Preventing The Ministry by Eternal Sailor Serenity

Prologue/Chapter 1: Don't Call Me That

Everything was going wrong here on Smackdown. Smackdown was now a place to be feared and respected. What had changed this fun-loving, enjoyable, not respected place? Ever since Paul Heyman and The Undertaker buried Paul Bearer…that is where it all began.

'It started out slowly, first The Undertaker and Paul Heyman continued to wreck havoc on the WWE. Bradshaw and The Big Show joined them a little while later. After that, Viscera and Gangrel returned. Like the rest of the WWE roster, I was getting nervous. All signs were pointing to the return of The Ministry. Theodore was soon cornered by the five of them and was forced to sign contracts. Those contracts guaranteed the returns of Mideon, Farooq, and Jeff Hardy. Why should I worry about this, you may ask. What does this have to do with me? People tell me I shouldn't worry because I'm a Raw superstar. Not any longer. Edge, Matt Hardy, Triple H, Kane, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Christian, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Benoit have all been traded to the Smackdown roster. I don't know what to do now. My boyfriend tries to soothe my worries. I know I should listen to him. He's a great wrestler but we both know one thing. Taker is trying to bring back The Ministry. The only problem was that my boyfriend used to be a part of the Ministry.'

She walked down Madison Square Garden, in New York City, her hometown, early that Wednesday morning. Tomorrow would be her first Smackdown show here in this very arena. Every Raw superstar that had been traded to Smackdown in the recent trade would make a large impact the next night. The woman's cell phone ranged.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Brook baby, it's me," the voice on the other end cheerfully said.

"Edgy, how many times have I told you not to call me Brook baby?"

There was a moment of pause from Edge's side before he answered, "Tons of times, Brook. Sorry baby, you now I'm only teasing."

"No I'm sorry, I've just been so stressed ever since the trade. You know what awaits us on Smackdown." 'The Undertaker.'

"You know he won't bother us if we keep to our own businesses." Edge could sense the stress coming from his girlfriend. "Look, I'll call back later to see how you are feeling."

"Okay," Brook sighed. "Talk to you then."

They said their goodbyes and then got off the phone.

'Edge just doesn't understand. From what I've heard about The Undertaker, he won't "just leave you alone" if you mind your own business. He gets what he wants and there's no way to escape his wrath.'

She looked out the window and at the Manhattan skies. 'I was born here, twenty-three years ago. My mom was abusive and annoying. I moved out when I was eighteen and went to Canada.'

During a show for the WWE in Toronto, her friend introduced her to Edge. They had a lot of things in common and hit it off right away. He was older, by seven years but she didn't really care. When he was home for vacation, he introduced her to Christian and Chris Jericho. They acted brotherly towards me. Well Edge as well, but that changed once we started going out. Lately Edge, Jericho, and Christian have been having problems on Raw but hopefully that would change once they started out on Smackdown.

"Brook?" She turned around to face to man calling out her name. It was Matt Hardy.

"Matt, no one's here until tomorrow night. They are just setting up the ring right now so you can't practice in it. Hey, what are you doing up at this time?" She didn't really expect anybody but management here at this hour.

"Let me get a word in here if you don't mind sweetie. I'm up because I'm an early bird. Secondly, I didn't come here to practice, nor to see anybody else…I came here to see you." "Me?" She asked incredulously. "Yeah, Edge called me since he knew I was in the area. Even though he doesn't seem it, he is very concerned about coming to Smackdown."

"I think you should be concerned. Jeff…" 'They are bringing Jeff back.'

"Jeff was brought back by The Undertaker. I know for sure Jeffrey can't be controlled. Even though Taker brought him back, there's nowhere in his new contract saying he has to join with The Ministry. Farooq and Mideon will probably join them but Jeff's the wildcard."

The tense moment overcame them and then it was silent. It wasn't known whether Matt was trying to convince Brook that, or convince himself.

"Brooklyn!" Randy ran down the hall. Like a child, he leaped onto her back and they both fell over. Matt stood over them with his arms on his waist, looking down disapprovingly. "Randy Orton, get off of her right now!"

Randy had Brook pinned down, his hands holding her shoulders down. "What will you do if I don't?" Randy snickered back.

Matt pulled Randy's legs and got him off a few seconds later. Randy pouted, his hands crossed. Matt stood right in front of him, shaking his head. 'Ever since he was double-crossed by Evolution, he's been enjoying life more, a little too much though.'

"You called ME Brooklyn," came a voice from behind Matt. He sighed and closed his eyes. Then he quickly turned around and caught a raging Brook by the waist.

"Calm down Brook! He forgot you hate to be called that." Matt saw Randy approaching from the corner of his eye.

"I did mean to call her Brooklyn. It's her full name, isn't it? What's wrong with calling her Brooklyn? Her name is Brooklyn and she lives in New York."

"She lives in Manhattan." Matt said. "And you aren't helping any, by enraging her."

Randy kept teasing her as somebody stood behind him. "Randy, what are you doing?"

Chris Jericho didn't look too happy. He hadn't accepted the fact that Randy wasn't a heel anymore. Matt looked over Brook's head and called out, "Shut him up! Do it now!"

Jericho pulled Randy by the shirt and slapped him across the face. Randy glared at him before quieting up. Brook stomped her way over to Randy with Matt still holding on to her waist. Matt gave her over to Chris, who was a bit stronger then him.

"Now will you stop squirming and will somebody tell me what's going on here?" Chris asked

"Kill…Randy…frigging…Orton…." Brook struggled to say. "Randy called her Brooklyn." Matt tried to clarify the situation for Jericho.

Jericho sent daggers to Randy before putting Brooklyn down. "You Assclown, you are so lucky I don't beat you down for that. Now missy, I have to go back to my hotel room. Try not to kill Orton and behave yourself."

He walked away from the group. 'Even though I'm a grown woman at twenty-three, they still treat me like a little girl, like a little sister. Overprotective brothers….'

"Don't you have somewhere to be Orton?" Matt said at last.

"I can't take a clue Hardy boy, I'm going. Sorry things didn't work out with Lita on Raw, but taking a backseat to Kane sure works."

Randy knew that would get under Matt's skin. With Kane on Smackdown though, Matt could still get revenge.

"Sorry things didn't work out with Evolution, but being a loser sure works….wait you were a loser in Evolution as well." Matt laughed to himself. Randy walked off. He knew he had that coming. He was new to the group of faces and it would take them some time to accept him.

"Don't worry about him Brook, he was being a jerk as usual."

"He called me Brooklyn, Matt. He called me by my full first name. You know how I feel about that. My abusive parents always called me Brooklyn, not Brook, or Brooke (Brook-e), but Brooklyn.

Matt placed his arm around his "younger sister's" shoulders. Matt didn't have a sister, but having Brooklyn around was the next best thing. Matt stopped dead in his tracks and instinctively pulled Brook towards him.

"Matt, what's wrong?" Brook asked as she looked up. "Who are they?"

She felt Matt tense up. "Trouble…" 'Acolytes' "Lets get out of here."

They left the arena. While The Undertaker walked up behind The Acolytes.

"We made the first appearance, not lets see what happens now." The Undertaker put a hand on each of their shoulders. "How are things going with the other Hardy boy?"

Bradshaw spoke loudly, "Things are going according to the plan." "Good, I will have my team yet."

Who else will The Undertaker get to join his team? A/N I know Big Show wasn't apart of the original Ministry but I remember when Show and Taker teamed up at times. Please R&R and I'll get back to them on the next chapter.

ESS