Title: Destroyed (5/?)
Rating: M
Content: slash, violence, unpleasant things that will be revealed throughout
Characters: Raw Roster, main characters Randy Orton, Evan Bourne, John Cena
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue
Distribution: ffn, lj, anywhere else ask first
Summary: Evan has a terrible secret, Randy and John are determined to help him, but Evan knows what's at stake should anyone find out. Set around current Raw storylines (loosely).
Randy and John met up again on Monday for Raw, Cena somewhat perturbed that he hadn't been contacted by Nexus. He knew he was to go to their locker room before the show, and that was all.
"Listen, call me or text as soon as they try anything," Randy advised, "we don't know what Barrett's gonna do so we need to think on our feet."
"Will do," John nodded slowly, "you spoken to Ev?"
"Yeah, a couple of times, he's in a bad way. Listen, will you talk to him later? He might worry about you less if he's spoken to you and knows you're ok." Randy's heart ached at the thought of Evan being worried, and wondered if he might open up to John a bit more because they seemed to be in a similar situation.
"I'll give him a call."
"You text me the moment those guys start fucking around, ok?" Randy put his hand on John's shoulder, "promise me. Don't try doing this on your own, that's what Evan did and look where he is now."
"I promise." John was serious for a moment then grinned, "right, I'm gonna go see what's in store for me tonight then I'll call Ev. Don't you worry about me, you just prepare for your title match."
"Thanks man."
As he walked off, John mused on his friend. Randy was not one to show his emotions easily, but where Evan was concerned Randy was all over the place. John didn't want Randy to be worrying about him as well, Randy needed to concentrate on keeping the championship away from Nexus, and keeping out of Barrett's way. John figured he could handle whatever Nexus threw at him, and he'd find a way out of the situation soon enough.
Looking at the symbol on the locker room door John shook his head and stopped for a moment, listening to a heated conversation going on inside between Otunga and Barrett. It sounded like Otunga didn't want Cena to be a part of Nexus and he was challenging the leader on that. John grinned to himself, figuring he could use disharmony in the group to his advantage. With that thought in his mind, he pushed open the door.
Otunga immediately turned on Cena, "feel free to fucking knock why don't you?"
John shrugged, "I thought I was a member of Nexus now, so why would I need to knock?"
"Quite right Cena," Barrett held up his hand to silence any further protest from Otunga. "Welcome to the Nexus."
"So what do you guys want me for today?"
Barrett smirked, "today we are taking things easy. I'll be formally introducing you as a member of Nexus, and you'll be required to support the Nexus in our tag team match against the Hart Dynasty. That will be all."
"Ok." John made to leave but Otunga stood in front of the door.
Wade shook his head again, "no David, it's fine if John has somewhere to be. He'll be back here before the show starts, won't you John?"
Cena smirked in Otunga's face, "of course." He pushed him out of the way with a little more force than necessary and left the room, musing on the short conversation. It hadn't at all been what he'd expected but he could cope with this, and he'd found out enough to know that there was trouble in paradise and that could be used to his advantage.
John remembered Randy's request and grabbed his phone from his pocket, hitting Evan's number on speed dial.
Evan answered on the second ring, "John, you ok?"
"Hey kid, how're you doing?"
"I'm getting there John," although he sounded far from it, "what have Nexus done?"
"Nothing, as yet," Cena replied, "all I've got to do tonight is to be introduced as a Nexus member and then help out with the tag match."
Evan sighed, he couldn't work out if that was a good thing or not, "ok, just don't trust them John, never trust them."
"Don't worry about me kid."
"I can't help it, I know what they're capable of," the younger man bit his lip, wanting desperately to warn John of the lengths Barrett would go to, but still too scared, "just take care of yourself."
"I promise. How're you doing anyway?"
"My physical therapy is going well," Evan deliberately misunderstood the question.
"Good," Cena debated what to say next, knowing that Evan was being obtuse, but figured straightforward was always his thing, "look Evan, you need to talk to Randy about what's going on. I know how you two feel about each other, and kid there can't be anything so bad that you couldn't tell him."
"You don't understand," Evan sighed, "he'd hate me."
"I've seen the way he looks at you Ev, he could never hate you."
The sincerity in John's words gave Evan a little bit of hope, but ugly scenes in his mind destroyed that glimmer of a chance, "I just can't."
"He needs you Ev."
Evan closed his eyes, wishing that could be true, "he's better off without me."
It may have sounded easy, just being introduced as a member of Nexus, but John found it harder to cope with than he had expected. Week by week they tried to strip away his identity, forcing him to wear a Nexus armband, forcing him to attack his own friends and colleagues. John had thought that he'd be able to cause divisions in the group, especially between Barrett and Otunga, but Otunga was so weak he always acquiesced to Barrett's leadership. There didn't seem to be a weak link within the Nexus, except for one. John had noticed that Gabriel was closer to Barrett than any of the others, they always roomed together, Justin did everything that Wade told him to, yet the young man still seemed scared of the leader. There was something about the relationship that made John seem very uncomfortable, but it was something that he could potentially work with.
He didn't let anyone see how he was feeling though. Especially not Randy. Despite his promise, he was certain that he didn't want his friend worrying about him, particularly as Randy was getting more and more frantic as Evan slipped further and further into depression, refusing even to speak to Randy. John texted the younger man each Monday night, reassuring him that he was ok, but he didn't know if it made a difference. Evan had cut himself off from them, and Randy was not coping with that at all.
John saw this and it worried him, but what John didn't realise was how well Randy knew him. Randy could see beyond the forced smile and the lack of concern about his direction. He could see the slump in John's shoulders when he thought that no one was looking. He could see the pain behind his eyes as slowly but surely everything he stood for was stripped away. He just had no idea what to do about it. He wanted to help John, he wanted to help Evan, as both of them were, directly or indirectly, in their situation because of him, but he had no idea where to start. The only way would be to get rid of the Nexus, but he didn't know how he could make that happen. If John couldn't destroy them from within, what chance did Randy have?