EIGHT

Two days later, I woke up to the rather frightening sight of the Abigail Creature staring at me from the foot of my bed. I let out a very undignified sound at the sight of the tiny ninja I hadn't heard coming and sat up.

"Um... Can I do something for you, Abigail?" I asked.

She seemed to be debating whether or not to tell me what was on her mind. She perched herself on the edge of my bed and said, "James is in trouble."

I was instantly awake. "What trouble?" I asked. I didn't stop to wonder why she knew this when I didn't. I always knew when James was in trouble.

"They blocked you," she answered my unasked question. "They didn't think to block me. And I know stuff. Get up. He's hurt, Michael. It's... bad."

I didn't need to be told twice. I was ready to run out the door in my pajamas. Abigail rolled her eyes and tossed me my clothes. She stepped outside and left me to change.

When I got to her, Emily was with her. She'd also changed in a hurry. "I'm going with you," she said.

"Me, too," Abigail said.

"No, Abby. It's too dangerous."

"Mom, it's James."

"I said no. You're staying with Jamie until we come back. She already agreed to watch you."

Abigail looked like she wanted to argue, but she nodded. I was worried. That had been way too easy. What was the Creature plotting?

We took her to Jamie before rushing off to rescue James. I focused all of my energy on the minions since James was blocked from me. I tried to read their thoughts from a distance. I was striking out until I caught a snippet from Storm.

Poor, pathetic little Spud, he thought over and over. It was odd that I caught Storm of all people. His shield was ridiculously strong. You walked into the wrong rodeo, Spud, he thought suddenly. Saddle up, Cowboy.

I told Emily what I was hearing. "That's... odd," she said finally. We were driving through a fairly abandoned part of town when she proclaimed, "Stop!"

I slammed on the brakes. "What? What is it?" I asked her.

"Look!" She motioned toward a set of three attached storefronts. They appeared to be empty.

"Yeah, so?" I asked.

"No, look up, Michael!" She pointed at the awning.

I read the signs aloud. "Lenny's Bagels... Cheese Please... Cowboy's Rodeo Burgers- oh shit!"

"It can't be a coincidence. Storm loves making bad puns at inappropriate moments."

I threw the car in park in the middle of the street and jumped out. There was no time to waste with parallel parking at that point. Emily and I ran inside. Although the place looked abandoned, I could hear the thoughts of several members of Team Baddie. It was MVP's loud-ass voice speaking aloud, however, that gave away the fact that they were beneath us.

I texted Jeff our location. He was also out trying to find James. Wes and Lauren were with him. Wes had insisted because we knew James was hurt and he was a trained medical professional. Lauren had come along because it was James, and even she couldn't leave our Rockstar Spud in danger. He was too loved by everyone at TNA. Taking James definitely meant shots had been fired by Team Baddie. None of us were going to stand for that.

Emily and I crept down into the basement silently. MVP was laughing. "Look at this little bitch!" He proclaimed. "He's such a pussy."

Takes one to know one, MVPussy, I thought, adopting one of the New York City crowd's chants for him. And Spud's more of a man than you'll ever be.

Emily squeezed my hand. I knew we needed to wait for our moment, but it was hard. James was so close, and he was hurt. I could feel him, even through the block they'd created. Abigail wasn't wrong about how bad it was.

I spotted him and nearly smited everyone on sight. James had daggers pinning his wrists to the floor. The bad guys were gathered around laughing at him as he struggled to free himself. His head was gushing blood. He was so badly beaten, I barely recognized him, but he was still fighting like hell to get out of this alive.

I'm here, Buddy. Don't give up. I'll get you out of this, I thought. I sent the thought as hard as I could toward him and hoped it would somehow break through the blocks around his mind.

Emily looked like she was going to kill them all herself. It was my turn to squeeze her hand. We were massively outnumbered. Even if I started throwing them all through portals, someone would have time to kill James, and I wasn't about to let that happen.

I looked at the assembled team of bad guys. MVP, Kenny, Brandon, and Nelson stood close together, cracking jokes and laughing at James. Taryn Terell was giggling like an idiot and flirting with all of them. Aries stood with Kurt Angle, and I knew we were fucked. Along with Storm, who was standing a few feet away, Aries and Angle were the deadliest members of Team Baddie. Aries was supercharged by their leader and couldn't die. He would always regenerate and resurrect, no matter what any of us did, until his master had a mood swing and took that gift away. Angle was extremely powerful on his own. He was also the quickest to draw blood. I figured he was borderline sociopathic, because he really got off on inflicting pain and on mentally manipulating people. Storm was their leader's right-hand man. He had all the inside knowledge and was viscious enough to force good guys to turn to the darkside by participating in rituals so evil I refuse to describe them here. Let's just say that the victims were never the same, even if we were able to reverse the process. Ask Seth Rollins about that sometime. He was the first. He's cured now, but that insane heel turn on RAW wasn't a storyline. In fact, he tried to kill his Shield brothers that night, but Reigns is Samoan and is by his very genetics extremely hard to kill and Ambrose is just one insane son of a bitch and he got them both out of the situation. None of them ever fully recovered from that, but Rollins did get better. Eric Young wasn't as lucky. Maybe because he was pure energy, or maybe because he didn't have two brother-like best friends to forgive him so he could forgive himself, EY was still so traumatized we had no idea if we would ever truly get him back.

I could hear Jeff, Wes, and Lauren thinking as they arrived. They quietly joined us. Lauren nearly went charging in when she spotted James, but Jeff stopped her. Wes snarled slightly, but he managed not to lose it and shift into wolf form.

"Someone's coming," Storm said suddenly. "You! Go handle it." He pointed at Aries.

"I'm not your fucking errand boy, Storm," he said.

"You're whatever I want you to be, Boy," Storm said harshly. "Now go fetch, you little bitch."

Aries glared but did as he was told. "You better go make sure he doesn't fuck up," Storm told Angle in a more respectful tone.

"You're probably right. That dumbass is gonna get us all killed one day," Angle agreed. He followed Aries out.

Now! I shouted psychically. Two of the three biggest threats had left the room. Our odds were suddenly much better. We ran in, guns blazing. I threw Brandon into a portal immediately. He screamed in surprise as he fell through to somewhere, possibly Canada... I'm not really sure. I usually aim for other realms, but that was a rush job, and I didn't care where he ended up as long as it was far away.

MVP cursed and grabbed Nelson. They tried to tackle Jeff, but he was quicker. He knocked them both to the ground. Kenny stayed off to the side, not ready to fight. Emily ran for Taryn, who started screaming for help and who had made her way straight to James. Being psychically fried had left her nearly mortal and fairly defenseless, but physically she was still a threat and Emily knew she'd do unspeakable things to James while he couldn't defend himself.

Lauren and Wes hurried to James. Lauren tried to free him, but without pulling the blades free, he was stuck, and if she did that, he would bleed out. Wes shifted gears and focused on trying to take care of his wounds. I went straight for Storm.

I hit him hard in the chest, sending him stumbling backward. Part of me wanted to kill the son of a bitch. My best friend was half dead because of him and his buddies. Still, I knew I needed to focus on getting us all out alive, not killing Storm or the other goons. I opened up a portal, but Storm saw it coming and ducked out of the way.

That was when he laughed and pointed at someone behind me. Jamie was there looking frantic. If Jamie was there, where the hell was Abigail?

"She tricked me," Jamie said to Emily. "She said she needed the bathroom, and then she was gone. I figured she must have come after you guys, so I followed Lauren's energy here. Emily, I'm so sorry..."

"It's not your fault," Emily said. She didn't seem entirely surprised, but she did look worried.

Taryn tried to take advantage of the distraction by lunging at Emiy. That was when Abigail appeared. She shouted, "Leave my mom alone!" Then she looked at a table and it flew right at Taryn's head. It clocked her hard and knocked her unconscious. I admit, I was impressed. I think everyone was, because everything stopped for a minute. MVP, Kenny, and Nelson stared at the kid in confusion. They were all laughing again at the sight of Taryn crumpled and defeated by a little kid. (I guess they didn't understand that Abigail was a creature, not a child.) Even Storm had cracked a bit of a smirk at that.

Abigail ran to her mother and threw her arms around her. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm supposed to be here," she insisted.

"I know, Baby," Emily said sadly. "It's okay."

Aries and Angle returned then. They looked at the scene in confusion. Storm shrugged. "Taryn had that coming," he said simply. "Well done, Little Darlin'."

Abigail glared at him. "My name is Abigail," she informed him.

"Wait, Abigail? Isn't she the one we were supposed to-?" Kenny began.

"Shut up, King!" Angle snapped at him. He looked like he might break his jaw. Dumb as dog shit, I swear to God, he thought. I couldn't disagree with him there.

I stood beside James. He looked up at me and finally stopped fighting, letting tears form in his eyes. He was shaking. The blocks around him shattered and his thoughts washed over me like a truck hitting a toddler. They nearly knocked me down. I reached down and took his hand.

"It's okay," I promised him. "I've got you. You're going to be alright."

"Mi... Michael..." He whispered. He was terrified. I could tell that they'd tried to break him in every way possible, but they'd failed. James was so much stronger than people thought he was. I wanted to kill every last one of them, but I knew I needed to try to heal him first. It was a slow process, and I was quickly distracted when I sensed someone else coming to join us.

My heart sank as Carlos came into the room. He looked different. The darkness had settled over him but it wasn't sitting well. He looked exhausted. He had bags under his eyes and they looked dead.

"Carlos, stop being stupid!" Abigail begged him.

"Abigail-" Emily began.

"No. He needs to hear this! Please, Carlos! This isn't you. I know you." Abigail put her hand over his heart. Carlos recoiled as if she'd slapped him.

"Abby..." He whispered. I noticed that she didn't correct him.

"You're doing this because Frankie's gone and you're hurting. You're angry. You should be. But the people you're angry at are the same people who convinced you to work for them."

"What?" He looked confused.

"They killed him, Carlos."

"It was TJ. He killed him."

"He works for the same people that they do."

Carlos looked so broken. How had he not realized this? What lies had they fed him?

"No. You're wrong, Abigail. MVP wouldn't lie to me. And Kurt... Kurt's known me since I was a kid. He knew Frankie. He wouldn't have... They've lied to you, sweetheart."

She took his hand in her much smaller one and said, "No, Carlos. They lied to you." She looked like she might cry. "I love you, Carlos. I loved Frankie. Please don't let them make you a bad guy. You're not a bad guy."

"I'm dark... So dark, Abby..." He shuddered. I could tell he'd been brainwashed. I wondered if Storm had been involved in that. He was, after all, a natural cult leader. People liked listening to what he had to say.

"No. You have light."

"Frankie was light. He was good. But me? I'm worthless." He looked like he might cry.

"No you're not," MVP said quickly. "Come here, brother. We've got you."

"But..."

"Carlos. Come. Here."

Carlos tried to walk over to him, but Abigail grabbed his hand again. "No," she said. "You're stronger than this, Carlos. I know you are."

"Carlos," Angle said. He reached for him. Abigail glared at him and the table that had hit Taryn flew at him. It narrowly missed his head. Angle had quick reflexes.

That was when I heard something that made my skin crawl. "Look at that! Very impressive," a female voice I knew entirely too well said. "Come here, Abigail. I'd really like to meet you properly."

I spun around and saw Stephanie McMahon standing in the doorway. She looked smug. She tried to put on a reassuring face for Abigail, but the creature wasn't stupid enough to fall for it.

"Abby, come here," Emily said urgently. Abigail ducked behind her mother, suddenly looking very nervous. It was rare to see her intimidated. I started to step closer to her, determined to protect her no matter what, but didn't get far before Stephanie spoke.

"Oh, Poor little Spud," Stephanie said with fake sympathy. "He looks terrible. It would be kinder to kill him."

"Don't you dare touch James!" Abigail shouted. She stared at Stephanie and suddenly, I heard her screaming. I realized Stephanie's hair had caught on fire. She frantically batted at it before ordering Angle to put out the fire. He looked at her like he was debating refusing, but finally whispered something that put the fire out. Her hair was singed and she was cursing her head off.

"Stupid little girl!" Stephanie shouted. "Is that any way to treat your aunt?"

I think my jaw dropped. I'd expected Triple H or Shawn Michaels or, hell, even Vince, but Shane? It couldn't be true. I looked at Emily. She didn't deny it. Instead, she looked like she might cry. She clung to her daughter like she was terrified she was going to vanish any second.

"I've got that brat!" Aries declared. He flung a spell at Abigail, but Jeff got in the way. It hit him hard. He collapsed.

Abigail screamed. Wes immediately knelt beside Jeff to see if he was alright. I looked at him. He shook his head. It was bad. I cursed silently and focused my attention on James. He was bleeding out. If I didn't heal him, he'd die within minutes. I had to turn it up a few thousand notches. I pulled the daggers out of his wrists and began to work even harder. This was going to fuck me up, but I didn't care. It was James. There was no way in Hell I was letting him die.

I willed my life force into James, sharing every ounce of strength I had with him to try and save his life. He tried to stop me. "Michael, no," he said. I was relieved he could speak slightly better. It was a start.

"I have to," I told him.

"I won't let you kill yourself, Mate. I just won't."

"And I won't let you die, Mate." I squeezed his hand. He needed me and I wasn't going to fail him.

"Michael!" Abigail cried. I spun around and saw that the bad guys were swarming around her and Emily now. I had to help them.

"Go," James said. "I'm strong enough." He wasn't in good shape, but I was positive he was no longer bleeding to death, so I caved and ran to help Emily and Abigail.

MVP knocked Emily back hard. I barely caught her before she could hit her head. As I steadied her, Abigail screamed. Aries had grabbed her.

"Stay the hell away from her!" Jamie screamed. She ran at him with a rage I'd never seen from her before and tackled Aries to the ground.

Aries quickly fought back. He reversed the attack and got Jamie on her back, but she wasn't going down easily. She threw him off of her and started beating the shit out of him. She owed the son of a bitch. I was proud of her, but I couldn't dwell on that. I grabbed Abigail and brought her back to her mother, then turned around to help Jamie as Aries reversed the attack again. I didn't get the chance to. Suddenly, I felt a change in the air. I sensed it a split second too late. Lauren lunged at Aries to try and get him off of Jamie when, to my absolute shock, a portal opened up and swallowed the three of them and they vanished before our eyes.