The Counter-Invasion
By: Jay Winger

Timeline Note: This chapter picks immediately after the last one.

Teaser: 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?

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: Vince and Heyman began the drawings to determine who would participate in the Rumble match. Commissioner Regal asked The Storm why he had attacked Stephanie, reminding him that the Alliance could make his life as WCW Champion very miserable. The Storm replied by saying, "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." Victor E def. Rhyno with the Victory Slam and Jaws of Defeat. Backstage, the CIWers grew nervous when they saw a tape of The Storm's comment to Regal, in particular his mentioning of "agony." Billy Rose def. Shane McMahon in a Street Fight with the Brain Damage to a steel chair, despite Shane's best efforts, after the WCW Owner sent two well-meaning WCWers to the back, wanting to win on his own. Victor brought The Storm's words to Rose's attention, causing more nervousness. Dudleyz def. The Z-Men to become the new WWF Tag Team Champions after dominating Zeta and hitting the 3-D on Zed for the win. CIW met in a sort of emergency meeting, with Rose trying to calm any rumors about a group called the "Hellions" and "agony," but then Rain walked in, wanting some sort of explanation. Meanwhile, The Storm prepared to face Booker T, and promised, "The Necksnapper's nothing in comparison for what awaits you tonight, Booker."

Chapter 12: A Taste of Pain

Royal Rumble: January 26

"The following contest is scheduled for one fall, and it is for the WCW Championship!"

"Can you dig it, sucka?" The lights flashed orange and yellow as the music played. Booker T came out on the stage, head bowed, then shaking as he pumped himself up. He raised his hands in the air, gouts of flame erupting at the top of the stage. He stared at the ring with his wide eyes, walking slowly down to it. "Introducing first, from the Alliance, weighing in at 250 pounds... BOOKER T!" By the time the former five-time WCW Champion was in the ring and posing on the second rope, his music was winding down.

The ominous rumble of thunder began to play and the fans started cheering. With a crash, the lights went out as the voice whispered, "This is your Storm Warning." Guitar chords wailed like sirens before the percussion kicked in and Cold Steel began to play. "I'm a Force of Nature, I'm outta control! I live in the lightning, let the thunder roll! I kill the sunshine, bring on the rain! I am The Storm, and I'll bring you the pain!" The Storm emerged, wearing his title around his waist. "And his opponent, from Dallas, Texas, weighing in at 240 pounds... he is the WCW Champion... the Force of Nature... 'THE STORM' MATTHEW SKINNER!"

As referee Charles Robinson kept Booker at bay (Vince McMahon had managed to force Heyman to keep Nick Patrick from getting this match), Matthew Skinner walked up the steps onto the apron. He paused there, glaring coldly at Booker through his sunglasses. The Force of Nature stepped through the ropes, then turned to the corner, climbing up to the second rope, where he removed his title and raised it in the air. Stepping back down, he handed the belt to Robinson, who held it in the air, then removed his sunglasses.

Booker and Skinner stared each other down a bit, then they attacked. Booker got the early advantage, muscling The Storm back into a corner, where he started to work him over with right hands and chest chops. After a little bit of this, he whipped him across the ring, then went for the clothesline. The Storm blocked with a back elbow, then started pummeling back. He went for a whip to the ropes, which Booker reversed. He swung a clothesline, but it was ducked, so Booker hit Skinner on the rebound with a spinning back elbow.

He went for a quick cover, 1... 2 -- and The Storm kicked out easily. Angrily, Booker went for another cover and got another two-count. Snarling, he pulled The Storm to his feet, but Skinner recovered and nailed him with a jab to the throat. Rasping at the attack, Booker was then left open for a clothesline neckbreaker. The Storm turned Booker onto his back and started jabbing his elbow into his neck. Robinson pulled him back, so Skinner stood the Bookerman back up and slowly twisted him around into a neckbreaker.

As Booker lay on the mat, holding his neck in pain, The Storm stood up and grabbed his left arm, twisting it into an armbar, locking his legs around it.

* * *

"I'm sure Skinner told you about his time in CIW," Billy Rose said to Rain.

"Somewhat," she said. "He left out some details. And he had quite a lot of things to say about you in particular. Mostly four-letter words."

"And I'm sure I deserve them," the CIW mastermind said. "Did he tell you about the various gimmicks he had in CIW?"

She nodded. "He said he started out as 'Metalhead Matt,' then later became 'The Survivor.'"

Rose nodded in return. "Yeah. He became 'The Survivor' after a few dealings with me and Tony. But did he ever mention a group called the Hellions?"

* * *

The Storm wrenched in the armbar for a bit, then released Booker, letting him stand up. He went for his arm-dislocating Irish whip, but the former WCW Champion planted his feet and managed to reverse the whip, catching him on the rebound with a stiff clothesline. The Book went for a cover, but Skinner kicked out quickly. Frustrated, Booker T started slapping and "mauling" his opponent's back with open-palmed slaps.

Ignoring the angry groaning coming from The Storm, Booker whipped him into the corner hard. Skinner staggered back out of the corner, and was nearly decapitated by a Harlem Side-kick. Booker went for the pin again, but The Storm kicked out, then grabbed the second rope. He pulled it down and then used his legs to knock Booker through them to the outside. Standing up, Matthew Skinner shook his head to clear it a bit, then turned to the ropes. Booker was getting up from his fall.

"Yo, Book!" The Storm shouted, grabbing the top rope and crouching down. He then leapt in the air, catapulting himself up and over the top in a pescado onto Booker. He worked him over with a few angry punches across the face, then stood him up. He gauged the distance between their position and the ring post, then went for a whip. The WCWer, however, reversed it and The Storm crashed face-first into the post, spinning around to fall on his back.

Booker then stood him back up and bashed his face off the Spanish announce table, then the American announce table. He then went to do the same off the steel ring steps, but Skinner blocked that and did it to Booker instead. Blood was already starting to leak from a cut on the Force of Nature's forehead, but he didn't seem to notice. He bashed Booker off the steel a second time, then rolled him into the ring. The Bookerman staggered back into the corner, and tried to stop The Storm's advance with a kick to the midsection.

That only seemed to piss him off. Skinner bashed Booker in the face with a fist and then started dealing out knife-edge chops and open-handed slaps to the chest.

* * *

"The Hellions were a group not unlike the Ministry was here in the WWF," Rose explained to Rain. "Except the Hellions weren't too interested in stealing souls so much as disrupting anything they could."

"He doesn't just mean matches either," Victor E interjected. "They tried to break up teams and couples. There was this guy, Chris Naples, who we called Sky Guy--" He paused for a moment as everyone bowed their heads. Scion, who was stationed near the door, made the sign of the cross in the air. Victor went on, "--who was going out with a woman named Kylie. Well the Hellions did their damnedest to break them up. And they succeeded."

Rain glanced back at Scion, then looked at Victor. "Wait, was with that just now? What happened to Sky Guy?"

Scion spoke, "He died during a match a few years ago. It had nothing to do with the Hellions, but Christopher was a friend to everyone here."

Rose went on, "Well, at one point, the Hellions tried to subvert Skinner." He sighed and hung his head a bit. "And they did it because I told them to."

* * *

Finally tiring of the pummeling he was giving Booker in the corner, The Storm pulled him back out and hiptossed him to the mat. He then reapplied the armbar, stressing the shoulder and weakening it. When Booker shouted in pain, Skinner just gave a malicious grin, the blood dripping down his cheeks from his forehead, leaving streaks down the side of his face.

Eventually, The Storm stood him back up, then went for the Necksnapper. Booker squirmed and bucked, scrambling to the ropes and grabbing the bottom rope for dear life. Angrily, the Force of Nature grabbed his ankle and applied the Twister Anklelock, wrenching it in for a bit before Charles Robinson made him break the hold. As the referee lectured The Storm, Booker crawled out of the ring.

As Booker limped and held his shoulder and neck in pain, Skinner nailed him with a baseball slide, knocking him into the announce table. "Where you goin', Book?" The Storm inquired as he blistered his chest with a knife-edge chop. "We're not done yet!" He delivered a second, then rolled him back into the ring. As he followed suit, however, Booker came off the ropes and managed to hit the Scissor Kick.

The Storm lay on the mat, but Booker was distracted from immediately doing the pin by staring at his hand, shaking his head around as he prepared to do the spinaroonie. As he dropped to the mat and spun on his shoulders, he did not see Matthew Skinner roll onto his back and nip to his feet. Thus, as Booker returned to his feet, he found an angry Force of Nature waiting for him. Booker T swung a right hand, but Skinner blocked it, swung him around using the blocked arm, then hooked him in a full nelson, dropping him in the Downdraft.

* * *

"You did what?" Rain yelled.

"I told the Hellions -- specifically their leaders, Allura and Desire, or the Hell's Belles as we called them -- to subvert Skinner." Billy Rose sighed. "I can't defend what I did. I was trying to find some way to get him under my control. I thought if they subverted him, they could eventually turn him over to me and I'd be able to give him orders for once." He laughed bitterly. "That didn't work."

He looked up and saw Rain's questioning and angry gaze, and explained, "The Hell's Belles were backed up by these two guys, Ogre and Orca--"

"Matthew's mentioned them," she said.

"Then you know how big they were." Rose went on after she nodded, "Well they attacked Skinner during one of his matches and dragged him away. I thought Allura would just fuck with his mind or something, but it turns out she made a deal with him. She would enable him to both regain the CIW title -- which he'd lost to Smoker -- and be able to get his hands on me."

He got up and paced a bit. "Skinner took the deal, though I, of course, didn't know about it. Not too long after, he beat Smoker for the title, and a few months later, Allura 'presented' him to me. As soon as she did, the deal was fulfilled and Skinner was himself again. So he promptly beat the shit out of me."

Rain said, "What does any of this have to do with--?"

Rose turned to her. "When the Hellions subverted him, Matthew Skinner stopped being 'The Survivor.' He became one of them. A psychopathic sadist. He became Agony."

* * *

After delivering the Downdraft, The Storm turned Booker onto his stomach, then twisted his left arm -- the one he'd been weakening all throughout the match -- into a hammerlock. Booker came around somewhat and tried to escape, but Skinner kneeled on the twisted arm, then locked his hands under his jaw, locking in the Necksnapper. Booker shouted in pain and started slapping the mat in submission. Robinson called for the bell. Cold Steel played in the arena as the fans cheered The Storm's win.

"Here is your winner, and still the WCW Champion... 'THE STORM' MATTHEW SKINNER!"

Matthew Skinner, however, was not releasing the Necksnapper. Robinson tugged on his arms to try to get him to release Booker T, without much success. Finally, as Robinson began a count, The Storm released his defeated opponent and chased the referee from the ring. He glared after him, then seemed to blink and look a tad confused. He reached up and wiped the blood from his cheeks, looking at his hand. He looked back at Booker, then reclaimed his title belt. He held it in the air to the cheering crowd, then shouted at Booker, "You see, jackass? It's mine!"

* * *

Rose went up to Rain and looked at her seriously. "Now, I mean it when I said I want nothing to do with the Hellions. If they're lurking around the WWF, I have nothing to do with it. But that's not to say someone else didn't bring them in."

Jenny Black spoke up, "While we didn't tell Vince McMahon about them, he may have tried to bring them in himself."

"Though you think he would've learned after the whole Ministry thing," Maxim said from his spot in the corner.

"I thought Vince was behind the whole Ministry thing?" Smoker pointed out.

"Whatever."

"At any rate," Rose snapped at them, then looked back at Rain, "I suspect -- I hope it isn't true, but it's possible that Skinner brought them in."

There was a loud reaction from everyone in the room.

"Hey! Hey! I said I hope that's not the case, but you all know how obsessed he's been about the WCW title as of late. Don't you think he might've made some deal about keeping the title?" Rose looked round at them.

"If that were the case, I would think he'd go to the Terrible Trio," Victor said dryly.

"Yeah, but he hates their guts," Tony Smiles said.

"I don't know," Rose sighed. "But regardless, everyone be on your guard. If the Hellions are lurking about, then we're all in very deep shit. Tell anyone in CIW who doesn't know, and tell those in the Federation we think we can trust not to tell Vince."

"Why aren't we telling him?" Victor inquired.

"Vince hasn't got a very good track record when it comes to evil demonic groups like the Hellions," Rose pointed out. "Again, look at the Ministry. If he thinks he could use them to help destroy the Alliance, he'd take it, without thinking about what happens next -- the Hellions turn on us."

He turned back to Rain. "And I have to ask you to be careful around Skinner. If he's made some sort of deal with them, then he'll become Agony sooner or later, and when that happens, you'll be in danger. Keep your eyes peeled."

* * *

Meanwhile, from a darkened hotel room, four pairs of eyes watched the events on the PPV with interest. Two pairs of the eyes looked at each other then, and the two spoke.

"I think we'd best arrange to be around for Raw tomorrow night," said one in a silky voice.

"I'll make the call," the other said in dulcet tones. "Boys, pack your things, we're going on a trip."

The other two simply nodded before turning away from the TV set and fulfilling the order.

-more to come-

Next: The Royal Rumble match is underway with a lot on the line for every 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
May 26, 2002