Cena nodded slightly as he moved among the cars in the lot of the bar, finally coming to a black SUV and peeking in. "This one looks like it should hold us okay. May have to sit a couple in the floor, but...better than the smoldering wreck we left."

"That's great," Josh said, looking around, seeming somewhat distracted. "Let's get that one then...hold on a second."

"Okay...you did keep in mind that I can hotwire a car but I'm not exactly the most expert lockpick on earth, right? We shoulda brought Eddie..."

"Just break out a window, we can cover it with a towel or something." Josh had gone over to a red car and crouched behind it, taking a screwdriver from his pocket and starting to detach the license plate.

Cena sighed. "Well hurry up. I don't wanna do that if there's an alarm unless we're ready to go straight away. What are you doing, anyway?"

Josh finished, then got to his feet, coming over and crouching behind the SUV, starting to fiddle around back there. "Once the owner comes out and finds his car gone, he'll call it in to the police. They'll be looking for this plate number on this make of vehicle. What I'm doing is changing it, so even if the police see us driving this, they won't make the connection since the plate is different."

"Won't the guy with the car mention his license plates are gone to the police?"

"Tell me, John, what's your license plate number?"

Cena blinked, tilting his head. "Um...there's like an L or somethin'..."

"Exactly. Most people don't pay a lick of attention to those things. It'll probably be a day or so before he even notices they're gone, and he'll probably write it off as a prank by some teenagers...and even if he does bother to report it to the police, they'll hardly get all in a snit over stolen plates. We should be well outta here by then anyway."

Cena shrugged slightly as Josh came around to the passenger side, carrying the plate. "So we're ready?"

"We're ready," Josh agreed, and Cena winced a little, pulled his arm into his sweater sleeve enough to shield it, making a fist, drawing back, and lashing out with as much force as he could muster. The first punch didn't get the desired effect, but the second cracked the glass and the third smashed it out enough that he could reach in and pull the lock loose, opening the door and brushing the seat as clear as he could, getting in and reaching over to open the door to allow Josh to clamber in. He then kicked at the steering wheel column until a panel broke off, and reached down, fiddling at the wiring until the engine caught, coughed, and finally sparked to life. All the while, there was no sound of an alarm, and no one looked out from the bar, allowing them to make their way out of the parking lot with no problems.

"Of course you realize we're probably all over their security camera," Cena said, wincing at the sudden realization.

"Well, no one came to get us and they won't check those until later tonight. We'll just...have to find another car later," Josh replied, though sounding a little bothered at the awareness.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just go into the bar and say 'Hey, guys, we're on the run from mad scientists, we need your help,' okay never mind, I see the problem with that right now."

"And aside from the fact people would think we were crazy or it was a prank, this area is not safe. Those gun guys are probably still actively hunting us and we're not far enough away yet. Let's get the others and get the hell outta here."

"All right." Cena started down the road towards the overpass where the others were waiting. "So, you guys went to talk to Eddie and Chavo before you came to me?"

"Well, Dave did. I was still kind of too pissed to help in the conversation and frankly, I didn't want to make it any easier on him..."

( )

Josh leaned against the door to the locker room, arms crossed, scowling a little. He'd sent Dave in to talk to Eddie and Chavo alone, promising to guard the door to keep the secret to a minimum. Despite how very much he wanted to shout it from the PA system, send the entire locker room down on the bastard's head, and watch the ensuing assault, he would need to keep Dave intact at least long enough for him to lead them to where Rey was.

He looked up at the sound of talking down the hall, and glanced over, seeing three people...John Morrison, Jeff Hardy, and Beth Phoenix, making their way down the hall. Beth had a clipboard in her hand and was walking between the men, both of whom looked like they'd been run almost haggard by something, as he heard Beth's voice carry down.

"...and Nikki is betting that you've only made it to third. So see, if you've actually bonked without being drunk, then I win the betting pool and if John here is the top, then I win the secondary 'of course they're fucking' pool too. We're talking like $1000 here, guys, and I'd totally give you a cut if you'd just say it."

"Beth...Beth..." Morrison muttered, all of them coming to a stop just a few feet from Josh, as Morrison adjusted his sunglasses. Beth looked up at him and Jeff, who seeming rather bored and just rested his hands in his pockets. "First of all, you girls need new hobbies. Something. Anything. Just, other than betting on our love lives."

"Amen, brother," Jeff drawled, vaguely sleepily.

"Second, no offense meant, Jeff, but I'm as straight as they come, I'm a ladies man, and even if I were gay or bi or whatever, I wouldn't touch this creature with a ten-foot pole, again, no offense Jeff."

"None taken, man, I agree with the sentiment towards you, too. 'Sides, I have a girlfriend."

"Oh come on, Jeff, we all know she's just your beard," Beth muttered. "You guys have been hanging around each other nonstop for weeks now, something has to have happened."

"You've been reading too many of those stories on the Internet, Beth," John said, tossing his hair and fluffing it with one hand. "Jeff's just hanging around me because his brother has gone all doe-eyed lovey over Angie and because Jeff knows he needs a strong masculine influence in his life."

Beth looked at Jeff, who shrugged noncommittally. "Ugh," she scoffed. "Look. Come on, let's be honest here, I know you two are up to something, all right, it's obvious. There's a big difference between the way the two of you hang out and the way, like, say, Rated-Y2J hang out. Yeah, they're buddies and a good tag team, but they aren't like you two."

"Maybe we're just hetero-lifemates," Jeff said with the faintest hint of amusement in his voice.

"Yeah, there ya go. He's the Silent Bob, obviously," Morrison smirked. "And I'm Jay, the charismatic leader who's-"

There was a bellow of pure fury from behind the door Josh was leaning against, followed by the sounds of crashing and a brawl. They all froze, eyes wide, but Josh straightened and opened the door, stepping in, and they, obviously shocked, followed after him.

Eddie had Batista on the ground, straddling his chest and flinging punches at him wildly, while Batista covered his head with his arms and Chavo, behind them, was unsuccessfully trying to pry his uncle away. Both Guerreros were yelling in Spanish, too loud and too fast for any of the others to keep up with.

Josh, Jeff and Morrison moved immediately, Jeff and Josh going to help Chavo pull Eddie away and Morrison grabbing Batista just in case he tried to continue the melee, while Beth stepped between them, holding her hands up, glancing back and forth to try and decide who was going to act next. "Calm down, guys!" she said, shaking her head. "This can't be that bad, you testosterone hosers!"

Eddie was visibly seething, pointing at Batista and roaring something unintelligible but obviously threatening. Batista got to his feet slowly, holding his head, wincing a little bit. "I'm sorry..." he muttered, keeping his head down.

"What's going on here?" Morrison asked, glancing over his shoulder at Eddie and Chavo. "What the hell could you guys be fighting about?"

There was a brief silence, marred only by Eddie's savage mumbles of threats. "I don't know if..." Batista started to explain, looking around a little nervously.

"Nooooooo!" Eddie blurted out, shaking his head, glaring. "No, ese, you tell them, huh? Why don't you tell them allllllllll about what you just told us, huh? Tell them the truth! They got plenty of right to know!"

"I'm...I'm not sure this isn't some prank, Eddie..." Chavo said softly, looking very troubled, but otherwise apparently not reacting strongly to whatever was happening.

"It's not a prank," Batista murmured, eyes fixed on the ground. "We shouldn't involve them, it's gonna be too dangerous..."

"Involve us in what?" Beth asked, frowning. "What's too dangerous?"

"We shouldn't-,"

"If you don't tell them about Rey, holmes, I will!" Eddie growled.

"What?" Jeff said, looking back at Eddie. "Rey? What about Rey?"

"We shouldn't tell them!" Batista said. "It's gonna be dangerous and who knows what could happen to them?"

"Okay, somebody better start talking or my feet are gonna start kicking," Morrison said, scowling. "I don't like getting left out of loops when I've just thrown myself between a fight."

There was another brief silence, save for Eddie's furious muttering. Finally, Batista sighed, rubbing his head and stepping back a little. "If I tell you guys about this, you could be in major trouble. I mean, we all could be. Us and everyone we care about. It's too dangerous. If it...if I could avoid this, I-,"

"Whatever it is, you're gonna tell us." Morrison glanced around. "It looks like we're gonna be involved now anyway. I know I'm not gonna just walk out and pretend I didn't know something was going on that was bad enough to have you two beating on each other."

"And involving...Rey?" Jeff asked, looking a touch confused.

Batista sighed, looking to Beth.

"Start talking, mammoth. I'm in this too."

Batista nodded slowly, going over to sit on a bench, rubbing his temples. "Okay. This is going to be hard to believe, but...just stay with me."

( )

Cena nodded some, navigating a turn as he did. "So...then you guys came to me?"

"Yeah. Once everyone calmed down a bit, Eddie said we could use your help. You know, the strongest, toughest guy on the roster and all."

"I wouldn't go that far-,"

"You picked up like, 800 pounds at Wrestlemania and were fully prepared to throw it around. I'd go that far. Plus you're about the only guy we knew for sure wasn't going to be, like...you know, a double agent or something. And you were the only guy we have who could punch out a car window. And-,"

"Okay, I get it, I get it, I'm Superman, got it, damn." Cena winced, turning again. "Where'd we leave the others?"

"Two more streets up and then you should be able to see the bridge."

Cena nodded, driving in silence, finally seeing the bridge and heading in that direction. "So, what do we do after this?"

Josh shook his head a little as they pulled up next to the other van, making a face at the number of bullet holes they could see. "I don't know. We need to get away from this area though." He hopped out of his seat and went to the door of the van, where Morrison met him, pulling it open. "We've got new wheels, let's go."

"Please tell me it's heated..." Morrison said, hopping out, pulling Jeff out with him. "That broken window ain't doing shit for us."

"Yeah...Cena, crank up the heater in that thing," Josh said, as the others crawled out. Eddie was still carrying Rey, who, though his eyes were open, didn't look as though he were altogether conscious. "Is he okay?"

"No..." Batista said. "They drugged him and he's gonna be woozy until it wears off. And even at that...we're gonna have to be careful with him. The stuff he's been through, he's not...not gonna be able to keep up with us. He's gonna get freaked out easy."

"We'll take care of him," Eddie muttered. "We should go find a place to rest, get something to eat, regroup. Then we can figure out our next step, how we're gonna fix this."

Batista nodded, picking up the wad of papers he'd been keeping in the van. "Good idea. It'll give me time to go through these notes and reports Marcia..." He stopped a moment, studying the papers, then shook his head slowly. "All right, let's go. We need to get the hell out of here before someone finds us."

The others loaded into the SUV, Eddie holding onto Rey and Beth, under heavy protest, sitting in Batista's lap so they could all fit, and Cena put it into reverse and pulled back onto the highway, heading down it. "At least it's got most of a full tank of gas," he said. "I'll go till I find a town and I'll pull into the first motel I see. Then we can order in some food or send someone out to go pick something up. Best way to keep our heads down. You guys just relax and I'll take care of the driving."

"Sounds good, ese," Eddie said, hugging Rey closer and closing his eyes. "Very good..."