Title: Courting Destruction

Authors: Luna and Maggie

Feedback: Loved and appreciated.  Send it to either  [email protected] or [email protected]

Distribution: Tainted Fiction, Maggie's Mad Maze, Luna's Night Moves...anyone else please just ask before you take it...I promise we'll say yes!

Disclaimer: The WWE owns the rights to all the names you recognize. This is being done purely for fun and entertainment. We are not making any money off of this. If you sue us all you’ll get our student loan debts.

Rating: PG-13 for now for language and violence. It will probably move to R in later chapters though due to more graphic violence and sex so if that is going to be a problem you might want to steer clear of this story.

Notes: This is going to a story that is largely based in the WWE with some paranormal elements.  We are playing a bit loose with time lines of past WWE events and ages of stars as we see fit and will be trying to remain true to the characters in some cases rather than what we know of their real personal lives.  If that is a problem, stop here.

 

Courting Destruction: Chapter Two/?

 

Two tall imposing figures walked down the hallway towards the girls’ room. The students they passed gave them a wide berth. The men looked vaguely familiar to a few of them but the scowls on their faces were enough to scare away even the most curious of onlookers.  Reaching the door they wanted, the pair looked at each other as they recognized two female voices bickering inside.

 

"I'm telling you it's weird that they haven't called yet Lee. They must be so angry they haven't decided what to do to us yet. You don't think they'd do anything really drastic like lock us up somewhere or something do you," Rose asked.

 

"Will you chill out! Maybe they are just busy with work and totally missed the news." At her cousin's disbelieving look the girl shrugged, "Okay so maybe not likely but it could happen. Besides staring at the phone hasn't exactly done us any good has it?"

 

Ro jumped as they heard a firm knock on the door. Moving to answer it she thought it was someone needing to borrow her class notes yet again. It was what she got for getting being on the dean's list, she guessed. "What now? I swear this place is worse than a zoo sometimes." She opened the door gulping as she looked up at the two men frowning at her.

 

Solie could feel the blood freeze in her veins as she turned to see who was at the door.  Her witty retort died on her lips as she got a good look at her father's face.  She could literally feel her father's displeasure and disappointment.  Hanging her head she sighed deeply.  She knew this moment would come eventually but somehow she had hoped that the old saying no news was good news would, just once, hold true for her.

 

Stepping up beside Rose she gently pulled the other girl back.  The door opened a bit wider because the strawberry blonde had a death grip on it.  “Please come in.  I think I speak for both of us when I say that we'd rather not have our humiliation made public,” she said wearily motioning with her chin the crowd beginning to gather at their door.

 

Rose's father, his near 7 foot height matched only by his brother standing next to him looked from the hallway back to the girls, "Don't want to make a scene now do you?"

 

The strawberry blonde pouted, a small whimper heard in her request, "Daddy, please."

 

The big man sighed and walked into the room. His brother smiled rather cryptically at the crowd started to gather and waited for them to disperse. Then he entered the room, freeing the knob from his niece's death grip to close the door against any unwanted company.  The two girls looked from their fathers back to each other, both unsure what to say. 

 

Lee was the first to find her tongue.  "I suppose you heard about the little accident at the party the other night."

 

Her father sat down on the edge of a study desk staring at the girl, "Accident? Is that what it was?"

 

"Surely you know we didn't mean for anything bad to happen. We were just defending ourselves and it got...well I'm not quite sure exactly how things ended up so... chaotic." Her cousin bit her lip defending their actions.

 

Rose's father nodded. "I was a bit curious about how things seem to keep happening to you two as well. It seems there is more going on than you two have been letting on. It's one of the reasons we decided to come in person to investigate."

 

"One of the reasons?" Ro frowned.

 

“Oh for fuck's sake,” Lee groaned throwing her hands up in the air.  “You can't seriously tell me that you believe every little rumor you hear.  That would be akin to us believing everything we read about you two.”

 

“Watch your language young lady,” Solie's father warned in a tone that left no room for argument.  “And just for the record we're not here to talk about our actions or supposed actions.  We're here to talk about yours.”

 

“Talk or tell us to pack up and move again,” Rose ground out the first hints of her temper beginning to show through.

 

“Stow the attitude Rose Elizabeth,” her father growled folding his arms over his chest.  “You've already admitted that you were the cause of the recent trouble.  Now what we'd like to do is see it for ourselves.”

 

The girls paled slightly at that announcement.  They had counted on the phone call so that they could down play the events of the night before.  It really wasn't their fault that trouble seemed to follow them like a stray once fed.  No matter how hard they tried to stay out of the way, to blend in, something always came along and threw a wrench in the works.

 

"Show you what? The house? I'm sure that his parents are home by now and it might be hard to explain." Rose hedged.

 

Her father shook her head. "Don't be difficult Rose. You know very well what I mean. If you've..." He stopped as if listening for something. He turned to his brother who shook his head. "If some of the talents you may have inherited from us have awoken we'd like to test first hand how much there is to worry about."

 

"But Uncle .." Lee began only to be cut off by her father.

 

"No excuses Solie. We need to know how dangerous you are both to yourselves and others."

 

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell them both to go to hell but a gentle squeeze from Rose kept the comment firmly behind her lips.  She crossed her arms over her chest glaring at both her father and uncle.  “Fine, you wanna know what's been unleashed then by all means follow me,” she bit out angrily.

 

Flinging the door open she growled at the few students still loitering in front of their door.  Their eyes widened comically before scurrying down the hall.  She was half tempted to give chase if only to release some of her pent up frustration.

 

“Was that really necessary Lee,” her uncle asked, but even he couldn't totally hide his amusement at her antics.

 

“Don't encourage her,” Solie's father said frowning at the pair.

 

Rose looked from her father to her uncle. "You think there is any chance we were switched at birth?"

 

The strawberry blonde’s uncle struggled not to laugh at that. "Some days I wouldn't doubt it. Now do you two have some place a little less populated we can finish this conversation?"

 

Rose nodded. For some reason she always knew the quiet dark places to be found near campus so she led them out.  A short time later they were walking into a large cavernous warehouse that smelled like an old high school shop.

 

At the questioning glance from her family Rose blushed. "This is where my crime lab class comes to run mock tests on weapons and stuff. I help clean up sometimes so I have an extra key. What exactly do you expect us to do?" She looked expectantly at her dad and uncle.

 

“We'll get to that in a minute,” Rose's father said surveying the room.  It would do quite nicely for what they had in mind.  There was little to no chance of anyone accidentally happening upon them.  “Is anyone supposed to be using this place today,” he asked his daughter just to be on the safe side. 

 

She shook her head still puzzled as to what it was exactly they were expecting her and Solie to do.

 

“Dad, is this really necessary,” Solie asked slightly unnerved by the cryptic nature of both her father and uncle.  It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her. They were that way with just about everyone else. Why did it surprise her when they treated her and her cousin the same way?

 

“Yes Lee, this is really necessary,” her uncle told her in a cool tone.  He turned back to his daughter.  “Tell me exactly what happened that night and don't leave anything out.  In order to help you girls we have to know all the details.”

 

Rose shrugged. "It started out like any ordinary night. We were at a party, just having fun but some drunk bumped into me," she paused and looked over to her cousin before sighing. "Lee took exception to his lack of manners, demanding an apology and soon we had a crowd." She bit her lip unsure how to continue. "It wouldn't have been so bad but Peter showed up."

 

Her father bristled, "The same Peter I heard you crying yourself to sleep over every night last break?"

 

Her uncle turned to her father, "Why is he still alive again?"

 

The older man shook his head, "I'm not sure but Rose was telling us the WHOLE story." He looked back at his daughter expectantly with one eyebrow raised. She in turn looked to Lee not sure how to continue.

 

Her cousin sighed, "Well as she said Peter showed up and made a small scene into a bigger one. He tried to kiss me," she heard her father growl but continued before he could get a full head of steam going, "at which point Ro attacked him. There was a struggle and things got a bit...nuts."

 

Her uncle looked at her critically. "How nuts Lee? What happened first, the fire or the outage? What were you feeling right before it happened?"

 

Solie closed her eyes taking a deep breath to control her rising temper.  It wouldn’t do her any good to get angry with them.  It would only make a bad situation worse.  They wanted a blow by blow account of what happened so they were going to get it.  “There were a couple drunks that came out of the crowd.  Fuckers hit me in the back of the head with a bottle.  I remember being angry...no scratch that I wasn't just angry I was livid.  These two idiots wouldn't have lasted sixty seconds in a real fight with me and because there was a crowd I couldn't beat the unholy hell out of them.”

 

The young woman stopped her entire body shaking as those same feelings washed over her, the anger that she was playing to a crowd of people just to protect some image.  It was galling that she couldn't beat them like they deserved.  She wasn't a weakling; she shouldn't have to act like it.

 

Rose reached over to squeeze Solie's hand. She knew how frustrating it was to her to walk the line. It got to Rose too but it seemed she had any easier time blending. She knew that was probably due to fact she had a less volatile temper than Lee. Of course that meant when Rose did fly off the handle it was that much worse. It seems this had been one of those times.... why couldn’t their fathers have been on an overseas tour and missed the news?

 

The green eyed girl shook her head. No use wishing for that now. She looked from her uncle to her father. "It is really difficult for both us to have to pretend we're something we're not so much of time." She raised a hand before her father could interrupt. "I know why we have to but you should know how tough it is especially when things seem to be changing... getting more difficult for us." She looked over at her cousin and bit her lip unsure if she should be speaking for both of them, "at least for me."

 

Her father nodded. "Yes I do remember which is why we need to know what is going on now."

 

Her uncle interrupted. "If you have new abilities that have been.... activated this is going to be a really tough time for you both. It might not be safe for you to stay at school, around so many... normals."

 

Rose gasped? "What? We already put off college a few years because you thought we needed time to run wild as daddy put it. Now you want to take us away again?" She looked from one man to the other as lights flicked in the distance.

 

Rose's dad hit his brother upside the head, "Way to reassure them. Nothing has been decided yet but that could be the choice if I don't hear the rest of what you're trying to hide and soon." He looked over at the flickering lights and they became steady.

 

The strawberry blonde shrugged. "I'm not hiding exactly. The fire happened first I think. I could tell Solie was getting really worked up but I was too busy fighting off Peter to help her calm down. It started feeling really warm in the room to me. Suddenly the table was on fire and everyone was panicking... I remember being angry and scared. All of a sudden the power went out and I wasn't so warm anymore." She blushed. “That's all I really remember.”

 

“Yes the fire was first,” Solie growled as her hands clenched at her sides.  Her lower jaw jutted out telling them just how angry she was.  “I was pissed then because I had to let them get blows in that they shouldn't just to maintain some facade.  In a real fight, a fair fight, those two morons couldn't carry my boots.”  A pile of nearby charred wood began to smolder as she tensed and relaxed her fists.  “I just have one thing to ask. Were you ever going to let us finish school or was this some elaborate ruse to pacify us until you could come up with a reason to drag us home again,” she asked turning accusing eyes on her father.

 

“Lee, it's not like that,” her father began deeply hurt by her words though it didn't show on his face.

 

“Then what is like,” she demanded shaking off Rose's comforting hand.  Tears began to gather in her eyes.  “I’m only one semester away from my degree and you're tellin' me that all that hard work was for nothing!”

 

“Solie, you're not being fair,” her uncle ground out his own temper beginning to show itself.

 

“Oh and why is that, because we've busted our asses to get good grades, tried like hell to keep out of trouble, blend in,” Rose returned defending her cousin and herself with those words.  “We have done everything you asked of us.  Instead of telling us how proud you are of your girls you come in and make it sound like we set out to be some kind of pain in the ass.”

 

“That is not what I said or implied young lady,” Rose's father ground out holding up a hand to forestall her retort.  He rubbed a hand wearily across his brow searching for some inner calm that would help him deal with the two strong willed young women.

 

“You're right girls,” Solie's father said shocking just about everyone.  “We came here with the intention of taking you home, but not for the reasons you think.  Just hear me out,” he said when he met their disbelieving looks.  “We never planned for this to happen.  We figured that by the time that you got to this point in your development you would have already been out of school, in which case you would have been at home when this occurred.  Since it didn't turn out that way we have to deal with the cards we've been dealt.”  He looked his daughter square in the eyes.  “You don't know how sorry I am that it did turn out this way, but for your own safety and that of everyone else we have no other option but to take you with us.”

 

Rose looked from her uncle to her father and screeched, "Talk about fair! You said there might be other options. Was that just a lie?" She dove for her father as the lights went out.

 

As the older man caught his daughter in his arms he noticed a spark of flame from the nearby wood. "You both need to calm down now. The fire..."

 

His brother sighed, "I'm on it if you can handle the lights."

 

As the lights came back on, Solie could see Rose crying as her father held the strawberry blonde tight. Her own father came over reaching out to hug her but she quickly slipped out of his embrace and took her cousin's hand to pull her away from the men. "Come on Rose. I guess we should start packing. I don't think they're going to change their minds after this."

 

Solie's father started to follow the girls but his brother grabbed his arm telling them, "We'll just make sure everything is in order here before we leave. We'll meet you back at your room in a little bit." After he was sure the pair was outside the building and well out of hearing distance he turned to his little brother. "I know we intended to test them more but I honestly don't think they were ready for that yet. They need time to adjust."

 

"Ready for that? What about the other part of the story? You know as well as I do what they need to do now. I'm not looking forward to telling them that part of the problem. Are you?"

 

The older man shook his head sighing. "No I'm not. It's times like these I really wish their mothers were still around." 

 

With a thought he turned off the lights as they headed out to face their headstrong furious daughters. "And people believed he and his brother were frightening." He thought with a chuckle.