Changing Sides
CHANGING SIDES
Part Six

By: Elektra

MONDAY NIGHT – after RAW

"Where is it?!" Stephanie asked herself as she looked around the parking lot. "I know I parked it here somewhere!" She sighed. After a few minutes, she finally found it.

Stephanie's rental car was around the back of the arena… and the front driver's window had been broken. The piece of junk was still managing to run though. Stephanie stared at her ruined automobile. "This is gonna cost me my security deposit!" she muttered.

"Don't move…" a voice whispered. Stephanie jumped. She hadn't even heard Jericho come up behind her.

"What are you—" she glared at him, "Did you do this to my car?!" she demanded.

"No! I heard the crash, and came out to see what happened! Now shut up!" he lowered his voice, "Someone is hiding in the trees." Before Jericho had a chance to defend himself, a man quickly rushed out and gored the blonde to the concrete.

The man turned to Stephanie, and smiled.

"Rhyno?" she gasped.

"Hey Steph…!"

"Oh great," Jericho winced from the ground, "Your boyfriend!"

"Steph… Paul wants to talk to you," Rhyno began, ignoring Jericho.

"Rhyno, I broke all ties with Paul. You know that. Unless he wants to rejoin the WWF, I'm not talking to him!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jericho climb gingerly to his feet. He was about to sneak up behind Rhyno with a hubcap that had fallen off the car, "Jericho… don't!" Stephanie called out.

Rhyno turned to Jericho, and Jericho froze. Why had she stopped him? Was she still allied with ECW?

"Rhyno… you and me should talk. There's a place for you in the WWF. You know that, don't you?" Stephanie started, bringing Rhyno's attention back to her, "You don't have to take Austin's crap any more!"

Jericho turned to Stephanie, "Are you attempting to appeal to his intelligence?" he asked, "Good luck!"

Stephanie glared at Jericho, not believing he had the gall to be so rude when she was trying to make peace.

"Ignore him! He's a jerk," Stephanie said to Rhyno, "But you know that already…"

Rhyno put his hands on Stephanie's shoulders, smiling that creepy smiled that made Stephanie shiver, "Steph… you should come back to us. To the Alliance,"

"Rhyno, it's not going to happen! But that doesn't mean you can't join US!"

"NO!" Rhyno snapped, "Paul E says I'm better off in ECW! I know he wouldn't lie to me!" Stephanie winced as Rhyno's grip tightened on her shoulder.

"Really?" Jericho spoke up, "And who's butt has good ol' Paul been kissing lately? Not yours, that's for sure!"

"That's enough!" Rhyno shouted, "You show respect to Paul E, or I'll beat it out of you!"

Jericho shook his head in pity at Rhyno's idiocy, "That's sad, Rhyno. Really sad…"

"Rhyno, listen," Stephanie tried to calm the volatile situation, "I'm a McMahon. The WWF is my life. It will always be my life! You understand that, right? I'm my father's daughter!"

Rhyno scowled, "If you don't come back to us, things are gonna get real bad. That's what Paul E said," he explained, then glanced over at the ruined car.

"YOU did that?" She gasped.

He smiled proudly, "I learned how to hotwire cars a long time ago… learned how to destroy 'em too," he grew serious, "Kind of like how Paul E can destroy things…"

"Are you threatening me?" Stephanie asked.

"Come back to us…" Rhyno insisted, his voice growing louder, "You GOTTA come back to us!"

Before Rhyno could further his intimidation, Jericho hit him over the head with the hubcap he was still holding.

Rhyno fell to the ground, unconscious. Stephanie looked at Jericho, surprised by the events that had just transpired.

"Damn… you sure attract winners, Steph," Jericho replied. He then dropped the hubcap and began to walk away.

Stephanie grabbed his arm fearfully, "Wait! Don't leave me alone with … HIM!" She pleaded.

"You don't want to be left alone with him then don't stand there like an idiot! Just go back inside the hotel and cry to daddy about the mean ol' Rhyno!"

"I can't believe Paul would send him to threaten me like this! I've always treated him fairly! I've always treated ALL the ECW guys fairly!"

"Um… you TURNED on them, Stephanie!"

"No! I mean… yes… but I was hoping I'd bring the ECW with me to WWF! I didn't know Heyman, Shane, and Austin would turn them against me!"

"You obviously haven't been watching WWF programming lately. Did you not notice the brainwashing Austin's been doing? These guys would give up their bodies for him!" Jericho studied Stephanie, "You're scared, aren't you?" he asked. "I mean, you're REALLY scared!"

"I'm a McMahon! I'm not scared of anything!" Stephanie snapped.

"So you're NOT worried about me leaving you here when Rhyno wakes up? Ok." He started to walk away again. Stephanie quickly chased after him, falling into step beside him, "What?" Jericho asked.

"We might as well walk back to the hotel together… right?" she said.

"Riiiight… but you're not scared…" Jericho taunted.

"Shut up!" Stephanie snapped, and the two headed back to the hotel in silence.