The Counter-Invasion
By: Jay Winger

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

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

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: Stephanie ordered members of the Alliance to guard all the doors, barring anyone who wasn't in the Alliance from entering... but she was too late to stop Jericho from getting in. Rose arrived in a limo, and was immediately braced by DDP, Kanyon, and Stasiak, but was saved from a total beatdown by Undertaker and Kane. Scotty 2 Hotty def. The Hurricane with the Worm and an assist from CIWer Nate Starr (who got in by buying a ticket). Rose went out to do commentary again as Dudleyz & Stacy Keibler def. The Z-Men & Dee Meaner after a 3-D on Zed. Bubba Ray and D-Von then prepared to tablebomb Dee, but Rose left commentary and hit the Dudleys with a chair, then gave Bubba the Brain Damage off the second rope and through a table. Rose left backstage, but not after having a tense confrontation with Shane McMahon.

Chapter 4: Co-Existence

Smackdown: January 2

Most of the WWF and Alliance superstars had sobered up after their New Year's parties, and arrived at the arena for Smackdown, ready to kick ass and take names. The four leaders of the Alliance -- Triple H, Shane, Stephanie, and Heyman -- stood in front of the Dudley Boyz. Bubba Ray was rubbing the back of his head, still feeling the effects of the Brain Damage through the table. The Game glared at them. "I want to make something clear to you guys. The Alliance may be in control right now, but we can't afford to lose any matches. The slightest sign of weakness, and Vince is going to pounce. We can't afford that."

Shane spoke up. "What you guys need to do is take out Rose. He's up to something, and I don't need him getting on our case any more than you need me getting on yours." He pointed at them. "I want you to take him out! You hear me? Take him out!"

"He's going to be teaming with Matthew Skinner," Triple H pointed out. "We all know they don't get along. Take advantage of that."

"You don't have to worry, Hunter," Bubba Ray promised. "We'll make sure they both taste wood."

"Yeah, testify!" D-Von grinned, and then both Dudleys left the Alliance VIP Room. Triple H shifted his WWF title belt from one shoulder to the other, scowling.

* * *

In the garage, Billy Rose's limo arrived, the Californian climbing out to get his bag out of the trunk before walking in toward the locker rooms. He was wearing his usual unbuttoned red overshirt over his Every Rose Has Its Thorns T-Shirt, shouldering his duffel as he walked the halls. About half-way to his locker room, he was accosted by Brick and The Storm.

Nobody said anything for a long moment. Then Rose said, "There something I can do for you, Storm?"

The Force of Nature replied, "What are you up to?"

Rose responded by smirking in that infuriating way of his. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Matthew Skinner snapped. "You're planning something, aren't you?"

"What if I am?" Rose asked.

"Just giving you fair warning," The Storm said. "If I find out that what you're planning is bad for the WWF, I will personally murder you."

"Well, that's a relief," the Mental Elite said. "You had me worried there."

He started to walk off, but Brick grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him against the wall. The seven-foot-one behemoth leaned down to snarl, "Don't fuck around with us. You screw with the Fed, I will break you."

Brick thrust Rose aside and left with Skinner. As they left, Rose said to their backs, "Relax, guys, what I have planned is far from bad for the WWF. If anything, it will save it!"

* * *

Later, as Rose was preparing for his match, taping up his wrists in his locker room, he found himself graced by the presence of none other than Vincent K. McMahon himself. The Californian finished the wrap on one hand, then set the tape down. "There something I can help you with, Vince?"

"As I'm sure everybody's asked you, what's going on?" the billionaire asked.

Rose shrugged. "Life, the Universe, everything... the WWF's survival."

Vince looked at him. "What did you say?"

The former owner of CIW smirked. "You heard me. Trust me, Vince, big things are afoot, and you'll thank me for it. Believe me, you'll thank me for it."

With that said, Rose shrugged on his unbuttoned red shirt and walked out of the room.

* * *

"The following tag-team Table Match is scheduled for one fall," Tony Chimel announced. A smooth mixture of thunder and a drum roll started, building up to a crash of cymbals/lightning, as the lights went out. "This is your Storm Warning..." Guitar chords mixed with a warning siren blared, and then the drums pounded back up along with lightning pyros as the music of Cold Steel rocked the arena. Lights flashed behind the smoke from the pyros as "The Storm" Matthew Skinner walked out, wearing his Seek Shelter T-Shirt and carrying the ugly-stick. "Introducing first, from Dallas, Texas, weighing in at 240 pounds... "The Storm" MATTHEW SKINNER!"

Skinner entered the ring, climbed up on the second rope, then raised the baseball bat in the air. He stepped down, bounced the bat off the ropes a couple times, then set it down in the corner as he removed his sunglasses and paced around the ring. His music faded out and was replaced by something else. "How long? How long? How long? - I said how long? I said how long? I said how long? Until you crack, man..." Billy Rose walked out, giving his usual smug smirk, raising his arms to the sides, looking one way, then the other before lowering his hands and tossing his head back, smirking at The Storm, who glared at him. "And his tag-team partner, from Los Angeles, California, weighing in at 245 pounds... BILLY ROSE!" Rose slid into the ring, stood, and hit his smug-smirk pose again, then turned around to find Skinner inches away.

"You screw me, Rose, I'll kill you," he growled. "Just reminding you."

Rose just smiled as he removed his shirt and threw it out to the timekeeper. Bombs whistled on the TitanTron as the Dudleys came out, accompanied by the so-called Wicked Witch of the Wood. "And their opponents, from the Alliance, being accompanied by Stacy Keibler, at a combined weight of 515 pounds... Bubba Ray and D-Von, the DUDLEY BOYZ!" The Dudleys carried a table with them. They set this up outside the ring, in front of the ramp, but as they were doing so, both Skinner and Rose left the ring to attack them from behind.

Rose took on Bubba Ray as The Storm pounded on D-Von, whipping him into the barricade, then grabbing his head and hurling him head-long into the steel steps. Stacy retreated part-way up the ramp as this was going on. Rose took Bubba into the ring and quickly got him in the corner. He worked him over with forearm shots, then a few Flair-like arm-chops. The Storm gave D-Von a Russian leg sweep onto the floor, then got in his corner. Rose brought Bubba over to that corner, and bounced his head off Skinner's boot before tagging him in. Skinner continued along the same vein, then whipped him off the ropes. He planted his knee in the white Dudley's gut, causing him to flip over, then dropped an elbow on his sternum.

The Storm grabbed his ankle and started to turn him over, looking for the Twister Anklelock, but Bubba Ray saw what was coming and hastily scrambled to the ropes. The Dudley Boy held onto the bottom rope for dear life, but the Force of Nature just ran off the opposite ropes and came back in a Bossman-like stradle across the back of the neck, throttling him against the rope. As he got up, he turned and dodged a swing by D-Von. The Storm lunged at him to hit back, but D-Von dodged, grabbed his head and jumped off the apron, hot-shotting Skinner off the top rope. He staggered back into Bubba's waiting grasp, who delivered a full-nelson Bubba Bomb.

D-Von was tagged in then, and the black Dudley went to work pummeling on the Force of Nature. He gave him a snapmare, then kicked him in the back, eliciting a wince. D-Von pulled him back to his feet, whipped him into the ropes, swung a clothesline, but missed as The Storm ducked. D-Von responded to that by turning around and hitting his spinning back elbow as he came back. He stomped a few more times, then tagged Bubba back in.

The white Dudley clotheslined The Storm down, then swung his leg aside to deliver an elbow drop to the chest. He stood back up and quickly did it a second time, then stood up again. He thumped his fists on his shoulders, then a second time, except putting his fingers in the 3-D hand-sign, then raised his hands up and linked them together to deliver a double axe-handle to the sternum. He then got up and ran at Rose, clocking him across the jaw. The Californian immediately tried to get in the ring to retaliate, but the referee held him back as Bubba scoop slammed The Storm and spread his legs to the corner. D-Von jumped off the top rope in a Wassap Drop (sans Wassap) to Skinner's exposed groin. He got up and did his victory dance. Bubba Ray turned to Stacy, who was watching outside the ring. "Stacy! Get the tables!"

The Duchess of Dudleyville nodded and threw up the ring apron to pull the hardware out. She lifted it with a touch of difficulty, then slid it into the ring. Bubba and D-Von set it up in the middle of the ring, as the referee was still trying to restrain Rose. D-Von whipped Skinner into the ropes, preparing for a table-ized 3-D, but he held onto the ropes as Rose shoved aside the referee and tackled Bubba. D-Von rushed the Force of Nature, who ducked and back-dropped him over the top rope to the floor.

Rose had locked Bubba into the Deadly Blossom, weakening his shoulder and arm, hopefully to keep him from being able to execute any finishing moves. Finally, he relented and released him, then stood him up before putting Bubba's head between his knees, setting him up for the Rose's Thorn. As he prepared to gutwrench him, however, Stacy jumped up on the ring apron and distracted him. This allowed Bubba to get free and low-blow the Mental Elite, then whip him into the ropes to prepare for a back body drop into the table. However, Skinner had moved the table, so Rose hit nothing but mat. The Storm stood the table up in the corner, ECW-style, then swiftly kicked Bubba in the gut when he turned around to investigate the lack of broken wood.

The Storm then went to whip Bubba into the table, but D-Von got on the apron and pulled the table out of the way. Bubba hit the turnbuckle and groaned, staggering back into a reverse DDT from Rose. Skinner rolled out of the ring to go after D-Von. Rose worked over his opponent with some stomps and elbow drops as The Storm was caught by surprise by D-Von. The black Dudley had grabbed the ring bell and clobbered him with it, then started brutalizing him on the outside, whipping him headlong into the steel ring post.

Bubba hit Rose with another low blow, then rammed him shoulder-first into the steel ring post. The white Dudley used that time to set up the table in the middle of the ring. As he was doing this, D-Von abruptly rolled into the ring, pulled out Rose, and whipped him into the ropes. He caught him around the knees, then lifted him up and backward, over the table, and into Bubba Ray's waiting arms. They brought him down hard in a 3-D through the wood with a sick CRACK! The referee called for the bell as the Dudleys promptly left the ring to escape the wrath of a pissed-off Force of Nature, who rolled into the ring with ugly-stick in hand.

The Storm glared at the retreating boys from Dudleyville, who grinned and flashed him the 3-D hand-sign. But then the fans started cheering as two forms came running down the ramp. One was seven-foot-one, the other wore black robes and a hood. Scion and Brick blindsided the Dudleys, knocking them back down the ramp and into the ring. D-Von was rolled into the ring by Scion, straight to the waiting Skinner, who kicked him in the gut, then turned him around to hook him in the Downdraft. Scion climbed to the top rope, then raised his arms to the sides. He swung them down, and leapt off the top in the Jesus Wept senton bomb.

Outside, Brick grabbed Bubba Ray by the throat, then lifted him overhead in a gorilla press with a roar. He held him there for a moment, then swung him down into the Breaker Chokeslam, in the process crashing him through the table the Dudleys had set up at the ramp earlier. The Storm started yelling trash-talk at D-Von, who was curled up, holding his ribs where Scion had slammed into him.

Then, Billy Rose was helped out of the wreckage of the table by Scion. The Californian held his ribs also, where he'd crashed through wood, but he went to stand over D-Von. He lifted his hand, and made a hand-sign, extending all his fingers but his middle finger and thumb, with which he made a circle. He held this over the twitching black Dudley, then looked up at Scion, who gazed back at him impassively as Rose showed him the hand-sign.

The Storm, meanwhile, blinked and stared at Rose, then turned him to so he could face him. Rose lowered his hand. "What the fuck is this?" Skinner demanded, making the hand-sign himself. "Why you flashing that?"

"You'll find out," Rose said simply. "You'll find out."

The Union Underground was playing as Rose left the ring. Brick stared at him as he walked by, while Skinner and Scion looked at each other in the ring.

* * *

As Billy Rose left his locker room not too long after, he passed by several WWF locker rooms as well. The Hardys and Lita watched him as he went by, as did Undertaker and Kane. The Z-Men and Dee Meaner were hanging around outside their commandeered restroom. As he passed, Zed nodded to him curtly, as did Dee. Zeta flashed that same hand-sign. Rose's expression did not change from his usual smirk as he returned to his waiting limo. He tossed his duffel in the door, then turned to see Shane McMahon staring at him from the hallway.

Rose just smirked and again flashed the hand-sign. Then he sung softly, to himself, though in the silence of the garage, the owner of WCW could hear him just fine. "You cannot stop us, you cannot bring us down..." Then he smirked, sliding a hand through his blond hair. "We are alive..."

As Shane tried to make sense of that, Rose got into the limo and closed the door. A few moments later, it started up and drove out of the arena.

more to come-

Next: On Raw, Rose's plans become clear when he vents his frustrations toward Paul E. Heyman.

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 7, 2002