Title: The ARK Angels of DX in Monster Ink
Author: Kaykyaka
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the WWE and TNA characters used within this fictional story. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made by this work of fiction.
Ratings: K+
Characters: Shawn, Cameron and Cheyenne Michaels, Amy 'Lita' Dumas Michaels, Hunter Hurst Helmsley, LC Helmsley, Aurora Rose Helmsley, Chyna, Trish and Randy Orton, Melina and Johnny Hennigan, Batista, CM Punk, The Beautiful People, Edge, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Stephanie and Chris Jericho, The McCools
Summary: An evil spirit takes possession of Batista and CM Punk and chaos ensues for the RAW locker room. DX discover that the problem is tattooed on the two Superstars but can Shawn and Hunter help them and protect their family at the same-time?
Chapter Thirteen - The Bond
The Jerichos, Lower Manhattan, New York City, NY at 12pm:
The next day Joanie took the ARK Angels to school while Shawn and Hunter went over to New York to talk to Stephanie about Chris Jericho. They were curious to see how smartened up she was as to what he'd been up to recently but she was so happy to see them when they appeared at her front door they didn't know if they really wanted to upset her.
"So what brings you two to New York? I bet Carla's having a great time catching up with LC am I right?" Stephanie said brightly and Shawn and Hunter nodded both noting how heavily pregnant she was.
"I don't know if I can do this," Shawn whispered to Hunter.
"We have to," Hunter grunted back knowing they couldn't put this off so he asked the first question, "So whose idea was it for Carla to come to Waterside?" he asked.
"It was Jericho's," Stephanie replied, "He's been really trying to reach out and let all of his bitterness go and his first step was to make sure his problems with you guys did not stop Carla from getting to know him better,"
"So he's been spending a lot of time with Carla," Shawn said.
"Yeah they've really bonded, after awhile Jericho realized Carla might like to bond with LC as-well, after all they are sisters," Stephanie said then she leaned forward, "Then one night he really surprised me when he said that Carla wasn't the one who needed to bond with LC, he was,"
"Oh really?" Hunter said trying to keep his emotions under control even though the very idea of Jericho spending anytime with LC made him feel nauseous.
"Yeah, he said she was such a special little girl with so much potential and that he was wasting time not getting to know her now while she was still young. The question is how do you guys feel about it, do you mind Jericho spending time with LC?" Stephanie asked DX but they really didn't know where to begin answering the question.
"How do we feel about LC spending time with Jericho?" Shawn repeated and Stephanie nodded, "You really have no idea what's going on do you Steph?"
"Oh you mean about Batista attacking all those people? Yeah I heard about that," Stephanie said and Shawn and Hunter's faces fell.
"How do you know about that?" Shawn asked her surprised.
"Jericho told me, I think he heard it on the radio or something," Stephanie said.
"He was probably the one who called the radio station and told them all about it," Shawn said and Stephanie frowned.
"Why would Chris do a thing like that?" Stephanie asked and Shawn pulled his hands through his hair and turned to Hunter again.
"I don't want to do this," he said not wanting to upset Stephanie.
"Do what?" Stephanie asked knowing something was up by the expression on HBK's face.
"We have to Shawn," Hunter replied and Stephanie started to get impatient.
"Why did you guys come here? This isn't just a social visit is it?" Stephanie asked and DX shook their heads.
"No Steph its not," Hunter replied, "Jericho has gone off his rocker once again,"
"What?" Stephanie said in disbelief.
"He's the reason Batista's acting like an animal and the reason Punk's putting people to sleep," Hunter said and Stephanie furrowed her brow confused.
"Hunter what the Hell are you talking about?" she asked.
"A couple of weeks ago Batista and Punk went to a club in L.A. called Venom, Jericho owns that club right?" Hunter asked Stephanie and she nodded.
"Yeah he does so what?" Stephanie said defensively.
"There were two women at that club and they came onto Batista and Punk really strong - a little too strong in fact, they put a curse on both of them, a curse that brought their tattoos to life," Hunter explained further, "Because of those two girls Batista has now become the dragon tattooed on his back and Punk's Pepsi tattoo has given him hypnotic powers," Hunter said.
"And you think because Jericho owns Venom he had something to do with that? Boy you guys that is really low," Stephanie said unconvinced.
"No you're right Steph that would be low, to just assume Chris Jericho had something to do with Batista and Punk's transformations would be wrong but we weren't the only ones affected by what happened to Punk and Batista. Punk's girlfriend Velvet Sky knew the two girls at Venom and she went and got some answers from them about what they did to her boyfriend. After a little Velvet persuasion they gave her a name," Shawn said.
"Chris Jericho paid them to curse Punk and Batista," Hunter said and Stephanie shook her head.
"Then I had a personal run in with the two women on the San Diego Freeway with Rey Mysterio. They tried to kill us but they failed to of course and after she repented one of the girls told me Chris Jericho had told her to make sure I didn't make it to Melina's house," Shawn said.
"So you see Steph Jericho is not the nice man he wants everyone to think he is, he's the same snake in the grass he's always been and you need to tell him that we're onto him before we find him and tell him ourselves," Hunter said but Stephanie didn't say anything and moments later she laughed out loud confusing both Hunter and Shawn, "What's so funny?" Hunter asked bemused by Stephanie's response to what they just told her about her husband.
"You guys crack me up," she said still laughing.
"Can you clue us in about what part of what we just told you is so funny because we would love a good laugh ourselves?" Shawn said and Stephanie wiped a tear of laughter from her eye and tried to stop laughing.
"The two girls who cursed Punk and Batista are Brie and Brianna," Stephanie said and Shawn and Hunter raised curious eyebrows.
"How did you know their names?" Shawn asked Stephanie.
"Because they used to work at Venom but Chris fired them for stealing money from the safe. They were very disappointed that they'd lost their jobs working at Venom, Brie and Brianna were major Jerichoholics," Stephanie said, "I should also mention that they're both pretty heavily into witchcraft, they even tried to work some of that voodoo stuff on me but Jericho destroyed the doll before they could stick any pins in it. I can tell from your story that they still aren't over losing their jobs even though Chris said they could still hang out there and party if they wanted to,"
"Wait, so you're saying Brie was lying and that Jericho has absolutely nothing to do with what's going on with Batista and Punk?" Shawn said and Stephanie took a deep breath.
"He was a little upset about me going to Trish and Randy's wedding in Fiji but he's cooled off, this time he's been spending with Carla has done him the world of good. He's finally started to find the peace that's been missing from his life for far too long. Sounds like your world has been turned upside down by those two witches though huh?" Stephanie said to Shawn and Hunter sympathetically and Hunter was about to respond when Shawn clamped his hand down on Hunter's knee firmly to stop him from saying anything.
"We'll get on top of it, it'll take more than a couple of demonic tattoos to take us down right Hunter?" Shawn said to his best friend implicitly and eventually Hunter got the hint.
"Right," he said and Stephanie smiled at them both.
"I'm so glad to hear that, you guys are so blessed no curse could come against you and not be destroyed. If you guys aren't in a hurry I'm having the McCools over for lunch and I'd love you to join us," Stephanie said hopefully and Shawn smiled back at her.
"We'd love to," he said sweetly.
"Great, I just have to get some vegetables from the grocery store," Stephanie said getting up from the couch.
"We'll get the vegetables for you," Shawn said getting up and pulling Hunter to his feet, "you take it easily we'll go stretch our legs,"
"Okay, get a little of everything," Stephanie said and Shawn nodded ushering a questioning Hunter out the front door. When they were outside Hunter raised his concerns to HBK.
"You don't believe that Jericho had absolutely nothing to do with what's happening to Batista and Punk do you?" Hunter said.
"Hunter at this point it doesn't matter what we believe all that matters is that Stephanie believes her husband's innocent and I really don't want to upset her any further. Come on let's go for a walk," Shawn said and they headed downtown to the groceries hoping nobody would recognize them. "I mean let's face it Stephanie and Jericho have bonded again, he must be doing a helluva job to convince her that he's a good guy,"
"Which he's not, I don't believe that Brie and Brianna just happened to be at Venom the night that Batista and Punk were there or that Brie and Brianna just happened to be on the San Diego Freeway when you were on your way to see Dave at Melina's house," Hunter said.
"The fact that Brie and Brianna were into witchcraft doesn't make their role in this very small either, in Stephanie's mind they were the culprits not her husband," Shawn said as they entered the grocers.
"She'd believe Trish if she told her Jericho was the one behind the whole thing," Hunter said.
"Trish won't tell Stephanie anything that will upset her, she's giving birth to twins in three months remember?" Shawn said scouting the vegetable bin.
"How could I forget, the idea of Jericho bringing life into this world has haunted me for months," Hunter replied.
"If we're going to prove Jericho's involved in what happened to Punk and Batista we have to prove it ourselves," Shawn said picking up a bag of carrots.
"Which is pretty hard to do when he's sucking up to Carla and LC, if we accuse him of anything we look like the bad guys," Hunter said picking up some broccoli then throwing it back down in contempt.
"Hey that stuff is good for you," said a sweet voice and Hunter and Shawn looked over to see the McCools looking back at them.
"Charlotte, Dan fancy bumping into you guys," Shawn said shaking both their hands along with Hunter, "We were just picking up some food for lunch at Stephanie's house,"
"You guys are gonna be at Steph's?" Dan asked.
"Yeah we were just passing through, sort of," Hunter said hesitantly.
"Got a lot on your mind huh?" Charlotte said sympathetically, "It doesn't surprise me with all this garbage about how Batista attacked these people in Louisiana,"
"You heard about that huh?" Hunter said.
"Yeah it's just ridiculous, why would Batista ever do a thing like that?" Dan said.
"I can tell you guys one thing, whatever's attacking those people is not Dave Batista," Shawn assured Charlotte and Dan and they nodded in agreement.
"So are you guys gonna miss Carla while she's gone?" Hunter asked changing the subject as they walked up to the checkout counter.
"I'm glad she's spending more time with LC it's awesome," Charlotte said.
"Yeah then she'll be right back home with us which is also awesome," Dan said.
"What about went she's gone for a whole month, how are you guys gonna handle that are you gonna come down and see her?" Hunter asked and Charlotte and Dan frowned.
"A whole month?" Dan said puzzled by Hunter's statement.
"Well it'll actually be longer than that if she's staying at Waterside for the whole semester," Hunter said and the McCools gasped, Charlotte nearly dropped her shopping basket.
"Next," the cashier called and Shawn put his basket of vegetables on the conveyer belt while Hunter back-peddled a little bit.
"You guys did agree for Carla to enroll at Waterside right?" he asked them.
"No!" they replied adamantly at the same-time and Shawn shook his head while collecting the groceries.
"And the plot thickens," he said to himself while Charlotte tried to remember how to count and Dan came to grips with the knowledge Hunter had just shared.
The conversation continued on the way back to Stephanie's house, "We agreed for Carla to spend the weekend with LC, you know a weekend here or there was fine," Dan explained, "but to enroll her at Waterside, that's crazy!"
"Yeah we'd never agree to that," Charlotte added, "Carla's already started the new semester here how could we just transfer her to Waterside like that?"
"Well that's what Chris Jericho told our wives," Hunter said.
"Well we knew absolutely nothing about this," Dan said and Shawn could tell he was a little upset, "Did he mention this to Carla?"
"Yeah and she loves the idea," Shawn said and Charlotte and Dan sighed.
"Great now if we say no we're going to look like the bad guys," Charlotte said in frustration and Hunter and Shawn exchanged glances thinking that sounded very familiar.
"What was Jericho thinking suggesting something like that? I know he's been really getting along with Carla recently but to go behind our backs like that, what could he possibly hope to achieve?" Dan said confounded by Jericho's actions.
"He obviously wants LC to bond with Carla and while I have no problem with that, what would happen when the semester was over and Carla had to come back to New York?" Charlotte asked as they arrived outside Stephanie's house.
"My guess is that Jericho is hoping that LC and Carla would bond so much that eventually LC would want to be with Carla all the time," Shawn said and Charlotte furrowed her brow.
"You mean he'd want LC to come to New York, permanently?" Charlotte asked and Dan thought about it.
"That would make sense, then Jericho's family would be complete," Dan said.
"And mine would be torn apart," Hunter said tersely and Charlotte and Dan could tell the Cerebral Assassin was very upset at this scenario and Charlotte squeezed his arm comfortingly.
"Don't worry Hunter it's not going to happen, not if we have anything to say about it," Charlotte re-assured Hunter and Triple H nodded appreciating Charlotte's support.
"Why don't you guys go inside we're gonna talk out here for a sec," Shawn said handing Dan the vegetables and the McCools headed up the stairs to Stephanie's house, "And guys don't say anything about this to Stephanie I don't want her to get upset," Shawn asked them and they both nodded in agreement.
"We'll talk to Jericho privately when he gets back from Connecticut," Dan said and Shawn and Hunter's eyes went wide.
"Connecticut?" they repeated.
"Yeah, he said he was gonna visit Carla at Waterside," Dan said.
"Tell Stephanie we had to go," Hunter said as he and Shawn climbed into the DX Machine and headed for JFK while Dan and Charlotte exchanged glances hoping everything would soon pick up for DX and this thing with Jericho would soon be resolved.
Chyna went back to the Sandbox to check on Amy while the school day wound down at Waterside. Things had been great since Carla came to visit, the Damsels of Destruction had backed off considerably and the ARK Angels enjoyed the playground freely without having a run-in with the bothersome group thanks to Carla. Now LC didn't have to worry about getting kicked out of Waterside and Cameron didn't have to watch his girlfriend's back. While Cameron explained pH to Carla and LC was about to make another contribution to the experiment when Mr. Applebee's secretary came through the door.
"LC your father is here to see you," she said and LC's face brightened up and she hopped off her stool and went out through the door and down the hall where she expected Hunter to be waiting. Instead she came face-to-face with the man who had suddenly come back into her life for what reason she did not know. He came up to her and stroked the side of her face.
"Hey LC," Chris Jericho said warmly, "How's my special little girl?"
Carla stuck her head out of Mrs. Alderman's class and skipped down to join LC and Jericho when she saw him there. Cameron stuck his head out of the classroom seconds later and saw Jericho down the hall with LC and Carla with a big smile on his face. The gesture sent shivers down Cameron's spine but not as much as when Jericho left taking both LC and Carla with him.
"I'll be right back Mrs. Alderman!" Cameron yelled out and he ran down the hallway to catch Jericho before he left. Cameron snatched LC's hand freeing it from Jericho's, a sudden anger rose up in him and he felt compelled to attack the Canadian blond.
"Hey Cameron shouldn't you be in class?" Jericho said.
"So should LC," Cameron replied, "Where are you taking her?"
"Oh you're so sweet Cameron, you don't want to be separated from your girlfriend I understand. Do you want to come with us?" Jericho asked and Cameron imagined how his father would feel if he went anywhere with Jericho of his own free will.
"I can't leave Chey behind," Cameron said.
"Well go get her, I'll wait for you," Jericho said.
Cameron really didn't want to go anywhere with Chris Jericho but he knew the ARK Angels operated better when they were all together and there was no way he was letting LC go with him alone, so he ran inside to get Cheyenne out of kindergarten and emerged with the puzzled 4 year-old seconds later.
"Cam where are we going I need to wash my hands?" Cheyenne asked her big brother showing him her paint covered hands.
"I don't know Chey, all I know is I'm not letting LC go without us. You can wash your hands later," Cameron replied and they all got into Jericho's limo. Chyna saw the limo take off and she headed over to Mrs. Alderman who was wondering what was going on.
"Joanie why did you have Cheyenne, Cameron and LC pulled out of school during class?" Mrs. Alderman asked her and Joanie frowned.
"I didn't have the children pulled out of school, what are you talking about?" Joanie asked confused.
"Yes you did I just spoke to Mr. Applebee's secretary she said that LC's father came to pick her up and Cameron and Cheyenne went with him, didn't you know about this?" Mrs. Alderman asked.
"What did this man look like?" Joanie asked.
"He was quite well-built, blond with a sparkly purple eye patch over his left eye," Mrs. Alderman replied and Joanie gasped covering her mouth.
"Jericho," she whispered almost short of breath.
"Wasn't that LC's father?" Mrs. Alderman asked concerned.
"No it was," Chyna said trying not to scream, "it was just the wrong one," she added confusing Mrs. Alderman even further as she pulled out her cell-phone and told Hunter that Jericho had taken the ARK Angels of DX.