Chapter 10: 'Don't cross the boss'
After surviving the war with Victoria, Molly felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. As she made her way through the backstage area to the trainer's room, blood continued to trickle from the gash on her head.
Her journey was not a quiet one; she had the misfortune of bumping into a previous arch-rival of hers, Trish Stratus. Trish was the last person she wanted to see at that point in time. The blonde vixen positioned herself in the path of Molly, preventing her from passing.
"Woah, you two don't like each other much do you?" she quipped, a comment dripping with sarcasm. Molly ignored her wisecrack and tried to walk straight past. Trish shuffled to the side to block her path once more.
"Aww, come on Molly! After all, it could be worse... Then again, maybe not!" she said with a huge grin on her face. Molly had always been an easy target for her over the years; it had been a while since they had 'interacted' with each other. She missed it.
"Listen Trish, I know you have trouble with simple logic, but I have just had a brutal match and really need to see the trainer. Now if you'll excuse me, I better be getting along." Molly replied, in as nice a manner as her frame of mind would allow. She'd done enough fighting for one night and didn't fancy an impromptu brawl in the corridor. She dodged to the side and tried to get past, only for Trish to block her path once again.
"Ah, let me see. Yes you are right, you have had a brutal match! You know something, most people pay thousands of dollars for plastic surgery, looks like Victoria helped you out for free!"
"Did you want something, or are you going to continue to waste my time?"
The two ladies squared up and eyeballed each other. Neither had any real intention of starting anything physical, but Trish did have a question for Molly.
"Okay, I guess I do have something to say. I seen what you did to Victoria, and even though I hate her just as much as you do, was there really any need to resort to such callous behaviour?" she asked.
"Excuse me? Since when did I have to justify my actions to you, or anyone else for that matter?" Molly replied.
"You might want to explain yourself to me..." a male voice boomed from over Molly's shoulder, sending a chill down her spine. Trish sensed trouble brewing and excused herself hurriedly, leaving Molly alone with the man.
"I think we need to have a chat young lady." He told her in no uncertain terms. Molly cowered as he ushered her into an adjoining locker room in the corridor.
"Um, I really need to see a doctor..." she tried to inform him, but he held up his hand and pointed towards a seat in the room. He handed her a towel from one of the lockers to stem the flow of blood, then instructed her to sit down.
"Now Molly, I must say I was impressed with the match-up between you and Victoria just now. We all were." He said in a softer, more sincere tone, leading her into a false sense of security, "But... What the hell were you thinking at the end?!"
Molly shied away, hoping that the ground would open up and swallow her.
"Don't ignore me damn it! What the hell were you playing at there?!" The man raged, thrusting his face within a couple of inches of Molly's. There was no escaping that intimidation.
"I... I don't know." The panic stricken diva responded.
"You don't know? You mean you accidentally hit Victoria with a sledgehammer?" he mocked her.
"Well... I um..."
"Spit it out for god's sake woman!"
His nasty tone snapped her out of the fear induced trance and gave her no choice but to attempt to vindicate herself. Deep down she believed she had justification for her actions and had to stick by that. She took a deep breath and composed herself in preparation to respond.
"Mr. McMahon... I know I crossed the line tonight... I know people will say I shouldn't have done what I did... But it happened and I would do it again if necessary." Molly, pressing the towel against her head wound, chanced a look up at the boss of the company stood directly in front of her; he seemed perplexed by her explanation.
"It happened? I can't have my workers going around trying to kill each other! You're going to have to help me out here, this isn't making any sense what so ever."
"You saw what happened at WrestleMania?"
"Of course... You had your head shaved. If I recall correctly you agreed to that stipulation and had no problem about it at the time. Right?"
"I didn't think I was going to lose. I never expected Victoria to catch me off guard like she did." She explained, "When I came to in that barber's chair, and saw my own locks of hair falling onto my lap... The smug look on Victoria's face... The crowd all laughing at my expense... I had nightmares about that for weeks after the event Mr. McMahon. It was the worst night of my life."
Vince noticed tears beginning to form in Molly's eyes, and found a shred of compassion towards her from deep in his heart. Whilst he was furious at the way she had taken the law into her own hands, he tried to see things from her perspective.
"I can see how that might have been harrowing, but it still doesn't give a good reason for your irrational behaviour after the match tonight, does it?"
Molly fought the urge to cry, as she elaborated on the pain and torment she endured in the aftermath of having her head shaved.
"She rubbed my face in it sir, every show she would mock me in the locker room, the canteen, traveling to events... She made my life a complete misery, I had no friends and nobody to talk to on the road. It was a lonely time... Some nights I prayed that I wouldn't wake up the next day."
"I thought you were close with Gail Kim?"
"No. She was as bad as everybody else, she thought I was stupid enough to believe she cared. I heard her talking behind my back."
Vince stroked his chin for a moment, seemingly reluctant to say what was on his mind. He found himself strangely touched by her story, a feeling he very rarely felt.
"You should have come to me." He blurted out.
Molly wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. "Excuse me?"
"I said, you should have come to me." Vince repeated.
Molly was surprised into silence by his admission, he would have been the last person she would have considered opening up to during her bad patch.
"I know I appear cold hearted and don't seem to give a damn about my workers, but that is not true. I've worked hard to build this company up and we would never have achieved such success without a solid workforce."
As he said that, Molly tried to rid her mind of the thought of long road trips, working shows in front of miniscule crowds and with the bosses constantly on her back. She wanted to believe his spiel, but had been around long enough to know better. She had also been around long enough to know it was wise to agree with Vincent Kennedy McMahon, so she nodded her head approvingly.
"You know I rubber stamped your push into Evolution?" Vince changed the subject slightly. Molly recalled Eric Bischoff mentioning it and nodded once more to signify an affirmative response.
"Do you know why?" he asked. Molly pondered the question for a moment, but couldn't remember the exact reasoning; she shook her head.
"I'll tell you why... Ironically, what you did tonight was part of the reason why I selected you. I wanted somebody to re-inject some life into the women's division, some bite. Truth be told, we've had to water our product down over the past year, we've had to move away from the more... shall we say, risqué action."
Molly wasn't quite sure why he was disclosing such information to her, especially under the circumstances. Her initial reaction to being taken to one side by the chairman of the company, was that she was to be given her marching orders.
"I've had my eye on you for a while Molly. I generally hear very good things about your work rate and in ring performance... Sure, you seem to be a little outspoken from time to time, but we all mistakes."
Molly knew he was referring to her comments on the HLA segments from Raw a couple of years previously, her suspicions of being kept off television as a result would appear to have been correct. She brushed it aside, as she had learnt a valuable lesson from all that.
"I try Mr. McMahon... Speaking of mistakes, I really have messed up this time haven't I?" Molly said timidly, dreading his answer. Vince paced back and forth, keeping her waiting.
"Hmm... Let me tell you something. When I walked in here, I was ready to fire you on the spot. I should still fire you and the board of directors will no doubt feel the same way."
Molly bowed her head, fearing that her time with the company was up. It was her life and she couldn't bear the thought of losing her job.
"But... I think what transpired this evening might actually have done me a favour."
"I don't follow..."
"Like I said, I wanted somebody to inject some life into the women's division and tonight you have done just that. I'm not happy about the idea of having to foot Victoria's medical bill, or the possibility of a lawsuit if her career is over as a result of your attack... But, at least people will be talking about it. I think we have found the female equivalent of Triple H." He sounded excited at the prospect of that.
Molly wasn't sure how to react to his comments. It dawned on her that Hunter had begun to influence her thoughts and actions, deep down she knew that the sledgehammer attack was designed in part to prove a point to him; that was something she couldn't let Vince know, or anybody for that matter.
"Does that mean you're not going to fire me?"
"Well, we will probably have to fine you and make an example of you... To keep people happy. I'm not going to fire you though."
"Oh, thank you Mr. McMahon, you won't regret this." Molly said with a huge sigh of relief.
"Make sure I don't. You better run along and get that gash looked at." He ordered. Before leaving, Molly took one last look in his direction, he stood with his arms folded and had a stern complexion. She knew she had dodged a bullet this time and she had to make the most of it.