"I guess it all really began about two weeks before Payback," Seth explained. "Stephanie called me into her office. It was weird because she said that she only wanted to see me, not the three of us."
"Wait a minute," Dean interrupted. "Why didn't you tell us about this meeting with Stephanie at the time?"
"I did tell you."
"Really? 'Cause I think I would remember something like that," Dean answered doubtfully.
Seth sighed. He turned to face Dean directly. "I did tell you, Dean. We were getting ready to leave, and I got a call on my cell. Remember? I told you Stephanie needed to see me. Roman asked if you two needed to come, and I said no. So you told me to make it quick because you were ready to get out of there. I told you to go on then, that I would catch a ride back to the hotel. Remember now? Does any of this sound familiar?" At Dean's blank stare, he turned to Roman. "Roman, surely you remember this?"
"Umm, maybe?" Roman hedged. "It was a long time ago. Wait. Weren't you supposed to tell us about it when you got back?"
"Yeah."
"Well, why didn't you then?" Dean asked accusingly.
"I'll get there, alright? I can't tell you everything at once," Seth snapped.
"Alright, alright," Roman said soothingly. "Everybody calm down. Seth, why don't you go ahead and tell us about your meeting with Stephanie now?"
"Fine," Seth grumbled, shooting irritable looks at Dean. "So I went to Stephanie's office and…"
"Seth," Stephanie McMahon said warmly as she stood to shake Seth's hand. "Please take a seat. I'm glad you could make it."
"Was it optional?"
Stephanie laughed and then turned serious as she began to speak. "Seth, I would like to talk to you about a fantastic opportunity. Now, you are well aware that the Shield has been causing some… problems for the Authority lately. We don't believe that these problems benefit you or us. Therefore, we would like to extend an invitation for you to rejoin the Authority." Stephanie smiled radiantly as if she were offering to triple his pay rather than asking him for a favor.
"Stephanie, with all due respect," Seth replied, "we've tried that already. It didn't work for us. Besides, I really don't think that Roman and Dean would go for it. They are really looking forward to getting their hands on Evolution at Payback."
Stephanie's grin grew even bigger. "I think you misunderstand. We don't want the Shield to rejoin the Authority. We just want you."
Seth laughed. "Why would I do that? Roman and Dean are my brothers. We are the most dominant faction of all time. Why would I leave that behind?"
"The Authority could give you great opportunities, Seth: publicity, protection, title matches. As a member of the Authority, you could be the future of the WWE," Stephanie promised grandly.
"I don't need the Authority to be the future. I make my own opportunities," Seth protested.
"Yes, and you have to share those opportunities with two other people."
"Dean and Roman make me better," Seth insisted.
"Dean and Roman would turn on you at any minute if the conditions were right," Stephanie countered. "In fact, I've been hearing a lot of rumors on that very subject lately. Apparently, they have been asking around; seeing what they could get for turning on their brothers." Stephanie's smile turned into a sneer as she pronounced the last word.
"Bullshit. If that was the case then you wouldn't be talking to me. You could just talk to one of them and have an easier sell."
"But we don't want them," Stephanie said, her smile back in place. "They would only be in it for themselves. We want a team player. Someone like you."
"Well, I'm not interested," Seth said firmly. "I'll stick beside my brothers. I don't care what rumors you might or might not have heard." He started to stand.
"Wait," Stephanie ordered. Seth sat back down reluctantly. "I just have one more thing I want to say and then you can go. You don't trust the rumors. That's understandable. But you don't have to listen to rumors to know that Dean and Roman aren't as committed to you as you are to them. You only have to look at history. I'm sure you could come up with lots of examples, but let's start with the Royal Rumble. What happened there, Seth? You went in second and busted your ass trying to work as a team. But what about your so-called brothers? Dean tried to dump Roman as soon as it was convenient, and Roman retaliated by dumping you both out of the ring. Now tell me, was that fair? What did you do but try to stick to the plan? But it didn't matter because in the end you became collateral damage. And that is just what you'll end up being if you stick with the Shield, Seth: collateral damage."
Seth shifted uneasily in his seat. She had hit a nerve, but he didn't want to admit it. "The Royal Rumble is ancient history. We've talked about it and moved on. We are stronger than ever."
"Okay, then," Stephanie said. "I admire your loyalty. That is why I think you would make such a good addition to the Authority. Just know that if you change your mind, the offer is open."
"I'm not going to change my mind."
"So I left her office and headed back to the hotel to tell you guys all about it. I have to admit she managed to get in my head, but I thought I would feel better if I could talk it out with you two," Seth concluded.
"Which you never ended up doing," Roman pointed out. "So what happened to keep you from talking to us?"
"Well, so I got back to the the hotel and—"
"Wait," Dean interrupted. "So you're trying to blame this whole thing on Stephanie? That's pretty weak, man."
"No, I'm just trying to set the scene," Seth answered. "Roman asked me to start at the beginning after all. I'm just trying to give you an idea of where my head was at, why I started getting paranoid. Which was totally warranted, by the way, given what you had planned. I could have started other places instead, you know. Like the Royal Rumble for example, or the time you left me high and dry in a match, or the time you two argued for five hours straight over what to listen to on the radio."
"Hey! It's not my fault Roman has horrible taste in music!" Dean exclaimed.
"So, I like to listen to pop music sometimes," Roman argued back. "It's not a crime. It reminds me of my wife and daughter."
"You wanted to listen to Katy Perry! You got pissed when I tried to change the station!"
"Hey now. My baby girl can sing along to every word of 'Roar.' It makes me think of her."
"Oh yeah?" Dean jeered. "Well, what's your excuse for wanting to listen to Taylor Swift then?"
"Hey! You haven't lived until you've seen my princess dance to 'Shake It Off.' Look. I've got a video on my phone. Let me show you." Roman began to dig in his pocket for his cell phone.
"Gentleman, please," Seth said firmly. "I think we are getting a little off track here. The point is that there have been times when it looked like you two would rather kill each other than work together as a unit. Now—"
"Oh come on. That argument over music wasn't that bad," Roman cut in.
"Not that bad?" Seth screeched. "You left Dean behind at a gas station!"
"But I went back."
"Yeah, you went back… after I spent nearly fifteen minutes pleading for you to turn around," Seth said.
"Ahh, did you really?" Dean asked. "That was sweet of you."
Seth looked from Dean to Roman incredulously, then raised his eyes to the ceiling and exhaled slowly. "Okay. Whatever. The point is—"
"Hey! How do I know that any of this is true?" Dean blurted out.
"What?" Seth asked.
"How do I know this is true?" Dean repeated. "We weren't there. How do I know you're not making this whole thing up?"
"Well," Seth said slowly, "I don't have any proof or anything, but if I was going to lie, don't you think I would make something up that would make me look a little better? I mean, instead of admitting that Stephanie got in my head wouldn't it sound better if I said that she… I don't know… threatened to fire all of us unless I joined the Authority or something? As it is, it just looks like I got played."
"Yeah, but that could just be a part of some sort of bigger, more complex scheme," Dean pointed out.
"God, Dean! I'm not some kind of evil comic book villain. You know that right?" Seth looked at Dean questioningly. "I mean, I know I claim to like manipulating people and all, but that's just a persona I made up. I would think that you of all people would know better than to believe that shit."
"I don't know," Dean said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I've never had any trouble believing that you are some kind of evil genius."
"Ugh," Seth groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm not an evil genius, Dean," Seth said, enunciating each word clearly. "It's just an act. Man, once people get the idea in their heads that you're some kind of master manipulator, they start giving you credit for all sorts of things that you really had nothing to do with. I'm telling you, it's about twenty percent genuine scheming and eighty percent hubris."
"You're not helping your case, you know," Dean said with mock seriousness, "because I'm pretty sure that hubris is a word that only evil geniuses know."
Seth groaned again, and Roman rolled his eyes. "So you met with Stephanie," Roman said trying to get the conversation back on track. "She managed to get inside your head. You left to talk to us but never did. What happened?"