
"Same goes with me." Edge nodded, putting his feet up. "Gotta stop the total heinousity that's going on there."
"We got your back." Jeff spoke for the three members of the little troop he was in. The other two nodded.
One by one, everyone agreed to helping. Chris was pleased, and Vince seemed a bit surprised at the feedback. It seemed Stephanie had indeed found herself with the trust or at least slight respect of the wrestlers present. Chris never had a doubt in his mind. He had seen her trying to make friends, and it seemed she ultimately did.
"But where the hell is she?" X-Pac asked, slouching against the wall.
"I know that too." Jericho explained quietly. They all looked at him.
"How?" Vince asked, curious.
"Rob told me." He replied. "Van Dam. He's on our side."
"I don't know, sounds fishy to me." Someone spoke up. Most of the wrestlers seemed to agree.
"Listen, he knew something that he couldn't have known if he was lying. I believe him. He says that come tomorrow, she's going to be kept in a building called Al's Barn near the next area we're going too. He said there was going to be a lot of security, but we could fix that easily. Hunter has her, everyone. But if we piss off all the top names, they'll be so busy with us, they'll forget about their orders. I'll need 4 people to come with me, and the rest of you—you'll keep them busy, all of you."
The wrestlers all looked at each other, again chattering about this plan. He glanced around, trying to pick out the perfect people to come along with him. He needed people who were strong but could easily hide. His eyes stopped on Kurt, and he instantly knew his first choice. "Kurt, you're coming with me." He nodded his head. "You too, Edge." He paused, glancing around. It took him awhile, but he finally came to his decision. "You up to it, Benoit?"
"Damn right." He nodded.
"Great. And finally, Matt, I need your back." Matt nodded without a word. "All right, now we have to find targets here. When we get set people, the ones left out will help with back up. Jeff, you're one of the best hardcore wrestlers we have. Rhyno is more then a match for you."
"Hells yeah." He grinned. "Rhyno is fun to wrestle. Easy to piss off too."
"APA, you guys need to get rid of the Dudleyz."
"That sounds fun, eh Farooq?" Bradshaw cracked his knuckles.
"Not better then cards, but it'll do." He nodded in agreement.
"Rock, since Austin probably won't listen to you either way, it's best to get rid of Booker T. You've done it before." Jericho nodded to Rock, who grinned largely.
"Chris Jericho, you surprise the Rock. That's almost too easy." He knew it was the way Rock agreed to things.
Chris continued down the list, leaving out the weaker members of the Alliance, who could replace the stronger as guards. Chris knew all of the top stars had big heads—they would forget about their duties quickly if they heard someone was talking about them negatively. After everyone got their orders, the meeting was ended, and Chris had to continue with his plan.
I need to get someone to spread that rumor—and that person is going to be Rob Van Dam. After he and Benoit had gotten back to the hotel, Chris went on a search for that exact man. Thing was, he had no clue where to look first. RVD moved around a lot, and Chris always saw him by chance. Now it was late, and there were a lot of doors to knock on, a lot of them he couldn't knock. Actually, he couldn't knock any of them. That was like a death wish. He'd probably get beaten up every single time he did it.
But somebody somewhere liked him. Just as he was going to give up the search, when he happened to look in the all night café that was in the hotel and found RVD alone. The entire café was empty besides him and the workers, who looked like they were about to fall asleep as well. Chris walked into the area, and he nodded to the waitress who just yawned at his presence. Even though he was in a crappy mood, he couldn't help but muse about how he should report the bad service.
He walked right up to Rob, and he didn't even look up, but continued to stir his coffee. Chris just stood there, not exactly sure how to start it. "Sit down." Rob finally said. Chris shrugged and sat across from him.
"We're all ready with the plan." Chris explained lowly. Rob nodded, still not looking up.
"I've been waiting for you. I knew you were going to look for me. I saw you pass by a few times."
"And you didn't call me over?" Chris asked, exasperated.
"I was having fun watching you look." He laughed. "You know, when you're frustrated, you seem to like swear to yourself a lot—"
"Just—stop talking." Chris groaned, and RVD seemed to bite back another laugh. "All right, it's all gone through. We're all set up. I need your help again."
"What do I have to do?" Rob asked, now serious.
"Here's a list." He handed it over to Rob. It had all the match pairings on it. "I need you to go to each one of your Alliance buddy and say who they're paired up with on this paper is saying bad shit about them."
"Let me guess, you plane on pissing everyone off so they forget their duties, huh?"
"Exactly the plan, and it's going to work." Chris replied confidently, then paused. "How is she?"
"A wreck." Rob sighed lightly. "She thinks you probably don't care that she got taken. I can't tell her otherwise, either, because Hunter's guarding her like a hawk. I've only gotten to talk to her once, and this was before we talked. I think Hunter's sharp angry words are getting to her. She's starting to believe him."
"She what?!" his eyes had widened.
"'Fraid so, man. You have to get her out of there. She's covered in bruises now." Rob sighed.
"I will. Tomorrow." He cracked his knuckles, thinking about the pounding he was going to give Hunter for hurting HIS girlfriend. "Tomorrow."
