Still Alive

Dean burst into the kitchen with a wild look in his eyes, glancing furiously around the massive room. Because of the late hour, the kitchen wasn't that crowded at all and it took Dean all of two seconds to locate the man he was searching for. Randy.

There he was. Standing at one of the long tables preparing some kind of food and joking with Dolph, another one of the Merry Men.

"Randal Scarlett!" shouted Dean as he made his way over to Randy. The whole room grew instantly silent and everybody stared wide-eyed as Dean stalked up to Randy who in turn straightened up to face his leader with a slightly puzzled look on his face. Dean Ambrose, for all his nervous energy, was a fairly calm man but every once in a while something would happen which would cause him to lose his cool. And his men knew that when Dean lost his cool, he did so in spectacular fashion.

Dean stepped right up into Randy's personal space, taking a few, long seconds to give him a hard stare before speaking again. "Little Rome just informed me that you have let someone just waltz in here without following the proper precautions! You better have a damn good reason for this otherwise you have just put a whole lot of people in great, fucking danger!"

"You know…for being the city's most wanted outlaw, you sure do seem to care a little too much about the rules," spoke up a sarcastic voice from behind Dean. Dean's rage melted away as he heard that voice and turned around to face his oldest friend who was leaning against the doorway that led to the pantry and smirking at him.

Dean grinned. "Punk…how, what…what the hell are you wearing?" Punk's face and hair was all that was recognizable to Dean, instead of his usual clothes, Punk was wearing to what looked to Dean like a grey robe with a hood, and a rough leather belt around his waist. He had sandals on his feet and was that a rosary hanging from his belt? Dean thought. Punk's smirk grew wider at Dean's obvious confusion at his chosen attire.

"That's Friar Punk, to you Dean," stated Punk as he barked out a laugh as Dean's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets in shock. "It's my cover for right now," elaborated Punk when he had finished laughing. Dean nodded in head in acceptance of Punk's explanation. CM Punk was a world class smuggler and self-proclaimed Best in the World con artist. Dean turned back to Randy who was grinning sheepishly at him and patted him on the back with a muttered apology. Randy was right to bring in Punk, the Merry Men could definitely use a man of his talents.

"Come here you asshole," said Dean pulling Punk in for a rough hug despite the man's protests. Punk didn't normally do hugs but too bad, thought Dean; it had been way too long since he has seen his friend.

"So, you're okay with this, Dean?" asked Roman incredulously.

Dean sighed. Now it all made sense. Randy had been with Dean's crew longer than Little Rome and remembered Punk from back in the day. Roman had never had the pleasure of meeting Punk until now.

"Yes, Ro," said Dean gesturing to Punk, "this is perhaps my oldest friend, CM Punk…"

"Friar Punk," interjected Punk.

"Sorry," said Dean rolling his eyes, "and Friar Punk this is Little Rome."

"I can see why they call you that," deadpanned Punk holding out a hand to Roman.

Roman gazed at Punk's hand for a moment before shaking it, "Thanks, I can't say the same about you though," retorted Roman.

"Nobody can. That's why I'm so good at what I do," shot back Punk as the two men released each other's hands.

"Okay, girls, that's enough," said Dean coming in between the two men, "the room isn't big enough to handle both of your egos and quite frankly I have no patience for it. Ro, we need Punk, so back the hell off. And Punk, you should know better than to antagonize someone bigger than you and while you are my oldest friend, Roman is one of my best friends so I suggest the two of you learn how to coexist," snapped Dean as he scooped some food off the table and headed out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going? I thought you wanted to plan out our next attack?" shouted Randy after Dean.

Dean turned around while still walking backwards, "We will. You guys get started. I'll meet up with you after I give some food to the newbie."

"Wait…you're taking on a newbie?! Now?!" shouted Randy in disbelief, looking to Little Rome who threw his hands up in the air at the entire situation.

"Yes, Randy," stated Dean with a crazy smile, "Yes I am."

"Hey, Sami," greeted Dean as he walked up, "How's the newbie? Anything to report," asked Dean dropping his voice to a low whisper. The door to the room was thick, solid oak but Dean didn't want to take any chances of being overheard by Seth. While Dean's gut instinct was to trust Seth, one could never be too careful.

A few years ago, Little Rome had suggested a new policy for initiating new members into the Merry Men. At first, Dean had scoffed at the idea and had called it way too theatrical for his tastes but after Little Rome had persuaded him to give it a trial run, Dean had to admit it was a pretty good way of testing a man's loyalty, strength of character and will to join the Merry Men. This method had weeded out more than a few would-be-spies, thrill seekers, and boys who had yet to become men. Plus this method ensured that as few people as possible knew who Dean Ambrose was.

"Nah," said Sami stifling a yawn, "He's been silent in there. He's made no fuss for us and hasn't requested a thing, not even food or water."

"And you've made sure that he has no idea…" Dean trailed off. He didn't even have to say it. Sami would understand what he was asking.

"Oh, yeah, everyone has followed protocol. He has no clue who you are," assured Sami, "Will you be going with the old standby for the time being?"

"Yes, for a little while," said Dean, "Take a break, Sami and before you go to bed. If you could just spread the word that if anyone sees me with the newbie they are to address me as 'Moxley' or 'Mox' that would be a big help."

"Sure thing, Mox," grinned Sami as he started to make his way down the tunnel.

"Good man," said Dean grinning to himself as he unlocked the heavy door and gently pushed it open.

The room Seth was staying in for the time being was not a jail cell. Dean saw no reason that the newbies had to be kept in discomfort until trust was established.

The room was comfortable and of modest size. There was a bed in the corner that was equipped with quilts and pillows. A small bookshelf was situated in the opposite corner, which housed a variety of about fifty or so books. A desk with drawers that had implements for writing or drawing if one desired to do so. A closet was full of extra towels, linens and quilts if it was needed and a full, private bathroom was directly attached to the room. Dean was so grateful that some of the Merry Men were engineers and plumbers who were able to equip and maintain the hideout with running water and indoor plumbing.

Seth looked up from the book he was reading as Dean walked in. Dean observed that Seth looked freshly showered and was looking right at home lounging on the bed with a book in hand.

"How are you doing?" asked Dean as he shut the door behind him and placed a plate of sandwiches along with a few oranges that he had swiped from the kitchen and a bottle of water onto the desk.

"Alright," replied Seth as he headed straight for the plate of food and dug in.

"I figured you might be hungry, especially after our little run," said Dean as he sat down on a chair. Seth gestured a thanks, his mouth to full to speak and brought the plate with him as he sat down on the bed again.

"So I suppose you have some questions," began Dean, "I can't promise that I can answer all of them but hopefully I can answer some."

"Where am I?" asked Seth.

"You are in the Merry Men's hideout somewhere in Sherwood's Junkyard. The exact details of where the hideout is and the entrances and exits will be revealed if the boss decides to trust you," explained Dean.

"Sherwood's Junkyard. That's smart. It's the largest junkyard in the city and goes on for miles, you could get lost in it. And by boss, I assume you mean Dean Ambrose?" asked Seth for clarification.

"Yep," Dean said nodding his head up and down. This part of the process was always weird for Dean, having to pretend that he wasn't himself.

"Can you tell me your name?" asked Seth. "It seems only fair, since you know mine."

"I'm Moxley," said Dean smoothly, "but everyone calls me, Mox."

"Thanks, Mox, for the food," said Seth as he smiled at Dean, "and thanks for giving me a chance to prove myself."

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to be able to follow me all the way," said Dean, "how'd you learn to run like that?"

Seth shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Living in this city, running away from bullies and thugs. Plus I'm a bit of a daredevil," finished Seth with a goofy grin.

"I can definitely see that," said Dean wryly as he remembered Seth completing that back flip over the barbed wire fence.

"Yeah, I gave my poor mother a few heart attacks over the years," said Seth with a laugh, "she always kept telling me to stop climbing the roof of our house but I would always find some way to climb it and eventually she gave up trying to stop me from going up there and would just yell up to me to be careful."

"She sounds like a lovely woman," said Dean politely.

"She was," replied Seth softly as he looked away, his face turning sad and distant for a moment.

"So," said Seth shaking his head, after a beat, as if that motion could remove the bad memories from his mind, "Am I sort of on probation or what?"

"You're a newbie," said Dean, "that means until Dean decides that you are trustworthy, you are not allowed to wander around the hideout. If you do go outside this room you must always be escorted by someone and I don't think I need to warn you that should you try to get away from your escort and walk around unaccompanied you will not be allowed to become one of the Merry Men. You are not allowed to attend meetings or gatherings unless invited and you most certainly will not be going on any mission unless your skills are absolutely needed."

Seth nodded taking in all the stipulations, "Sounds fair. When will I get to speak with Dean Ambrose?"

"You won't meet Dean unless you become one of us," said Dean spreading his hands in a gesture as if to say I'm sorry but the matter is out of my hands.

"How will he determine that I'm trustworthy if he's never met me?" asked Seth a little indignantly.

"He has his ways," said Dean.

Seth took another bite of a sandwich and regarded Dean as he chewed. "Are you his right hand man? You seem to have a lot of responsibility around here."

"No," said Dean shaking his head, "I've been with the gang since the beginning though, so Dean values my opinion."

"Moxley," said Seth slowly, "No last name?"

"No need, I'm an orphan from birth, I never knew my parents," explained Dean which was actually true. Dean found it helped that when he fibbed like this that he would pepper his lies with some actual truths, which made the lies much more convincing.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It happened a long time ago," said Dean nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders as he stood up. "Well I need to get going. Will you be all right for tonight? Is there anything that you need?" asked Dean as he headed for the door.

"No, I'm fine," said Seth looking a bit concerned, "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't offend you."

Dean turned back to Seth and gave him a reassuring smile, "You didn't. I just really need to go. But I will see you in the morning. I get the lucky job of escorting your ass around," finished Dean a light tone in his voice to let Seth know that he didn't really mind escorting him around at all.

Seth returned the smile. "Okay, thanks again Mox. See ya later."

So that's what I have for now :) Please review, thanks a bunch!