The Counter-Invasion
By: Jay Winger

Timeline Note: This chapter picks up the Monday after the last one.

Teaser: W/ECW is tries to shut out the run-ins, but Rose is one step ahead of them.

Rating: R - for violence and profanity

Disclaimer: All things WWF and WCW are property of WWFE, Inc. All things ECW are property of whomever the frell owns ECW. All things CIW are property of me. The characters of "The Storm" Matthew Skinner, Claire "Rain" Whittaker, Roger "Zed" Ziger, Mike "Zeta" Zahn, Billy Rose, Brad "Brick" Dickerson, Scion, Deidre "Dee Meaner" Menser, Nathan Starr, the band Cold Steel, et al. are also my property. Please ask before you use them. Viper, Rattler, Soul, Cobra, Python, and all other creations of Boulder are his property and are used with his permission.

Previously: Zed & Zeta def. Dudleyz with the Z-D (spine & neck breaker) and an assist from CIW girl-buddy Dee Meaner to retain the WWF Tag Titles. Billy Rose deid commentary as The Storm & Scion def. Palumbo & O'Haire with the Fall From Grace (Sky Hi powerbomb) and the Jesus Wept (senton bomb).

Chapter 3: A Taste of Their Own Medicine

Raw: December 30

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley paced in front of a quintet of her Alliance superstars. Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, and Chavo Guerrero, Jr. looked back at her. She looked as angry and as bitchy as ever. "I don't know who these people think they are, constantly interfering in our business, but I will not have the Alliance made a laughingstock!"

All five of the men nodded in agreement, but Stephanie snapped, "And you two!" She pointed a manicured finger at Palumbo and O'Haire, who hung their heads in shame. "You dare to lose a match to Matthew Skinner and that hood-wearing freak Scion?! If we weren't trying to save face right now, I'd have Shane fire you two!"

"Sorry, Miss Steph--" Palumbo started to say, but she cut him off with a frosty glare.

"All I want you to do," she told the five men, "is make sure anybody who is not a member of the Alliance does not set foot inside this arena!" She paused, then added, "And the same goes for anybody from the WWF! Nobody from the WWF gets past you either! Especially Chris Jericho!"

"Well, well, well," came a voice that set Stephanie's nerves on edge, "if it isn't the Queen of Extreme Movies and her latest paying customers." Face twisted into a scowl, the Billion-Dollar Princess turned around to glare at her longtime nemesis, Chris Jericho. He smirked, leaning against the door into the corridor, then held his hands up. "Far be it from me to interrupt a six-way, especially one involving Stephanie McMahon-Hosebeast." Smirking again, he headed off down the hall as she shrieked in frustration.

* * *

Billy Rose arrived later that night in a limosuine. Not one as long or luxurious as those that Vince McMahon or his children often did, but a limo nonetheless. As he stepped out of it, then got his traveler's bag out of the trunk. He looked up, then stepped back, looking blandly at the trio of WCW people that advanced on him. Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon, and Shawn Stasiak looked at him with malicious intent. Rose just smirked. "What, is it Idiots-Get-In-Free Night tonight?"

"Shane, Steph, and Hunter don't want you gettin' in here tonight, William," DDP said with an evil grin.

Rose's smirk faded. "My third grade teacher called me William. So did my parents. You're neither."

"Well, William," DDP said with another grin, "regardless, you're about to get your ass kicked."

Rose looked at the Jersey native, then at something behind him. "Oh, hey, `Taker!" The bluff worked. Both Page and Kanyon flinched and looked behind them. Rose swung his bag into Kanyon's head, then punched Page in the mouth. Stasiak charged Rose, who sidestepped and shoved him into the open trunk, then shut it on him. Page and Kanyon converged on Rose and started to beat on him, but then two gloved hands grabbed the two members of the former Jersey Triad.

The Undertaker and Kane quickly sent Page and Kanyon packing with a few bruises. Rose pulled himself up and checked his mouth for blood. None. "Thanks for the save, `Taker."

The Dead Man turned a beady gaze on him. "You think I was saving you?" he said. "I could care less about you. I was just trying to make DDP famous." He started to leave.

Kane started to follow when Rose clapped him on the shoulder to thank him for the save. Kane stopped, looked at the hand on his shoulder. The Californian quickly pulled his hand back. The Big Red Machine left after his brother.

When he was gone, Rose adjusted his 'Mental Elite' T-Shirt and grabbed his bag again. "Time to get down to business." He headed into the arena and pulled out his cel phone. "Yeah, it's me," he said when someone picked up. "You know what to do. Do it."

* * *

It was during The Hurricane's match against Scotty 2 Hotty that it happened. The self-proclaimed superhero of the Alliance had been pretty much in control of the match, except for a few times when Scotty got some offense in. The Hurricane went to the corner to don his cape, then climbed up to the top rope. He sprang off the top, looking for a high crossbody, but Scotty managed to counter with a dropkick in mid-air. Helms went down, landing hard on his back, as Scotty fell backwards into WCW referee Charles Robinson, bumping him and knocking him down.

As all three men lay on the mat, someone hopped over the barricade from a seat in the front row. He wore a backwards baseball cap, bearing the emblem of the local football team, a Sum 41 T-Shirt, and cut-off jean shorts. The man scrambled up to the top rope, crouched, then sprang off the top. The audience gasped as he delivered a shooting star press -- except he completed a full revolution before coming down and splashing into The Hurricane. The man whipped off his cap and shook out his brown hair, cut short on one side, and long with a forelock on the other, grinning manically at the crowd.

In the ring, as Helms slowly crawled to his feet, clutching his injured ribs, Scotty had gotten back up as well. He saw his opponent doubled over near the ropes, and the dancing superstar got that look on his face. Scotty bounced off the ropes, came back and put both hands into the back of The Hurricane's head, using his momentum to faceplant the would-be superhero to the mat. Scotty then spread his arms wide, a big grin on his face. He bounced from foot to foot for a moment, then turned and hopped in a half circle, the fans chanting "The W! O! R! M!" Once he completed the half-circle, he flopped to the mat and wiggled like a worm toward Helms' prone body. Reaching him, he hopped to his feet and swung his arms one way, then the next, three times before chopping a forearm down into Helms' chest. Robinson had recovered and counted the fall as Scotty hooked the leg. 1... 2... 3!

Heyman was apoplectic at the announcers' table. "I object! Hurricane did not lose that match! There was outside interference!!"

"Oh, so it's a foul if someone interferes and costs your guys a match, but it's okay if you do it to the WWF, is that it?" J.R. demanded.

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Heyman yelled. "How did he even get past our security!"

The newcomer grinned up at Scotty, who gave him a thumbs-up. Now he turned to Heyman, grinning that manic smile, then reached into his jeans' pocket. He pulled out a ticket stub and waved it in his face. J.R. laughed. "That's how he did it, Paul! He bought himself a ticket!"

The newcomer was laughing, then stopped as he heard the fans start booing. He turned and saw the five Alliance members that Stephanie had been lecturing earlier come charging down the ramp. Scotty saw them too and slid out of the ring and ran off through the crowd with the newcomer. Dreamer, Van Dam, Palumbo, O'Haire, and Chavo chased them away as DDP and Kanyon checked on The Hurricane. They stood him on his feet. Helms stood upright, hitting his superhero-like pose, hands on his hips, then promptly fell over again.

* * *

Scotty and the other man stopped as they came across Matthew Skinner, who was leaning against the wall. The Storm grinned. "Hey, Nate, how ya been?"

Nathan Starr grinned at him. "Hey, Matthew," he said. "Been good. Glad to be here. Now if you'll excuse me, I got five Alliance guys coming for me."

"Yeah, there they are now," Skinner said, standing up as Dreamer and his gang ran up. "Hey, it's the rejects, has-beens, and who-gives-a-shit crew."

"You gotta lotta nerve comin' in here," O'Haire snarled, advancing on the three of them.

"Beat it before I beat you with an ugly-stick," Skinner said, hefting his trademark weapon.

The five WECWers laughed. "There are five of us, and three of you!" Tommy Dreamer pointed out.

But that's when a black-robed figure stepped out of a locker room, bearing a steel chair. A second form, this one much bigger than everyone there, also joined them. Scion gazed at them from under his hood, and Brick silently cracked his knuckles. The Storm said, "Correction, there's five of you, and six of us." He jerked a thumb at Brick. "He counts for two."

Brick glared at them. "Beat it," he growled in his volcanic voice.

He didn't have to tell them twice. The five WECWers quickly beat tracks. The Storm scoffed, then turned to Nate. "You'd better get yourself someplace safe. They'll be back, and they'll bring friends."

"No problem!" Nate grinned. "I've got a ride." He sketched a salute to Scotty, who gave him another thumbs-up, and then the two cruiserweights left. Nate Starr left down the hall toward the main lobby entrance. All the other exits were still being guarded by the Alliance.

The Storm, Scion, and Brick started walking toward the locker room they were sharing with the Z-Men and Stone Cold. As they were walking, Scion spoke. "The man they call Viper returned earlier tonight, Matthew."

Skinner's face hardened a bit. "Good for him."

"He's joined the side of the WWF," the mysterious man said.

"Good for the WWF," he snapped. He turned to face him. "Look, Scion, you, of all people, know that you can't trust a snake. Fact of the matter is I don't trust Viper. For all we know, he already got picked up by Shane, Steph, and that fat slob Heyman, and he just came here to sabotage things."

He turned away and started walking again. "But since Vince wants us to play nice, since we're on the same team and all, I'll do so. The second I see Snake Boy start to change his skin, however, I'm going to celebrate Whacking Day.

"Now come on, Zed, Zait, and Dee's match is up next."

* * *

"The following six-person intergender tag-team contest is scheduled for one fall," announced Lillian Garcia. The opening drums of Blur's "Song 2" rocked the arena, and moments later, the WWF Tag Team Champions emerged, with Dee alongside them. "Introducing first, the team of DEE MEANER and the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions, ZED & ZETA!" Dee was wearing her usual baggy orange pants and a sturdy pair of shoes. Instead of her off-white shirt, however, she wore the Z-Men T-Shirt, What's the word? - Snoogans! She bounced energetically on her feet, then ran down to the ring with the two men from Baltimore. She ran to the ropes on one side of the ring, and bounced on the first rope, holding onto the top one, whooping with excitement.

She and the Z-Men turned to face the ramp, but instead of hearing the whistle of an incoming missile, different music struck up. "How long? How long? How long? - I said how long? I said how long? I said how long? Until you crack, man..." A strange mixture of cheers and boos -- mostly boos -- came down on Billy Rose as he strutted down the ramp and made his way toward the commentator's table. He stopped there and glared for a moment or three at Paul Heyman, giving him a look of utter loathing, then took the third chair, moved it a foot or so away from the ECW mastermind, then took the third headset.

"Once again, we're being joined by Billy Rose," J.R. said. "Pleasure to have you out here, Billy."

"I wish I could say the same, J.R.," Rose said, glaring at Heyman again. "Why don't you guys ever put the third headset on J.R.'s side? That way I wouldn't have to sit next to this miserable excuse for a human being."

"Oh, come now," Heyman chortled, "J.R.'s not that bad--"

"I was talking about you, Heyman!" Rose snapped. "The reason I'm out here, again, is because out of anybody in the WWF, WCW, or ECW, I'm the only person with the most experience with CIW. Nobody knows anything about Dee Meaner except the Z's and Skinner, except myself. So, naturally, I'll take care of that. I just wish short, fat, and balding here would shower more than once a month."

"You'll want to be careful what you say to me, sir," Heyman said icily, "especially because here come the Dudleys!"

Sure enough, the bombs were whistling. The hard rap metal music started up and pyros went off at the top of the stage as the Dudleys and Stacy Keibler came out. "And their opponents, the team of STACY KEIBLER and the DUDLEY BOYZ!" The Dudleys themselves wasted little time. They rushed the ring and immediately mixed it up with Zed and Zeta. Stacy held back, but Dee slipped out of the ring and chased her around it, then into the ring. D-Von cut her off, having thrown Zeta out of the ring. The black Dudley leered, but Dee surprised him with a roundhouse kick to the head. Dee quickly left the ring as Bubba set to work trying to wear down Zed in the corner.

The ex-boxer absorbed Bubba's blows for a while, then reversed their positions and started pounding the hell out of him. He whipped him across, and Zed followed to hit a corner clothesline. He stepped back to allow Bubba to stagger a bit, then grabbed his head and threw him face-first to the mat. He applied a few stomps to the kidneys, then tagged in Zeta. The smaller Z-Man ran at Bubba and started pummeling him with lightning-quick forearm shots and right hands. He went to whip him into the neutral corner, but Bubba Ray planted his feet and reversed the whip. Instead of just slamming into the corner, however, Zeta sprang to the second rope, then to the top, and twisted off and backwards into Bubba in a top-rope Zetasault.

Zeta got to his feet, but D-Von had stepped away from his corner to clothesline him to the mat from the apron. He returned to his corner just in time for his half-brother to tag him. D-Von stepped into the ring and started unloading stiff punches to Zeta, then whipping him into the ropes for his spinning back elbow attack. After it connected, he got to his feet and shouted, "Who's da man?!"

At commentary, Rose and Heyman had gotten into an argument about which organization had the better women. "I think the facts speak for themselves," the former owner of ECW replied, "the Alliance has Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler."

"You know, Heyman," Rose smirked, "for once I agree. The Alliance does have Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler. The WWF, on the other hand, has Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, Ivory, Lita, and now Dee Meaner. Collectively, the WWF women have more wrestling experience than the Alliance women do."

"Yes, but Stacy is the Duchess of Dudleyville, the Wicked Witch of the Wood! She's fiendishly intelligent," Heyman said. "She's the mastermind of the Dudleys."

"Makes sense, seeing as how the Dudleys don't have half a mind between them," Rose replied.

In the ring, the isolation of Zeta had continued. D-Von tagged in Bubba and together they hit a high flapjack on the Z-Man with the blue-streaked hair. Bubba stood up, swung his leg to the side and dropped an elbow onto Zeta's spine. He stood up, then did it a second time. He stood up again, laced his fingers together, and then fell forward, delivering a double axe-handle to his fallen opponent.

"Get up, Zeta!" Bubba shouted at him. Zeta was using Bubba's legs and shirt to try and pull himself up. The white Dudley pounded him back down to the mat, then scoop slammed him near the corner. Bubba Ray then hitched himself to the second rope, poised to deliver a senton, but that's when Dee stepped out of the corner and yelled at Bubba. The Dudley Boy stopped to look at this potential target for a ride through the wood, allowing Zeta enough time to stand up and jam his fist into Bubba Ray's gonads. With a loud groan, Bubba doubled over and fell down face-first to the mat.

Zeta lunged and tagged in the nearest person, Dee. She stepped into the ring just as Bubba tagged in Stacy. The leggy blond blinked and looked at Dee, who bounced back and forth, beckoning with both hands. Hesitantly, Stacy stepped into the ring and circled Dee, who stopped bouncing to prepare to lock up. Instead, however, as they circled, Bubba reached out and grabbed a handful of her brunette hair, then yanked, causing her to fall on the mat. Stacy immediately tagged in D-Von, who leered as he stepped through the ropes, pulling Dee up by the hair.

Now, in most matches, when this sort of thing would happen, the woman would hit the man with a well-placed uppercut to the gonads, then tag in the heavy-hitter of her team. Dee did not do this. Instead, she swung her arm into the backs of D-Von's knees, causing him to trip and fall forward onto his back. The brunette bombshell quickly pounced and straddled D-Von's back, hitting him above the kidneys and in the back of the head with not especially strong blows, but remarkably quick ones. She quickly got back up as D-Von showed signs of recovery. She aimed another roundhouse kick, which he ducked. He lunged, but she jumped toward her corner and tagged in Zed.

D-Von halted almost instantly, but it wasn't enough to stop Zed from punching him to the mat. Bubba Ray ran in and got a punch as well. The burly Z-Man dished out right hands a few more times, then drilled Bubba with a Jawbuster. D-Von staggered, and Zeta slipped into the ring, bouncing back against the ropes on the far side of the ring, shouting, "Z-D!"

D-Von turned around and Zed lifted him up in preparation for the Z-D, but when Zeta launched himself forward, his foot did not go anywhere. Stacy had tripped him up from the outside. Zed contented himself by hitting a spinebuster on D-Von, as Stacy climbed on the apron to pose and smirk arrogantly to the crowd. Heyman was cheering her on as she did so, but his cheers quickly turned to shouts of protest as Dee ran in and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her back into the ring.

Stacy staggered a bit, then turned and slapped Dee across the jaw. The brunette blinked, then kicked Stacy in the gut. The WCW diva doubled over, and Dee quickly turned her around and hooked her in a full nelson. She then suplexed her back onto the back of her head. Stacy rolled out of the ring in pain as Dee stood up, jumping in the air and pumping a fist.

When she turned around, however, Bubba was right there, knocking her to the mat with a stiff right hand. Zeta had been taken out by the larger Dudley with a well-placed legdrop to the head, and D-Von had managed to kick out of a pin attempt. Zed went for the Z-Slam, but D-Von shoved him back into the ropes. As the Z-Man came back, D-Von caught him around the legs and carried him straight back into Bubba's waiting grasp, delivering the infamous Dudley Death Drop. D-Von rolled over and hooked the leg for the 1... 2... 3!

The fans booed as the Dudleys' music played. At ringside, Heyman was laughing at Rose. "So much for the last word in greatness, eh, Billy boy?" the former owner of ECW said. "Now your favorite girl is about to get a trip through a table!"

Sure enough, Bubba was looking at the sprawled form of Dee Meaner, who was leaning on the apron. He turned around and shoved D-Von. "D-Von, get the damn table!" D-Von did so as Bubba left the ring and started to stalk the brunette bombshell. The Z-Men were in varying states of consciousness as the black Dudley set up a table in the corner.

"You think that Dee's gonna eat wood, Heyman?" Rose said. "Well, I'll show you what I think of those damn Dudleys."

By this point, Bubba had brought Dee into the ring, and was already poised on the top rope, waiting for D-Von to pass him the female. Rose abruptly dropped his headset, scooped up his chair, and slid into the ring. D-Von turned to face him and got a mouth full of steel. Dee quickly rolled out of the ring as Bubba started to stand up. Rose bashed him in the head with the chair, making Bubba sit back down. The Californian chucked the chair aside, then climbed on top of the table. He pulled Bubba Ray to his feet, so he stood on the second rope. Rose looked out at the crowd, then jabbed his elbow downward. The fans started to cheer as Rose hooked Bubba's head, then swung around and dropped an elbow on the back of his head, carrying him down face-first through the table with a CRACK!

"Brain Damage!" J.R. crowed. "Brain Damage through the table! Do you like apples, Paul?"

"Oh, shut up!" Heyman snapped.

"How d'you like them apples, you son of a bitch?" J.R. demanded.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Heyman yelled. "If Rose thinks he can come out here and interfere in one of our matches, he's sorely mistaken!"

Rose slid out of the ring and retreated up the ramp as his music played, looking back at the ring, where Stacy was trying to figure out what had happened to her meal tickets.

* * *

Billy Rose headed almost immediately for his idling limo in the garage. Just as he was about to get there, however, he ran into Shane McMahon. "Oh, so you're just gonna hit and run, huh?" Shane spat.

"Why the fuck not?" Rose sneered. "How is this so different from what you and WCW did?" Shane scowled at him, prompting the Californian to smirk. "Yeah, not so funny when it's your guys, is it? Get used to it, bud. You'll soon be wishing you'd left WCW's corpse to rot in Atlanta, and that smelly bastard Heyman's gonna wish he'd never left his little pissant bingo hall." He shoved Shane out of his way. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm a very busy man."

Rose threw his bag in the trunk of his limo (Stasiak had been liberated earlier), then turned back to see Shane's furious face. "Listen, you prick bastard, do you know who I am?! I'm Shane McMahon! The owner of WCW! The co-owner of the Alliance! I can have twenty guys beat you to a bloody pulp, with a snap of my fingers!"

Rose's usual smug smirk was gone. He looked directly into Shane's eyes. "And do you know who I am, you spoiled wussy-boy? I'm Billy Fucking Rose. The Mental Elite. I ran CIW for nine years. When it comes down to skill, I'm smarter than you, I'm stronger than you, and I'm a better businessman than you. So bring twenty guys. Bring fifty. I am not as alone as you think." He smirked again now. "Let that stew for three days, Shane. See you on Thursday."

He climbed into his limo and shut the door, ordering the driver to take them out of the arena. Inside, Rose turned to Jenny Black, who was seated on the seat next to the other door. "We're going to have to move up the timetable now," she said, "thanks to your attacking the Dudleys."

"We move nothing up," Rose said. "Everything's going exactly as I want it to. I already have someone in mind to be a possible tag-team partner for me on Thursday, in case I need it."

"Mr. Skinner?" she inquired.

Rose laughed as he helped himself to the bourbon in the minibar. "Like the old adage goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Skinner and I may hate each other's guts, but I think we can coexist for one match."

more to come-

Next: Cards are glimpsed, plans nearly exposed, but Rose keeps his cards close to his vest as he continues his plans.

If you have any ideas for possible feuds/relationships for any of my characters, drop me a line at jay_winger_2k@hotmail.com.

-=Jay 2K Winger=-
Live and Almost Legal
February 4, 2002