Possibly worse than aligning with Truth is actually traveling with the man. Mike watches blankly as he goes over the rental car like it's lined with a bomb, muttering viciously to himself about how some spiders are gon' get got if they're anywhere in the vicinity. He sighs, a headache already coming on. If he's this bad about the rental car, I don't wanna imagine how he's going to be when we get to the hotel. He closes his eyes, absorbing the warm sun as he waits impatiently.
Finally Truth pops his head out of the trunk and nods, satisfied. "No spiders here!"
"Thank God," Mike mumbles, hoisting his bag back onto his shoulder, desperate to just get this show on the road. When they do finally arrive at the arena a little bit later- driving with Truth is a whole other nightmare, the man brings roadrage to a new level, mumbling from one shoulder to the other the whole way about this driver and that, even blaming red lights on some conspiracy against him until Miz wants to either bail from the vehicle or take the wheel- he notes the tension almost as soon as he opens the door, each one of the locker rooms far from the usual madhouses they generally are. Even the tech crew look pale and distracted, eyes flickering from here to there as he walks by.
He doesn't think much of it until he walks past Randy Orton, the World Heavyweight Title gleaming over his shoulder, skidding to a stop as he stares at the Smackdown superstar going by like he owns the arena. Which, considering rumor was that Alberto Del Rio was stuck in Mexico due to some Visa issues, he in a way does, Mike muses, missing those days when the secure weight of the title belt was on his shoulder... Shaking his head, he turns to watch Orton leave, only then noticing a locker room with a bright blue sticker proclaiming "SMACKDOWN SUPERSTARS". There are more here tonight? he thinks, dread swirling up within him. What's going on? Maybe it's crosspromotion for Super Smackdown tomorrow night but... the way everyone's acting?
His question is answered merely half an hour later as HHH announces at the start of the show that from this point on, Smackdown superstars would be appearing on both Raw and Smackdown in what he proclaims as a "Supershow". The locker room he's inside of starts buzzing, Truth's eyes widening even further as they all process this information. This doesn't bode well for any of them, the ripple effect of such a decision obvious to them all- less screen time, more guys jockeying for attention, and perhaps... perhaps more releases, down the line. He takes a deep breath and grabs his gear, preparing for the match against Punk that's scheduled later that evening.
When it finally comes, he convinces Truth to stay in the locker room and guard their stuff from any spiders that may be lurking around, not caring one way or another really but just wanting to wrestle this match on his own, prove he has the stuff it takes to hang with the current self-proclaimed "Best in the World". It goes back and forth for awhile, sometimes Punk with the advantage and sometimes Miz, but things start to fall apart after awhile, his success at getting out of repeated GTS attempts slowly fading away... he thinks the match is just about over, Punk about to defeat him, when Truth rushes down and attacks Punk.
Reluctantly, Mike joins the brawl even as it spills out to the outside and is thrown into the wall, content to lay there and catch his breath as Punk and Truth return to the middle of the ring, Truth getting a GTS for his troubles. Miz decides it's gone on long enough and returns to the ring, laying Punk out. His attention drifts as he looks up to find Nash heading for the ring, anger and purpose on his face. Uncertain what's going to happen next, both Truth and he retreat, leaning against the ropes on opposite sides of the ring as Nash repeats Summerslam, powerbombing an unexpecting Punk into the canvas.
Annoyed that the first match he's had since Summerslam's been ruined in this manner, he mumbles some excuse to Truth about needing some air and quickly distances himself from his new "partner", wandering through the hallways for the next hour or so. As the show draws to an end, he can't help but fret some. Alex has a small video package just before the main event but Morrison isn't mentioned once. With the business in a strange sort of flux due to HHH's decisions, it's been changes like these that have been worrying since the takeover. He can't help but think of how things might've been if Vince had remained- Cena would more than likely be gone, his match against Punk tonight might've been for the WWE title, and...
This train of thought dies away as he catches sight of a monitor, HHH talking with Punk. He explains that the match against Nash has been changed- now Punk will be wrestling him at Night of Champions. Why am I not surprised? Miz thinks bitterly. Uninterested in seeing yet another Cena match to its conclusion, he returns to the locker room to find Truth.
A strained ride back to the hotel later- with Miz driving this time, Truth content to sit in the passenger seat and go on about this conspiracy and that no matter how loud Mike turns the radio up-, he hesitates outside of their room, forcing a smirk as Truth turns to him, curious. "Go on in, look for spiders. I'm gonna get some sodas until you say the coast is clear. Any preferences?"
"Smart! No point in them getting both of us," he nods wisely. "Whatever they have that isn't tampered with."
"Alright, be back in awhile." Miz barely waits until he's turned the corner to grab his phone. "Room 337," he mumbles, shrugging. "Same floor, go figure." He walks for a bit, noting the soda machines just down the hall from his goal before knocking loudly.
Alex answers, relieved to see that it's Mike. "Hey," he says quietly, stepping aside to let his former mentor inside.
John wanders out of the bathroom a moment later, his movements quick and annoyed as he stuffs some things into his bag, zipping it up roughly as he goes. "Mike," he greets his former tag partner tightly.
There's still some tension, uncertainty between them, since his actions a few weeks ago, not to mention his decision a week ago, but this is more. This is anger not entirely directed at him, but at the situation. Alex glances his way, shrugging unhappily as Mike watches Morrison do everything to not look at them. He sympathizes, still not entirely over the weeks he went with no matches on Raw- no announced bout for Summerslam. "John-"
"Don't. I'm fine," he snaps, kicking his bag out of his way as he stands.
"I can tell," Mike mumbles. "Look, the business is kinda up in the air with all these damn changes from HHH- it'll settle eventually. You'll see, this lack of match stuff won't be permanent." I hope... God, do I hope...
John doesn't respond for a long moment, his body rigid and shoulders tight as he peers down at the room service menu on the table before him. "Apparently, Alex, if we want matches again, we need to start working together against the conspiracy of the squirrels or something," he says sarcastically. "It seems to work for others." He finally looks over at Mike, who is relieved to see under the anger and bitterness that there's a slight bit of humor in his gaze as well, his lips twitching ever so slightly as Alex looks back and forth at them.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there were," the rookie mumbles thoughtfully, frowning.
"Oh, God, look what you did now, John," Mike groans in exasperation as John finally does laugh for real this time, his gaze softening afterwards. The next fifteen minutes spent teasing Morrison that it was his turn for a poster this year in the annual magazine special- to which Morrison returns that he has a month in the WWE 2012 calendar, unlike some former WWE champions- until Truth texts to say that the hotel room is spider free, is the most relaxing Mike's had in awhile. Even when he returns with two Sprites from the annoyingly depleted soda machine and finds Truth looking around wildly as if double checking the walls for sneaky arachnids, he has to work to get the calm smile off of his face.