The Safe Haven mansion was quiet after the events that occurred earlier that day involving Cesaro and the team led by General Zodrick. John and Nikki Cena had helped Cesaro to his room so that he could rest, the latter falling to sleep the moment his body made contact with his bed. John's feeling of worry had not left him since he saw his friend standing in the front yard of the mansion with a helpless and fearful look on his face. He knew something was wrong, but he somehow knew he could do nothing to help. Nikki gently grabbed John's arm, causing him to look over into her soft brown eyes.
"He's gonna be okay, John." She said to her husband. "We'll help him figure out what's going on with him." John looked back to Cesaro as he slept peacefully.
"Yeah." John said. "We will." With that, the couple stepped out of the room to meet Stephanie, Triple H, and Sami whom were waiting outside Cesaro's room.
"He fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed." Nikki told them. Triple H nodded.
"Hopefully that means he'll be sleeping for a while." He said. "Now, let's go get this over with." Stephanie sighed silently as she looked back at the main office down on the other end of the hallway. John then closed Cesaro's bedroom door and the five of them headed to the office. Inside, everyone in the mansion waited patiently for them to come in, with Shane standing at the end of the desk behind him. Sami carefully closed the office doors behind him and Shane took a deep breath.
"I, um…" Shane hesitated as he tried to find the words to explain himself to his friends and family. "I owe all of you an explanation." His statement made those in the room who knew nothing about what happened look at him with confusion. Shane looked at all of their faces before continuing. "When we agreed to work with the President to keep our country safe and out of harm's way, we all did so with our minds in a good place. We all wanted to help. I saw that, and it made me feel like I had finally done something worth being proud of. I was proud of all of you for stepping into the fire and fighting to make Alpha Humans be seen in a brighter and more positive light. I wanted to do more. I wanted us to be seen more, so we worked to aid with more missions. Some of them put us at more risk than I intended, but you all supported the cause. You supported me. Claudio supported me… he supported all of us, really." Shane paused a brief moment to assess everyone in the room before continuing.
"After the California mission," He continued. "Claudio came directly to me asking me to help him with a problem he'd been having with headaches. He put himself into a mental stasis and allowed me to step into his mind…" Shane hesitated a bit, causing everyone to grow concerned. "… I saw exactly what I expected. All of his emotions, his pain, his suffering, his loneliness… it was all causing Claudio to lose control of his powers. So, I did what I thought was best. I used my own power to put up mental barriers shielding him from all those painful thoughts and feelings so he could regain control of himself. Once he woke up, his headaches were gone and he seemed like himself again." Cesaro's fellow Superstars tried to comprehend what it was that they heard. John, however, knew exactly what everything Shane said meant.
"Except he wasn't." He said, causing everyone's eyes to fall upon her.
"John." Nikki said to him.
"He was distant when he used to hang with all of us. He was quiet when he used to tell us everything. We'd ask if he was okay and he never had an answer. Claudio wasn't alright, Shane. Claudio was hurting. I know you meant well, but instead of encouraging him to maybe talk to some of us about it so we could help him find out what was really going on, you shut all that out of his head. You didn't help him at all, Shane. You just put a mask over it." Without a word, everyone turned back to Shane as if they awaited a response to John's accusations. They did not have to wait long.
"You're right, John." Shane said. "I chained those emotions down and shut them away so he didn't have to worry about them until I felt he was ready. I wanted him to be able to face those demons without having to worry about accomplishing missions or supporting us with anything. I wanted him to focus on himself for once and not us." It was Sami who spoke out next.
"Shane." He said, the pain in his voice blatantly audible. "Didn't you think about what tampering with thoughts would do to someone as mentally powerful as Claudio? I mean, you and Stephanie are the greatest telepaths in the world that I know and , according to you, he's stronger than both of you. You told me and Catherine that altering thoughts could damage a person's memory, so why would you try that with Claudio? What made him different?"
"I know, Rami." Shane said.
"If you knew that, Shane…" Sasha Banks started. "… If you knew you were risking hurting him, then why would you even attempt to block anything in Claudio's mind?"
"Everyone, please." They all could hear the slight agitation in Shane's voice after having to answer for his actions several times over. "I just wanted to make sure he was alright. I knew that because he's a telepath, the chances of doing harm were lower than normal, so I-"
"For fuck's sake, Shane!" Triple H blurted out, having grown tired of the seemingly endless explanation. "Just tell everyone why you really dug into Claudio's mind, Shane. You were afraid of him. You feared him and his powers, so you tried blocking them out. You put up those barriers so that you were the prominent figure in his head. You did that so he'd always come back to you because you'd be the only one he remembered could 'help' him. You were trying to control him yourself until you found out that you couldn't." Shane then made his way to Triple H and pointed directly at him.
"That is not true, Paul!" Shane snapped back.
"Prove it otherwise then, Shane. Why risk damaging Claudio's mind by putting up those barriers instead of just talking to him like a regular person? Why keep putting them up if you know they didn't work the first or the second time?"
"Enough!" Stephanie shouted, getting everyone's attention. "… That's enough. This meeting's over. Everyone, please step out and tend to your day without disturbing Claudio. Paul? You and Shane stay." Everyone filed out of the room until only Stephanie, Shane, and Triple H remained. Stephanie closed the door behind them and turned to her husband and brother.
"Steph, I-" Shane began before being halted by his sister.
"No, Shane." She started. "What's done is done. We need to figure out what's going on with Claudio and how we can help him fix it."
"What do we do?" Triple H asked. "We damn sure can't dive into his head again."
"We can talk to him about whatever's going on, Paul. He's just like us. He's still a human and he's still our friend. We shouldn't be treating him any different." Shane shook his head.
"Claudio is different, Stephanie. " He said to them in a melancholy tone. "He has the power to bring the whole world from the brink of death with a single thought. If what happened during the space mission is true, he survived impact with a solar flare. He's not just like us, Stephanie. He's stronger than us… all of us. He has the power end us all anytime he wanted. We can't make the same mistake we made with Windham. We have to stop this before it gets out of hand, Stephanie. We need to find a way to get him under control." Stephanie shook her head.
"Invading his mind isn't the way to do that, Shane." She told him.
"I wasn't invading his mind, Steph."
"What would you call it then? You putting up mental barriers and walls over certain parts so that he didn't have access to them, but you did… that sounds like invasion to me and likely everyone else." Shane, having no rebuttal, silenced and sat down on the office desk.
"What do you think we should do, Steph?" Triple H asked.
"The only thing we have left is to tell Claudio everything and try and help him understand all of it."
"We can't tell him, Stephanie." Shane protested. "If he finds out, he'll-"
"He'll what?" Triple H intervened. "Kill you? You've all but asked for it at this point."
"Enough, you two." Stephanie said. "There's no other way we're going to handle this. It doesn't matter what we think he's capable of doing. He's still one of us. He's still our friend. We're going to sit him down and explain to him everything you did, Shane, and then we're going to help him figure out what's wrong with him and we're doing it without delving into his psyche." Shane went to protest again, but Stephanie halted him. "It's not up for debate, Shane. This is the only chance we have to do the right thing with Claudio. We're the only family he has and I'll be damned if we leave him with on one to trust because of a bunch of misunderstandings. No more digging in his head, no more lying to him. This is it." Stephanie shifted her hair from one side to the other and headed for the office entrance. "I'm going to go check on Claudio and make sure he's still resting. If he is, then we'll wait until he's awake and well enough."
"I'll come with you." Triple H said before following his wife out of the office. Shane followed behind them without saying a word.
In his room, Simon Miller sat on his bed waiting for the person he was calling to answer the phone.
"What's up, Simon?" It was Paige. "I'm at Mom and Dad's."
"Saraya." Simon said as calmly as he could. "The McMahons are crazy!"
"Well, I told you that a long time ago."
"No, I'm saying it's legitimately mental here. I've only been here a day and your friend Claudio blew up a metro, the military has been here to the mansion twice, and Shane tells us he's been rummaging around in Claudio's head trying to get his powers in check, which I think is a load of bollocks."
"Simon, Simon." Paige said. "Give me a minute and let me step outside." Simon heard Paige tell her parents that she was stepping out to the backyard to take the call and then heard her make her way to her destination. "Okay, look. Calm down, alright? I saw what happened at that ceremony because Pamela posted something about it on her blog and a bunch of people commented on it, but I swear I had no idea that stuff with Shane was going on."
"I figured you didn't, Saraya." Simon said. "That's why I'm telling you." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Saraya, I'm a little worried. What if he tries to dig in my head, too? I don't think I can deal with that."
"Simon, chill." Paige said to him. "He's not gonna dig in your head. No one wants to dig in your head. Not even you want to dig in your head."
"Yeah, yeah. It doesn't seem like Stephanie has anything to do with it. In fact, she's pretty pissed off about it. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I don't think I want any part of it."
"Do you wanna come home? I can come get you tomorrow."
"No, Saraya. It's fine. Just… this isn't exactly what I came here for."
"Listen." She said to him. "Just ride it out and if it starts to get too crazy, just come on home. Okay?"
"Don't say anything to your mum about any of this." Simon told her. "I don't want her to worry about me being over here. Alright, gotta go. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay, bye." Paige said before Simon ended the call and put his phone on the charger next to him. He then heard Stephanie, Shane, and Triple H headed down his hallway. He could not hear every word that they said, but he did manage to hear Triple H mention Cesaro's name and he concluded that they stopped by his room before coming down to the bottom floor. Simon then heard Stephanie mention himself as their voices drew closer and he straightened himself up preparing to see them stop by his room. As expected, the trio stopped at his room.
"Simon." Triple H said. "We want to apologize for everything that's been happening since you got here. We promise it is not always like this."
"It's alright, Mister Levesque." Simon said with a smile. "What's a family without a bit of chaos every now and then?" Shane and Stephanie looked at each other.
"Well." Stephanie said to Simon after turning her attention back to him. "We would like for you to stay and tell us more about your powers, Simon, but we understand if all of this a bit too much right now." Simon shook his head in protest.
"No, not at all. I mean, Saraya did send me here, but I came because I wanted to know more about my Alpha Human self."
"Wonderful. We can start working with you tomorrow morning. Would that work for you?"
"Absolutely, Miss Levesque." Simon responded.
"Looking forward to it." Triple H said. "We'll see you tomorrow morning." With that, the trio left Simon alone in his room.
"Actually, guys." Shane started as they made their way down the hallway. "I'm going to lay my head down and sleep, if you don't mind. I'm a bit exhausted." Triple H gave Shane a skeptical look.
"We all are, Shane." He retorted. Immediately sensing the tension, Stephanie spoke.
"It's fine, Paul." She diverted. "You and I can work on making calls and balancing books." Stephanie then gave Shane an emotionless stare. "Get some sleep, Shane. We'll work on meeting the President about Claudio tomorrow." The couple continued making their way downstairs and left Shane to himself.
Once the two were out of his eyesight, Shane headed down the hallway and up the stairs to the next floor where his room was. He stopped, however, at the closed door to Cesaro's room. Shane eyed the door as the feelings he felt after seeing his friend fend off General Zodrick and his team resurfaced and, unable to fight the urge, he opened the door to see Cesaro still sleeping on his bed. Shane beheld his features; Cesaro had a peaceful and serene look to him as he slept. The longer Shane stood watch over the man, the greater his feeling of guilt became. He then remembered seeing the Mind Stone embedded in Cesaro's astral presence and the unusual energy surrounding it. A combination of that memory and the one of the man's actions earlier that day reignited Shane's fear of Cesaro losing control of his powers and his determination not to allow that to happen. Before he could think any further, Shane heard John Cena's voice call out behind him.
"Shane?" He said, making the other man turn to look at him. "Is Claudio gonna be alright?" Shane looked back at Cesaro then faced John once again.
"I don't know, John." Shane said. John shook his head.
"I won't beat you up any more than you've already been beat up because you know you were wrong. I just hope Claudio's gonna be okay." Shane sighed.
"I do, too." Shane then thought of Sami Zayn. "John, is Rami still here?"
"Yeah." John replied. "I think he's in the library."
"Thanks, John." Shane turned for the library, John eying him as he made his way down the hallway. Shane stepped inside the library and immediately saw Sami sitting by his lonesome reading a book.
"Rami?" Shane called out, unsure of just how to approach the man. Sami looked up from his book to see Shane and his face almost instantly twisted.
"Hi Shane." Sami responded.
"Can I talk to you a moment?"
"Sure."
"…In my room?" Sami then knew that Shane wanted to discuss something he wanted no one else to hear and it began to worry him. Without a word, Sami closed his book and stood up to go with Shane to his room. After reaching his room, Shane stepped in and sat on the bed while Sami stood hesitantly in the doorway.
"Come in, Rami." Shane said, inviting the other man in. Sami complied, closing the door behind him and opting to sit in the chair at the desk
"Is everything okay, Shane?" Sami asked. Shane waited a moment before answering.
"Rami… " Shane started in a hushed voice. "I need your help with Claudio." Sami blinked.
"What do you mean?" He asked. "What are planning?"
"When you said Claudio changed after the rescue mission, you were right. He has changed. I think he still is changing." Sami looked at Shane with confusion.
"Into what?" He asked.
"I… don't know. There's something in Claudio's psyche that wasn't there until several months ago. I don't know what it is or how it got there, but it's what I've been trying to keep away from him."
"Does Claudio know about it?"
"I don't know. I want to say he does." Sami then thought of something.
"Shane." He said. "What if it's just Claudio's power maturing and materializing?" Shane shook his head.
"I don't think that's it, Rami." He said. "It that were the case, it would have been present in some way for far longer than it has been."
"Well, maybe it was and we just didn't see it." Shane sighed.
"Rami." He said. "I have a feeling that what Claudio absorbed into him out in space was no solar flare. I saw something in his mind that looked like it didn't belong, and I haven't seen it until he returned from the mission. I think that's what's causing him to lose control of his powers… and of himself."
Sami sat in silence for a moment as he took in Shane's theory. Seeing Cesaro return to the shuttle unharmed after seeing him explode with the repair team's shuttle gave him the feeling that it was indeed not a solar flare, but none of them could truly explain what it was so the theory stuck in his brain without explanation. With all the strange happenings that had occurred afterwards, however, Sami knew that he was right for thinking that Cesaro absorbed not a solar flare, but something else. Something inconceivable to them or anyone else. Understanding Shane's concern more, Sami realized the one way Shane would be able to see for certain.
"Shane." Sami said. "Please don't tell me you're thinking of going into Claudio's mind again." Shane looked away from him, confirming his suspicions. "Shane. You can't."
"There's no other way, Rami." Shane said. "The problem with Claudio lies in his mind. If we can get rid of it ourselves or at least block it out until he can deal with, then maybe Claudio can return back to normal." Sami thought to himself about Shane's suggestion. Shane then pleaded with him again. "Rami. You saw it. You saw what happened to him out there. It won't get any better. Think about it what happened several months ago with Windham. Think about the Earthquake mission in California. None of us have any clues about just how far Claudio's power reaches and something tells me that Claudio doesn't know either. If he loses complete control of his powers, then he could very well end us all. If we have a chance to keep that from happening… if we can do something to contain him… don't you think we should?" Sami thought hard on the word 'contain' before attempting to respond.
"Shane, I…" He hesitated. "I don't even know what I can do to help. I can enter people's minds, yeah, but I can't change anything once I'm there."
"No you can't." Shane said. "You can, however, lend me your powers to help me reach him from here." Sami sighed, his mind filling with doubt and concern.
"What are you trying to do, Shane?" He asked Shane. "What even can you do?"
"If I can recreate the bonds that I put up before with some added reinforcements, then maybe it will help Claudio find out what's wrong for himself and help him deal with it on his own." Sami knew that Shane's idea went against his wishes along with everyone else's, but not knowing what was wrong with Cesaro and what that meant for their safety ultimately gave him no moral alternative but to help Shane.
"Alright." Sami said. "I'll help, but you have to promise me that you won't hurt Claudio. We have to stop the moment you get a feeling he could be in pain."
"You have my word." Shane replied. Sami looked down at his feet before responding.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Just open your mind to me. I'll do the rest. Claudio should still be asleep, so reaching him should be quick and easy."
"Okay." Sami took a deep breath and allowed Shane into his mind, giving the man access to his psychic energy so that he could telepathically reach a still-sleeping Cesaro. Shane then felt his body become weightless as he began searching for Cesaro's astral presence. He felt a familiar presence nearby and knew it was him. He focused and sure enough, it was Cesaro; his power commanded respect and awe even while resting. As Shane psychically approached Cesaro, however, he felt another energy that he did not recognize. He was certain it was the other power source he knew existed inside his friend, but it felt different somehow. Shane then heard Sami call out to him in the outer realm.
"Shane?" Sami said. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Shane replied physically. "It just took a little longer to reach him. I'm here now. Just a bit more and I'll be done." Shane then pointed his attention back to Cesaro's conscious and proceeded to enter the man's mind. He saw the blues, violets, and pinks he recognized from all mental capacities, but then immediately noticed the pulsing ambers that radiated through them. The vibrant lights showed what looked like cracks within the blues and Shane saw them as the targets he needed to address. He focused his mental energy on several of the cracks and proceeded to place mental bindings over them, making sure to leave behind enough energy for them to hold. When he finished with his task, he moved further into Cesaro's mind to find other cracks in it that he needed to bind. Shane then saw the hues in the man's conscious fade away as he trekked deeper. The pulse of light that followed lit up the area and revealed to Shane what was behind the darkness. The light beamed through a swirling red mass in front of him and lit up the walls around him showing the array of cracks in it that looked like lightning amongst rain clouds in the night sky. Shane knew he needed to work quickly, but before he could get started, he felt a jolt of energy come from underneath him.
"Oh no…" Shane said, both psychically and physically, alerting Sami that something was amiss.
"Shane." He called out. "What's wrong?"
"He's waking up…"
In his room, Cesaro laid in his bed on top of the covers. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully until his breathing began to quicken. He involuntarily put his hand over his head and groaned as he felt a familiar pressure in his mind. Still slightly drowsy after being awaken suddenly, Cesaro felt himself trying to focus his mind on exactly what was causing the disturbance. He found Shane, fully aware that Cesaro was awake and knew he was there in his mind.
"Claudio." Shane said to Cesaro. "It's alright. It's just me." Shane then saw another pulse of amber light come from behind him and felt another rush of energy from below. He turned to see that the Mind Stone was slowly beginning to glow behind the red mass of energy, the shimmer from it making the mass appear like fire as it traversed around it.
"Sh… Shane..." Cesaro called out psychically as his physically body shifted in his bed once more.
In Shane's room, Sami began to feel Cesaro's presence. He then knew that something was gravely wrong.
"Shane." He called out quietly.
"H-he's fighting me." Shane said to Sami. Sami began to worry.
"Shane. Stop whatever you're doing and come back. Now."
Cesaro had begun to breathe heavily as sweat formed on his forehead. His fist clenched at the covers underneath him and his skin began to fill with pulsing golden veins. Cesaro's body appeared to be physically rejecting Shane's presence in his mind.
"…Get out… of my head." He said in his mind to Shane.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Stephanie was on the phone talking with Phil and AJ at the facility in Africa while Triple H worked through some of the financial documents with Big E's assistance.
"…Thank you both." Stephanie said.
"No problem, Stephanie." AJ said. "We're talking with the government here about the sponsorship and donations. They seem to be all for it, but we'll see when we present the numbers to them."
"You're both doing a wonderful job with the facility. I can say that I… " Stephanie paused as she felt Cesaro's presence flash through her mind. Her sudden silence made both Triple H and Big E look up from the papers and receipts on the table.
"Stephanie?" AJ said on the other line. "Stephanie, you there?" Stephanie almost instantly knew what was going on and immediately grew angry.
"Sorry about that, April." She said to AJ. "We'll talk about this more tomorrow. I know it's getting late over there."
"S-sure thing, Stephanie." AJ said with a hint of skepticism in her voice. "We'll get everything together here and we'll let you know what they say."
"Thanks, April. Thanks, Phil. Goodnight." Stephanie sat her phone down on the table as the call ended and held her hand over it.
"Steph… " Triple H called out to her. "What was that about?" She did not respond. Instead, she left her phone behind and made her way out of the kitchen. "Stephanie!" Triple H stood up and went after, Big E following behind him.
In Shane's room, Shane fought to maintain his place in Cesaro's mind as Sami watched with worry. He thought of removing his energy link to Shane several times over, but did not know what effect that would have had on Shane while he was still connected to Cesaro. Sami then saw Shane's nose begin to bleed and he grabbed his shoulders.
"Shane!" Sami shouted. "Stop it now! That's enough! You're hurting yourself!" Shane did not respond to Sami's pleas. He simply sat on the bed staring back at Sami with a blank stare and bloody nose.
"Let…me help you… Claudio." Sami saw Shane say. "…I'm…trying…"
"Get out of my head!" He shouted from his room as he sat up from his bed, his voice booming through the mansion. In Shane's room, Shane felt a sharp pain fell unconscious in Sami's arms.
"Shane!" Sami shouted as he caught the man to keep him from falling over. He removed his energy from Shane, fearing whatever happened to Shane would happen to him. The sound of Cesaro's shout caused Stephanie, Triple H, and Big E to quicken their pace, but the sound of a wrecking ball toppling a brick wall made them begin to run.
"Claudio!?" Big E called out to him as they ran for his room. Upon reaching it, they saw that the door had been blown open and Cesaro was sitting straight up on his bed, golden veins pulsing over his skin and the strange fiery energy surrounding his body. Upon hearing Cesaro's scream, Nikki and John had run down the hall to check on him only to see the trio just arriving at his door. Then, without a word, Cesaro telekinetically lifted himself off of the bed and used his power to blow a hole through the brick wall. The sound of the blast disoriented the three and caused them to cover their ears and take cover in the hallway. By this time, everyone on the second floor aside from Shane and Sami had made their way out of their rooms and into the hallway.
"Claudio!?" Bayley screamed as she made her way out of the room next to Cesaro's. "Are you alr-" She stopped upon seeing the smoke clearing from his room and the large hole letting in the air of the outside. She then looked over to Stephanie being helped up by Triple H. "Oh my god, what happened?" Before anyone could answer, they all heard John's voice call out for Cesaro as he, Nikki, Simon, and Naomi ran down the hallway from the lower floor. Then Sami ran from the opposite side of the hallway.
"Stephanie!" He shouted upon seeing her. "Shane's…" He stopped once he saw Cesaro's room destroyed. "Oh no…"
