What originally started out as Dana writing one POV and one meeting turned into a combined chapter by both of us writing two separate meetings with the same man. This will be in both Danny and Athena's POV. Enjoy - Juliet

Dana's comments Thanks to Harry and Jules for correcting me. I much appreciated it. 101 will be up real soon. 102 is in the looking for it stages.

Danny's POV

I stood there just looking in the window. It was just a plain old meeting room in a hotel that the FBI had gotten permission to use. And no it wasn't the Downtown Days Inn. Even though it had been my idea the thought of entering the room still made me nervous. This was a man who had been a part of a plot to kill my father even if he had changed sides. No matter how much I knew about the situation nothing will change that.

I thought about a lot of things while standing there with my head around the doorknob. What would he say? Would he try to defend Vince? Would he try something? I don't know. But if I stayed here I would never know.

The agents went in first. II took a deep breath and walked into the room. Uncle Ric went in after me. He said he had wanted to go along with me to make sure nothing happened. Uncle Eddy had thought of going but decided to make sure dad doesn't do anything crazy. Oddly, he looked more at dad then me when he said that.

But my dad's final words before I left the hotel room were still ringing in my head. "If things start to look bad get out of there fast." Uncle Eddy had said about the same thing too.

I looked at the man sitting there. He was staring at me. He looked different then he did in the video. The video showed a bald man but this man actually had hair on his head. The hair was very gray, as was his goatee.

Goldberg seemed a bit shocked to see me. He knew I was coming didn't he? "You look just like him." His voice showed a tinge of I don't know regret? I know he's talking about dad. How do I respond to that anyway? But then again it's nothing I've been told before. "Never mind." He said before I could answer. "Eddy Guerrero said you wanted to talk to me." He looked at Ric and the agents. "I hadn't realized you were coming with others."

I shrugged as I took a seat across from Goldberg. Uncle Ric sat next to me. The agents didn't stand too far away from us, which I was glad for. "Why?"

He didn't seem surprised by the question. "Why I agreed to do it?" I nodded. "I was promised money and the world title and partial ownership of WCW when it was restarted. I was so stupid to believe that. When I got out of jail two and a half years ago he told me that he had originally given WCW to his son who then gave it to Dustin Runnels and there was nothing he could do about it. It turns out he kept the part he promised to me so he could take the company back."

I wonder if Shane knew about this. I looked over at Uncle Ric who looked at surprised as I was. Vince had promised part of the company to Goldberg as part of the payment? I'd think that would have been discussed. But then again there are a lot of things they don't talk about. And it did explain how Vince still owned a part of the company. "Why did you not do it?" That was almost the obvious next question. Why would a man who said he was offered money, the world title and part ownership of WCW not do it? Not that I'm not glad he didn't. I certainly wouldn't be in this room having this conversation if he hadn't.

He didn't look at me when he spoke next. "To be honest I didn't really want to kill anyone and then of course there was the shorter prison sentence. Unlike the Helmsleys and Vince McMahon I had qualms about killing your father. But it took a little blackmail on their part I suppose. Not that it's important to what I'm telling you." He said quickly obviously wanting to change the subject. I wonder if he's talking about what he did to Bret Hart? "So the offer given to me by the FBI sounded good. But what I never understood is why Eddy didn't want to keep your father from this. I never really knew either of them but I did know they were friends." He had a slight glimmer in his eyes as he continued.

"What blackmail?" Uncle Ric asked. He hadn't really said anything until now.

He sighed. "Starrcade 99." I was curious. I looked at Uncle Ric who nodded as if he knew what Goldberg was talking about.

"What about Starrcade 99?" I asked.

"Let me start before that." Goldberg said looking at me for a brief second before continuing. "I was mad at what direction WCW was going and I don't think it was a surprise to anyone. Bischoff had me lose to Nash and had me arrested in a story line at the Georgia Dome. I guess Vince heard about it because he called me and asked if I would meet him at Bacchanalia." I know that restaurant. I have never eaten there. It's one of the most expensive restaurants in Atlanta. "I was curious on why he would want to meet me. I still had a contract with WCW. Though at that point I did want out of it. But then again who didn't?" He asked looking at Ric.

"That company was bad." Ric agreed.

"We talked about nothing really significant at first then he asked me if I would like to get back to WCW for what they have been doing to my career. I was more then curious at that point. So I asked him to go on. He wanted me to take Bret Hart out of the sport. I didn't have any friends in wrestling and to be honest I always hated the sport so he could have asked me to take out Hulk Hogan and I would have cared less. So I agreed to it. Ended up injuring my arm. But the work was done. Bret received three concussions and an injury to his neck. Vince did pay me money for doing this. It would later come back to haunt me."

I sat back trying to let this sink in. So everyone was right. Vince had used Goldberg to end Bret's career.

"I did feel guilty when Bret had a stroke. I mean I had no idea I had hurt him so badly. Vince really hated Bret. But it was Hunter that hated your father. With Vince it didn't really surprise me that he had wanted to kill Shane. He was a hateful man. No one screwed him and got away with it. I guess not even his family. His daughter and son-in-law were real pieces of work too. I ran into them at a Toy Fair back in 2000 and we almost got into a fight. I can't remember what it was about now, though I started it. Been way too long. If you see Bret some time tell him I'm sorry. He probably wouldn't believe me but I am. I just wish I could tell your dad that Daniel."

"I should have been charged with the murder of WCW." He said with a sad smile. "WCW's PPV Starrcade 99 should have been called Night of Injuries. Starrcade pretty much was setting up Souled Out which was the next PPV. But in the ladder match at Starrcade Chris' nose was broken and Jarrett suffered a concussion. Then Bret suffered three concussions and a neck injury. But he wrestled for awhile after that before he knew something was wrong so I guess it wasn't totally my fault. But I did hurt my arm in that match with one of the moves that gave Bret his concussion. Because Jarrett and Bret were injured they had to be dropped from the card. Russo had this idea that Tank Abbott should be world champ and he got fired. Then Sullivan replaced him and decided Chris would beat Sid for the title and then lose it to me three months later. Almost the same thing that happened four years later. But when Guerrero, Benoit, Malenko, and Saturn walked out it killed the company. It was my fault."

He had a far away look on his face. "I had no intention of staying in the United States to wrestle after WCW was bought by WWF. I was invited to wrestle in Japan. That country pays their wrestlers well. Then Vince called me with a very good contract and I agreed. Then I was asked almost a year later to kill your father by Helmsley. Helmsley told me he'd tell everyone I injured Bret on purpose if I didn't agree with it so I said okay."

I realized that I didn't know what to say to Goldberg. He wasn't denying anything. Yet he certainly didn't sound very proud of it. It was interesting to find out now that the man had a conscience. Didn't think any of Vince's 'hitmen' had any. But that did explain why he agreed not to do it. Even if it was partly because he'd get a shorter jail sentence. I never would have guessed.

I looked at the two agents standing there. Their facial expressions showed no emotions. One was watching Goldberg while the other was keeping an eye
on the door. I was glad they and Uncle Ric were here. I don't know if I could handle being in the same room with Goldberg without them.

"Was the world title really that important to you?" I couldn't help but ask him. It kind of reminded me of what dad and Uncle Ric had said that day at the cabin. They said the title was important to Hunter.

"No. It was important to Hunter and I think he thought marrying Stephanie McMahon he would automatically be champ. I don't know maybe that's why they got rid of Austin." He looked like he hadn't meant to say that but I guess because we weren't shocked he continued. "and I kinda suspected when he asked me to take Bret out that he might had something to do with what happened to Owen, but I had no proof. Anyway he was outraged when he found out your father was slated to get the win over Jeff Jarrett and win the world title. I don't know all of the details and this is just my speculation. He was outraged when he found out that the main event at Bad Blood wouldn't be him Vs Chris Benoit for the world title. And Stephanie was still angry that Vince got brand new writers. They came to ask if I would break your father's neck killing him. I agreed to do it and like I said I didn't like the idea. Then Eddy and that cop Erichson talked to me about only making it look like I killed Chris. I agreed to that. I have no idea if I did it right. He wasn't moving when I got up. I was arrested before I could find out. Your mother was at the trial staring at me accusingly. Rightfully so. I think she would have slapped me if she could. Ric you were there too." He said looking at Uncle Ric.

Uncle Ric nodded. "I wanted to make sure you were put away for good. I couldn't believe you had only gotten 15 years."

"I was glad that's all I got. But I still don't understand why if they knew what was planned for Chris why they didn't just turn Vince in. Would have saved Matt Hardy and numerous others."

I'd have to agree with him there. They all did have some round about way of getting things done. But I did understand now why they did what they did. But sometimes I wonder myself.

"I'm glad Vince, Shawn, Hunter, Stephanie, Waltman, Nash, and Jeff Hardy are all getting what they deserve. I'll be at the trial Monday testifying against them. I'm more then happy to do that. What they did was wrong. I'm not proud of what I almost did and I'm not much better then they are but I'm glad they are finally getting what they deserve."

"Mr. Benoit?" Someone asked coming into the room. "I was just asked to tell you that it's time to go."

I looked at my watch. Wow she was right. I thanked Bill and left the room. I looked back at Uncle Ric who was standing in the doorway looking at Goldberg. Uncle Ric started to follow me but Goldberg stopped him.

"Ric let Bret know I want to see him."

"I will."

It was a quiet ride back to the hotel. Ric told Bret that Goldberg wanted to see him. An hour later Bret left with Athena and Uncle Eddy to meet for his own meeting with Goldberg.

Athena's POV

I was extremely nervous riding over to this other hotel with Uncle Bret and Eddy Guerrero. We'd finally talked Uncle Bret out of meeting with Goldberg when out of the blue Ric Flair comes back from his and Danny's meeting with Goldberg with the news that Goldberg wanted to see him. There was some other stuff said between the two men and Uncle Bret looked furious. I'm not sure meeting the man that ended his career was the right idea.

We reached a small conference room in the hotel where possibly Danny and Ric Flair met Goldberg earlier. There was extreme tension outside the room. Uncle Bret looked like he wanted to rip the door off it's hinges. He took a deep breath and us and two agents went in.

The man in front of me was nothing like what had been described to me. He had gray hair instead of a bald head and a gray goatee. He looked nervous and regretful. Could somebody who had done Vince McMahon's dirty work look that way?

"Bret" the man said in a gravely voice. "Eddie, been a long time since I've seen you."

"Bill," Uncle Bret said in a barely contained voice.

"Who's she?" Goldberg asked in a tone that made me feel creeped out.

"My niece," Uncle Bret tossed out tersely, stepping in front of me, as if to protect me from a possible attack by the man.

"Relax Bret, I wasn't going to hurt her. I just wanted to know who she was, that's all," Goldberg said, sitting down.

"Flair tell you I wanted to see you?" Goldberg asked.

"Yes," my uncle replied. "He also told me about a few other things as well."

"Not surprised," Goldberg said. "Ric was probably one of the more honest men in the sport."

"Why?" Uncle Bret asked.

"I wanted out," Goldberg explained. "Like everybody else did at that time. Vince offered me a very lucrative sum to take you out and I took it. There were at least half a dozen others that would've taken Vince's offer at that time. He just got to me first."

"Why just the concussions?" Eddy spoke up, "why not just 'accidentally' kill Bret outright. If money was all you wanted surely Vince would've given you that much more for Bret's death."

"For the same reason I agreed to try and avoid killing Benoit in the first place," Goldberg spat out. "I have no problem ending somebody's career. Taking somebody's life, that's another issue. Tell me something Guerrero, and honestly answer this. Is Benoit alive? Did he survive the powerbomb? Trust me, it won't get back to Vince."

Eddy nodded. "Yeah he survived the powerbomb."

Goldberg nodded back. There seemed to be a relief in his posture. "I spent almost fifteen years wondering whether I did it enough to make it look real keep Chris alive. At least I know now. Anyways Vince probably would've been happy to see me cause enough damage to kill you Bret. But I couldn't go that far. I knew I could do just enough to cause you serious injury and still keep ya alive. I also had a feeling if I turned Vince down, he'd offer somebody else the job, and that person would have no qualms about 'accidentally' killing you. I suspected Vince played a hand in that stunt that killed Owen. Just the bastard's manner. But I didn't have any concrete evidence or anything. Like I said there were at least half a dozen of us by that time that wanted out and each of us would've probably have jumped at the chance to do it. I just came up to the plate first."

"As for Chris, Triple H hated me from the Toy Fair incident in 2000. Son of a Bitch probably thought it would take out two of the people he hated in one stroke if he got me to kill Benoit. He was wasn't completely wrong."

"Russo was there by the way. I guess Russo really was sent by Vince to destroy WCW inside out."

"Figures," muttered Uncle Bret. "One last thing: Why ask for me?"

"To apologize Bret," Goldberg answered. "Sincerely and totally. At that time I just wanted out so I had no second thoughts about doing it. If I'd known then what I know now, the stroke, that it would be used against me later, I probably wouldn't have done it. I wasn't thinking about any of the possible consequences at the time. I just did it. I know my word will probably mean shit to you, but for what it's worth, I am truly sorry."

I'm sure when we left none of us were completely sure what to make of the meeting. Was Goldberg sincere in his apology? Who knows?

Monday's going to be interesting.

Okay on to the next part :-D