In one of the well-lit corridors of the backstage area, a female figure in a tattered white tunic was shown walking with her back to the camera.  The unique thing about her was that she had light purple skin, bat-like wings, and a tail.  Her wings were wrapped around her shoulders, making them look like a cape, and her long brown hair flowed down her back. 

“Who’s that?” King inquired, obviously really wanting to know. 

“Her name is Angela,” Daisuke provided.

“Who?”

“She’s a gargoyle, King,” Daisuke responded.  “A member of the Manhattan Clan, if my sources are correct.”

“Where do you and J.R. get these ‘sources’?” King asked.

“That’s for us to know,” Daisuke answered.  “And you...to not.”

“Awww,” The King whined.  “Work with me, Daisuke.”

“Don’t you start,” Daisuke snapped.  “Anyway, gargoyles are a rare race of noble warriors, living to protect the innocent and their home.  Tonight a couple members of the Manhattan Clan are serving as security tonight in this odd environment, along with their human friend, NYPD detective, Elisa Maza.” 

“I wonder how she feels about inter-species dating,” King wondered.

“Don’t you ever stop?” April demanded to know.

“Nope,” King responded proudly.

“Hey Angela!”  A voice called from behind the female gargoyle.

“Yes?” Angela said as she turned around, only to be punched in the face by a seven foot tall, 300-pound man with long dusty blond hair in black pants and a black and white “nWo” T-shirt. 

“What the hell?!?” J.R. shouted in surprise.  “Kevin Nash just attacked Angela!  What in the hell is he doing?!?”

J.R.’s unexpected, and unwanted answer came when two more figures appeared on the scene.  A sly looking man with slicked back black hair tied back in a familiar pigtail style, and a smaller man (Comparatively only.  He is six damn feet tall!) with a black goatee and straggly hair in a black bandanna, both dressed similarly to Nash, attacked the slightly dazed gargoyle. 

“And there’s Scott Hall and X-Pac to complete this sick ambush by the nWo,” J.R. voiced his disdain for the self-serving trio.  “They have no business being in the building, let alone attacking someone.”

“Maybe so J.R.,” Hiroshi excitedly agreed.  “But I don’t think even the nWo can take on a gargoyle.  Not without some kind of weapons at least.”

As if to prove Hiroshi’s point, Angela pushed back all three of her attackers, unfurled her wings, and unleashed her shrieking battle cry, her eyes glowing blood red. 

Hall, Nash, and X-Pac seemed unaffected by Angela’s display, and smiled as they prepared to resume their attack.  This, of course, left her back wide open to be rushed by two other hulking figures also wearing “nWo” T-shirts.  The weird thing about them was the fact that they where animals.  Not figuratively, literally!  One had the head of a rhinoceros, the other had the head of a wild boar with a purple Mohawk and sunglasses.

“It’s Bebop and Rocksteady!” April gasped upon recognizing the mutated thugs.  “What are they doing here?!?”                

“Well, there would be the ‘weapons’ Hiroshi was talking about,” Daisuke stated, strangely unfazed by the amazing development.

“Oh my God!”  J.R. exclaimed.  “The two mutants known as Bebop and Rocksteady, have apparently joined the nWo, and are now helping them beat down a defenseless Angela!”

“With claws like that, I wouldn’t call her defenseless.”  Daffy took notice of Angela’s natural defenses.  “Getting the crap beat out of her, maybe, but definitely not defenseless.”  Just as Daffy had said, Angela was indeed getting beat down by the five strong men.  Not once did she get a chance to fight back. 

When it seemed as if they finally reached the point of “too far”, Scott Hall lead the way of taking it even farther.  After a devastating gut punch, he lifted her over his head, and held her, back-to-back, with her arms held out in a semi-crucified position. 

“Oh No!”  J.R. shouted, dreading the conclusion of the devastating finishing move.  “Not the Razor’s Edge!  This is sick!”  Sure enough, it was Scott Hall’s signature move “The Razor’s Edge”, and he completed it by slamming Angela to the concrete ground, head first.  With that done, Scott Hall started taunting the female gargoyle, who responded by writhing in pain.    

“Hey guys,” Hall said to his cohorts while holding a toothpick in between his vicious smile.  “I have an idea!  Hold her!”

With that Nash and Bebop each grabbed an arm and became the only thing holding the barely conscious Angela vertical.  Scott Hall draped an arm over Rocksteady’s shoulder and whispered into his flapping ear as he led him down the hallway. 

Meanwhile, X-Pac took the opportunity to take a few more cheap shots on the prone gargoyle, using his limited martial arts skill to deliver kicks into Angela’s head and chest.

“This is just sick,” J.R. continued to rant about the beating taking place, yet helpless to do anything about it.

“What in the world could the nWo have planned?” Hiroshi ranted along the same lines as J.R.  “What could they possibly gain by this heinous assault?”  

Offering no answer to Hiroshi’s question, X-Pac stopped kicking the unfortunate Angela only moments before Rocksteady came charging down the hallway at full force.  Angela barely had the time, or strength, to lift her head and see the oncoming mutant freight train. 

“Oh God No!!!” Hiroshi and J.R. shouted in unison as they sat witness to the charging force of carnage heading towards the prone female gargoyle.  “NO!!!”

Rocksteady hit Angela full on tackling her to the ground and sending her into blissful unconsciousness. 

“WHY, DAMMIT?!?  WHY?!?” An appalled Jim Ross begged for an unseen answer to the hideous act just committed by the five powerful thugs now laughing at the damage they’ve done.

The other commentators were too shocked to even offer a suggestion.  Well, almost.

“I have no idea J.R.” Daisuke responded, still able to remain calm.  “I just hope they have a plan for when Goliath finds out.”

Daisuke made reference to Angela’s father, and leader of the Manhattan Clan, who is known to be very protective of his daughter, very big, very, very strong, and liable to be come very, very, VERY angry. 

“Come on, guys,” Nash said to his still laughing partners-in-crime.  “We still have more business to take care of...in the ring.”

And with that they headed for the ring, a broken and unconscious female gargoyle left sprawled on the ground.

* * * * *  

“God dammit!” J.R. swore.  “What the hell could they possibly want out here?”

“Looks like we are, sadly, about to find out,” Daisuke said.    

“NEW-N-NEW-NEW-NEW WORLD ORDER!”

No sooner than Daisuke finished his sentence, static disrupted the video feed and the world turned black-and-white as the repetitive opening guitar strains of the New World Order theme announced their arrival on the entrance ramp.     

“And now these bastards have the audacity to come out here after what they’ve just done,” J.R. was just as disgusted as the crowd, who loudly voiced their disapproval of the nWo’s actions. 

“After what they just did,” Daffy said, minimally appalled, but greatly impressed by the nWo’s show of strength.  “I’m not going to be the one to tell them ‘No’.”  

As they posed on the entrance ramp, the vicious gang of fighters soaked up the audience’s hatred like it was the golden rays of the sun.  X-Pac was now carrying his pair of black nunchakus.  A fact that didn’t go unnoticed, but oddly, uncommented on, by Miss O’Neil.  

“And now, making their way to the ring,” The blond ring announcer said, lacking in his usual enthusiasm.  “Being accompanied by Bebop and Rocksteady, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and X-Pac, the New World Order.” 

Now that the crowd knew exactly who they were booing at, they had no problem doing so even louder as the crew of thugs sauntered down the ramp.  Rocksteady’s camouflaged army pants where the only thing standing out from the others’ nWo “uniforms” (You know, besides the fact he was part rhino). 

Finally, when they entered the ring, the static flashed and the world returned to normal hues. 

Unfortunately, the nWo still remained, as big and as bad as ever.  They called for a microphone (Actually they just took the ring announcer’s and threw him out of the ring), as Bebop and Rocksteady walked to the side of the ring and gave their “old friend”, April, a friendly wave.

“Hey April!” Bebop snorted as he waved to the news reporter.  “Nice to see you again!”

“Yeah,” Rocksteady snickered.  “We look forward to working with you and your little green pals!”

April merely slid down in her seat, keeping an eye on her old enemies and wondering if her “green pals” were going to make it out here before the two powerful mutants and their new friends get violent again.   

Then her attention was drawn to Scott Hall, as he raised the mike to his mouth. 

“Hey yo!” Hall began, smiling at the negative crowd reaction.  “Say hello to the ‘Shin nWo’!” 

Hall made a sweeping motion with his arm, taking in the entire rind and indicating all of his teammates, including the nWo’s newest members, Bebop and Rocksteady. 

The crowd’s jeers appropriately grew louder.

“The ‘New’ New World Order?” Daisuke repeated out loud.  “Isn’t that kinda redundant?”

“Yes,” Daffy sarcastically responded.  “And I’d like to see you go up there and tell them that.”

“Uh, no thanks,” Daisuke sarcastically replied.  “I’m not in any real hurry to die again.”

Scott Hall continued.

“I suppose you’re all wondering why we just attacked poor little Angela backstage,” He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and disdain for all other life.  “Well Kevin Nash has the answer.”

Hall passed the microphone over to his best friend, and the nWo’s tallest member, Kevin Nash.

“You wanna know why we brutally beat Angela backstage?” Kevin Nash rhetorically asked the booing crowd and television audience.

“Hell yes!” J.R. finally said to no one in particular.

“It’s because she was THERE!”  Nash snarled into the microphone.

“What?!?” Both J.R. and Hiroshi shouted in disbelief.

“We attacked her because she was the first person we saw when we walked into the building!”  The 300-pound Kevin Nash continued.  “We attacked Angela and left her a broken mess simply because we could!  And to send the message that anyone of you pathetic losers in the back can be next!” 

Kevin Nash then handed the microphone to X-Pac.  Immediately, chants of “X-Pac Sucks!” began in the crowd.

“That’s right, Kevin,” X-Pac said, totally ignoring the disrespect he was receiving from the filled to capacity crowd.  “Anyone can be next!  Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ranma Saotome...”

The crowd cheered as the two fan favorite fighters appeared on the nWo’s potential hit list.  X-Pac continued to list potential victims, while the crowd continued to cheer their names in the hopes that some of them would come out and beat the living hell out of the nWo monsters standing tall in the ring.

“The Ninja Turtles, Terry Bogard, Ryu--” X-Pac was cut off by bluesy guitar strains and flashing red and yellow lights.

The entire nWo turned to the entrance ramp as the opening to Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Child” played barely as loud as the fans cheered.  Everyone knew exactly who was interrupting the nWo’s tirade, and the crowd couldn’t be happier.

o/` Well, I Stand Up Next to a Mountain

And I Chop It Down With the Edge of My Hand

Well, I Stand Up Next to a Mountain

Chop it Down With the Edge of My Hand

Well, I Pick Up All the Pieces and Make an Island

Might Even Raise a Little Sand o/`

“What the--?” Was all Daffy could get out over the excited screams of both the crowd and Hiroshi. 

The cheers grew even louder as a huge man, colorfully dressed in red and yellow wrestling tights and tank top, appeared at the top of the entrance ramp.

“It’s Hollywood Hulk Hogan!” Good Ol’ Jim Ross cheered as the biggest name in professional wrestling history stood at the top of the ramp, microphone in hand.

Before he spoke, Hogan took a moment to pose for the thousands of “Hulkamaniacs” in attendance. 

The man with bleached blond hair covered by a red and yellow bandana, even played a little classic air guitar in tune to his theme music as the audience cheered there hearts out over his mere presence.

Hulk Hogan smiled knowingly underneath his bleached blond handlebar mustache then raised the microphone as the cheering crowd lowered to a dull roar.

“Well Brothers,” Hogan began, looking down upon his former partners-in-crime standing in the ring.  “What you did tonight has got to be one of the lowest things I’ve ever seen anybody do in my life.” 

The assembled crowd cheered in agreement. 

“I mean,” Hogan continued. “When I was in the nWo, sure, I did some crazy stuff, but that was just plain mean.” 

“What are you gonna do about it, Old Man?” X-Pac shouted from the safety of the ring.    

“Well,” Hogan said.  “First, I’m gonna kick your ass, X-Punk.  Then the millions of Hulkamaniacs watching worldwide will see me do the same to Hall and Nash.”

The Shin nWo took only a second to process this.  Then they burst out laughing. 

“Really?” Kevin Nash asked after he took the mike from X-Pac.  “What are you going to do to do about our new pals, Rocksteady and Bebop?” 

The two mutant animal/human hybrids smiled and stepped forward at the mention of their names.

“Well, there’s not much I can do,” The Immortal One confessed with a sly smile.  “But that’s what these guys are here for...Brother!”

With roaring battle cries, two massive forms raced out of the entrance and down the ramp as soon as The Hulkster finished his taunt, bat-like wings unfurled and eyes blazing white. 

“It’s Broadway and Brooklyn!”  Hiroshi screamed in excitement. 

“Ow!”  Daisuke rubbed his ear closest to Hiroshi.

“More gargoyles from Angela’s clan have come out to help Hogan take out the Shin nWo trash!”  J.R. cheered.

As the two gargoyles and seasoned grappler charged the ring, the Shin nWo prepared for battle. 

Except for Kevin Nash. 

The sly smile that appeared on his face went completely unnoticed; as did the small electronic device he pulled from his pocket.  Nash pressed a button on the device and a blue flash covered the ring.

The crowd cheered in delight as Hogan, Brooklyn, and Broadway raced into...an empty ring. 

“Wha--” King stuttered.  “What happened?!?”

“They teleported!” April noticed.  “They’ve escaped via teleportation!”

“New name, new members,” An angry J.R. noted.  “But the same old bullying tactics!”

Hogan and the two gargoyles stood in the ring for a few tense moments, until one of them remembered more important matters.

“Angela!”  Broadway shouted, then leapt out of the ring and landed halfway up the ramp, in a full sprint toward the back.

As Brooklyn and the Hulkster watched Broadway disappear into the back, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a wildly cheering crowd.  A fact that thoroughly confused the brick colored gargoyle.

“Are they cheering...for ME?”

“You bet man!”  Hogan responded proudly, as always feeling energized by the cheering of his “Hulkamaniacs”.  “When you fight on the side of righteousness, you always get cheered for!”

“That hasn’t always been my experience,” Brooklyn responded bitterly, but he had to admit, he was receiving a lot of applause, and he was enjoying it.  Brooklyn tentatively raised his arm in victory, and the crowd’s cheering nearly doubled!  “I could get used to this.”

“Welcome to my world, Brother!”  With that, Brooklyn and the Immortal One began to flex and pose for cheering fans.

“But we won’t have to worry about the Shin nWo as long as we have the likes of the Gargoyles and Hollywood Hulk Hogan!”

“Call me crazy,” Daisuke pondered.

“You’re crazy,” Hiroshi, King, and Daffy claimed in unison. 

“I asked for that,” Daisuke sighed.  “Anyway, I don’t think guys like the ‘Shin’ nWo are going to be that easy to scare off.”

_-_-_-_-_

Among the amazingly bright showing of flashbulbs in the crowd, one shutterbug at least was working.

“Wow!”  A young man said from behind shuttering lens of a camera.  “And here I thought gargoyles were just for sitting on top of and sulking.  These pictures of real live gargoyles are going to make J.J.’s bad haircut stand on end!”

A sudden tingling in the back of his head caused the freelance photographer to stop taking pictures and search the crowd for signs of danger.

“Uh-oh Petey,” He said to himself.  “And here you thought this would be just another boring night of madness, mayhem, and men in tights beating the stuffing out of each other all in the name of good old family fun.”

His search for danger came to an end just a few rows behind him.  Two over-coated figures clearly stood out from the crowd.  Not only was it the odd amount of covering in the adequately warmed arena, but their visible hands seemed to be covered in golden armored claws, and one of them was aiming said claws at the ring.

“Ahem,” One of the figures with long brown hair coughed as he calmly reached over and lowered his sibling’s arm with claws of his own.  “Now-now, Sis.  Patience.”

“Oh c’mon!”  The spiky brown haired woman with long sideburns argued.  “You wanna kill them just as much as I do.” 

The red optic sensor that replaced the male’s right eye began to release a furious glow.

“I know,” He growled.  “But we’re not here to kill them.  Not yet anyway.  We’re waiting for the big one.”

“...Okay fine.”  The woman reluctantly agreed. She then proceeded to console herself by imagining using the posing gargoyle and popular, yet aged, wrestler in the ring for target practice.

_-_-_-_-_

By this time, the freelance photographer from earlier had already left his seat and was searching for a secluded place to change clothes, and identities. 

“I knew I recognized those two from television.  The bathroom?  Nah.  If what I hear about them is true, they’re here to cause trouble.  Where’s a phone booth when you need it?  Thank you ‘Spider-sense’!  Now where can I--Ah-ha!  Perfect!”

* * * * *

To Be Continued…