Trouble

THREE

THREE

This taping was packed full of awesomeness. Although not aired live, we had a stream we could watch backstage, just for us. It started out with the BDC talking shit, because of all his skills, this was MVP's strongest. Kenny King stood by his side with Low Ki, known to non-wrestlers as Brandon. They were a stable thrown together seemingly out of anger, but I knew the truth. The current members of the BDC were all working for the Dark Side. Samoa Joe wasn't into that evil crap. It's almost impossible to turn one of the Samoans evil. He'd agreed to work with them to play double agent for our side, but Brandon had blown Joe's cover. He'd had to flee the company and had barely escaped with his life.

Our new double agent had shown up shortly after. Nelson still had a fucked-up shoulder, but he knew Brandon better than any of us and was determined to save him. Nelson, by the way, doesn't sound nearly as badass as his ring name, Homicide. Nelson was working hard to figure out if Brandon's actions were his own or if he'd truly had no choice. We all believed in Brandon prior to him turning on Joe. Now, no one was sure what to think.

Drew Galloway came out to interrupt the trash talking. Not only was Drew legitimately a member of Team Good, he was one of our best. I had nothing but respect for him for a number of reasons. Drew was doing much better away from WWE and that crappy 3MB gimmick. He had turned his release into something amazing and had taken the indies by storm, taking any title he set his eyes on and making everyone listen eagerly whenever he was handed a microphone. In spite of the fact that his lunatic ex-wife was TNA's Knockouts champion, he knew how desperate we were for help in our psychic battle, and he had signed with a company he'd sworn he never would. His focus had immediately turned to our Army of Assholes, the BDC. This is a prime example of what I was saying about storylines mirroring the real-life battle.

Anyway, I hadn't been listening to MVP. He liked to hear himself talk too much. He was one of the few guys we called by his ring name at all times. He legally changed his name for religious reasons while in prison, but he converted again after so he preferred MVP. Those who called him anything else were older WWE guys like Matt and Jeff, who sometimes still used his birth name, Alvin. Now that Drew was out there, I paid more attention. That man was a promo God. If they'd had forty-five minute promos of him on RAW instead of Triple H, no one would have been complaining.

"He's great," Lauren said from behind me. "Best decision Dixie's made in a long time." I hadn't heard her coming. She must have been blocking her thoughts.

"Agreed," I said. "Shouldn't you be with Wes?"

"He'll survive a few minutes without me... We need to talk, Michael."

When Angelina Love wanted to talk to you, you listened. "What's up?"

"I need you to do your thing. Taryn's up to something with Brooke. That girl's as green as they come psychically. Can you read her and see if Taryn's messing with her head?"

"Brooke's still blocked by Mark's shield. Even I can't get by that, at least not easily." Mark, better known as Bully Ray, had an extremely powerful psychic shield. Knowing Brooke was returning to TNA unaware of the psychic battle that had exploded, he protected her with it.

"She got by it somehow. I'm telling you, Michael, something's off with Brooke." She showed me her arm and I noticed she was bleeding a lot. There was literally a gaping hole in her arm.

"Jesus, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" I asked. I focused on her arm. I pictured the wound in my mind as a throbbing red circle. Slowly, I turned the circle into a glowing white orb. Finally, it was gone. I opened my eyes and saw the wound had healed.

"Because I didn't want you to do that. You need your strength. It wasn't that bad."

"You were gushing blood."