Since writing the prologue, I've deleted this first chapter so many times - I had so many good beginnings that I didn't know which one to choose. I know I haven't chosen the best one, but I feel this one can take us into the drama better.

I have a request though; if anyone has a reliable-ish list of the Smackdown and Raw rosters circa late 2003; could they send it my way? I've tried to be accurate but I can't be one hundred percent sure.

Now, all that's left to say is read, review and enjoy.
Thank you.

I wonder if you've ever seen any movies set during the Second World War? You'll have seen, no doubt, the way the Jewish people were lined up and sent to the concentration camps. It's a horrific sight and one that, as we speak, has hairs standing up on the back of my neck. But that was the only thing I could think of as we were marched along the corridor. It was Trish and I at the front, followed by Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas and Jackie came next with Eddie and Chris following them. There were more people behind that, but I couldn't see them - I was too busy trying to keep in line with Trish, careful not to fall behind because I doubted Shawn's patience was to be tested tonight.

I had never seen such a strong Raw and Smackdown alliance - last time I had been in a room with Jackie I'd ripped her extensions out and given her three broken ribs - but tonight, we seemed so together, even if us Raw 'stars' didn't know what this was about. No one spoke. We were too frightened to really, and even Eddie kept quiet on the march to Shawn's locker room. We all filed in, two by two, and I saw a few more familiar faces - Jericho was here, which shocked me; I was sure he'd be at the hospital with Christian, and Edge too among others, Benoit was already sitting down in a corner, shielding himself away from any more injuries and Booker T was standing by the door, greeting us as we entered. It was so formal and yet each and every one of us seemed so scared, even Kane who, bringing up the rear, closed the door behind him.

"That's the third one this month," Shawn said quietly. His voice was quivering and, for the first time in my life, I was sure I was seeing the real Shawn Michaels. Not the Heartbreak Kid. Not The Showstopper. Shawn Michaels, laid out for all to see. "First it was Rob," he said, motioning towards Rob Van Dam who stood three bodies to the left of me. His ribs were tightly strapped with bandages under his open shirt and his jaw was bruised and swollen. "Then they branched into your territory," he looked around the faces and locked eyes with almost every Smackdown superstar or diva. "Thanks for coming Chris, I know it couldn't have been easy for you." We all turned to look at Benoit now, his face was a dark purple, almost entirely covered with bruises and his lip was burst and swollen. His right arm was strapped up and placed in a sling although he was holding it in place with his left hand. This wasn't the Benoit we knew. "And now…" Shawn turned to look at Trish who stood between Chris and I. "Christian."

"Bastards!" Chris bellowed, thumping a fist into the other hand, but I was the only person who jumped, although Jackie did give an involuntary gasp. Christian and Chris were best friends and it was understandable that he was upset. He hadn't been able to help his own best friend as four, well three - lets not get carried away and say that Flair actually helped - men attacked him. He had been 'incapacitated' in his own locker room, waking up almost an hour later without even knowing what had happened to him, although we all had our suspicions that Batista had been behind it.

"Exactly," Shawn said. He seemed much calmer now, and I had a feeling that he had been more scared of our reaction than he was of Evolution. Chris's outburst had only showed him how strongly we felt about the faction and he was keener to go on. "Which is why I've brought you all here today. First of all, I'd like to thank the Smackdown superstars for getting here so quickly and I hope that you can take word back to those who couldn't make it. But I'd like to get on with this quickly - you don't know who's listening or when we'll be interrupted. The fact of the matter is that Evolution are taking liberties and until now, we've let them walk over us. We're losing good wrestlers to them and no one seems to be standing up to them. I say we start a rebellion."

He paused, and I'm sure it was for dramatic effect, but everyone around me began talking in hushed whispers. You could hear almost everyone had something to say about the 'Fantastic Four' as they had been nicknamed backstage; of course it was purely mocking.

"You think we could take them?"

"I bet Shawn wants a piece of Hunter."

"I wouldn't mind a shot at Orton."

"It's that Batista I'm worried about."

"What about you, Lita? What do you think?" Shawn was talking to me and I was suddenly incredibly aware that almost every eye in the room was on me - I say almost, because I'm never sure if both of Kane's eyes are looking at the one thing or not, but I digress. Shawn was staring straight at me and I was sure he only picked me out because I hadn't spoken yet. "Would you be up for it?"

"Really," I said slowly. I was trying to take my time, to draw it out - mainly because I hadn't actually thought about it, not really. I'd listened to everyone else but I hadn't really come to my own conclusions yet. "I do think they need to be taken down, but I don't see why we divas are here. There's not much we can do, is there? They'd have no problem hurting any of us - but could we honestly say that we could inflict any damage on guys like that?" I could hear the words before I had even thought of them but I could see every person in the room hanging on each word.

"You'll notice that not every diva is here," Shawn countered. "There are some divas that…Well that I can tell won't be up for a rebellion and, should we start one, they would join Evolution. While Hunter, Batista, Orton and Flair may have no problem with hurting women, us 'decent' guys wouldn't dream of it. And that's where you come in."

"So Trish, Jackie and I are to take on the entire Women's roster; is that what you're saying?" Three of us against the likes of Victoria, Molly, Gail, Jacqueline, Ivory, Stephanie and goodness knows who else? Did Shawn really think this through? Jackie wasn't all that good and Victoria and Molly could offer the lesser divas much more training than we ever could, they'd have a full blown army on us in no time.

"Lita, calm down. We're not saying it's just you three. There's Stacy and Torrie too." he replied. I would have choked him if there hadn't been a small cough from near the back.

"And what am I? A heavyweight?" Dawn. You could always count on her to make herself known. "Come on, Li. We're up for it." She motioned between Jackie and herself, both of whom were beaming back at me, nodding. "And Trish too. And I know you don't like Stacy and Torrie but…I'll take care of them, okay?"

I couldn't see any way of getting out of it now. It seemed that us divas were being made to choose first - were we in or out? And my decision had already been made by Dawn. "I guess I'm in…" I said with reluctance. I was certain that this was going to end badly; whether I would end up injured, without a job or dead, it was going to be at the hands of one of Evolution, and it wouldn't be a female.

"So now that the divas are in," Shawn said. "What about us guys?"

It was midnight before we got home, that night. Trish had insisted that we go to the hospital to see her beloved who, the nurses informed us, had been a right pain in the ass since he had arrived. He had demanded a private room with a television so that he could watch the end of Raw, he had insisted upon new pillows every hour and had ordered the nurse to go to the small gift store downstairs to get him a large slab of chocolate and three bottles of Pepsi - if he was going to be put in hospital, he was going to make sure he did it right. Naturally, I had been more than willing to sit outside in the rental car and wait, but she and Chris had insisted I go up too - since I had been appointed 'Head of The Divas' in Shawn's little plan, although why, I'll never know, Dawn would have been much better.

Of course, Christian had wanted every little detail about the impromptu meeting - who had been there, who had looked upset when they mentioned his name and if Shawn had mentioned his name more than once - and had inundated us with questions, most of which we couldn't answer. "So when does the master plan start?" he asked, breaking another piece of chocolate off of the bar. "I mean, how are we doing this? Just a huge ass ambush or are we taking it slowly? Will their be assigned teams? How's it going to go down?"

By the time we left his bed side I was starting to regret I'd ever let Dawn beat me down - I did not want to be part of this, not at all. Sure, Evolution needed taken down a peg or two, but did they really need me to get involved? I headed home and, not even bothering with a shower, I lay down on my bed, fully clothed and fell straight asleep.

That night, my dreams were weird - sort of blurred together and I couldn't tell where one ended and where the next began. One stood out though. I was sitting on a huge sofa, curled up with a guy - but I couldn't see his face, and I tried to check his body to see if there was anything 'distinctive' about him, but nothing stood out - and we were watching a clip show. It was short clips of finishers, almost every finisher in the business. But when I looked closer, it was me taking each finisher. From the Pedigree to the Walls of Jericho, I was taking everything. And I screamed and screamed but the guy beside me just laughed and held me closer. And I started to choke because his cologne was so strong and just as I started to cry, I woke up.

I told Trish on our way down to breakfast but she shrugged it off, said I was just over anxious about this whole Evolution thing. "I highly doubt that," I said, pressing the 'Ground' button in the elevator. "There were more people giving me finishers from OUTSIDE Evolution than there was IN."

"Like we'd ever turn on you," Trish said, rolling her eyes. "This is all about you and Shawn. Well, more Shawn really - you just got roped into it. But what I mean is, everyone in this little 'rebellion' see you and Shawn as leaders. We'd never turn on either of you - you're the ones who're getting us through this, dumbass."

"I know. I just…it freaked me out, you know?"

But our conversation was short lived as, wrapping an arm round both of us almost the second we were out of the elevator, Chris Jericho led us to an already full breakfast table, every pair of eyes smiling up at us.

"Lita!" Shawn called, patting the seat next to him and I was suddenly very aware of Chris's arm around me, tightening. "Come sit with us."

"I, uh," I stammered. I had never been short of friends but this sudden welcoming, this sudden popularity seemed so arbitrary to me - I wasn't the type of girl to have these kind of friends and yet, here I was, Miss Popularity.

"We'll just sit down here," Trish answered for me, rolling her eyes once more. She pulled out a seat and slipped into it, motioning at Chris to sit down beside her. I was a little slower than he was, and he almost pulled me into his seat with him. "Excuse her - she's still pretty confused…Can't really believe a dream was just that. A dream."

"Yeah…" I said, pushing myself from Chris's lap and seating myself to the left of him, beside Edge.

"So how did you sleep?" Shawn asked from the other side of the table, a few seats down. As I craned my neck to see where he sat, I noticed just how mismatched the wrestlers seated at this table were. Down one side sat the Dudleys, D-Von and Bubba, beside Dawn Marie and Kane, across from them sat Charlie and Jackie, Matt Hardy and Shawn. Beside Trish sat Chris Benoit, who's bruises seemed much darker in the daylight and Eddie, who sat facing Torrie and Stacy.

"It was okay thanks - I was out like a shot," I replied honestly, casting a wary glance at the blondes across from Eddie. Out of all the people here - all of the people who had feuded with each other and claimed to hate each other - I was certain that the only two who would cause problems would be those two.

"Good," Dawn grinned, patting Kane's leg. She had always been strange, though, and I felt it was best not to ask why - I didn't like the idea of a conversation, even an amicable one, with Kane. "Because we have a plan. It's more like a suggestion really."

"A question, even." I heard a voice from the bottom of the table - a voice I recognized as D-Von's.

"Exactly," Dawn nodded, the smile never faltering. "It's something that Kane and I thought up, really. And we've decided that really, you're the only one who could make it work. And oh, it would work. It would cripple Evolution. And all we ask, is one little thing."