Chapter 61: Family Turmoil

Normal POV

"To be honest, he kinda looked like your cousin Jasper you guys."

"Uh . . . come again?" Nate asked in a stunned stupor, his eyes wide in shock as he looked at the British Diva as if she had grown a second head. Randy remained silent and still; his face an expressionless mask as he digested the idea that one of his own cousins would be one of the people behind his soulmate's sudden kidnapping. "Jasper . . . Really? Are you serious Layla?"

"Well, the guy does look similar to Jasper, in my opinion . . ." mumbled Layla as she rested her head on Sheamus' shoulder. "It didn't take long for him to notice Kelly and I . . . We were fairly hidden behind a stack of crates, but I guess he smelled us out . . . The next thing I know, I'm on the ground waking up to see Sheamus looking at me with a worried expression on his face. . ."

"Great, an invisible person and a man that looks like our cousin is behind Amanda's kidnapping. Can this day get any better . . ." mumbled Nate as he shook his head. "Well probably not considering it's already started to rain outside. I highly doubt we'll be able to track them by smell in this weather."

"Maybe Monica can help us out with the rest of the details . . ." mumbles Kelly as she slowly sits up. "If she looks through either mine of Layla's memories, maybe she can help us fill in the blanks."

"I'll go get her." said Lita as she jogged out the room.

"So Doc, have you figured out what happened to make Layla and Kelly pass out?" asked Ted as he looked at the doctor with a curious look on his face.

"From what I've been able to gather so far, I'm certain that Layla and Kelly weren't knocked out by physical means," said Dr. Amman as he put down his notepad. "I did not find any evidence on the two of you that correspond with a physical attack. However, I did find some powdery residue in the girls' hair that corresponds with a spell, preferably one casted by a warlock."

"A warlock huh?" mumbled Layla as she shook her head. "It was probably done by the invisible guy. He could have used an invisibility spell on himself so that no one saw his face, therefore protecting his identity."

"Steph and Hunter did say that Memphis was being terrorized be a group of supernatural criminals these past couple of months," said Nate as he crossed his arms. "It's hard to catch them simply because no one knows who they are . . . No one has seen their faces and lived to tell the tale about it."

"Maybe the laddies are slacking then . . ." suggested Sheamus as he raised an eyebrow. "No one has seen their faces at all . . . well, until tonight when Kelly and Layla saw the Jasper lookalike. If they're keen on keeping their identities a secret, wouldn't they have killed our lassies in order to not have their secret come out, or would have taken them with them, at least so that they wouldn't blab it to anyone or something."

"Maybe they tried to make the girls forget them inside," suggested Edge as he finally jumped into the conversation. "Here's my theory on this whole situation: Say the invisible guy is a warlock. When the Jasper lookalike smelled Layla and Kelly out, he alerted him, who then used a mind spell on them so that they could forget what was happening at that moment. The spell ended up making you both pass out, which made Kelly forget about most of what happened while Layla's the opposite. . . I haven't figured out why that is yet . . ."

"I can probably guess why . . ." said Dr. Amman. "Layla's a rock elemental, and rock elementals are naturally hardheaded people. Their stubbornness makes them less susceptible to attacks to the mind, especially attacks of the magic variety."

"Oh . . . so it's my stubbornness that's helped to preserve most of my memories . . . Who would have thought?" said Layla as she looked at the group shock, just as Lita returned to the room with Monica right behind her. "Ah, there's our psychic . . . I'm guessing Lita told you what happened?"

"She gave me the general overview, and now I'm here to fish out the specific details . . ." said Monica as she let out a small breath. "Who wants to go first?"

"You should go with Layla first . . . Her memories are in much better shape than mine . . ." mumbled Kelly as she pointed to her head. Monica only shook her head before walking over to Layla and Sheamus. She placed three fingers on her fellow Divas forehead before closing her eyes, never moving until at least a full three minutes had passed by, her eyes widening in shock as she dropped her hand to her side.

"What the hell . . ." grumbled Monica as she shook her head. "How did Jasper get involved in this mess?"

"So wait, the guy that was with the invisible person . . . That was actually Jasper?" asked Nate as he looked at the younger twin in shock. Randy, still with his expressionless mask on his face, turned to look at Monica for confirmation. When the younger twin slowly shook her head yes, the Viper couldn't help but let out an audible growl in reaction. "You . . . you have got to be kidding me . . . Our own cousin!"

"I'm not kidding with you Nate . . . That wasn't a Jasper look alike with that invisible person that was carrying 'Manda. That was the real Jasper Orton. I could never forget his face . . . He's involved in this," mumbled Monica as she shook her head. ". . . I just have no idea why."

"When was the last time you guys talked with your cousin?" asked Ted as he turned to the Orton brothers.

"The last time I talked to him was at the end of January, and everything seemed perfectly normal. Jasper wasn't talking like he got into some trouble with some bad dudes," mumbled Nate as he turned to his brother. "Randy, quit with the face will you?'

"What face?" Randy told him bluntly as he turned to his brother.

"Your expressionless mask/Terminator face," Nate told him as he shook his head. "You wearing your face like that is a definite telltale sign that you got some pretty disturbing thoughts in your head."

"Well, I can't help myself, considering it's one of our own cousins that're involved with 'Manda's kidnapping." said Randy as he narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Bro, we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions just yet . . ." said Nate as he shook his head. "The next time we see Jasper, we should demand that he tell us what's going on, then we beat him to a bloody pulp."

"Must all of your family disputes end in violence?" asked Layla as she turned to the brother's with a curious look in her eyes, which got her two narrow eyed looks in return. "I guess they do . . ."

"Trust me, it's been a really long time since I've seen a major Orton dispute not end in some form of violence," mumbled Monica as Kaitlyn and Cody finally walked into the room. "Hey you two, you've just made it in time for the party."

"Sorry we're late . . ." said Kaitlyn as she shook her head. "Cody wanted to head back to the locker room to wash the paint off his face."

"Trust me: I seriously can't wait till I don't have to be 'Stardust' anymore," mumbled the illusion-using vampire as he walked over to Randy with a small object in hand. "Oh, by the way, here's your phone man."

"Why do you have my phone Cody?" Randy asked him suspiciously as he took his phone back.

"Because it's been ringing nonstop for the whole time I was in the locker room. Your phone was right on top of your open duffle bag, so I took a look at your phone's screen to see who was calling you," said Cody as he did a small shrug. "It turns out it was your cousin Jasper that was calling you all this time."

"WHAT?" Randy yelled as he looked at his screen to see that Jasper had indeed tried to call him eight times, in the past 15 minutes alone.

"Uh . . . was it something I said?" asked Cody as he looked at the rest of the group with an unsure look on his face.

"Amanda was kidnaped, and Jasper just happened to be one of the guys that kidnapped her . . ." Nate told them simply as he watched his brother, who now was wearing a pissed expression on his face.

"Why the hell would he get involved in something like this?" asked Kaitlyn as she raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't like Jasper to me."

"That's what we're trying to figure out . . ." mumbled Monica as she shook her head, just as Randy's phone began to ring again. "Is it him?"

"It's him alright . . ." grumbled the Viper as he shook his head. "Excuse me; I'll be right outside the room taking this call if you need me."

"Remember what Nate said: Let Jasper tell you what's going on first before you start yelling like crazy." advised Monica as Randy walked over to the door.

"Yeah . . . I'll try to keep that in mind." mumbled the Viper as he stepped out the room.

Randy's POV

"Jasper, you better have a good reason for kidnapping my mate or else I will hunt you down and kick the shit out of you. And I do plan to enjoy every second of it . . ." I grumble to myself as I looked down at my ringing phone, Jasper's photo showing in the background screen as the ringtone continues to repeat it's unoriginal pattern. I let out one tense breath before tapping on the green phone icon and bringing it to my ear, the sounds of tense breathing echoing out from the other side of the line. "Hello . . ."

"Thank God you finally answered your phone man!" Jasper tells me as I hear his voice flood with relief. "Look, I know I'm probably your least favorite person in the world right now because of what happened earlier with 'Manda, but trust me, I have a very good reason why I was there at the arena tonight."

"You better have a good reason . . ." I practically growl into the receiver as I feel my free hand clench into a fist. "You helped kidnap my fiancée tonight Jasper and I want to know why . . ."

"Okay, uh, two things. One: congratulations on the engagement. I know Manda will make a wonderful wife and that you would make a fantastic husband . . ." Jasper tells me in an attempt to lighten the mood, but all he gets is another growl from me in return. "And two: I had no idea the people I'm working with were planning to even come to the pay-per-view event tonight. I had no idea what was going on until we reached the arena, and by then it was too late."

"It was never too late Jasper. You could have stopped the kidnapping from happening. You could have done something to prevent it dammit . . ." I tell him as I speak in the most levelheaded tone I could muster. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into man?"

"I got myself into some deep shit man . . . Some very deep shit indeed, but I plan to get myself out of it. I promise . . ." he tells me quickly as I pinch the bridge of my nose. " . . . But first I have to get 'Manda out of here before I can get myself out of here."

"Is she with you right now?" I ask him as a new wave of worry starts to consume me from the inside out. "Is my baby alright?"

"Actually, I have no idea . . ." he tells me. My automatic response to his statement is to slam my fist into the stone wall behind me. I ended up creating quite a dent in the stone block in the process. "Look, as soon as we came back to the hideout, they took her to a different room. I haven't seen her since then."

"Do you have any idea why your new buddies have taken her out of all people?" I ask him as I spot Nate and Edge looking at me from the doorway of the trainer's office from the corner of my eye.

"Uh . . . something about using one of the WWE's top superstars to send a message to the company higher ups. It was something along those lines . . ." grumbles Jasper in response. "One thing I know for sure is that they're not going to keep her here for long cousin."

"So they're going to release her?" I ask, my tone sounding slightly hopeful as I press my free hand to my temple.

"Yeah, and they want me to be the one to bring her back . . ." says Jasper as I start pacing back and forth. "They just don't want me to bring her directly back to the arena . . . They want me to bring her back somewhere close to the arena so that I won't be noticed by the security guards or any of the other wrestlers."

"Fine, we'll meet somewhere away from the arena," I tell him as I shake my head. "Got any ideas . . ."

"Don't worry, I'll think of something . . . I'll call you to tell you the location," he tells me as his voice takes on an apologetic tone. "And Randy, I'm sorry about all this. You and 'Manda just got through the whole Sergei fiasco, you're embracing parenthood, and you have an engagement to celebrate, and I'm just ruining it for you guys . . ."

"It's alright . . . Well, it's not really alright, but you catch my drift. . ." I tell him as I roll my neck a little. "But Nate, you got some serious explaining to do once this is all over."

"I know, I know . . . I'll call you later." he tells me before ending the call on his end. I shake my head as I bring my phone away from my ear, my brain still trying to wrap itself around the idea that my cousin got himself into some serious trouble with some bad guys, and that my own fiancée got involuntarily dragged into this mess.

"Randy!"

I look up and turn to see Steph and Hunter walking over to me with serious expressions on their faces, as if they just gotten through with firing a whole group of guys just minutes ago.

"We just came from the security room, and as you can see, we are not very happy at what we just saw on a couple of the monitors there," says Hunter as they finally reach me. "Care to explain to me why we saw Amanda get carried down the hallways by a mysterious being, Layla and Kelly get seemingly knocked out by who knows what, and why your cousin Jasper was helping the weird invisible being take Amanda away from the building?"

"Jasper got himself into some trouble, most likely with the same guys that's been terrorizing Memphis for a while now," I tell them as I let out a deep breath. "I just finished a call with him, and from what he said, the guys that took 'Manda are planning to use her to send a message to the company higher ups."

"The company higher ups?" mumbles Stephanie as she shoots me an unsure look. "These criminals are taking it to the top tier then . . . Why would they target the company higher ups?"

"Maybe you should ask your fellow executives that question . . ." I say with a shake of my head. "Right now, I'm just waiting for Jasper to call back with the address of the location so I can go get 'Manda back. His new 'buddies' gave him the task of bringing her back."

"You better have some company going with you on your little excursion Randy," Hunter advises me as he crosses his arms. "Jasper may think he's coming back with 'Manda alone, but who knows? He could be followed back by his evil cohorts and they could be planning to ambush you once you get there."

"Like we would ever let that happen!" calls Edge from his spot by the doctor's room. "Don't worry Hunter. We got Randy's back on this one."

"In the meantime, I think we should do a little investigating of our own Hunter," says Stephanie as she shakes her head. "These criminals must be targeting the higher ups with their 'message' for some reason, and I think we should figure out what it is."

"Do you think your father's involved in this?" Hunter asks her as he shakes his head. When he noticed that his wife was shooting him a cold stare in return, Hunter looked like he was about to sweat bullets. "Yeah, your father could definitely be a part of it."

"It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case . . ." mumbles Stephanie as she shakes her head before starting to walk back down the hallway. "If my father has to be known for being good at something in his life, making enemies should definitely be considered a frontrunner."

"Well, that is saying something . . . We were originally coming to find you in order to remind you that you still have a backstage interview segment to do, and now here we are in the middle of another impromptu debacle involving outside forces," mumbles Hunter as he shakes his head. 'I'm starting to think this company's a magnet for trouble after all."

"Oh Hunter . . . The company's not a magnet for trouble. It's more like we just attract the wrong kind of crowd . . ." I suggest in order to be a little helpful, but judging from the grimace he was shooting me, my attempt to alleviate some of the tension in the situation was entirely futile. ". . . What I said was not helpful was it?"

"Yeah . . . you should just stick to dealing out RKOs . . . You are definitely not an advice guru." Hunter tells me with a shake of his head as he starts jogging to catch up to his wife.

"You know, Hunter's right . . ." I hear my brother say from my right behind me. "You are not a good advice guru."

"You want your brother to hit you don't you?" I hear Edge asks as I hear him take a step forward. "Are you someone that just welcomes pain Nate?"

"Well, I am a MMA fighter after all . . ." I hear my brother say back to him as I finally turned around.

"Yeah . . . an MMA fighter that's currently unemployed and training with his brother and his fiancée in order to prepare for his UFC tryout in Vegas later in the year . . " I tell him as I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Is that why Nate's traveling on the road with you and 'Manda?" Edge asks me in a sarcastic tone of voice. "I thought you hired him to by a nanny for Dani and Gabi, or he's just hanging around the two of you until you lend him some money."

"Ha, ha . . . very funny Adam," grumbles Nate as my phone starts ringing once again. "Is it Jasper?"

"It's him alright . . ." I tell them as I tap the green icon again before bringing the phone back to my ear. "Jasper?"

"Hi Ran . . . I know where you can meet us."

Normal POV; 25 minutes later

"It was nice of Kelly to let us borrow her Camry to get here . . . Arriving by tour bus would probably bring too much attention to ourselves . . ." said Monica as Randy drove them down the street, his eyes scanning the area for the place they were supposed to meet with Jasper.

"You got that right . . ." mumbled Randy as he slowed the car to a stop in front of a closed down junkyard. "Here it is . . . This is the place where we're supposed to meet Jasper."

"Oh yeah . . . an old abandoned junkyard is a great spot to meet up . . . Nice choice Jasper . . ." grumbled Monica as she looked at the old dump from her passenger seat window. "Did he have to pick here out of all places?"

"Well, it would attract stares if we did it in a public area like a park or a shopping mall. Hell, even a parking lot may have been too much . . ." mumbled Nate as he looked at the property in front of them. "Wait, this is the exact address where we're supposed to meet Jasper right?"

"Like I said before: this is the place . . ." said Randy as he peered over the steering wheel to stoically look at the junkyard in front of them. "Jasper said in his call that we would meet him inside the property."

"Well, judging from the open gate right in front of us, he must already be inside . . ." said Monica as Randy began to drive them into the lot. "Let's just get this done quickly . . . the sooner we get 'Manda back, the faster we can get back to the arena and the twins."

"Miss your nieces already Monica?" asked Randy as he continued to look forward. "Don't worry. I feel exactly the same way."

"You should . . . You are there father after all," mumbled Nate as he looked out his window, his eyes widening at what he saw. "Randy, stop the car!"

"You see them?!" Randy asked as he abruptly pressed his foot onto the brake, making the car jerk to a halt as he turned to his brother, who was already out of the car and in the rain. "Monica?"

"He's spotted Amanda . . ." Monica told him quickly as she unbuckled her seatbelt, but by the time she had opened her door to get out, she looked up to see Randy already close behind his brother as they gathered around the skeleton of a car. "Boys! Is 'Manda alright?"

"Come see for yourself . . ." was all Nate said as he and his brother looked inside the car. Shooting them both a curious look, Monica got out of the car and jogged over to their position. When she got there, she peaked over the brother's shoulders and let out a sharp gasp at what she saw, stumbling back as she brought a hand to her mouth.

Inside, lying on her stomach in the backseat of the skeleton car was 'Manda. Due to her body being longer than the width of the car, her legs hung out of the dilapidated vehicle, the bottom of her pants soaking wet as the rain continued to fall. She was completely knocked out cold, but that wasn't the reason why Randy, Nate, and Monica were looking at her in absolute horror . . .

. . . They all were looking at her back, which was a bloody mess, her skin marred with many open wounds, none of them showing signs of healing.

"There's so many of them . . ." Monica whispered in horror as she shook her head. "You can't even see the tattoos on her back anymore."

"Judging from the shape of the cuts, it looks like they were made by some sort of rope or cord . . ." mumbled Nate as a look of sudden realization came across his face. "Those bloody bastards must have whipped her!"

"Jasper said in his call to Randy that the guys he's working with were planning to use 'Manda to send a message to the WWE higher ups . . ." mumbled Monica as she and Nate watched as Randy crouched down at the door, the Viper's face a sorrowful mask as he brought a hand to his mate's cheek. She didn't move an inch at his touch. ". . . This must have been what he's talking about."

"Amanda seems way to out of it to be simply knocked out . . ." mumbled Nate as he brought a hand to his chin. "Do you think she was drugged?"

"I could definitely smell the scent of vervain on her breath . . ." Randy whispered as he turned to his siblings, his voice void of any and all emotion. "C'mon, let's get her out of here . . ."

"But what about Jasp-"

"I FUCKING DON'T CARE ABOUT JASPER RIGHT NOW!" Randy yelled as he looked at his brother with cold eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose, slowly getting his bearings back together before continuing. "All I care about is getting Amanda out of here and back to the arena so she can get properly taken care of. We can worry about our cousin later Nate."

"Alright . . . you're right. We need to get Amanda some medical attention first . . ." said Nate as he began to help his brother gently take Amanda out of the car. Monica kept watch as the Orton brothers brought 'Manda over to the Camry. Once everyone was safely inside, Randy reversed the car back onto the street and began to drive them back toward the arena, none of them noticing that they were silently being watched by two men hiding in the shadows of an old garage across the street.

"Did you have to do that to her?" the first man asked the second as he shot him an angered glare. "Amanda didn't deserve that! You didn't have to hurt her like that!"

"No, but I needed to send a message," said the second man as he shot the first man a cool glare. "She works for Vince McMahon, a man who I have had problems with in the past. Your friend Amanda happens to be one of his company's most successful wrestlers, which made her a good candidate to be my messenger Jasper."

"But did you have to whip her?" Jasper asked him as he clenched his hands into his fists.

"If I didn't whip her, what good would my message do then?" asked the second man as he raised an eyebrow. "McMahon has to learn that his actions wield consequences, and soon, he will get what he deserves, and I will get his company. Do you have a problem with that Jasper?"

"I don't have a problem with you having a problem with Mr. McMahon . . ." Jasper answered him with a shake of his head. "What I have a problem with is the fact that you picked my cousin's soulmate to be your 'messenger'. . . My cousin Randy, he's not someone you want to piss off Nicholas. If he finds out that you were the one that hurt his fiancée, he will not hesitate to find you and kill you."

"And how will he find out hmm? From you?" asked Nicholas as he let out a small chuckle. "If you couldn't tell from your cousin's yelling a few minutes ago, I'd say that he will also have problems with you once you show your face around him. . . . I don't see your brother as a threat. He's simply one of Vince's employees."

"So, now that you've sent your message . . ." grumbled Jasper as he crossed his arms. "What are you going to do now?"

"Simple . . ." said Nicholas as he showed Jasper a fang-bearing grin. "We prepare for the show."

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