Redención sat in their own hotel room about a week after they had all been picked to be in the group. They all were slouched over as they stared at each other, silently trying to put together plans. There had to be some way they could prepare for the inevitable fight between the Nexus and Redención.
The good thing was, it seemed the Nexus was done with their attacking of Alix's friends. Now that the Nexus had gotten a little bit of a taste of their own medicine, it seemed it was clear that they were doing just as much thinking as their rival stable was.
"Do you think we can be done this before WrestleMania?" John piped up. Everyone turned to look at him.
"You can't tell me you're looking for another title shot." Christian scoffed disbelievingly at him. He had a point – the leader of the Cenation had plenty of title shots in his years with the WWE.
"We can't be sure about being done before Mania." Alix shrugged, ignoring Christian. "At this point – we can't be sure about anything. Right now we're playing defense, and while that's been proven to be an okay thing to do, in this case I think it's hurting us. Everything we do is based on what the Nexus does. I think we might need to turn that around."
Rey grabbed Alix's hand lightly, and offered her a warm smile. Alix smiled back, and the two quickly turned back to face the rest of their team so that no making fun of would commence.
"Well then I say we make it a sure thing that we get this over with between the Nexus and us by Mania." Randy offered. Maybe then the wrestler's could go back to normal storylines and people not getting nearly killed.
"Hold up, hold up, hold up." Jeff held his hand up. "We don't have to get this done before Mania. We could have this finished at Mania. It's s'posed to be huge, right? Well look at this. We are a team of seven, destined to compete against the Nexus. The Nexus has been taking down friend after friend, family member after family member. At Mania, the greatest pay per view of them all, we take them down. They eat their own asses through a straw. We take offense as soon as we can, and make sure the Nexus starts taking us seriously – as we should be."
Redención stared at Jeff, surprised he had strung this together in two seconds. But it was a decent idea; maybe not quite a plan, but at least an idea.
"That sounds nearly crazy enough to work." the Undertaker spoke in his characteristically deep voice. "Now, granted, we have me on the team. And Alix and Jeff. But how are we supposed to make Nexus, a team of no good slimeballs, believe that we're taking offense?"
Redención was quiet. Redención was thinking.
"We can take...one of two ideas..." Alix spoke slowly, thinking as she spoke. "We could do this on a WWE level. Crash their matches, not care if we make them win, get Sh...the Raw GM... to set them up on Raw with shit matches...
"Or we could do it on a personal level. There are seven members of Nexus, and seven members of Redención. We could follow them around. Do everything they do, follow them to team meetings. Not say a word unless we're spoken to. That's like a psychological form of things; they always have to know we're there. They have to remember us, and have to remember what we did to them on Smackdown."
Small smiles creeped onto the faces of all of the members of Redención.
"Or," Rey spoke through a smile. "We could always do both."
And within minutes it was settled. Monday was in a day – so that meant so was Raw. Alix would go out and talk for a minute or two, say whatever she could come up with; with Redención standing right in the first row of the crowd. Just to make sure nothing would happen to her.
And they would each pair up with a member of the Nexus – take it down to that psychological level that Alix had talked about.
"Who's taking who?" Christian asked as the seven were preparing to separate into their respective rooms. Of course no one had their own room – safety reasons with the Nexus. While they hadn't attacked anyone that Alix knew in a while, Redención far from trusted them.
"Oh yeah." Alix laughed. "I guess we didn't think about that."
"Hmmm – Lil Devil gets first pick." Jeff announced, sitting back down on the floor.
"Alright." Alix nodded, a haughty smile stretching across her face. "I'm going to tail Wade Barrett."
The guys were in a frenzy. Everyone but Jeff disagreed with her decision, most of them saying that they would tail him for her. And that she didn't have to.
"Alix gets Wade." Jeff said just loudly enough for everyone to hear him; but he didn't yell. "I'm co-leader of Redención so I get second pick. I pick Alberto Del Rio."
Everyone else slowly calmed down, realizing that there was nothing they could say to get Alix to change her mind.
"I'll...I'll take Slater." Christian spoke up quietly. "I have a decent chance against him is he decides to try and fight me."
"I'll take Justin Gabriel." Rey said, and Alix realized his hand still hadn't left hers. "We fight the same – and only Jeff here is a somewhat aerial wrestler."
"Which would be more fun to use against Del Rio since he doesn't know how to combat it." Jeff grinned ear to ear.
"Otunga's my bitch now." John grinned, clapping his hands together. That car wreck of a wrestler needs it handed to him."
Everyone laughed at John's enthusiasm with this new plot.
"I'll take Harris." Randy nodded. "Unfinished business, I believe."
"That leaves me with McGillicutty. Who I'm fairly sure I can handle well." Undertaker smirked, and the rest of them nodded.
"Alright." Alix looked to each of them. "It's settled then. We know who we're tailing. But we don't start that yet – understand me? I'm going to talk to the Raw GM about a small idea I have. See what he can do. I'll give you guys the word when you can start tailing them. Understand?"
"Yeah," droned back the voices of most of the members of Redención. They all sounded kind of disappointed at that.
"Alrighty," Alix smiled. "Well head back to wherever you must go with whoever you must go with. Partners at all times, gentlemen."
John and Randy were the first to stand up and begin to leave the room. It was easy to see that those two would be the simplest of the pairs in Redención's buddy system.
Next to leave were Rey, Jeff, and Christian. While those three weren't always paired together, this was Undertaker's and Alix's room – and with the uneven amount of people in Redención, there was always an odd man out who was forced to pair with two other people.
Right before Rey stood up to leave he placed a small kiss on Alix's lips. He smiled as he walked out and she giggled for a moment, falling back onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling. The door shut behind Rey, Jeff and Christian and the Undertaker humphed at Alix.
"Have you realized you haven't heard anything from Evan in a week?" He asked, sitting down in one of the light brown wooden chairs by the hotel-standard kitchen table. "You were in love with him for months and just because Mysterio won that stupid match you haven't even acknowledged his existence."
"I've been just a little busy with Redención!' Alix defended herself quickly, sitting up again. "If he wanted to see me or talk to me then he could've come around and talked to me whenever. He's ignored me on the plane trips, in the hotels, at the house shows. Fine, that's stupid his fault. I have a team to manage."
Undertaker shook his head and looked out the window. "It's dark, I'm going to catch some sleep. You going to bed?"
"I might as well." Alix sighed, standing up and moving to where her duffel bag, which she moved around all her stuff in, was kept. She pulled out a pair of Rey's old ring pants and an oversized Triple H football jersey. Her sleepwear, which she found quite comfortable.
That night Alix slept without dreams. All she felt overnight was a plaguing feeling that she should worry more about Evan than she was. But she had Redención to run. It was impossible to worry about Evan.
Alix made it through the next day while sticking to either Undertaker's or Jeff's side. She saw Rey in passing a few times per day, but it wouldn't have mattered if they had gotten alone time or not. Alix was too busy trying to figure out what she was going to say on that night's Raw.
As she stood just backstage waiting for a useless match between Alex Riley and the Miz, she had to hope that she had it thought out enough.
"And your winner is...Alex Riileey!" The ring announcer shouted, and the crowd burst into cheers. Alix almost wished she had him for her team, but it was too late now. Too bad though, he's a pretty good Superstar. Sure gets the bloodlust as well.
The Miz came backstage first, pushing past everyone that was in his way, and Alix watched Riley come back smiling and clapping the hands of his fans.
"It's almost time, Alix." one of the techs called to her and she nodded, clapping Riley's hand as he walked backstage.
"Nice match, dude." she grinned at him.
"Thanks." he beamed, nodding at her. "Good luck with your little Nexus problem."
Alix rolled her eyes. "X-Stinger, go!"
She nodded and raced out as Redención's song started.
"I'm just a step away, I'm just a breath away,"
The crowd broke into cheers and applause louder than they had been for Alex Riley's victory. Alix smiled at them and started her slow methodical walk to the ring to go along with the song's beat. As she walked she marked with her eyes where the rest of her team were sitting. They were the ones with black hoodies pulled over their faces, slouched in their chairs, and not standing up and cheering like the rest of the crowd. They had done that so that they didn't attract attention from the rest of the crowd and the Nexus wouldn't know they were sitting there until it was too late.
Alix stepped into the ring and her music died down. She waited a few more second for the cheers of the crowd to get a little quieter before holding her mic to her mouth.
"Well, I'm here on Redención business, if you couldn't tell by my second kickass song." she grinned, and the crowd cheered for a second. "I'm also here alone – taking a chance here." She looked warily back at the entrance ramp. "The rest of my team doesn't agree with me being out here alone, but I think I need to be. Make it known that officially, it's not Redención versus the Nexus. It's the X-Stinger versus the Nexus. Or, by extension, Wade Barrett.
"But seriously, that's not why I'm here." Alix continued, not wanting the crowd to get caught up in the Wade Barrett business. "I'm here 'cause Redención and I are taking a bigger stand then just being 'the ones against the Nexus.' If our plans go through, we'll be 'the ones who kicked Nexus' ass.'" Now the crowd did seem to enjoy that. "So, right here on Raw, I'm giving the Nexus an ultimatum. Nexus versus Redención at WrestleMania. That will be the last we're forced to see each other.
"Now, we have two pay per views between now and then. The Royal Rumble, and Elimination Chamber. If only I had been able to have a problem with you guys sooner we could've finished this at Survivor Series, which seems like the better venue for this kind of match-up. But oh well. We'll finish this at WrestleMania, and then after that I can pursue a bigger prize then just handing Wade Barrett's ass to him. I can pursue the WWE Championship."
The crowd burst into cheers, but were quickly cut off.
"We walk alone, in the unknown..."
I could've guessed this would happen.
The Nexus paraded out one by one. Alix's hands formed claws and she saw all of her friends heads pop up one by one in the crowd. Just enough so that she could see their faces, but not enough that the fans sitting around them could see who they were.
The Nexus surrounded the ring, all except for Wade who stepped into the ring with Alix. She glared him down as he walked behind her to get a mic thrown at him from near where the announcers were sitting.
"Well, well, X-Stinger, you seem to have quite lofty goals here in the WWE." Wade spoke, circling Alix. She turned around and around, keeping her eyes on Wade at all times. "Including, ordering me and my team around. You can't expect us to listen to you, when we've been the ones to take out most of your friends, and we can continue that easily."
"Which, might just be one of the reasons I'm out here." Alix sneered at Wade. "Taking offense, you know. You're right, you've taken out a lot of my friends. Edge, Matt Hardy, John Morrison, Triple H, R-Truth. Which, in case you weren't paying attention on Smackdown last week, is why Redención exists. But also, because of those five attacks, the ball is in our court now. It's time for us to step up our game and show you what we've got."
"You've got nothing, X-Stinger." Barrett rolled his eyes. "Except a ragtag bunch of deadbeats that believe they can defeat the superior team, the Nexus. They can't help you."
"How do you know?" Alix nearly shouted. "We beat you last week on Smackdown and we could do it for real. In the ring. At WrestleMania. Unless you and your thugs are chicken."
Wade's face screwed and contorted into one of anger in a matter of a half of a second. Cleary, being called a 'chicken' wasn't something he had in mind.
"I have a better idea." he said, his accent drawling over each of the words. "You can have your match, fine. Nexus versus your inferior team of monkeys. But not at WrestleMania. We face each other at the Royal Rumble. Then, cross my heart, we'll leave you alone."
"The Royal Rumble is in a month, dipwad." Alix growled at him, and she could hear laughter in the stands.
"I wasn't finished." Barrett sneered. "Our teams are done with each other at the Royal Rumble – but not you and I. You and I face each other at WrestleMania – for the WWE Championship."
The crowd cheered, but Alix's heart stopped. Her, face this monster, alone?
"Neither of us have the Championship, genius." Alix rolled her eyes, catching on one last hope that she wouldn't have to face Barrett.
"No, but WrestleMania is nearly four months away." Barrett knelt down to Alix's height and looked her in the eyes. "If you're such a good wrestler, I think you can capture that championship before then – or else, I'll do it. And then at Mania we face each other for the biggest prize that this company can offer."
Alix's breathing sped up and she stood there. If she denied him of his plan, she would be letting down the WWE Universe, her team, and herself. If she accepted, there was a decent chance she would break down in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania.
"Fine." she spat, shaking Barrett's hand. Tears pricking at her eyes, she jumped up onto the top rope near the entrance ramp and catapulted herself over the line of Nexus members, trying to make sure that she didn't have to deal with another assault. The members of Redención peeled back their hoods and walked right behind Alix. Overhead, the Nexus' theme played.
"We walk alone in the unknown..."
Because of that, and the silence of the crowd, Alix felt this was a major loss.
AN: Alright, well, I'm real sorry about how long it's been, in case anyone that was previously reading this is still reading it. Real life got far in the way.
In WWE News – I'm real upset about Edge retiring. But he will remain in this story, because I had an idea for him before he retired that I've yet to play out. I'm also upset about Christian becoming a butthole. But he will remain nice in this story – because he has to.
And also, I'm going to be ignoring the draft. It messed up the previous rosters too much.
Read, Review, enjoy!