Title: Under the Rose
Author: Emono
Rating: FRM
Fandom: Wrestling
Pairings: Undertaker/Punk, HBK/Morrison, Cena/Ted, Edge/Christian, Jericho/Evan, Hardycest, Randy/Cody, Miz/Swagger
Series: Under The Rose series
Summary: An Anti-Court has formed to take the subs of 'Taker's Court, and they will stop at nothing until they've broken the spirit of all. How will the boys handle this threat to the ones they love most?
Disclaimer: The WWE is not mine nor are any of it's child branches, it is the 96% property of the McMahon's and God bless the bastards that work for them. I respect the sexual preferences and identities of all the wrestlers on WWE roster, and who they share a bed with is really none of my business.
Warnings: Slash, D/S, rape, angst, plot-twists, violence, smut, everything that makes a good story.

AN: Finally, we are at the present! This is 2009, biz-nitches (the story is in '09, I mean)

Thank you to all readers who were so patient with me! I hope everyone was satisfied with the single stories and how I finished them, I worked my muses pert little butts off non-stop over the holiday. I made sure to put lists at the end of all the single stories so no one gets left behind. But! If you are new to this series or think you've missed something, check the bottom of this chapter and make sure you're all caught up.

Note, some things that happened in '09 will be altered, like Edge's serious injury.

Let's get this started, huh?

Undertaker's Court was called in at a meeting, discussing the up-coming storylines for everyone. Edge and Jericho wanted to split back up the Unified Tag-Team belts, calling the title too greedy. Cena propositioned continuing his and Randy's feud for the rest of the year, to make it a big legendary thing. Night of Champions was coming soon, and all wanted a spot.

Jericho and Edge talked about who deserved a shot at their separated titles and when they should split the sets of belts. Christian was dozing off, his flight here had been hell and he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. He had been away finishing his TNA DVD even though he had returned to the WWE, he had promised to do a few disc set on his years at the industry. Evan had his head on his master's knee, gazing up at him adoringly as he spoke. He truly was one of the most devoted subs among them.

Undertaker was discussing his recent time off to Shawn, saying he wanted to concentrate on his real estate business. Shawn had been worried about him since Wrestlemania, feeling that his leader's injury had been directly his fault. Mark assured him time and time again it was fine, but he needed the time off to rest his knees and work on his business. He was setting himself up financially, for himself and for his pet.

Punk and Morrison made faces at each other past their masters legs, having become closer friends now that the ECW belt fighting was out of the way.

The Miz was retelling his match with Boogeyman to Matt in vivid detail, making the darker Hardy laugh (he loved gross stuff.) Jake watched on from his position by the door, as was always his place when they were meeting like this. Though Punk was technically the head sub, Jake was the enforcer among them. He'd grown close to the other subs, and he was always the first to defend his friends. Jeff was sketching something out on his drawing tablet, hand quick with the pencil to fill up the blank page with a tree-like design akin to the one tattooed up his arms.

Randy and John were engrossed in their own conversation, heads together almost. At their masters feet, Ted and Cody listened while their tails slithered almost hypnotically against the carpet. Ted was playing with the familiar dog tags around his neck, ones he wore all the time except when John wore them to the ring. They were the tags he always took off and kissed before a match, handing them off to his valet instead of the tech guys. The blonde was happy to sport the black-edged tags, knowing they symbolized so much more than mere identification. Cody resisted the urge to purr as Randy's fingers played with his hair, though not touching his ears (that brought on a reaction that was in no way appropriate for this situation.) It was his master's way of showing him affection among their friends, among the Court.

But Ted and Cody kept close to their masters legs, not looking toward the other side of the semi-circle the Court made.

Batista sat there, eyes glued to Ted. When he stared, he always made sure it wasn't too long and no one saw him. Today was a special day for Dave, a special day that none of the other masters knew about. He hadn't taken a sub of his own for good reason, but Mark just assumed he was waiting for the right person to come along. Oh, Dave was biding his time alright. He was planning a little get-together of his own later.

"David."

Batista looked up, forcing a smile at the ever-menacing Undertaker.

"Yes sir?"

"Are you happy with your storyline at the moment?" Mark inquired, hand to his lips "You're coming back from a serious injury, do you think you're fit?"

"Yes, actually" Dave replied good-naturedly "The bookers have been good to me, they're putting me in a storyline with Rey right away. I'm going to be coming to Smackdown with you, sir."

"We'll be glad to have you" Mark stated.

The Hardys, headlines for Smackdown themselves, shared a rather nasty look but said nothing.

"How do you see the next few weeks going for you?" Mark asked, curious.

Dave's dark chuckle sent a shudder through Ted's spine, clinging onto Cena's leg a bit tighter.

"Well, Master 'Taker…I see them as very eventful" Dave replied ominously "And I think we'll all have our hands full over the next few months. In and…out of the ring."

Cena and Orton, almost in unison, curled their hands around the back of their pet's necks in protective gestures.

John was the one to speak up with a friendly smile, "I'm sure we'll all prevail in whatever comes our way."

//Oh, I doubt that, Cena.//

"Of course we will" Dave lied through his teeth "I mean, who would dare mess with us?"

xXxXxXx

LATER

In a rather lavish suite across the hotel, another meeting was taking place…one made of a rather unlikely group of people. They waited on their last member to join them, though more impatiently than the Court did for their last arrival.

Kane was among them, obviously the one conducting this meeting. His eyes fell on the others, sizing them up, deciding that this was the group he needed.

John "Bradshaw" Layfield sat there with his arms crossed, cowboy hat pulled down low over his eyes and a scowl on his face. He was obviously distasteful of his company, but he was here for only one reason and he stayed for one reason. One thought of that pretty glitter-doll and he knew he had to go through with this.

Raven and Kurt Angle themselves sat on the couch, eyeing each other warily. They both knew who they were here for, two subs who were very close. Eyeliner-heavy eyes rolled, the Olympian looked away.

Hunter sat proudly among them, not afraid to admit why he was here.

On one of the single chairs, the one most normal out of all of them, sat AJ Styles. He seemed the most comfortable, an easy smile on his face.

And off to the side, scowling and shifting in his seat, was Vladimir Kozlov himself. He didn't know many here that well, but he wasn't here to make friends.

The door opened, and a thickly muscled figure made his way inside before slamming the door shut.

"Whew" Dave sighed, turning to face the group "I barely got here, guys. Thought Michaels was tailing me."

"He's probably on to ya" Layfield drawled "Smart man, that bastard."

Dave just sat down beside Hunter, bumping fists with him as a smirk flashed over their faces.

"I think we all know why we're here" Kane stated, all hushing the moment his deep voice met the air "We're sick and tired of my brother's little group. They're a bunch of greedy bastards, agreed?"

"Understatement" Raven hissed, eyes flashing dangerously.

"These assholes take the best pieces of ass on the roster and keep them for themselves" Hunter complained, trying not to scowl too much but finding it difficult "Hell, you know we'd be banging the bitches we want if they weren't locked up by their masters."

Kane nodded solemnly, "We're here to break this little tradition, right?"

All nodded, determination in their features.

"This sub-crap is bullshit" AJ stated "It's not fair they have them all for themselves. They pick out the best, the ones that are just begging to get fucked, and then never share."

Angle glanced around, "We're all not here for the same boy, are we? 'Cause I'm saying right now, I can't take anymore competition."

Raven couldn't help but snicker at this, getting a glare.

Kane pursed his lips, "I don't believe we are. I, of course, want my brother's sub."

None were surprised.

"Well, I'm layin' my claim down now" JBL slapped an envelope down on the coffee table, sliding it to Kane "I want Morrison, that glitter-doll is mine as soon as I get my hands on him. This will fund the whole project, dontcha think Glenn?"

The bald man took the envelope, peered inside, and grinned, "Oh yes, Layfield, I think this will take care of it."

"I probably have the most competition out of all of you" Raven began, giving Angle a fierce look "And I saw the way you looked at him. But the pretty Hardy is mine."

"Hey, all yours" Angle held up his hands in surrender "But I think we can all agree that we're tired of these bitches teasing us. The entire time he was in TNA, Jason was a fuckin' flirt. These 'subs' strut around in almost nothing and then have the nerve to think they don't have to put out. It's not fair, am I right?"

Most nodded.

AJ cleared his throat, "Most of you don't know me, I'm AJ."

Layfield gave him a hard look, "I don't know why you're here, boy."

Kane and Raven exchanged a look, both smirking.

"You don't know AJ like I do, JBL, you're not on TNA" Raven gave a little laugh, all but tasting the evil rolling off Styles "He's a wicked one. Who you got your eyes on, AJ?"

The brunette smirked, tracing his bottom lip with his thumb, "Evan."

Hunter seemed a bit surprised by this, "The little Bourne brat?"

"He draws me in without trying" AJ looked off, a shadow passing over his features "And if I don't get a piece of him, I'm just gonna…snap, ya know what I mean?"

Hunter scooted away pointedly, giving Dave a 'holy shit this guy is crazy' look.

"Besides" AJ brightened up, smiling "I like 'em smaller than me, and you can't get much smaller than sweet little Evan."

Kane looked over toward Hunter and Dave, cocking his head, "And you two are after the special boys, aren't you?"

"The kittens?" Dave licked his lips, remembering how tempting Ted had looked earlier "Hell yeah. I got a good taste of little DiBiase a while back…I gotta have the whole thing. I can't sit there looking at him anymore. I'm gonna break him so good."

Hunter patted his friend's back, "And I'm gonna break Orton's pussy-bitch. I almost had him a while back too, when he was still a virgin. It's a shame, but it's kind of about Orton now. I just want to…"

"Hurt Orton through the boy" Layfield supplied, a smirk twisting his lips "Well, Hunter, I think most of us are for this. We hate the 'masters' almost as much as we lust after their subs, huh?"

Raven agreed with this, scowling as he thought of Matt.

Angle looked over at Kozlov, wincing at the Ukrainian's stony expression.

Kane looked over at him too, "Vladimir…"

"Da" the man growled something out in his angry foreign language, then grunted out a few words in English "Svagger. Boy like bull. I vish to break him too. Miz."

Vladmir's face twisted up in a deeper scowl at the man's name, "Thinks he's so great, thinks he ruled ECW. Thinks he can take strong man and break him. I vill show him how to break Svagger."

Again, Hunter scooted back into the couch, wondering juts what kind of thing he'd gotten himself into.

AJ barked out a laugh, pleased with this.

"With Dave's help" Kane gave the man a nod, who grinned "We can infiltrate my brother's tight-knit system. We can get these subs alone, vulnerable. Away…from their keepers."

"Oh!" AJ shot up his hand, swinging it.

Kane nodded at him, though he wasn't sure why the man felt the need to be called on.

AJ latched onto his seat, leaning forward to show the wicked intent on his face, "Can we do…whatever we want to the sub we're going after? No plan…too elaborate, too crazy? Cause I have an idea…but I'll need a bit of help."

"That's why we're here, boy" Layfield tapped his jacket pocket, feeling the bulge of his checkbook "To make dreams come true.""Over the next few weeks, I plan to take back what should be mine" Kane offered, a firm set in his jaw "And I say, working together, we all do just that. I gathered you together so you know who your allies will be in this endeavor, who you can ask for help and who can set up your schemes with."

Angle blinked dumbly, "Schemes?"

Raven shook his head, heaving a great sigh before giving the meathead a glare, "Why haven't you gone after Christian before this?"

"Ugh…cause it's too hard to get him alone long enough, let alone pin him down."

"There we go, that's what he means" Raven replied, a little more than frustrated with the man's intelligence limit "We work together. One of us will distract Edge or knock him out…or kill him, or something."

"Ooo" AJ's eyes lit up "Killing? Really? No one said we'd be doing that" he looked toward Kane eagerly "Can we do that?"

Kane's laugh was like gravel in a blender, rough and uncut, "Oh, Styles, you're going to make this very interesting, aren't you?"

AJ's smirk was the essence of fiendish intent.

"I want you all to think of a plan here these next two weeks" Kane instructed, holding their attention "When we all know what we're doing, I want to strike all at once. In just a few days, I want all the subs out of commission. Do what you will to them. But let's try to aim for breaking their 'master's spirit, alright?"

Vladimir gave a happy growl, frown curling up into a smirk as well, "Da."

The others agreed, all eager for their forming plans to be put into action.

Consider this chapter my cast list for the rest of the story; and if you're confused, this is exactly what my notes say:

The Anti-Court:

Kane - Punk
JBL - Morrison
Batista - Ted
Kurt Angle - Christian
AJ Styles - Evan
Raven - Jeff
Hunter - Cody
Vladimir Kozlov - Swagger

I'm sorry if the Anti-Court isn't made up of who you'd like, but after reading through the subs profiles…I chose accordingly if not for the only reason I ran out of hot guys and had to go fishing in the TNA cesspool. I don't like. Excuse my AJ Styles, I had to make him psychotic so he could interesting enough for me to play for more than a page.

All stories in this verse are (in order to be read):

"And Don't Forget To Let Your Heart Beat" - Cody's Story
"I'm A Match Burning Out" - Ted's Story
"This Fire Burns All The Way" - Miz and Punk's story
"So Happy I Could Die" - Edge and Christian's snippet
"Under the Rose" - The Court's story, the main story