Notes: Jules wrote this and we forgot a detail. Shane and Danny did change clothes before leaving Philips Arena
We landed in San Antonio about midnight local time. I should've been thoroughly exhausted given what's already occurred, but I wasn't. After fourteen years I was finally going to meet the man who helped fake my Dad's and Owen Hart's deaths. I had a ton of adrenaline going through me anticipating that meeting. We drove around for several minutes before finding coming to a house on a wooded lot. Great, another cabin like structure. The last time I was at a cabin, I found out my dad was alive. I wonder what I'll find out tonight.
"We're here," Eric said. I noticed for the first time that Eric Bischoff seemed fidgety, almost nervous about something. It was the first time in this whole thing that I saw any real emotion break through that cool facade from his.
We got out and started walking out to the car. As we approached a stout man in his late fifties, maybe early sixties with short blond hair came out to greet us. I looked at him in shock. I recognized the man all right. He didn't come around too often but vaguely remember seeing him after my Dad 'died' I've also seen him in photos and videos with my father. The man was none other than Shane Douglas.
"Glad you boys could make it here so soon," Shane said to Eddy and Eric, oblivious to who I was. Well, for a moment. He regarded me suspiciously when he saw me. "Who's the kid?"
Eddy looked nervous, as if I might do something to the man. I decided to tell him who I was. "Daniel. Daniel Benoit. But I guess you'd have figured that out eventually 'uncle' Shane."
The whiteness of Shane Douglas face was similar to what Bret Hart had before he collapsed in my apartment a month or so earlier. Fortunately he didn't faint.
"Shit!" he finally said, then glared at Uncle Eddy. "Why the hell - "
"He overheard me talking to Mark on the phone. I told you it wasn't exactly the safest time talk."
Shane cursed again. Then he asked I figured he had to ask at this point. "How much does he know?"
"After tonight? Everything more or less" Even if he didn't know anything at all before tonight, he would after RAW with the exception of what he's about to find out," Eric replied.
Shane nodded. "Yeah we watched RAW. Would've been fun to be there personally to see Vince's ass carted off the jail. Listen Danny," Shane continued "When we get everything straightened out that we need to, I'll tell you about my involvement in this whole mess. And you can thank Eddy for involving me actually."
Shane turned to Eric. "Bet you enjoyed that little moment in the ring?"
"Highlight of my life so far," Eric said smiling. Then he sobered up. "Where's Chase?"
"Inside with Mark, waiting for you guys," Shane said ushering us towards the house.
"Uh, Danny - "Eddy started to say
"Not on your life Uncle Eddy." I said knowing he was going to try to persuade me to stay outside and avoid a potential explosive confrontation with Chase. Not going to happen.
We stepped inside to see a man with short dark hair sitting on the couch, looking intense as hell. He looked sort of familiar but my brain at the moment was on not on him. It was on the salt and pepper haired man that came from a back room.
"Good, you guys are here. Wondering when - "
Chase didn't get the chance to finish that sentence. That was because at that moment I decided to rush right to him and give him a punch that damn near knocked him out.
"How could you!" I shouted. "How could you rip people from their families, make people think their loved ones were dead when they were really alive, huh?"
The man on the couch shot up off of hit as soon as I punched Chase. Wow, he was tall. "What the hell - " he began to say.
Eric sighed cutting him off. "Chase Meridian, Mark Calloway, meet Danny Benoit."
Mark had a shocked expression at me when he heard my name, then glared at Eddy and Eric. "Seems like there's a few things you boys haven't told us yet," The man said.
"It wasn't like we planned for Danny to find out. Blame Eric, he sent Danny the videotape of Atlanta and Danny tailed me and Shane to the cabin and well, figure out the rest," Eddy said tiredly.
"By the way, avoid Bret Hart and Ric Flair for awhile Shane," Eric said to Douglas.
"Shit! Does the whole fucking world know?" Mark asked in a loud voice that could almost wake the dead.
"God, I hope not," Eric muttered moving to sit down on the couch and putting his head in his hands.
Chase sat down on the opposite couch. "I'm sorry," he said.
"Sorry doesn't keep my Mom from finding out the guy she married 11 years ago really isn't her husband," I said shooting death glares at Chase.
Uncle Eddy had a pained expression on his face, as if he was just remember all the complications that lay ahead now that Vince was jailed.
"Tell us about Steve, Chase?" Eric asked looking very weary.
Who's Steve?
"His vitals are getting stronger and his brain activity is shows less of a state of coma but rather a state of semi - REM sleep. He could wake at any time." Chase explained.
"I thought you said given his injuries at the time of the fall, that it was impossible that he'd ever wake up," Eddy said confused.
"I said unlikely, not impossible," Chase said. "I've been in the medical profession way too long to dismiss anything as impossible."
Eric sighed again. Eddy and Eric seem to do that a lot.
"Hell of a time to play out the end of Sleeping Beauty, Austin," Eric muttered.
Waitaminute! Austin? As in...
"You guys aren't talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin are you?" I had to ask.
Five pairs of eyes looked at me. I've been getting those kinds of looks a lot in the last couple of months.
The tall man gave me a slight smile. I finally recognized him as another of Vince's former employees. He wrestled for Vince under the name of Undertaker.
"Kid's smart. Of course he'd have to be to tail you to the cabin." He said. "What do you know about Austin?"
"Just what little I remember my Mom and Dad telling me before you guys faked Dad's Death," I said sitting down in a chair. "My dad came home when I was three from a PPV and looked like he'd been crying. I remember Dad telling Mom that Steve Austin died and Mom gasping. Remember me and Tatem going to his funeral. And Dad talking about him when I asked who he was. Said he was one of the top guys in the WWF until Jeff Jarrett killed him."
"Your dad was half right about that," Eric said. "Get comfy because this is a semi long story."
"Back in 2003, I helped Vince make a deal with another promotion, NWA - TNA. They were a PPV only operation and I thought I could help them out by giving them some exposure for their product. It was run by this man named Jerry Jarrett, his son Jeff was the NWA champion at the time. Hell, he may still be, I don't keep up with that company anymore."
"Jeff and Steve never liked each other and Steve had just unified the brand titles at SummerSlam. Everybody thought it would be really something if the two faced each other in a match at Survivor Series which was taking place that year at Joe Louis Arena. Neither Jeff nor Steve were exactly thrilled about the match, but were willing to put aside their differences and work the program if it would benefit both companies in the end."
"I got tipped off that something wasn't right when Vince made the match a scaffold match and Jeff was enthusiastic for it. No wrestler in his right mind wants to wrestle in that type of match. It's the most dangerous match in existence, even more dangerous than Hell in a Cell. No offense Deadman." Eric said looking at Mark.
"None taken," The man known as the Undertaker quipped.
I nodded even though Eric hadn't addressed me. I was well aware of Scaffold matches and their dangers. I pretty much knew where this conversation was going. There was a reason why Scaffold matches haven't been performed in fifteen years.
"Anyways, I decided one night to eavesdrop on Vince, to find out why the hell he'd put Steve and Jeff in that kind of match. Turns out Jeff wanted to get back in Vince's good graces after he held the Intercontinental title hostage before he left the company four years earlier. He was willing to help Vince create another 'accident' to get rid of a problem for Vince. See Austin walked out on the company in mid 2002. He returned in February of 2003 - "
"And you've borne the bruises of that ever since," Shane quipped earning a glare from Eric.
"Anyways," Eric said, not missing a beat. "Steve returned in February of 2003, but his relationship with Vince was strained to say the least. No one every figured out exactly why Steve left in the first place, although I have my suspicions. As soon as I found out that Jeff and Vince were in cahoots, the scaffold match and Jeff's reaction to it made sense. Dangerous sense."
"I let Eddy know what was going down and he called Chase. Unfortunately it was a day before Survivor Series, so we were cutting things close. Unfortunately things didn't go as well for Steve as it did for your dad and Owen."
Eric closed his eyes before continuing. "The match took place as planned. During the match the scaffold gave way and tilted to one side, which was NOT planned. Both men were barely holding on to the edge of the scaffold. Jeff found a railing and while he was reaching to grab it, 'inadvertently' kicked Austin in the head sending Austin a good 20 - 30 feet to a concrete floor. Me and Eddy both thought Austin was dead, even with Chase there. As it was, Steve almost didn't survive the night."
I nodded again. Though I'd never seen the match the facts what had happened that night were not unknown to me and my father had been at the arena when it happened.
"A couple of weeks later we moved him here. We being Shane, Eddy, and myself. See, Danny, this house IS Steve's. Nobody's lived here since his funeral. Well, we've made everybody believe that nobody's lived here for fifteen years. His injures from that fall were so extensive that none of us thought Steve would ever wake up, but we didn't want Vince to know he was alive and try to finish the job. I'll never underestimate Vince's capacity to finish a task, even murder."
"I don't understand something," I asked. "If you knew that Vince had caused this, then why the hell didn't you say something about it on RAW tonight?"
"Fair question," Eric said. "Don't ever underestimate Vince's intelligence either. He made it so that if came out that what happened to Steve wasn't an accident that I'd take the fall for it.
"Why?"
"By letting me be the one to make the deal, I was ultimately the one that had the most contact with the Jarretts. Officially, Jeff and Vince never met up with each other that whole time before Survivor Series. Of course now you know the truth. But Vince could easily say since there was no other witnesses save for one to that meeting Jeff and Vince had, that I paid Jeff to kill Steve and not Vince. And given my past with Steve, people would be more inclined to believe Vince on that score. Plus, with Vince 'evidence' has a habit of turning up even when your not guilty of something."
That made sense. Made me wonder what Vince would've done with me and Athena if he hadn't gotten busted tonight.
"Russo apparently knew and told me tonight before he was carted away he'd tell everybody about that conversation between Jeff and Vince plus the bank account Vince sent Jarrett the money. We'll see," Eric snorted. "The man definitely is going to broker every deal he can in this."
Well, this was more than I bargained for. Then again this whole mess was more than I bargained for.
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Everybody talked for quite a lot longer, about a lot of things but nothing that really said how they got involved in all of this. I would have to ask. I was especially curious on how Shane got into it.
I excused myself to go to the bathroom. They looked like they were going to get into an argument about how stupid Uncle Eddy and Eric were to let me stumble onto this and endangering everything.
I walked down the hallway Chase came from when we came in and opened a door at the end. I had to know for sure. Curiosity also got me into this mess as well.
I saw a lone figure in a bed, hooked up to a lot of machines and a lot of wires and tubes. The man was bald and had his eyes closed. Without a doubt I knew that this man used to be Stone Cold Steve Austin. I've never seen anybody in a coma before and it kind of weirded me out. I looked at the machines but because my knowledge of medicine was jackshit, I couldn't make out what the machines were doing.
I turned towards the window which was now being pelted with raindrops. I wondered how was it that such a simple question: "What happened to my father?" could lead to everything that I'd seen and learned the last few months. I'm not sure anybody would believe me if I'd told them. Well, if I told them before the trial that was sure to be coming for Vince and his cohorts.
Sighing I turned to leave the room, hoping nobody would yell at me for coming in here. As I turned around I noticed that the formerly still figure was looking right at me with intense blue eyes. The glare coming from those eyes made me a little bit intimidated.
"W- Wh- Who the, h-hell, are you?" the man struggled to say in a horse voice. Even though it was scratchy from disuse it left no doubt that he wasn't happy.
I think this was the first time in this whole affair that I actually felt like freaking out. I'm pretty sure I nearly creamed my pants at seeing somebody who'd previously been in a coma suddenly talk to me.
"Uh," began, heading back into the Austin living room. "I think somebody better get in here." I said, letting the people in there know that Stone Cold Steve Austin had made his first step back into the land of the living.
We landed in San Antonio about midnight local time. I should've been thoroughly exhausted given what's already occurred, but I wasn't. After fourteen years I was finally going to meet the man who helped fake my Dad's and Owen Hart's deaths. I had a ton of adrenaline going through me anticipating that meeting. We drove around for several minutes before finding coming to a house on a wooded lot. Great, another cabin like structure. The last time I was at a cabin, I found out my dad was alive. I wonder what I'll find out tonight.
"We're here," Eric said. I noticed for the first time that Eric Bischoff seemed fidgety, almost nervous about something. It was the first time in this whole thing that I saw any real emotion break through that cool facade from his.
We got out and started walking out to the car. As we approached a stout man in his late fifties, maybe early sixties with short blond hair came out to greet us. I looked at him in shock. I recognized the man all right. He didn't come around too often but vaguely remember seeing him after my Dad 'died' I've also seen him in photos and videos with my father. The man was none other than Shane Douglas.
"Glad you boys could make it here so soon," Shane said to Eddy and Eric, oblivious to who I was. Well, for a moment. He regarded me suspiciously when he saw me. "Who's the kid?"
Eddy looked nervous, as if I might do something to the man. I decided to tell him who I was. "Daniel. Daniel Benoit. But I guess you'd have figured that out eventually 'uncle' Shane."
The whiteness of Shane Douglas face was similar to what Bret Hart had before he collapsed in my apartment a month or so earlier. Fortunately he didn't faint.
"Shit!" he finally said, then glared at Uncle Eddy. "Why the hell - "
"He overheard me talking to Mark on the phone. I told you it wasn't exactly the safest time talk."
Shane cursed again. Then he asked I figured he had to ask at this point. "How much does he know?"
"After tonight? Everything more or less" Even if he didn't know anything at all before tonight, he would after RAW with the exception of what he's about to find out," Eric replied.
Shane nodded. "Yeah we watched RAW. Would've been fun to be there personally to see Vince's ass carted off the jail. Listen Danny," Shane continued "When we get everything straightened out that we need to, I'll tell you about my involvement in this whole mess. And you can thank Eddy for involving me actually."
Shane turned to Eric. "Bet you enjoyed that little moment in the ring?"
"Highlight of my life so far," Eric said smiling. Then he sobered up. "Where's Chase?"
"Inside with Mark, waiting for you guys," Shane said ushering us towards the house.
"Uh, Danny - "Eddy started to say
"Not on your life Uncle Eddy." I said knowing he was going to try to persuade me to stay outside and avoid a potential explosive confrontation with Chase. Not going to happen.
We stepped inside to see a man with short dark hair sitting on the couch, looking intense as hell. He looked sort of familiar but my brain at the moment was on not on him. It was on the salt and pepper haired man that came from a back room.
"Good, you guys are here. Wondering when - "
Chase didn't get the chance to finish that sentence. That was because at that moment I decided to rush right to him and give him a punch that damn near knocked him out.
"How could you!" I shouted. "How could you rip people from their families, make people think their loved ones were dead when they were really alive, huh?"
The man on the couch shot up off of hit as soon as I punched Chase. Wow, he was tall. "What the hell - " he began to say.
Eric sighed cutting him off. "Chase Meridian, Mark Calloway, meet Danny Benoit."
Mark had a shocked expression at me when he heard my name, then glared at Eddy and Eric. "Seems like there's a few things you boys haven't told us yet," The man said.
"It wasn't like we planned for Danny to find out. Blame Eric, he sent Danny the videotape of Atlanta and Danny tailed me and Shane to the cabin and well, figure out the rest," Eddy said tiredly.
"By the way, avoid Bret Hart and Ric Flair for awhile Shane," Eric said to Douglas.
"Shit! Does the whole fucking world know?" Mark asked in a loud voice that could almost wake the dead.
"God, I hope not," Eric muttered moving to sit down on the couch and putting his head in his hands.
Chase sat down on the opposite couch. "I'm sorry," he said.
"Sorry doesn't keep my Mom from finding out the guy she married 11 years ago really isn't her husband," I said shooting death glares at Chase.
Uncle Eddy had a pained expression on his face, as if he was just remember all the complications that lay ahead now that Vince was jailed.
"Tell us about Steve, Chase?" Eric asked looking very weary.
Who's Steve?
"His vitals are getting stronger and his brain activity is shows less of a state of coma but rather a state of semi - REM sleep. He could wake at any time." Chase explained.
"I thought you said given his injuries at the time of the fall, that it was impossible that he'd ever wake up," Eddy said confused.
"I said unlikely, not impossible," Chase said. "I've been in the medical profession way too long to dismiss anything as impossible."
Eric sighed again. Eddy and Eric seem to do that a lot.
"Hell of a time to play out the end of Sleeping Beauty, Austin," Eric muttered.
Waitaminute! Austin? As in...
"You guys aren't talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin are you?" I had to ask.
Five pairs of eyes looked at me. I've been getting those kinds of looks a lot in the last couple of months.
The tall man gave me a slight smile. I finally recognized him as another of Vince's former employees. He wrestled for Vince under the name of Undertaker.
"Kid's smart. Of course he'd have to be to tail you to the cabin." He said. "What do you know about Austin?"
"Just what little I remember my Mom and Dad telling me before you guys faked Dad's Death," I said sitting down in a chair. "My dad came home when I was three from a PPV and looked like he'd been crying. I remember Dad telling Mom that Steve Austin died and Mom gasping. Remember me and Tatem going to his funeral. And Dad talking about him when I asked who he was. Said he was one of the top guys in the WWF until Jeff Jarrett killed him."
"Your dad was half right about that," Eric said. "Get comfy because this is a semi long story."
"Back in 2003, I helped Vince make a deal with another promotion, NWA - TNA. They were a PPV only operation and I thought I could help them out by giving them some exposure for their product. It was run by this man named Jerry Jarrett, his son Jeff was the NWA champion at the time. Hell, he may still be, I don't keep up with that company anymore."
"Jeff and Steve never liked each other and Steve had just unified the brand titles at SummerSlam. Everybody thought it would be really something if the two faced each other in a match at Survivor Series which was taking place that year at Joe Louis Arena. Neither Jeff nor Steve were exactly thrilled about the match, but were willing to put aside their differences and work the program if it would benefit both companies in the end."
"I got tipped off that something wasn't right when Vince made the match a scaffold match and Jeff was enthusiastic for it. No wrestler in his right mind wants to wrestle in that type of match. It's the most dangerous match in existence, even more dangerous than Hell in a Cell. No offense Deadman." Eric said looking at Mark.
"None taken," The man known as the Undertaker quipped.
I nodded even though Eric hadn't addressed me. I was well aware of Scaffold matches and their dangers. I pretty much knew where this conversation was going. There was a reason why Scaffold matches haven't been performed in fifteen years.
"Anyways, I decided one night to eavesdrop on Vince, to find out why the hell he'd put Steve and Jeff in that kind of match. Turns out Jeff wanted to get back in Vince's good graces after he held the Intercontinental title hostage before he left the company four years earlier. He was willing to help Vince create another 'accident' to get rid of a problem for Vince. See Austin walked out on the company in mid 2002. He returned in February of 2003 - "
"And you've borne the bruises of that ever since," Shane quipped earning a glare from Eric.
"Anyways," Eric said, not missing a beat. "Steve returned in February of 2003, but his relationship with Vince was strained to say the least. No one every figured out exactly why Steve left in the first place, although I have my suspicions. As soon as I found out that Jeff and Vince were in cahoots, the scaffold match and Jeff's reaction to it made sense. Dangerous sense."
"I let Eddy know what was going down and he called Chase. Unfortunately it was a day before Survivor Series, so we were cutting things close. Unfortunately things didn't go as well for Steve as it did for your dad and Owen."
Eric closed his eyes before continuing. "The match took place as planned. During the match the scaffold gave way and tilted to one side, which was NOT planned. Both men were barely holding on to the edge of the scaffold. Jeff found a railing and while he was reaching to grab it, 'inadvertently' kicked Austin in the head sending Austin a good 20 - 30 feet to a concrete floor. Me and Eddy both thought Austin was dead, even with Chase there. As it was, Steve almost didn't survive the night."
I nodded again. Though I'd never seen the match the facts what had happened that night were not unknown to me and my father had been at the arena when it happened.
"A couple of weeks later we moved him here. We being Shane, Eddy, and myself. See, Danny, this house IS Steve's. Nobody's lived here since his funeral. Well, we've made everybody believe that nobody's lived here for fifteen years. His injures from that fall were so extensive that none of us thought Steve would ever wake up, but we didn't want Vince to know he was alive and try to finish the job. I'll never underestimate Vince's capacity to finish a task, even murder."
"I don't understand something," I asked. "If you knew that Vince had caused this, then why the hell didn't you say something about it on RAW tonight?"
"Fair question," Eric said. "Don't ever underestimate Vince's intelligence either. He made it so that if came out that what happened to Steve wasn't an accident that I'd take the fall for it.
"Why?"
"By letting me be the one to make the deal, I was ultimately the one that had the most contact with the Jarretts. Officially, Jeff and Vince never met up with each other that whole time before Survivor Series. Of course now you know the truth. But Vince could easily say since there was no other witnesses save for one to that meeting Jeff and Vince had, that I paid Jeff to kill Steve and not Vince. And given my past with Steve, people would be more inclined to believe Vince on that score. Plus, with Vince 'evidence' has a habit of turning up even when your not guilty of something."
That made sense. Made me wonder what Vince would've done with me and Athena if he hadn't gotten busted tonight.
"Russo apparently knew and told me tonight before he was carted away he'd tell everybody about that conversation between Jeff and Vince plus the bank account Vince sent Jarrett the money. We'll see," Eric snorted. "The man definitely is going to broker every deal he can in this."
Well, this was more than I bargained for. Then again this whole mess was more than I bargained for.
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Everybody talked for quite a lot longer, about a lot of things but nothing that really said how they got involved in all of this. I would have to ask. I was especially curious on how Shane got into it.
I excused myself to go to the bathroom. They looked like they were going to get into an argument about how stupid Uncle Eddy and Eric were to let me stumble onto this and endangering everything.
I walked down the hallway Chase came from when we came in and opened a door at the end. I had to know for sure. Curiosity also got me into this mess as well.
I saw a lone figure in a bed, hooked up to a lot of machines and a lot of wires and tubes. The man was bald and had his eyes closed. Without a doubt I knew that this man used to be Stone Cold Steve Austin. I've never seen anybody in a coma before and it kind of weirded me out. I looked at the machines but because my knowledge of medicine was jackshit, I couldn't make out what the machines were doing.
I turned towards the window which was now being pelted with raindrops. I wondered how was it that such a simple question: "What happened to my father?" could lead to everything that I'd seen and learned the last few months. I'm not sure anybody would believe me if I'd told them. Well, if I told them before the trial that was sure to be coming for Vince and his cohorts.
Sighing I turned to leave the room, hoping nobody would yell at me for coming in here. As I turned around I noticed that the formerly still figure was looking right at me with intense blue eyes. The glare coming from those eyes made me a little bit intimidated.
"W- Wh- Who the, h-hell, are you?" the man struggled to say in a horse voice. Even though it was scratchy from disuse it left no doubt that he wasn't happy.
I think this was the first time in this whole affair that I actually felt like freaking out. I'm pretty sure I nearly creamed my pants at seeing somebody who'd previously been in a coma suddenly talk to me.
"Uh," began, heading back into the Austin living room. "I think somebody better get in here." I said, letting the people in there know that Stone Cold Steve Austin had made his first step back into the land of the living.