SEASON SEVEN

EPISODE 4: BECOMING THE HUNTED
PART ONE

By: X_C

 SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER. THESE ARE THE VOYAGES OF THE WWF TITANPRIZE. IT'S MISSION: TO EXPLORE AND ENTERTAIN NEW SOCIETIES AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS.  TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO WRESTLER HAS GONE BEFORE!

TITANPRIZE/NYTRON CREW:

Captain Vince Russo (aka High Commander)
First Officer, Commander Jeff Jarrett (aka The Chosen One)
Chief Engineer, Commander Stephanie McMahon
Chief of Chiefs, Commander Linda McMahon
Chief of WrestleFleet Security, Commander Kane
Chiefs of Nytron Security, Commanders Hall, and Nash
Chief WrestleFleet Medical Officer, Dr. Taker
Chief Nytron Medical Officer, Dr. V. M. Piro
Diagnostics Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jericho
Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Austin
Transporter Chief, Lieutenant Commander Debra McMichael
Communications Officer, Lieutenant Rock
Counselor Al Snow (assisted by H.E.A.D.)
 

... And many more!

WWF TITANPRIZE-CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

    "Cap's Log, Stardate 072400.00. Two McMahons down, one to go! Vinnie Mac has become my own personal bi-well actually that's Bishoff, but I've got the Genetic Jack-Ass locked down tight in the brig, sparing the universe from his efforts at reproduction! I'm thinkin' about maybe wakin' the old man up and rubbing my superiority in one of his many ridiculous faces!

    Shane O' - oh god - he's like the son I never had! The kid is beautiful! Doesn't even care that the putrid Wrestlefleet cowards under his command hate his stinkin' guts-talk about grapefruits!"

    Russo sighed. All was not well under Nytron occupation, because one rat was still free.

    "Stephanie - that sweet sweet little angel...well....even angels must fall from grace! Go ahead, little princess, I dare you! Just take enough rope to hang yourself with, cuz I would love to just tighten the noose around your pretty little neck!"

    A smirk as he heard scratching and whimpering behind his favorite closet door. What game would he play with Bishoff today?

SICKBAY

    "You sure she passed out?" Dr. Taker gnashed tobacco between his teeth as he pointed a thin stream of light into Stephanie's eyes. Sanitary? Hell no, but it was a better poison to swallow than that punk ass Piro, who loomed like a dark shadow every damn time he turned around! "I mean, it ain't no shocker to find little Stephie Mac flat on her back!"

    Jericho half-smiled. "Yeah Doc, but she didn't have an ensign on top of her."

    Only the threat of tossing her cookies kept Stephanie silent.

    "Must be medical then." Taker spat on the floor, ignoring how green little Steph's face turned. "You been getting all her meals for her?"

    "Sure have, and you should see this one eat!" Jericho grinned. "I've seen black holes with less sucking power! And speaking of sucking-"

    "I'll be damned." Dr. Taker cut the Y2J Unit off.  How sickening! If the dead man wasn't mistaken, Jericho was making an...an affectionate joke towards Commander McMahon-Helmlsey! And hell, the way he'd carried her ass on in to Sickbay had seemed downright... tender or something!

    He had to launch more saliva onto the floor, just to get the taste of it out....

    "This sorry Nytron poison is still kicking around in her blood." Taker shook his head, wondering if Vinnie Mac would ever find out he'd throttled his boy half to death for driving his own sister loco. "Just keep an eye on her for a couple more days, the meds should have their stank asses out of there soon enough."

    He had a feeling he didn't need to ask Chris Jericho to do that little favor!

    "Hear that Slutephanie?" the Y2J Unit tugged at her braided hair teasingly. "Guess you didn't catch some water-borne virus in the... shower!"

    Stephanie doubled over and gagged for real this time. Why did he have to keep reminding her, rubbing more salt in the wound. She would never ever forgive herself for stepping naked into a spray of hot, steamy water with that, that...thing!

    Did robots even get dirty? What in the name of all that was cosmic had possessed Chris to think he'd even needed a shower?

    "Trouble arriving at a diagnosis, doctor?"

    Dr. Taker craned his neck around and stared deep into the soulless eyes of the good Dr. Piro. "Your punk ass stays away from my patients, boy. Mrs. Helmsley's diagnosis is damn well confidential!"

    "Of course." Piro oozed sincerity. "I just thought that maybe Nytron medicine had answers you Wrestlefleet  incompetents hadn't yet discovered. After all..." He smiled thinly. "We're willing to step outside the rules to save our people."

    The dead man's laugh rang hollow. Rules? His own existence defied every rule of reality. As for Piro, well, he knew just what kind of "medicine" the anemic little ghoul practiced on the Nytron people as part of Russo's quest to develop biological weapons. It was the kind of experimentation and fooling with mother nature that filled more graveyards than a damn plague!

    No way in hell was Dr. Taker gonna hand little Stephanie over like some sort of guinea pig!

NYTRON SPACE-MYSTERIO-6

    "You hear that?" Matt frowned down at his little brother as they crouched outside the Nytron weapon's factory, their bodies contorted in ways that would make other species downright uncomfortable.

    "Umm noooo." Jeff made sure a curtain of brightly colored hair was hiding his face.

    "Oh my god!" Matt hissed, kicking him in the shins. Jeff had to almost bite through his tongue to stifle the pain-induced scream that would've alerted the nearby Nytron guards to their presence. "You're eating! You give me half that ration before I make you cry like a little girl!"

    "I thought you might've taken something from the shuttle before these nimrods torched it!" Jeff rubbed his knee, looking wounded. "Hey is that-"

    "Rey Rey?" Matt peered through the window at their fellow Aerialian. The Nytron's confidence  was almost  borderline egomaniacal-no motion sensors, no tinted windows, no security satellites that he could see hovering over their heads. It made sense to some degree; the base was so beyond top secret that there was no need for maximum security-if you weren't supposed to be there, you'd be killed, end of story.

    "I'll be damned." Jeff laughed bitterly. "I wondered why that twit didn't sign on when Wrestlefleet recruited on Aerialia. He already had his nose up Russo's behind so far he couldn't see the light of day!"

    "Gee, I guess we'll just have to punk him out." Matt nodded at an ultra-tight vent that was carved into the building's shell. "That's about your size, I believe."

    "Ah yes." Jeff sighed. "The price of having such a flexible bod. You got the drugs?"

    Matt brandished a specially modified hypospray that they'd stripped off the dead Nytron guards back at the shuttle crash. It went well with the lethal disruptors they'd also acquired.

    "Cya in five." Big brother watched with a twinge of anxiety as Jeff was swallowed up by the tunnel of darkness. Matt knew they were now the hunted, that the Nytron suspected them of running loose on the moon after finding the shuttle wreckage and the rebel scum that he and Jeff had eliminated. And no way would Russo and his little lackey Shane be fooled into thinking the Nytron corpses were actually the Hardy brothers for much longer!

    Time was ticking down, and this might be the one time Matt and Jeff couldn't beat the clock....

WWF TITANPRIZE-THE SMACKDOWN

    "Oh god no." Shane felt his stomach lurch violently as Stephanie's faded eyes scoured the Smackdown. They rested on him and Lita, a fire dulled by illness roaring back to life in a split second. Every Nytron in the room tensed as the only free and loyal McMahon made strides across the carpet.

    "Oh geez sis." Shane blinked rapidly and tossed his synthehol back, ignoring how it burnt his throat going down. "Turn around and walk out of here now. Please!"

    "I don't see the need to get your undies in a twist, Commander." Lita said coldly.

    "That's cause everything is peaches and cream in your little dream world." Shane muttered. Her disrespect failed to shock anymore. Someone as full of that purity and nobility crap as Lita wouldn't value the depths he'd had to sink to in order to protect his baby sister. As long as Stephie was a raving lunatic, Russo just wouldn't give a damn.

    Stephanie the healthy ensign and infamous with this crowd for turning against her own beloved husband to save the Titanprize from a Degenerate mutiny was a whole other story, one with a potentially bloody ending. She was Vince's daughter, and cutting her down would set quite an example if needed.

    Shane didn't doubt that Russo would ask big brother to commit the execution if it came to that....

    "You slut!" Stephanie spat the word at Lita. "You two-faced, backstabbing, bed-hopping, treasonous Aerialian slut!"

    Lita flinched. Her friend's tone shook with genuine rage. "Pardon me, Commander McMahon-Helmsley?"

    "Ensign Helmsley." Stephanie snapped, her face turning bright red. "I've been demoted, much like your dead as dirt boyfriend Jeff! Or did you conveniently forget about him when you jumped down my brother's pants?"

    "How dare you!" Lita jumped to her feet, fists clenched. Her eyes had become almost as red with seething fury as her radiant mane of hair. "Don't you ever talk about Jeff-"

    "Take it easy sis!" Shane was standing too. "Take it easy! Chill out Stephie, just chill out!"

    He wanted to yell, scream, anything to get his kid sister to shut her big mouth in front of the Nytron rebels! Watching her lash out at the two biggest Wrestlefleet traitors on the ship would make the Russo rats question just how far little Stephie would take it....

    "Chill out?" Stephanie's laugh was cruel. "Chill out watching you crush the good McMahon name with your filthy disgusting betrayal? Hah! And you, Lita!" She turned on her so-called friend again. "Why don't you just go find Matt and Jeff's graves and do my brother on them to insult their memory a little more! I'll have you shot when this is over!"

    Ensign Helmsley was far too woozy to absorb the sting of Lita's hand across her face. She collapsed in a puddle of fatigue on the floor, blood flowing freely from her nose as raw hate flashed in her eyes. Like a cornered animal, she found the necessary adrenaline and savage anger to lunge back at the lean, athletic Aerialian.

    "Shane!" Stephanie gasped as her knees weakened, pain screaming down her neck as big brother's phaser connected with the back of her head not once, but twice. Good god-her own flesh and blood had just pistol-whipped her!

    The Nytrons in the bar were snickering in her direction, savoring her wicked humiliation.....Stephanie looked up at her brother's dark, veiled eyes.

    There was no remorse.

    "And just what the hell did you think you were doing?" Jericho sounded like some sort of prissy schoolteacher, scolding Stephanie for sticking bubblegum in the hair of the boy next to her. "I don't suppose it occurred to you that the spawn of Satan would logically not be moved by your sibling angst?"

    "Stick your logic, Commander Nitwit." Stephanie pouted as he forcibly sat her in a chair across the room from Shane and his Aerialian lovergirl. The only thing more embarrassing than being beat up by her brother's girlfriend was having Chris drag her away from the heated situation like some sort of caveman hero....

    "Here." Chyna felt a twinge of sympathy as she handed Stephanie a tissue for her bloody nose. "God why did you provoke Lita like that?"

    "To hell with her!"

    "You're going to get yourself killed." Jericho said flatly, waving at Tori to bring Stephanie something, anything to mellow her out. "Don't cross the boss sweetie, and as long as Shane O' has that phaser and Russo's butt permanently stitched to his nose, he is the boss."

    Stephanie opened her mouth and quickly closed it again. Was Chrissie actually suggesting she bow down to her cowardly traitor brother?

    "You should hear these Nytron jerks." Chyna lowered her voice to a faint whisper. "If cocky was a crime, they'd be on death row! Yeah, they've got us and the Titanprize, but so what?"

    "They can't enjoy this jack-ass joyride forever." Jericho grumbled.

    "I don't know man." Eddie sighed. "I can't help but think....the weapons Jeff and Matt were sent to retrieve....that must be some brutal firepower!"

    "Yeah well, I'm glad Jeff died so that Lita could get on with the business of playing up to the poor little rich boy!" Stephanie's lip curled in sneering anger.

    "Forget Lita!" Jericho snapped at her. Princess had to get herself under control before the Nytron put her on a leash.

    "Ey man." Eddie gave him a withering look. "I understand, Commander. Believe me, I know what it's like to have the family blood tainted." He could only manage a half-smile as Chyna squeezed his arm affectionately.

    "Chavo is not the same." Stephanie shook her head. "Chavo isn't leading his own people to their death."

NYTRON SPACE-MYSTERIO-6

    "What was that Rey?" Jeff grinned wickedly as he jammed a bar of Aerialian chocolate into his mouth. "I didn't quite catch what you said!"

    Rey snarled at the Hardy brothers, though the effect was somewhat dulled by being stripped down to his boxers and hung from the ceiling by his overalls, lest he have some clever communicating device hidden on his person. His nasty Aerialian curses were stuck in his throat, thanks to the heavy industrial tape strapped across his lips.

    "Man, this Nytron programming is sooo inferior!" Matt was laughing it up as he booted Rey's inferior little computer and accessed the factory mainframe in under a minute flat. "Don't worry sport - I'm sure High Commander Russo won't do anything more than bathe you in acid for allowing the dead Hardy brothers to hack his precious weapons plant!"

    Damn, damn, damn those heroic Hardyz to hell and back! Ensign Rey wanted nothing more than to cut himself loose and kick Matt's teeth down his throat - him gloating on his computer genius with that smirking rainbow-headed freak brother of his poking Rey with a stolen disruptor like he was some sort of filthy animal!

    He'd always hated them - back on Aerialia they had attended the same school and Rey had always been overshadowed by the dazzling Matt and Jeff! The older one with all his academic awards and that scrawny brat Jeff wowing all the girls with his magically morphing hair....damned Hardyz always had to take the bigger badder risks, fly higher than any other Aerialian teenage boy, make everyone eat their dust....

    Well, soon Matt and Jeff Hardy would be eaten alive by the Nytron-no way could they last on this lunar rock much longer!

    "You want some of this?" Jeff held out the half-melted, gooey chocolate bar to his brother.

    "Honest to god Jeff!" Matt pushed his hand away. "Give your sweet tooth a break already! I don't suppose you're at all worried about how Lita's handling this?"

    Jeff's chewing slowed down. He couldn't look his brother in the eye. "I haven't really had time for that Matt, what with dodging Nytron merchants of death and all."

    Matt didn't say anything as he blew past firewalls as solid as thin air. He knew his little brother idolized Jericho, but he couldn't believe that he'd copped the 'droids infuriating inability to feel. The way Lita's heart must be breaking was all Matt could think about.....

    "Pipe down Rey Rey." Jeff poked the little Nytron scum with his hypospray. The rabid little nutter was practically foaming at the mouth, trying to growl something at them.

    God, what Rey wouldn't give to wipe that smile off the little freak's face! Just to have that one sliver of joy from telling him that sweet Lita was now playing musical beds with Commander Shane O' Mac!

    "Oh my god." Matt's face paled. "Russo is out of his freaking mind!"

    "Of course he is." Jeff shrugged. "He's dating a woman who could install a revolving door in front of her bed to handle the business ."

    "Comedy hour is over Jeff!" Matt elbowed him in the ribs. "This psycho is building a quantum explosive."

    "Oh." Little brother felt the room go cold, or maybe it was just the way his blood turned to ice in his veins.  Quantum explosives were just weapons in theory until now. Supposedly, if one could be created and controlled..."He can create a temporal distortion with it, can't he?"

    "No." Matt shook his head. "After the bomb goes off, the aftershock tears space-time so violently and quickly that everything collapses into a black hole. Planets and stars all get vaporized in the blink of an eye and no one knows what hit them." He whistled admiringly. "God, this could actually work."

    "Why oh why does he have a stellar map of the Milky Way?" Jeff frowned. "If he plants the explosive dead center of the galaxy-"

    "The center of the Milky Way already contains a huge black hole." Matt finished the thought grimly. "The bomb goes off in that thing, then it'll be like Earth and the entire galaxy never even existed."

    "And no one ever questions Russo's supremacy again." Jeff said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Couldn't the wacko just vandalize Wrestlefleet Headquarters or something?"

    "It gets better." Matt told him. "The original research for the bomb belonged to a young Vincent Kennedy McMahon."

    "Oh lordy!" Jeff laughed out loud - he couldn't help it. "Counselor Snow could have a field day with that one!  Russo would try to prove his superiority by using what Vince created to destroy the Federation! What a loser!"

    "Oh heck!" Matt fired his disruptor into the computer, blowing Rey's little toy to bits. "We got company. Thanks for the good time old pal!" He lowered his weapon to stun and gave the pint-sized Aerialian a scar to remember them by.....

WWF TITANPRIZE-COMMANDER MCMAHON'S QUARTERS

    "Russo wants you to what?" Lita was hopping mad as she watched Shane paw through Matt and Jeff's personal effects at his desk. What the heck did he think he was doing? "You promised!"

    "I didn't promise a damn thing, Red!" Shane lashed out. Didn't those two Aerialian wussies have anything he could blackmail them with in case he found them alive on Mysterio-6? "I said maybe they survived the crash. I'll find out when the Cap sends me to drag their dead bodies back to the ship and get the illegal weapons."

    "Well if they are still alive isn't it a tad rude to be going through their stuff?" Lita demanded, hands on hips.

    "Here. Have your clothes back." Shane threw a box of Jeff's shirts and pants in her direction. He was sweating up a storm. If he did find Matty and Jeffy alive, so what? He couldn't bring them back like that or Russo would fry both him and Lita in hot oil while the whole ship watched! Somehow, the thought of facing this woman's red-headed wrath seemed all the more scary....

    "What?" Lita kicked the box back at him like it was a soccer ball. "I have my own wardrobe thank you!" She didn't want to touch anything, smell anything, see anything that reminded her off Jeff, just in case.....

    "Whatever." Shane shrugged. "Hey didn't Matt win this for you at that Resian carnival a couple months ago...Pre-Jeff?"

    "I guess. I don't remember." Lita pretended not to see the battered chocolate brown teddy bear Shane was trying to wave in her face. She turned towards the replicator and called up a hot chocolate to soothe her frazzled nerves.

    Oh yeah, Matt had given her a lot of sweet gifts and said plenty of pretty, pretty words to her, but he'd been such a phony! Ditching her while she was still recovering from painful surgery to save Stephanie's life-she hadn't even been out of Sickbay when he'd ended it! It was so wrong to hate him now, now that he might be gone forever....

    Or maybe she just hated herself-his intentions had been good when he'd let her go, and Lita was the one who'd used him when Jeff wouldn't pay any attention to her. She'd never apologized, just taken advantage of his kindness, his feelings....

    "....letter from ol' Matty here. Juicy stuff!"

    Lita grabbed the envelope out of Shane's grubby little weasel hands. It had her name scrawled on it in Matt's loopy handwriting and had obviously been violated from Ritchie Rich over there...

    Please Matt, she thought, sliding the paper out with shaking hands. Please just say you forgive me!

    "Wait!" Lita forced herself to tear up the letter. "If he's not dead, then I shouldn't be reading this!"

    "Aren't you the good little girl scout?" Shane smirked at her. "Guess you'll never know just how hot you make young Ensign Hardy! Actually...." He looked thoughtful. "...you're kind of a skank. I mean, you did play kissy face with both brothers!"

    Lita was able to smirk back. "So did your sister, Shane O'."

    He wasn't sure how many deep breaths he'd needed to take to calm himself to the point where he wouldn't strike Lita. Having to pistol-whip sickly little Stephanie in front of all those Nytron to show he had sis under control....he was in no mood to hear her slandered this way! Shane tapped his comm badge with more force than necessary. "Dr. Taker-I need something from you-report to my quarters immediately!"

SHUTTLEBAY-4

    "Oh would you two just cut it out before I turn a hose on that bunk?" Stephanie angrily threw one of her slippers at Eddie and Chyna's curtain, which fortunately masked the visual of what was making them whisper and giggle so much!

    "Er...sorry Commander!" Eddie's frisky laugh didn't sound too darn regretful!

    Jericho sighed as he re-read the same padd data for the thousandth millionth time that night. If only he did require sleep; these boring nights with programmed insomnia were eating away at what little patience he had. Helpless to save the Titanprize thus far, unable to happily kick Shane O' Mac's teeth down his throat, having to lie awake always knowing she was beneath him....

    What if he couldn't protect her? He didn't even know why he felt so damn responsible for Steph anyways, but logic told him that Russo was the type of sicko who would find such creative ways to use the precious daughter of his most hated enemy! Jericho struggled not to tap his emotion chip off as inexplicable fury rose up in him.

    He would never let anyone violate or torture her, especially that scum Russo!

    Chris closed his eyes, took a deep breath. He was a robot - there was no reason to have a personal stake in this.....

    His positronic net flashed on Shane striking his own sister down with a phaser. As much as Jericho would've liked to shoot the older Mac in the heart for sticking a dagger in the back of Wrestlefleet, he could see the cold, cruel genius in what he'd tried to do for Steph. Turning her into a babbling mental patient had prevented Russo from seeing her as a threat. Of course, like the stubborn, smart McMahon she was, Stephanie had to discover the ploy, had to save herself!

    And Jericho had assisted her, maybe helped her dig her own grave with the Nytron, who loathed almost anything that contained Vinnie Mac's genetic material.

    But they'd never get to act on their hatred for her...

    Never!

    Couldn't that slimebot just sit still for two seconds? Stephanie wondered irritably as he turned over on his side for the zillionth time that evening, shattering the sweet silence.

    She stared hard at the special photo padd she held in her hands, trying to lose herself in the fairytale, the fairytale only she believed in....slivers of memory from her wedding day blurred through her tears. No matter how much she tried to twist the truth in her heart....

    No matter what illusions Stephanie tried to create for herself, they couldn't change the cold, cruel reality. Oh yeah, it was the wedding day little girls all over the universe dreamed about-a groom who gazed at his bride to be in her lovely white dress with not a flicker of heat in his eyes, a new husband who spent their honeymoon playing cards with his Degenerates on Copeland-9 while Steph tossed and turned in an empty bed....

    Dammit! She kicked the bed above her in a fit of frustration and rage, the unforgiving, frigid metal making her foot throb on impact. She whimpered softly.

    "I recommend you don't try that again, Princess." Jericho's voice was ice. "I'll remove your toes one by one if you do."

    Stephanie choked on a witty retort, a lump threatening to close her throat. If she sobbed as hard as she needed to, Chris would come down like her knight in shining armor and she just couldn't take that tonight!

    "Princess?"

    "Uhh sorry Chrissie." Steph sniffled and rubbed furiously at her eyes, trying to erase the evidence of her tears. "I was just pretending you didn't exist again. It's much more fun than any Holodeck program."

    "Hmmm." That was just a bit half-hearted! Jericho peered over the edge of his bed. "Why so sad sweetie? Wait! There's something missing...." He pressed his lips together, obviously deep in thought. "Ah yes-the half-naked ensign!"

    "Another ensign joke?" Stephanie managed a weak laugh as she crammed the wedding album under a pillow. "How utterly inspired!"

    Not so fast honey Jericho thought with a grin as he slid down to her bunk with slick android speed and grabbed the hot little padd. "Ahh what's this? How quaint! The Helmsley affair!"

    "Give me that!" Stephanie cried out, trying to reach over and retrieve her precious memories. It wasn't easy considering Chris was fending her off with an immobile titanium arm.

    "Goodness." Jericho chuckled with amusement as the little princess tried to climb over his arm. "You'd think Trip would have the decency to at least get a nose job before he walks down the aisle! That thing made it to the altar before he did!"

    Stephanie's mouth fell open. "I have a gorgeous husband!"

    Oh yes, Hunter did indeed look quite dashing, didn't he? And the happy little smirks the couple shared-it made Lt Commander Jericho sick to his stomach, a normally impossible feeling for the android.

    "So tell me, sweetie, did the spoiled brat get what she wanted?" His tone was so damn snide! "Did Daddy dearest have a spazz?"

    "As a matter of fact he did!" Stephanie gloated. "You should've seen the face ol Vinnie Mac made that day! He was so-" She shut up quickly. God, she'd just practically confessed she'd only married Hunter to provoke her father! Chris didn't need that kind of ammo!

    Jericho merely raised an eyebrow - he'd thought as much. Now if he only knew why he felt so incredibly relieved....

    "Wow." His positronic matrix shifted into neutral as the images flashed across the small monitor like some kind horror movie. Of course though, the best tales of terror could have their beautiful moments, and this was one of them. Stephanie wearing that devilish smile, her eyes lit up like diamonds to match the glittering white silk of her wedding gown, living up to the nickname Princess and then some...

    "Hunter didn't even notice." Being reminded of how much it hurt her made her less careful about what she said.

    "How could he not?" His filter must have been tripped up by something. "To be honest, I didn't think a filthy, dirty, disgusting, nasty, skanky, brutal, bottom-feeding trash bag ho could look this...this...." Clever words escaped him. "...beautiful."

    "You - you think I'm beautiful?" Stephanie blinked. Was Chris even capable of judging beauty? Her eyes were flooded with tears again....

    "Logically, I can't deny it." Jericho tried to shrug it off.  "What? Don't you even know how to take a compliment Steph? You don't cry."

    "Why don't you hate me?" The explosion of emotion shocked him so much he dropped the padd and didn't notice it clattering to the floor. "How can you be nice to me? I ruined everything!"

    "Stephanie-"

    "I was such a childish little witch!" she ranted on. "I just had to go into that Holodeck and confront that Nytron slut Kimmie and spring the trap you'd set! Don't you get it, Chrissie?" Stephanie's face was flushed and her voice was steadily reaching the shrieking point. "This whole damn thing is all my fault! If I'd just left it alone, you and Chyna would've handed Kim over to Daddy, Russo would've been executed, and Matt and  Jeff would be alive!"

    Jericho just stared at her. She was ninety-nine percent right when she put it that way....

    "Oh god!" Now Stephanie was bawling her eyes out. "I handed the Titanprize to Russo! I caused the Nytron occupation! And now they all want to kill me just because I'm Vincent Kennedy McMahon's daughter - I know they do!"

    "Good lord, Stephie." Jericho's mind was reeling, his internal calculations assuring him that yes, had Stephanie not interfered, chances were damn good that none of this horrific occupation would've gone down. He couldn't lie to himself or Princess about that, but...."You've always got to be the star, don't you?  Russo is a madman-he would've found a way to get the ship regardless of your bratty temper! And Shane killed the Hardyz-he's wanted to get them out of the way for a long time now."

    "I'm no better than Shane really." How could a damn computer be so full of it? He could reassure her for eternity and she'd always know she'd cost Wrestlefleet everything because of that one time she couldn't control herself!

    "Stop it Stephanie." Chris was brushing loose strands of hair out of her eyes, which continued to shimmer brightly with tears of self-pity. "You know that's not true. He's a traitor."

    "Daddy's going to die, I'm going to die..." She lowered her head so Jericho couldn't see her cry. Stephanie felt his fingers lightly touch her skin, erasing the tears that fell.

    "I will never let anything happen to you." The pre-programmed human emotions he could always rely on to do the exact same thing in every situation misfired badly; all his instincts made him want to shorten the distance between his mouth and hers...

    Was Chris going to kiss her? Stephanie was so dazed, afraid to breathe because the noise might wake them both up.

    He pulled away so suddenly...."Uhhhh-" Jericho blinked rapidly, his mouth dry. "God I really miss Matt right now."

    Stephanie frowned, yanking her hand away once she realized her fingers had become entwined with his. "You're thinking of Matt Hardy right now?"

    "Well yeah." He nervously ran a hand through his gorgeous blonde hair. "He was doing this crucial research on my positronic net and-"

    "Hunter!" Stephanie sensed his presence instinctively, no matter how silent the Game tried to be as he stood in the shadows watching. God, how long had he been there? "Sweetheart-"

    "Oh I can trust you, Steph?" Hunter shook his head, his muscles trembling with barely concealed rage. "You hate the 'droid? Dammit!" He kicked a nearby bunk so hard Crash came tumbling out of it. Of course, the young Houdinian disappeared immediately. "I'm coming after you Jericho, and this time there won't be a trace of your sorry ass left!"

    "Hunter!" Stephanie tried to chase after him, but Jericho's fingers were digging into her wrist so hard they were sure to leave bruises. "This isn't what it looks like! We weren't - I wasn't - Hunter!"

    "You are not going after him!" Chris glowered at her. "Can't you see Trip is that damn angry enough to kill someone? You want it to be you?"

    "He wouldn't!" Stephanie wrenched her arm free, but didn't run. "You pervert! Why do you always have to ruin everything for me? Trying to put those disgusting, synthetic lips on me...." She shuddered. "What if he never forgives me?"

    "Oh god go ahead Steph!" Jericho turned his back on her. "Run back and lick his hand like the beaten little dog you are!"

    Of course. Princess sprinted out of the shuttlebay, just like he knew she would.

    You come and get as much as you think you can handle Trip! Jericho seethed inside. Without your puppet on a string to sabotage my programming, I will destroy you!