Part Fifteen
Shane Helms tore down the hall at a dead run for Bischoff's office, intent on busting in and rescuing Lita from whatever was going on in
the room. He didn't know anything except that Lita had used the phrase "live for the moment", the agreed upon code for assistance.
He skidded to a halt in front of the door and reached out to open it. A strong hand reached out and pulled him back just as he
twisted the knob.
"Just where you think you're going, freak?" The hand belonged to a very pissed-off looking Sean Morley.
"I… I… I need to see Bischoff….. like now. It's an emergency," Shane answered, shrugging the other man's hand off his own.
"No one sees the boss unless he has summoned you," Morley snarled, stepping in to block the doorway.
"This ain't the freaking Wizard of Oz, man. I'm not here to see the wizard, so get out of my way."
Morley crossed his arms across his chest in defiance. "I said no. He's busy' with a lady if you catch my drift."
That was enough for Shane. The lady he was busy with was Lita and she needed him. "Out of my way, now" he said, seething.
"Try and make me, little green man."
Shane chuckled, then turned as if to leave. Suddenly, he swung back around, catching Morley off guard as he swung at him, hitting him
squarely in the jaw and knocking him to the floor.
"Lita!", he cried, running into the room. He didn't see her. "Li!" he cried again. He looked around frantically for his friend, but
found the room empty. Running towards the back area, he searched the locker area and private showers, again to no avail. Looking
around again, the slightly opened back door caught his eye. "Dammit!" he cursed as he ran his fingers through his hair. The front door violently swinging open and banging against the wall once again drew his attention back towards the front part of the office as the frantic Hardys raced into the room.
"Shane, man, where is she?" an out of breath Jeff Hardy asked, bending over to catch his breath. His brother stood two steps behind him, his face full of concern.
"She's gone. They left out the back door here," he said, pointing to Bischoff's escape route.
"What?" an exasperated Matt asked.
"Bischoff must be with her, guys, or she'd still be here waiting for us if he'd bolted on his own."
"Let's go ge…." Matt started to say, already moving towards the back door. But he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as he was
suddenly attacked from behind, being thrown head first into the lamp and end table in the corner of the room.
"That'll teach ya, you stupid punks!" shouted the attacker.
A very angry Sean Morley stood in the middle of the room. And he had brought back up with him, in the form of Rosie and Jamal.
Without thinking, Jeff launched himself at Morley, the two trading punches and rolling around on the floor. Shane and Rosie were going
at it, with Shane getting the worst of it as Jamal helped his brother pound on the much smaller man. Soon enough, Matt was at himself again and jumped into the melee, pulling Jamal away from Shane and leaping onto the huge man's back. He punched him in the head until Jamal grabbed him from behind, flipping him over his head and powerbombing him to the concrete floor.
The fight continued amongst the six men. Edge then came running into the room, Stephanie right on his heels. Along the way, he'd
hollered at Shannon and Rey to come with him. Realizing something serious must be happening, the two had joined Edge without asking
questions, following him and Stephanie to Bischoff's office. The three Smackdown members joined the fight, outnumbering Bischoff's
goons. Stephanie backed out of the way, knowing she couldn't help without getting hurt. She ran from the room to get Security to stop
the chaos.
"Where's Lita?" Edge shouted at Jeff, as both men were fighting off Rosie.
"Bischoff," was all Jeff managed to get out as a strong kick knocked him on his backside.
Using the distraction to his advantage, Edge momentarily gained the upper hand on the larger man and speared Rosie to the floor. Getting to his knees, he turned to the fallen Jeff Hardy, who was half-sitting painfully on the floor recovering from the last blow. "Go get her, we got this covered here!" he shouted. Jeff nodded and rose up off the floor, picking Matt up from the ground. Both Hardys raced out the back door and ran into the back corridor, into the maze of hallways to rescue their friend.
But where was Lita?
TBC……