(A/N) Hey everybody. Great to hear back from all of you so quickly. Didn't expect to get many reviews after such a long off period but thanks for all the support and feedback and I'm glad you guys stuck with me. Anyway, here is my side of the bargain. Finished the chapter by the weekend… like I said, so I hope you guys enjoy!
"Should I? No. No way. He's my enemy. He's a caniving bastard. But it's the only way. No it's not. You just got to think. THINK DAMMIT!" Chris had been toying with the notion of possibly joining forces with Cena to take down Hunter. There was no doubt, that at this point in time, Hunter was the strongest of the three. Chris was too busy wrapped up in his own master plan of trying to get at Shawn and take out Hunter at the same time, while also worrying about Adam. And John… who knows why John was so disorganized now a days. The only thing Chris knew for certain was that if he didn't get his shit together, Hunter would take him out.
"Ah fuck it." Chris said to himself. He picked up the phone.
John thought long and hard about what Christy said on the way to visit Eddie in emergency. Could it be possible that she was playing him like a flute? On the other hand, if he could get Dave on his side, he would have a major advantage over Chris and Hunter. He pulled into the parking lot at St. Vincents and got out into chilly night air. He pulled the hood of his sweater up, over his head and walked briskly into the hospital. He walked up to a rather severe looking receptionist and asked for the room number in which Eddie was in. She informed him in a harsh tone that he was still in the emergency operating room and that he would have to wait until he got out. John thanked her and turned around to have a seat in the waiting area. He spotted Rey, sitting with his head in his hands.
"Hey Rey." John said solemnly.
"Hey John. Thanks for coming." Ray said excitedly, jumping out of his seat when he heard John's voice.
"How's Eddie?" John asked, easing Rey back into the seat and taking a seat himself.
"Shit is fucked man. I haven't seen him yet. Doctors won't let me in to see him. Won't tell me shit either. He's been in there for almost an hour. I don't know what's going man. Everything is fucked up. I mean…"
John interrupted Rey before he could ramble on anymore.
"Woah, slow down. Take a deep breath." John tried to calm Rey down. After Rey's breathing rate stabilized, John asked his questions. "Now tell me, did you see what went down?"
"No. I wasn't there. Vicki called me. I came right away." Rey informed him.
"Eddie's wife is here?"
"Yeah. She's waiting outside emergency."
"Let's go see how she's holding up. Shall we?" John suggested. He got up and Rey followed suit. They walked over to the emergency ward where Vicki and her three daughters were waiting outside. Vicki had a relieved look on her face.
"Hey Vicki." John called out.
"Oh hey John. Thank god you're here. The doctor just gave me the good news. Eddie is going to be okay." She said.
"That's great! That's awesome." He replied. John knew that Vicki disapproved of Eddie being involved with John and his profession but Eddie was as stubborn as a bull. So she had to trust John to take care of him, which John had promised to do countless times. This was the first time, John failed to keep his promise.
"So can we go and see him?" Rey asked. He was carrying the youngest of the three girls in his arms.
"The doctor said that we can when he comes out of the anesthetic. Should be half an hour he said." Vicki replied.
"Excuse me." John piped in as he felt his mobile phone vibrate. He walked out into the living room to take the call.
"Hello?"
John was riding in the back of a taxi, thinking about the phone call he just received from Chris. It seemed that everyone wanted to join him now. He wondered where all these people were when he really needed their help. Back when he was short of numbers. But now that he had built himself an empire, everyone wants a piece. He recalled back in the hospital, just as he was leaving, after he told Rey and Vicki that he had personal business to attend to, he recalled seeing the detective that harassed him when he was suspected of Rick Jericho's murder. The detective was getting out of his car and going into the hospital. Detective Marcy was his name. Coincidence? He had no time to ponder it because the cab driver was asking for his fare. John paid the man and got out.
He walked down the street a few blocks and waited at the agreed meeting point. John had wondered if maybe this was a setup, but decided to give Chris the benefit of the doubt. John didn't make Chris out to be the type of character to employ dirty tactics just to win. He did in fact, save him when Hunter was beating the holy hell out of him so John had felt an obligation to pay him back. Eddie never missed a chance to tell John that he was too trusting, and that would be his downfall. Maybe he was. He was interrupted mid thought though as a black car pulled up on the opposite side of the street. A male of average height stepped out of the car who John later made out to be Chris. The blonde looked both ways before crossing the street. Something about his demeanor made John feel as though Chris was the uncomfortable one, even though he was pulling all the strings at this meeting.
"Hey…" John said amicably but he got no reply. Instead, Chris grabbed his arm and pulled him along the side walk.
"Walk." Chris hissed.
"You expecting company?" John asked suspiciously.
"Better to be safe than to be sorry." Chris replied as they continued their brisk walk up the dimly lit street.
"So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" John asked.
"Look. You and I both know that Hunter has gotten too powerful." Chris said, getting straight down to the point. "He owns half the nightclubs in Manhattan and Queens. Now those are prime areas. Not to mention the various underground fight clubs in Stanton Island. If we give him more time, he could be the fucking mayor of New York."
"So what do you propose we do about this problem." John said, not realizing the extent of the damage until a minute ago. He had been too wrapped up with Torrie.
"Neither one of us will beat him alone. So I propose, for the first and only time, we team up to take him down."
John kept up with Chris' quickened pace as he pondered the offer. It was beneficial to him. He would have one rival out of the way. The two of them could split any profits they would make by taking over Hunter's nightclubs.
"How do I know that this isn't a trap?" John said.
Chris stopped abruptly.
"You wanna talk about traps? Let's talk about the time you fucked my brother over." Chris said suddenly flushed with anger, his voice rising a little. "Yeah… don't think I have forgotten about that. I know you were involved, even if you didn't pull the trigger. You lured my brother into an alley. You fucked him over, then you let Shawn pump his body full of lead." Chris blurted out, getting right into John's face.
John tried to retort but Chris cut him off. He was damn near screaming now.
" Don't bother with your fucking excuses! I don't wanna hear it! You can tell yourself whatever you want, but the blood will still be on your hands as well as Shawn's. But right now, I've been man enough to put my own personal vendetta aside to think of the greater good. How bout you?"
Out of the corner of his eye, John saw a car turn the corner down the street and race towards them. The driver side window was down and something metallic glinted against the light from one of the street lamps. John's instincts leapt into action as he pushed Chris onto the ground and dived for cover himself. A fusillade of bullets embedded themselves into the wall of a brick house, missing the two men by centimeters. John looked up to try and catch a glimpse of their attacker but couldn't quite see his face. Both of them got up shakily. Chris dusted himself off.
"Well, I guess we are even then." John said. He saw a cab turn the same corner the car which did the drive by had turned and hurried over to wave it down. He didn't want to stay out in the open for longer than need be. Before he got in, he turned around to address Chris.
"Oh and about us working togther…Yeah. Why not. It could be fun." John said jokingly as he hopped into the cab.
"Cheeky sonova bitch." Chris grinned shakily as he himself hurried over to his car.
Shawn unlatched the silencer off the barrel of the automatic hand pistol and swore under his breath.
"That was my chance to take out two fucking birds with one stone." He quickly hid the automatic and the silencer in the glove compartment.
"Next time Cena. Next time, you won't get up."
(A/N) Well, well, well. John and Chris. Btw, the referral that John made to them being even was to the time when Chris attacked Hunter while John was getting beaten up. Just incase I didn't make it clear enough in the story. But anyway, Shawn has made the first move in backstabbing John… finally. We all knew it was coming. Hehehe. Will he be successful the next time? Tell me what you think.