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Lita and Trish looked up as Gail Kim stood over them, hands on her hips as she repeated herself.
"Didn't you two just hear me? I said, Eric Bischoff wants to see you in his office - now."
The two other divas exchanged glances, with the redhead rolling her eyes. Trish, who was definitely by no means intimidated by the other Canadian, stood up to her full height to face her.
"Yeah, we heard you, Gail. We're just not going to jump just because you told us to," she snapped. Although the dark-haired Asian diva had been pretty nice to her upon entering the WWE several months earlier, she'd gotten to be quite the bitch after spending so much time with Molly Holly. And after all the months Gail had spent in contributing to making her miserable, Trish was not about to even acknowledge her in a civil way.
"Fine. Whatever!" the former Women's Champion snapped back. "What do I care if you two get in trouble with the GM?" She scoffed and then turned away from them to do her own thing.
Trish stared at the obnoxious woman for a beat before turning back to her friend. Sighing lightly, she gestured toward the door.
"Come on, we might as well get this over with," she said. "Besides, I don't like the atmosphere in here now." She noticed Gail shooting her a disgusted look as she and Lita departed through the locker room door.
"What could Bischoff possibly want?" the redhead asked as they began making their way to the General Manager's office.
Trish shrugged and said, "Beats the hell out of me... But we'll definitely find out soon enough."
They reached the right room, complete with an engraved plaque of the GM's name tacked up on the door. Exchanging glances with the little blonde, Lita nodded and knocked.
"Come on in!" they heard the man's voice call from within.
Bischoff smiled at the sight of them, two of the top divas RAW had to offer. He rose from his desk and gestured to the chairs set in the room.
"Ladies, so good of you to come at such short notice. Sit - please site!" the man insisted.
They exchanged glances again with each wondering why Bischoff was being so nice to them. It hadn't been too long ago, after all, that he had fired Lita for having lost a mixed tag match against himself and Molly Holly.
Trish sat in the chair further into the room while the redhead took the other. They glanced at him in anticipation, neither speaking a word. Well, that was fine, because once he revealed his little surprise, they would both have plenty to say.
"I understand you two have had your problems with Y2J and Christian." He smiled even more as the women's expressions changed somewhat. He was going to thoroughly enjoy this. To his surprise, Lita did the honors and spoke.
"Yes, we have - we definitely have." She eyed the General Manager with a measure of suspicion. She knew the man too well and wondered what he was getting at with the comment.
"Well, ladies," Bischoff continued, his gaze going from Lita to Trish, "good news! At Armageddon, you're going to have the opportunity to prove to the two of them, yourselves and the entire world, that you're better than them!"
Trish's brow furrowed at his words, and she looked over to her redheaded friend. What was Eric saying? More importantly, she hoped he wasn't saying what she though.
Lita stared at the man, seething. She made no attempt to mask her feelings, eihter, as she was sure she knew just where he was going with his little announcement.
"Congratulations, Lita... Trish," Bischoff practically sang. "You two are going to be making history. Because you see... you two are going to be competing in the first ever Battle of the Sexes tag team match!" He rubbed his hands together, relishing in his brilliant idea.
The blonde's eyes widened in fear while the redhead's narrowed in anger. Trish shook her head, her voice quivering slightly as she spoke.
"Eric, y-you can't be serious! You're putting us in the ring with two men?!"
Bischoff nodded with much enthusiasm. He enjoyed seeing Trish Stratus squirm. The pretty blonde Canadian had always been so strong and tough, sure of herself... Yet, in the last couple of months, she'd become quite the opposite - timid, weak, meek. He'd loved every second of that and was grateful toward Jericho and Christian for taking her down an octave or so.
"You planned this with them, didn't you?"
The General Manager's attention shifted to the high flying redhead. Lita had her head cocked to one side, her face reflecting disgust. Her arms were crossed lightly over her chest as she eyed him.
Eric grinned. He couldn't help it.
"The boys came to me begging for revenge after the little stunt you pulled earlier. And I was more than happy to give them exactly what they wanted." Okay, so he might have exaggerated a bit about Chris Jericho, who hadn't seemed enthusiastic... But he didn't care to tell them that.
As Trish appeared terrified, her face now white as a ghost, Lita continued to stare daggers into him. He had nothing more to say. The redhead sensed as much.
"Come on, Trish. We're out of here." The taller woman rose and tapped her friend's shoulder.
The little blonde got up and followed, staring at the GM in horror from over her shoulder until they departed the room.