Chapter 77:
Randy Orton sat on a steel chair in his locker room, lacing up his boots for his match tonight. Across the room, Cody Rhodes, Sim Snuka and Manu were whispering quietly amongst one another. After some brainstorming with Dwayne, Randy had decided to use the second-generation superstars to his advantage, beginning to form a new stable that would eventually be known as Legacy. But, before Legacy could fully take root, Randy would have to weed the weaker superstars from the group. Only those who proved worthy of following in his and the Rock's footsteps would be allowed to join them. And with Dwayne looking to return within the next week, Randy was going to have to test all three of the other men in the room soon.
But, sorting out their new stable wasn't the only thing on Randy's mind that night. Last week, Eve Torres had completely broken their agreement, turning on Dave and leaving the Animal on his own again. Which made it look as though Dave was victim and that maybe he hadn't been as unfaithful as he appeared. If Haley started believing it, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. His only option was to confront Eve and find out why she turned on Dave all of a sudden when she had been so determined to have him.
"Hey Randy?" Cody Rhodes approached the Viper, leaving his fellow Legacy hopefuls on the other side of the room. "We're going to head to catering for a bit, do you want anything?"
Randy shook his head. "No, go ahead. Just make sure you're back here before my match tonight. You three need to watch and learn."
Cody nodded soberly. "Will do."
"Good." Randy dismissed him with a nod of his head. "Go on then."
"Right." Cody returned to his friends and they left Randy in solitude.
Once he was alone, Randy's thoughts drifted back to Haley. He would have thought he'd be closer to having her love him by now. He thought she would have been more dependent on him to get through her break up with Dave, but right now, her thoughts were focused on her rehabilitation and getting back to RAW as soon as possible. It was effectively holding him at arm's length. And with Eve out of the Dave's life, Randy needed to get to Haley quicker now to prevent her from learning the truth behind Dave's betrayal.
"I've got to find Eve." He muttered to himself, getting his feet. "I'm not losing her over this, no way in hell."
He stalked to the door and walked out of the locker room, heading in the direction of the Diva's locker room to locate the RAW Latina. He took no notice of the other superstars and divas in the hallway and didn't return their greetings to him. He had one focus and that was to find Eve.
He was so focused; he took no notice of the camera crew that trailed in his wake. The few men had each been slipped an extra fifty by Dave Batista to follow the Legend Killer's movements and to record anything interesting he did.
Meanwhile…"I can't believe you have to team with Beth and Mickie at Survivor Series?" Haley chuckled into her cellphone. "It's like hell froze over or something, you on the same team as Beth."
"Tell me about it." Candice Michelle let out a sarcastic snort on the other end of the line. "It's bad enough Santino kept me from beating her for my title at No Mercy, now I've got to be partners with her against Michelle and Maria no less!"
"Well, Michelle and Maria are on SmackDown and you play for team RAW." Haley sat down on her couch as RAW returned from it's commercial break. "At least you're with Kelly though."
"Yeah, and Mickie and Layla." Candice retorted in an unhappy tone. "Why aren't you back yet? You're close to returning right?"
Haley bit her lip before answering. "Well, they haven't given me a date yet." She said casually. "But I'm sure it's soon."
Because Survivor Series would be hosted in Boston that year, Stephanie had wanted to have both Boston natives returning in their hometown, but one would remain a surprise. Since John's return was already announced because he would be facing Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship, it would be Haley's return that would be kept secret. Only Stephanie, Haley and John knew the official date of her return and they had sworn not to tell anyone in order to thrill the fans.
"Not soon enough." Candice complained with a sigh. "So who's watching RAW with you tonight?"
"Actually no one." Haley replied. "I sent Michelle home this morning and Dwayne's out doing something or other. He and Randy have been all secretive lately, it weirds me out."
"Tell me about it." Candice agreed. "Hales, I'm going to be honest here, I might end things with Dwayne soon. He was really fun the first few times we went out, now he has no time or interest in me."
"I'm sorry Candy." Haley said sympathetically. "I thought it was really working out with you two."
"No, I think he likes Randy better." Candice sighed heavily on her end. "It sucks too because I really liked him."
"Want me to kick his ass for you?" Haley offered half-serious half-joking.
"No, you focus on coming back here and kicking Eve's ass." Candice said with gloomy voice. "At least now we can wallow in our respective break ups together."
"I'll get tons of ice cream." Haley promised. "And Michelle and Kelly can join us too."
"Sounds like a plan. Damn it, love sucks!" Candice said dramatically.
"Sing it sister." Haley chuckled dryly. "Been there, still going through that."
"Maybe we should both become lesbians and date each other, simplify things." Candice suggested jokingly.
"Thought crossed my mind." Haley giggled. "But unfortunately, I can't seem to kick my addiction to men."
"Well there goes that plan." Candice muttered.
"We'll come up with a better one." Haley said before her attention focused on Randy backstage on her TV screen. "Hey, what's Randy up to?"
Back at RAW…
Dave Batista had just finished stretching when the image of Randy searching backstage came onscreen of his monitor. Intrigued, he reached for his water bottle and stepped closer to the television to see what the Legend Killer was up to. He dared to get hopeful when he saw the sign for Diva's Locker room fill the screen.
"Yeah asshole, show us what you've been up to." He smirked to himself.
Shawn Michaels burst through the locker room door, his being diagonally across the hall. "Hunter was right!"
"We don't know yet for sure." Dave reminded him without taking his eyes off the monitor. "He needs to actually admit what he's done first."
"Have a little faith, Big Dave." Shawn clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Randy Orton isn't the type of guy who spends a lot of time around the Diva's locker room, he's there for a reason."
"I know, wait…" Dave's eyes narrowed when onscreen, Randy lifted a fist to knock on the door.
Jillian swung open the door, flicking her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder. "Randy!" She gushed excitedly. "Are you here to listen to my new single? It's going to be my new entrance theme and…"
"Sorry Jillian, some other time." Randy hastily cut her off, an alarmed expression flickering over his face. "I was actually wondering if Eve was in there? I need to talk to her about…er...business."
Jillian sighed and looked disappointed. "Hold on a second." She said looking downcast. "EVE!" She turned her head to bellow back into the room. "You've got a visitor!"
"Who is it?" The Latina's voice could be heard.
"Randy Orton." Jillian replied.
"Be just a second." Even called back, and moment's later, she appeared next to Jillian. "Randy?" She gave him an intrigued look. "What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk." He said looking pointedly at Jillian. "Alone."
"Jillian, why don't you go sing for Candice? She needs to get off the phone anyway." Eve suggested with a plastic sort of smile.
"Good idea." Jillian said brightly before disappearing back into the locker room.
Eve pursed her lips in distaste for a moment before lifting her eyebrows at Randy. "So, what can I do for you?"
"For starters, you can explain to me why you reneged on our plan." Randy folded his arms over his chest.
Dave's grin broadened across his face. "Bingo."
"Holy Moly!" Shawn exclaimed. "He's done for!"