Chapter 16 of The Last Step

Disclaimers: You know by now, and also, characterization may not be accurate.

Warnings: Mentions of violence and drugs in this chapter; as well as some events within the storyline have been altered to an extent. So with that in mind, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Stanford, Connecticut, 12 25am.

Marty stepped out of his vehicle and peered up at the tall building that stood before him. The building was none other than WWE Headquarters, and at this hour of the morning, it appeared pretty deserted. Pretty deserted that was, until he made his way through the front entrance doors, which had been left unlocked for some unknown reason. He walked through the large main hallway looking around in order to see if anyone was at the front desk. Disappointed to find no one there, he turned to his left and made his way up the stairs. He knew this was trespassing, but at the time, that didn't seem to matter.

Why was the place so empty? He couldn't help but wonder to himself.

After he had walked up the two flights of stairs, he strode toward Vince McMahon's office. He could get in some nasty trouble for doing this, but again, curiosity was getting the better of him and he was determined to figure out exactly what was wrong. Fooling with the door knob and finding it unlocked, he pushed the door in quietly, and made his way inside.

Once inside, he saw one single lamp that stood on top of the mahogany desk of his boss. He flipped the lamp switch and took a glance at the piles of papers and books that lay there. He felt tempted to look through some of the files, but made the decision not to. Instead, his eyes zeroed in on one particular piece of ripped notebook paper that remained on top of the massive pile of papers and supposed documents. Marty kneeled in closer to get a better look.

To my secretary: Take the bottle from my desk and deliver it to the arena before Monday's taping. It is the one specific bottle with the name "Shawn Michaels" stamped on the front. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Vincent McMahon.

Not knowing what to make of the note he had just read, Marty looked around frantically to find exactly what the note was talking about. Then, the thought hit him; he crouched down and opened the first desk drawer. Located inside, was a white bottle with his former friend's name literally stamped on the front.

What the hell? Marty heard himself asking. He slowly grabbed the bottle to get a better look at it; as it turned out, it was a prescription for sleeping pills! Vince had intended on drugging Shawn Michaels! Quickly, he placed the bottle into his pants' pocket and switched off the lamp and proceeded out the door. And none too soon, as someone who worked in the office building was heading down the hallway from the opposite direction. Feeling panicked, Marty ran down the stairs in a quiet fashion and rushed through the entrance doors as fast as he could manage without striking up suspicion.

He climbed into his car out of breath, yet feeling relieved over what he had just done. He hit the accelerator, and drove back to the hotel; thankfully in one piece.

The Next Day: Monday, 12 pm, WWE Headquarters:

Vince McMahon was set on still making Shawn's life a living nightmare, and this day in particular was no exception. Sitting alone in the lobby, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket in order to contact his one and only daughter, Stephanie McMahon.

"Hello, Princess…..is it done?" He looked around to make sure no one was listening in.

"Yes, dad, it's done. We have the little twerp, now what do you want us to do with him?" Brilliant! Vince thought to himself with a grin on his face.

"Do whatever you want to the little bastard! Hell, I don't care what you do, just make him suffer! You'll get your money when this whole thing is through; I guarantee it. You and Hunter are doing a great job so far."

"Thanks Dad," Stephanie was heard saying over the other line, "you and Shane did eliminate Shawn from the Royal Rumble, right?"

Vince smiled to himself. "Yes we did! Honey, you should have seen it! We eliminated that son of a bitch, and Shane gave him what he deserved….."

"Oh, Daddy, that's great news!"

"Oh, honey….one more favor to ask of you…..if you will?"

"Sure, anything; just name it." His daughter was so willing, he loved it!

"About tonight….you see, I was thinking you could help us with tonight's taping. Since Shane is going one-on-one with Shawn, I was hoping you'd be able to give that bastard a little something before the match; a present if you will. We wouldn't want Shane to get injured by the hands of that sick son of a bitch, now would we?" Vince scanned his surroundings, and was pleased to find the coast was clear. He then turned his attention back to the conversation.

"Of course not." Stephanie replied. "What kind of something would this be?"

"Glad you asked….." Vince said in response. He then laid out the idea to explain her part in his genius plan to make Shawn's existence in the company a living nightmare. He and his daughter agreed on the details and after it was all over, Vince disconnected the phone call and headed upstairs to his large office.

Once inside his office, he immediately went over to his desk, and found the pile of papers nearly undisturbed; except the top piece of ripped loose-leaf paper. The note had been moved over to the left of the pile, but other than that, nothing else appeared to have been touched. Then just to make sure, he went for the one place he knew his sedatives were located: the top desk drawer.

…To find the initial bottle was missing! He was aghast for a moment; his secretary hadn't been in his room yet, had she? To find a replacement for the last one had been easy, but he had yet to give the new woman the order to deliver the bottle to the arena in preparation for the taping. Thinking to himself of who could have come into his office before his arrival, he absently replaced his hand into the drawer and pulled out something else.

It was yet another bottle of sleeping sedatives he had put in there just in case of something was to happen to the first bottle. He smiled to himself gleefully. That bastard was about to get what was coming to him; yet he had no idea about it whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Stephanie's hotel suite, same time:

Stephanie placed her cell phone back into her purse with a smile on her face. Her father was so sadistic; she couldn't help but admire him in a way. Her thoughts were suddenly disrupted, however, by the little child she and Hunter had kidnapped just the night before.

"Shut the hell up!" She yelled at the boy named Cameron. Thinking of which, Stephanie could have almost laughed to herself: what kind of idiot would name his or her kid "Cameron"? Such a stupid name for a child!

"My father is going to kick your butt!" The boy replied harshly. Stephanie gave the boy a sudden look of shock and dismay as Hunter laughed to himself.

"Oh, that's no way for a young child to talk!" Stephanie told Cameron. All of a sudden Hunter decided to cut in.

"Steph, leave the boy alone. He's upset that his father isn't here to 'save the day'! Isn't that right, Cameron?" To this, Cameron gave both of them a disgruntled glance. Feeling fed up with the boy's nonsense, Stephanie grabbed yet another piece of duct tape and placed it over the boy's mouth to shut him up.

"There, that should do the trick, little bastard!" She watched on as the boy struggled on the bed spread with his legs and arms tied and bound together. Whoever had taught the boy how to speak was one nasty individual. The boy hadn't quit yelling at the both of them since the moment they kidnapped him! It just came to show how much of a true 'Christian' Cameron's father really was. 'Shawn is such a hypocrite', Stephanie thought to herself. It was certainly a good thing Shawn was being taught a lesson by her father; that was for certain. She and Hunter watched on as the boy began to struggle on the bed even more; all while thinking that her father's plan for later that night was pure genius!

Stanford, Connecticut: 2:30pm:

Marty looked down at the bottle setting upon the small desk inside of his hotel room for the third time while thinking of what to do first. The shock of what Vince had been planning for Shawn later in the evening still had him feeling stunned. Hesitantly, he picked up the hotel room phone and dialed Shawn's cell number. After a few moments, he heard someone connect on the other end.

"Hello, Shawn?"

"Marty? Oh my gosh…..how are you doing?" He heard Shawn ask in a muffled tone. Marty found himself holding the prescription bottle in his free hand as he attempted to tell Shawn what he had discovered.

"Shawn, were you planning on having a match later tonight?"

"Yea, why? It's just a match; Marty….it's no big…"

"Shawn…..it is a big deal….I am warning you now, don't do it! I have a feeling Vince has something planned for your match tonight….and I'm just telling you not to go through with it…." All he heard was silence on the other end; just what was going on?

"You mean to tell Vince has something to do with this? How do you know?" He doesn't know? Marty found himself asking no one.

"Well, I did do something I wasn't supposed to, Shawn. I sort of crept inside Headquarters early this morning and…"

"You did what?" Marty cringed for a second; he knew he shouldn't have revealed that much. "Marty, if someone would have found you snooping around-…."

"I know, I know. Shawn, I went into Vince's office and discovered something I think you should know about…." He told Shawn about the bottle and the note that he found.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? Sleeping pills? How do you think they're going to manage that?"

Marty thought for a minute. "I don't know; good question. I wish I knew myself. Listen, Shawn…just watch yourself, alright?" He glanced at the clock and figured he should let the man go. "Shawn, I have to go. I wish you luck tonight, and whatever you do…."

"I know….Ok; I'll talk to you later. I'm still trying to look for my son….those two are going to pay if it's the last thing I do…." Those two? Wait, Shawn knows who took his son?

"Shawn….wait…. 'Those two'? What are you talking about?"

"Hunter and that gosh darn Stephanie! Marty….they're the ones who took him…..gosh knows where but when I get the chance, I'm gonna make the two of them sorry they ever messed with me and my family and get my son back!" With that, Marty heard the line disconnect; leaving him all alone with the bitter silence that surrounded him. Just what had he gotten himself into? Was Shawn's son going to be found? If so, will he come out of this ok? So many questions on his mind that he unfortunately did not have the answers to.

Later on that night: Monday Night Raw: 10 15pm:

Shawn continued to pace within the facility of his locker room while attempting to keep himself together. He felt as if he was on the verge of losing his mind. Not only was his son still missing, but tonight Vince had seen it fit to put him into a match against the so called "Prince of the WWE", Shane McMahon. Just when things couldn't have become more hectic, in came a backstage manager telling him he was needed somewhere else in the arena. Grudgingly, Shawn put down his bottled water on top of the desk and left the room.

Just as soon as he was gone, in came Stephanie McMahon, who was set on finishing her father's plan. She dug into her shirt, pulled out a small packet of crushed pills, and proceeded to pour the white powder into Shawn's water bottle. It's just too perfect! She thought to herself as she slipped out through the door, unnoticed.

Five minutes later, Shawn had returned to his locker room to discover everything was undisturbed; or so he had thought. As it had turned out, someone had relayed a phony call to him, and the backstage manager had not been aware of the misleading disconnection on the other line before leaving the phone off the hook in the office. Then, with his mind still on his missing son and his match for later that night, he grabbed his bottle of water and took a drink; unaware he had just fallen into Vince's trap.

Fifteen Minutes Later:

"….He is the Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels!" The announcer called out as Shawn made his way down to the ring. Throughout the entire night he had to continuously remind himself to keep his composure during his match. Shane was already in the ring, and as Shawn climbed through the ropes, he suddenly remembered something he had seen a while back. Although it had seemed irrelevant at the time, Shawn had remembered taking notice of Shane hiding out in the mall while he and Candice were doing the skit together; Shane was in on the whole thing as well! Recognizing that fact, he charged at his boss's son as soon as he heard the bell ring.

But then, something strange had begun to take hold of him. Shawn felt his body go numb for seconds at a time and realized his vision was growing blurry. Before he knew it, he had fallen to the mat, unable to move. Shane suddenly covered him, and though Shawn tried to get the shoulder up, he found he could not, and heard the ref count to three before signaling the bell to be rung.

He had lost the match against his own will; all thanks to whatever was in his system. He looked up at Shane as he celebrated with his father: the boss of the WWE; and it was then when it occurred to him: Vince might have also been in on this the entire time.

To Be Continued….

A/N: I hope you don't mind, but from now on, this story is not going to be so tightly knit around the actual storyline that had taken place before Wrestle Mania 22. I hope you've enjoyed, and please send along your comments; thanks.