Chapter 6
"Cena, heard you've been replaced...by me. Kane beat your ass?"
John stopped, contemplating Phil and his options. He could walk out with his tail tucked between his legs. Or he could beat the shit out of this idiot, take the fine and then go out to the ring anyway.
"Nothing to say, champ?"
John was pretty sure there was a temple throbbing in his forehead.
"Rajani, come quick! Punk is down!"
Her eyes closed because Rajani knew exactly who did it, sighing. "Damn you John." She whispered, standing up from the chair and hurried out as fast as she could after him, which was slower than usual.
She arrived on the scene, the EMT's already looking over Phil and Rajani knew there was no way he could compete. What was she supposed to do now, Rajani thought, wishing this night from pure hell would end. Why was John making this harder for her? First Beth and now Phil...Stephanie was going to terminate her on the spot and Rajani wouldn't blame her.
"What do you wanna do now, Rajani? The main event needs someone else..."
"Just...give me a minute to think please."
"What about Kane?" Alex suggested, shrugging when she looked at him. Kane was scheduled to do a promo aimed at John, but since John had yet again gone M.I.A. and was apparently on a 'taking people out' streak… "Sorry Rajani, it was just a suggestion and he's another big name." He groaned, running a hand down his face, really glad he wasn't in her spot. That would royally suck. "Just…any decision you make, don't let anyone but that person know, just in case Cena decides to swing another chair or something."
"Right." The only wrestler she could think of that Rajani knew John wouldn't attack with a chair...at least she hoped anyway...was Kane, but he was nowhere to be found and had probably already left the arena by now. "Big name, need a big name..." She suddenly snapped her fingers, knowing Mark Henry was in the heel tag team of the main event and there was someone who had unfinished business with him that would fit the build. "Undertaker. It makes sense, have him replace Phil."
"Y-You want me to..." Alex grew a pale white, the color draining out of his face.
Sighing, Rajani knew she would have to deliver the news on her own and headed down the hallway toward the Undertaker's dressing room while Phil was taken to the hospital to be looked over. Taker sat in his dressing room, having a moment of 'catching up' with Glen/Kane. When he heard the knock on his door, he rumbled out a 'come in', both men looking up when the 'boss/gopher' walked in.
Kane had to turn his head to hide his smirk.
Taker didn't bother hiding his. "Can I help you, darlin'?" He asked in a low, husky voice.
So this is where Kane/Glen hung out on his downtime...Rajani would have to remember that for the future and nodded. "Actually, I need to speak with Kane for a second."
Screw it, Kane made more sense instead of Taker, he would have to suffice for the main event that night. Alex had a great idea. Rajani would make sure to give praise to Stephanie about him at a later date.
"It's regarding the main event for tonight." Rajani felt her stomach tightening slightly and immediately swallowed it, smiling tentatively. "Please?"
"Need a replacement for Cena?" Kane asked, bored.
Though everyone in the room already knew the answer. Word traveled fast and Taker always kept his ear to the ground, so did Kane for that matter. When she simply nodded, he nodded as well. Taker suddenly arched an eyebrow, looking over at his friend.
"What exactly happened to Cena?"
"Probably a broken rib."
"Your doing?" Taker shook his head when Kane simply shrugged, his hair falling down into his face, which hid the amused look in his eyes.
"Actually, he refused to be examined by the doctors so I took him out of the main event to prevent further injury. WrestleMania is coming up, can't take any chances." Rajani quickly explained, refusing to have her feathers ruffled considering Kane had attacked John earlier by tossing him through her office door, which had already been replaced. "The main event is in 30 minutes, Kane." Her eyes moved to Taker, keeping the smile on her face, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Have a good night, gentlemen." Turning, Rajani walked away from the door, breathing in and out evenly. She handled that better than originally planned.
"You're a sick bastard, you know that right?"
"I did learn it from you. Besides, if I'm sick, you're sick as well for knowing what you do and not speaking up."
"Hey, I openly admit I'm twisted and, besides, it's amusing." Taker leaned back in his chair, flicking his hair back out of his face. "So...Cena has taken out Stephanie, Beth and Phil...surprised the boss didn't bother mentioning that..."
"The official story is he has bruised or cracked ribs." Kane smirked, shaking his head. "What a crying shame..."
No sooner had Rajani stepped out of Taker's dressing room, she was approached. "Rajani?"
She turned to see Eve coming toward her, blinking when the woman practically shoved her into the nearest dressing room, shutting the door behind her. "Eve, I really don't have time for this..."
"Yes you do." Her shock was gone and Eve refused to let another one of her friends get hurt. "It was Kane."
"Sorry?" Her head was beginning to pound from everything that happened tonight.
"Tonight. Beth's attacker. It was Kane." Eve hoped she didn't regret telling Rajani this information, tears in her eyes. "Please don't say..."
"Thank you and don't worry, you won't be mentioned with this."
Rajani hugged Eve and walked out of the room, wondering what the hell Kane was plotting. Would he hurt someone else just on a whim or was there a motive for each one of his moves? John was innocent and Rajani couldn't help feel a sense of huge relief wash over her as she headed back to her office. Maybe replacing John with Kane for the main event was a bad idea.
Eve figured she should start writing her will, knowing if Kane ever found out, -he probably would, the creep- he would send her to the hospital next. So, with that thought in mind, she point blank refused to leave the Diva's dressing room and had already made arrangements to leave with the other girls just so she wouldn't be alone. Maybe she was being paranoid, but...maybe she wasn't.
Kane was too busy prepping for his match to worry about anything, except John Cena showing his face at the last minute. He knew the boy hadn't left like he had been ordered too but instead locked himself in his room. He fully expected Cena to crash the tag match. Kane couldn't have been more right. When John found out that Kane, of all people was taking HIS place in the match, he was livid. When he next heard that he was being blamed for Phil…well, he wasn't really surprised, because he had insinuated he would do it. Talk about fucking himself over.
"Hell..." He cursed, locked in his dressing room, examining his sides and wondering when all this craziness was going to just stop. "Not tonight, that's for damn sure."
"Beth has a grade A concussion and they've put her in an induced coma to let her brain heal. It was a massive blow to the head, according to the doctor. Whoever attacked her meant to do some serious damage and put her out for a while." Alex frowned, hoping John Cena wouldn't be capable of this type of cruelty.
"Jesus..." Beth was the WWE Women's Champion right now and she'd been brutally and viciously attacked by a lunatic...all on Rajani's watch. "D-Did the doctors say when they would wake her up?"
"They don't know right now, her brain has swelled a lot though. It's just going to depend on when the swelling goes down..."
Beth was one of her good friends. Rajani rushed past Alex into her private bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach and bit back a cry of pain as a ripple raced up her side. Throwing up was definitely not professional, but Rajani couldn't help it, the amount of pressure and stress she felt completely overwhelming. Alex made sure she was alright before leaving, having other duties to do before he could head back to the hotel for the night. Rajani had the monitor on so she could listen to the main event while getting back to the mountain of paperwork stacked on her desk. She contemplated what to do about what Eve told her, trying to figure out what Stephanie would do. Sighing, Rajani closed her eyes before beginning to write Kane up for abusing a fellow employee, which was against regulations in the company. Phil's attacker still hadn't been revealed and until that happened, she wasn't writing John up until either someone stepped forward or she spoke directly to Phil.
Alex had sort of taken it upon himself to be Rajani's gopher throughout the night, which was kind of funny when he thought about it. Gopher for the gopher, he'd have to remember to chuckle about it later. He could not recall Vince, Stephanie or even Shane having a night like this before. Two people down to backstage attacks that WEREN'T scripted, a boss who stressed herself into a fainting spell or something…Rajani was having the night from hell.
"Cena, you-" Alex stepped into the man's now open dressing room, having been heading for his area to finish up his own work and then spotted the open door. Cena wasn't in there. "Oh...damn it..."
Mark Henry was currently in the ring, moving slower than a turtle while Kane pounded on him with his huge fists. This man had really lost his mind since returning to the company. Mark Henry had been partially responsible for putting him out of commission, so he knew Kane had a lot of pent-up aggression in his system.
"Damn it..." He grunted when Kane booted him in the face, dropping him and making the ring shake.
Randy's eyes widened when Sheamus hopped down, stopping Wade Barrett in his tracks, distracting the referee. "What the...?"
One second Henry was in the air with Kane's leather glove wrapped around his throat, the next he was on top of Kane for the pin, thanks to a chair shot to Kane's skull from...Cena. "COME ON REF!" He bellowed out.
Randy and Sheamus both cheered when they got the pin, Mark Henry's hand raised in victory.
"GODDAMN IT, CENA!" Rajani roared from the back, completely livid with his actions.
Honestly, who thought for one second, that John wasn't going to do this? If Rajani had really wanted to stop him then she should have either one, made sure he had been escorted from the building and two, kept security posted along all access points to the ring for when he managed to get back into the building. That or she was just too trusting, or probably a bit preoccupied with all the backstage attacks, that he was probably suspect number one for. Ignoring the celebrating Randy and Sheamus, he continued his assault on Kane, finally throwing away the chair when it literally broke over the other man's back.
Kane shielded his throbbing head and laughed through the pain at the same time. Security rushed out to the ring to stop the carnage, pulling John off of Kane while Randy and Sheamus just looked on in bewilderment. Rajani as pacing back and forth backstage, chewing her thumbnail and knew she was screwed if Kane was injured badly. That would be three Superstars who were down for the count while she was in charge. Did she quit now or try putting her two week notice? There was no way in hell she would be keeping her job after a night like this.
"Escort him out of the building." Rajani ordered as soon as John came backstage, security surrounding him. "Where's Kane?"
"He shoved us away and went another route to get back here." The security guard answered.
"Christ, he needs to be checked out after those brutal shots..." Rajani muttered, not really caring, but had to remain professional and unbiased.
"I'm sure he'll get himself checked out." Taker said from behind, having emerged in order to watch Cena be brought backstage, his brilliant emerald green eyes narrowed to half slits. He was considered a locker room leader, his more...brutal sicker tendencies...not as well-known. "You fucked up, Cena."
"Yeah, piss off Calaway; I didn't see you telling him he fucked up when he went after Ryder!"
Taker arched an eyebrow and took a threatening step forward, freshly showered and in his street clothes. Black skintight jeans and a long sleeved black thermal shirt with black steel toed boots, perfect clothing to deliver an ass kicking in. Rajani's eyes enlarged and she shook her head, knowing this couldn't happen, not with everything else that had gone down tonight.
"PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD JUST STOP THE FIGHTING!" Rajani erupted, not caring who heard her because, at this point, Rajani was at the breaking point. "ENOUGH! You are NOT fighting, not after everything else that has happened tonight! Beth and Punk have already been sent to the damn hospital, Kane is off god knows where with a bleeding head and you are at each other's throats now?! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH EVERYONE? This is NOT good for the company or for business! Cena, you and Kane have stressed Stephanie out so much that she literally COULD NOT do her goddamn job because you and Kane SENT HER OVER THE EDGE! Just like you're sending ME over the edge! There cannot be any more casualties tonight, especially with 2 of the top stars in this company who should be setting examples for others instead of trying to rip each other's throats out. Think before you act, you're supposed to be locker room leaders, not acting like 5 year old children!" Rajani stormed away from all of them, knowing security would take care of John while Taker just stood there silent and still as a statue.
After a second, Taker shrugged and threw the punch anyway, catching Cena in the mouth. "Mind yourself." He warned, watching as John felt his now bleeding lip. It took weeks for Stephanie to lose her mind and only hours for Rajani, Cena and Kane had really upped their game tonight. "Now get the hell out of here and go have those ribs checked."
John simply nodded stiffly and walked away, the tips of his ears burning red.
"Did she really scream 'fucking god' or was I hearing things?"
"Nope, not hearing things, she screamed it." Alex informed him evenly.
Taker started laughing.
"I'm quitting, I can't handle this type of business. What the hell was he thinking getting me into this?!" Rajani mumbled while stalking back to the office, needing some aspirin and refused to let the tears that filled her eyes fall.
She couldn't handle it, these men didn't give a damn about authority or anything of the nature. No wonder Vince had finally handed over the reins to his daughter and son-in-law, Paul Levesque. If anyone could handle what happened tonight, it was him. She was going to kill her big brother when he came on the road with the company for convincing Rajani it was the best internship for her to take. He'd lost his damn mind!
This was a night Taker doubted he would ever forget. He could not remember a night in recent history where things had been so...messed up. He knew back in the Attitude Era, a lot of screwed up things had gone down backstage when the cameras weren't rolling, but...that was then and this was now. It was interesting to say the least. Dear Princess Stephanie was going to have a heart attack when she came back and found out about all this...and he grinned wickedly at the thought. Knowing that even if she been there, she probably wouldn't have been able to prevent it. Whistling, Taker walked down the hall towards the exit.