A/N: Rosie ' s attitude is becoming a problem, Jessie is pissed , and Grace is still training with Shane , the Naturals , and Devine; hope the family can get back together before another attack happens.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the wrestlers that appear in this story. I do own all of my OCs that may appear in this story and the story itself . I also own the Biohazard , Trifecta , and anything to do with them .
Chapter 24 : Facing Fear
Shane ' s Place
Weeks had went by since Grace had started her training with the Franchise , Naturals , and Johnny Devine and it was almost time for her them to go back to normal society to prepare for the next attack from the Biohazard, but before they could go back Grace had one more obstacle she needed to face .
" She ' s been deep in thought all day . " Devine said to Andy and Chase .
" We ' ve noticed , " Andy said .
" Is she ready to go back to her dad ' s and prepare for the coming threat from the Biohazard ? " Chase asked looking at Shane .
" She ' s ready to back to her dad , but only she can really know if she is ready to face Biohazard . " Shane said .
" Not yet , " Grace looked at them .
" What ? " The Naturals asked looking at her .
" I ' m not ready yet , while I maybe able to fight better now , I still haven ' t been able to get rid of the nightmares of that place or figured out what exactly happened there that I missed . " Grace said .
" Meaning ? " Devine asked .
" Meaning if I don ' t have a clear mind then I will be more of a danger to myself and everyone else around when it comes time to face Biohazard or anyone else that may cause a threat to the family . " Grace said .
" I will give her credit for thinking with her head . " Shane said .
" I ' m going back . " Grace said .
" Huh ? " Andy asked .
" I ' m going back to that house . " Grace said .
" You sure ? " Shane asked .
" Yes , I ' m sure , " Grace said .
" And you won ' t be going alone . " Chase said looking at her .
" What ? " Grace asked.
" I ' m going with you , " Chase said .
" You are ? " Grace looked at Chase curiously .
" Look , first of all , I ' m responsible for you and second I need to go and find out how to help Katie . " Chase said making Grace realize what he meant .
" He ' s responsible for her ? " Devine asked Andy .
" I always wonder why he and Chris took so long coming out of the Wildcat ' s house before coming here weeks ago . " Andy said .
" Alright , I can accept it . " Grace said .
" Take Andy with you as well . " Shane said .
" Hmm ? " Grace looked at Shane this time .
" You may need the help and its always better to have three in a group to watch each others ' backs . " Shane said .
" Fine , then I will take both of them with me . " Grace looked at the Naturals remembering that it was them who had rescued her from the house and so maybe it was proper for them to go , too .
The Burnt House
Not long after telling Shane and Devine that they were going to check out the house that Grace and Katie was held captive in by some bad people did Grace and the Naturals arrive at the house . This house was the same house that Grace had been rescued by the Naturals from and the same one that had been set on fire with her and the Naturals in it because the evil man that was over the house at the time didn ' t want her belonging to anyone else . When the three actually approached the house they noticed that part of it was still burnt , but that the house had not burned all the way down .
" So , either it didn ' t burn all the way to the ground , some of it hadn ' t been touched by the fire at all , or someone has been here and started rebuilding part of it back , and at the moment I am hoping its not because of someone wanting to rebuild my nightmare . " Grace said looking at the house knowing that her worst days had been spent in that house .
" So , Katie said something that about the basement being connected to the fallout shelter which would be where we came out from after the fire started . " Andy said looking at the part of the house that was burnt .
" And the keys that came out of Katie and myself would have been connected to the door and other areas of the house blocking them from opening . " Grace said as Chase looked at the house silently .
" Shane said you guys would be coming here . " Chris said walking up to them .
" Dad ? " Grace looked at him .
" Hey , when did you talk to Shane ? " Chase asked .
" When you guys first decided to come here . " Chris said .
" It was my idea , " Grace said looking back at the house and walked to the front porch halfway hoping the door was unlocked , but also hoping no one was inside .
" I figured as much . " Chris said .
" And I need to find out what happened to Katie . " Chase said .
" And I ' m just here to help them . " Andy said .
" Right , " Chris said as Grace tried the door finding it locked .
" Why would someone bother to lock a door if they are just going to burn it down ? " Grace asked kicking the door open .
" Damn , " Chris said when he saw the strength behind Grace ' s kick .
" Training paid off , " Chase and Andy both said .
Grace walked in looking around seeing the big long hall that ran infront of the big windows that Katie had mentioned .
" I remember , " Grace said as she thought about her past as a flash of her as a little girl being made to stand infront of the big windows naked so the sun would burn her , luckily for Grace though that even back then she didn ' t burn easily .
" Grace ? " Chris asked .
" I remember the windows . " Grace said looking at the big windows .
" What about them ? " Chase asked .
" They would make me or maybe even us stand here in front of them bare skin so we would get burned by the sun , something about once we were sunburned bad enough that it would make our skin more tender to hurt worse . I remember it would take awhile for me to burn that bad , but the heat would get to the point where we felt dehydrated . " Grace said .
" Grace , " Chris said sympathetic .
" Dad , I ' m okay , " Grace said walking to the only door she could see finding it to be locked like the others .
" You think they meant for it to be locked so we couldn ' t get out years ago ? " Chase asked looking at Andy .
" Could of been . " Andy said .
Grace knocked on the door testing it to see if she could kick it open like the front door , but what she heard was some sort of metal .
" Won ' t be able to kick through a metal door . " Grace said looking at the lock pulling her old lockpicks out of her pocket .
" Grace , " Chris went to scold her because of him telling her years ago to not resort to her lockpicking talents .
" Now is the time and place for it dad , would be pointless to let such a skill go to waste when you need it . " Grace said picking the door open .
" We may have created a monster . " Andy said .
" Shane may have created a monster . " Chase corrected his partner .
" No , Shane just made me more practical . " Grace said .
" Oh , " Chase and Andy said .
Grace walked inside once the door had been open and looked around remembering the terror she went through as a child in that place . She looked and saw the table laying in the middle of the room that she had been placed on so those horrible people could torture her and use her as their personal entertainment . Grace then looked to the side seeing one of the whips that had been used on her and Katie to keep them obedient to some horrible people .
" Grace ? " Chase asked seeing her deep in thought .
" Yeah , its that bad , " Grace said walking closer to the table seeing the fingernail marks on the table .
Grace touched each mark figuring that they had either belonged to her , Katie , or both of them , there were even teeth marks in places to keep them from screaming .
" Teeth marks , " Andy looked at Grace as he saw them .
" We did it to keep us from screaming , Mr. Sanders and the bad man , while they wasn ' t match we did do that they didn ' t like , us getting to loud was the worst to them . They always feared if someone heard us screaming and if we did they would hurt us worse , if we ever did cry it was always silent , silent tears that were never heard or cared about to the evil people . " Grace said almost ready to cry now for putting herself through the pain again , but knowing that she had to as Grace looked to the burnt end of the house figuring it was pointless to look there knowing the history of that room that eventually lead to her escaping the house and then looked upstairs .
" Grace , you don ' t have to go through this again . " Chris said wanting to stop her from hurting herself .
" Yes I do or else I will never be okay . " Grace looked at her father .
" Grace , " Chris said .
" I need to do this , I need to face my fears . " Grace said going towards the stairs walking up as she walked to the room that she feared to go into .
Grace opened the door as the others appeared behind her as she looked at them and then went into the room as the flashbacks happened . This time they were of this room and of the worst beatings she had ever received from both Mr. Sanders and the bad man . Often she would get them so severely that she would pass out and then cold water would be used to revive her for the next round , the beatings would stop right after she was over her breaking point . Grace could also remember thinking that death would have been better at the time , why wouldn ' t these people just take it far enough to the point where she would never have to suffer again . Of course that was before she knew about her dad , Storm , and everyone else that cared about her , that was before the Naturals had rescued her , and that was before she became the American Kid , the one who would fight against the unjust , so , that way no one would have to go through what she did in that place , in her own personal hell . But , someone else had been in this room everytime she was beat like that , knowing that she was being hurt and enjoying it , not Katie , no they were never in this room at the same time , no , it was her , the same bitch that had allowed her to be taken from her dad in the first place , Gayda , Jackie Gayda had been in the room when she was tortured beyond belief .
" She started this , all of this , and that ' s the reason for Aces & Eights , for Trifecta , and for Biohazard and I will make her pay this time . " Grace said .
" Grace , what is this room ? " Chase asked looking at her seeing the worst fear in Grace ' s eyes that he had ever seen , but also seeing hatred for who ever hurt her .
" I don ' t exactly know what happened to Katie after she was taken from this place and I don ' t really know if what happened to her in this room is the same as what happened to me . But , if there was any place that was hell to both of us and we feared to go into during our time here , then it was this room . This was where the worst of our torture took place , the beatings were the most severe , and we were often pushed just past our breaking point do to them wanting to keep us alive , but in enough pain and terror that we didn ' t lash out against them , or tried to run or fight against them . Before I knew about dad , my mom , Storm , or anything about the family or Impact , there were times that I almost prayed that one day they would take it a little too far and that would be the end of the suffering and horror I went through and then one day like sunlight to countless nightmares , the Naturals showed up pulling me from this place and rescuing me . " Grace said finally allowing tears to come out .
" Grace , " Chris said hugging her .
" Dad , " Grace happy that this wasn ' t her existence anymore and that she was now free .
Chase looked around the room realizing that Katie may have been tortured in this room as well and was definitely relieved to know that she was out of that house and safe with him and Traci .
" You said she started this and you will may her pay , who were you talking about ? " Andy asked .
" Jackie Gayda , she was here in this room everytime I was tortured , screaming in pain , she was here watching and never did a damn thing about it and now she has caused everything the family has been put through , Aces & Eights , Trifecta , Biohazard , its all because of her . " Grace said making Chris clench his teeth in anger at his worst nightmare causing Grace ' s worst nightmare and everything else that had harmed the family .
" But , what about Katie ? How would Gayda know about Katie before this place ? " Chase asked .
" I don ' t think she did until Gayda came here and found out about Mr. Sanders and Cledus , you have to remember that Katie was already here when I was brought to the house . " Grace said .
" Knock , knock , " They heard the Cowboy ' s voice .
" Is that Storm ? " Andy asked walking out and seeing Storm .
" Hey , look its one of the Naturals . " Daniels said .
" What are you guys doing here ? " Chase asked walking out to see Frankie and Team Canada minus Devine and A1 outside with them .
" Checking out the information in one of these files , A1 delivered to us from the Aces & Eights crisis years ago . " Bobby said .
" So , I was right about Gayda being behind the Aces & Eights , too . " Grace said as she and Chris walked out to see them .
" This is awkward , we were trying to find out something before the rest did , so , that way we would seem intelligent and these guys beat us to it . " Frankie said .
" Well , some of us are already intelligent , its just the rest of you needed time to catch up to the brains of the family . " Eric said .
" You just got burned . " Petey said .
" Looks like this place really did get burned . " Daniels looking at the burnt end of the house .
" So , what is this place ? " Storm asked .
" Its where I was held hostage years ago and where the Naturals rescued me from during the Aces & Eights crisis . " Grace said making the others look at her sympathetic knowing what happened .
" So , exactly where does this tunnel that you guy followed lead back to ? " Chris asked curiously .
" Well , if you stand at the other end of the tunnel you can actually see the Impact Zone in the distance . " Frankie said .
" In fact , its in perfect riding distances for those Aces & Eights motorcycles . " Bobby said .
" Gayda is mine when I see her . " Grace said .
" So , Gayda is still a thorn in oursides then ? " James asked .
" Everytime I hear her name . " Chris said .
" Alright , well , there ' s not much we can do here , so , lets get back to civilization and start getting ready to face the next wave of attack from Biohazard when ever it starts . " Petey said .
" I ' m ready to fight the enemy . " Grace said .
" You sure ? " Eric asked .
" Oh , I ' m sure , " Grace grinned methodically .
" Let see it then . " Bobby said holding out his hand .
" Huh ? " Grace asked .
" Give the hand a punch . " Bobby said .
" You sure you want to go there ? " Grace asked .
" I ' m sure , now come on , " Bobby said .
" Alright then , " Grace punching Bobby ' s hand as hard as she could with her right hand .
" Ouch , good grief . " Bobby looked at her as the others did the same .
" Be careful what you wish for , Uncle Bobby . " Grace said walking outside with a shrug of her shoulders .
" Ha , " The Naturals said following Grace out .
" Sorry about your damn luck and your hand , there It Factor . " James said putting a cold beer in Bobby ' s hand .
" Ooo , she ' s definitely ready to fight . " Bobby said as the others followed them out .
" That ' s my girl , " Chris hugged her once they were out and met up with Shane and Devine .
" What happened to your hand , Bobby ? " Devine asked .
" He asked Grace to punch him in the hand . " Andy said .
" And she did with great strength and accuracy just like we taught her to do . " Chase said .
" Good girl , " Shane said .
" Alright , back to civilization before Biohazard shows their ugly mugs . " Grace said .
" What did you do to my daughter ? " Chris asked .
" Taught her how to stand up for herself and how to fight well . " Shane said .
" Hmm , if I remember correctly Chase was the same way while Andy had more of a speed boost to him . " James said .
" Perfect combination . " The Naturals said .
" Or a Natural one , " Grace said .
" Oh yeah , " The Naturals agreed .
" Speaking of Naturals , I need to get back to that beautiful wife and adorable son of mine , so , lets go . " Andy said .
" You guys go on and get back to watching the family I need to go and pick up an extra set of muscles to help out with this situation . " Shane said .
" Who are you bringing in ? " Chase asked curiously .
" You ' ll see soon enough . " Shane said .
Soon , all of them left to go back to civilization in order to get ready for Biohazard ' s next attack .