Chapter 11

The WWE flew out to Sarasota/Florida for the Raw taping and a house show, and to cut a promo for Armageddon the month after.

Corey and Joelle went for long walks on the beach, enjoying each others company.

" I love the beach." Joelle sighed as she walked barefeeted over the sand. " And the ocean, and the sun..it's so peaceful, don't you think?"

Corey watched his girlfriend and smiled. How beautiful she looked, he thought. The colors of the sunset played on her skin, making it look like glowing, and her long hair was fluttering around her face in the soft breeze. The beach was almost deserted and Corey was thankful for some privacy. He loved his fans and the spotlight, but he was a human being after all. He glanced at his watch and walked up behind Joelle to wrap his arms around her.

" I hate to tell you that but we have to go." He said softly.

Joelle leaned her head against his shoulder and groaned.

" But we can come back later if you want to." Corey promised turning Joelle to face him.

She smiled and nodded and placed a sweet kiss on his lips. Then she jumped and took off running to their rental car with Corey not far behind her.

They met up with Morgan and Ivy for they would face them in a mixed tag team match tonight, and Corey was very excited to have his girlfriend by his side though Shane had instructed them not to show it off, for whatever reason.

Morgan chuckled and shoved Corey playfully as they waited at the gorilla position.

" You really don't know? Dude, the ratings, the merchandise, the female fans will pay more attention to you believing you're single, which means they'll spend more cash on your stuff, which means Shane's getting richer and richer with every 'The Kid' t shirt."

Corey shook his head." But isn't love and happiness more worth than money?"

" Uuuuuh, when you're a McMahon – no." Morgan said. Then his music hit and he made his way to the ring, accompanied by Ivy.

When 'Straight to hell' blasted through the speakers Corey high-fived Joelle and together they stepped through the curtain.

When the bell rang the men circled each other before locking up, Morgan gaining the advantage again and throwing CJ in the corner, but he ducked to avoid the running clothesline, and when Morgan turned he was met with a hard slap to the face, causing the audience to cheer a loud 'oooooooooooooooh'. CJ stood confidently in the middle of the ring waiting for Morgan's next move, but his opponent shook his head grinning and pointed at Ivy. CJ was confused as Morgan backed into his corner and tagged Ivy in. She jumped over the ropes and CJ went to tag in Joelle but Ivy gestured for him to remain the legal man and mouthed for the camera 'I want you'. Corey wasn't sure of what to do, it was against his nature to wrestle a woman, but his thoughts were cut off by a hard punch to the face. Ivy stood there smirking at him and Corey forgot his manners and locked up with the Womans champion. This time he gained the advantage and took Ivy in a front headlock, but she freed herself by whipping CJ in the ropes and nailed him with a back body drop. Corey lay on his back dumbfounded giving Ivy the chance for a cover. Did Ivy just back body drop him??? Ivy??? Wow…, Corey thought amazed at Ivy's ability. He turned his focus back on his opponent and kicked out at 2. He saw her jump up and attempting an elbow drop but he rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet to tag Joelle in.

The match went back and forth, in the end the team of Ivy and Morgan won with Ivy pinning Joelle. The four met up backstage and Joelle poked Corey in the ribs.

" See, I told you she could take you. You almost lost to a woman." She teased.

Corey shook his head and grinned. Jay came walking down the hallway and joined the group.

" You sure you're not related to Joanie?" she asked Ivy laughing who grinned and shook her head. Their little chat was interrupted by Shane McMahon who rushed past them with a bunch of securities behind him.

" What the hell is that all about?" Morgan asked as he and his companions stared after them.

Chris came running from the direction Shane had just gone and yelled

" JAY, HUNTER AND BRANDON ARE TEARING EACH OTHER APART, C'MON HURRY!"

The group exchanged shocked looks before Jay took off racing down the hallway with Corey, Morgan, Ivy, Joelle and Chris close behind.

Arriving at the scene Jay pushed her way through the grape of people who were gathered around and cheered loudly.

" I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Cameron told them.

" What happened?" Jay asked furiously to no one in particular.

A loud bang was heard and a voice that was recognized as Hunter's screamed "YOU FREAKING NO-GOOD LITTLE SUCKER!" Suddenly someone yelled " WATCH OUT!" and the crowd took several steps back as a steel chair was thrown in the hallway. Taking a good look at it they saw blood dripping from the steel. Jay gasped in horror, either her husband or her son had to be hurt. The answer was given when there was another bang and Brandon came flying out of the locker room and landed in a heap on the floor. The security guards immediately pulled him out of harms way when Hunter came stumbling out of the door, bleeding heavily from his forehead. The rest of the guards blocked his path when he shot a death glare at his son who slowly came back to his feet, ready to attack again.

" YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW OR I'LL BEAT BOTH OF YOUR SORRY ASSES UP AND DOWN SARASOTA!" Jay yelled before rushing to her husband's side who had slid down the wall and sat on the floor panting and holding his head.

Brandon freed himself from the security guard's grip and tackled Hunter to the ground who had just gotten to his feet with Jay's help. He drew back his fist to land a punch in his father's face but someone caught his hand in mid air. Brandon turned enraged to meet the hazel eyes of Corey who held his wrist tightly.

Brandon snatched his hand away and jumped up to get in Corey's face but Corey was pushed out of the way and Brandon found himself eye to eye with Shane McMahon.

" I thought you learned your lesson, but obviously I was wrong. I wont have anybody attack anyone, no matter who it is." Shane said in a deadly voice.

" What about him? Why am I always the bad guy? Nobody asks for my reasons, you all just back down from him." Brandon shouted pointing at his father.

" I GIVE SHIT ABOUT YOUR REASONS, YOU ATTACKED YOUR OWN FATHER AND HIT HIM WITH A FREAKIN' STEEL CHAIR!" Shane yelled in his face.

" ONLY BECAUSE HE ALWAYS TAKES HIS SIDE!" Brandon screamed pointing at Corey. " He is MY father, he's supposed to have MY back." He added whispering to everyone's surprise.

" I do, but you can't make me choose between my…." Hunter started but trailed off realizing what he was about to say, my two sons.

" I CAN make you choose between us, and I WILL!" Brandon shouted. " Sooner or later you WILL have to choose!"

" The day hell freezes over." Hunter said coldly, and Corey got more and more confused with every word that was spoken. They were arguing over him? Why?

Brandon was silent for a minute, then turned back to Shane.

" Shane, I wanna thank you for everything that you've done for me, and I understand completely if you're going to fire me, but before you do give me one last match."

" I will release you from your contract, no doubt about that. You had to see it coming." Shane said and Brandon nodded. " One more match." Brandon said almost pleadingly.

Shane sighed, he hated having to fire Brandon, but he had no choice. First he had attacked Corey, now his own father, and Shane knew there was no room for Brandon's bad temper in the WWE.

" Fine. One more." Shane finally agreed, but regretted it right away when he saw Brandon's evil smirk.

The former champion turned to face his parents and made everyone gasp in horror when he said

" Dad, I challenge you for a No Disqualification Match at Armageddon."

Hunter stared at his son dumbfounded, then started to laugh bitterly.

" I mean it, Dad, no joke, no playing around, you and me, No DQ at Armageddon, or are you scared?" Brandon said calmly, catching Hunter's attention with his last statement. The laughter died down and Hunter studied Brandon closely.

Jay's panic filled eyes shot from Hunter to Brandon. " Don't." she pleaded. " The doctors said you…"

" I know what they said, and the junior knows it just as well. What, are you trying to kill me?" Hunter said.

" I wouldn't mind." Brandon said, his voice hard and cold as ice, and the locker room gasped at his words.

Hunter stood before Brandon with an emotionless face and looked down into his son's eyes, and he saw that he meant every word he had said.

" C'mon..bring it on, old man." Brandon challenged, fully aware of how he could get his father right to where he wanted him.

Hunter shot a last look at Jay who pleaded with her eyes to stop this insanity, then turned back to his son and bent down, staring directly into his eyes.

" You know me." He said and Brandon nodded.

" You know how I do." Brandon nodded.

" You know I have no mercy on my opponents." Brandon nodded.

" You know I give a rats ass about my opponents." Brandon nodded.

" You know I can destroy you." Brandon nodded.

" I wont go easy on you." Brandon nodded.

" I will beat the shit out of you." Brandon smirked. "We'll see about that."

Hunter paused for a moment then took a deep breath and straightened himself.

" You got your match." He said calmly and turned to walk down the hallway with Jay on his heel gesticulating wildly.

" I'm the boss around here, I make the matches." Shane shouted but no one paid attention to him. He grunted is disapproval and stomped off.

Brandon shot an evil glare at Corey before walking away confidently.

Soon the wrestlers went their own ways, leaving the little group of friends by themselves.

" Can you believe that? I'll actually see Triple H wrestle." Ivy beamed, totally unaware of the circumstances.

" They fight over me, but why?" Corey said thoughtfully.

" I have no idea." Joelle said, lost in her own thoughts.

The guys dismissed the idea of showering at the arena for the locker room was completely destroyed.

Corey and Joelle drove to the hotel together, but she motioned for him to take the turnoff to the beach.

Arriving there they sat on a bench where Corey just stared off into space.

" Hey.." Joelle tried to start a conversation.

Corey shook his head, gesturing he didn't want to talk about it now, and put his arm around her shoulder.

They sat like this for a long time until something caught Corey's attention. Someone sat near the waters edge staring at the ocean. Is that who I think it is? , he thought and motioned for Joelle to take a look herself.

She blinked, then said " Is that…" Corey nodded. " I'm pretty sure." Joelle searched his eyes and got up.

" Go. I'll go for a walk." And she wandered away.

Corey slowly approached the figure sitting in the sand and his assumption was proven right.

" Hunt?"

Hunter looked up at Corey then focused his gaze back on the ocean. Corey sat down beside him and followed Hunter's gaze.

" This is so wrong." Hunter said after a few minutes of silence, and Corey nodded.

" And he really meant it, C, that's what scares me the most." Corey blinked in surprise. Hunter was scared?

" That's not gonna be a match, that's a battle. " Hunter said quietly. " He expects to get hurt, C, how can I hurt my own child?"

" He asked for it." Corey responded and Hunter laughed bitterly.

" Just because he demanded it doesn't mean I'll do it."

" But you said you will…"

" I know what I said." Hunter cut him off. " He was just pissing me off with his constant attitude. How can anyone expect me to face my own son in a ring? And with that stipulations? Not to mention my condition…"

Corey knew what he meant without it being spoken out. He knew Hunter would go insane being tied to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and that was exactly what the doctors had predicted before his retirement. That was exactly what would happen if he didn't quit, which he did of course, and now he sat between the chairs.

" I don't know what do to, Kid." Hunter admitted quietly, and Corey felt bad for his friend. Hunter had always been there for him, and now that he was in need for help on his own Corey couldn't think of anything that might solve the problem.

" If you accept you go against your principles, and if you back out you'll never hear the end of it, you'd destroy the legacy you've build over the years." Corey analyzed.

" Smart boy." Hunter chuckled sarcastically.

" Hunter, why are you doing this in the first place? What did Brandon mean, you always take my side? What happened?"

Hunter gave him a long look then focused his gaze on his hands.

" You wouldn't understand." He simply said.

" Try me, I'm a smart boy, you said it yourself." Corey smiled trying to lighten up the mood.

" No, I don't wanna loose you like Jordan…" Hunter trailed of and looked away.

Corey stared at him, completely taken by surprise. Not at Hunter's words, but at the fact that he actually saw tears forming in his mentor's eyes.

Corey calmed himself and tried to put the pieces together. There were Brandon and Jordan who disliked him, his mother's past with Hunter's family, her reckless departure due to her pregnancy, Hunter's unfaithfulness to his wife, Jordan barely spoke to her Dad, Jordan's beef with his mother, Brandon constantly accused him of having destroyed his family, now he had accused his father of always taking Corey's side, and Hunter telling him now he would loose him if he told him what had happened. This just didn't make sense, Corey thought, but there had to be a connection between all of this, and one look at Hunter now told him that the man was carrying a big guilt, a heavy burden on his shoulders that Corey didn't know about, and it saddened him even more that he was unable to help.

" Okay, let me get this straight. All these things happened for one reason, and you tell me that I'll dissociate from you if I knew, just like your daughter did?"

Hunter stared back at the ocean, and after a long pause he said

" See, I told you you're a smart boy."

" I would never do that, I love you, you're like a father to me…" and Hunter almost passed out at Corey's words.

" What's wrong?" Corey asked woried.

" Nothing…" Hunter pressed and slowly got to his feet. " Corey… I love you..I always have…I want you to remember that, no matter what happens, ok?"

Corey nodded confused and watched his mentor leave.

" Hey." Joelle said as she knelt down where Hunter had sat only seconds ago. " Everything alright?"

Corey turned to face her and shook his head. " This is so weird." And he told his girlfriend about the conversation and what he had figured out.

" Okay, let's take a look at the facts.Hunter didn't tell you what's going on because he's scared you'd turn on him like Jordan. You always said you don't think Brandon and his sister hate you for what your mother has done, so there has to be something else. That something was the real reason for the fight in the locker room, and that's the one thing Hunter keeps from you." Joelle pointed out.

" Exactly." Corey nodded.

" Must be some hard stuff when it causes a hardcore fight between father and son, and even a match."

" I just don't get it. I mean, look, my Mom and Jordan almost got into a fight, Jordan said she'd never forgive her, but seeing that she's married with kids she should be over her boyfriend's betrayal by now, and Brandon never accused me of having destroyed his sister's life in particular , but his own. Not only his, but his whole family's."

" And where do you think is the connection between Jordans boyfriend's betrayal and Hunter's unfaithfulness? That doesn't make sense, but I agree with you, there HAS to be a connection." Joelle said.

" Maybe all these things came together all at once and Brandon looks for someone to load the guilt on. I mean, Jay forgave Hunter, Jordan's boyfriend, my father, is dead, so who's left?"

" You." Joelle said thoughtfully, then added " and Jordan turned on her father because he cheated on Jay with one of Jordan's friends. How does that fit in?"

" I have no idea, baby, this is so confusing.."

" Do we know who that friend is?" Joelle asked, an idea popping in her head.

" Uh..no, you think when we…."

" …find that girl she might help us put the pieces together, exactly." Joelle nodded, but furrowed her brows. " But how are we gonna get the information? And who would tell us?"

" Forget Brandon or Jordan, they'd rather burn alive than talking to me, let alone help me." Corey grunted.

" To be honest, I don't think we can count on Jay either. Should be hard for her to talk about it, and I wouldn't want to open some old wounds." Joelle said.

" That leaves Hunter. But why should he tell us? He'd want to know why WE wanna know." Corey exclaimed, but he could see Joelle's mind work.

" Aha! Corey, what about your mother? She was Jordan's best friend, maybe she knows."

" Yeah….yeah you're right. But again, how am I going to ask her? What should I tell her?"

" Hey, you're a smart boy, you'll think of something." Joelle smiled and Corey nodded.

But if he was so smart, why couldn't he figure it out on his own?

The Raw superstars flew out to San Antonio and Corey decided to call his mother after the show. He didn't have a match that night, he only cut a short promo, talking about his match with Morgan at Armageddon.

Sitting in the hotel room he shared with Joelle Corey stared at the phone for what seemed like hours before taking a deep breath and dialing the number he knew by heart. Trina picked up after the third ring.

" Johnson."

" Hey Mom, how's it going?"

" Corey! What a nice surprise. I'm good, what's up with you?"

They chatted for half an hour before Corey brought himself to change the topic.

" Mom, uhm…listen…do you know who that friend of Jordan was that Hunter slept with?" He asked finally, having decided it would be the best to come straight to the point instead of inventing some curious story.

The other end of the line went silent, and Corey wondered.

" No." came the short reply of Trina, and Corey stared at the receiver in his hand surprised when he heard a soft klick. His mother had hung up on him.

This was getting weirder and weirder, Corey thought and left the room in search for Joelle. He found her in the lobby and dragged her away from Selma and Ruby.

" Hey, let go, what's wrong?" she complained.

" You can chat later, this is important." Corey said in a tone that allowed no objection.

He lead Joelle through the lobby to a private area and told her about the phone call with his mother.

" She hung up on you? Are you shitting me?" Joelle asked with big eyes.

Corey shook his head. " Something's terribly wrong here."

Joelle nodded in agreement when he added " You know what? It wouldn't surprise me if she knows more than she's willing to tell."

" You mean she's covering someone?"

" Probably, but why? And who?" Corey asked, more himself than Joelle.

Little did he know that his mother was on the phone with Hunter at that very moment to tell him that their son obviously started some investigation on his own.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Word had spread about Brandon's release after Armageddon, and the locker room split into two parties. One side stood supportive behind Brandon although they didn't even know about the circumstances which angered Corey to no end, the other side, consisting of Corey, Joelle, Selma, Felicitiy, Ruby, Chris, Morgan, Cameron, Ivy and a few others held Hunter's back, and behind closed doors also Corey's.

After a long talk with Shane and Jay Hunter had finally agreed to the match despite Jay's pleads and begs with both her husband and son to end the madness before it had even started, but Hunter refused to back down from a challenge - he never had and he never would.

Joelle had found Jay later sitting in a dark corner crying silently. She was worried sick, repeating over and over again she didn't want to loose her husband over some stupid differences that could be talked out. She also had tried to talk some sense into her son, but Brandon was as stubborn as Hunter and wouldn't hear it, and so Shane had no other choice than to add the NO DQ match to the card. He had sent his spys to read the fan's reaction to Hunter's return for one night only as soon as the information had shown up on the internet, and the majority was excited as expected and had voted the father-son-fight for the match they were looking forward to the most. It was explained to them that Brandon had chosen his father as his opponent for his farewell-match because he had beaten everyone there was to beat, and that he now wanted to measure with one of the biggest stars the business had ever had.

Armageddon was around the corner and due to the whole commotion that was made around the main event Corey almost forgot to prepare himself mentally and physically for his own match with Morgan where he would defend his title again.

Hunter would start his mind games with Brandon, appearing on top of the ramp every now and then, holding his sledgehammer and smirking at his son, much to the delight of the fans, or during Brandon's matches Hunter's trademark, the skull, would appear on the Tron, telling him in bold green latters that ' It's Time To Play' again, and it seemed to slowly get to Brandon, cause Corey swore he saw the first hints of nervousness in the former champions face.

Then the fateful night came, and Armageddon started with a thunderous firework.

Corey succesfully defended his title, and after his match he searched the hallways for Hunter.

He found him in Dr. Fieldings office getting his knees bandaged thickly.

" You really wanna do this?" he asked his mentor.

" Too late to back out, right?" Hunter responded and Corey nodded.

Hunter had chosen to wear his long black Nike sports pants to avoid getting his bandages ripped off during the match. He straightened his elbow pads and adjusted the last pieces of wrist tape before getting the green light from the doc that he was ready.

" I hope you know what's on the line." Dr. Fielding said.

" My pride." Hunter answered and left the office with Corey on his heel.

" I'm sure that was not what he wanted to hear." Corey exclaimed.

" No. Really?" Hunter replied sarcastically. " I'm not in the mood to listen to another lecture of how I shouldn't put my health to risk. I'm sick of it."

" But it's the truth." Corey pointed out.

" There are times where you don't wanna see the truth." Hunter said, knowing the ambiguity of his words.

The two men slowly made their way to the gorilla position, making people stop and stare as they walked by.

Arriving there Hunter took his shirt off and handed it to Corey. " I want that back later." He said, grabbing the bottle of water a stagehand handed him. Brandon approached them slowly, and Corey gasped upon seeing Jordan walking behind him.

She smirked at the two men and said " I thought my brother might need some mental support in his corner."

" You have got to be kidding me." Hunter mumbled.

They turned to the monitor where Ruby announced the main event of the night, the No DQ match, and explained the rules, which were simple : there were none.

Brandon's music hit and after shooting his father one last smirk he stepped through the curtain with Jordan by his side.

" Introducing first, from Greenwich/Connecticut, weighting in at 245 lbs, accompanied to the ring by his sister Jordan Waltman, Justice Helmsley!" Ruby announced.

Hearing footsteps approaching the men turned to see Jay coming towards them. She wrapped her arms around Hunter's waist and looked at him with scared eyes.

" Baby…be careful…he's gone mad…" she trailed off as the tears threatened to fall.

Hunter nodded and kissed his wife softly. When Motorhead's 'The Game' blasted through the speakers he took a long sip of his water and stepped through the curtain, and the audience went wild.

" And his opponent, from Greenwich/Connecticut, weighting in at 270 lbs, WWE Hall of Famer, the Game, the Cerebral Assassin, the twelve time World Champion, Triple H!" Ruby practically screamed in her mic.

Hunter slowly walked down the ramp, his eyes fixed on Brandon, and climbed the apron. He waited for the right spot in the song to perform his water stunt, and when he did the fans cheered loudly.

Backstage the whole roster was gathered around the monitors, they wouldn't want to miss this for all the money in the world, even Shane was there watching intently what was going on in his ring. The wrestlers knew this wasn't going to be a clean match, this was personal, tonight was gonna get ugly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey there everyone. I wasn't sure where this should go, but I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter, and I hope so are you. I looked for the perfect timing to let the truth come out, but writing this I just couldn't figure out when. I'm sorry –LoL-.

The next chapter will contain the match, which will indeed get ugly, and I will force one of my characters to reveal the truth, I promise. I'm not quite sure who it will be yet, but I can tell you so far it will neither be Hunter nor Trina.

Well, hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.