Dangerous Business
Chapter XXXVI
Liz tried to force her limbs to move. They stood stonily still, frozen with fear. At the last second, heat flew up her legs, and she dropped to the mat, attempting to dodge the spear that was coming from the Big Show. But her reaction had been too far delayed. In the middle of her motion down, the Big Show's body crashed into hers. His shoulder, originally aimed for her stomach, collided with her chest and upper ribs. Liz spun in the air for a moment, and then she hit the canvas, instinctively curling in a protective ball.
Liz closed her eyes tight, clutching at her chest, her eyes squeezed shut. Her breath came in short, tired rasps. She couldn't breathe… Her eyes flickered open for a second, and then shut again. Her breaths came faster, burning pain igniting with each breath. The Big Show lifted her up. She grimaced, struggling to stay on her feet as his grip left her. He shoved her lightly. She hit the mat.
Laughing, the Big Show pulled her up again. Liz's head fell downward, her hair covering her face as she stood weakly. She knew what would come next, and she scowled inwardly, her stomach churning. Was she just going to stand there, like a helpless piece of eye- her thoughts stopped abruptly. Like a piece of eye candy. Her hands balled into fists. That'd been exactly what Vince McMahon had said about her. A useless piece of eye candy.
The Big Show laughed at her swaying form, lavishing in the boos of the crowd. He grinned, and shoved Liz lightly.
She didn't budge.
His cocky grin dropped, and he shoved her again, harder this time. Despite the small burst of pain in her at the sharp movement, Liz stayed standing, slowly lifting her head up and starting at the man ahead of her. The Big Show's face darkened with anger. She leapt forward, but as soon as she did so, he gave her a powerful clothesline. She landed heavily on her neck. Wincing, she found herself in the same fetal position as before. The Big Show grabbed her head, picked her up a foot, and then tossed her backward. Her head smacked against the mat, and she cradled it with her hands. When she found enough strength, she opened her eyes slightly. She waited with calm patience for the blows to come. The pain in her body seemed to dull, her consciousness drifting…
She snapped back to Earth when music started up from the speakers. Her heart skipped a beat. She lifted her head, looked at the ramp, and then lowered it. A small, whispery groan escaped her lips.
Evolution slipped into the ring, chairs in hand. Liz thought of two possibilities for why they were here – either they were going to help the Big Show, or get the man back for *almost* beating Hunter out of his title. Her jade eyes looked up widely as Randy hovered over her, locking eyes with her. She braced herself for the impact of the chair, the loud echoes of the chair shots slamming against the Big Show thundering in her ears. Liz waited for the blow.
Crack. She shifted, eyes slightly shut. The sound of the chair against flesh was so close… Was she so far gone she couldn't feel anything? Her eyes opened, and widened as she watched Randy slam the chair into Rick Flair's face. Somehow, she found the strength to scoot back into the ropes. Her instincts told her to get out, but her body didn't respond. With wary eyes she watched Randy empty the remaining members of Evolution out of the ring.
Randy turned, glancing over at Liz, and then to the practically motionless body of Rob Van Dam. Liz slowly crawled her way to Rob, her eyes barely leaving Randy's for a second. He made no move toward her. He simply watched as she set Rob's head in her lap, trying to see if he was okay, still keeping an eye on the member of Evolution. She was desperately torn from leaping up and attacking Randy for what he did to her sister and checking on Rob.
Randy grabbed a microphone, and turned toward Rick and Hunter, who were scurrying up the ramp, along with the Big Show, Paul, Vince, and Brock. "Why did I do that?" he repeated mockingly what Hunter had been mouthing. "You see, Hunter, Rick," he paced about the ring, "You guys were just a stepping stone. A stepping stone to the top!" he grinned as Rick shook his head vigorously. "So, Champ, you better keep that title close to you. Keep it by you, and savor the fact that you have it." Randy stepped back. "You see, as of next week, commissioners are to be named for each show. I talked to the commissioner of RAW already. He's granted me a title shot to you, HHH," he smiled. "Who better to take the title than the person who always interfered to help you keep it, huh?" the challenge in his eyes was focused on Hunter.
"Come on and try me," Hunter tried to egg him on.
"I'm not that stupid, Hunter," Randy said smugly, "Remember? You trained me." He smirked as they disappeared behind the curtains. Slowly, the third-generation wrestler turned to Liz and Rob. Liz tensed as he stepped closer. Confusion flashed across her face as he stopped a good two feet away and extended his hand. Liz gingerly set down Rob's head, setting over him so that she was directly in front of Randy. Needle-sharp jolts of pain rushed through her with every breath and every movement, but she was determined not to let him see it. The brunette reached out her hand, looping her pinkie finger with his, and lifting it to eye level. The smile on his face boiled her insides.
She raised her middle finger. Her hand flipped, grabbing his wrist and pulling him closer to her. Liz slammed her foot into Randy's stomach, and turned, performing a Stone Cold Stunner. The crowd cheered, and Liz swayed on her feet, energy sapped out of her. Randy actually believed that she would forgive him? She fell to her knees, leaning against the ropes, her eyelids fluttering. Her hand gripping her shoulder, slung across her chest, she crawled back to Rob, biting down on her lip, and her mind still digesting the information she'd been given. Her hand brushed the hair away from his face as she mentally begged the EMTS to hurry to the ring. A burst of noise shot through the speakers, and she expected a wrestler to come to the ring, but it was just a backstage camera. Her eyes flashed up to the screen.
The bang had come from a locker room door, the door opening despite the cases in front of it. Liz looked slightly relieved when she saw that it was only her father, Stone Cold Steve Austin. The brunette's face tightened suddenly, seeing a figure clothed in black leather behind him, a crude pipe in his hands.
"No," the word fell from her lips unconsciously, her eyes widening once more. Shakily, she stood up, taking a step toward the screen, shaking her head as if denying the fact that the image was there would make it be false. She swayed on her feet, the pain ripping through her body slowly deteriorating her strength. Liz turned around.
All she saw before falling unconscious was a steel chair.
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A/N: Okay, I'm not sure about this chapter… I like it, but I don't. I'll explain the Randy thing in greater depth in later chapters, I suppose. *rolls eyes* but do you guys REALLY think I could kill Shawn? Don't worry; I'm not going to.
And being the horrible author that I am, I'm too lazy to correct my mistake in Chapter 10. This is what the sentence was supposed to read – "She heard Dominique comment on Rob, saying something about a new brother-in-law."
Anyway… Updates probably aren't going to come as often. I'm in Algebra this year (which is the highest math you can get in my grade) and the teacher's giving us like 50 problems per night. Ugh. The thing that really sucks though is that I got a REALLY bad grade on a test, as in failing it. I'm an all A student and all, so my parents are probably going to ground me from the computer and TV and all if they get the progress report and it's less than a B. So yeah. Savor these horrible updates. I've planned out some chapters in my head, but now I've got to figure out where I can put them.
Well, please review!