The Counter-Invasion
By: Jay Winger

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

Teaser: There would be hell to pay at the Royal Rumble. But for The Storm? Or for 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: Commissioner Regal met with Paul Heyman to determine the rosters for the Rumble, and before leaving, Heyman bumped into Billy Rose and engaged in some verbal warfare. Dudleyz def. Tony Smiles & Pal Joey, but after winning, the Z-Men ran out of the crowd and chased off the Dudleys, then delivered a Z-D on Nick Patrick for mouthing off to them. Later, Shane McMahon came out to bitch about CIW, prompting Rose to come out and point out CIW's numerous wins over the Alliance. Shane got angry and challenged Rose to a Street Fight at the Rumble, which Rose readily accepted. Rob Van Dam def. Scion with the Van Daminator and Five-Star Frog Splash to retain the Hardcore Title. Stephanie came out to gloat, proclaiming that the Alliance would win all its matches, but The Storm -- who had been given the night off from putting his WCW title on the line by Shane, Stephanie, and Heyman -- came out and angrily berated Stephanie, swearing that he was not going to lose the title he'd worked hard to earn, then attacked Stephanie, leaving her lying as the fans and other superstars looked on in shock.

Chapter 11: Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Sunday Night Heat: January 26

Vince McMahon did not hold back the sneer of disgust on his face as he stood in the room with Paul E. Heyman. Heyman, likewise, did not hold back the sneer of disgust on his face. Gathered in the room were the assembled superstars of each organization -- WCW, ECW, CIW, and the WWF. In the center of the room was a simple opaque box with a hole in the top. Security guards stood between the two sides.

"All right, here's how it's going to work," Vince said. "In this box are small plastic balls. Enough for each man in this room. Inside every ball is a slip of paper. If your paper is blank, that means you're not in the Rumble. If your paper has a number on it, that means you have drawn that number for the Rumble itself. All right, now, everyone who already has a match tonight, please leave."

One at a time or in pairs, Victor E, Rhyno, Viper, Tazz, Billy Rose, Shane McMahon, Palumbo & O'Haire, Undertaker & Kane, the Z-Men, the Dudleys, Booker T, The Storm, Triple H, and Kurt Angle left the room. Vince sneered a bit. "All right, now, since you won the coin toss, Paul, your side gets to draw the first one, then my side gets to draw."

Heyman said, "I know that, Vince. Not like it matters. You realize that it's possible that the Alliance could end up with more participants in the Rumble than the WWF or CIW?"

"Conversely," replied Jenny Black, "the WWF or CIW could end up with more participants than the Alliance."

That set Heyman back. Then he just sneered and signaled for Tommy Dreamer to step forward and make his draw.

* * *

As Matthew Skinner headed toward his locker room, he was stopped by Commissioner Regal. "Mr. Skinner, I was hoping I could find you."

"What do you want, Regal?"

"I want to know just what in the bloody hell were you thinking, last Thursday on Smackdown?" Regal inquired. "Do you understand the consequences of knocking out that shrill-voiced little tart? You're the WCW Champion, and like it or not, that means that Shane, Stephanie, and that miserable toe-rag Paul Heyman get to make your matches. They can make life extremely bad for you."

"Don't you think I know that?" The Storm replied. "I don't give a rat's ass what they do. I've been tolerating a lot of shit in my life, especially from people who think they can push me around. Sooner or later, they all learn that I will push back, and I will show them what agony is." He paused, glaring at Regal, then went on, "I just gave Stephanie a Storm Warning. If she and her buddies take that the wrong way, then I pity them, because I will not lose this title without a fight."

"And what if they just strip you of it?"

The Storm smirked. "Okay, let's say I win tonight, and so does Triple H. That means the Alliance still holds the WWF Championship. If they decide to strip me of my title, then Vince can do the same thing to Triple H."

"And if Kurt Angle wins tonight?"

The Storm frowned a bit. "Then I'll be walking on eggshells. But all the same, the Terrible Trio best be careful how much they push me. Sooner or later, the Force of Nature always destroys what's in his way."

He pushed past Regal and into his locker room.

Royal Rumble: January 26

Early in the show, following Viper's match with Tazz, Victor E fought against Rhyno. It was a match between the last CIW Champion and the last ECW Champion. It was a chance for the "junior partner" of each side to prove their mettle, by having their top guys fight each other.

Whereas Rhyno brought brute force and aggression, Victor was a bit more cerebral in his style. Where Rhyno savagely attacked, Victor picked his attacks, focusing on Rhyno's leg, which he'd weakened a bit in some of their previous encounters. The Man-Beast did focus most of his attacks on Victor's ribs, which he'd tenderized the week before with a pair of vicious Gores.

As the match got closer to the end, Victor was whipped into the ropes by Rhyno, who then caught him in a bearhug. The fans booed as the long-haired Detroit native dug his hands into the spine of the long-haired Californian. Victor's ribs ached as Rhyno cinched in the hold, squeezing the breath from him.

Slowly, he felt his strength leach out of him, but then Victor caught his second wind. He pushed Rhyno's head back and started pummeling him in the forehead and temple, soon forcing the Man-Beast to release the bearhug. To buy himself more time to recover, Victor then raked the eyes before kicking out Rhyno's knee. Victor stumbled back into the corner to catch his breath, then moved out to kick Rhyno in the stomach as he got back to his feet.

The last CIW Champion then stepped behind Rhyno, hooking one of his arms and pulling the other one back, setting up for a pumphandle. At ringside, Heyman was practically pitching a fit as Victor swung the last ECW Champion onto his shoulders. With muscles bulging as he tried to keep the heavier Rhyno up, Victor turned in a circle before pivoting to one side, then to the other, swining Rhyno out into a flapjack in the Victory Slam. Moving swiftly now, Victor wrapped Rhyno's injured leg around his own in a deathlock, then leaned forward and stretched him back into an STF... the Jaws of Defeat.

Screaming in pain, Rhyno struggled to get to the ropes, but Victor wrenched in the STF, and soon the Man-Beast pounded the mat with his hand. The referee called for the bell as Victor kept the Jaws locked on for a little longer, then stood up, one arm holding his ribs as the other was raised in success.

* * *

Victor returned to the CIW locker room amidst cheers from his mates, draping a towel around his neck and dousing himself with a bottle of water to cool down. He slapped a few palms, then noticed that a large black man with a flat-top haircut was not joining in the celebration. Instead, Hal Maxim was watching a tape on a monitor. The victorious former champion went over to him. "What's the matter, Hal?"

Maxim looked up, then pointed at the screen. "Something Skinner said earlier tonight on Heat seemed strange, so I got the tape from Vince. I think I found it." He stopped the rewind and hit 'play.'

Skinner said to Regal, "I've been tolerating a lot of shit in my life, especially from people who think they can push me around. Sooner or later, they all learn that I will push back, and I will show them what agony is."

That brought all activity in the locker room to a halt. Everyone looked at the monitor as Maxim paused it on The Storm's hardened gaze. Victor stared at the screen. "Holy shit."

Nate Starr stepped forward. "Did he just say 'agony'?"

Maxim nodded. "That's what caught my ear. I was hoping I was wrong, but..."

Smoker shook his head. "Shit. Let's hope he didn't mean what we think that means."

* * *

After the Brothers of Destruction -- Undertaker & Kane -- dominated Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire to claim the WCW Tag titles, a brief video package aired to set up the Rose/Shane match. Though the match had only been set up the previous Thursday, the WWF production team had already put together a package which included clips from all of Shane's previous big matches -- the ones that Rose had enumerated, all of which featured Shane winning through sneaky means... which is to say, through cheating. The gist of this match was that Shane was trying to prove he could win matches by himself, and as such, nobody was allowed at ringside, either from the Alliance, the WWF, or CIW.

In the early going, Rose had the clear advantage, with his larger size and more experience allowing him to throw Shane around the ring, pummeling him nearly senseless more than once. Soon, however, the Mental Elite brought in the weaponry, in the form of a few trashcans and lids and the ever-present kendo stick. He suplexed Shane to the mat, then went to go get a steel chair. When he returned to the ring, however, Shane was waiting with a trashcan lid. He cracked Rose in the head with it, then a second time, then a third.

With Rose now dizzied, Shane picked up the kendo stick and gave it a few twirls in his hand. With a distinctive crack, the Singapore cane snapped down over Rose's head a few times. Feeling cocky, Shane skipped around the ring a bit, bouncing on his feet, hitting the Californian whenever he looked about to get back to his feet. Finally, Shane knocked him down in the corner near the chair, then went to get one of the trashcans. Shane advanced, raising the trashcan, but Rose showed his own swiftness, jumping to his feet, steel chair in hand. He spun around and smacked his chair into the can, knocking it back into Shane's face, knocking him down.

The match continued on, with one or the other controlling the situation for a while before the other got the upper hand. Both men were bloodied. Shane's greater experience in these sort of matches allowed him to get in all sorts of standard Street Fight spots, but Rose's toughness -- which he'd showcased in his series of matches with The Storm the previous summer and in his brief venture into the Hardcore division -- enabled him to keep getting up and attacking Shane. Soon it became obvious the two were fairly evenly matched, but that the young McMahon was going to lose.

That's why, after Rose clobbered Shane in the face with the steel chair, sending him out of the ring, Shawn Stasiak and Hugh Morrus ran out to try to help him. When Shane recovered enough of his senses to see them, however, the Owner of WCW started shouting. "Get out of here!" he yelled. Seeing the perplexed expressions on their faces, Shane ranted, "I don't need your help! Go on!"

Referees came out to escort the two confused WCWers to the back as Shane circled around the ring, looking in at Rose, who had used the time to get his wind back. The Californian raised his hands to his sides and beckoned for Shane to come at him. Shane jumped on the apron and tried to go for a hotshot, but Rose managed to block it and turn around so his jaw wouldn't catch on the top rope. In doing so, he kept his grip on Shane's head, then dropped down in a move not unlike the Diamond Cutter, snapping Shane off the top rope. The young McMahon flew off the apron and crashed through the announce table.

Rose slid out and dragged Shane out of the wreckage, pulling him into the ring, where he stood over the steel chair. He hooked Shane's head, then spun around, dropping an elbow onto the back of Shane's head, driving him down into the steel chair in the Brain Damage. Rose turned the limp Shane onto his back and covered him for the pinfall. 1... 2... 3. The CIW ringleader got a surprisingly decent pop from the crowd in spite of his long record as a heel, largely because he was playing off against the despised Shane McMahon.

* * *

Backstage, Rose was being checked out by the medic, who had cleaned the small gash on the Californian's head and put a bandage on it. Victor E walked up, looking troubled. Rose grinned at him. "Hey, Vic, we're doing pretty good tonight. I'm sure Zed and Zait'll retain too."

Victor looked at him. "We need to talk about something, Billy."

Rose heard the seriousness in his tone, then looked at the medic. "Can you excuse us, please?" The EMT left, and then he looked back at his former Triumvirate comrade. "What's wrong?"

"Did you see any of Heat tonight?"

"No. I was busy getting ready for my match with Shane. Why? What happened?"

Victor sighed. "Skinner was talking with Regal, and he said that if Shane, Steph, and Heyman kept messing with him, he'd show them what agony is."

Rose, who had started unwrapping his wrist, looked up with alarm. "Agony?" Victor nodded. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Swear to God, I'm not." Victor shook his head. "And you should've seen the look in his eyes just then. I swear, he looked--"

"Don't." Rose held up a hand. "I don't even want to think about that."

Now the former CIW Champion looked at him suspiciously. "Did you bring the Belles in?"

Rose glared at him. "Hell no. I learned my lesson last time I dealt with them. Not to say they didn't offer to come in, but I flat out told them to go back to Hell."

Victor scratched his chin. "Maybe Skinner called them in."

"I should hope he's smarter than that," Rose muttered. "Considering what they put him through."

"They put him through all that because you told them to, Billy," Victor pointed out.

"I know!" Rose snapped. He sighed. "Let's just hope that was just a phrase, and not a premonition." He tore off the tape on his wrists, then looked up. "All the same, tell Scion to keep his eyes peeled."

* * *

Next up, Zed & Zeta put their WWF Tag Team Championship on the line against the Dudley Boyz. The Z-Men had been on an incredible roll in the Tag Team division since winning the titles the previous summer, besting just about every team that came along. The Dudleys, however, were another story. The masters of the tables had managed to best the champions more than once in the preceding weeks, putting them through tables and generally making themselves a menace. There was a credible threat to Zed & Zeta's title reign in the Dudleys.

The Dudleys came to the ring accompanied by Stacy Keibler, who lounged on a table carried between the two ECWers. Stacy was wearing a Dudley-camo skirt, as short as she could legally make it (at least in forty-nine states), and a short Dudleyville 'postcard' shirt. The Dudleys' camo was black, white, and red tonight. They were quite pumped up, and after depositing the table at the base of the ramp, they then entered the ring and posed before pacing restlessly.

The Z-Men were also accompanied by their female counterpart, the brunette bombshell Dee Meaner, who wore a new T-Shirt, a gray one that bore a stylized Z emblem -- Zed & Zeta's symbol -- with 'broken concrete' designs around it. The back simply read Zed & Zeta - The Men of the Z. As always, she wore her baggy orange, prison-issue-type pants and black sneakers. Zeta was wearing his own Men of the Z T-Shirt as part of his usual ensemble.

The early part of the match was dominated by the Dudleys, who managed to take the heavy-hitting Zed out of the picture early on by attacking him before the official start of the match and then double-flapjacking him through the set up table. This served several purposes. First, it kept Zed out for a while. Second, it kept Dee occupied with concern for her friend. And lastly, it allowed the Dudleys to have their way with the smaller Zeta, who fought valiantly before the numbers game caught up to him.

It soon became clear to the fans and the announcers that the Dudleys could win the match anytime they wanted at this point. Zeta was unable to defend himself against the ECWers ruthless onslaught, although he still had the ability to kick out of their pins. This was thanks to the fact that the Dudleys did not deign to take him out with the 3-D and thus render him senseless and unable to kick out.

Finally, the Dudleys hit the Wassap Drop (sans Wassap) on Zeta, prompting Bubba to order D-Von to "Get the tables!!" Stacy applauded the decision, then was flabbergasted as Dee Meaner suddenly pounced. She rushed over to D-Von and gave him her trademark roundhouse kick to the head. When Bubba tried to charge after her, Zeta -- still conscious in spite of the beating -- tripped him up. Stacy ran at Dee and surprised her with a slap across the jaw. The CIW bombshell, made of stronger stuff than that, gave her a roundhouse kick too.

By now, Bubba had managed to dislodge himself from Zeta and the referee and confronted Dee. The white Dudley Boy, however, had forgotten about Zed. The bruiser from Baltimore lunged out of the wreckage of the table and attacked Bubba, clobbering him and throwing him into the ring. Zeta crawled to the Z-Men's corner and officially tagged in the thoroughly pissed-off Zed, who went right back to beating on the Dudleys.

Soon, Zed hit the Z-Slam on Bubba Ray and rolled him out of the ring. Zeta dizzied D-Von with the Zetasault, then started bouncing on the ropes, shouting "Z-D!" as he flashed the Z-sign with his hands. Zed went to whip D-Von toward the ropes, but the black Dudley reversed it even as Bubba tripped up Zeta and threw him into the steel stairs. Zed went into the ropes and went right into D-Von, who carried him up and into Bubba Ray's waiting grasp. The fans, half booing and half chanting "3-D!", groaned as Zed hit the mat hard. D-Von, the legal man, rolled into the cover for the 1-2-3!

Now the boos came in force as Howard Finkel announced, "Here are your winners, and the new WWF Tag Team Champions... the DUDLEY BOYZ!" Collecting their belts and their woozy valet, the Dudleys retreated up the ramp, flashing the 3-D sign. Dee and Zeta both glared after them as they checked on Zed. Bubba grinned sadistically as he shouted back, "Thou! Shalt not mess! ... With the Dudleys," he finished in a soft chuckle. He turned his back and left up the ramp to the sound of their music.

* * *

There was an emergency meeting, of sorts, for CIW in their main locker room. The only ones missing were Scion and Brick. Billy Rose and Jenny Black called the gathering to order. "Okay, listen up!" Rose called. "I called you guys in here real quick to just dispel any rumors that I brought the Hellions in for the counter-invasion."

"Yeah, you better not have brought them in!" Maxim shouted. Much shouting of agreement accompanied that.

"I didn't!" Rose shouted back. "Bringing in Hell's Belles and their boy-toys would be inviting trouble. We all know they have their own agenda, and I seriously believe they'd turn on CIW first chance they got. I don't want that to happen."

"What about Skinner?" called Tony Smiles.

Rose sighed. "I saw the tape, and yeah, he did say 'agony' at one point." The whole room got in an uproar, which he had to shout over. "Relax! Relax! It was probably just a slip of the tongue. Skinner got put through the worst shit by the Hellions, and I doubt he'd want to revisit that."

"Revisit what?" All heads turned to the door, where Rain stood next to Scion. "Sorry, I know I'm not part of CIW, but Scion said I might want to hear this."

Rose glanced over at the hooded warrior, whose eyes were hidden in shadow. Scion bowed his head slightly, lips moving in some form of silent prayer. Rain, meanwhile, skewered Rose with her gaze. "What wouldn't Matthew want to revisit?" she demanded.

Rose sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Rain, there's something you should know about Matthew Skinner's time in CIW."

* * *

At the gorilla position, The Storm paced, shaking out his arms. He wore his I am a Force of Nature T-Shirt tonight as part of his regular outfit. He turned to Brick, who was helpfully holding the WCW title. Matthew Skinner took it from him. "I doubt want you getting involved unless the Alliance tries a screwjob finish. I talked to Big Show, and he said he'd add extra muscle, just in case. He should be around soon. Just keep Shane or anybody else from getting involved, yeah?"

"Sure." Brick was unaware of the current controversy, so he saw no reason to get too alarmed at Skinner's intensity prior to his match.

The two of them looked up and glowered a bit as Booker T walked up. The former five-time WCW Champion looked at them, then more pointedly at The Storm and his title belt, before heading out as his music played. Behind his sunglasses, Matthew Skinner's eyes gleamed, "The Necksnapper's nothing in comparison for what awaits you tonight, Booker," he said, as though to himself.

-more to come-

Next: An ominous threat seems to hang over the WWF with The Storm's references to "agony." What is in store for Booker T, and the rest of the Alliance? More importantly, what is in store for the WWF and CIW?

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
May 1, 2002