Chapter 1: This Means War
Stephanie jumped up from the breakfast table and slammed her napkin down. "Daddy, how could you?" Of all the people to put me with, you had to stick me with - Jericho?!" She looked at her father wide -eyed.
"Hon, I thought it would be in the best interest of the Alliance and the WWF."
"You could have put me with anyone, I mean anyone else in the WWF, even Dwayne, The Rock, would have been fine, but nooo, you had to put Jericho and I together!"
"Sis, you're babbling," Shane commented dryly. Stephanie, Linda and Vince shot him a hard look.
"What about what's in the best interest for me?!" Stephanie yelled. She spun on her heel, and tossing her long, chestnut hair over her shoulder, flounced out of the room.
"That went well," Shane said sarcastically.
Vince nodded, "Heaven help the man who marries her."
Stephanie grabbed her blue stuffed pig and threw herself on the bed. "I can't believe Mom and Dad did that to me," she said to herself, squeezing B.P. (Blue Pig), to her chest.
*I wonder if Daddy told him that we'll be traveling together,* Stephanie thought to herself deliciously, a devious smile crossing her face.
The next morning:
"Okay Vince, who's accompanying me on this trip?" Jericho asked lazily, cradling the cell phone in his palm. His jaw dropped as Stephanie sashayed into the room.
"Hello Chris," Stephanie said sweetly. Chris nearly dropped the phone, and responded irritably, "Yeah, I'm here. What's the big idea of bringing Stephanie along for the ride? What!" Chris nearly fell out of his chair. Chris glared at Stephanie, who calmly studied her nails as she sat across from him.
"If you think I'm going to stare at her face for the next two days... Stephanie looked up at him sharply, disturbed by his comment.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I know someone else has to be able to fill in for me on this little excursion," he pleaded. "Oh, I'm the best man for the job, eh, thanks for the ego boost," Jericho said sarcastically, a sour look on his face, as he slammed the phone shut. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Stephanie said off-handedly.
"I didn't get much sleep last night," Jericho responded, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
"What's the matter, not enough women at your disposal?" Stephanie shot back.
"Yeah," he paused, "I forgot to ask the escort service to send you out to my address as well."
"Here, let me help you - wipe that smirk off your face!" she yelled, kicking Jericho in the shins. "You truly are the weakest link!" Stephanie cried, as she arose from her chair.
"Hey, you're losing your touch Princess, I believe you were the one that lost in the final round," Chris pointed out rather calmly, which really rubbed Stephanie the wrong way. Before she could send another stinging barb his way, the train lurched forward, dumping her into Jericho's lap. Instinctively, his arms wrapped protectively around her waist.
"Let go of me you, you pig!" Stephanie exclaimed, vainly trying to pry his hands from her waist.
"If you so decree it Princess." With one shove, she slid off his lap and fell on her rump onto the floor.
"Ooh," she exclaimed angrily, rubbing her backside. "That's billion dollar Princess to you buster!"
"Hey, come on, we're closer than that," Chris called after her, "we're practically bunkmates!"
"Ahem," a voice spoke up from behind Jericho.
*Uh oh,* Chris thought.
*Oh my gosh!* Stephanie slowly turned around and pasted a smile on her beet, red face. Jericho eyes locked with Stephanie's. The look in her eyes was painfully evident: anger, humiliation, hurt? Jericho also knew when a woman had murder on her mind, *I'm as good as dead,* he thought. As he and Stephanie sat down in the overstuffed chairs, the thought occurred to him that he had no idea what this little meeting was all about. *Man, I sure hope she does,* Chris thought, nervously fiddling with his pony tail.
"Father tells me you want to know what makes WWF the best of the best and how the acquisition of WCW and ECW will be a profitable benefit to us," Stephanie said smoothly.
*Impressive,* Jericho thought, marveling at Stephanie's level of professionalism.
"And this is my associate and fellow wrestler, Chris Jericho." She cringed inwardly, expecting him to say some half-cocked remark about her wrestling skills, but her mouth nearly dropped open in amazement at the string of words that followed.
"Ms. McMahon has told me a lot about you," Chris said with a smile, shaking their hands.
"All good, I hope," they joked. Chris just nodded and smiled. Stephanie noticed the look in his eyes. It read, 'You owe me big time for this one Stephanie!'
'Oh please, I don't think so!' her eyes responded.
After an hour of mind - numbing discussion, the tall, thin one Chris and Stephanie had gotten to know as Joe, asked a very astute question, eyeing them sharply, he asked, "Since Mr. McMahon chose the two of you to represent the WWF, how well do you get along? When we walked in, you perhaps seemed to be, ah, in the middle of an argument," he fished.
Angrily, Chris felt it was none of his business. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Stephanie was also distressed. Chris put an arm around her shoulders and smiled, "Gee, Steph and I get along just swell!" Chris emphasized, barely keeping the sarcasm out of his voice. Joe's associate started curiously at them over his gold, wire - rimmed glasses.
"Chris is right," Stephanie encouraged, smiling tightly. Shooting Chris a look, she squeezed his arm in an extremely tight, painful grip. "You idiot!" she exclaimed through gritted teeth.
Still peering at them curiously, Joe's balding, portly cohort, Bob, stood up and cleared his throat, "Well, I think we shall return to our quarters for a bit of relaxation. If you'll excuse us."
"You bet I will," Chris muttered under his breath. He turned to Stephanie, "Yeowch! You have a mean grip there, dragon lady!" Chris exclaimed, glaring at her.
She smiled wickedly, "I just wounded your pride fly boy, that's all."
In the gentleman's quarters:
"They don't suspect a thing," the chunky fellow said into the tiny cell phone, as he pulled mustache off.
"They are still fighting like cats and dogs though," the taller one spoke into his own cell phone, as he gingerly started pulling off his thick sideburns. Simultaneously, they flipped their cell phones shut and threw them on the lower bunk.
The shorter one glanced at his watch, "Almost time."
"Ooh, these sting," he frowned, as he worked on pulling off the other sideburn. Okay, just help me get this off though would you?"
"Here, ya just gotta rip it off, like this."
"Ahh!"
The driver's seat:
The engineer glanced at the clock on the wall, "Man, I never realized how hard it was to sound like a guy until today. I'm awfully glad Steph didn't request that I turn around or something. Glancing up at the wall clock again, the engineer tugged at the striped cap sitting atop her head, the long hair spilling down her back, "It's been real, but I gotta jet."
Back in the drawing room:
"Did you hear something?" Stephanie asked, "it sounded like a scream."
"Nope, the only thing I've heard for the past thirty minutes is the incessant grinding of teeth," Jericho stated pointedly, staring at her.
"Well, maybe I could stand to look at you if you'd quit licking your lips every thirty seconds."
"Aw, and I thought that made me look sexy," he sneered. Stephanie's cheeks turned apple red.
"Wow, you are blushing! You do think that makes me look sexy, don't you?" he demanded. Before she had a chance to deny it, the train suddenly swerved abruptly to the left, causing Stephanie to fall forward. Losing her balance, she fell against the other side of the train, hitting the wall.
"You okay?" Jericho asked, helping her up.
Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Stephanie looked up at him sarcastically, "Never been better."
"Now, what kind of crazy driver did Daddy hire? When I talked to the engineer earlier today, he wouldn't even turn to face me."
"What, he didn't acknowledge his royal highness, maybe it's because he was driving," Chris cracked following her down the narrow hallway.
"Ha, ha, very funny Jericho." Stephanie continued, "He just grunted out a few words in a very raspy voice. I figured he probably chain-smoked for the past twenty years and now has emphysema or something." Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks as she opened the door.
"What's going on, where the heck is the engineer?" Jericho asked over her shoulder in disgust.
Stephanie shook her head, "I have no idea."
"Well, try to stop the train," Jericho demanded impatiently.
"What?! I don't know how to stop a train!"
He reached over her head, "Just pull this cord." Chris shook his head, "Are you sure you're not really a blon...uh oh."
"Uh oh what, what's wrong?"
"The brakes, they're gone!"
"You have to be kidding me." Stephanie reached up and pulled on the cord with all her might, but to no avail. Her face paled and she felt herself go weak in the knees.
"Don't bail out on me now kiddo," Jericho said lightly. Gently, he shoved Stephanie back down the hall. He was worried too, but for Stephanie's sake he wasn't going to let his fears known.
"Why don't we go check on our guests," Chris suggested.
Stephanie nodded, dazed. *This can't be happening, tell me this is not happening!* As they approached the room, Stephanie rapped lightly on the door with her knuckles.
No answer, "Hello Joe?" Chris had a bad feeling about this, but before he could say a word, Steph gave the door a light push and it swung open slowly. Stephanie turned to Chris in alarm, "It 's not even closed all the way!"
"Maybe I should..."
"No, that's alright, I can do it," Stephanie said bravely. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside the room. She gasped, Chris half closed his eyes, afraid of what he would see.
"They're gone, but…" she trailed off, picking up a latex headpiece, spectacles and a pair of bushy sideburns.
"Something fishy is going on here."
Stephanie nodded. "They just couldn't have jumped off the train though, right?" Stephanie asked puzzled, gesturing towards the open window.
"I don't know, but my hurri-senses," Chris said, shooting Stephanie a quirky grin, "tell me that on a train with no driver and no brakes, it's time to jump ship." Chris grabbed Stephanie's hand, yanking her out of the cabin. Together, they raced towards the back of the train.
"But, we're over water!" Stephanie screamed over the clickety - clack of the wheels.
"So, we're running out of bridge!"
"What!" Stephanie's eyes followed where Chris was pointing. Not too far ahead of them, a gaping whole stared back them, instead of the stretch of bridge that should have lain there. The train whipped around a bend and picked up speed, as it made it's down hill run.
Chris tightened his hold on her hand, "You ready?"
She nodded and closed her eyes, trying in vain, to swallow the lump in her throat. Chris helped Stephanie up onto the caboose railing, but the train lurched again, causing her high-heeled shoes to slip. She tried to hang on, as did Chris, but her hand slipped from his as she plunged into the inky darkness below.
"Stephanie!" Chris made the move to dive in after her, but the train accelerated even more, throwing him backwards. Dizzily, he sat up, knowing he was almost at the end of the line. Very disoriented, he tumbled over the side as well. Instantaneously, the train flew over the humongous gap and smashed into the mountainside, causing a far - reaching, fireball explosion. Pieces of metal, timber and ashes fell into the water.
Where could Stephanie and Chris be?
Did they survive such a treacherous incident?
Stay tuned, don't click that button...
Stephanie jumped up from the breakfast table and slammed her napkin down. "Daddy, how could you?" Of all the people to put me with, you had to stick me with - Jericho?!" She looked at her father wide -eyed.
"Hon, I thought it would be in the best interest of the Alliance and the WWF."
"You could have put me with anyone, I mean anyone else in the WWF, even Dwayne, The Rock, would have been fine, but nooo, you had to put Jericho and I together!"
"Sis, you're babbling," Shane commented dryly. Stephanie, Linda and Vince shot him a hard look.
"What about what's in the best interest for me?!" Stephanie yelled. She spun on her heel, and tossing her long, chestnut hair over her shoulder, flounced out of the room.
"That went well," Shane said sarcastically.
Vince nodded, "Heaven help the man who marries her."
Stephanie grabbed her blue stuffed pig and threw herself on the bed. "I can't believe Mom and Dad did that to me," she said to herself, squeezing B.P. (Blue Pig), to her chest.
*I wonder if Daddy told him that we'll be traveling together,* Stephanie thought to herself deliciously, a devious smile crossing her face.
The next morning:
"Okay Vince, who's accompanying me on this trip?" Jericho asked lazily, cradling the cell phone in his palm. His jaw dropped as Stephanie sashayed into the room.
"Hello Chris," Stephanie said sweetly. Chris nearly dropped the phone, and responded irritably, "Yeah, I'm here. What's the big idea of bringing Stephanie along for the ride? What!" Chris nearly fell out of his chair. Chris glared at Stephanie, who calmly studied her nails as she sat across from him.
"If you think I'm going to stare at her face for the next two days... Stephanie looked up at him sharply, disturbed by his comment.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I know someone else has to be able to fill in for me on this little excursion," he pleaded. "Oh, I'm the best man for the job, eh, thanks for the ego boost," Jericho said sarcastically, a sour look on his face, as he slammed the phone shut. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Stephanie said off-handedly.
"I didn't get much sleep last night," Jericho responded, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
"What's the matter, not enough women at your disposal?" Stephanie shot back.
"Yeah," he paused, "I forgot to ask the escort service to send you out to my address as well."
"Here, let me help you - wipe that smirk off your face!" she yelled, kicking Jericho in the shins. "You truly are the weakest link!" Stephanie cried, as she arose from her chair.
"Hey, you're losing your touch Princess, I believe you were the one that lost in the final round," Chris pointed out rather calmly, which really rubbed Stephanie the wrong way. Before she could send another stinging barb his way, the train lurched forward, dumping her into Jericho's lap. Instinctively, his arms wrapped protectively around her waist.
"Let go of me you, you pig!" Stephanie exclaimed, vainly trying to pry his hands from her waist.
"If you so decree it Princess." With one shove, she slid off his lap and fell on her rump onto the floor.
"Ooh," she exclaimed angrily, rubbing her backside. "That's billion dollar Princess to you buster!"
"Hey, come on, we're closer than that," Chris called after her, "we're practically bunkmates!"
"Ahem," a voice spoke up from behind Jericho.
*Uh oh,* Chris thought.
*Oh my gosh!* Stephanie slowly turned around and pasted a smile on her beet, red face. Jericho eyes locked with Stephanie's. The look in her eyes was painfully evident: anger, humiliation, hurt? Jericho also knew when a woman had murder on her mind, *I'm as good as dead,* he thought. As he and Stephanie sat down in the overstuffed chairs, the thought occurred to him that he had no idea what this little meeting was all about. *Man, I sure hope she does,* Chris thought, nervously fiddling with his pony tail.
"Father tells me you want to know what makes WWF the best of the best and how the acquisition of WCW and ECW will be a profitable benefit to us," Stephanie said smoothly.
*Impressive,* Jericho thought, marveling at Stephanie's level of professionalism.
"And this is my associate and fellow wrestler, Chris Jericho." She cringed inwardly, expecting him to say some half-cocked remark about her wrestling skills, but her mouth nearly dropped open in amazement at the string of words that followed.
"Ms. McMahon has told me a lot about you," Chris said with a smile, shaking their hands.
"All good, I hope," they joked. Chris just nodded and smiled. Stephanie noticed the look in his eyes. It read, 'You owe me big time for this one Stephanie!'
'Oh please, I don't think so!' her eyes responded.
After an hour of mind - numbing discussion, the tall, thin one Chris and Stephanie had gotten to know as Joe, asked a very astute question, eyeing them sharply, he asked, "Since Mr. McMahon chose the two of you to represent the WWF, how well do you get along? When we walked in, you perhaps seemed to be, ah, in the middle of an argument," he fished.
Angrily, Chris felt it was none of his business. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Stephanie was also distressed. Chris put an arm around her shoulders and smiled, "Gee, Steph and I get along just swell!" Chris emphasized, barely keeping the sarcasm out of his voice. Joe's associate started curiously at them over his gold, wire - rimmed glasses.
"Chris is right," Stephanie encouraged, smiling tightly. Shooting Chris a look, she squeezed his arm in an extremely tight, painful grip. "You idiot!" she exclaimed through gritted teeth.
Still peering at them curiously, Joe's balding, portly cohort, Bob, stood up and cleared his throat, "Well, I think we shall return to our quarters for a bit of relaxation. If you'll excuse us."
"You bet I will," Chris muttered under his breath. He turned to Stephanie, "Yeowch! You have a mean grip there, dragon lady!" Chris exclaimed, glaring at her.
She smiled wickedly, "I just wounded your pride fly boy, that's all."
In the gentleman's quarters:
"They don't suspect a thing," the chunky fellow said into the tiny cell phone, as he pulled mustache off.
"They are still fighting like cats and dogs though," the taller one spoke into his own cell phone, as he gingerly started pulling off his thick sideburns. Simultaneously, they flipped their cell phones shut and threw them on the lower bunk.
The shorter one glanced at his watch, "Almost time."
"Ooh, these sting," he frowned, as he worked on pulling off the other sideburn. Okay, just help me get this off though would you?"
"Here, ya just gotta rip it off, like this."
"Ahh!"
The driver's seat:
The engineer glanced at the clock on the wall, "Man, I never realized how hard it was to sound like a guy until today. I'm awfully glad Steph didn't request that I turn around or something. Glancing up at the wall clock again, the engineer tugged at the striped cap sitting atop her head, the long hair spilling down her back, "It's been real, but I gotta jet."
Back in the drawing room:
"Did you hear something?" Stephanie asked, "it sounded like a scream."
"Nope, the only thing I've heard for the past thirty minutes is the incessant grinding of teeth," Jericho stated pointedly, staring at her.
"Well, maybe I could stand to look at you if you'd quit licking your lips every thirty seconds."
"Aw, and I thought that made me look sexy," he sneered. Stephanie's cheeks turned apple red.
"Wow, you are blushing! You do think that makes me look sexy, don't you?" he demanded. Before she had a chance to deny it, the train suddenly swerved abruptly to the left, causing Stephanie to fall forward. Losing her balance, she fell against the other side of the train, hitting the wall.
"You okay?" Jericho asked, helping her up.
Pushing her hair out of her eyes, Stephanie looked up at him sarcastically, "Never been better."
"Now, what kind of crazy driver did Daddy hire? When I talked to the engineer earlier today, he wouldn't even turn to face me."
"What, he didn't acknowledge his royal highness, maybe it's because he was driving," Chris cracked following her down the narrow hallway.
"Ha, ha, very funny Jericho." Stephanie continued, "He just grunted out a few words in a very raspy voice. I figured he probably chain-smoked for the past twenty years and now has emphysema or something." Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks as she opened the door.
"What's going on, where the heck is the engineer?" Jericho asked over her shoulder in disgust.
Stephanie shook her head, "I have no idea."
"Well, try to stop the train," Jericho demanded impatiently.
"What?! I don't know how to stop a train!"
He reached over her head, "Just pull this cord." Chris shook his head, "Are you sure you're not really a blon...uh oh."
"Uh oh what, what's wrong?"
"The brakes, they're gone!"
"You have to be kidding me." Stephanie reached up and pulled on the cord with all her might, but to no avail. Her face paled and she felt herself go weak in the knees.
"Don't bail out on me now kiddo," Jericho said lightly. Gently, he shoved Stephanie back down the hall. He was worried too, but for Stephanie's sake he wasn't going to let his fears known.
"Why don't we go check on our guests," Chris suggested.
Stephanie nodded, dazed. *This can't be happening, tell me this is not happening!* As they approached the room, Stephanie rapped lightly on the door with her knuckles.
No answer, "Hello Joe?" Chris had a bad feeling about this, but before he could say a word, Steph gave the door a light push and it swung open slowly. Stephanie turned to Chris in alarm, "It 's not even closed all the way!"
"Maybe I should..."
"No, that's alright, I can do it," Stephanie said bravely. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside the room. She gasped, Chris half closed his eyes, afraid of what he would see.
"They're gone, but…" she trailed off, picking up a latex headpiece, spectacles and a pair of bushy sideburns.
"Something fishy is going on here."
Stephanie nodded. "They just couldn't have jumped off the train though, right?" Stephanie asked puzzled, gesturing towards the open window.
"I don't know, but my hurri-senses," Chris said, shooting Stephanie a quirky grin, "tell me that on a train with no driver and no brakes, it's time to jump ship." Chris grabbed Stephanie's hand, yanking her out of the cabin. Together, they raced towards the back of the train.
"But, we're over water!" Stephanie screamed over the clickety - clack of the wheels.
"So, we're running out of bridge!"
"What!" Stephanie's eyes followed where Chris was pointing. Not too far ahead of them, a gaping whole stared back them, instead of the stretch of bridge that should have lain there. The train whipped around a bend and picked up speed, as it made it's down hill run.
Chris tightened his hold on her hand, "You ready?"
She nodded and closed her eyes, trying in vain, to swallow the lump in her throat. Chris helped Stephanie up onto the caboose railing, but the train lurched again, causing her high-heeled shoes to slip. She tried to hang on, as did Chris, but her hand slipped from his as she plunged into the inky darkness below.
"Stephanie!" Chris made the move to dive in after her, but the train accelerated even more, throwing him backwards. Dizzily, he sat up, knowing he was almost at the end of the line. Very disoriented, he tumbled over the side as well. Instantaneously, the train flew over the humongous gap and smashed into the mountainside, causing a far - reaching, fireball explosion. Pieces of metal, timber and ashes fell into the water.
Where could Stephanie and Chris be?
Did they survive such a treacherous incident?
Stay tuned, don't click that button...