The Counter-Invasion
By: Jay Winger

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

Teaser: The stage starts to get set for the Royal Rumble as a couple of big-name feuds escalate, and CIW continues to carve its way through the Alliance.

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, Billy Rose, Brad "Brick" Dickerson, 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. Lyrics from "Defy You" by Offspring are used without permission.

Previously: As the Alliance leaders arrived at the arena, they were immediately confronted with Billy Rose and a few of his cohorts. Rose challenged Shane to book a match for Smoker, and a match for Tony Smiles and his pal, Joey, which Shane agreed to. Rose then warned Shane to be wary of going after The Storm. Shane and Booker T then went to the ring to address the crowd, and Matthew Skinner came out for the rebuttal, calling Booker T an embarrassment to the legacy of the WCW title, citing the names of past great champions (such as Thesz, Steamboat, and Flair). When Booker challenged Skinner to back up his words, The Storm chased them off. Lance Storm & Mike Awesome def. Tony Smiles & Pal Joey, but got a Yes Indeed Superkick and Cleaver (double-choke cutter) for their trouble. Rose came out to do commentary as Smoker def. DDP with a "Burn Out" (a tornado bulldog into a flipping neckbreaker) and a "House Burner" (spiral powerbomb). Vince McMahon offered support to The Storm prior to his match, but The Storm denied the request. The Storm v. Booker T ends in a "no contest" after both Kurt Angle and Triple H get involved. The Storm laid out Booker and bellowed that "This title belongs to me! It's mine!"

Chapter 8: Double Trouble

Smackdown: January 16

Vince McMahon sat in his VIP room, looking over a series of papers. The door opened to admit Billy Rose and Jenny Black. The billionaire stood up. "Billy, Jenny, glad you could make it."

"My pleasure, Vince," Rose said with his trademark smirk. He nodded at the sheet in Vince's hand. "What've the Siblings Mac and Horrible Heyman asked for tonight?"

"Well, they want to book a main event match, a tag team match between Matthew Skinner and Kurt Angle against Triple H and Booker T."

"That's not a problem, I hope?" Rose asked, seating himself on the couch. Jenny sat down next to him, producing a paper of her own and reviewing it.

"Of course not," Vince said. "They also want to book a Light-Heavyweight title match between X-Pac and The Hurricane."

Rose nodded. "I say we agree, provided they'll grant someone from our side a Crusierweight title match on Raw."

Vince nodded. "Who do you have in mind?"

Rose shrugged. "Either Nate Starr or Tony Smiles if you want someone from CIW. Either Scotty 2 Hotty or Crash Holly if you want WWF."

McMahon agreed, then glanced at Jenny. "What's that?" he asked, inquiring of the paper she held.

She handed it over. "A request to be sent to the Alliance for a match between the Gemini Twins and a tag team from their side. Preferably the Dudleys or Palumbo & O'Haire."

"It'll have to be the Dudleys, since the other two are in a match with Viper's gang. Is that all for tonight?"

Rose nodded. "Expect to see me go out to commentate for some of CIW's matches. I think we should also start compiling a list of who our Coalition is going to contribute to the Rumble."

Vince nodded. "It would seem so."

* * *

Matthew Skinner arrived at the arena in his rental car, getting out of the car along with Rain. He shouldered his bag and glanced back as two more people stepped out of the car. One was Scion, whose head and face were hidden as usual under his hood. Then the car eased off its axles as Brick got out. Skinner looked back at them, then headed down the hall toward his dressing room.

En route, the four of them ran into the so-called 'Team ECK.' Kurt Angle was wearing his Your True American Hero - The Truth Hurts T-Shirt, while Edge & Christian each wore one of their red 'silhouette' T-Shirts. Angle approached Skinner. "Hey, we've got a tag match against Hunter and Booker."

"Game Boy and Mista Sucka, no problem," Skinner said. "Here's a suggestion, when we get the chance, we put a combine submission on one of their asses."

"Combine submission?"

He nodded. "You do your Angle Lock thing, and I'll put `em in the Necksnapper."

Angle grinned. "Good idea. See you in the ring later."

The four continued to their locker room. Once there, Brick removed his jacket and revealed that he was wearing a CIW - Innovators of Extreme since 1990 T-Shirt. The Storm blinked, then stood up and pointed at it. "What the fuck is this?"

Scion and Brick both looked at the shirt. "It's a shirt," Brick said simply.

"It's a fucking CIW shirt, Brick!" The Storm snapped. "Why the hell would you wear that?"

Scion turned back, shadows still covering his face from his hood. "I would think the answer is obvious. Brick's rejoined CIW."

Both The Storm and Rain gawked. "You went back to Billy Fuckin' Rose?! What the fuck's wrong with you?!"

"Returning to my roots, Storm," Brick replied.

"Do I even need to remind you about the shit Rose put you through?" Skinner demanded. "Treating you like a fucking animal, like some kinda slave? Screaming his head off at you when you screwed up? Do you remember Summerslam, Brick? Do you remember what he said to you then?"

"It was part of the system, Storm, that's all."

All at once, Skinner grabbed a folding chair and threw it into the lockers with a great crash. "Brick! For once in your life, think smart! Rose didn't know it was part of the system. When he was saying that shit to you, he meant it! You don't mean shit to him! As far as Rose is concerned, you're just another piece of meat to throw at the Alliance. You don't matter to him!"

He seethed for a minute, then swore again, "I mean, Jeezus Christ! -- sorry, Scion," he said quickly to the hooded wrestler, who bowed his head and folded his hands, "use your brain! I don't mean to knock you or anything, Brick, but if you don't start thinking past the Invasion, you could be out of a job when this is all said and done, whether the WWF wins or not."

Rain spoke up at last, "Guys, look, we all know where Matthew stands on this whole CIW thing, and let's just leave it at that." She turned to The Storm before he could snap at her, "I know you don't trust Rose's motives. I also know you aren't going to rejoin CIW." She turned to Brick and Scion. "If you guys could just spread the word to the others from CIW that he remembers where his roots lie, but that he's not going to come back, we'll all breathe easier."

Scion nodded again. "I shall inform everyone else." He then glanced at the TV monitor set up in the corner. "I believe the Twins have a match next."

Skinner popped his neck a bit, then sighed. "All right. Let's see how Cas and Pol have done since I left."

* * *

Harsh, stern-sounding music played over the speakers as the team once called the Impact Players stepped out on the stage. Justin Credible wore his black tights with his name in silver letters down the legs. Lance Storm wore black tights as well with silver patterns on the thighs. "The following tag-team contest is scheduled for one fall. Making their way to the ring, from the Alliance, weighing in at a combined weight of 465 pounds... the team of LANCE STORM and JUSTIN CREDIBLE!" The two paused on the ramp, where they struck their original pose: Lance planting his feet and leaning slightly to one side, flexing his muscles a bit, while Justin raised his fists in the air.

As they hit the ring, the snippet from "Defy You" by the Offspring played. "We... are... ALIVE!" This segued into a hard rock instrumental piece, with images and clips of two identical men bashing the living hell out of people on the screen. The Twins emerged on the stage. Each was about six-foot-six and built like Test. They had highlighted brown hair and vicious green eyes. They wore matching tights, with coordinating colors. The one on the left coming down the ramp had black on one side and red on the other. The other one had the colors switched, but had tattoos on his upper arms. They also wore tape on their wrists and hands, not unlike Albert. Walking along behind them was none other than Billy Rose, who wore the CIW T-Shirt and raised his hands in the CIW hand-sign. "And their opponents, representing CIW and being accompanied by the owner of CIW, Billy Rose... from Seattle, Washington, weighing in at a combined weight of 540 pounds... Castor... Pollux... THE GEMINI TWINS!"

The Twins ran into the ring and posed on the ropes, raising their arms and pumping them to juice themselves up. Rose walked over to commentary and seated himself at the third headset. Heyman had an unpleasant look on his face. "Hello, Paulie. Ready to see the Alliance get its ass kicked again?"

"CIW is no longer undefeated, Billy," Heyman pointed out. "Lance Storm and Mike Awesome defeated your boys, Tony and Joey."

"What happened to Tony Smiles and his pal, Joey, was a fluke," Rose waved it off. "Like the shirt says, Paulie, CIW has been extreme before you happened to make it famous. We're just getting to showcase why we're the innovators of it."

"Glad to have you with us again, Billy," Michael Cole said. "Just to enlighten us, mind telling us who you have for us tonight?"

"These are Castor and Pollux Geminus, the Gemini Twins. One of the best tag-teams from CIW," the Californian said. "Just for reference, Pollux is the one with the tattoos. Castor's the one with the educated feet."

Lance and Justin had slid back into the ring as the Twins faced them. Castor slapped Pollux's arm and held out a hand, holding his fist on top of it. Pollux nodded and did the same. They did roshambo as the Impact Players moved in a bit. Both of the CIWers came up with rock. They looked at each other, did it again, and again came up with rock. They looked at each other again, shrugged, then turned and each slugged an ECWer. Pollux worked on Lance as Castor hurled Justin through the ropes to the outside.

The tattooed twin hurled the Canadian into the ropes and took him down with a stiff clothesline. He dropped an elbow on his sternum, then hooked a leg for a two-count. Pol frowned and slugged Lance in the head, then hurled him into the Twins' corner for a turnbuckle clothesline. He tagged in Castor and together they set to work stomping and pounding on Storm before Cas took over. He whipped him into the ropes and caught him in the midsection with a knee. Lance flipped over from the blow, only to get stomped in the head as he tried to sit up.

"Yo, Cas!" Pollux shouted from the corner. "Slash his ass!" Castor nodded, then whipped Lance into the ropes, apparenly looking for a variant of a heel kick. The Canadian, however, grabbed the ropes and prevented the rebound, then quickly tagged in Justin. Credible stepped into the ring and scored a front dropkick before Castor could retaliate. He started pummeling on him, then looked for a snap suplex, but the CIWer wasn't cooperating, blocking the suplex. Then Castor reversed it into a suplex of his own.

With a growl, the Twin pulled Justin to his feet and whipped him into the ropes, then jumped in the air, twisting his body parallel to the mat, snapping his calf into the ECWer's face. "And that's the Slash Kick!" Rose called at ringside. "One of the trademark's of Castor's educated feet!" Nodding with a sneer on his face, Castor tagged in Pollux. The Gemini pulled Credible to his feet and shot him into the ropes, then caught him with a double clothesline. The tattooed Twin then set to work stomping and pummeling Justin.

Finally, Pol powerslammed him and went for a pin. Lance quickly dropped an elbow on him to break up the pin. Lance returned to the ring apron and glanced at the booing crowd, then turned back to get knocked to the floor by Pollux's forearm. Turning back around, Pol was taken down by a superkick by Credible, who quickly went for the pin. This time Castor broke it up with a stomp to the head.

Lance got back in the ring and attacked, but now the Twins were ready again. Pollux creamed him with a hard clothesline, as Castor took Justin down with another Slash Kick. Looking at their downed opponents, Pollux pointed at Lance and then slapped his fist into his palm. Castor nodded. They stood the Canadian up, whipped him into the ropes. Pollux caught him by the leg, hoisted him up, swung around and brought him down toward the mat in a powerbomb. Castor joined in and added his own momentum and power to the maneuver. "The Twin Terror Bomb!" Rose crowed. "They've won more than half their matches with that move! Learn it well, Paulie-boy, because you'll be seeing more of it."

"Oh, shut up!" Heyman grumbled.

Rolling the semiconscious Storm out of the ring, now the Gemini turned to Justin. Castor pointed at him, then at the ropes. Pollux nodded. The two slapped a pair of high-fives, swung their arms down, then thumped forearms together. Pollux stood Credible on his feet, then slugged him in the gut. He then grabbed his head and pushed it down until he was fully doubled over, then held him there, looking to Castor. The other Twin came off the ropes with a full-on scissor kick, locking his legs around Justin's head before landing on the mat. Justin fell down face-first.

"That's the G-Force Combo!" Rose declared. "And that, by the way, Paulie, is a Scissor Kick. Not that so-called Scissor Kick that sucka does."

Pollux rolled Justin onto his back as Castor slid out of the ring to stomp Lance back to the floor. The referee dutifully counted the fall. 1... 2... 3. The tattooed man stood up and shouted in triumph, raising his arms in the air, flashing the CIW hand-sign. Castor rolled back in the ring and raised his arms as well, and then the two brothers slapped each other's shoulders, flashing a thumbs-up. They slid out of the ring and back up the ramp as Rose slipped a few more insults at Heyman before leaving with them.

* * *

Matthew Skinner was pacing in the hall in the WWF/CIW area, swinging his arms and stretching his neck, generally getting warmed up for his match later. As always, he wore his black jeans and boots, black wrist tape and black fingerless gloves. For a shirt, he was wearing his Seek Shelter - The Storm Has ARRIVED! T-Shirt. His WCW title belt was set on top of an equipment crate, along with his ugly-stick. As he warmed up, one of the CIWers walked up. It was Victor E., ostensibly the "leader" of the CIW faction of the WWF/CIW Combined Forces.

"`Sup, Skin?" Victor asked. The Storm looked up, smiled a bit and tapped fists with him.

"Hey, Vic," he returned. "How you doing?"

"Not bad," Victor replied. "Just got done talking to Rose. Apparently he's talked Regal into wrangling a U.S. Title match out of Kanyon for me. Oughta be nice."

"Good luck," Skinner said.

"Same to you tonight. I hear you got Trips and Book."

"In a nutshell," The Storm said. "Kurt and I won't have any problems."

"Right," came a sardonic voice from down the hall. The two looked over to see Raven lurking behind a stack of crates. The enigmatic wrestler stepped out into view. "Your Combine has all sorts of problems."

"Hey, Raven," Victor grinned, "how's Rhyno's knee?"

"Ask him yourself," Raven replied. The last CIW Champion blinked, then whirled around just in time to see Rhyno charge from a connecting hallway. The Man-Beast plowed into him and drove him into the wall. Victor let out a loud groan and doubled over with pain as Rhyno stood up and backed away with a leer. The Storm blinked in shock, then prepared to lunge for his sometime friend's avenging, but Raven attacked him with a steel chair to the back.

As he staggered from the blow, Skinner was quickly Gored by Rhyno. The two ECWers took turns stomping him and Victor, before a voice called, "A'ight, get his ass up!" A bit dazed, The Storm was stood up on his feet, just enough to see Booker T. standing front of him. Rhyno and Raven muscled The Storm up on top of a shipping pallet, while the former WCW champion stalked up and hooked an arm under his jaw, then drove the Force of Nature down into the shipping pallet in a Book End. The Storm shouted in pain, arching his back and clutching it as referees finally showed up and separated the Combine wrestlers and the Alliance wrestlers.

"Yeah! Got his ass!" Booker shouted, as Shane McMahon whooped and ran up, grinning and guiding his wrestler away and toward the ring.

"Looks like you won't be wrestling tonight, Storm!" Shane shouted back.

* * *

Fortunately for Kurt Angle, he didn't have to fight Triple H and Booker T. by himself. Scion stepped in to replace The Storm, and together, the Olympian and the so-called "Act of God" fared pretty well against the Game and Booker T. However, every time they got close to scoring a win, either Shane or Stephanie -- who had accompanied their chosen wrestlers to ringside -- would distract the referee or somehow prevent the three-count from being scored.

Finally, the fans popped as the gigantic form of the Big Show came lumbering down the ramp, making a beeline for Shane. Stephanie quickly hid as "the Money" took off running for the crowd. Shane did not get far, however, as Brick had come in through Shane's escape route and clocked him across the face with a big right hand. Heyman started protesting as Brick hauled Shane over the barricade and muscled him out through the crowd. Big Show left after them, following Brick.

Stephanie was quite shaken by this occurence, and it showed as she didn't do nearly so much to distract the referee later in the match. Angle and Scion managed to rally back and score a few near falls, but Triple H and Booker continued to fight back and keep the WWF/CIW wrestlers on the defensive.

Then the crowd popped as a swarm of referees appeared on the ramp, having to hold back a seriously pissed-off Matthew Skinner. He was walking a bit stiffly, evidently still feeling the effects of Rhyno's Gore and the Book End onto the shipping pallet. His glare was fixated on Booker T., who was currently in the ring. Booker stopped in his stomping of Scion to turn and look at him in shock. This distraction allowed Kurt Angle to run in the ring and deliver an Angle Slam to Booker. Triple H rushed in and decked him with a right hand, then kicked Scion to keep him from getting a pinfall.

The Storm finally shoved his way through the referees and climbed up on the apron, only to be stopped by WCW official Charles Robinson, who was officiating this match. Skinner looked at him, then tried to push him away to get in the ring. Triple H came over to try and deck him as well, but then The Storm pulled his hand from behind his back, revealing he was carrying his ugly-stick. He clobbered Triple H with it, but fortunately it went undetected by Robinson, who had been distracted by Angle, who was climbing back in the ring.

The Game staggered back into Scion, who turned him around, then hoisted him up and dropped him down in the Fall from Grace. Booker recovered from the Angle Slam and went for the Axe Kick, but Scion sidestepped it and gave him a Fall from Grace as well. Scion hooked a leg as Robinson went to count the three. Stephanie tried to intervene, but The Storm menaced her and chased her around the ring with his ugly-stick before being blocked by the swarm of referees who were still trying to get him under control.

Scion got the pin and stood up as his music played, leaving the ring to try and get Skinner under control. Triple H and Booker both rolled out of the ring and retreated up the ramp as The Storm, Angle, and Scion stood in the ring. Skinner walked to the ropes and shouted at the retreating Booker T., pointing a finger at him, then at himself. "You and me, Booker, the Rumble! Get set to get wrecked, sucka!" He stepped back and raised his ugly-stick in the air.

-more to come-

Next: The Storm guns for Booker T. as Billy Rose continues to get on the Alliance's bad side.

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
March 11, 2002