This is from Danny's POV and takes place RIGHT where 81 leaves off VBEG
Well, of all the tense situations I've been in/created over the last few months this one might top them all right now. Me and Eric Bischoff were trying to starve off giving explanations to Jim Ross when Mark Calloway and Shane Douglas walked into the Austin house and stopped pretty much dead at the sight of the former ring announcer.
If looks could kill, Jim Ross could've killed everybody in that living room.
Talk about your impending explosions. I toyed with interrupting Uncle Eddy's phone call to tell him about this when Eddy chose that moment to walk into the room. His expression said it all. He knew what was coming.
"Oh Crap," Uncle Eddy muttered.
Yeah that pretty much summed it up.
JR stood straight up on the couch. For an old, portly guy, he moves pretty fast. I sat in a chair, figuring I could sit most of this out since for once; I was probably the one in the least amount of trouble.
"JR - " Mark began.
"You Son of a Bitch," Ross cut him off. "You knew all these years and you didn't tell anybody!? And you?" he spat in Shane Douglas' face. "What's your involvement in all of this?"
"Tied to Eddy's," was Shane's comment while Mark muttered, "not all these years."
Just when things couldn't get worse, Chase and Austin walked back into the living room with an only marginally better Debra between them. Her eyes widened when she saw Shane and Mark. They narrowed landing on Mark.
Uh - oh.
Debra barreled over to the man that had been in his time, known as the Undertaker and reached out and smacked the man right across the face. My aunt is quite tall, even though the man she slapped still tower's over her by at least a foot. She's even taller than Mom. She pummeled him in the chest a few times before Steve Austin grabbed his wife.
"How dare you!" she shouted, her husband barely restraining her from coming after Mark again with her fists. "How dare you keep this from me!"
"Uh, how's about we all sit down and explain everything from the beginning," Shane said trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.
"Good idea," Eric muttered.
I sat back and took in everything. I also figured it'd be best to keep my mouth shut for once and let everybody else say everything. Thank goodness for once I'm not the one in trouble.
Eddy started from the beginning, how he overheard Nash and Hall about planning Owen's death, contacted Douglas and got in touch with the FBI, who arranged to fake Owen's death. Debra and Jim Ross had horror in their eyes as Eddy and the others started explaining. Eric retold Debra what he told JR before Mark and Shane came through unannounced. The two newcomers to the tale seemed even more horrified as Eddy, Shane and Eric told them more about what exactly they suspected Vince and his daughter and son - in - law of plotting and/or planning. JR seemed particularly horrified when Eric told everybody about what Vince had planned for his own son. I'd never even heard about the details before, so what Eric had to say was more than interesting to say the least.
"He was going to have Shane and Marissa run off the road and made to look like Shane had a drunk - driving accident?" JR questioned, disgust evident in his voice.
Eric nodded. "Fortunately I sent him a video of Vince talking to the hit man before they had a chance to really plan anything definitive. So all these years Vince just thought that Shane cracked under pressure and just up and left. Maybe not the best thing, but it kept Vince from hunting Shane down and killing him. We're still not sure just how it came to be that Vince wanted Shane dead. We think it might have been somebody close to Vince wanting Shane out of the way, but that's not clear. We know Russo wasn't involved in it. Probably the one deed of Vince's that Russo wasn't involved in. Hopefully we'll know more soon."
Eric broke off and shared a look with Eddy. Eddy sighed as if uncertain as to how to go about saying what he had to say next. Suddenly I knew he was going to tell them about Dad. He had that same look of hesitation before telling Debra and Ross about Owen. Eddy took a deep breath.
"And then there's Chris......."
JR looked confused for a minute while Debra gasped. She looked at me with questioning and comprehension in her eyes, while JR turned in my direction confused. I gave her a small nod of confirmation, as Jim Ross also seemed to finally get what Debra had figured out.
"Chris is alive too?" JR asked. There was still anger in his eyes, but there wasn't as much fight in his body language as there was before the explanations began.
Eric nodded. "Goldberg was my mistake. Nobody should've died because I created the monster for Vince to eventually use," he said quietly. It reminded me of that day at Angelo's in Kentucky when he explained why he'd gotten involved in this.
Debra looked in shock. "That explains why, what she was -"
"What she was what?" JR asked. I already knew.
"Mom talked to you didn't she," it wasn't a question. I knew my Mom all too well.
Debra nodded, "she was crying so much, that I couldn't get her to tell me what was wrong. That was the night you were going to take her and Tatem to dinner wasn't it?"
I sighed, "and instead me, Megan and Ric gave them and David a disastrous reunion with Dad in a hotel room," everybody but Eddy had surprise looks on their faces. Not surprising since Eddy had walked in on the aftermath of that. "She slapped Dad right across the face."
Eric snorted, "Sounds like Nancy."
Everybody glared at Eric. I decided now was the prefect opportunity for more information.
"Speaking of bodily injury," I asked, "where did you get that shiner?"
Eric glowered at me. "Raven," he muttered as if there was all there was too it. Mark, Shane, and Steve all snickered.
Eric turned to Eddy obviously hoping to take some attention off of him.
"Who was on the phone before all hell broke loose?" he asked.
Uncle Eddy sighed. Most of us knew by know that meant bad news. "It was Chavito. Trial's been moved up by a day."
Eric cursed.
Mark was louder. "Shit!"
"Chavo said that hopefully jury selection would take awhile. If not the lawyers would ask for a brief delay so we can get there without getting caught," Uncle Eddy explained. Then he frowned.
"They apparently released the names of the Prosecution witnesses to the judge. We decided to keep Chris, Owen's and Steve's names out of it for now for obvious reasons, but there apparently Steve Borden's name's on it, and I don't know why." He looked at Eric.
Eric shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm as surprised by that as you are. I know Terry told somebody some things about Vince before the Alzheimer's kicked in, but I doubt it was Stinger. Guess we'll find out when he testifies."
Everybody else but me (who was he?) was as confused as Eddy and Eddy was. Nobody but me noticed that Steve Austin's body seemed to tense and his eyes darkened for a bit. I wonder why.
"Guess we better finish this up and get the show on the road then," Shane said and that's what we did. We finished up our explanations and Chase filled them in on the stuff pertaining to Steve Austin's coma, which I tuned out as it really didn't pertain to me and I sucked in biology in school. Then Eric and Eddy and the rest of us went over and revised travel arrangements since now we had two extra people coming along.
I was dreading heading back to Atlanta in more ways than one. Not just because of the trial and media circus surrounding it. Most of my dread was about coming back and potentially facing my mother again. She may not hate me but I'm pretty sure it'll be a long while before she forgives me for the other night and forgives everybody involved for keeping Dad a secret for her.
For the first time in my life I didn't want to go home.
Well, of all the tense situations I've been in/created over the last few months this one might top them all right now. Me and Eric Bischoff were trying to starve off giving explanations to Jim Ross when Mark Calloway and Shane Douglas walked into the Austin house and stopped pretty much dead at the sight of the former ring announcer.
If looks could kill, Jim Ross could've killed everybody in that living room.
Talk about your impending explosions. I toyed with interrupting Uncle Eddy's phone call to tell him about this when Eddy chose that moment to walk into the room. His expression said it all. He knew what was coming.
"Oh Crap," Uncle Eddy muttered.
Yeah that pretty much summed it up.
JR stood straight up on the couch. For an old, portly guy, he moves pretty fast. I sat in a chair, figuring I could sit most of this out since for once; I was probably the one in the least amount of trouble.
"JR - " Mark began.
"You Son of a Bitch," Ross cut him off. "You knew all these years and you didn't tell anybody!? And you?" he spat in Shane Douglas' face. "What's your involvement in all of this?"
"Tied to Eddy's," was Shane's comment while Mark muttered, "not all these years."
Just when things couldn't get worse, Chase and Austin walked back into the living room with an only marginally better Debra between them. Her eyes widened when she saw Shane and Mark. They narrowed landing on Mark.
Uh - oh.
Debra barreled over to the man that had been in his time, known as the Undertaker and reached out and smacked the man right across the face. My aunt is quite tall, even though the man she slapped still tower's over her by at least a foot. She's even taller than Mom. She pummeled him in the chest a few times before Steve Austin grabbed his wife.
"How dare you!" she shouted, her husband barely restraining her from coming after Mark again with her fists. "How dare you keep this from me!"
"Uh, how's about we all sit down and explain everything from the beginning," Shane said trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.
"Good idea," Eric muttered.
I sat back and took in everything. I also figured it'd be best to keep my mouth shut for once and let everybody else say everything. Thank goodness for once I'm not the one in trouble.
Eddy started from the beginning, how he overheard Nash and Hall about planning Owen's death, contacted Douglas and got in touch with the FBI, who arranged to fake Owen's death. Debra and Jim Ross had horror in their eyes as Eddy and the others started explaining. Eric retold Debra what he told JR before Mark and Shane came through unannounced. The two newcomers to the tale seemed even more horrified as Eddy, Shane and Eric told them more about what exactly they suspected Vince and his daughter and son - in - law of plotting and/or planning. JR seemed particularly horrified when Eric told everybody about what Vince had planned for his own son. I'd never even heard about the details before, so what Eric had to say was more than interesting to say the least.
"He was going to have Shane and Marissa run off the road and made to look like Shane had a drunk - driving accident?" JR questioned, disgust evident in his voice.
Eric nodded. "Fortunately I sent him a video of Vince talking to the hit man before they had a chance to really plan anything definitive. So all these years Vince just thought that Shane cracked under pressure and just up and left. Maybe not the best thing, but it kept Vince from hunting Shane down and killing him. We're still not sure just how it came to be that Vince wanted Shane dead. We think it might have been somebody close to Vince wanting Shane out of the way, but that's not clear. We know Russo wasn't involved in it. Probably the one deed of Vince's that Russo wasn't involved in. Hopefully we'll know more soon."
Eric broke off and shared a look with Eddy. Eddy sighed as if uncertain as to how to go about saying what he had to say next. Suddenly I knew he was going to tell them about Dad. He had that same look of hesitation before telling Debra and Ross about Owen. Eddy took a deep breath.
"And then there's Chris......."
JR looked confused for a minute while Debra gasped. She looked at me with questioning and comprehension in her eyes, while JR turned in my direction confused. I gave her a small nod of confirmation, as Jim Ross also seemed to finally get what Debra had figured out.
"Chris is alive too?" JR asked. There was still anger in his eyes, but there wasn't as much fight in his body language as there was before the explanations began.
Eric nodded. "Goldberg was my mistake. Nobody should've died because I created the monster for Vince to eventually use," he said quietly. It reminded me of that day at Angelo's in Kentucky when he explained why he'd gotten involved in this.
Debra looked in shock. "That explains why, what she was -"
"What she was what?" JR asked. I already knew.
"Mom talked to you didn't she," it wasn't a question. I knew my Mom all too well.
Debra nodded, "she was crying so much, that I couldn't get her to tell me what was wrong. That was the night you were going to take her and Tatem to dinner wasn't it?"
I sighed, "and instead me, Megan and Ric gave them and David a disastrous reunion with Dad in a hotel room," everybody but Eddy had surprise looks on their faces. Not surprising since Eddy had walked in on the aftermath of that. "She slapped Dad right across the face."
Eric snorted, "Sounds like Nancy."
Everybody glared at Eric. I decided now was the prefect opportunity for more information.
"Speaking of bodily injury," I asked, "where did you get that shiner?"
Eric glowered at me. "Raven," he muttered as if there was all there was too it. Mark, Shane, and Steve all snickered.
Eric turned to Eddy obviously hoping to take some attention off of him.
"Who was on the phone before all hell broke loose?" he asked.
Uncle Eddy sighed. Most of us knew by know that meant bad news. "It was Chavito. Trial's been moved up by a day."
Eric cursed.
Mark was louder. "Shit!"
"Chavo said that hopefully jury selection would take awhile. If not the lawyers would ask for a brief delay so we can get there without getting caught," Uncle Eddy explained. Then he frowned.
"They apparently released the names of the Prosecution witnesses to the judge. We decided to keep Chris, Owen's and Steve's names out of it for now for obvious reasons, but there apparently Steve Borden's name's on it, and I don't know why." He looked at Eric.
Eric shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm as surprised by that as you are. I know Terry told somebody some things about Vince before the Alzheimer's kicked in, but I doubt it was Stinger. Guess we'll find out when he testifies."
Everybody else but me (who was he?) was as confused as Eddy and Eddy was. Nobody but me noticed that Steve Austin's body seemed to tense and his eyes darkened for a bit. I wonder why.
"Guess we better finish this up and get the show on the road then," Shane said and that's what we did. We finished up our explanations and Chase filled them in on the stuff pertaining to Steve Austin's coma, which I tuned out as it really didn't pertain to me and I sucked in biology in school. Then Eric and Eddy and the rest of us went over and revised travel arrangements since now we had two extra people coming along.
I was dreading heading back to Atlanta in more ways than one. Not just because of the trial and media circus surrounding it. Most of my dread was about coming back and potentially facing my mother again. She may not hate me but I'm pretty sure it'll be a long while before she forgives me for the other night and forgives everybody involved for keeping Dad a secret for her.
For the first time in my life I didn't want to go home.