A/N: Thank you all so very much for all of the reviews! They are greatly appreciated! Please review this chapter too! Anyway, hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: 1st chapter.
Started: Today.
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Dangerous Business: Chapter XI – Armageddon
Liz sighed, running a hand through her hair once again, a repetitive gesture. She only had half an hour until Heat, and the beginning of the matches, started. As she walked through the winding hallways of the backstage, she kept an eye out for anyone that would cause trouble. She didn't want to get in a fight before her match. While she walked, Liz mused over what people she had met backstage since joining the WWE. There were the friendly wrestlers she had met – like HBK and Shane – and then there were people like HHH. She had exchanged a few sharp words with him, mostly because he thought that she and Rob had cheated during their match to win.
Speak of the Devil. As Liz started to round the next corner, she heard two distinct voices. One belonged to HHH. The other was Randy's. She caught the remains of their conversation as she strode on, readying a remark to their comments. As she approached, the two fell silent, HHH raising an eyebrow at her, and Randy looking extremely uncomfortable. Liz stood in front of them, narrowing her eyes.
"If Liz turned into a guy, no one would be confused," Randy had said, "She acts so much like one!"
"Something you want to tell me…to my face?" she snapped. Triple H simply stared at her, amused as she glared at him angrily, undaunted by him. After a moment of silence, the brunette turned to Randy, "If you had balls, you'd have a match tonight," she snapped, then turned to HHH, "And if I did have balls, I'd be more of a man then you will ever be." Liz cocked her eyebrow at them, waiting for a response. When none came, she rolled her eyes and continued walking down the hallways, her minor agitation ebbing.
She walked into Jeff's locker room quietly, plopping her bag unceremoniously onto the floor, and then dropped onto the couch, staring at the ceiling, yawning to herself. Amy had politely refused to come – she had to check in with her doctor again, Matt – luckily – couldn't come for some unknown reason (they didn't get along well), and Jeff was on his way to the arena, caught in traffic along with Dominique. So, Liz sat, holed up in the room, watching Armageddon quietly.
The first match was Christopher N., versus The Hurricane. Liz rooted for Shane, but the match ended in DQ with Chris took out some brass knuckles and tried to rearrange Shane's face, to no avail. The second match was Jazz versus Torrie Wilson for a shot at the Women's Title. Liz watched carefully. She wanted a rematch with Jazz, but she felt that Torrie deserved a lot more than Jazz. Jazz won, but continued her assault on Torrie until the Diva couldn't stand. Briefly, Liz considered going out, but she rejected her thoughts immediately. Next match was for the Tag Team Championships. It was Rob and Kane versus the Dudleys. Liz watched the match intently until the bell rang. After a hard, bloody battle, Rob and Kane had retained the championships. As they lumbered backstage, Liz ran to the curtains to congratulate them, but then retired to the room again as Rob left for the showers. The Women's Champion just made it back for the end of the fourth match – A-Train defeating Batista, only to be attacked by HHH and Randy. The fifth match was Jeff Hardy – she was obviously rooting for Jeff – versus HHH. Flair slipped into the ring – still with his bandages – and tried to clock Jeff in the head, but ended up hitting HHH, giving Jeff the win, but unfortunately the match wasn't for the championship. Liz let out a howl of joy as Jeff raised his arms in victory. The sixth match was the Undertaker versus the Rock. Liz watched, not really having a side. Undertaker ended up beating Rock, but just by a little bit. As she watched these matches, Liz wished that her match would never come. But, as with everything we wish won't come, it came all too soon. She tugged on some armbands that she was relatively fond of. Wood – cheap wood, granted, but sturdy – spray-painted black and white – the left was black, the right was black – encircled her forearms in an intricate design. Deciding for a different look, she tugged on some short-shorts, and a tank top that ended at about the middle of her rib cage. Finally, she stuffed her feet into a pair of black boots and looked at herself in the reflection critically. The outfit she had on was just like the armbands – black on the left, white on the right – and looked kind of like a ying-yang. She was spared the choice to change, however, when the messenger pounded unceremoniously on the door.
"I'm coming!" she shouted, annoyed at the guy. She shot the door open, slamming it into the guy's face with a satisfying crack. "Watch where you're going!" she huffed at the guy, laughing to herself silently as she made her way to the ring, her face eventually hardening into a state of concentration as she reached the curtains, hardly noticing the camera following her as she thought about what she was going to do when the bell rang.
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The cage lowered slightly, and the two wrestlers watched it interestedly. Liz stared at it oddly, remembering Shawn's warning about the steel searing flesh easily. With that thought fresh in mind, she continued to watch the cage lower, until they both were locked inside – the equivalent of caged animals. The ref slipped into the ring, and another one sealed the cage behind him as the ref told Liz to remove the armbands, which she did. Liz turned to Austin warily, nerves jumping up her spine, but keeping a laid-back face, smiling as the crowd began to cheer. The smile whipped off her face, however, when the bell rang.
She never knew that that might be the last time she ever heard that bell ring.
"Ready to end that precious career of yours?" questioned Austin, an evil smile claiming his face.
Liz scoffed in reply, "Bring it on, old man."
The two circled each other, sizing each other up. They grappled – Austin overpowering Liz and putting her into a headlock. Liz placed a hand behind his back and shoved him into the ropes, but Austin ducked her clothesline and bounced of the second rope. Liz whirled around, bringing her foot up and smacking the inside of her boot into Austin's face. Once she got her balance back, she turned to Austin, who was pushing himself onto his feet, peeved off. Of course, he was always peeved off, so it didn't really matter, did it? As Austin finally got to his feet, the two exchanged right hooks. Austin got two punches in quickly, and picked up Liz. A second later, Liz rolled to the mat – clutching her back from a perfectly executed back breaker. She glowered at Austin as he grabbed her up by her hair, then moved his hand to the back of her head. From the back-breaker the two stood near the cage. Austin slammed Liz's head repeatedly into the steel until slivers of blood shined across her temple, and he released her, watching her fall to her knees. As she fell, Liz placed her bottom foot against the rope. While Austin watched her, she pushed off the rope. She lowered her shoulder as she slammed into Austin, her shoulder digging into his stomach. For good measure, she slapped his head around a couple times before giving him an actual punch, and standing up. She grasped Austin's head, and quickly whipped him into a corner before he could counter. Quickly she ran up to him, climbed the ropes swiftly with her feet, and slammed her boot into Austin's face. As he went down, she angled her body towards his. Quickly, he leapt to his feet. Liz tried to sidekick him, but Austin caught her foot and spun her around. Lifting her other foot, Liz tried to kick him again, but Austin caught it again, but this time pushed so she fell down. He drove an elbow into the inside of her leg. Liz winced at the painful tingling feeling in her leg as she forced herself to her feet. Austin – almost in the center of the ring – grabbed Liz's head and tried to fling her into the steel cage. Liz's arms – thrown up in defense – took the brunt of the impact as the steel ripped her skin. After a few seconds of lying on the mat in pain, Liz was pulled off the canvas again. Austin shoved her to the corner, and was running after her, anticipating her move. Like he had suspected, Liz climbed the turnbuckle with her feet and performed "Whisper in the Wind". Austin jerked himself to the ropes, and Liz – her target missed – skidded across the canvas. Once again, she felt Austin yank her to her feet. He kneed her in her ribs as she stood, so she bent over. Stone Cold grabbed her head and gave her a DDT. Instead of going for a pin, however, he lifted her up in a fireman's carry for a few seconds, before driving her to the mat. Liz, however, landed a bit wrong, and instead of falling on her spine, she fell on her left shoulder blade. J.R. was quick to point this out as he and King talked.
1…2…Liz wriggled so her shoulders moved off the mat – just barely. Austin growled, and yanked her up again, ready to use the cage to his advantage yet again. He pushed her temple against the steel, and ferociously jerked her head back and forth.
Liz almost yelped in pain as the steel ripped off more skin for her forehead. She felt a drop of blood – one of the many now flowing freely – dance across her eyelash and slowly drop to the mat, and she was soon to join it. The brunette cursed at herself, bushing the blood away from her eyes, wondering why she ever demanded this match in the first place. Through her blood-blurred vision, she saw Austin's boots near her legs, him reaching out to pick her up again. Liz stretched out her feet, locked them around Austin's, and pushed, driving him to the mat, moving out of his way. Finally, she forced herself to her feet, and Austin was soon to follow. Liz used her own version of "Sweet Chin Music" on Austin, happily watching him fall about as gracefully as a sack of potatoes. She silently thanked HBK for teaching her that as she climbed the turnbuckle, waiting for Austin to get up. As he stood up, Liz leapt from the ropes, giving him a Hurricarana. Liz went for the pin.
1…2, Austin jerked out of the pin. Liz pulled him to his feet, and then delivered a Downward Spiral {A/N: I think it's a Spinning DDT or something…}. Liz darted to the turnbuckle, judging the distance to him, and leapt off, executing a moonsault. Once again, she went for the pin, but it was a two count again. Liz sighed. The ache in her head was starting to make her slightly dizzy. She pulled Austin up and pushed him to the ropes. She was ready to try a side slam when Austin speared her and downed her with punches after she fell.
Almost five minutes later, the two superstars were a lot worse for the wear. Stone Cold was limping and had a thick line of blood down the left side of his face. Liz, however, was definitely worse. Austin had taken advantage of her presently weak back, and attacked it relentlessly, leaving Liz essentially crippled. The blood was still seeping from her forehead, and her arms. Her back throbbed painfully, and so did her shoulder. During a fall, she tried to spin out of it to land on her hands, but ended up crashing on her left shoulder. On top of that, add two failed frog splashes, and her ribs ended up in the mix too. But she still refused to be pinned.
Liz stood up slowly, staggered for a second, glancing across at Austin who was doing the same thing. Again, she ran forward – this time without much force – and smashed her left shoulder into Austin's gut with a cry of pain, her own shoulder sending jolts of pain into herself. Slowly, she dragged herself up to the turnbuckle. She pushed herself off the turnbuckle, gaining tremendous height – curled herself into a ball and out – and slammed into Austin. Liz rolled off him after, clutching at her stomach in pain as she went for the cover.
1…2…Austin kicked out. Liz dropped her head to the mat, looking up at the top of the steel cage, the spotlights blinding her, reminding her to move. As she rolled to the right, she caught a glance of the steel ramp that she had happily walked down nine minutes ago. Four figures trotted down to the ring. Liz groaned – they were HHH, Randy, Batista, and Flair. Her limbs stiffened as she realized what they had with them – a sledgehammer, gripped in Hunter's hand. Liz looked quickly to the door – and realized it was bound shut. She smiled smugly – until she looked back at the ref who stood at the door…with an axe to cut the chain at the end of the match. The brunette fell back to the mat, her back making a loud thud as she did so. 2 words rang clearly through her head.
'Oh, shit.'
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A/N: Ha, ha, ha! I finished! Yeah! This took forever and is currently at…2,334 words. Well, now more than that, but hey! I hope you liked it. I'll try and update sooner, but you never know. Please, please review!
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