The WWF superstars could sing that song "You Don't Own Me" `cause I don't. I'm not claiming this happened. I'm also not making money. Poor me.
Le Chat Noir...a thief so talented that they could literally rob you of everything in the middle of the day. A burglar who was the terror of Paris. The one who had never been seen close enough to identify, the only physical description anyone could give was that Le Chat Noir had blonde hair, always pulled behind their head.
And right now this thief was in the middle of robbing the French residence of the McMahon family.
Plucking another piece of jewelry from the chest and placing it in their bag bag, the young figure in the black clothing and mask smirked as she realized exactly how much they were going to make off this deal.
That was when Le Chat Noir heard the noise behind it. Spinning around, it squinted against the candlelight that invaded the room.
"Le Chat Noir!" It heard a voice cry. Turning, it leapt out the window and grabbed a hold of the roof, pulling itself up. Leaping across the Parisian rooftops, it fled from its assailant.
When it was sure it was far enough away, it paused and caught its breath. That had to be the closest it had ever come to getting caught.
Back in the McMahon household, Shane McMahon had to catch his breath. Who would have thought that Le Chat Noir was a WOMAN?
"How long are we going to put up with this?" Jeffery Hardy yelled from the street corner to the assembled crowd. "How long are we going to allow ourselves to be treated like this? I say, it's time that the peasantry of this nation to stand up for ourselves. We have to..."
His brother Matthew charged through the crowd. "Jeffery, get down from there!" he ordered.
"No Matthew, we've stepped down too many times. I'm sick of it."
"Jeffery, you're going to get arrested!"
"Then I'll get arrested! I'll take my chances! I'm not afraid!"
"Jeffery, for our mother, shut your mouth."
"Matthew, our mother would still be alive if it weren't for the treatment they give us. If we had money for a doctor, or even a house with some heat in it, she would still be here with us."
A shot fired into the air behind the crowd. Everyone turned to see Captain Steven Austin of the guard, along with his troops, all armed to the teeth. Austin stepped towards Jeffery.
"Jeffery Nero Hardy, you are hereby ordered to stand down. You are under arrest for treason!"
"I am not guilty of treason! The Aristocracy is guilty of treason against the driving force of France!"
Austin fired another shot into the air. "You will stand down, and come with me."
"NEVER!" Jeff cried.
Austin began walking towards Jeff, menacingly. Matthew threw himself in front of his baby brother, in an attempt to protect him. Austin swung the butt of his rifle into Matt's cheek, knocking him to the ground. Austin then grabbed Jeff and threw him to the other men. The young man fought against them until they began to beat and kick him into submission.
Austin stood over Matt's body as the dark haired boy tried to stand up. Austin brought his rifle down onto Matt's back, knocking him back down. "You want to protect your brother? Who's going to protect you?"
That was when the flash of red hair dove between him and Matt. A female face looked up at Austin. "I will," it growled up at him.
"Lita!" Jeff yelled from where he was being brutalized.
"You will?" Austin laughed at her.
"Yes, I will."
Austin laughed once more, before hitting the girl in the back with the rifle. She went down, still covering Matt's body with her own. Austin hit her again, as she cried out in pain.
"AUSTIN!"
The bald man stopped when he heard that voice.
Hunter Hearnst Helmsley came running over. "Monseur Austin, what are you doing?"
"Monseur Helmsley!" Austin cried. "These children were trying to start an uprising!"
Hunter laughed. "They are only children Austin. Who in their right mind would listen to them? There's no need for this. Let them go and do something productive, like catch Le Chat Noir."
Austin looked at the man, remembering exactly how powerful he was, and motioned to his men to release Jeffery. "Let's go."
As soon as the guard had left, Hunter bent down and offered his hand to Lita.
She spat on it.
"Just children?" She asked him. "One of these days you will see how powerful we children can be."
She helped Matthew up and then watched as Shannon picked Jeffery up from where he was laying face down in the street. "You should have helped him," Lita told Hunter. "He was the one they would have killed."
"And she spat on me!" Hunter was telling his fiancée Stephanie later that night.
"Well, you called her a silly child, Hunter."
"I was only trying to get Austin to let her go!"
"You also let her friend get beaten half to death. I can understand why she would be upset with you," Stephanie sat down, struggling with her huge skirts. "You did a noble thing, Hunter, but still. People like those are very serious about what they believe in. They'll die for it Hunter. Trust me, England went through the same thing with those colonies of ours. You know, the ones that are now their own country?"
Hunter looked at Stephanie. "Very funny, dear. Very funny. I wonder how I'm ever going to pretend to stage a fight with you."
"Just be patient Hunter. We can stage the fight this evening at the party, if you like. Then I am free to marry Christopher, and you are free to do whatever you like."
"Speaking of parties, why aren't you getting ready for it yet?"
"Because I want to wait until my brother is forced to. He's running around like a fool claiming he saw Le Chat Noir last night."
"Le Chat Noir? Impossible!"
"Yes, especially because he claims Le Chat Noir is a woman."
"A woman? The greatest thief in Paris is a woman?"
"That's what I said. Though, some of my jewelry is missing, however I am almost sure I merely misplaced it."
"Le Chat Noir...your brother does have quite an imagination."
"He does, doesn't he? Well, I'd best go. I don't have that much time until the party."
"You have six hours."
"You are right. I'm going to be rushed."
"It's going to rain," Gregory Helms observed from the window of the café.
His girlfriend Molly looked out the window as well. "Yes, a storm."
"And those aristocratic pigs will sit in complete and utter comfort as we nearly freeze to death," Jeff growled from where he was being bandaged.
"At least freezing is more comfortable than being beaten to death," Matt reprimanded his brother.
"You were hit, what, once Matthew?" Shannon pointed out, pushing a streak of blonde hair behind his ear. "And Lita was hit how many times trying to protect you?"
The dark haired boy looked to the corner where Lita was sitting, alone. He could see the slow movement of her chest with each breath she took. "She a brave one," Matt said softly.
"I'm a fool," Lita replied, standing up and joining the others. "A child...a little girl playing at a man's game."
"Lita!" Jeff yelled, "You have more spirit and more bravery than so many men out there! How many would stand up for the cause as you do? How many would through themselves into a fray for a friend and comrade?"
"How many would insult a man who saved their life."
"What you said was true."
"Yes, but I didn't see it for what it could have been. An aristocrat helping a peasant, a bridging of worlds, their kind seeing the suffering our kind is put through."
"He is a pig," Shannon reminded her. "He would have helped you and left Jeff to die."
"We don't know that," Gregory spoke up. "We never let him have a chance."
Lita grabbed for a coat. "Where are you going?" Matthew asked.
"To find that man, Hunter. I'm going to thank him for what he did and apologize for how I acted." Pulling on her hat, Lita left the others.
Matt watched her go, with a heavy heart. "Does she even realize I'm here?" he asked the others.
"She notices, my friend," Christian answered. "She just doesn't care."
"Greetings, Madamoiselle, and welcome to the home of the McMahons," the young man escorted the young woman with the curly black hair into the ballroom.
"Why thank you," she smiled at him. "Thank you very much." The woman than began surveying the room for familiar faces. No one, excellent.
"I don't believe we've met," a voice from her right startled her. She looked up to meet a pair of gorgeous eyes beneath a wild mane of blonde hair. The man took her hand and kissed it lightly. "I am Adam Copeland, of the London Copelands?"
The woman chuckled. "Oh, it's good to meet an Englishman out here. These French are so overly dramatic."
"Oh, then you're English?"
"Yes. Victoria Powers, recently of London."
"Recently?"
"Yes. I've lived all over Europe, I travel a lot, I get so terribly bored if I stay in one place too long."
"I can understand. Might I have met your family? Noble birth, I'm guessing."
"Oh, heavens no. Father came into some money awhile back, right before he and mother passed away and my sister ran off. Since then I've been trying to make ends meet and live the life I've become accustomed to," she waved her fan at her face and could only think `How long until I can get out of this wig? Please don't ask me to dance..."
"Would you like dance, Miss Powers?"
"It would be my pleasure."
Near one of the large windows facing the street, the man Stephanie was engaged to and the man she was in love with were in deep conversation.
"So, you're telling me Austin was beating this girl senseless?" Jericho asked, wide eyed. "Hunter, something has got to be done!"
"I know that Jericho, and you know that as does Stephanie. But so many of the older men, Vince, Heyman, Flair, they are determined to keep things as they always have been, and in their minds always should be."
"Those poor people, treated worse than animals," Jericho grimaced.
Hunter leaned his hand against the windowpane and looked out to the street just in time to catch a flash of red hair under a streetlight.
"I've got to go," he whispered to Jericho, "take care of something."
Lita had followed the old man's directions to the McMahon home perfectly, and now she was standing outside the glorious residence in the now pouring rain. She heard the music and smelled the food and suddenly knew that what the others had said was true. He was in there, feasting and dancing, while she and the others were starving and freezing.
Turning away, disgusted, she began to head back to the café, where she might freeze, but at least it would be in good company. Her stomach growled as she walked away from the food. "Oh, it's not like you were getting any, anyway!" she said to it.
"Lita! Lita wait!"
Recognizing the same voice that earlier that day had called her a stupid child, Lita walked on in the rain.
"Lita, please, I want to apologize! I was simply trying to get Austin to quit beating you!"
She kept walking, now trying to ignore the pain in both her back and her empty stomach.
"Lita, please, I...I don't know what to say to you. At least tell me you understand."
She kept walking on.
"You know Lita, there's many of us wealthy people that want to help you, and many of us want to end the injustices! Myself and several other young people, people in there, want to help you."
"Oh, and you're really helping right now, aren't you?" Lita finally yelled back. She stopped and turned around, walking back to him. "It must be so terrible to have enough food to feed you, a bed to yourself, warmth, fresh clothing, I can't even imagine what you must suffer through! If any of you really wanted to change things you'd be out here helping my friends who are suffering in a frozen café, instead of up there prancing about! You don't want to help us, you want to pity us and say you'd help us if there were any way! You could never follow through!" With that she turned to storm away again.
And collapsed face down in the street.
Tori had finally managed to separate herself from that Adam fellow and was now working her way through the hallways, trying to at least find something of interest here.
She paused outside a heavy door on the second floor. Testing the knob and finding it locked, she flicked open the clasp over the hollowed out handle of her fan, removing two very thin strips of metal. Using these, she deftly picked the lock.
"Oops, open door. Hmm...oh my, looks like my feminine curiosity is going to get the best of me."
Entering the room, Tori found Adam standing in there, pointing a pistol at her. "Don't move!" he ordered.
Rolling her eyes, Tori sighed. "Oh, god. Amateurs. Do you want to draw attention to us both?"
"My dear, the last thing I want is to get caught. If I were caught, do you realize, a legend would be imprisoned?"
"A legend? Of what, the moronic thief who got himself caught?"
"NO! I am a very famous man!"
"Really? Hmmm...I'm guessing...oh, of course! You're General Washington!"
"Laugh while you can, but trust me, I am twenty times more fearsome than General Washington! Tell me, have you ever heard of Le Chat Noir, the blonde thief who wears only black and strikes at night, in darkness?"
Tori burst out laughing. "Are you going to tell me that, you, YOU, are Le Chat Noir?"
Adam lowered his pistol. "Yes! Why is that idea so ridiculous to you?"
"Because, dear Adam," Tori laughed as she slowly approached him. She reached for her head and removed the black wig, revealing straight blonde hair hanging to her shoulders.
"I am Le Chat Noir."
Le Chat Noir...a thief so talented that they could literally rob you of everything in the middle of the day. A burglar who was the terror of Paris. The one who had never been seen close enough to identify, the only physical description anyone could give was that Le Chat Noir had blonde hair, always pulled behind their head.
And right now this thief was in the middle of robbing the French residence of the McMahon family.
Plucking another piece of jewelry from the chest and placing it in their bag bag, the young figure in the black clothing and mask smirked as she realized exactly how much they were going to make off this deal.
That was when Le Chat Noir heard the noise behind it. Spinning around, it squinted against the candlelight that invaded the room.
"Le Chat Noir!" It heard a voice cry. Turning, it leapt out the window and grabbed a hold of the roof, pulling itself up. Leaping across the Parisian rooftops, it fled from its assailant.
When it was sure it was far enough away, it paused and caught its breath. That had to be the closest it had ever come to getting caught.
Back in the McMahon household, Shane McMahon had to catch his breath. Who would have thought that Le Chat Noir was a WOMAN?
"How long are we going to put up with this?" Jeffery Hardy yelled from the street corner to the assembled crowd. "How long are we going to allow ourselves to be treated like this? I say, it's time that the peasantry of this nation to stand up for ourselves. We have to..."
His brother Matthew charged through the crowd. "Jeffery, get down from there!" he ordered.
"No Matthew, we've stepped down too many times. I'm sick of it."
"Jeffery, you're going to get arrested!"
"Then I'll get arrested! I'll take my chances! I'm not afraid!"
"Jeffery, for our mother, shut your mouth."
"Matthew, our mother would still be alive if it weren't for the treatment they give us. If we had money for a doctor, or even a house with some heat in it, she would still be here with us."
A shot fired into the air behind the crowd. Everyone turned to see Captain Steven Austin of the guard, along with his troops, all armed to the teeth. Austin stepped towards Jeffery.
"Jeffery Nero Hardy, you are hereby ordered to stand down. You are under arrest for treason!"
"I am not guilty of treason! The Aristocracy is guilty of treason against the driving force of France!"
Austin fired another shot into the air. "You will stand down, and come with me."
"NEVER!" Jeff cried.
Austin began walking towards Jeff, menacingly. Matthew threw himself in front of his baby brother, in an attempt to protect him. Austin swung the butt of his rifle into Matt's cheek, knocking him to the ground. Austin then grabbed Jeff and threw him to the other men. The young man fought against them until they began to beat and kick him into submission.
Austin stood over Matt's body as the dark haired boy tried to stand up. Austin brought his rifle down onto Matt's back, knocking him back down. "You want to protect your brother? Who's going to protect you?"
That was when the flash of red hair dove between him and Matt. A female face looked up at Austin. "I will," it growled up at him.
"Lita!" Jeff yelled from where he was being brutalized.
"You will?" Austin laughed at her.
"Yes, I will."
Austin laughed once more, before hitting the girl in the back with the rifle. She went down, still covering Matt's body with her own. Austin hit her again, as she cried out in pain.
"AUSTIN!"
The bald man stopped when he heard that voice.
Hunter Hearnst Helmsley came running over. "Monseur Austin, what are you doing?"
"Monseur Helmsley!" Austin cried. "These children were trying to start an uprising!"
Hunter laughed. "They are only children Austin. Who in their right mind would listen to them? There's no need for this. Let them go and do something productive, like catch Le Chat Noir."
Austin looked at the man, remembering exactly how powerful he was, and motioned to his men to release Jeffery. "Let's go."
As soon as the guard had left, Hunter bent down and offered his hand to Lita.
She spat on it.
"Just children?" She asked him. "One of these days you will see how powerful we children can be."
She helped Matthew up and then watched as Shannon picked Jeffery up from where he was laying face down in the street. "You should have helped him," Lita told Hunter. "He was the one they would have killed."
"And she spat on me!" Hunter was telling his fiancée Stephanie later that night.
"Well, you called her a silly child, Hunter."
"I was only trying to get Austin to let her go!"
"You also let her friend get beaten half to death. I can understand why she would be upset with you," Stephanie sat down, struggling with her huge skirts. "You did a noble thing, Hunter, but still. People like those are very serious about what they believe in. They'll die for it Hunter. Trust me, England went through the same thing with those colonies of ours. You know, the ones that are now their own country?"
Hunter looked at Stephanie. "Very funny, dear. Very funny. I wonder how I'm ever going to pretend to stage a fight with you."
"Just be patient Hunter. We can stage the fight this evening at the party, if you like. Then I am free to marry Christopher, and you are free to do whatever you like."
"Speaking of parties, why aren't you getting ready for it yet?"
"Because I want to wait until my brother is forced to. He's running around like a fool claiming he saw Le Chat Noir last night."
"Le Chat Noir? Impossible!"
"Yes, especially because he claims Le Chat Noir is a woman."
"A woman? The greatest thief in Paris is a woman?"
"That's what I said. Though, some of my jewelry is missing, however I am almost sure I merely misplaced it."
"Le Chat Noir...your brother does have quite an imagination."
"He does, doesn't he? Well, I'd best go. I don't have that much time until the party."
"You have six hours."
"You are right. I'm going to be rushed."
"It's going to rain," Gregory Helms observed from the window of the café.
His girlfriend Molly looked out the window as well. "Yes, a storm."
"And those aristocratic pigs will sit in complete and utter comfort as we nearly freeze to death," Jeff growled from where he was being bandaged.
"At least freezing is more comfortable than being beaten to death," Matt reprimanded his brother.
"You were hit, what, once Matthew?" Shannon pointed out, pushing a streak of blonde hair behind his ear. "And Lita was hit how many times trying to protect you?"
The dark haired boy looked to the corner where Lita was sitting, alone. He could see the slow movement of her chest with each breath she took. "She a brave one," Matt said softly.
"I'm a fool," Lita replied, standing up and joining the others. "A child...a little girl playing at a man's game."
"Lita!" Jeff yelled, "You have more spirit and more bravery than so many men out there! How many would stand up for the cause as you do? How many would through themselves into a fray for a friend and comrade?"
"How many would insult a man who saved their life."
"What you said was true."
"Yes, but I didn't see it for what it could have been. An aristocrat helping a peasant, a bridging of worlds, their kind seeing the suffering our kind is put through."
"He is a pig," Shannon reminded her. "He would have helped you and left Jeff to die."
"We don't know that," Gregory spoke up. "We never let him have a chance."
Lita grabbed for a coat. "Where are you going?" Matthew asked.
"To find that man, Hunter. I'm going to thank him for what he did and apologize for how I acted." Pulling on her hat, Lita left the others.
Matt watched her go, with a heavy heart. "Does she even realize I'm here?" he asked the others.
"She notices, my friend," Christian answered. "She just doesn't care."
"Greetings, Madamoiselle, and welcome to the home of the McMahons," the young man escorted the young woman with the curly black hair into the ballroom.
"Why thank you," she smiled at him. "Thank you very much." The woman than began surveying the room for familiar faces. No one, excellent.
"I don't believe we've met," a voice from her right startled her. She looked up to meet a pair of gorgeous eyes beneath a wild mane of blonde hair. The man took her hand and kissed it lightly. "I am Adam Copeland, of the London Copelands?"
The woman chuckled. "Oh, it's good to meet an Englishman out here. These French are so overly dramatic."
"Oh, then you're English?"
"Yes. Victoria Powers, recently of London."
"Recently?"
"Yes. I've lived all over Europe, I travel a lot, I get so terribly bored if I stay in one place too long."
"I can understand. Might I have met your family? Noble birth, I'm guessing."
"Oh, heavens no. Father came into some money awhile back, right before he and mother passed away and my sister ran off. Since then I've been trying to make ends meet and live the life I've become accustomed to," she waved her fan at her face and could only think `How long until I can get out of this wig? Please don't ask me to dance..."
"Would you like dance, Miss Powers?"
"It would be my pleasure."
Near one of the large windows facing the street, the man Stephanie was engaged to and the man she was in love with were in deep conversation.
"So, you're telling me Austin was beating this girl senseless?" Jericho asked, wide eyed. "Hunter, something has got to be done!"
"I know that Jericho, and you know that as does Stephanie. But so many of the older men, Vince, Heyman, Flair, they are determined to keep things as they always have been, and in their minds always should be."
"Those poor people, treated worse than animals," Jericho grimaced.
Hunter leaned his hand against the windowpane and looked out to the street just in time to catch a flash of red hair under a streetlight.
"I've got to go," he whispered to Jericho, "take care of something."
Lita had followed the old man's directions to the McMahon home perfectly, and now she was standing outside the glorious residence in the now pouring rain. She heard the music and smelled the food and suddenly knew that what the others had said was true. He was in there, feasting and dancing, while she and the others were starving and freezing.
Turning away, disgusted, she began to head back to the café, where she might freeze, but at least it would be in good company. Her stomach growled as she walked away from the food. "Oh, it's not like you were getting any, anyway!" she said to it.
"Lita! Lita wait!"
Recognizing the same voice that earlier that day had called her a stupid child, Lita walked on in the rain.
"Lita, please, I want to apologize! I was simply trying to get Austin to quit beating you!"
She kept walking, now trying to ignore the pain in both her back and her empty stomach.
"Lita, please, I...I don't know what to say to you. At least tell me you understand."
She kept walking on.
"You know Lita, there's many of us wealthy people that want to help you, and many of us want to end the injustices! Myself and several other young people, people in there, want to help you."
"Oh, and you're really helping right now, aren't you?" Lita finally yelled back. She stopped and turned around, walking back to him. "It must be so terrible to have enough food to feed you, a bed to yourself, warmth, fresh clothing, I can't even imagine what you must suffer through! If any of you really wanted to change things you'd be out here helping my friends who are suffering in a frozen café, instead of up there prancing about! You don't want to help us, you want to pity us and say you'd help us if there were any way! You could never follow through!" With that she turned to storm away again.
And collapsed face down in the street.
Tori had finally managed to separate herself from that Adam fellow and was now working her way through the hallways, trying to at least find something of interest here.
She paused outside a heavy door on the second floor. Testing the knob and finding it locked, she flicked open the clasp over the hollowed out handle of her fan, removing two very thin strips of metal. Using these, she deftly picked the lock.
"Oops, open door. Hmm...oh my, looks like my feminine curiosity is going to get the best of me."
Entering the room, Tori found Adam standing in there, pointing a pistol at her. "Don't move!" he ordered.
Rolling her eyes, Tori sighed. "Oh, god. Amateurs. Do you want to draw attention to us both?"
"My dear, the last thing I want is to get caught. If I were caught, do you realize, a legend would be imprisoned?"
"A legend? Of what, the moronic thief who got himself caught?"
"NO! I am a very famous man!"
"Really? Hmmm...I'm guessing...oh, of course! You're General Washington!"
"Laugh while you can, but trust me, I am twenty times more fearsome than General Washington! Tell me, have you ever heard of Le Chat Noir, the blonde thief who wears only black and strikes at night, in darkness?"
Tori burst out laughing. "Are you going to tell me that, you, YOU, are Le Chat Noir?"
Adam lowered his pistol. "Yes! Why is that idea so ridiculous to you?"
"Because, dear Adam," Tori laughed as she slowly approached him. She reached for her head and removed the black wig, revealing straight blonde hair hanging to her shoulders.
"I am Le Chat Noir."