Eobard was worried about Cooper. The Trooper had promised his student he would arrive at 3 o'clock sharp for a rousing game of Clue, but it was now 3:55 and there was still no sign of him. Stone knew it wasn't like Steven to arrive 5 minutes late for a commitment, let alone fifty five.

He paced back and forth as Urias Pheelanruff stuffed his mouth full of 3D Doritos. "Boy am I glad they brought THESE back!" the doctor spit out, sending chewed up chunks of cheesy goodness flying all over the game board.

"Maybe it was a joke?" Steve Sayors, the only other person to accept Eobard's invitation and actually show up, pondered. "He was probably pulling our legs, afterall, he isn't really the gaming type."

"I don't know," Stone replied, peering out the window in hopes that Mr. Cooper's Uber would just so happen to be pulling up (it wasn't). "You should've seen him after he beat that little kid at Magic, you would've thought he won the Universal Title!"

"Really?!" Dr. Pheelanruff asked, spewing more bits of food, this time onto Steve Sayors. "That's wonderful! Can't say I know too much about the guy, but something tells me he's one disturrrrrrrbed individual................ maybe even moreso than Ned!"

"You never know," Stone exhaled, reminded of his own personal demons. He walked back over to the table and sat down, a frown on his face. "I guess we'll just have to play without him." Eobard reached into the game box and pulled out the character pieces, holding them up for Steve and Urias to see. "So, who do you guys want to be?"

"Oh, I don't care," a zen Sayors replied with a sigh of relief. Not having Cooper around meant he didn't have to be on edge the entire time, like every interview he'd EVER done with the guy. "I'll pick whoever's left."

"Well, it's my game, so I get to be Colonel Mustard!" Eobard declared, taking the piece with his free hand and placing it on the board.

"That's alright," Urias lied, trying to hide his disappointment. "I didn't want to be him, anyway." He reached forward and took one of the other male pieces. "I'll be Professor Plum since a doctor is kind of like a professor."

An exuberant Sayors clapped his hands together as Urias set his piece down. "Excellent! I wanted to be Miss Scarlet the whole time!"

"Of course you did," Eobard guffawed, rolling his eyes.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Stone's face lit up like a kid on Christmas, causing him to jump up and hurry towards the door as if to tear into his metaphorical presents. Eobard whipped open the door, expecting to see Cooper, only to be disappointed by an unfamiliar face:



"Hi! I'm here for the clues!"

"You're here to play Clue?" Eobard asked, wondering if his mentor actually was playing some sort of prank on him. "Who are you?"

Before the man could answer, Urias rose from his chair, his eyes glowing as if he were in the presence of royalty. "Oh my God!" he screamed like a giddy little schoolgirl. "You're Steve from Blues Clues!!!!!"

"Guilty as charged!" the TV star admitted, throwing his hands up. "I thought you were expecting me?"

"We weren't," the disappointed Stone sighed. "We've been waiting for my buddy, Steven for over an hour!"

"Oh dear," Steve frowned, pulling out his phone and scrolling through various texts. "It appears there must've been some sort of mix up at the airport." The Nickelodeon star looked back at the car that drove him there as it disappeared into the distance. "Apparently that Uber was NOT for me!"

"Noooooo," Stone stated sarcastically. "It was for Steven..............

"What's the N stand for?"

Before Eobard could correct him, Urias chimed in with a light hearted joke. "Not here!" His response gave Steve Sayors a laughing attack, causing him to rest his head on the table and pound his fist in a fit of hysteria. His laughter spread to Steve from Blues Clues, before eventually getting a chuckle out of Eobard.

"Well, I suppose he's not," Stone said with a shrug, relieved to hear that his mentor wasn't in any sort of danger. "Would you care to join us?"

"Me?" Steve asked, pointing to himself. "I've never played before."

"Oh, it's easy!" Pheelanruff insisted. "If you can get a dog to find clues for you, this should be a cakewalk!"

"I don't want to impose......."

Eobard sat back down, pulling out the seat next to him and gesturing for the actor to sit. "By all means! We're down a man, anyway."

In one overdramatic leap, Steve went from standing in the doorway to being seated next to Stone. He examined the game board and the pieces everyone had chose, reaching for Miss Scarlet and holding her up to Eobard. "Can I be this one?"

Sayors gritted his teeth, not wanting to give up the character he chose, but Stone didn't leave him any choice. "Absolutely!"

An exuberant Steve set the piece back down, as the other Steve grabbed a different one and half heartedly placed it on the board.

"Looks like we've got two Steve's!" Urias pointed out, finishing off the bag of chips that nobody else got to enjoy. "How're we gonna differentiate between 'em?"

"Steve 1 and Steve 2?" Sayors suggested, pointing to himself first.

"No, no," Eobard argued, coming up with a solution Mr. Cooper would be proud of. "He's Steve...................... and you're SAYORS!" Stone's impression of his partner was spot on, so much so, the broadcast journalist nearly jumped out of his seat with fright.

"Okay, okay," he conceded with a look of defeat. "I'll be Steve 2."

Eobard explained the object of the game in great detail, trying his best to ensure there would be no confusion, or mistakes that could potentially ruin the game. If there was one thing Stone hated, it was getting halfway through a game only for someone to accidentally reveal too much information and have to start all over. Luckily for him, his opponents were alot smarter than they looked, and they'd managed to reach the halfway mark without so much as even a minor incident.



"Hmmmmmm," Steve wondered aloud, thinking about the potential murder weapon. "I think it was Colonel Mustard..........." he spoke, grabbing Eobard's game piece and moving it to his current location. "In the kitchen, with the toothbrush!"

"Toothbrush?!" an annoyed Stone blurted out, knowing full well that was not an option.

"Ope, I can prove that wrong," Urias responded, setting the entire pizza he'd been hogging aside and showing Steve one of his cards. "Hate to do it, though, my kids absolutely adore you!"

"Kids?" a confused Game Master questioned. "I didn't know you had kids!"

The psychiatrist became flustered, instantly bottling up and changing the subject. "Errrrr, uuuuuuummm, so, my turn right? Okay!" Urias reached forward and grabbed the dice in a hurry, rolling snake eyes in the process. He moved his piece a measly 2 spaces before passing to Sayors. "That's me!"

As Pheelanruff devoured more Papa John's, an eager Steve Sayors rolled the dice and made his way towards the center of the board, where you make your final accusation. "It was Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the library," he declared with confidence.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Eobard asked, having all three choices in hand. "If you're wrong, you're out of the game."

An arrogant Sayors motioned for Stone to hand him the miniature envelope containing the answer. Eobard obliged, shaking his head as Steve opened it up and came to the realization he was not only wrong, but didn't get a single one right.

"So that's a thing..........." he frowned, staring blankly at the cards for a moment before sealing them back up.

"I tried to warn you!" Stone shrugged, reaching forward and taking his turn. "But I guess baby's gotta fall on his ass before he learns to walk, right?"

Urias and the other Steve joined Eobard in a round of laughter as Sayors glared at the Game Master. "Keep it up and I'm gonna start calling YOU The Trooper!"

"Not much an insult," Eobard stated, finishing up his turn and motioning for the other Steve to go as he noticed something out the window. "Looks like the mail's here.........."

As Stone got up to retrieve it, the Blues Clues Steve also hopped to his feet and began singing his famous mail song from the show.

"Ohhhhhh, here's the mail, it never fails, it makes me wanna wag my tail, when it comes I wanna wail MAILLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!"

"Take a chill pill, Steve," Eobard ordered, making his way back over to the table. "It's just a bunch of bills." He thumbed through the stack and noticed a particular one addressed to Steven Cooper from an Arthur Dent Memorial Hospital, but figured it must've been a routine physical before continuing. "Oh," an unenthused Stone sighed, pulling a yellow envelope out from the back. "And a letter from my parents..........."

All of a sudden, some drumlike sound filled the air, followed by a simple little melody as Steve snatched the letter out of Eobard's hands and broke into another song.



"YOU didn't get a letter.........." Eobard barked, taking the envelope from the Blues Clues star before he could open it up all the way. "I did! Weren't you ever taught that it's illegal to open someone else's mail?! Maybe Blue should clue you in." Stone stopped his rant, realizing he'd let his emotions get the better of him. "They're probably just asking for more money, anyway. They've been trying to finagle my winnings out from under me ever since I stepped foot in a ring."

"Winnings?" the confused Pheelanruff blurted out. "But you haven't even won anything yet!"

Stone, hoping that would change come Warfare, sat back down and gestured towards their board game. "I'm about to win THIS!" He reached forward, rolled the dice, and moved his character towards the billiards room, JUST having enough movement to enter and make an accusation. "Miss Scarlet. The billiards room. With the revolver."

Unfortunately for Eobard, Steve Sayors was able to show him the billiards room from his hand(the only thing left for him to do). Stone took note in his gamepad before motioning for Blues Clues Steve to go. He reached for the dice and rolled before moving towards the center of the map.

"Are you SURE you want to do that?" a skeptical Stone questioned.

Steve stared at his handy dandy notebook, the tip of his oversized crayon in his mouth. After inspecting his clues for a moment, the TV star responded to the Game Master by calling out his guess without so much as a hint of hesitation. "It was Miss Scarlet in the kitchen with the knife."

Stone glanced at his cards, no sign of any of those choices in sight. He watched as Steve picked up the envelope, opened it up, and checked to see if he was right. Without a word, he turned the three cards towards the group revealing none other than Miss Scarlet, the kitchen, AND the knife!

"Bravo!" Pheelanruff applauded. "I guess you don't need Blue to find clues!"

"To tell you the truth, I taught her everything she knows!" a not so humble, and possibly high, Steve boasted.

"You taught a CGI dog how to find Clues?" a bitter Stone scorned. "So you're a programmer?"

Urias laughed, rising out of his chair and patting Eobard on the shoulder. "Well, I better get going. Thanks for the good time........... pizza too!"

"Thanks for comin'" a still sour Stone quipped as politely as he could.

Pheelanruff gave him a grin before turning to the non-Sayors Steve. "I'd be honored to be your Uber home!"

"Hey, I'd appreciate that!" the actor responded with glee. "Save me a few bucks!"

Urias frowned. "I mean, you still gotta pay for the Uber," he said, activating the app on his phone in order to claim Steve's ride. "Gas ain't cheap."

The two of them walked out the door and made their way towards Urias' car as Eobard turned to the Steve that was still there. "SAYORS!" he exclaimed, causing the journalist to jump out of his seat. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Sayors, not getting the hint, shrugged and continued to linger. "Not really."

Remembering Steve didn't have any friends, Eobard went over to the door and opened it, motioning for Sayors to make for the exit. "ACTUALLY, I think you do............"

"Right," he sighed, all too familiar with this part. "Well, it was fun."

"Yep."

"We'll have to do it again."

"Mmhmm."

"Hope you have a good night."

"Youuuuuuuuuuuu too!"

"See you later!"

"BYE!" an irritated Eobard burst out before slamming the door in Steve's face. He put his head in his hand and took a deep breath. "I wonder how Mr. Cooper's night went?"



"I've heard alot of criticism over the past couple weeks and I've got to say I'm utterly disappointed in these folks who get paid to run their mouths.

'EXP Fears TNGB'

That's the narrative that's been fillin' the Fed ever since Cooper and I made our presence felt at Leap of Faith. All these people who booed our attack then, as well as the one last Wednesday, were so quick to forget that it was ACTUALLY EXP that was next in line for Title shots, NOT The Disintigrators. What else could we do? When management refused to follow the very rules they themselves put in place, Cooper and I were left no choice but to create our own. And it worked! Not only did it get us the match we'd already earned, it also produced a copycat! That's right, apparently Bobby Bourbon was SO impressed with the beating we gave him and his partner at last month's pay-per-view, he decided to go out and replicate it on Betsy Granger of all people. Not the team they were about to face that upcoming Warfare, nor the one that taught them how it feels to be on the receiving end of a post match beatdown................... Betsy. Granger."

"Now, I SHOULD be upset about Bourbon ripping us off but, to tell you the truth, I'm more impressed than anything. I mean, he took our silly little statement and turned it up to 11 when he crossed paths with Besty! They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery and, I must admit, I was VERY flattered to watch Bobby brutalize a helpless woman half his size all in the name of paying tribute to the next Tag Team Champions! It felt even better when TK came out to join the party, since apparently one Chris Brown wasn't enough! Why not bring out the whole crew while you're at it?............. make it a true gangbang!"

Eobard stopped himself for a moment, thinking about the similarities between what had happened to him back in high school and the poundin' Betsy had taken at the hands of the Bastards. The more he thought about it, the more he realized they were no different than his former teammates. If anything, they were worse. Not wanting to bring his past into the spotlight, Stone quickly regained his composure and continued to rip into the Champions.

"What happened to you, Bobby? You used to BE someone. Former Universal Champion............. Hart Champion................. Warfare MVP. Gone are the days of Robbie Bourbon, stripped away and consumed by a mere 3 letters.............. so much so, you had to abandon the very name that made you and cover it up by adopting the very one that OWNS you. You're not the Warfare MVP anymore, Bobby; you're not even the MVP of BOB! Sure, you're the one carrying the TEAM, but if you ask TK's War Games partners from last year, that's not really saying much! Hell, even THAT'S beginning to change; afterall, everybody saw who retrieved the belts against the Disintigrators, and it wasn't Bobby Bourbon! While he was busy doing what he does best(picking on people smaller than him), his partner was stuck with the task of ensuring the two of them left D.C. with the belts intact."

"The truth is, Bob, you've been on a downward spiral ever since the pussy version of Ned beat you for the Hart Title. It may not seem like it, but dominating a division that barely exists doesn't mean you've accomplished anything. While I can give you props for winning the belts, as well as defending them, the fact that you're using your free time to assault poor old Betsy instead of trying to reclaim the glory you once had tells me that not even YOU believe in yourself anymore. At least in terms of anything that matters. Sure, you can whoop on Marf, or take on 2 Disintigrators at the same time, but when it comes to the likes of Corey Smith and Alias, you don't hold a candle to ANY of them. THAT'S why you've latched onto BOB like a baby goat to it's momma's teet, because you know, without them, you'd starve. You NEED them to stay relevant, just like you needed Thunder Knuckles to "prove" that you're "better" than Betsy Granger. No BOB, no TK. No TK, no Tag Team Titles. And that's EXACTLY where things are heading, Bourby, just you wait and see. Cooper and I are alot more than a lone Granger, so things are gonna be a LITTLE bit tougher for the two of you, hope you can keep up."

"Which brings me to the other No Good Bastard..................... you know, TK, I gotta give you credit, you've been one HELL of a partner for the ole Bourbmeister. How much did he pay you to pretend to be his friend? Can I pay you more to be mine and Cooper's? I must admit, for someone who's loyalties can be bought at the drop of a dime(or, in your case, X-Bux), you sure did fit right in with the house of parliament. If I didn't know any better, it would've been almost IMPOSSIBLE to distinguish you from the rest of America's overpaid, glorified prostitutes. Really, the only difference between you and them is what you're willing to sell your souls for. They do it for cold hard cash, whereas you do it for the play money that comes in every little kid's first cash register. Just because you haven't sold out to big oil or FritoLay, does NOT make you any less of a whore! I'm sure if you or BOB wanted to take the payoff so BP could get away with poisoning the environment a little more, you most certainly would! It'd probably be a smart decision, too, seeing as how Big Money's not gonna be able to fund you guys and your lackluster pay-per-views forever. I'd suggest asking Mark Cuban for an investment, but he'd have better luck buying stocks from Gamestop!"

"Thunder Knuckles, I'm gonna ask you the very same thing I asked your partner: what happened to you?!? At one point you were kicking ass as TV Champion, making Chris Page your bitch; but, anymore, it seems like the roles have reversed! Don't get me wrong, I understand what it's like to live in the shadow of someone greater than myself but who the hell am I?! Just some nobody looking for his first win, not a multi-time Champion who was damn near on the cusp of the Main Event. It's a shame you let Bourbon drag you down to his level, because you might've had the same successes HE had back in his prime. Don't get me wrong, the Tag Titles are great for some noob who's never tasted gold before in his life, but the man who beat a former Universal Champion with a DDT to the foot?!? It sorta seems like a step in the wrong direction if you ask me! But hey, I'm happy for the two of you; you're like the fat kids in high school who finally found love! Sure, we all know who the one that settled is, but as long as TK doesn't, there's no chance he'll move on to something(or someONE) better!"

"Like facing Chris Page while he was Universal Champion. Ironically enough, CCP just so happened to take TK under his wing right around the time he won the belt. I assure you that was no accident. While Thunder Knuckles WAS a fine candidate to take out Robert Main, he was ALSO the one man who could end Page's reign if left unchecked. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. TK was the ultimate enemy for Chris Page and he never even knew it. Rather than reach for the stars, TK was tricked into believing he was of use to the Champ. Truth be told, Page could've asked ANYONE to do his dirty work; it just benefitted him more to have Thunder Knuckles do it. And the sad part is, TK's too dense to even realize it."

"Mr. Cooper and I have only been in XWF a couple months, but we've known each other lonnnnnnnnnng before the concept of BOB had even been thought of. He taught me what it means to not only be a wrestler, but a man as well. We may not be household names, but that's only because we haven't had the opportunity to be! Well, that opportunity arrives a week from tomorrow and you can be sure we're going to take advantage of it! I've never been to Times Square, but I'm sure it'll be an experience I'll NEVER forget............ as for the two of you, you'll be happy to know Cooper and I plan to beat you SO badly, you won't remember anything! EXP's about to level up and claim our loot of the Tag Team Titles!!!!"