Chapter 35:
Twenty minutes into Monday Night RAW the following night and the entire backstage area was in an uproar. There at first had been rage at the Rated R SmackDown Superstar's presence on their show. Edge had proceeded to have good Old JR thrown out of the building by Hawkins and Ryder during his goodbye speech and once he had the ring to himself, he taunted the RAW audience and its roster by mocking them. He had sworn that he'd never compete on this brand unless forced to and the RAW superstars would never gain a shot at his title.
But as Edge made to leave building, he didn't get very far up the ramp before the Animal's music hit. The atmosphere had immediately changed from outrage at Edge, to glee at the arrival of Batista; the man Edge and La Familia had screwed over the night before. Their spirits continued to lift as the Animal dished out the beating of a lifetime on the Ultimate Opportunist.
After a thunderous and satisfying Batista Bomb, the newest member of Monday Night's made his way out of the ring and up the ramp. He had felt he had made the statement he needed to make, when suddenly his music had been abruptly cut off.
At first, shock registered, then euphoric excitement seemed to build as CM Punk came into view, accompanied by a referee, waving his hard won briefcase that contained his Money In The Bank contract. The Straight Edge Superstar was cashing in his anytime, anywhere title shot opportunity and one GTS later, CM Punk was crowned the World Heavyweight Champion, bringing the title back to RAW.
There were many differences of opinion floating around backstage, as RAW returned from its commercial break. Some thought that though the World title being back RAW was a welcome one, CM Punk had gone the wrong way about it. Edge had been all but unconscious when Punk had attacked and though he may hold championship gold now, Punk was destined to be a transitional champion until someone more worthy stepped up to take it from him.
Others were happy for Punk. The kid had gone through a hellacious ladder match to win that contract in the first place, beating five other men. Plus, Edge had more than deserved to have that title taken away from him for all the crap he'd pulled over the past few months; getting the Undertaker banned from the WWE, stealing the title off Batista back in December, using his lackeys to decimate every opponent he came up against. Plus, Edge too had held the Money In The Bank contract twice and cashed both when John Cena and the Undertaker had been badly beaten down beforehand.
Haley's opinion was the old cliché, what goes around comes back around and Dave seemed to think since Punk went through hell to win the Money in the Bank in the first place, he deserved to be World Heavyweight Champion, for now anway.
"Here is your winner, the WWE Women's Champion, Mickie James!" Lilian Garcia announced over the champion's music.
Meanwhile, Mickie linked hands with Katie Lea, who had accompanied her down to the ring on this little jaunt, and raised their hands in victory. Below them, the blonde wannabe singer known as Jillian Hall lay in a heap on the matt, the victim to one of Mickie's famous tornado DDTs.
The crowd around them booed and jeered the duo, still furious from their actions the night before against the former Women's Champion, and rightful one. They had watched in surprise and disgust as Mickie turned on one of her best friends and one of their favorites, all for a title belt and because a man wasn't interested in her.
Mickie ignored the less than complimentary response to her victory. She had learned to steel herself against that kind of reception long ago in her feud with Trish. Sometimes you had to play a little in the dark to get the things you wanted, both times it had brought her championship gold. And both times, it had been at the expense of women she had once considered friends.
Mickie shared a gloating smile with Katie Lea. At least this time she wasn't completely alone. Katie Lea disliked Haley Mariano nearly as much as Mickie did. But Katie's dislike of Haley was not over a man, but over status. Katie thought she was better in all aspects than Haley was and deserved the same if not more privileges. But, she was now the rookie of the Divas locker room and her only chance at taking Haley off her pedestal, had been her former friend Mickie James, a seasoned veteran.
Suddenly the momentum of the audience shifted. The booing morphed into a frenzied array of cheers. Both Divas turned around only to meet a doubled clothesline, knocking them both off their feet. On instinct, Mickie scrambled out of the ring, not having to look up to know who had administered the assault.
Katie Lea wasn't as lucky. With her eyes glued to Mickie's, Haley hauled Katie up by a handful of hair. The look on the face of the former Women's Champion was one of complete loathing, and she would use the British bitch to make her point. She unceremoniously shoved Katie's head between her legs, before hold her thumbs up and out to the side. She threw them down with a angry yell and rolled Katie upwards so that for a moment, she sat on Haley's shoulders, before she was brought down to the canvas at an alarming rate in a sitout power bomb.
The roar from the crowd was at a feverish pitch, as Haley rose back to her feet. Gavin DeGraw blasted through the arena, but Haley didn't even acknowledge anyone but the brunette who sought safety at the top of the stage, holding tightly to the Women's title belt. As her glare intensified, Haley gestured to her waist, signaling that she wanted her title back and she would get it.
"Pick something soothing." Batista suggested, as he climbed behind the wheel of the black Dodge Ram they had received as a rental car. Normally he would have gone for something more flashy, like a Hummer, but Haley had balked at that idea. She didn't want to shell out more money than necessary for a rental vehicle. Her argument being valid, he was forced to agree with her.
"Soothing?" Using the trademark of her trainer and friend, Haley raised one eyebrow at him while opening her CD case.
"This is going to be a long drive, Hales." He pointed out. Instead of crashing at the hotel for another night, they had chosen to drive to the next city and sleep in before the house show tomorrow. "We've both been on edge all night and beat the crap out of some of our least favorite people. We need to relax in order to get a decent sleep once we reach Atlanta."
Haley hummed her agreement, before pulling out a CD. The silver disk was unlabeled, meaning she had burned this one herself. "Candice and I would listen to this one on late night drives that we made together."
"How often was that?" He teased, as the soft sounds of acoustic guitar filled the cab of the truck.
"Not as often as I should have." She frowned for a moment before shaking her head. "I mostly rode with John in the beginning of my career for obvious reasons, where I was subjected to rap the entire car ride." She rolled her eyes.
He chuckled. "I thought you like hip hop."
"When I'm in a night club." She corrected him. "After our split, I rode with Candice until she got injured. I rode with Jeff a couple times, which turned into an insane variety of music. When I rode with Jericho, it was all Fozzy all the time. I got to hear unreleased stuff though, so it was kind of cool."
"So then who do you like traveling with best?" He smirked over at her.
"Besides you," She laughed. "Depended on my mood; if I was pissed off, Randy. We'd blast rock music until our ears bled and he never forced me to talk about it."
He made an expression of distaste. "That makes for a lovely mental image."
"For amusement purposes, the one time I caught a ride with Kennedy was hysterical. We listened to comedy skits the entire ride and he tooled on every comedian, from George Carlin to Dane Cook." She giggled at the memory. "That guy was out of control, but more often than not, I rode with Hunter if not Jericho."
"How'd I know you were going to say that?" He smirked.
"Because it was classic rock, from Motorhead to the Boss." She grinned back. "Although, Bruce Springsteen came more from me than him. Plus, he's Hunter, what more can I say."
"Nothing at all, baby." He reached over and grabbed her hand. "As long as I'm still your favorite in the end."
She nodded her head along with the music of FM Static. "Always." She uttered simply and honestly.
A/N: So far, so good guys. I'm still here anyway. Keep on reviewing, it makes me happy!