"Really, AJ? You're gonna spin this to look like the victim?" Mariah asked as she stood at the top of the ramp with her hand on her hip, an amused smirk on her face.
AJ narrowed her eyes as Miz studied a returning Mariah, smirked a little. He had no problems with her, personally, she didn't hold back on her own opinions, she didn't care what anyone thought about what she said. She also didn't care what anyone thought about her.
It was a relief, really.
"I AM! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON!" AJ screamed, livid with anger as she all but lunged like she was going to fly out of the ring, attack Mariah.
"I know enough to say that in exactly two seconds, Lee, I'ma walk down this ramp.. And then one or two things is gonna happen.. Either you're gonna beat my ass, or I'm gonna beat all the crazy off of you."
From behind her, Kaitlyn spoke up as she stepped forward and said with a smug grin, "See, AJ? We're all getting just a little bit sick of your shit. "
"A little, K?" Mariah asked as she gripped her sides in laughter, raked her hand through her hair and looked at AJ, shook her head, started to laugh again.
Natalya's theme hit and Natalya walked out, her hand on her hip also, a smirk on her face as she grabbed the mic Mariah held in her hands and said simply, "Oh, I think it's past a little bit by now, girls. But hey, she's just the victim, right? She never does anything wrong, not even stuff like this." as she pointed up to the Tron, as it replayed every single time that AJ screwed one of the three girls standing at the top of the ramp out of a win.
"And you're not the only one we're all getting more than a little sick of, either."
"But, we decided something backstage, and guess what AJ?"
AJ looked at the three girls practically shaking in anger and embarassment by this point as she asked through gritted teeth, "What?"
"Things are going to change."
"They're gonna change real soon." Mariah added with a smirk as she shuffled her feet, slid her hand into her pocket, slouching casually back against the Tron's steel leg.
"As a matter of fact, ladies, I say they're gonna start changing.. Now." Natalya finished as the three girls started towards the ring, menacing looks on their faces, laughing as AJ's face morphed from an angry mask to a fearful stunned look.
And then the Bella Twins music hit, followed by the music of Layla El.
"What the fuck is this shit?" Mariah hissed as Kaitlyn glared and then said "Dunno, but if what I think is about to happen happens, we're about to have a very uneven fight."
"No.. That little .. She cannot have possibly assembled those twits before she even knew about the attack we had planned." Natalya whispered back as AJ laughed into her mic and then said "It's cute, really.. The way you three seem to think I wasn't gonna find out how you were all planning to attack me, Brie and Nikki and Layla."
"Who the fuck told her?" Mariah asked, growing increasingly angry as she added, "Ah fuck it. I'm probably gonna wind up getting suspended for a while, guys, but I ain't about to go down like this. Not just no but hell no."
To their shock and surprise, as soon as Brie and Nikki's music hit and Layla's had finished, the theme song for Eve began to play.
"What the fuck?"
Eve smirked as she stopped beside Kaitlyn and said "Let me have the mic."
"Umm, no?"
"Trust me.. You want me to get that mic, Kaitlyn."
"Fine.."
Mariah sneered at Eve, they'd never really gotten on well, but then again, the one thing they did agree on was just how much they all hated three of the four girls in the ring currently, smirking, gloating as if they'd done something good, something that'd result in their "ruling" the Diva division.
"Hey, AJ?"
"What."
"Remember what I told you the last time we talked?" Eve asked in a mockingly sweet voice as she looked at the roster's 'crazy chick' and smirked.
"You cannot come back and think you're going to take this title back, Eve. It won't happen, there's no way McMahon will allow it.. Does he even know you're down here?" she asked.
Miz stood back, letting the little scene unfold. This was above and beyond what he THOUGHT he'd be getting when he'd agreed to interview AJ and Big E tonight.
Mr. McMahon's music hit about this time, and he strutted down to the ring and stood about halfway between the girls in the ring and the girls on the ramp.
"There IS a way to settle this, ladies."
"Oh really?" Mariah started as she glared at Mr. McMahon openly. Oh yes, she was very much her father's daughter, she didn't like authority, she loathed the way Mr. McMahon seemed to think himself ruler of all, king dick of the year.
"Yes, really."
"Well then, what pray tell is that, exactly? And I don't mean some crazy ass scheme that winds up with you screwin the actual fighters in this damn arena over either.." Mariah spoke firmly, as she smirked, stepped closer to McMahon.
She'd meant every single word she'd said in the meeting with creative earlier. She was NOT here to be a sex object, nor was she here to be paraded around like some puppet on a string.
She was here to fight.
She was here to prove that women could get in the square circle and kick ass, dominate.
And she'd told him that she was NOT going to fit any mold he dared put her in. He'd said he was fine with it, he'd promised her complete control over her image, the marketing that went into it, and she expected him to damn well keep that promise.
" I was simply going to suggest an 8 diva match for number one contendership.. The belt will be suspended on a cable above a ladder. First lady to the top of the ladder gets the shot at the Diva's title on Summerslam."
Kaitlyn looked at him a moment, then at the other girls who'd come down here with her, agreed to be on her side of this little private locker room war they'd had going for a long time now.
"Girls?"
Eve rolled her eyes and then took the mic as she said "How about a battle royale also? Not only do you have to eliminate everyone else, McMahon, but you still have to be able to climb that ladder and grab the belt. I mean, if you're trying to prove you're not sexist.. The guys get MITB.. What do us girls ever get?"
The four girls standing at the top of the ramp eyed him expectantly, curious as to how he'd answer this question. They were sick of their division being the joke of the sport, thanks to the likes of AJ, Brie and Nikki, the newer additions that'd come on..
When girls like Natalya, who have been there for more than a few years at this point have only held the title maybe once, and not for very long, where as a girl like AJ Lee could come in and hold the title for months?
The backstage politics were definitely looks based, acting based, behind the scenes.
Vince thought it over and smirking said "Okay, ladies.. If that's how you want it, then that's how it'll go. But there's one thing I'd like to add, if you don't mind?"
Natalya glared a little and then said stiffly, "Go ahead."
" Anything goes."
Mariah gaped at the man.. What was he up to? He knew hardcore was her chosen medium, the girl loved to get her hands on a good weapon, she'd always been a down and dirty fighter.
She couldn't be a face diva if she tried, really. In the ring? Mariah Myers - Calloway, mother of one and laid back Southern sweetheart ceased to exist.
In that ring, Mariah's killer instincts surfaced and she tried her best to leave any opponent shaking in fear or lying flat on their back, preferrably bloody, looking up at the building's rafters.
The girls whispered amongst themselves and then looked up as Eve said "Okay, we're good.. Why not ask the pussies in the ring what they think.."
Kaitlyn looked at Eve and mouthed, "Since when do you say the word pussy?"
"Since I'm coming back with complete control over my persona, that's when. I'm gonna be me. No glamour, no vendettas, no corporate asskissing aspirations. Just me, Eve Marie Torres."
"Fucking finally." Mariah grumbled as she raked her hands through her hair.
In the ring, AJ turned to Brie, Nikki and Layla as she hissed, "He cannot do this to me!"
"Oh he can, AJ.. And apparently, dearie, he is." Layla intoned as she sighed and then said "So.. We're either one of them or with the likes of you."
"I am the Divas champion, Layla, I'd watch that tone if I were you."
Brie ignored the other two and she and Nikki snatched the mic as Nikki laughed and said "Why wait, Mr. McMahon.. We're ready to go right now. Honestly don't know if we can say the same about those four trashy skanks."
By this point, Mariah, Eve and Kaitlyn were barely holding back and if Mariah hadn't caught Natalya, she probably would have snapped Brie Bella like a twig.
Backstage, some of the guys paused in the locker room, turning up the tv's volume.
"Is this really happening?"
"Right now, man."
"No shit? Somebody's finally gonna stomp that little crazy sack of crap in the ground?"
"Apparently, Swagger.. For an 'All American, buddy, you sure do make the rest of us look like retards when you say retarded stuff like that."
Down in the ring, Miz smirked as he looked at the women standing in the ring with him and asked, "Well? What's it gonna be, ladies?"
"Oh we're in."
"HE CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! IT'S MINE! THIS TITLE IS ALL I HAVE LEFT!"
Mariah cupped her hands around her mouth and called out brazenly, "Won't have that much longer, either, from the looks of it, crazy bitch." as her 'friends' laughed hysterically for a moment.
"Fuck this, they're taking too damn long, ladies." Kaitlyn muttered as she crouched and speared AJ over the back of the couch, turning it over.
Miz and McMahon barely had time to move before all hell broke loose. The bell rang to start the match about halfway into the brawl, and it was every girl for herself.
Just as AJ went for a Black Widow on Kaitlyn, Mariah smirked as she sent a chair she just happened to find lying nearby, at ringside, at the back of AJ's head.
The second AJ was on the ground, Mariah busied herself straddling the fallen Diva, choking her as realistically as she could get away with on live tv, without getting fined.
"It seems like the girls are turning into animals tonight, King."
"You don't say, Cole."
" It's about time they showed some spark, hell.." JBL muttered as the three commentators watched the match.
Eve grabbed hold of Nikki Bella and smirking said "Awww.. Did I rip out some hair?" as she used Nikki's hair to slam her head into an exposed turnbuckle.
On the other side of the ring, Natalya held Brie in place while Kaitlyn got a running start, sent a bicycle kick to her face, giggling in a mocking tone as she said "Oops."
"Hell, K.. That's plastic surgery that actually looks worth a fuck." Mariah murmured as she ducked a roundhouse kick from Layla, and turned the tables by latching onto Layla after getting her into the ropes, and doing a somersault three quarter facelock bulldog .
"Ya act like that hurt, El.. Get up you fucking drama queen." Mariah stated boredly as she stifled a yawn while ducking a chair shot that Nikki tried to send her way.
AJ scrambled for the ladder.. She couldn't let any of these girls take what belonged to her, what she had left after all of her losses, all of the supposed and imagined pain she'd suffered.
"Oh hell no." Kaitlyn muttered as she yanked the ladder from beneath her former friend, then climbed a rope, diving down, driving her forearm into AJ's throat.
Backstage, the men in the locker room were all now crowded around the television.. They hadn't actually seen any of the girls fight like this, really. They knew the girls possessed the ability, of course, but for some reason, McMahon preferred to water them down, make them less of a threat.
"Oh shit.. Did she just take off her belt and wrap it around her fist?"
"Son, that's a move daddy taught her I bet my life on it.. Undertaker's a cold son of a bitch." one of the guys muttered as they watched while onscreen Mariah used her leather belt to punch someone in the face.
"McMahon never should have said anything goes.." Heath chuckled as he nudged Justin Gabriel and asked, "Remember that time she got it in her head that she was gonna go up against Nexus with nothing but a steel chair, just because she got sick of our shit?"
"Actually, it wasn't all of Nexus, Heath.. She was just sick of Wade's hitting on her, buddy."
"Still though."
"What do you think, man? She's not some weak little girl.. I mean she grew up back here.. Same as my Nattie." Tyson said proudly, as he added, "And Undertaker, hell.. He was her only parent, really."
"Yeah, that kinda explains things." someone muttered as finally, the match was won by Natalya Neidhart with surprisingly NONE of her friends coming to try and take advantage of the open ladder, themselves.
Natalya didn't see anyone around her, and everyone was busy, so she bit her lip in determination as Kaitlyn yelped, "Fucking do it, Nattie! Remember what we were all talking about.."
She gave a nod, and hurriedly stood the ladder up, climbed it, and nearly got knocked off by Brie Bella, who saw her and stopped her little fight with both Layla El and Eve Torres long enough to come over, try and stop Natalya from trying to get up the ladder and grab the belt.
Eve saw her though and grabbed her by her hair, slinging her to the mat as she asked Brie, "Going somewhere, Bella twit?"
She dived onto her, then sat on top of her and Natalya climbed the ladder, grabbed the belt.
The four females shot one another smirks.. So far, their little hastily formed plan was going off rather well, if they had to say so.. Even though they hadn't counted on Eve not only coming back, but coming back as someone not a pain in the ass, and on their side.
The four women limped up the ramp backwards, staring in shock at the chaos they left in their wake, arms around each other's shoulders as the crowd went insane for a Diva match for once. From his spot at the announcer table, Mr. McMahon muttered, "Well I'll be damned."
Backstage, the four women tried to make their way to the medic to get cleaned up, looked over. It had been a free for all, basically, nobody came away without an injury.
"That was slick, the thing with the belt."
"Yeah? Well where the hell did you learn to get your leg up that high, Torres?"
"You'd be amazed." Eve smirked as she leaned in and whispered cheekily, "I'll teach you guys sometime."
"Damn it to hell.. Those bitches ripped my Sturgis bike fest shirt." Mariah noticed as Kaitlyn peeled off her top most tanktop and tossed it at her friend as she looked at the other 3 women and said quietly, "Thanks.. I mean in all of this, you guys are sticking by me, it really does mean a lot."
"You're our girl, boo."
"Look, we might have had our differences in the past, Kaitlyn, but any one of us as champion is tons better than any one of them, any day of the week. And if we want a change? We're going to just about have to reach out and take it." Eve pointed out as Natalya nodded in agreement and added, "Carpe Diem."
"Veni Vedi Vecci." Mariah mused as she winced and said "But really.. Who the hell hit me in the ribs with the fuckin chair, though?"
"Oh that was Nikki."
"Yeah, remind me to strangle her next time I see her. I think she bruised one of 'em. Damn it. Crap."
The hushed whispering of the men lingering in front of the monitor in the medics office stopped when the four women walked in, leaning heavily on one another. Stella raced over to her mommy from where she'd been sitting with Naomi and Cameron, Brodus and Tensai.
"That was awesome, mama!"
"Yeah, but baby? Don't try any of that stuff okay?"
"I won't." Stella promised as Mariah bent down carefully, went to pick up Stella, only to have her father walk over, take Stella as he sternly pointed to the inner office area of the medic while trying not to laugh.
"I told ya you missed it." he called out as she waved him off, limped into the office behind her friends.
Sitting in the medics office, she found herself surrounded by the three men who'd attacked her father not so long ago.
She rolled her eyes dismissively before abruptly turning to face Natalya, Kaitlyn and Eve.
"Whoa.. Any reason you did that?"
"Yeah.. Because if I hadn't, girls, I'd have been in another damn fight. Hounds my ass.. More like scoundrels." she muttered slightly loud as Eve snickered and then said "Yeah? Well one of 'em is a horndog.. He's looking you up and down.."
"Lemme guess.. Fucking Ambrose."
"One and the same." Kaitlyn said as she winked cheekily at Seth who smirked, gave a nod.
"He can stare all he wants, ladies, because this kitchen ain't open. I'd rather have sex with a troll."
At that remark, Dean smirked and called out boldly, "Yeah? Well I heard Daniel Bryan's going longer than 8 minutes now days."
"Ooh, and he's got facial handlebars too.. Wouldn't that piss in Brie's kool aid?" Mariah mused as Natalya turned and said to Dean, "Do you mind? You're only encouraging her, Ambrose."
Dean snickered and Mariah flipped him off covertly as she muttered "I fucking hate that guy."
"Because they attacked your dad, right?"
"That and about 10 million other reasons." Mariah muttered as she drummed her fingers against the table top in front of them impatiently and whined, "What's taking so long, jesus christ."
"You act like you don't like doctors."
"Actually, K.. I believe this has been established already, love.. I hate 'em. Didn't we have this discussion a few years back when we wound up sitting in an ER at 2 because that one girl wouldn't just piss off, and I got into a fight, bit off more than I could chew and wound up getting busted in the head by a long neck bottle?"
"Yeah.. Not your finest moment, sweetheart." Kaitlyn muttered as Eve laughed a little and then added, "I think I saw that."
"Yeah.. Like Kaitlyn said.. Not my finest moment.. It was before I had Stell, I was going through some stuff and.. Let's just say I'm a blackout drinker, leave it at that."
Across the office, Randy Orton listened to the group of women as he smirked to himself while reading a back issue of sports illustrated. Truth be told, he'd sort of thought Mariah was cute when she'd been on the roster the first time around, he just never said anything then.
The door to the medic's office opened and Sheamus walked out, grumbling about the doctors continued warnings about his leg. He stopped a moment and then studied the new (she was new to him, actually, he hadn't been on the roster long when she'd been here last, they'd barely talked) diva with interest. "Helluva foight out tere, lass."
" Woulda been better if it woulda went to the parking lot." Mariah mused with a slight wink as she bit her lower lip and eyed the bruise on his leg.
"Ouch.. Yeah, that's a hell of a bruise, Irish."
"Indeed et es, Texas." Sheamus said as he winked back casually, then remarked, " Tat black eye es gonna hurt loike bloody hell in te mornin."
"Probably so. Actually, we're probably all gonna feel like we got hit by a damn train to be completely honest." Mariah said as Randy spoke up and then said "Looked like you guys were having fun out there."
Natalya laughed and said with a smirk, "Actually, Orton, we kinda were." and looked briefly from Mariah, who was now turned upside down in the chair, reading an old issue of Rolling Stone, with her feet resting on the wall near the window, and then back to Orton, who sort of every now and then cut his eyes in Mariah's direction.
Yep, he still liked checking her out.
Sometimes, Natalya wondered if her friend even really noticed that guys seemed to check her out a lot.. Or at least 2 or three that she knew of did..
Mariah never really seemed to act as if she were aware of it, it was one of many reasons Natalya liked her. Kaitlyn leaned in and muttered, "Me thinks somebody likes our little buddy."
"And so do I.. Two somebodies, actually." Eve muttered as she smirked at Zack who sat nearby, watching Mariah sort of curiously.
"Make that 3. Ambrose will not stop looking over here. It's beginning to give me the creeps, actually." Natalya shivered as Kaitlyn said "And Sheamus was kind of flirting with her just now, I don't think she even noticed."
"She didn't. That's what made it so cute to watch." Eve said matter of factly as they helped one another into the inner office of the in house medic.
As they walked out, Mariah rolled her eyes one last time in the Shield's direction and muttered, "They fuck with my dad again, they're on my shit list next." to herself.
She couldn't really explain why Ambrose unnerved her like he did, he just sort of always had, every time they'd ran into one another.
In the hallway, she took Stella from her father, and to her surprise, Randy walked over and asked casually, "This cannot possibly be that little tiny girl I held in one hand after you had her, Riah."
"Believe it or not, Viper, she is." Mariah said proudly as Stella said "You held me? Cooool." and looked at him with wide eyes. Last time she'd been here, she'd been maybe 2, she didn't really remember too many of the guys her mom worked with, mostly because her mom was either always with her grandpa, or she was hanging out with Kaitlyn and Natalya, her godmothers.
But she would like to have a daddy, it'd be really nice.. She looked from Randy to her mommy and then smiling said "I a big girl now. Not a baby."
"Yes, you are." Randy said with a smile as he asked, "How old are you, little old lady?" jokingly as he bent to her level.
"I 5, Mr. Viper."
"Ahh, 5.. Good age."
"Mhmm." Stella said as she gaped at Sheamus when he walked out of the office, then commenced to waving her arms frantically.
Sheamus chuckled and walked over to his friend, Randy as he looked at the little girl. If at all possible, she was just as pretty as her mother, he found himself shocked to be thinking this, considering as he barely knew either of them.
" I likes when you kicks people in the face. It funny." Stella giggled as she looked up at the ginger haired male and then asked, "You leg better? I seen the bruise on my mama's tv."
"It's gettin better, little lass." Sheamus said as he looked at her and smiling asked, "So yeh watch the show?"
"Mhmm.. I likes you and Viper and... That man with the long black hair, but mama say I not supposed to, cause he one of the asses that attacked poppa."
Sheamus snickered as Mariah palmed her face and groaning said "Stella.. We've had this discussion already. Those are big people words, you're not supposed to say 'em."
"Mama, I sorry, it just what you say."
Stella bit her lower lip as she cautiously went to the two men standing in front of her, first Sheamus, then to Randy.
"Can you shows me around back here? Poppa say he will, but he started watchin mama fight and got 'cited."
"If yer mom says it's alroight, lass." Sheamus said as he shifted his gaze back to Mariah who thought it over a moment and then said "Maybe another night, Stel.. They're probably tired, baby.. Speaking of tired, let's go find a seat.. Mommy's worn slam out right now."
"Otay mommy."
As she walked off with her 'friends' and her daughter, she wasn't aware, but a few of the men in question were watching her, each with their own thoughts in mind.
But she never really paid much attention to men flirting with her, really, so she was totally unaware of this. The men involved, however, were not, and looks were exchanged, a silent challenge amongst them all was issued.
Sitting down in catering, she unwrapped the cheeseburger she'd grabbed for Stella, and then munched on her own cheeseburger as she and Kaitlyn ,Natalya and Eve talked about the past few years, how the Diva's locker room got so bad that none of them could stomach being in it for very long.
"But with our plan though, that's all about to change. I'm so sick of getting screwed over because I'm not enough of a bimbo or crazy enough."
"Speak for yourself. Having been on both sides of the fence, I gotta say.. I'm enjoying this one so much more." Eve said as she fed Stella a french fry, smiled at the little girl and asked Mariah, "Where's her father?"
Mariah gritted her teeth.. The one question she didn't like discussing. She muttered quietly, "I'll tell you later. I don't like discussing it when Stel's around. I think it upsets her because she never got to meet him."
The four women fell silent a few moments, and then to change the subject Kaitlyn asked with a smirk, "So.. We're all playing cards at the hotel tonight, right?"
"Umm, yeah? I mean unless you three are too scared to lose all that money." Mariah joked as Natalya explained to Eve, "Our girls night, since we've always had Stella around, is all of us, playing Texas Hold 'Em.. We drink a little when Volt's gone to sleep."
"Count me in." Eve smirked as the women laughed a little and high fived one another. All in all, it really looked like their tentative plan to take back the divsion and take it by storm, well.. It just might be working after all.
A/N: Holy crap on a cracker! I'm so happy, so many reviews already, and I've only really just started this one! I love you guys soooooo freakin much, you're all amazing! I'm so glad you like this, I was worried it'd be a little too out there or something, but..
That said, I need to ask you guys something.. Who do you see with Mariah/Stella? I'm not even sure who she'd go with, I only have basic bare things figured out about her personality, actually.. I do know she's kinda like a country/biker/tomboy type and she doesn't take anyone's crap.. So yeah, that's all I do know for now.
Suggestions, ladies?
The chapter above.. I got inspired while watching Miz Tv for tonight. And yeah, while I'm not eve's biggest fan, judging by what the line up is as of late? I'd take her back over this crap with AJ and the Bellas. I realize that it all probably would never go down this way, but what the hell, right? It's my imagination, lol. Blame my overactive imagination..
Roman's not up for a pairing in this one, btw, just in case I actually pick up writing my roman x oc story later. But yeah, That's about it.
Thanks so much for all the reviews, I hope you guys are liking the story so far.