After another successful enough episode of Main Event, Mike turns his focus to the week's Smackdown, wondering what the Wyatts may do this time. He gnaws at his lip and grimaces, turning with a small smile as AJ walks up behind him and runs her hand up and down his back. She looks about as worried as he feels, both of them thinking about the MizTV that had been announced on Raw. "Mike-"
"It'll be ok," he mutters to her. They're still standing like that when a tech clears his throat behind them, both turning as one to face the man. "What?"
"Vickie Guerrero wanted me to tell you that MizTV with Orton has been canceled," he says. "Instead, you've been put in an eight man tag match with Bryan and the Rhodes against The Shield and Orton."
Mike watches him as he turns and walks off, glancing down at AJ. He feels a little more confident now, knowing that he'll have three tag partners, which means Orton won't have as easy a time to target him. She looks comforted by this as well, smiling up at him. "See, everything'll work out," he tells her softly.
But he doesn't even come close to competing in that match. When it's time for The Wyatt Family against the Usos, he finds his way to the commentary desk to watch the match, make sure they don't try anything against anyone during this match. And he intends on staying in place until, that is, Bray involves himself in the match, trying to help Harper out. Throwing his headset aside, he races around the ring and feels some vengeful pleasure as he knocks Bray away, just to notice out of the corner of his eye as Rowan starts to chase after him. He hurries up the ramp all the way backstage, glancing over his shoulder now and again, certain he'll get away safely the longer he doesn't see anyone behind him, when... he hears the Uso's theme coming from a nearby monitor, proving that they'd won the match, and smirks, just to turn and- come face to face with Bray Wyatt, skidding to an abrupt stop as he stares at the man who seems to have appeared out of thin air.
He chokes on his own saliva and stumbles backwards, almost falling on his ass, when he hits Harper's chest. "Oh, Miz, Miz, Miz," Bray murmurs, approaching him. "Haven't you learned yet, there is no point in runnin' from us? Kane learned... now I suppose it's your turn." He laughs dementedly. "We'll always find you, little lamb." He nods briskly and the large men lurking in the shadows behind him grab him, pinning his arms to his sides as Wyatt nears again and strokes his finger down Mike's pale face, causing him to shudder in disgust. "Get him up," he orders the men, who follow his orders briskly.
They push him into a fenced in area, Mike breathing heavily as he hits the opposite wall and immediately twists around, prepared for a fight. "Bring it on," he pants, fists raised defensively, despite not knowing how he's supposed to hold his own against all three of them, especially in such a secluded place as this. It goes about as well as he'd expected; and although he had managed a few good blows on both Harper and Rowan, their combined strength is too much for him and before long, he's bashed into the wall once more and slumps to the floor, hurting and feeling his vision wavering too much to manage any more defense or offense. But they're not done with him, Bray reaching over to turn on a monitor that he hadn't noticed before this moment, languidly walking over to him and tugging his hair to pull his head back and make him look at the screen. His breath stutters upon finding that AJ is in the middle of wrestling Nikki Bella, blue eyes locked on her as she works over her rival's sister.
Bray leans closer to him, his breath tickling over Mike's face. "She's a pretty one, y'know." He laughs as Mike's struggles begin anew, it clear that The Awesome One wants nothing more than to attack Wyatt, shut him up and keep him from ever looking at AJ again... but each uncoordinated movement he makes only seems to amuse the odd man even more until, that is, he lunges out and kicks Bray right in the leg, nearly sending him to the ground as it gives under his weight. His eyes immediately grow hooded, almost impossible to see in the shadowy area, and he stands roughly, lifting Mike to his feet. "That was a mistake." The two others surround him, lift him and prepare him for Abigail's Kiss.
Everything goes dark.
AJ's almost sadistic glee at defeating Nikki Bella in front of her sister quickly disappears when she arrives backstage to find Mike not waiting for her. She swallows and blinks, a thrill of unease tickling down her spine when Tamina grips her by the shoulders and turns her around slowly, bringing her face to face with a monitor where they watch, painfully quiet as Bray Wyatt leads the camera into the shadows, shifting a light until it shines down upon a downed form tied up, head falling limply to his chest, where the word LIAR is scrawled across, the other members of the Wyatt family standing on either side of him. "No," she whimpers, knowing immediately who it is, even in the poor lighting and with a sheep mask hiding his face from view.
Sure enough, they pull the mask off of his face a moment later and Mike's head falls limply back to the side, the man completely unconscious. Bray talks more, his words barely a buzz in AJ's ears as she stares at her motionless boyfriend through the tears in her eyes, shaking her head desperately. "No, no, no," she sobs. "Mike-"
Tamina still has her hands on her shoulders, however, and begins pushing her forward. "Shhh," she warns her as she chokes back her tears, uncertain what her enforcer is doing. "I think I know where they have him."
"You- you do?" AJ whispers, feeling unbelievably young all of a sudden as she fights to regain control of herself.
"Yes. Come on." They move faster, quietly, until Tamina pulls back on her arm, stopping AJ's forward motion. "Careful, we can't be seen," she warns the divas champion. It's torture, being so close to where Mike had last been seen, but unable to move forward until Tamina peeks around the fence carefully. "I don't see them, come on," she hisses, leading the girl into the area. As she watches for any sign of the Wyatts, AJ slips into the shadows and searches out Mike in the nearly perfect darkness, cursing the men every step of the way.
Finally she trips over something and nearly falls on top of a body that's soft and cool, recognizing the feel of Mike's flesh even as she cries out before clapping a hand over her face, laying in the darkness and listening in horror until Tamina hisses at her to hurry up. AJ sinks back on top of her boyfriend, locating his arms and tugging helplessly at the ties holding him in place. Finally the taller woman joins them and pulls her back to her feet. "I'll try to untie him, you go and get the trainer, anyone you can find to help. Mike's going to need it if he's going to get out of here. Alright?"
AJ nods desperately, breathing heavily as she wrenches away from Tamina and rushes back the way they had come, looking for someone, anyone willing to help. It feels like it takes forever and passes in a moment all at once as she stumbles into the trainer, barely getting past stuttering out Mike's name, almost passing out in relief as he turns quickly and calls for referees and whoever else nearby to come help. When they return, AJ almost not sure how she remembers the way, Tamina has him half-freed and steps back as the referees converge upon the unconscious man, cutting him free the rest of the way. The trainer takes over from there and examines him quickly before calling for a stretcher, all of them working together to transport him.
AJ is shaking so hard she can barely walk straight, once more depending on Tamina to lead her back to the trainer's office, where he continues to work on Mike. "Please," she whispers to his still form. "Wake up. You can't- you can't let them win, Mike. I know you won't... so just... open your eyes, please. I can't- I can't deal with Sunday while you're like this. I can't do it without you. You said you'd be there... so open your eyes!"
This must break through whatever the Wyatts had done to him because he slowly stirs and looks at her, lips twitching as the girl sobs in relief at the first glimpse of his blue eyes. "AJ," he whispers, smiling for real when she scoots over and lays her hand on his chest, just above the now somewhat faded letters scrawled on his chest. "What- what did they do?" He looks confused, and as young as she feels, and it breaks her a little more as she leans over and kisses him.
"Don't worry about that now," she breathes softly. "I'll fix it, ok? You'll be alright..." She scrubs the tears off of her cheeks and walks over to the sink, finding some towels and soaking them in cool water from the tap before returning to Mike's side and gently, carefully running the soft fabric over his skin, rubbing the terrible letters off of his flesh. It takes a few minutes, the word not wanting to wipe completely off, but she works stubbornly, though gentle, careful not to harm him further. Finally all visible traces of what the Wyatts had done fade away from his skin and she smiles wearily, looking up at him. "There, all better."
He stares at his now clean chest before glancing back at her, smiling faintly. "Thank you, sweetheart. Are you ok?" She nods desperately and tosses the towels back into the sink before laying on the cot next to him, running her fingers along where his skin is still drying. "I missed your match, didn't I? You won?" She nods again and he smiles. "I had no doubt." He kisses the top of her head gently and closes his eyes, relieved that, for now, everything is normal again... though he can still feel the Wyatts' presence, his head throbbing from suffering Abigail's Kiss against the floor earlier.
"You have nothing to worry about," she tells him softly. "E is taking your spot in the main event, so just lay here and rest. Everything'll be fine."
"Thanks," he breathes, relieved that she seems to have taken care of everything, as always. "I love you."
"I love you too," she whispers back, kissing his jaw. "Never scare me like that again, though, or else..."
He chuckles faintly and closes his eyes, stroking his fingers through her hair comfortingly. "I'll try not to."
"Hey," Alex says, releasing a relieved sigh as he catches his first glance of Mike early Saturday afternoon, wrapping his good arm around him and pulling him inside. "You alright?" They had talked on the phone to confirm what they were doing this weekend, but still- seeing him in person does a lot more to comfort Alex than just listening to his voice on a crappy cell phone connection insist that he's ok from states away.
"Yeah, man, those hicks aren't going to keep me down for long," Miz mutters, dropping his bag in the hallway and looking up to find Ricardo watching as Alex drags him the rest of the way into the living room. "Hey, Ricardo."
"Hola." The ring announcer follows them, stopping only long enough to move Mike's bag a little more out of the way so no one kicks or trips over it, stopping short as he realizes AJ and Tamina are still lurking by the front door, the divas champion looking almost uncomfortable as her enforcer waits patiently for her to do something. He blinks at them a time or two before approaching hesitantly. "Hey, are you coming in?"
AJ blinks, finally coming out of whatever funk she'd been in. "...Yeah," she murmurs, entering hesitantly and Tamina following as he pulls the door shut behind them.
He watches her for a moment, frowning in some confusion. "Are you... ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." But he notices as her fingers tighten around the straps of her bag, his lips twisting as he recognizes her anxiety as something he endures too often in strange situations.
"Hey, if Mike wants you here, then Alex and I want you here," he tells her. "We just want to see him happy, especially with what he's been going through lately, and you seem to do that for him. Come in and relax for awhile." These words help her to feel more at ease, her tight hold on the bag easing slightly as he smiles at her, the girl finally laying her bag down next to Mike's before following him into the living room, Tamina leaning against the wall by the door to observe everything, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Hey, there you are," Mike smiles at AJ, glancing from her to Ricardo. "Everything alright?"
"Si, everything's fine. We just took a minute to get to know each other a little better," Ricardo says, glancing over at her as she nods in agreement, sinking down next to Mike and resting her head on his shoulder.
"So how are you two doing? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever," Mike says after a moment, glancing from Ricardo to Alex. "Florida isn't that fascinating, is it?"
"Have you seen the beaches around here?" Alex chuckles, glancing towards Tamina in some discomfort as she continues to stare at them all, taking everything in silently. "Nah, we're doing alright. I'm starting rehab at the performance center... but the true story is someone in this room is training to be a legit competitor in WWE." He smirks over at his sheepish looking roommate, chuckling a bit.
"Si," Ricardo murmurs. "It's... going well, I believe. The head trainer seems pleased enough."
"He's being modest," Alex waves him off. "I've been watching him, he's going to be running circles around all of us in that ring before long."
Mike laughs as Ricardo flushes, looking down at his hands. "Well, maybe while we're all in Florida, we'll have to make the time to go see him at work, then. I've always been curious how you would do as a wrestler, man. I'm glad you're finally getting an opportunity."
"Gracias," he whispers.
Alex finally decides to take it easy on the younger man so he stands up, clapping his hands. "Well, let's get you guys settled and we'll go to the beach, huh?" Before leaving the room, he hesitates in front of Mike and AJ and whispers to them, "You guys get the third room... so, um, if Tamina is going to stay here too, uh... the couch is all that I have left really. I'll leave it to you two to tell her. Good luck!" As he rushes off to collect their bags with Ricardo and drop them in the guest room, AJ and Mike exchange disbelieving glances, both looking over at the enforcer with wide eyes.
"Dammit," Mike mutters.
After spending most of Saturday on the beach or exploring nearby restaurants and shops, Mike and AJ both turn back to serious business on Sunday. She stares at him unhappily as he packs for the PPV that night, biting her lip. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she wonders, sitting in the windowsill of the guest bedroom in Alex's apartment, tilting her head as she watches him. "I mean, the trainer says you're not cleared, and The Wyatts-"
"I'm not hiding, AJ," he says solemnly. "I know that it's scary, especially for you, when they do things, but I'm not letting them derail my career. I've been letting too many things do that lately- not this too, I just can't do it." He stuffs another roll of wrist tape into his bag before standing back up and joining her, cupping her face. She looks beautiful with the Florida sun shining down onto her, but her eyes are filled with such fear that he can't focus on the rest of it, leaning down to gently kiss her. "I'll be fine, sweetheart. One way or another. Try not to worry so much, ok?"
"You always say that," she mumbles, slowly pulling away from him. "But what am I supposed to do if you're wrong? Mike, if something happens-"
"It won't," he tells her. "Listen, we know this business and what can happen to people. It sucks sometimes, but I won't let them get the drop on me again. Alright? I promise, everything'll be ok." He strokes her face, smiling as she leans into his touch, trying to trust in his words.
His determination holds true to the event and once he leaves her in the locker room with Tamina keeping an eye on things, he wanders the hallways, looking for the Wyatts or anyone who could help him achieve what he wants. Finally he comes upon Vickie and demands a match against Bray, but she is aware of what the trainer had told him as well, immediately refusing his request. This does nothing to dampen his need to get his hands on the enigmatic man, leaving her behind after announcing that he'll take matters into his own hands then.
Not wanting to wait too late and risk disrupting AJ's match, which is scheduled for later in the night, Mike goes to the ring after the first match, calling out Bray. He knows early on that he's not going to get what he wants as the manical cult leader appears on the titantron screen, refusing to come out and saying more of his confusing things until- Harper and Rowan appear, cornering Miz. He tries to fight back but they overpower him quickly, beating him down until he worries that he's not going to be able to uphold his promise to AJ when- he hears what sounds like an explosion and the crowd begins to react, blinking as the two men leave him behind, disappearing completely. When he slowly looks up, it's to find Kane standing in the ring, staring down the ramp at them with his back to Mike. He stands slowly, grimacing in some pain. "Hey-" he's just started to say when the monster turns towards him, an unreadable look in his eye...
...before he grabs Miz by the throat and chokeslams him hard to the mat, Mike arching off of the surface desperately, his back throbbing all over again. He lays there, dazed, as Kane leaves as quickly as he'd arrived, wondering what the hell just happened. Yet again helped by the trainer and referees to the back, he breathes heavily when AJ meets them at the office, her face tense with displeasure. He grimaces at her, holding his neck as she wraps an arm around him, squeezing his side. "That wasn't expected," he mumbles against her hair.
"No kidding," she grouses, helping him settle against a cot for the trainer to check his neck over more thoroughly. She sits with him, the two of them watching the PPV as it rolls on, Mike blinking quietly as she leans over when his phone beeps. "Here." Handing it over to him, he smiles at her, reading the text alert there from twitter. He breathes heavily, finding it to be from Ricardo about Del Rio, whose match is coming up next. They watch the start of it together until Tamina comes to collect AJ, the two of them leaving to get ready for her rematch against Brie.
Mike sits up and watches the rest of the match, unsure how to feel. He doesn't like Cena, far from it, but yet he has such mixed feelings about Del Rio. And he suspects that Ricardo feels the same, which is the only reason why he cares at all about this match. Not long after Cena wins the World title, there's another tweet from Ricardo where he congratulates Cena and thanks him. "Whoa," Mike mutters, staring at it. "Well..." He can't blame him, all too aware of how much pain and anger the man had been feeling the past few months, no matter what Del Rio had claimed his intentions were. After three years of loyalty, he doesn't blame Ricardo, though he finds himself wondering exactly what Alberto himself had thought upon seeing that tweet.
It quickly fades from the forefront of his mind as AJ's match begins, the action going back and forth while Mike holds his breath, watching closely. When AJ succeeds, making Brie tap to the Black Widow, he releases a deep breath and grins, happy for the girl. He quickly gets up, tired of the trainer's office, and makes his way to the gorilla position, greeting her as she makes her way backstage. Her eyes light up as she spots him, leaving Tamina's side while she runs to him, stopping short of actually tackling him in lieu of his lingering pain from Friday and earlier tonight. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm alright." He strokes her hair out of her eyes and grins down at her. "Happy for you, I knew you'd be great out there. Congratulations." Her eyes gleam as she steps up on tippy toes to kiss him. "C'mon, wanna go back to Alex's apartment now?" He wants to look in on Ricardo, make sure he's doing alright after the earlier tweets, and had only remained for her. She nods, taking his hand as they walk slowly out of the arena, Tamina following behind them.
It hits him hours after they leave the arena, when the pain killers that the trainer had given him loses their strength. Adrenaline drops and he stares through the darkness, brushing his fingers through AJ's hair as he bites his lip, his body slowly starting to throb. He succeeds at gently slipping out from under her, walking stiffly to the bathroom to look for ibuprofen, but someone's already inside and he groans, trying to wait it out. Thankfully, he doesn't have to as the door is slowly opened, Ricardo peeking out. "Mike?" he whispers, mindful of the people still asleep. "Are you ok?"
"No," he hisses back, in too much pain to try to keep up a brave face. "Everything kind of hit at once... do you know if Alex has ibuprofen or something in there?"
"Oh si, yes, I was actually looking for it myself," Ricardo whispers, stepping aside so he can see the medicine cabinet too. Noticing the worried look on Mike's face, he winces a bit and explains, "Getting the opportunity to train every day to learn how to wrestle has been incredible, but it's... kind of been aggravating what Del Rio did to my arm. The trainer's recommended I take it a little easier for a few days. But don't worry, he says I'll be alright."
Mike stares at him sharply before nodding grimly. "Alright, you better be," he says gruffly as they stand side by side, staring at each other in the mirror as they down the pills. He pats Ricardo on the back before heading back to bed, barely able to keep his eyes open as the pain slowly starts to fade away once more.
As he sinks down next to AJ once more, she curls closer to him and sighs, stirring. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," he murmurs. "I'm fine. Go back to sleep." To his relief, she drifts off quickly and he releases a soft breath, closing his eyes. He's not sure what Raw will bring tomorrow, but he can't help feeling a fair amount of dread, not sure where to expect a threat from- Kane, the Wyatts, both...
His worry only grows when he arrives at the arena for Raw the next night and sees that he has a match against Kane, his eyes narrowing. His stiffness and pain had been back with a vengeance when he'd woke up, and walking was little more than pure torture, each step reminding him of what both Kane and the Wyatts had done to him the last four days. AJ is staring at him worriedly and this is the only thing that makes him swallow down his discomfort, trying to comfort her by seeming unbothered by the match coming up. When the Wyatts are shown targetting Daniel Bryan, he feels almost bad for his former NXT rookie, but the selfish part of him is relieved that this hopefully will mean that the trio will have lost interest in him.
As it stands, AJ's match comes first anyway and he watches while trying to stretch out the remaining tension in his joints as she wins with the Black Widow yet again, her and Tamina leaving the Bellas struggling to regroup once more. She enjoys the victory but as soon as she returns to the back and skips up to him, her smile slips a little and she leans up to him, cupping his jaw. "Be careful," she urges him quietly, kissing him.
"I will, promise," he mutters to her, kissing her back. "I'll be back soon." He pulls away with a hesitant smile before going out to face Kane. He wants to pay the man back for what he'd done the night before but he's distracted, almost expecting the Wyatts to come out of nowhere and attack him again, but this doesn't happen. Even so, his distraction lasts and works against him, causing Kane to catch him... he loses to another chokeslam in just a little over a minute, rolling out of the ring and staring up at the lights, dazed, as pain throbs down his spine and neck anew.
It only distantly registers with him as Kane calls out Stephanie, announcing that it's what's best for business, before taking his mask off and handing it over to the woman, leaving without further explanation. He's watching the titantron on his side, trying to make sense of what just happened- the loss, Kane's actions, any of it, when a referee tells him he needs to move, he ignores his offer to help and stumbles backstage on his own, head lowered as AJ and Tamina join him, the enforcer clearly keeping an eye out for any problems as the shorter girl massages his back and tries to get him to look at her. "Hey, hey," she whispers, stroking his face. "Mike, it's going to be ok... Come on, let's get out of here."
He's not sure if he can believe her, but eventually nods anyway, relieved to take her hand and let her lead him back to the locker room so they can collect their things and go, wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and forget the past few days.