A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/alerted this story so far. It means the world to me! Let me know what you would like to see happen in this story, and I'll take a note of all suggestions! Hope you like this chapter; it's a pretty long one!
Chapter Four
Monday Night Raw
Chicago, Illinois
The following night witnessed the beginning of a long feud. Batista, the winner of the Royal Rumble, had made his way down to the ring in order to gloat about his win the previous night. The crowd booed him as he lifted the microphone to his mouth. He smirked, and waited for the boos to subside but when they didn't, he found himself laughing which caused the boos to only increased until it became deafening almost to the point where he couldn't hear himself think.
"Well, well, well…" Batista began, attempting to speak over the heckling. "What a warm welcome I'm receiving here tonight."
Batista took a moment to listen to the continuous boos that echoed throughout the arena.
"I'm joking, by the way…" Batista said bitterly. "The thing is, I walked into that ring just like every other member of the roster. And the only difference between me and them is that… I came out victorious! I defeated twenty-nine other Superstars to get the golden ticket to Wrestlemania. And no matter how much you heckle me, no matter how much you boo… I'm still going to be in this ring at Wrestlemania, defeating both Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan in the Triple Threat match to become the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Nothing is going to stop me, not you guys, and not anyone else."
A smirk played on his lips, that was until he heard their music.
Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta… The Shield…
Flora watched from the locker room as The Shield made their way down the steps, through the crowd who tapped them on their shoulders and backs, and towards the ring. They hopped over the padded barricade and came to stand outside the ring, inches in front of the announce table, staring intensely at Batista. The camera panned across the three men who all bore the same expression: one of pure hatred.
The Shield entered the ring, and Batista took a step back. Flora hadn't seen The Shield in action before, and held her breath. They looked terrifying. The intense stares Batista was receiving from them all would've made her extremely uncomfortable, unnerving her to the point that she would've immediately backed down. She was tough, but they were on a whole new level. She'd heard people talking about them, and how they were taking over the company like a tornado. They had made enemies out of every single person within the company, and they were quickly developing the respect of the audiences watching every night in the arenas, and those watching at home. They were fearless, remorseless. It was exciting.
Batista was now yelling at them for disrupting his sequence. He moved to stand in front of them all separately and yelled obscenities that the microphones on the camera's couldn't quite pick up. His yelling didn't stir any emotion from either men and they stood there, expressions unmoving, as they listened to Batista's tirade.
Once Batista had finished, he dropped the microphone and moved away, making his way out of the ring. The three members of The Shield all glanced at each other quickly before nodding and closing in on him, pulling him back from the ropes and thwarting him with kicks and punches. Dean and Seth picked him up swiftly despite the size of him and they delivered the triple power bomb.
Their music hit, and they all glanced into the camera, a sickly smirk etching across their faces. They all simultaneously moved their fists to each other's, united. Flora swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes focused on Dean.
A tap at the door disturbed her from her thoughts of what he said the previous night, and alerted her that she was next out. Taking a deep breath, she exited the locker room and made her way towards the backstage area near the gorilla.
As she walked through the corridors towards her destination, her eyes fell on the three figures coming through the gorilla. They were talking amongst themselves, unaware of her being in their presence. Dean glanced up at that moment, catching Flora's gaze. They came towards her, and Roman and Seth moved off to the left, unaware and oblivious to the fact that Dean had come to a halt. Flora walked towards Dean, her legs suddenly feeling as they were made of jelly.
"We need to stop meeting like this," Dean cooed.
Flora smirked. "It's going to be hard seeing as we work together."
Dean narrowed his eyes at Flora and moved in on her, causing her to step back. He was aware that she had taken a deep breath at his movement.
"I, uh, have to go..." Flora said, hoping that her voice wouldn't fail her.
Dean nodded slowly, and stepped back. "You always seem to leave."
Flora bit her lip and observed as Dean's eyes trailed down her face, his intense stare moving towards her lip. He mirrored her action and smirked.
At that moment, Batista came through the gorilla angrily. He was annoyed and irritated and when his eyes scanned across and saw the back of Dean, he made his way towards him. Flora had noticed Batista furiously stomping towards them, and her eyes widened. Dean's eyes narrowed at the sudden change in Flora, and turned around, sensing someone behind him. He lifted his arm, making sure that Flora was behind him, and safe from their intruder.
"You're just a little punk," Batista said. "What are you without your merry men, huh?"
Dean smirked comically, and pretended to wipe his eyes from the spit of Batista. "A better wrestler than you, that's for sure. Haven't you got another movie that you have to leave for?"
It didn't take long for word to spread as Seth and Roman made their way to their team member's side. They both took their positions next to Dean, and the four men fell into a stare down.
"I'll have you all for this," Batista seethed before walking away.
Dean turned to face Flora who was staring at the retreating back of Batista. Her eyes remained wide at Batista's outburst, and as she returned her attention back onto Dean, she was hoping that she could hide the emotion on her face quick enough so that he wouldn't notice. She took a deep breath, and swallowed the lump in her throat, and smiled.
"I have to go now," she said, noticing one of the crew beckoning her towards them.
Dean nodded, glancing towards the ground. She moved away from him as quickly as she could, the urge to turn around becoming all too much for her. She stood near the gorilla, waiting for her music to begin.
As the beginning of Christina Aguilera's hit 'Get Mine, Get Yours' began to echo throughout the arena, she came out from the gorilla and stood at the top of the ramp. Her eyes skimmed across the crowd, then focused upon the two women stood in the ring. AJ Lee had turned to watch, and by the way she was moving around the ring, she wasn't happy about seeing Flora again. Flora smirked, walking down the ramp, and around the ring, her eyes staring at AJ Lee as she continued her outburst. Flora came to stand in front of the announce table, where she stood for a moment observing Nikki who simply stared at her, and then AJ Lee who was incredibly displeased at the fact that Flora would be witness to their match.
As Flora came to sit at the announce table, the bell rang out indicating the match had officially began. She put the head set on, and turned to the commentators as they all began talking to her at the same time.
"Now, I think it's safe to say, you have been the talk on everybody's lips since last night at Royal Rumble," Jerry 'The King' Lawler began. "We have been inundated with tweets asking who you are, why you were there last night, why you attacked AJ Lee and not Nikki, and finally if we were ever going to see you again."
"And with Twitter, there have been some negative tweets about you but generally, there have been so many positive tweets regarding what you did last night. What made you come out here and attack AJ Lee, causing her to lose her championship last night?" Michael Cole continued.
"I've not been made aware of any tweets or anything like that so I cannot comment on that, at this moment," Flora explained. "But the reason as to why I decided to come out here last night and attack AJ Lee was because I felt like it. I've been watching her for months, bouncing around the ring, taunting every single Diva that challenges her, and I thought, she deserves to be given something to be angry about."
"Are you jealous of AJ Lee?" JBL asked.
"Absolutely not," Flora dismissed. "I just don't like it when people feel the need to belittle others for their own personal gain."
Their conversation came to a temporary end as they began to commentate about AJ Lee and Nikki's match. Flora surveyed AJ Lee as she moved around the ring, delivering moves to Nikki, and weakening the new champion. As JBL and Michael Cole continued to commentate on the match, Jerry Lawler turned to Flora, capturing her attention.
"Why AJ? he asked, intrigued.
Flora smiled. "It's not just AJ Lee."
"What is your aim?" he asked.
"I guess I'm righting some wrongs."
The comment seemed to capture Michael Cole's attention. "What do you mean by that?"
Before Flora could explain her comment, AJ Lee slipped out of the ring and came to stand in front of the announce table, her eyes burning into Flora's. Flora stood, taking off the headset and placing it on the table. It all happened so fast, as Flora remembered staring at AJ Lee, and then the next she was being thrown into the barricade, her back connecting with the hard material. She winced, and held her back as AJ pulled her up by her hair, and threw her into the steel steps. She began a tirade of kicks to Flora's abdomen, not caring if she was hurting the woman. She pulled her up once more, but this time Flora pushed her back, her eyes staring as she brought her hand up to her mouth, blood meeting her gaze as it stained her fingertips.
"STOP!" A voice boomed over the microphone causing both women to glance towards the top of the ramp, anger coursing through their body and chests heaving, to where Stephanie McMahon stood. "That was easier than I thought. As AJ Lee has attacked Flora, I am disqualifying her from this match. That means the former Diva's champion has lost her chance of getting it back tonight."
And with that, the CEO of the company left. AJ Lee turned angrily towards Flora who was leaning against the barricade. She charged towards her, and the two women continued their attack on each other, with Flora mostly trying to keep the woman away from her. A collection of referees ran down the ramp towards them, pulling AJ Lee away from her and up the ramp.
Flora took the opportunity to walk to the announce table, where she put the headset back on. "Thanks for having me." She said, taking it off again and making her way backstage.
As soon as Flora made her way backstage and through the gorilla, she found that AJ was nowhere in sight. She was grateful for that. Her eyes met those of Stephanie's as the CEO waited for her.
Stephanie stared at her face for a moment, taking in the wounds that AJ Lee had inflicted upon Flora. Her lip had been bust open and the underneath of her eye had been cut from when she was thrown into the steel steps and the corner of it had cut her skin.
"Are you okay?" Stephanie asked.
"I'm peachy," Flora responded, smiling slightly.
"Go to the doctor's office," Stephanie ordered. "I want them to take a look at that, okay?"
Flora nodded and was left alone as Stephanie went to her office. Flora took a moment to look at her surroundings, and at the crew members milling around. She began to make her way towards the locker room, hoping that AJ Lee wasn't there. But before she could start her journey, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist and pull her off to the side.
Her breath hitched in her throat as she stared back into the icy cold blue eyes staring down at her. Dean searched her eyes before his gaze fell on the cut under her eye and the cut on her lip. He lifted her chin up with his hand as he tried to get a better look at her wounds, and his thumb grazed against her chin.
He licked his bottom lip and scraped his teeth along it, before whispering. "Make sure you put ice on that," he whispered. "And I like your theme song." And with that, he left her alone in the corner of the backstage area. Her eyes followed him as he walked away from her, leaving her alone with the ghost of his touch still burning her skin.