All through that week he couldn't help but think of what had happened back
at the hotel. Stephanie McMahon had helped him? Him, the man who she
professed to hate? What was wrong with the world? Geez next the sky would
turn green, The Rock would declare that actually he hated pie and preferred
strudel and he'd be working for the Alliance. OK, so maybe the world wasn't
that crazy after all; that or he should go check the colour of the sky. As
for Rocky. well, he'd rather not test that theory out.
But why? Why had she helped him? All weekend long these questions had been bugging him and just try as he might, they wouldn't go away. Nothing was making sense he thought savagely as he trashed his punching bag, it just wasn't making sense.
It still wasn't making any sense by the time by the time he got to the arena and was confronted by the knowledge that there was yet another Alliance meeting to go to - sometimes it seemed like that was all this damned company seemed to do.
"Hey Jericho" he heard a voice call from behind him. "Wait up a second man."
"RVD" he greeted neutrally.
"Hey, I just wanted to say good luck in your match tonight, man. Those Hardyz are tough. Real tough." There was a long pause while RVD just grinned and Chris waited for the other man to carry on speaking.
"Umm. anything else Rob?" Chris questioned.
"No, that was it. Just wanted to say good luck and to tell you to be cool like RVD out there tonight." `Mr Monday Night' replied grinning the very grin Chris was sure he'd stolen from a village idiot somewhere.
"You mean there's no meeting? Stephanie or Shane didn't send you to get me?"
"Meeting? Urrr. you mean, you had a note pushed under your door telling you there was a meeting?"
"Yeah." Van Damn may well be the best athlete in the Alliance Chris thought, but he sure wasn't the quickest on the draw.
"Oooo. don't go man, it's a trap." He nodded as if to confirm what he had said.
"Trap? What, by the WWF?"
"No, by something worse - Terri. She tried that with me and every guy in the Alliance til we raffled her off. what, you think Raven actually *wanted* her to be his manager?"
It was all beginning to make sense now. "Thanks Rob, I owe you one" he replied gratefully, thankful at having finally made some kind of a friend amongst the Alliance. Maybe RVD wasn't that dumb a guy after all.
"Aww, nahh, its cool man. We've gotta watch out for each other - never know when a WWF-er or Terri might attack next. Look, I gotta go, Steph wants to see me and I better not keep the boss waiting. Later man."
"Later" Chris replied sharply. So here was another of Mrs Helmsley's admirers. And there was he thinking that Rob was an alright sort of guy; it showed how wrong his character judgement was. He wondered what he had to so urgently see Stephanie about. and promptly stopped when his mind entered the gutter known as `Thoughts about Stephanie'. That woman really was a slut of the first degree; she'd have any man and every man she could. He'd already seen how Sucka T reacted to her and you didn't get that protective over your best friend's sister, he knew that. And Lord only knows what her relationship with Rhyno was; quite frankly the less he knew about that one the better. But now she was after Rob "The whole f'ing show" Van Damn as well? Just what type of show exactly was he giving her? And why couldn't she be happy with just one man? Why did she go after all those ass-clowns? He knew Steph could do better them, so why was she settling for them?
Sighing, he put that one down as one of the world greatest unsolved mysteries and put his mind to the task before him; surviving the wrath of a homicidal Matt Hardy
* * * * * * * * * * * *
He'd managed it, just.
Just, thanks to the help of one Shane McMahon and one Stephanie McMahon- Helmsley. Yeah, he thought as he listened to JR repeatedly exclaim over what had just happened, he hadn't believe his eyes either; it wasn't only the veteran commentator who had been as surprised as hell when she had been the one who handed him the chair to hit Matt with so he could pick up the win. True, Shane had done a lot of the work by distracting the ref and then taking out Jeff when he'd run down to his brother's aid, but it had been Stephanie who'd given him a chance to use the advantage Shane's distraction had caused.
Walking up the ramp, he couldn't help but feel victorious and the smirk which a few days before had seem so alien to him, was now residing on his face like it had always been there. So what if it wasn't a clean win? He'd won and that was all that mattered. Period. He'd come to the Alliance to win and he was doing exactly that. Just like Shane was crowing, he really was 'The man'. He could get used to all this praise.
Backstage, things were pretty much the same as Alliance member after Alliance member came up to him to express their happiness of him winning and having joined the Alliance. So what if they were only there because Shane was standing right next to him, it was nice to be appreciated for once. Real nice he reflected angrily, after spotting Vince walking towards the ring entrance trying to avoid the groups' collective gaze and forced himself to laugh loudly when Tazz threatened Stasiak after Shawn managed to dig himself into a deep hole about the loyalty of the former WWF-ers. He'd show Vince McMahon how good this move was for him if it was the last thing he did.
His attention was brought back to the group when he heard Shane call out, "Hey Booker my man, have you come to congratulate Chris on his superb match debut for the Alliance?"
"Uh, yeah, whatever man, I came to talk to your sister. Stephanie, a word?"
"Sure." she responded, speaking for the first time Chris realised since she had screamed at him to take the chair. Slowly she moved away from the group and followed Booker to the far corner of the room, not without first making eye-contact with Shane in what appeared to be a desperate plea for him to save her, which Shane appeared to not to take a blind bit of notice of. What the hell was that about?
Not that he had time to think about it when his new boss started talking to him again. "You know, I think its time Chris that we re-evaluated your position in the Alliance. I mean, we know now you're loyal to us, you've just proved that, so how would you like to take a step up in the Alliance?"
"I." he saw Vince staring over at them. "I. would love too."
"Well that's settled, we've needed a leader figure over here since Austin. well Austin had his little accident and went out injured." A few sniggers were heard from the group at this point. "I'm sorry, was there something amusing about that situation?" Shane snapped. There was silence. "As I was saying, we need a new leader and now Chris has showed his loyalty and not cracked up under the pressure he's been under, I think he's the man for the job - does anyone have a problemwith that?"
Choruses of, "Nope" "None, sir" "I don't have a problem with that" came from the surrounding superstars as Shane glanced around with a look very similar to one his father would use to get his own way. It truly was like father like son. Spooky.
"Right, now we've sorted that out, I think a celebration is on the cards. Anyone who wants to go out and show this town how to *really* party meet me and Chris in the lobby of the hotel in an hour, kay? Lets go and par-tay!!"
Chris had to laugh at Shane-O's enthusiasm, for life and partying, now that was something he hadn't inherited from his dad. But it was definitely a characteristic of Shane-O which made him a popular leader as even after the group had started to break away from each other, most of the Alliance were still hanging onto his heels as he started to walk back to his dressing- room until all but him, Stephanie and Booker were left.
"Dammit Booker, aren't you listening to me! Nothing is going on!" Stephanie almost screamed at him, attracting not just his attention but most of the back-stage crews as well.
"Yeah? Well why were you there, huh? You didn't need to be but you were. I think we both know why." Sucka slung back, just as loud and angry as Steph had been - what the hell was going on here?
"Nooo!!!! It's not true!! That is a complete and utter lie!!"
"What's a lie? That's Steph's joining a nunnery because I can completely 100% denounce that story as a untrue - she tried but the sisters wouldn't let her use the nunnery as a hooking base."
Both spun round at the sound of his voice, both shocked and, was that guilt?, that they'd been overheard. Then it registered to both of them what he'd said, but instead of giving him as good as she'd got, Stephanie simply pushed past him, stopping long enough to scream "I hate you Jericho!" before running off down the nearest corridor.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked Booker before finding himself flat against the wall. "Easy man! You don't want to upset the newest leader of the Alliance now do you?"
"Leader?" Booker questioned
"Yeah, didn't you hear what Shane said?" Chris smirked dusting himself down as Booker let go of him; it was about time someone put Sucka in his place. "It was just announced and I know you wouldn't want to upset Shane now would you?"
"I. listen to me, sucka. I don't know how you've done this but it ain't gonna last long. And if I ever catch you upsetting Steph like that again then your ass is mine, you got that, sucka? I want you to have nothing to do with her." He stated as he stepped back. "Nothing."
"Whatever man. But someone should really tell you that just cos you paid however much is the going rate, you don't own her. Unless you *are* the person I should start giving my money to now?"
"Listen sucka, I already told you once today to stay away from her and I mean it. We in the Alliance don't need you going round upsetting Steph more then she's already been upset by you and I want you to leave her alone. Like I said, you are to have nothing to do with her, nothing."
Now he was really confused; he'd figured Sucka would be more upset with him implying that he was Stephanie's pimp, not that he was involved with her. Weird. And not just the idea of him, Y2J, the Ayatollah, being involved with that dirty, disgusting, trash-bag. he shook his head, trying to free his mind of any bad thoughts and just concentrate on having a good time.
So why was he still thinking about her?
But why? Why had she helped him? All weekend long these questions had been bugging him and just try as he might, they wouldn't go away. Nothing was making sense he thought savagely as he trashed his punching bag, it just wasn't making sense.
It still wasn't making any sense by the time by the time he got to the arena and was confronted by the knowledge that there was yet another Alliance meeting to go to - sometimes it seemed like that was all this damned company seemed to do.
"Hey Jericho" he heard a voice call from behind him. "Wait up a second man."
"RVD" he greeted neutrally.
"Hey, I just wanted to say good luck in your match tonight, man. Those Hardyz are tough. Real tough." There was a long pause while RVD just grinned and Chris waited for the other man to carry on speaking.
"Umm. anything else Rob?" Chris questioned.
"No, that was it. Just wanted to say good luck and to tell you to be cool like RVD out there tonight." `Mr Monday Night' replied grinning the very grin Chris was sure he'd stolen from a village idiot somewhere.
"You mean there's no meeting? Stephanie or Shane didn't send you to get me?"
"Meeting? Urrr. you mean, you had a note pushed under your door telling you there was a meeting?"
"Yeah." Van Damn may well be the best athlete in the Alliance Chris thought, but he sure wasn't the quickest on the draw.
"Oooo. don't go man, it's a trap." He nodded as if to confirm what he had said.
"Trap? What, by the WWF?"
"No, by something worse - Terri. She tried that with me and every guy in the Alliance til we raffled her off. what, you think Raven actually *wanted* her to be his manager?"
It was all beginning to make sense now. "Thanks Rob, I owe you one" he replied gratefully, thankful at having finally made some kind of a friend amongst the Alliance. Maybe RVD wasn't that dumb a guy after all.
"Aww, nahh, its cool man. We've gotta watch out for each other - never know when a WWF-er or Terri might attack next. Look, I gotta go, Steph wants to see me and I better not keep the boss waiting. Later man."
"Later" Chris replied sharply. So here was another of Mrs Helmsley's admirers. And there was he thinking that Rob was an alright sort of guy; it showed how wrong his character judgement was. He wondered what he had to so urgently see Stephanie about. and promptly stopped when his mind entered the gutter known as `Thoughts about Stephanie'. That woman really was a slut of the first degree; she'd have any man and every man she could. He'd already seen how Sucka T reacted to her and you didn't get that protective over your best friend's sister, he knew that. And Lord only knows what her relationship with Rhyno was; quite frankly the less he knew about that one the better. But now she was after Rob "The whole f'ing show" Van Damn as well? Just what type of show exactly was he giving her? And why couldn't she be happy with just one man? Why did she go after all those ass-clowns? He knew Steph could do better them, so why was she settling for them?
Sighing, he put that one down as one of the world greatest unsolved mysteries and put his mind to the task before him; surviving the wrath of a homicidal Matt Hardy
* * * * * * * * * * * *
He'd managed it, just.
Just, thanks to the help of one Shane McMahon and one Stephanie McMahon- Helmsley. Yeah, he thought as he listened to JR repeatedly exclaim over what had just happened, he hadn't believe his eyes either; it wasn't only the veteran commentator who had been as surprised as hell when she had been the one who handed him the chair to hit Matt with so he could pick up the win. True, Shane had done a lot of the work by distracting the ref and then taking out Jeff when he'd run down to his brother's aid, but it had been Stephanie who'd given him a chance to use the advantage Shane's distraction had caused.
Walking up the ramp, he couldn't help but feel victorious and the smirk which a few days before had seem so alien to him, was now residing on his face like it had always been there. So what if it wasn't a clean win? He'd won and that was all that mattered. Period. He'd come to the Alliance to win and he was doing exactly that. Just like Shane was crowing, he really was 'The man'. He could get used to all this praise.
Backstage, things were pretty much the same as Alliance member after Alliance member came up to him to express their happiness of him winning and having joined the Alliance. So what if they were only there because Shane was standing right next to him, it was nice to be appreciated for once. Real nice he reflected angrily, after spotting Vince walking towards the ring entrance trying to avoid the groups' collective gaze and forced himself to laugh loudly when Tazz threatened Stasiak after Shawn managed to dig himself into a deep hole about the loyalty of the former WWF-ers. He'd show Vince McMahon how good this move was for him if it was the last thing he did.
His attention was brought back to the group when he heard Shane call out, "Hey Booker my man, have you come to congratulate Chris on his superb match debut for the Alliance?"
"Uh, yeah, whatever man, I came to talk to your sister. Stephanie, a word?"
"Sure." she responded, speaking for the first time Chris realised since she had screamed at him to take the chair. Slowly she moved away from the group and followed Booker to the far corner of the room, not without first making eye-contact with Shane in what appeared to be a desperate plea for him to save her, which Shane appeared to not to take a blind bit of notice of. What the hell was that about?
Not that he had time to think about it when his new boss started talking to him again. "You know, I think its time Chris that we re-evaluated your position in the Alliance. I mean, we know now you're loyal to us, you've just proved that, so how would you like to take a step up in the Alliance?"
"I." he saw Vince staring over at them. "I. would love too."
"Well that's settled, we've needed a leader figure over here since Austin. well Austin had his little accident and went out injured." A few sniggers were heard from the group at this point. "I'm sorry, was there something amusing about that situation?" Shane snapped. There was silence. "As I was saying, we need a new leader and now Chris has showed his loyalty and not cracked up under the pressure he's been under, I think he's the man for the job - does anyone have a problemwith that?"
Choruses of, "Nope" "None, sir" "I don't have a problem with that" came from the surrounding superstars as Shane glanced around with a look very similar to one his father would use to get his own way. It truly was like father like son. Spooky.
"Right, now we've sorted that out, I think a celebration is on the cards. Anyone who wants to go out and show this town how to *really* party meet me and Chris in the lobby of the hotel in an hour, kay? Lets go and par-tay!!"
Chris had to laugh at Shane-O's enthusiasm, for life and partying, now that was something he hadn't inherited from his dad. But it was definitely a characteristic of Shane-O which made him a popular leader as even after the group had started to break away from each other, most of the Alliance were still hanging onto his heels as he started to walk back to his dressing- room until all but him, Stephanie and Booker were left.
"Dammit Booker, aren't you listening to me! Nothing is going on!" Stephanie almost screamed at him, attracting not just his attention but most of the back-stage crews as well.
"Yeah? Well why were you there, huh? You didn't need to be but you were. I think we both know why." Sucka slung back, just as loud and angry as Steph had been - what the hell was going on here?
"Nooo!!!! It's not true!! That is a complete and utter lie!!"
"What's a lie? That's Steph's joining a nunnery because I can completely 100% denounce that story as a untrue - she tried but the sisters wouldn't let her use the nunnery as a hooking base."
Both spun round at the sound of his voice, both shocked and, was that guilt?, that they'd been overheard. Then it registered to both of them what he'd said, but instead of giving him as good as she'd got, Stephanie simply pushed past him, stopping long enough to scream "I hate you Jericho!" before running off down the nearest corridor.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked Booker before finding himself flat against the wall. "Easy man! You don't want to upset the newest leader of the Alliance now do you?"
"Leader?" Booker questioned
"Yeah, didn't you hear what Shane said?" Chris smirked dusting himself down as Booker let go of him; it was about time someone put Sucka in his place. "It was just announced and I know you wouldn't want to upset Shane now would you?"
"I. listen to me, sucka. I don't know how you've done this but it ain't gonna last long. And if I ever catch you upsetting Steph like that again then your ass is mine, you got that, sucka? I want you to have nothing to do with her." He stated as he stepped back. "Nothing."
"Whatever man. But someone should really tell you that just cos you paid however much is the going rate, you don't own her. Unless you *are* the person I should start giving my money to now?"
"Listen sucka, I already told you once today to stay away from her and I mean it. We in the Alliance don't need you going round upsetting Steph more then she's already been upset by you and I want you to leave her alone. Like I said, you are to have nothing to do with her, nothing."
Now he was really confused; he'd figured Sucka would be more upset with him implying that he was Stephanie's pimp, not that he was involved with her. Weird. And not just the idea of him, Y2J, the Ayatollah, being involved with that dirty, disgusting, trash-bag. he shook his head, trying to free his mind of any bad thoughts and just concentrate on having a good time.
So why was he still thinking about her?
