A/N: A quick thanks to Catherina. I tried replying to your review but your DMs are off so I'm replying here. I knew someone was reading a lot of BtB over the past weekend but I wasn't sure who until you actually reviewed. I'm glad you gave the story a chance and enjoyed it so much, it meant a lot to me :D
After a successful mini tour of Japan and Taiwan, Miz is relieved to see the States again, breathing in heavily as he prepares for his flight to Raw. He groans and scrubs at his face, looking around at the others in the same position he's in, wondering if he has the time for a quick phone call. Deciding to risk it, he dials speed dial #3 and waits as it rings in.
"Hello?"
"Hey, kid," he says, eyes closing as he releases the breath he'd been holding. "How's it going?"
"Going alright," Alex says, Mike grinning as he hears the telltale squeak of a hotel bed while he shifts around on it. "You back in the States then?"
"Yeah, finally," he sighs. "Long ass flight, man." He hesitates, wanting to ask about Ricardo but not wanting Alex to think he'd only called for information on the ring announcer.
"I bet. Saw Jericho's tweets about it, it sounded pretty brutal." Alex shifts again and then swallows. "Hung out with Ricardo some this week, he seems to be doing ok. Considering." Mike relaxes into the chair, relieved at how well his former NXT protege knows him. "I'll check in on him again when I'm back in Florida... but he's handling it better than I would, I think."
Mike nods, remembering how aggravating it'd been for the other man when he had been injured. "Thanks, man." He stares out of the airport windows, considering going to Florida himself at some point during the month period, but he's not sure Ricardo would even want to see him after everything... Alex seems like a less stressful option, considering.
"You should see that house of Del Rio's, man. And the grounds... damn!" As Alex continues to tell him about everything he'd seen, Mike sits back with a grin, picturing it all as best as he can. "...And he has a housekeeper, she seemed nice. Very protective of those two. It's weird, seeing Del Rio's real life and trying to match it with the man in the ring, y'know? I mean, I guess considering what we've seen of him the past few months, how he's treating Ricardo now, it shouldn't surprise me, but yeah... there's a real human being in there somewhere."
Mike laughs. "Come on, man. We all have different sides to ourselves. Most would be surprised to see me outside of a wrestling ring, right? I'm not half as obnoxious in real life..."
"Usually," they say together, Alex laughing as Miz huffs at him. "Yeah, you have a point. It was just... unexpected to actually see it, you know?"
"Yeah, I can only imagine," he says, wondering if he'll ever get the opportunity to see that side of Del Rio and Ricardo's life himself. "I'm just glad he's doing ok." He tilts his head, staring at the calendar hanging on the wall across from him, counting the days left in the suspension period as Alex tells him how his second week of commentary for Superstars went.
Raw has a weird vibe about it from the second that Mike enters the arena, people he walks past talking in near-whispers as they cast furtive glances around, everyone feeling the impact of the Wyatt family's looming debut, the videos they'd been airing for the past few weeks leaving superstars and staff alike tense and worried. No one seems interested in staying alone, Mike relieved to have Alex nearby as he walks through the halls to the locker room. Zack and Jericho join them at some point, the four of them keeping close as the show begins.
It's early in the show when AJ is shown, Mike half-listening as she and Big E discuss the whole situation with Kaitlyn. When Ziggler interrupts, he rolls his eyes and stops watching, turning his attention instead to picking lint off of his suit, which is a much more interesting endeavor than watching her simper all over him. "Ziggler does not look impressed, bro," Zack chuckles with Jericho.
After a few moments of silence, Jericho shudders. "They have been told this is supposed to be a family friendly product, right?" Mike makes it a point not to look up, able to guess what's going on, until finally the footage fades away. "Hey, Miz, my match is up soon. Any message you want me to give Axel?"
Mike does look up at this, smirking at him. "No, that's fine. If I have a message for him, I'll deliver it myself. I'll be doing commentary for the duration."
Jericho hums. "Alright then. Just don't get too excited and cost me the match; I kept my distance last week during yours against Ryback, after all."
"Don't worry, I won't." And he doesn't, though he does respond when Axel starts to get in his face, standing up and taking his jacket off, undoing his tie just enough to distract the obnoxious Intercontinental champion, leaving it to Heyman to have to all but scream in his face that he's about to get counted out, Mike sneering as Axel rolls back into the ring and eats a codebreaker and the three count- his first ever since debuting under that name and Heyman's tutelage.
It helps a fair amount to know that he'll now be walking into Money in the Bank against a champion who's now got a loss fresh on his mind, nudging Jericho once he's backstage, his jacket and tie held over his shoulder. "Congrats, man. About time someone snapped his undefeated streak."
"Yeah, thanks. Now someone just has to take that title off of his shoulder," the Canadian agrees.
"And that's my cue," Mike grins. "I can't wait for Sunday."
Jericho and Zack leave to check out catering, Zack going on and on about something they have that Jericho should give a try, leaving Mike and Alex behind in the locker room to watch the rest of the show. It's pretty standard for a pre-Money in the Bank show, except for the sense of unease and fear that seems to be multiplying with each passing match, especially after footage of the Wyatt family compound is aired. "Do you think that guy was ever seen again?" Alex asks, wondering about the unseen reporter.
"Well... how did they get the footage if he wasn't...?" Mike asks, frowning.
Alex shrugs, but they both fall quiet when Del Rio comes out for his match against Sin Cara, the footage of Ricardo's attack at the hands of Ziggler replaying. As they take in the dark, angered look on Alberto's face, Alex sighs. "Well, here's a question for you. Commentators keep saying that Ricardo's injured at the hands of Ziggler, and yada. We know it's not true. Do you think... Del Rio...?"
Mike shrugs this time. "It's his best friend, man. Considering how much money he has to throw around, what's a little bribery here and there, right?" He smiles wanly, staring at his hands. He himself had gone pretty low just trying to get John his job in WWE back, so he doesn't blame Del Rio if he'd greased some palms to keep the true reason of Ricardo's disappearance from television. The Internet had been brutal enough over it all, access to all of the competitors made so easy by social media working badly against them in situations like this. They once more fall silent as the match draws on, Sin Cara actually holding his own surprisingly well against the World Champion, and Mike has to wonder if he's distracted by Ricardo's situation, his anger over it all causing him to become sloppy.
It gets even worse when Dolph Ziggler comes out and feigns a not-very sincere apology for what he'd done to Ricardo, only adding to Del Rio's anger, before mocking the champion's introduction. Miz rolls his eyes. "Hasn't he been giving AJ grief for making fun of Kaitlyn the past few weeks?" he asks randomly, watching as Alberto and Dolph begin fighting on the outside, Sin Cara getting involved after a minute. Finally the match is thrown out, the referee unable to get control of the situation again, and Mike takes a breath. "Well, that was dumb."
They don't move, watching through until Kane vs Christian ends, the Wyatt family choosing then to make their presence felt. Not that anyone in the back are safe from them, however, the lights in the whole arena going dark abruptly, not just those in the ringside area. Mike swallows and stares, turning towards Alex. "You alright, kid?"
"Yeah, fine," he whispers, watching the monitor whose faint glow is the only light in the whole room. "Mike..." All they can see on the screen is a bobbing light, hear the buzz of the crowd. Finally, Bray Wyatt blows out his lantern, all of the lights turning on in a rush that makes the two men feel disoriented and more than a little weirded out. "Damn," he breathes as the ring is shown, Kane surrounded by the other two members of the Wyatt family, Bray sitting calmly in his rocking chair and watching on blankly. Despite how hard Kane fights, he's quickly overwhelmed and sent into the steel steps, where he slumps lifelessly.
Mike gapes as the Devil's favorite demon is wedged between one half of the steps and the other, his head potentially crushed by the heavy weapons. He curses loudly, shaking his head. If they can do that to Kane,he thinks, dread welling up within him. "Dammit..." It takes a long time for either of them to move, find their way out of the room, and when they do, Daniel Bryan is standing in the parking lot outside, staring blankly off into the night. "Daniel," Mike greets his other NXT rookie tensely, waiting for him to turn around. "Is Kane...?"
He stares at Mike and shakes his head, eyes dull and blank. "They say..." He licks his lips anxiously, glancing around. "They say he might have...brain damage or, or... neck damage. They... he... was talking in the ambulance. I don't know."
Alex and Mike exchange a glance, the former WWE champion feeling bad for the shorter man before him. He remembers quite well how it'd felt when Morrison had been sent off for his surgery due to a pinched nerve, and everything had been so uncertain. He reaches out and squeezes Daniel's shoulder, surprising all of them. "He'll be alright. He's... Kane. Right? He's strong."
Daniel nods so violently that his beard shakes. "Right, of course. He'll... he's going to be fine. And I'll... I'll be able to... make it up to him... somehow..." He takes a breath and stares at the building, absently wandering away from the two men. "I have... to go..."
As he enters the arena, Mike blinks a time or two before turning to Alex. "Kid, let's get out of here. I have a phone call to make."
Ten minutes later, they're in their hotel room and Miz is sitting on the windowsill, staring out over the city as he holds his phone to his ear, listening to it ring. He wonders if maybe his call won't be answered, but finally it clicks in, and he smiles.
"Hola?"
"Hey, Ricardo," he says, relieved to hear the ring announcer's voice, considering how he'd looked that Friday after the attack from Ziggler when he'd last seen him. Even with Alex's reports, he'd worried. "Hope I didn't wake you or anything."
"No, I was only sitting here, drawing. I actually just finished talking to El Patron, so you picked a good time to call."
Mike grins, sprawling out in a more comfortable position. "Good, I'm glad, man." He takes a breath, remembering the look in Daniel's eyes, his tone of voice when he'd talked about Kane. How his regrets had seemed so similar to Mike's own when it came to the man on the other end of the phone. "So how are you doing?"
When Alex comes out of the bathroom, he stops short at Mike's laughter, a sound he'd heard sadly little of lately, his eyes softening when he realizes that he's talking to Ricardo. Lips twitching into a grin of his own, he pads over to his bed quietly and settles in with the remote, careful to keep the volume down so as not to disrupt the conversation.