A/N: Sorry but it's quite a long chapter..thanks for the feedback though!.
Lita sat crossed legged on the steel chair clutching her mobile phone in her right hand. Kurt, Edge, Jericho and Christian were all sitting around talking quietly, trying to keep the noise down. They'd been lucky so far. They'd managed to sneak into an unoccupied locker room on Smackdown, without anyone seeing them and had locked the door. Fortunately they did have a television monitor in the room and were able to keep track of what was happening in the ring.
So far, there had been a match between Rey Mysterio and Shannon Moore, with Matt Hardy at ringside. Lita had tried to watch the match, if only to cheer like crazy when Matt had attempted to interfere and had ended up getting the 619, but had been on the phone to Batista for the last 10 minutes.
"I told you Dave.just keep an eye on Flair.yeah and thanks for telling me.bye" She hung up the phone and the guys gave her an expectant look.
"Well? Everything okay?" Edge asked and Lita nodded slowly.
"Yeah, but apparently my loving father is going to be here tonight." She placed her head in her hands in an exasperated manner, and peeked out between her fingers, just in time to see Christian pointing frantically at the TV set.
"Speaking of the devil." The blond said, and Lita moved so that she could see the screen better.
It was Bischoff. The camera followed him down the hall until he reached a door labelled General Manager. He knocked and then entered, leaving the camera facing a closed door.
"Oh great, things can't possibly get any worse than this," Lita sighed, then suddenly regretted saying those infamous words as they heard a small knock on the door. Great.
"Who the hell could that be?" Kurt whispered and Edge raised his hand to shush him.
"I know someone's in there, I heard voices!" An annoyed woman's voice called through the wood, and she knocked again trying to open the door, "hello? Is this some kind of a joke, my things are in there."
Sure enough, what the group hadn't noticed before was that there was indeed a bag at the far side of the room. It was open and completely full of clothes and a small purse was visible, peeking out from underneath some blue denim. Giving no thought to the privacy of the woman outside, Chris made a grab for the purse, opening it to look for any form of identification.
"Whose is it?" Christian asked in as low a tone as he could muster. Jericho threw the group a look and held up a driver's licence.
"Behind door number one, stands a Miss Dawn Marie." He rolled his eyes as the door rattled again.
"Damn, how are we going to get rid of her? She's bound to call someone to open the door, then our cover will be blown." Edge frowned, but the Women's Champion shook her head and smiled.
"We don't get rid of her. We let her in." Lita said simply and before anyone could protest, she rushed towards the door, opening it quickly and pulling one very confused diva inside.
Dawn Marie froze on the spot. The first thing she saw inside the locker room door was Christian, Edge, then Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, and.
"Lita!" The brunette gasped half with relief and half with joy. She hadn't seen the other woman for at least 5 or 6 years, back when they were both in ECW. Sure they had both been in the WWE, before Lita had been injured, but they had both been on different shows and they'd never had time to meet up.
"Hey Dawn," Lita pulled the smaller diva in for a hug, and smiled when it was gladly returned. She had always liked Dawn Marie. She had become fast friends with the slightly older diva back in ECW and they had always looked out for each other when things had been tough. But unfortunately they hadn't kept in contact when Lita had left the company, so seeing Dawn Marie right then was a welcome surprise for the former redhead.
"Lita! Look at you. You look great! How have you been? I love the hair.-" Were the flurry of words that Dawn Marie rushed out. There was just so much they had to catch up on, but the diva had been aware of what had happened to Lita at last weeks SmackDown and then at Raw, so she knew that Lita probably didn't have time to gossip.
"I'm fine, and you look great too Dawn." Lita smiled warmly and then turned to face the guys in the room.
"Hi," Kurt and Edge said in unison, the blond nodded his head, whilst Angle gave a little wave. Neither of them knew the diva very well, but from what they'd heard and on the rare occasions that they'd spoken to her, they'd both come to the conclusion that she was a nice, honest person.
"Hey you two, I thought you were fired? Well that's what Stephanie's told everyone." Dawn Marie rolled her eyes at the thought of her boss and Lita smirked. Kurt raised his eyebrows, interested in the new piece of information that Dawn Marie was sharing.
"Really?" He said, urging her to continue.
"Yeah, she said that you're both traitors and that you were never good enough to be on SmackDown and that if any of us saw you then we should attack you before you attack us, and that -um wait.that was where I fell asleep." Dawn Marie nodded tossing her long hair over her shoulder. Chris yawned as if to prove Dawn Marie's point and before Kurt could ask more questions, the blond jumped up from his spot on the table, extending his hand towards Dawn Marie and grinned maniacally. Lita had to stifle a laugh at his antics.
"Hello I'm Chris Jericho, I've seen you on TV and you might not believe this but we've never actually met. I know you might think we have but it's a possibility that you may have been dreaming at that moment- don't feel embarrassed I get that all the time. It's not easy being a wrestler, a rock star, a presenter, a fashion icon, the King of 'bling bling', *and* being this damn gorgeous! But I manage. Oh and by the way, you look shorter in person." The blond grinned at the glares he was receiving, then shrugged, "What?" he added.
Dawn Marie smirked. The blond Canadian sure was strange. "Um, okay. Definitely interesting to meet you, and I have seen you on TV too, Chris, but trust me, I have never and nor will I ever dream about you." She smiled sweetly, as Jericho shrugged and plopped himself on a chair. Christian jumped up, seeing this as his opportunity to introduce himself.
"Hi I'm Christian, I'm not as bone-headed as Jerky there. It's nice to meet you." He nodded, shaking the woman's hand.
"Nice to meet you Christian. You're Edge's brother right?" She asked, glancing to and from the Canadians as though she were trying to spot the similarities. She noticed that they'd both shifted uncomfortably at her words, and then raised a curious eyebrow when Lita had chosen that moment to change the subject.
"Dawn, you couldn't do us a favour could you?" Lita asked hopefully, and the SmackDown diva frowned slightly.
"What sort of favour? It won't get me fired will it?" Dawn Marie bit her lip in worry and looked pointedly over at Edge and Kurt.
"Nobody will find out." Lita assured her, but she still didn't look convinced, "Listen Dawn, there are a few things I'm going to tell you and you have to promise me that they won't be repeated to anyone."
Dawn Marie swallowed nervously. The last thing she wanted was to be caught up in the middle of a dangerous war. She looked at the guys in the room, then at Lita. She really should help them out. They were her friends, - well Lita was - and as far as she was concerned, Stephanie McMahon deserves every horrible thing that happens to her.
"Okay, I promise."
~
Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon stood facing each other in the middle of the ring, both obviously not thrilled at the situation, but they knew they had a job to do. They'd also both reluctantly signed an agreement, that in the last few days up until Judgement day, neither could harm each other, nor have their wrestlers attack either one of them. So Eric knew he was safe on SmackDown that evening.
"Shut up!" Bischoff yelled through a microphone at the booing crowd and nodded towards Stephanie.
"Thank you Eric." Stephanie said, and continued "Now I know everyone's surprised to see us both standing here in the middle of the ring, talking civilly, especially after what I did to Eric Bischoff on Raw last week." She smiled and Eric frowned at the memory, ".anyway, we have both signed an agreement not to harm each other."
"That's right." Eric nodded. Stephanie glared at him for interrupting her. SmackDown was, after all, her show.
"What we're here to do tonight is announce the matches for Judgement Day, live on SmackDown."
The crowd cheered at the mention of the Pay-Per-View and then died down, when Stephanie raised her hand to speak, but instead of doing so, she gestured towards Eric who threw her a rather surprised look.
"Um, well then I guess I'm going to announce the first match, which is going to be for the light-heavyweight title. It will be Rey Mysterio representing SmackDown and for Raw it will be-.Jeff Hardy." He smiled and the crowd erupted, Stephanie glared at him again. She didn't know that he was going to choose the rather unstable Hardy to take on Rey. SmackDown was so going to win that match.
"The second match is going to be for a title that you'd all thought you were never going to see again. An infamous title that a superstar never wants but always wishes he'd had it. The Hardcore Championship, and it will be a fatal four-way." The crowd loved what Stephanie had to say, and the General Manager loved the fact that the crowd wasn't booing her for a change. "Representing SmackDown, will be. Billy Gunn and Matt Hardy."
Eric raised his eyebrows. He'd never thought of Billy as hardcore material, Matt maybe but not Billy, but who cared, he had someone that was definitely a little extreme. "And representing Raw, will be the slightly crazy Tommy Dreamer, and the even more crazy Hurricane."
"The next match will be for the tag-team Championships" Stephanie grinned. She had full confidence in her team, "so both shows tag championships will be merged together. Therefore it will be Raw's champion's the Dudleys, taking on the 'worlds greatest tag-team' Charlie Haas and Benjamin Shelton." The grinned at the uncomfortable look on Eric's face at the mention of two of the men who attacked him on Raw. Shaking his head he proceeded to announce the next match.
"The Intercontinental Championship and US championship, will be merged. So it will be the US Champion Eddy Geurrero in the SmackDown corner, taking on the Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho." He wondered about that match, he really did. It would be worth a watch that was for sure, as both men were fond of a little thing known as 'cheating'. "Actually I propose this be a no-disqualification match."
Stephanie must have known what he was thinking, because instead of arguing she simply nodded. "Good idea Bischoff, I didn't know you had it in you to be smart."
"Shut up" Eric spat.
"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to announce the next match, which is going to be a good one. It's for the Woman's Championship. Which means it will be Lita." Eric frowned at the way she said his daughter's name, ".taking on me, Stephanie McMahon."
"What?!" Bischoff yelled, wondering what the hell she was playing at, "you can't do that!"
"Oh I can Eric, and I also have a special guest referee," She smirked at his outraged look, "My darling brother, Shane McMahon."
Eric shook his head and paced, "you know what? Have your damned match, because Lita is going to kick your ass! And she'd going to have me in her corner." He grinned and Stephanie scowled.
"Have it your way Eric, I'm still going to win."
Ignoring her last comment, Bischoff continued, "The World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship will be the last title to be merged together. So we will see Brock Lesner for SmackDown, taking on the greatest Champion of all time, Triple H."
Stephanie smiled, raising her hand to stop the cheering crowd once more. "Now for the main event. It will be a team of six superstars from SmackDown taking on a team of six Raw superstars. Whichever team wins, then their General Manager will be in control of not only their own show, but *both* shows." She paused to let the crowd cheer again, "Representing SmackDown will be Rhyno, Chris Benoit, Rikishi, A-Train, The Big Show and The Undertaker."
Eric scoffed. His team was much better. "Representing Raw, will be Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Kane and Goldberg." Stephanie nodded. She was expecting him to pick most of them. She would wait until the PPV to introduce the special guest referee for the match. Bischoff wouldn't know what hit him. "Okay Bischoff, well I guess there's only one thing left,"
"What's that?"
"As the Rock would say, and I quote: Just Bring It!"
~
"Hello there,"
He looked up at the sound of the sultry voice, his eyes hovering on her curvy form. "What can I do for you?" He smirked, sending shivers up her spine, as he looked her up and down, clearly enjoying the view. She took a deep breath.
"Big Show, I've seen you in the ring lately, and you impress me." She batted her eyelashes at him, and bit her lower lip in a seductive manner. He seemed to take the bait and grinned.
"Well I'm not just impressive in the ring you know. I have many other uh- .'skills'." He stood, moving closer to her. So close that she could feel his breath on her face. She was lucky she had a strong stomach.
"Well I figured a big man like yourself would maybe teach me a few 'moves'," she smirked running her fingers across his chest. He really was a big man, and he could effortlessly crush her in a thought, but he wouldn't, he was a man, and men like him were easy. "So what do you say? Big man."
"Uh-.defiantly. I mean, yes I would." He said without giving any thought to why the woman in front of him was suddenly so keen. Obviously he was an irresistible guy.
"Well come on then, we'll go to my locker room. Follow me." She winked and he obeyed, of course.
So that was one down, and two to go.
"Anything you say Dawn Marie. Anything you say."
~
"Just bring it? How cute." Bischoff stared at the brunette coldly and if looks could kill, then Stephanie would have been dancing with the devil right then.
"Oh shut up and get out of my ring, we're done talking. You know I wish yo- "
"Excuse me, Miss McMahon?" Came a voice, which grabbed both General Manager's attentions. It was Josh Matthews, on the titantron, and he looked slightly worried.
"What? What's going on?" Stephanie demanded, upset that the interviewer had dared to interrupt her.
"It's.um.you might want to see this." The camera focused on an object on the floor. A large object. A person. Stephanie's frown deepened when she realised that it was the Big Show. One of her team for Judgement Day, and he was unconscious on the floor. She threw a look at Eric who shrugged. He was just as puzzled as she was.
"Who did this Josh?" She wanted to know, growing angrier by the second. Someone had just narrowed down her chances at winning on Sunday and she wanted to know who would dare to pull a stunt like that. Someone with a death wish perhaps.
"I don't know, he was found like this. But I think there's something else you should see." Stephanie watched as the camera followed Josh down a corridor and into another locker-room. There was another unconscious wrestler and it was A-Train. Damn it. She was furious.
"I can't believe this! Bischoff tell me you had nothing to do with this?" She growled and Eric shook his head. He didn't know what was happening, but he had to admit, he sure was enjoying it.
"There better not be anybody else Josh," The young man gulped at her words and adjusted his glasses nervously.
"Um.well.Miss McMahon there are three more,"
"WHAT!?" She almost screamed, and Eric tried not to laugh. This was all too good to be true.
"In the next room, Rhyno's been knocked out completely, and on the other side of the arena The Undertaker and Benoit have been found unconscious in their locker-rooms." Josh swallowed, wishing he were one of the ones who were unconscious just then. Anything was better than being on the 'billion dollar' bitch's bad side. What was that saying? Don't shoot the messenger?
"Arrgh! Someone must have seen something?" The SmackDown General Manager shrieked. She couldn't believe that five members of her team were injured, and she'd only just announced them. Josh shook his head in answer to her question.
"There was only this." He said, holding up a piece of paper and a white Lilly. Both Stephanie and Eric frowned when he read the note. "It says; 'In 3 days, you will be judged'."
~
Edge stood in front of the TV monitor perplexed at what he'd just seen.
"Edge come on, we've got to get out of here now. Security are on the prowl, looking for-.well us!" Jericho told him, standing in the doorway to yet another unoccupied room. Lita was in front of him, waiting for Edge.
"It's just, we took down Big Show, A-Train and Rhyno tonight, with Dawn Marie's help of course." Edge frowned and looked over at the other two.
"Yeah so what Edge? We really have to go, the other's are waiting for us in the car." Lita pleaded with him, wishing he'd at least take a step towards the door. There'd be hell if they got caught.
"So who took out the other two? 'Taker and Benoit? And that note?" He shook his head, and jumped a little when someone tugged on his arm.
"Come on Edge, let's go." Chris dragged him from the room and out towards their car, which was a little over-occupied with Dawn Marie riding with them. Not that they minded. They'd rather her be safe with them then alone with Stephanie and her team of big raging monsters (AKA Big Show, A- Train and Rhyno). Dawn Marie was sure to be a target when they woke up.
Christian started the engine and they pulled away slowly. Lita glanced out of her window as the SmackDown building got further away, and then she saw him. He was standing in the parking lot with the APA, and as they shook his hand, she noticed they were wearing their working gloves. So that was how 'Taker and Benoit had been beaten unconscious. She should have known. He'd be the last person anyone would suspect to do such a thing, and that's what made it so riveting.
She watched him until he disappeared from sight and then turned back in her seat. She would see him again soon, in three day's time, then finally she and her husband would be reunited at last.
Lita sat crossed legged on the steel chair clutching her mobile phone in her right hand. Kurt, Edge, Jericho and Christian were all sitting around talking quietly, trying to keep the noise down. They'd been lucky so far. They'd managed to sneak into an unoccupied locker room on Smackdown, without anyone seeing them and had locked the door. Fortunately they did have a television monitor in the room and were able to keep track of what was happening in the ring.
So far, there had been a match between Rey Mysterio and Shannon Moore, with Matt Hardy at ringside. Lita had tried to watch the match, if only to cheer like crazy when Matt had attempted to interfere and had ended up getting the 619, but had been on the phone to Batista for the last 10 minutes.
"I told you Dave.just keep an eye on Flair.yeah and thanks for telling me.bye" She hung up the phone and the guys gave her an expectant look.
"Well? Everything okay?" Edge asked and Lita nodded slowly.
"Yeah, but apparently my loving father is going to be here tonight." She placed her head in her hands in an exasperated manner, and peeked out between her fingers, just in time to see Christian pointing frantically at the TV set.
"Speaking of the devil." The blond said, and Lita moved so that she could see the screen better.
It was Bischoff. The camera followed him down the hall until he reached a door labelled General Manager. He knocked and then entered, leaving the camera facing a closed door.
"Oh great, things can't possibly get any worse than this," Lita sighed, then suddenly regretted saying those infamous words as they heard a small knock on the door. Great.
"Who the hell could that be?" Kurt whispered and Edge raised his hand to shush him.
"I know someone's in there, I heard voices!" An annoyed woman's voice called through the wood, and she knocked again trying to open the door, "hello? Is this some kind of a joke, my things are in there."
Sure enough, what the group hadn't noticed before was that there was indeed a bag at the far side of the room. It was open and completely full of clothes and a small purse was visible, peeking out from underneath some blue denim. Giving no thought to the privacy of the woman outside, Chris made a grab for the purse, opening it to look for any form of identification.
"Whose is it?" Christian asked in as low a tone as he could muster. Jericho threw the group a look and held up a driver's licence.
"Behind door number one, stands a Miss Dawn Marie." He rolled his eyes as the door rattled again.
"Damn, how are we going to get rid of her? She's bound to call someone to open the door, then our cover will be blown." Edge frowned, but the Women's Champion shook her head and smiled.
"We don't get rid of her. We let her in." Lita said simply and before anyone could protest, she rushed towards the door, opening it quickly and pulling one very confused diva inside.
Dawn Marie froze on the spot. The first thing she saw inside the locker room door was Christian, Edge, then Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, and.
"Lita!" The brunette gasped half with relief and half with joy. She hadn't seen the other woman for at least 5 or 6 years, back when they were both in ECW. Sure they had both been in the WWE, before Lita had been injured, but they had both been on different shows and they'd never had time to meet up.
"Hey Dawn," Lita pulled the smaller diva in for a hug, and smiled when it was gladly returned. She had always liked Dawn Marie. She had become fast friends with the slightly older diva back in ECW and they had always looked out for each other when things had been tough. But unfortunately they hadn't kept in contact when Lita had left the company, so seeing Dawn Marie right then was a welcome surprise for the former redhead.
"Lita! Look at you. You look great! How have you been? I love the hair.-" Were the flurry of words that Dawn Marie rushed out. There was just so much they had to catch up on, but the diva had been aware of what had happened to Lita at last weeks SmackDown and then at Raw, so she knew that Lita probably didn't have time to gossip.
"I'm fine, and you look great too Dawn." Lita smiled warmly and then turned to face the guys in the room.
"Hi," Kurt and Edge said in unison, the blond nodded his head, whilst Angle gave a little wave. Neither of them knew the diva very well, but from what they'd heard and on the rare occasions that they'd spoken to her, they'd both come to the conclusion that she was a nice, honest person.
"Hey you two, I thought you were fired? Well that's what Stephanie's told everyone." Dawn Marie rolled her eyes at the thought of her boss and Lita smirked. Kurt raised his eyebrows, interested in the new piece of information that Dawn Marie was sharing.
"Really?" He said, urging her to continue.
"Yeah, she said that you're both traitors and that you were never good enough to be on SmackDown and that if any of us saw you then we should attack you before you attack us, and that -um wait.that was where I fell asleep." Dawn Marie nodded tossing her long hair over her shoulder. Chris yawned as if to prove Dawn Marie's point and before Kurt could ask more questions, the blond jumped up from his spot on the table, extending his hand towards Dawn Marie and grinned maniacally. Lita had to stifle a laugh at his antics.
"Hello I'm Chris Jericho, I've seen you on TV and you might not believe this but we've never actually met. I know you might think we have but it's a possibility that you may have been dreaming at that moment- don't feel embarrassed I get that all the time. It's not easy being a wrestler, a rock star, a presenter, a fashion icon, the King of 'bling bling', *and* being this damn gorgeous! But I manage. Oh and by the way, you look shorter in person." The blond grinned at the glares he was receiving, then shrugged, "What?" he added.
Dawn Marie smirked. The blond Canadian sure was strange. "Um, okay. Definitely interesting to meet you, and I have seen you on TV too, Chris, but trust me, I have never and nor will I ever dream about you." She smiled sweetly, as Jericho shrugged and plopped himself on a chair. Christian jumped up, seeing this as his opportunity to introduce himself.
"Hi I'm Christian, I'm not as bone-headed as Jerky there. It's nice to meet you." He nodded, shaking the woman's hand.
"Nice to meet you Christian. You're Edge's brother right?" She asked, glancing to and from the Canadians as though she were trying to spot the similarities. She noticed that they'd both shifted uncomfortably at her words, and then raised a curious eyebrow when Lita had chosen that moment to change the subject.
"Dawn, you couldn't do us a favour could you?" Lita asked hopefully, and the SmackDown diva frowned slightly.
"What sort of favour? It won't get me fired will it?" Dawn Marie bit her lip in worry and looked pointedly over at Edge and Kurt.
"Nobody will find out." Lita assured her, but she still didn't look convinced, "Listen Dawn, there are a few things I'm going to tell you and you have to promise me that they won't be repeated to anyone."
Dawn Marie swallowed nervously. The last thing she wanted was to be caught up in the middle of a dangerous war. She looked at the guys in the room, then at Lita. She really should help them out. They were her friends, - well Lita was - and as far as she was concerned, Stephanie McMahon deserves every horrible thing that happens to her.
"Okay, I promise."
~
Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon stood facing each other in the middle of the ring, both obviously not thrilled at the situation, but they knew they had a job to do. They'd also both reluctantly signed an agreement, that in the last few days up until Judgement day, neither could harm each other, nor have their wrestlers attack either one of them. So Eric knew he was safe on SmackDown that evening.
"Shut up!" Bischoff yelled through a microphone at the booing crowd and nodded towards Stephanie.
"Thank you Eric." Stephanie said, and continued "Now I know everyone's surprised to see us both standing here in the middle of the ring, talking civilly, especially after what I did to Eric Bischoff on Raw last week." She smiled and Eric frowned at the memory, ".anyway, we have both signed an agreement not to harm each other."
"That's right." Eric nodded. Stephanie glared at him for interrupting her. SmackDown was, after all, her show.
"What we're here to do tonight is announce the matches for Judgement Day, live on SmackDown."
The crowd cheered at the mention of the Pay-Per-View and then died down, when Stephanie raised her hand to speak, but instead of doing so, she gestured towards Eric who threw her a rather surprised look.
"Um, well then I guess I'm going to announce the first match, which is going to be for the light-heavyweight title. It will be Rey Mysterio representing SmackDown and for Raw it will be-.Jeff Hardy." He smiled and the crowd erupted, Stephanie glared at him again. She didn't know that he was going to choose the rather unstable Hardy to take on Rey. SmackDown was so going to win that match.
"The second match is going to be for a title that you'd all thought you were never going to see again. An infamous title that a superstar never wants but always wishes he'd had it. The Hardcore Championship, and it will be a fatal four-way." The crowd loved what Stephanie had to say, and the General Manager loved the fact that the crowd wasn't booing her for a change. "Representing SmackDown, will be. Billy Gunn and Matt Hardy."
Eric raised his eyebrows. He'd never thought of Billy as hardcore material, Matt maybe but not Billy, but who cared, he had someone that was definitely a little extreme. "And representing Raw, will be the slightly crazy Tommy Dreamer, and the even more crazy Hurricane."
"The next match will be for the tag-team Championships" Stephanie grinned. She had full confidence in her team, "so both shows tag championships will be merged together. Therefore it will be Raw's champion's the Dudleys, taking on the 'worlds greatest tag-team' Charlie Haas and Benjamin Shelton." The grinned at the uncomfortable look on Eric's face at the mention of two of the men who attacked him on Raw. Shaking his head he proceeded to announce the next match.
"The Intercontinental Championship and US championship, will be merged. So it will be the US Champion Eddy Geurrero in the SmackDown corner, taking on the Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho." He wondered about that match, he really did. It would be worth a watch that was for sure, as both men were fond of a little thing known as 'cheating'. "Actually I propose this be a no-disqualification match."
Stephanie must have known what he was thinking, because instead of arguing she simply nodded. "Good idea Bischoff, I didn't know you had it in you to be smart."
"Shut up" Eric spat.
"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to announce the next match, which is going to be a good one. It's for the Woman's Championship. Which means it will be Lita." Eric frowned at the way she said his daughter's name, ".taking on me, Stephanie McMahon."
"What?!" Bischoff yelled, wondering what the hell she was playing at, "you can't do that!"
"Oh I can Eric, and I also have a special guest referee," She smirked at his outraged look, "My darling brother, Shane McMahon."
Eric shook his head and paced, "you know what? Have your damned match, because Lita is going to kick your ass! And she'd going to have me in her corner." He grinned and Stephanie scowled.
"Have it your way Eric, I'm still going to win."
Ignoring her last comment, Bischoff continued, "The World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship will be the last title to be merged together. So we will see Brock Lesner for SmackDown, taking on the greatest Champion of all time, Triple H."
Stephanie smiled, raising her hand to stop the cheering crowd once more. "Now for the main event. It will be a team of six superstars from SmackDown taking on a team of six Raw superstars. Whichever team wins, then their General Manager will be in control of not only their own show, but *both* shows." She paused to let the crowd cheer again, "Representing SmackDown will be Rhyno, Chris Benoit, Rikishi, A-Train, The Big Show and The Undertaker."
Eric scoffed. His team was much better. "Representing Raw, will be Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Kane and Goldberg." Stephanie nodded. She was expecting him to pick most of them. She would wait until the PPV to introduce the special guest referee for the match. Bischoff wouldn't know what hit him. "Okay Bischoff, well I guess there's only one thing left,"
"What's that?"
"As the Rock would say, and I quote: Just Bring It!"
~
"Hello there,"
He looked up at the sound of the sultry voice, his eyes hovering on her curvy form. "What can I do for you?" He smirked, sending shivers up her spine, as he looked her up and down, clearly enjoying the view. She took a deep breath.
"Big Show, I've seen you in the ring lately, and you impress me." She batted her eyelashes at him, and bit her lower lip in a seductive manner. He seemed to take the bait and grinned.
"Well I'm not just impressive in the ring you know. I have many other uh- .'skills'." He stood, moving closer to her. So close that she could feel his breath on her face. She was lucky she had a strong stomach.
"Well I figured a big man like yourself would maybe teach me a few 'moves'," she smirked running her fingers across his chest. He really was a big man, and he could effortlessly crush her in a thought, but he wouldn't, he was a man, and men like him were easy. "So what do you say? Big man."
"Uh-.defiantly. I mean, yes I would." He said without giving any thought to why the woman in front of him was suddenly so keen. Obviously he was an irresistible guy.
"Well come on then, we'll go to my locker room. Follow me." She winked and he obeyed, of course.
So that was one down, and two to go.
"Anything you say Dawn Marie. Anything you say."
~
"Just bring it? How cute." Bischoff stared at the brunette coldly and if looks could kill, then Stephanie would have been dancing with the devil right then.
"Oh shut up and get out of my ring, we're done talking. You know I wish yo- "
"Excuse me, Miss McMahon?" Came a voice, which grabbed both General Manager's attentions. It was Josh Matthews, on the titantron, and he looked slightly worried.
"What? What's going on?" Stephanie demanded, upset that the interviewer had dared to interrupt her.
"It's.um.you might want to see this." The camera focused on an object on the floor. A large object. A person. Stephanie's frown deepened when she realised that it was the Big Show. One of her team for Judgement Day, and he was unconscious on the floor. She threw a look at Eric who shrugged. He was just as puzzled as she was.
"Who did this Josh?" She wanted to know, growing angrier by the second. Someone had just narrowed down her chances at winning on Sunday and she wanted to know who would dare to pull a stunt like that. Someone with a death wish perhaps.
"I don't know, he was found like this. But I think there's something else you should see." Stephanie watched as the camera followed Josh down a corridor and into another locker-room. There was another unconscious wrestler and it was A-Train. Damn it. She was furious.
"I can't believe this! Bischoff tell me you had nothing to do with this?" She growled and Eric shook his head. He didn't know what was happening, but he had to admit, he sure was enjoying it.
"There better not be anybody else Josh," The young man gulped at her words and adjusted his glasses nervously.
"Um.well.Miss McMahon there are three more,"
"WHAT!?" She almost screamed, and Eric tried not to laugh. This was all too good to be true.
"In the next room, Rhyno's been knocked out completely, and on the other side of the arena The Undertaker and Benoit have been found unconscious in their locker-rooms." Josh swallowed, wishing he were one of the ones who were unconscious just then. Anything was better than being on the 'billion dollar' bitch's bad side. What was that saying? Don't shoot the messenger?
"Arrgh! Someone must have seen something?" The SmackDown General Manager shrieked. She couldn't believe that five members of her team were injured, and she'd only just announced them. Josh shook his head in answer to her question.
"There was only this." He said, holding up a piece of paper and a white Lilly. Both Stephanie and Eric frowned when he read the note. "It says; 'In 3 days, you will be judged'."
~
Edge stood in front of the TV monitor perplexed at what he'd just seen.
"Edge come on, we've got to get out of here now. Security are on the prowl, looking for-.well us!" Jericho told him, standing in the doorway to yet another unoccupied room. Lita was in front of him, waiting for Edge.
"It's just, we took down Big Show, A-Train and Rhyno tonight, with Dawn Marie's help of course." Edge frowned and looked over at the other two.
"Yeah so what Edge? We really have to go, the other's are waiting for us in the car." Lita pleaded with him, wishing he'd at least take a step towards the door. There'd be hell if they got caught.
"So who took out the other two? 'Taker and Benoit? And that note?" He shook his head, and jumped a little when someone tugged on his arm.
"Come on Edge, let's go." Chris dragged him from the room and out towards their car, which was a little over-occupied with Dawn Marie riding with them. Not that they minded. They'd rather her be safe with them then alone with Stephanie and her team of big raging monsters (AKA Big Show, A- Train and Rhyno). Dawn Marie was sure to be a target when they woke up.
Christian started the engine and they pulled away slowly. Lita glanced out of her window as the SmackDown building got further away, and then she saw him. He was standing in the parking lot with the APA, and as they shook his hand, she noticed they were wearing their working gloves. So that was how 'Taker and Benoit had been beaten unconscious. She should have known. He'd be the last person anyone would suspect to do such a thing, and that's what made it so riveting.
She watched him until he disappeared from sight and then turned back in her seat. She would see him again soon, in three day's time, then finally she and her husband would be reunited at last.