Disclaimer: don't own anything except Shadow and Amanda who are creatively based on people in real life. The rest are owned by Vince Mcmahon and the WWE

The sign on the door no longer read "Commissioner Regal". It now said "The Connection: Co-Commissioners" in black handwriting script with one flag pinned above it - the Stars and Stripes and one flag pinned below - the Union Jack. The mood inside was joyful. Amanda grabbed a handful of papers and threw them into the air. Shadow laughed as her friend held her arms out wide as the papers fluttered to the ground

"First Raw as Co-Commissioners" Amanda said, a happy smile on her face

"How sweet does that sound?" said Shadow, bending to pick up the papers from the floor and restore them to the desk

"Very sweet" agreed Amanda "and the fun has only just begun"

"You said it"

As Shadow put the papers on the desk, there was a knock at the door and Michael Cole entered with a camera and soundman.

"I was hoping I could catch you guys before the show to tape an interview for tonight?" he asked

"Sure, go ahead" said Shadow

She and Amanda sat down at the desk as the mini crew got ready.

"Shadow, Amanda, last night you revealed yourselves as the federation's newest commissioners, why did you decide to get rid of Regal in the way you did after claiming to come to the federation to get him respect?" Michael asked then pointed the microphone at them

"We never came to get him respect, we came to restore respect to my country" spat Shadow "I asked my friend Amanda here to help me out and she was more than happy to, we wanted to take away something from Regal that he valued and we did - his position as Commissioner"

"What will you do if Regal decides to get retribution?"

"We'll take care of him" replied Amanda "after all, we are the ones who hold the powers now, he should be the one fearing us, not the other way round"

"And what plans have you got for tonight's show, your first one as Commissioners?"

"Who knows? But I'll tell you this, we're gonna inject a little fun and unpredictability into this show and we're gonna enjoy it" said Shadow gleefully

"Thanks for that" said Michael as the camera light went off "we'll use that during the show tonight"

"Anytime" said Amanda as they exited

"Okay, what matches do we have?" asked Shadow, all business as she began sorting through the paper stacks on their desk

"Well, we have a lot to work with after Wrestlemania" began Amanda "Austin and Mcmahon is going to present some very interesting opportunities for some great matches, I've got something special in mind for Austin and The Rock for tonight"

"Really? Do tell"

As Amanda began speaking again, the door opened and a radiant Trish strolled in, all smiles. She was dressed in a tiny tight black leather skirt, a low cut scoop necked black top, black leather platform go-go boots and of course, a black leather ankle length coat and matching cowboy hat. A typical Trish outfit.

"Hey guys" she called cheerfully

"Someone is still happy after yesterday" teased Shadow as Trish sat down in a chair in the corner

"Sure am, the more I think about it, the more proud I am of myself" Trish said "there's not many women who'd walk away from a man who gave them diamond earrings and a mink coat but I did it"

"You sure did" said Shadow "you want to hang out here for a while?"

"Yeah, I'm getting mixed reactions backstage, some of them are treating me like dirt because of how I treated Vince and went about snaring him while others think I'm a queen" Trish said breezily

"Well, it'll be good to have your company, we're going to train in a about ten minutes, you want to join us?" asked Shadow

"Good idea, I could do with kicking some ass" said Trish with a laugh

"Well it won't be mine" countered Amanda as she scribbled something down

Just then, Regal stormed in without bothering to knock, a look of fury on his face. Shadow and Amanda looked at each other smiling, this was a moment they were going to savour. They turned their most innocent expressions towards him

"Can we help you?" asked Amanda

"Yes you bloody can! I am the Commissioner so stop this ridiculous nonsense and get out of my office!" Regal yelled

"Erm...no, you're in our office and if you're going to be rude, you're not going to get a match" said Shadow

"You can't do this, you haven't the power, I'm the Commissioner!" Regal fumed

"We have the papers Regal" said Amanda pushing them towards him for him to inspect "they tell you everything you need to know, we were your filing clerks for a reason, we know everything there is to know about the legal binding documents in that cabinet and by legal right, we are the new commissioners"

"And if you're real nice, we'll give you a worthy opponent" said Shadow sweetly

Regal fervently read the papers then shoved them back towards the girls in disgust

"You bloody tarts! you can't do this to me, I'm the Commissioner"

"Were Regal, the word is were" corrected Amanda "now if you'll please leave, we have work to do before the show"

"Oh wait, I have a great idea" said Shadow suddenly "perfect matches"

"Well..?" asked Amanda

"He can face Benoit, a more than worthy and painful opponent" she said, pointing to Regal and talking as though he wasn't there "and Jericho can face Angle, it's perfect!"

"Good call" said Amanda with a grin as she quickly wrote them down on her list "there you go Regal; a great opponent who more than matches up to you so be a good boy and leave"

Regal looked as though he was going to explode but finally swung around and stormed out of the door. As soon as the door closed, Trish burst in giggles, she'd been silent during the conversation and now was beside herself with laughter

"You guys handled him well, he has no way out of that one" she gasped

"Thanks" said Amanda, looking up from her list to flash a smile briefly

As the office returned to relative comfortable silence, the door opened again and Shadow bit back a groan, who was it this time coming to disturb their work and peace? She got her answer, it was Ivory, the recently ex- Women's Champion. She glared at the two women sat behind the desk, hands on her hips until with a sigh, Shadow spoke

"What do you want?" she asked wearily

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Costing the good commissioner his match, he was respectable and understood our teachings" preached Ivory loudly "now, we have you two females, who dressed so provocatively last night and made a spectacle of yourselves"

"So what do you suggest we do?" asked Amanda

"You should do the honourable thing" replied Ivory "you should step down as commissioners, give the Commissioner Regal his rightful job back and stop exposing yourself so liberally"

"Hi Ivory" said Trish sweetly

Ivory turned, noticing her for the first time and glared at her venomously

"And stop associating yourselves with such brazen hussies as Miss Stratus" she added

"What's wrong with my outfit?" asked Trish before dropping her voice to a loud innocent whisper "do you think it reveals that I'm a woman?"

Amanda tried hard not to laugh; Trish's gorgeous outfit revealed a lot of flesh and made the most of her beautiful curvy figure.

"Yes it does, you should be ashamed of yourself" snapped Ivory "demeaning yourself in such a manner"

"I tell you what Ivory" said Amanda "I'll face you in the ring tonight and then we'll see who's side is right, OK?"

"Challenge accepted" said Ivory triumphantly "you will see the light today and your lives will be made better because of it"

"What a headcase" remarked Shadow after Ivory had stalked out of the room "but good call challenging her, I'll valet for you"

"Great, thanks, I hope all my training pulls through" said Amanda

"You'll do great" reassured Shadow "you've worked hard girl and you'll give Ivory a beating she won't forget, hey Trish do you want a match tonight?" she turned to the quiet blonde figure

"Yeah, why not? Give me Lita" said Trish, her eyes lighting up at the thought

"Can't you two get along?" groaned Shadow "no matter how cliched the idea is, being friends with people is considered civilised"

"I whipped her with a leather belt" said Trish matter-of-factly "I pushed her off a ladder so that she crashed through a table, I hurt her in more ways than you can count on your fingers and she did the same to me, I doubt that rift is going to heal, we're far from civilised so for the moment we are happy not trusting or liking each other"

"You were OK when we went out last night" pointed out Shadow

"We ignored each other" replied Trish "standard practise, it's either that or we insult each other or fight"

"But can't you just...."

"Stop trying to change the world Shadow" interrupted Amanda, cutting her off "it's between her and Lita, we can't do anything about it, they've gotta sort it out"

"I know" said Shadow as she checked her watch "c'mon, we've gotta go get ready for training"

*

"Trish, meet our trainer" announced Amanda as she stepped between the ropes into the ring where Raven stood

"Raven?" said Trish surprised, her eyes widening "he's certainly not a conventional choice"

"That's the idea" replied Shadow as she climbed into the ring "it'll make our ring style different and unorthodox, dangerous assets to have in the ring"

"and helpful ones too" added Amanda

Raven stood looking at them, taking everything in through his clear eyes. They were used to him doing this by now but it was still a little creepy to have these moments of silence throughout their training. Finally, he spoke

"From now on, we'll be working on matches, how you work them and how to improve, then we'll move on to how to use everything around the ring, use your environment as a weapon and finally onto hardcore matches"

"I have my first TV match tonight" said Amanda, smiling broadly "so can I have a little extra work, if that's ok with Shadow"

"Sure is" her friend replied

"You get equal work" atoned Raven "whether you have a match or are doing commissioner work for the night, no one gets special privileges regardless"

The girls nodded at his words, deciding it was futile to argue. Raven never got angry or mad, he would stand and talk in that dark distinctive voice rationally. He reserved all his anger and resentment for the ring and then and only then did he let it fly. In the silence, a voice piped up from ringside

"I'll face either of them in training if you want, it'll give them a different style to work with" offered Trish "I've got a match tonight too so I could do with the work"

Raven nodded silently and moved to sit on the top turnbuckle

"Amanda, you face Trish first and Shadow, you be the referee, then Amanda swap with Shadow then Trish swap with Amanda, I'll tell you what went wrong or was sloppy, if moves need working on then we work on them, begin"

*

Shadow pounded the mat hard as Ivory backdropped Amanda. The match was fast and they were both giving everything they had. Shadow's heart was beating very fast, almost as if she was in the ring with Amanda, she certainly felt as if she was experiencing it.

"C'mon Manda!" she yelled

She began clapping and the crowd picked it up, soon the clapping got faster. Amanda got to her feet and received several right hands from Ivory. She tried to fight back but Ivory threw her into the ropes, as she reached Ivory and was lifted up into a backbreaker, she used her momentum and turned it into a hurricanrana. She back bodydropped Ivory and then went to the second turnbuckle. But Ivory was sat on the ground and was complaining to the referee about something. Suddenly, Shadow saw a flash of white and Val Venis and Bull Buchanan were up on the apron. Bull threw Amanda to the mat and held her there as Val hit her with his Money Shot. Shadow raced around and grabbed Val's legs under the bottom rope, pulling him to the mat and dragging him out of the ring. She slammed his face onto the apron then ducked as Bull swung a punch at her. Quickly, she raced around the ring back to the safer side. Meanwhile in the ring, Ivory hit her Poison Ivory Facebuster for the three count. Shadow got up onto the apron furious

"Come on ref, didn't you see what happened man?" she began complaining loudly

The ref wasn't listening, he was checking on Amanda. As Shadow began stepping through the ropes, she felt a hand grab her foot and powerfully pull her off the apron and cleanly onto the floor. The two Right to Censor cohorts stood over her, smirking. Staying huddled for a moment, she then leapt suddenly into a spear, taking down Bull. Val grabbed her by her hair before she could begin punching and scoop slammed her onto the outside. Pain roared through her back, her face contorted in response. She could hear Amanda yelling her name. Suddenly Amanda threw herself off the apron and into a crossbody onto Val. She dragged him to his feet, kicked him in the gut and gave him a DDT

"That'll keep you done for a while" she muttered, trying to ignore the pain and numbness she could feel in her head

She turned to her friend who was trying to stand up unsuccessfully. She quickly grabbed her under the arms and hauled her to her feet, slinging one of Shadow's arms around her shoulders

"Doing ok?" she asked softly

"Yeah wonderful" cracked Shadow

As they began to make their stumbling way towards the ramp, someone clubbed them both in the back. Bull grabbed Amanda and threw her into the steel steps without a thought and began stomping on her. Shadow tried to crawl away but different hands suddenly grabbed her and threw her into the crowd barrier, her back screaming. Those hands turned her around so that she was draped over the barrier, her back to the ring and began punching and kicking her back. She began yelling, trying to fight them off. Suddenly, they stopped and she felt herself slammed to the floor. She saw a suited figure move away, she knew that smug smirk. Regal had got retribution. She could hear Amanda's pained moans. Shadow crawled over to where her friend was and used the apron to pull herself up. Her body felt as though it was splintered into many different pieces. Amanda looked up at her friend, feeling as though she'd been stretched and battered in equal measure. Shadow carefully helped her to her feet, putting one of Amanda's arms around her shoulders

"Shall we try this again?" she asked with a tiny smile through the pain

"Yeah why not? You know what this means?" asked Amanda, her eyes burning

"Yes"

They looked at each other in silence before speaking together with the same hard determined expressions on their faces

"This means war"

Read, enjoy, review! Thanks to the great people who stuck around and were willing to wait for my next chapter, hope u guys like it, I'm so grateful for the reviews (shout outs - ZOE: there will be more Hardyz I promise but I don't want to make it a Hardyz fic! Lol keep reading girl, LIZ: so many questions my friend, they may be answered or maybe not! You'll just have to keep reading, lol, BIZGIRLCHARLIE: glad that u think my girls are cool, I think so too, can't wait to read more 'flying free'! and HARMONIZED: My 1000 miles friend! Thanks for the compliments and as I said, more Hardyz to come, hope 'Blurred' is coming along well as I can't wait to read it!) Keep reading and reviewing