TITLE: My Enemy's Enemy (5/?)

AUTHOR: Bellerophon

EMAIL: bellerophon_666@hotmail.com

CATEGORY: WWF

DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, nor do I claim to.

DISTRIBUTION: Anyone can have this story as long as they ask first.

RATING: PG-13

SUMMARY: What could've happened during the whole Alliance debacle.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:This doesn't follow any particular time line, I've kinda taken artistic license and made a whole lot of stuff up. But hey, it's fiction so I'm allowed. It should become clear what's going on as the story progress's. Team Xtreme are still together, E&C have broken up, Jericho hasn't been the Undisputed Champion and the whole alliance thing is still going on. Make sense? Don't worry, I'm sure it will sooner or later. Thanks to everyone who offered to beta for me when I asked and also to those of you who have helped me with finding out a whole lot of stuff I didn't know. Also, apologies to Karen because I keep forgetting rules. I'll try not to break any this time.

CHAPTER 5

Christian moaned as he got into the rental car he was sharing with RVD and Test. He sat back gingerly against the couchy backseat. Test and Rob were in the front, Rob driving as both Test and Christian nursed serious hangovers. He smirked at the sight of the two men, wincing and wearing big black sunglasses.

"You both need to learn how to hold your liquor," He laughed and peeled out of the parking lot. Christian yelped as he was thrown back against his seat, landing smack on the rainbow of bruises decorating his back.

"Oh. God." He ground out between gritted teeth. "If you love your life, Rob, so don't do that again."

Test, unseen by Christian, nodded slowly in agreement, not wanting to aggravate the pounding in his head. "Come on, man. We're suffering here. Drive like a normal person just this once."

"Hey, I need to psych up. I am taking on Jericho in a few hours." Rob gestured with one hand as he spun the steering wheel into a sharp turn. Test and Christian's knuckles were turning white from their grips on the seats. "And I don't think there's anything wrong with the way I drive."

Test breathed a sigh of relief as Rob entered a long straight road with no traffic. "Think of it this way. If we get killed in a car accident, we'll be leaving Stephanie all alone without anyone to keep an eye for her."

Rob shook his head. "Like Stephanie really needs us. She's a freaking cat, man. She always lands on her feet."

Christian stopped muttering curses long enough to say, "Sounds like a certain person, driving a certain car, with another certain person who is certainly about to totally kill him if he doesn't stop slamming my back against the backseat because that certain chumpstain doesn't know how to break properly."

Rob eyed Christian in the mirror. "I have no idea what you just said."

Christian glared at him before thinking about it, "Dude, neither do I." He and Rob both laughed at that.

Test tried to block out the sounds of Rob and Christian chatting and laughing. Christian was already ignoring his hangover and jumping around in the back seat. Test didn't get how he was doing that, what with his multi-colour back and all. But that was just Christian, the boy with the attention span of a fly. And Rob was so damn laid-back he could get on well with everyone. They made quite a pair.

Christian laughed, ignoring the ache in his back. There was a roundabout coming up and he was interested to see how Rob would take on the 'circle of death' as he had just called it. "Don't kill me, okay. I still need to go out tonight and kick the weird Hardy's ass."

"I want you to be careful about that match." Test ordered. "The Hardys are some of the people looking after Stephanie. Make sure you don't cause any major injuries."

Christian huffed, "Dude, Jeff Hardy needs serious injuries just to keep him down." He frowned, thinking of the match. "Plus if I don't go hard on him, I'm so totally getting my ass kicked."

Test spun around in his seat and lifted up his sunnies, "I know you want to take it to the Hardys, all of us do. But we're in no position at the moment to be attacking them seriously." His blue eyes bored holes in Christian. "I'm telling you, no lasting damage to the technicolour freak, okay?"

"Whatever, dude. When my ass is grass, you're the one I'll be coming after."

*********

"There is no way in hell either of you are going to drive!"

"But I'm an excellent driver…"

"And I'm even excellent-er than him…"

"Excellent-er isn't even a word, Jeff."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and tried to pretend she wasn't with the hyper Hardys. They were currently trying to convince Lita that one of them could drive. Pfff, good luck. Stephanie had seen the ball-breaking bitch side of Lita come out since she was delegated the task of handling the two brothers. Jericho had looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown and Stephanie had flat out refused to go near either Jeff or Matt. Soon after walking into the hotel room, she locked herself in the bedroom and hid from all four of her former enemies. Even through a solid wood door, she had heard Lita yelling. It was entertaining…

"You can both forget about driving because I'm going to drive." Chris announced as he walked up to the car.

Stephanie made a face. Jericho had finally deigned to join them. They had had a huge argument before about whether she should go to RAW or not. Jericho had said no, she said yes, and she won because she told him she would just go anyway even if they did leave her behind at the hotel. And now she was stuck sitting in a locked room with a monitor, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Lita, Edge and Chris Jericho as a safety precaution. She decided the best place to ignore them all would be in the car so she opened the front door and sat in the passenger seat.

"Hey! Who says she gets the front seat? I called shotgun!" Jeff pouted. Lita smacked him upside the head.

"Get in the car, you dorks." She ordered Jeff and Matt. After a fair bit of struggle, she got them both in the car, with Jeff between her and Matt. She sat them that way because, quite frankly, if she had to deal with her boyfriend any more that day, she was never going to sleep with him again.

They finally left the hotel, with Chris commandeering the tape player. He inserted his own tape. Heavy guitar riffs began playing loudly. Stephanie raised an eyebrow and turned the music down. Chris glared at her and turned it back up. Stephanie glared back and ejected the tape.

"Put the damn tape back, Stephanie!"

Funny, Stephanie noticed then that the only time that Jericho called her by her full name was when he was really pissed. "Is this crap one of your favourite tapes, Chrissy?" Well, two could play the name shortening game. She taped the tape with one long, lacquered nail while she rolled the window down.

"As a matter of fact, Stephy," he spat out her name. "It's not just a tape. It's a live recording of the greatest rock Gods of all time, Fozzy."

Stephanie smirked. This would be fun. She shrugged and began tapping the side of the window with the tape. Jericho reached over and tried to pull the tape from her and Stephanie used the opportunity to drop the tape. Out the window.

"You bitch!" Jericho snapped. He was about to pull over and find the tape except he saw the time and swore. They were already going to be late to the taping of RAW. Shit. "I swear to god, I am going to get you back for that."

Stephanie just smirked.

Up until then, the Hardys had been occupying themselves. But the mini-fight between Chris and Stephanie distracted them. Jeff sat forward into Stephanie's face. She turned sideways to find herself staring at Jeff Hardy, up close and personal.

He squinted at her and spoke, "Has anyone even told you that you have evil eyes?"

Stephanie brought herself nose to nose with him. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a weird face?"

"…no." Jeff sat back in his seat.

Stephanie glared over her shoulder at him and then turned to look out the window. She didn't like the looks of the way the night was looking for Christian and Rob. Jeff was bad enough normally. Now he was all hyper and he would just pull crazier stuff than normal. The problem being that his crazy stunts usually knocked out the opposition. Poor Christian. And as for Rob, well she had managed to piss of Jericho quite a bit. He was getting very aggravated. And from past experience, such as getting put in the Walls of Jericho, she knew the angrier he got, the tougher he was to beat.

She felt the running wind flow through her hair. Right now, Stephanie just couldn't see how this mess was going to sort itself out.

*********

Stephanie sat watching the monitor. This whole night was beyond boring. Jeff had been psyching up for ages and Matt and Lita were sitting near her, cheering for people on the WWF's side. She huffed and closed her eyes. She drifted off into a daydream where she was royalty and Jericho was her personal slave. Smiling happily, she roamed the McMahon kingdom for a while, only to be shocked out of her reverie by heavy knocking on the door.

Jeff bounced over to the door and pulled it open quickly. Too quick for Edge who was leaning on the other side because the sudden lack of door he had been leaning on meant a sudden drop to the floor. He shook his head and stood, accompanied by the sniggering of the Hardys and Lita. Well, there was no love lost there.

Stephanie just shook her head and turned to watch the monitor again. She couldn't believe her father was entrusting her safety to these goons. Edge ignored the mockery of the Hardys and sat himself down next to her. "Hey Stephanie, how was a night with the most loserrific losers of all time?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. She had almost forgotten what Edge and Christian were like. She hadn't talked to either of them in ages. Thank God she only had to deal with one at the moment, things only got worse when the two were in the same room. Smiling slightly, she had to admit he had a pretty accurate description of her allies. "Could've been better, Edge."

He laughed in response, sounding like a normal person for once. They watched the screen for awhile, both sneering as Jericho had a promo with RVD. Stephanie watched objectively. Rob looked as laidback as he always did and Jericho looked as arrogant as always, interrupting Rob in the middle of his interview and ranting about how good he was, blah blah blah…Stephanie began ignoring the actual words, instead just watching the scene. Her eyes drifted unconsciously to watch Jericho. She had to admit that he was, in some ways, slightly good looking when he was shamelessly promoting himself. Blurggh, why in the name of all things decent and McMahonish was she thinking such atrocious thoughts?

"Alright guys, time for me to go knock Edge's little bro round the ring." Jeff skipped over to Edge and ruffled his hair. Stephanie noted the sudden fury and betrayal that entered Edge's eyes, as he pushed Jeff away.

"Don't start with me, Hardy." Edge warned, undertones of anger evident. Jeff wasn't so spazzed out that he didn't notice the dangerous look in Edge's eyes. He backed away, mock fear on his face before he grabbed Lita by the hand and pulled her out the door.

"Lita sweeta, be a dear and accompany me to the ring," Jeff's voice rang out from the corridor. The people remaining in the room also heard the distinct sound of Lita smacking Jeff over the head. "Hey Chris, my man! Nice promo," Jeff sang out. There was no response from Chris until he became visible in the doorway.

"You are a lunatic." Chris pointed out. "Good luck kicking Christian's ass." He entered the room and shut the door behind him. "Okay, everyone, your paragon of virtue has arrived."

"Paragon of stupidity," Stephanie muttered under her breath. Next to her, Edge overheard the comment and snorted with laughter.

"What was that, princess?" Jericho questioned. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

Stephanie poked her tongue out at him and turned away to watch Christian enter the ring. Chris decided to ignore her and sat next to Matt near the wall. "How's things been while I was off being a star?"

Matt sighed, his caffeine high was pretty much gone. "Jeff was a moron, Lita smacked him around, Stephanie and Edge paired off because they couldn't take our arsenal of insults."

"Paired off? How long have they been like that?"

"Pretty much since he got here. They were looking pretty cosy too," Matt narrowed his eyes. "Why, man. Does that bother you?"

Chris scoffed, "Why would it bother me? I mean, it's not like I remotely like Stephanie or anything. She's a two-cent gutter-slut."

Matt shrugged. "You were just sounding a bit green."

"Green? Green!? I am so not jealous! Why would I be jealous?"

Matt held up his hands. "Hey, Chris. I just call it as I see it." He shushed Chris as he was about to respond. "Shut up about your girlfriend. Jeff and Lita are walking in."

*********

The music rang out and Jeff and Lita made their way down the ramp, practically dancing to the ring before sprinting to enter. They ignored Christian as they climbed the ring posts and played up to the cheering crowds. Jeff couldn't ignore him for long though, after Christian pulled him off and straight away began laying into him with punches. Jeff managed to kick him away and went on the offensive.

The match was fast and exciting to watch, with Jeff and Christian's styles complementing each other. Jeff was pulling his usual high flying attacks, taking Christian down with a Whisper in the Wind but only scoring a two-count. Christian was playing the game his own way, occasional climbing the ring post but mostly attacking Jeff with the technical moves he knew best. Cross bodies and mixed up back or neck-breakers were his favourites. He stunned Jeff with a DDT and was about to score the pin when he felt someone slam their hands down on his back.

Lita pulled Christian off Jeff and kicked him a few times before sliding out of the ring. She'd be damned if she was going to let that bastard win the match. She was a bit confused however as she watched Christian moan in pain, trying to hold his back. She hadn't really hit him that hard. What the hell was his problem?

Jeff took advantage of Christian's misfortune and climbed the ring post, relishing the sudden cheers of the crowds. He reached the top and held his arms out. Christian rolled onto his stomach, about to climb to his feet. Jeff jumped and spun in the air, landing his devastating finishing move, the Swanton Bomb, across Christian's back. He rolled over to cover Christian for the three count and win. He tried to ignore the sounds of pain coming from Christian. He hadn't done anything worse than usual, had he? Christian had taken all those moves before.

Jeff allowed the Ref to hold his arm up in victory, not noticing behind him that Christian had climbed to his feet.

Christian could barely stand, the pain in his back was so great. It felt like someone had laid hot pokers along it. He could, however, see Jeff celebrating the win. Familiar rage ran through him and he ran at Jeff, clothes-lining him out of the ring over the top rope. He glared down at him before turning around, hearing the cheers of the crowds. A tingle of apprehension ran down his spine. This felt all too familiar. He looked up and saw Lita flying at him, wrapping her legs around his neck and spinning him round for the Hurricanrana. He really should've seen that coming. He landed awkwardly, twinging his neck as he rolled.

Lita had felt it too. As she stood up, she looked down at the fallen blonde, realising why he had been so responsive to her attack. Through his tight mesh singlet, Lita could make out the dark bruises literally covering his back. She winced as she stepped away. Those bruises, combined with the hard landing he just had meant that Christian was going to be very sore and probably not fit for any more matches for a few weeks.

Oh well. That wasn't her problem, more like her good luck. That got Christian out of their hair for a while at least. She jumped down next to Jeff on the mat and they held hands in the air before turning and running up the ramp to the sound of their music.

*********

Stephanie tried not to cry out or wince during Christian's match. She was pretty sure no one had noticed any momentary forgetfulness on her part. Edge was still sitting next to her, with clenched hands and gritted teeth. She glanced at him before shaking her head. That man and his brother definitely had issues.

She tried to forget the look of pain on Christian's face. Rob's match was next and maybe he would beat the crap out of Jericho. That would definitely make her feel better.

The door to their hiding room opened and Stephanie tried to ignore the boasting of Lita and Jeff, instead making plans to call Test that night. She'd speak to Christian too, find out how he was doing.

Chris congratulated Jeff on his win, trying not to watch Stephanie. He had noticed throughout that match that every time Christian took a hit, her hands tightened on her seat. More suspicions arose as to who Stephanie's insiders were. It looked to be very likely that Christian was one of them. Too bad she hadn't told them. That might've saved Christian from some of the soreness Chris knew he was going to be feeling for awhile. Too late now, anyway.

He stood up and shook himself out. "Time for me to go kick RVD's fat ass."

The Hardys cheered and Lita slapped him on the back. Even Edge looked decidedly happier at that thought. Even though they didn't get along, he was still loyal to the WWF. Only Stephanie frowned at him. She stood up and poked him in the chest with her finger.

"You'd be lucky to even put a dent in him." Stephanie snapped. His theory about RVD was proving realistic.

"Oh, I'll do more than that, Stephy," Chris smirked, staring into her eyes, "I'm gonna pin him in front of a packed arena and I'm gonna prove I'm better than him."

Stephanie just huffed and sat down with her back to him. Chris rolled his eyes at the others and walked out, trying not think about how mesmerising her eyes were.

***********

RVD walked out to mixed cheers. The crowd didn't approve of his ECW background but they certainly loved his unique style in the ring. Of course, every wrestler on the roster hated it. All you could when taking him on was hope to knock him flat and not take too many hits from him. Especially not the Five Star Frog Splash. As far as Chris knew, no one had kicked out of a pin after RVD pulled his finisher off.

Chris heard his countdown begin and the cheers start. He pulled his pose, arms in the air, before turning around and making his way to the ring. He attacked RVD straight away, knocking him down with an arm bar. RVD hit the mat hard but rolled away to put some space between Jericho and himself. He curled up and flipped his legs up, landing on his feet. Chris went straight to the offensive, wrestling him to a ring post and beginning to lay some punches on him. Rob pushed him away and reversed the situation, but instead began driving his shoulder into Chris's stomach. He flipped away and ran up to drive the shoulder in extra hard, but missed when Chris moved out of the way. Chris Irish-whipped him onto the ropes then clothes-lined him, knocking him down. Chris took that opportunity to pull one of his favourite moves. He ran to the ropes and jumped off the second one, flipping in the air and smacking down on RVD, landing the Lionsault. He pinned RVD but only managed a two-count.

The match continued along those lines. Both attacking hard and fast. Chris was landing several tricky moves but had also taken a Rolling Thunder and a Vandaminator. Quite frankly, his head was reeling. He knocked RVD down and climbed to the tope rope for a Cross Body. As he jumped, RVD rolled out of the way and Chris hit the ground. Hard. He could almost hear Stephanie laughing. Lying there stunned, he dopily watched RVD climb to the top rope. Chris saw what was coming. Just as RVD had before him, he rolled out of the way, hearing rather than seeing RVD smack down on the mat. He laid there recovering and listening to the ref count out. Kicking his feet, Chris climbed up and stood over RVD. He pulled his legs up and began to pull him over into Chris's finishing move. He spun RVD over and locked in the Walls of Jericho. Chris pulled hard on his legs, feeling the strain.

He could hear RVD screaming, refusing to tap out. So he pulled harder. Then in the midst of the commotion, Chris pin pointed cheers coming from a certain area of the arena. He could also see a certain wrestler coming in that direction. Chris pulled even harder but had to let go as Rhyno climbed into the ring. He slid out the other side. Normally, he'd be supremely happy to take on Rhyno. Right now though…

His thoughts were broken off as Rhyno came after him at full tilt. Chris recognised the look in his eyes. Sighing, he knew what was coming.

Rhyno gored him to the ground.

***********

Lying down, Chris groaned as Lita checked his ribs. Behind her he could see Jeff and Matt playing thumb-wars. Good to see his friends were so concerned for him. As if in response to that thought, Lita patted his ribs none too softly and smiled. "None broken this time. You've probably just bruised them."

"I probably bruised them? How about her toy-boy probably did?!" Chris fumed.

Stephanie was trying to restrain from laughing evilly. "I had nothing to do with that. It's not my fault if Rhyno just doesn't like you."

Chris glared at her. "Excuse me, if I don't quite believe you."

"Excuse me if I don't care."

"You're nothing but slutty bitch."

"Well, you're nothing but a stupid blonde moron who can't even get out of the way of a Gore from another brain dead moron."

"I'm gonna make you regr…"

Chris was interrupted by Edge whistling a loud taxi whistle. "Hate to interrupt the bitch fight guys, but were the whole Alliance due for an appearance tonight?"

Stephanie frowned in thought. "No…I don't think so."

"Well, something's going on then because they're all going ringside." Edge gestured to the monitor and the occupants of the room crowded around the screen.

"What's that dumbfuck Heyman up to now?" Matt muttered.

"It's not Heyman behind this. He's just Hunter's front man." Stephanie mumbled. She looked over Christian. He wasn't standing with either Rob or Test. In fact, none of them were near each other. Christian looked like shit. And if Stephanie could see him wincing as he moved. "Hunter is up to something."

They watched as Heyman took a microphone and began talking. "Hello, good people. This is Paul E. and I have something shocking to bring to light."

"What? You're a heterosexual?" Edge muttered to the screen. The rest of the room sniggered in response.

"We demand loyalty from our ECW and WCW wrestlers. We're gonna take over the sports entertainment industry. We're gonna put Vince McMahon out of business. And I expect every one of my employees to acknowledge that."

Stephanie frowned. "I don't like this. He's talking about loyalty."

"I am very, very disappointed to inform you fans that we have rats in our ranks."

The little room was dead quiet.

"I am very, very sorry to have to do this in front of you good people. But I will not stand for dissension. So all my good little employees are going to learn what happens when you try to screw over Paul Heyman!"

Chris's brow furrowed. "What's he going to do? Does he know that some people have turned?"

"Rhyno. Bring forward the traitor."

Stephanie watched, praying that Test, Rob and Christian were safe, that Heyman didn't know anything. She watched Rhyno prowl down the line of wrestlers, past Test, past Rob, past…past…oh god, he pulled out Christian. Stephanie's hand flew to her mouth and she watched in shock with the rest of the occupants.

"Christian is a good guy?" Jeff whispered disbelievingly.

Stephanie nodded, not wanting to watch as Christian was pushed to his knees in front of Heyman. Rhyno punched him to a daze, landing blows on his sore neck and to his back as well. The crowd was in an uproar, just screaming about the confusion.

"Christian, I didn't want to do this. You've been good to us. But I won't allow betrayal to go unpunished. Let this be a lesson to those who might be harbouring thoughts of rejoining the WWF. This is what the Alliance will do to you." Heyman gestured to Rhyno who jumped out of the ring and reached under to pull out a sledge-hammer.

"Well, if that isn't a message from Triple H, I'll be a monkey's uncle," Chris glared at the screen.

Heyman took the sledge-hammer from Rhyno, dropped the microphone and swung hard at the swaying man. The blow slammed into Christian's chest, knocking him to the ground. Heyman dropped the sledge-hammer and left the ring. Most of the Alliance left as well, including Rob and Test. As much as Stephanie knew they wanted to kill Heyman, they couldn't risk exposure now, even taking the chance that Heyman knew what was going on.

Rhyno stayed in the ring with the Dudleys. A massive beat down on Christian began. Stephanie jumped to her feet and began to run to the door before a hand reached out and stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going, Princess?" Jericho's voice was hard.

"I'm going to help. I can't just sit here," Stephanie tried to pull away but Jericho pushed her back to her seat.

"You can't go out there. The Alliance will be waiting for that and then they'll take you back. Now sit down." Chris wanted to go out there just as much. Even though he really didn't like Christian, he couldn't just sit here and watch as Christian was taken to pieces by Alliance people. Especially when Christian wasn't really Alliance at all. But he knew that the Alliance would be just as ready to take him and beat information out of him. No, the situation was too risky. Taking down the Alliance was too important.

Stephanie couldn't sit still. She pushed Edge and began screeching, "Why don't you do something!? He's your fucking brother! How can you just sit there and watch!?"

Edge looked at her and shook his head. "He doesn't deserve my help." He said coldly.

Stephanie moved fast, tackling him off his chair and landing weak punches on him, yelling at the tops of lungs. Jeff and Matt were trying to pull her off but she was fighting like a hell-cat. She was finally taking out all her frustration and fear and anger out on Edge, because he had the audacity to hate his brother for his betrayal. Chris reached down as well and all three of them pulled her off. Chris held her for a moment feeling her thin frame shaking with fury, but she wrenched away and stomped to the other side of the room.

Lita had been watching the screen in shock the whole time. She didn't like Christian but she sure as hell respected him now. And she didn't like watching him get beaten up. She swallowed back curses as the Dudleys pulled out a table. Then all of a sudden, thumping music began to play. She knew that guitar riff.

"That's the APA!" She whispered, watching Farooq and Bradshaw sprint down to the ring. "Hey guys, the APA are running in!"

Stephanie pushed Matt out of her way and watched the screen again.

Lita cheered as Bradshaw took down Rhyno with a Clothesline From Hell, then pushed him out of the ring. Farooq had gone to work on D'von and knocked him down with a huge DDT. Then as Buh Buh Ray came at them, they hoisted him up together and 3D'd him through the table to deafening cheers from the crowd. Stephanie muttered thanks under her breath as Jericho, Matt, Jeff and Lita cheered.

Edge just watched coldly as his brother lay prone and bleeding in the middle of the ring.

*********

I am so sorry this is out late. I try to update every Wednesday. This chapter is longer though so I think I made up for it.

SPOILER: It's hospital time. Also a time for family confrontations. Plus trouble for one of our intrepid wrestlers in the form of a kidnapping. Tune in next week to find out more – the one and only Bellerophon.