The group of Alpha Humans all beheld the chaos of Cesaro's room after he awakened with a scream and broke through the wall to make an escape, the commotion disturbing all their actions and drawing their attention. Stephanie McMahon stepped into Cesaro's room and immediately felt as if the room were to cave in on her at any moment, not physically but mentally. Even in his absence, Cesaro's power commanded respect. Soon, she was joined by Big E, and John and Nikki Cena.

"What happened in here?" Nikki asked. "What happened to Claudio?"

"I heard what he shouted before he left." Bayley said from outside the room with everyone else. "He said 'Get out of my head'." Seth Rollins, standing next to her, shook his head in disbelief.

"Well." He said. "If that doesn't tell you what the hell just happened, I don't know what will. There's only one person doing the brain diving in this place and we all know who it is." Stephanie blinked as she realized what caused Cesaro's sudden outburst. Anger filled her chest as she made her way out of the room.

"Steph?" Triple H called out to her as she made her way past them all.

"Stephanie, please!" Sami pleaded with her as he followed behind her. "He's not conscious yet!" Stephanie stopped in her tracks and turned to face the red-head.

"He's not conscious?" She repeated. "What do you mean? What happened?" Sami shook his head.

"I… I helped Shane tap into Claudio's mind from his room since he couldn't do it on his own." Sami quickly continued before Stephanie could berate him for his actions. "I know it wasn't the best thing to do, but Shane made it sound like it was the only way." From how Sami made it sound to her, Stephanie concluded that Shane used Sami's trust in him as the catalyst in manipulating him to side with his reasoning, all of which made her angrier at her brother. Before she could make another move, they saw Shane McMahon open his bedroom door appearing completely drained of energy. Instinctively, Stephanie ran to her brother to keep him from falling over due to lack of energy, Sami joining her at help hold him up.

"Shane, are you alright?" Stephanie asked as Sami and she held him up.

"Stephanie… " Shane said weakly. "Where's Claudio?"

"Why don't you just dig in his head and find out, Shane?" Big E asked with anger. "That seems to be your go-to method with him after all."

"Ettore, please." Stephanie pleaded. She and Sami then felt Shane tear himself away from them so he could stand on his own.

"I… can't get into his mind now." Shane said. Stephanie eyed him.

"Shane." She said to him. "Tell me you didn't. After everything we said earlier, after everything that's happened… please tell me you didn't try to alter his mind again." Shane said nothing. He simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath as what he saw in Cesaro's mind still burned cool behind his eyelids.

"You don't understand." He said solemnly. "You've no idea."

"We do have an idea, Shane!" Triple H snapped back. "We know you're-"

"You don't know a damn thing!" Shane shouted, instantly silencing Triple H and giving everyone else pause. Shane then took a moment to calm himself before continuing. "None of you have any idea what we're dealing with now. He is not alone in his consciousness. Whatever happened out in space, whatever it was he absorbed… it's still in him. It's still there and it's corrupting him. Talking to him won't help. We're past that point. We need to stop whatever it is that's in him. We need to-"

"Enough, Shane!" Stephanie shouted, making her brother silence and turn towards. "I've had enough of this. I don't know what's wrong with you and I honestly don't care at this point. You wanna talk about corruption and subversion? If anything or anyone is guilty of that, it's you! You planted psychic bonds and images in Claudio's subconscious so that if anything were to go wrong, he would come only to you. You moved his memories around, shifted his thoughts, and tried to conscript his powers, all so you and only you could control him." Stephanie then made her way to face Shane, closing the space between so they were mere inches apart. "You've become an egomaniacal monster… and you are no longer welcome here in the Safe Haven." Shane's eyes widened at Stephanie's words and he backed away from her in shock.

"S-Steph… " He said. "You don't mean that. You can't kick me out."

"Yes, Shane." Triple H said as he made his way over to Stephanie and Sami. "We can… and we are." Still in shock, Shane looked around at all of the Superstars who eyed him with disdain for his actions against Cesaro. When he realize that all of them felt the same way, he turned back to Stephanie to see a single tear slowly fall from her hardened face. Without a word, Shane walked past the trio to head to his room and begin packing his things, closing the door behind him. Stephanie then let out a breath that she had been holding in since her husband took his place beside her.

"It's alright, Steph." Triple H said to her as he held onto her to console her.

"It's what needed to happen." Naomi said. "He was doing way too much." Stephanie closed her eyes to keep herself from crying from the disappointment she felt as she thought about her brother.

"What happened in the past can't be undone." She said. "Right now, we need to find Claudio and bring him home."

"Forgive me for being that guy here." Simon Miller said. "But how are we gonna find him? He can obviously fly… or teleport, or whatever that was earlier. He could be anywhere."

"We just need to figure out where he is." Sasha replied. "Don't worry about how we'll get there. We've got ways of traveling."

"We'll have to get in touch with all of the other Safe Haven embassies and tell them to look out for him." Stephanie said. "Then we'll start looking for Claudio." Sami had not looked up from the floor since Shane passed them on the way to his room; the feeling that Shane might be right stayed with him since he agreed to help him.

"What if he's right?" Sami said to himself without moving. His voice was not low enough, however, for Triple H not to hear.

"What, Rami?" Triple H asked, requesting Sami repeat himself. Sami looked up from the floor.

"What if Shane's right? What if Claudio is possessed by something?" Mojo shook his head.

"He ain't possessed, Man!" Mojo said to Sami. "Shane's been messing with his head."

"Yes, yes. I get that part."

"Then why even entertain Shane then, Rami?" Daniel Bryan asked. "You know it's not true."

"Look, I know what Shane did was wrong. Altering someone's mind or trying to take away their free will is terrible, yes. We all know that. I'm just saying… " He looked around at all of his friends eying him waiting for his explanation. "I'm saying that we don't know if what Claudio absorbed out there during the space mission was an actual solar flare since none of us have ever been in outer space, much less seen a solar flare up close. I just know that Claudio hasn't been the same since we came back."

"Claudio hasn't been the same since California, Rami." Naomi retorted.

"I know, but somehow this time feels different. All those other times in the past, Claudio may have acted differently, but I could still feel his Alpha Human energy. This time, I can't feel anything. I don't feel him at all."

"What do you mean you don't feel him?" John asked Sami as he approached him.

"John, I haven't felt his presence since we finished the mission. It's like his Alpha Human presence doesn't exist anymore. I don't know what it is, but I'm willing to bet money that it has something to do with that thing Claudio took in out there, and I'd up the wager and bet that it was no solar flare."

"So, wait a minute." Xavier Woods started, unable to wrap his mind around everything he was hearing as it was all new to him. "You're theorizing that Claudio has an alien life form living inside of him?"

"That's just it." Sami replied. "I don't know. It's just a theory, but it's theory with a lot evidence pointing in its direction." Nikki sighed.

"So." She said. "Shane could be right. He could be infested with something that might be corrupting him… killing him."

"No matter what the case is," Stephanie said. "We need to find him. I'll start calling the embassies and tell everything to be on the lookout. Then, we'll start looking for him. We need to get Claudio home and back with us before anything happens."

"Or before Zodrick finds him." Becky added. Stephanie shut her eyes as she kicked herself for not thinking about Zodrick or the President for that matter.

"Yeah." Triple H said. "Especially that."


Travis Browne had driven all through the night trying to calm himself after the argument he had with his wife, Ronda Rousey. He had his phone fixed on the dashboard using a phone carrier after turning back on when he grew tired of the music on the car radio, and it lit up with notifications from missed messages and calls from Ronda the moment he turned it on. With all the emotions going through his head, Travis knew that he was in no condition to speak to her so he left the calls and messages unattended to.

After driving around the city for nearly an hour, he found a small park with a fountain in the middle of it and decided to stop there and try to calm himself. He parked the car, grabbed his phone, and made his way towards a lit bench near the fountain. He sat down and allowed his mind to decompress. While the park seemed to be located in the middle of the city, it was remarkably calm and devoid of visitors, so it took no time for Travis to relax. His thought drifted from his friends to Ronda, back and forth, trying to think of what Maki would have told him to do about his wife and his feelings towards her new demeanor. It then came to him what he knew Maki would say.

"Dammit." Travis cursed to himself as he replayed it in his mind. He then pulled his phone out and looked at the many notifications. "If you want it to work, then ya gotta talk to her. That's exactly what you'd say." Travis then sighed as he began looking through the messages.

"Please come back Trav I'm worried." One of the message read. One other massage from Ronda caught his attention. It read, "If you don't let me know you're ok I'm gonna come looking for you expecting the worst! Pls txt me." That message had been sent nearly twenty minutes ago and surely Ronda had begun looking around for him. A devious part of him wanted Ronda to worry as retribution for her doing the same to him, but Travis's better judgment ultimately did not want to hurt her or have her suffering because of him. He took a deep breath and began to dial her number to call. The phone rung once.

"Oh my fucking god!" Ronda said. Her voice sounded as if his call woke her from her sleep, but he knew better. "Travis! You had me so worried!"

"I know." Travis responded. He heard Ronda sigh on the other end.

"Listen. I've been acting like such an ass to you lately. I'm just so stressed about work and everything changing so quickly, having to adjust to being away from my kids back at camp and not having them around to annoy me… I'm sorry for taking that out on you. I didn't realize I was doing it at first, but now that I've finally had some time to think, I know that I was. Please come back. I've a lot to tell you." Ronda tone was one that Travis knew well. She sounded defeated and vulnerable. It was a tone that Ronda seemed to only share with him. It is what made him fall in love with her to begin with. It seemed no matter how hectic life got for her and how much she fought to maintain it, Ronda would always give her everything to him in the end. He smiled.

"I've a lot to tell you, too." Travis said to her.

"You first." Ronda replied. "I'm all ears, I promise."

"I'm at some park right now. I don't think I'm far. I've just been driving around the city. I'll be back soon, though."

"I'll be waiting. I love you, Trav."

"I love you, too, Babe." He ended the call with a warm feeling in his chest and more hope than he had when he arrived. After sitting a moment, Travis stood to his feet. He looked at his phone once more as he made his way back to his car and saw that Macey had tried to call him. He decided to call her back when he made it to his car. The phone rung twice before Macey answered.

"Hey, ya big lummox." Macey answered. "I was calling to see if you heard from Ronda at all."

"I, uh…" Travis stuttered. "Yeah, actually. I did. I'm about to go back to the hotel now to talk to her."

"Oh. Well good. I'm glad she's alright, but you'd better knock some sense into her."

"Yeah, yeah. I've got her. Did you make it to see the McMahons?"

"Not yet. I ran into a bit of car trouble. I think something came loose under the hood again." Travis began to worry.

"You alright?" He asked Macey. "Need me and Ronda to come help out?"

"Nah. I've got it. My ride is old. It's probably something simple. If it isn't, then the tow truck's got it. You hash out whatever you and Ronnie have going on. I'll be fine. I just wanted to check in on ya. Don't forget to check on the team, okay?"

"Got it. Be safe, Macey."

"Will do, Travis. Be good." Travis ended the call, started his car, and pulled out of the parking lot to head back to the hotel Ronda and he were staying.


The wind and rain danced through the trees of a forest in an undisclosed location. The noise of the wilderness filled the air as the rainwater washed away the dry days prior and there, sitting on the ground leaning against one of the trees, was a confused and overwhelmed Cesaro. His head throbbed as he tried to understand what was going on in its confines and why Shane felt it necessary to enter his mind without his consent. Had he done it before that night? Was whatever it was too much too heavy to discuss with him? He knew it had something to do with the source of his power, the entity that called itself the Mind Stone, but he still had no knowledge of what Shane would want with it since he knew Shane had no clue what it was. Then there was the fact that his emotions were beginning to become too loud in his mind to bare and he has been unable to quiet them. It was almost as if they were contaminating his mind like some type of foreign virus even though he knew they belonged to him. What made everything worse was that his lack of control had begun to affect the ones he cared deeply for. The look of fear on Zodrick's face as he looked at him, dangling the man's body in the air by the grip on his damaged hand, the image of their faces as they looked at him after Zodrick and his team fled the mansion, both had been burned into the forefront of his mind and played several times over like a haunting vintage record whose lyrics spoke in a language unknown.

Then, there was John Cena… Cesaro's proclaimed best friend. The man who came to the Safe Haven mansion confused and uncertain about himself, just as Cesaro did years ago when he first arrived. The man whom he helped understand and learn to control his newfound powers as if it were an obligation. The man followed Cesaro back to Lucerne several months ago to face his now overwritten past and stood by him every moment. The man who, for reasons unknown to him, vowed to remain at his side whenever he needed him. The man who brought him back to reality with a single touch. The man whose presence surrounded him like a mighty ocean to a solitary island. The man who tore a hole out of Cesaro's heart with two words binding his heart to another. Cesaro had tried to convince himself that what he felt for John was simply because he was always around, but that was what made John's presence so vibrant in his mind. John had shown him kindness that not even the McMahons could compare to. His generous heart and strong spine unearthed Cesaro's prior reservations and disrupted him to his core. John belonged to Nikki Bella, however, and the proof resided in the rings on both their hands. Cesaro wanted to be happy for them and he was because they truly were his friends, but he could not deny the aching feeling beneath the surface that ate at the smallest part of him. It was a pain that no words could have described and it made him distant, torn away from everyone. Cesaro had never been sure of how he felt about John until the trip to Lucerne, but once he felt how genuinely caring John was, I knew that he wanted to be around him. John's marriage to Nikki, however, reminded Cesaro of what he had always understood. Regardless of how he felt or whether he wanted to, in companionship and in life, he would have to walk the trails alone.

Cesaro took a deep breath as his thoughts of John and his confusion concerning his growing powers continued to flood his mind and then was when he felt the heat filling his lungs. His thoughts had distracted him so that, until that moment, he had not noticed his body beginning to generate a heat that caused the rain to instantly evaporate upon touching his skin. Cesaro attempted to calm himself by clearing his head of his thoughts, instead focusing on where he could go to get further away from the mansion. He then stood to his feet and proceeded to telekinetically lift himself off the ground and into the starry night sky high enough to see the many contours of the landscape. The trees of the forests and the lights of the nearby city would have normally been a breathtaking view to Cesaro, but all he wanted to do was escape somewhere his friends would not find him. Cesaro then decided to make his way to the city, believing that the commotion would provide him with some type of distraction while he hid himself amongst the crowded streets.