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Edge stormed down the hallway, still furious as he suddenly came to the locker room of T&A. Stopping in front of their door, he knocked three times, waiting for a response.
"Hey, man," Test said as he opened the door and looked out at him.
"Hey, Test...Is it all right if I crash here for awhile?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Edge stepped into the room, and Albert and Trish, who'd been in the middle of a conversation, apparently discussing match strategy, looked up. He waved, and they both said hello to him.
"Man, you guys really got your asses kicked out there," the big, pierced man said.
"No kidding," the blond man said bitterly. "Stupid Austin..."
"Hey, is it true that you and Christian are the Conquistadors?" Albert questioned.
Edge looked up sharply at the other man, his gut clenching at the words. He wondered how in hell the large man had gotten to suspect that.
"What?"
"Well, right before you guys went out to the ring, Michael Cole said something about you looking like you'd wrestled a match earlier - like you'd been a little hot under the collar or something."
"Oh." The Canadian attempted not to breathe the sigh of relief he felt coming. He glanced from Albert to Trish and Test, who were all staring at him speculatively, as if expecting him to reveal some big, deep, dark secret. "Just because that little reekazoid dork thinks we're the Conquistadors doesn't mean we are."
Test arched an eyebrow, and Trish Stratus spoke.
"Well, that's not important, anyway...but what is important is that I have a match against that bitch Lita in a few minutes."
Edge shifted his green eyes to the petite blonde woman, doing his best not to give her a dirty look. He'd never much liked Trish, and he liked her even less right now. In truth, he sincerely hoped the redhead would give her a beating she'd never forget.
Albert and Test both laughed a little, exchanging what looked to the other man to be conspiratorial glances. He wondered what was up, instinctively knowing they must have something planned for the Women's champion. He swallowed hard as he wondered what that must be.
"Remember what I told you, Trish," Albert said, gesturing with one hand as he regarded the young woman.
"Gotcha," she said with a devious little wink.
Edge arched an eyebrow as his curiosity nearly got the better of him to such an extent that he almost asked what they were talking about. However, he caught himself just as he opened his mouth to speak.
Trish crossed over to the other side of the room to the lockers, bending over and coming up with a large book. As she came back over in Edge's view, the tall blond man saw that it was in fact a dictionary she was holding.
"Well, I'd better get ready to go out there," she quipped, a small half-smile on her face as she glanced from one of her men to the other.
"What are you going to do with that?" the former tag team champion asked.
"Oh, this?" She chuckled. "Well, you'll just have to watch and see." The blonde gave him a little wink, then headed for the door.
Test and Albert exchanged glances as the woman stepped out into the hall, shutting the locker room door behind her. Edge studied the both of them suspiciously, again wondering what was going on.
In another moment or so, the cameras cut to the hallway, where Lita was walking on her way to the arena and the ring. The blond man gazed at her as she walked confidently, and then the picture shifted to Trish, also walking down the hall, the dictionary in one hand, a microphone in the other.
After a brief commercial break, the T&A music blared throughout the arena and Trish made her way to the ring. When her music was cut, the little blonde opened the dictionary and looked down at the page displayed.
Edge wondered what in hell the annoying diva was up to, smirking as he thought about how he hadn't even realized she knew how to read. Jerry Lawler made a similar comment as the woman began to speak into the microphone.
Test stood up from his seat several feet away, gesturing to his tag team partner. "Come on," he said. "We'd better start heading out there."
The bald-headed man stood up, and Edge glanced from one of them to the other curiously. "Where are you two going?"
"We've got some business to attend to," the other blond Canadian man said. He wouldn't elude to whatever this "business" was. The two large men walked over to the door of their locker room, stepping outside and leaving the other man sitting there with confusion.
Edge returned his attention to the TV monitor. Trish was currently berating Lita by describing the "definition" of her name while staring down into the open dictionary: "One who shows disgusting tattoos on her body..."
The tall blond man raised an eyebrow, feeling a smirk coming. Although he never really liked her, he'd always found the redhead's tattoos - after last night, he now realized there were multiple ones rather than just the most obvious one on her right upper arm - to be pretty cool.
"...one who wears her pants way too low...and most importantly, Lita - low-class bimbo."
"Give me a break..." Edge muttered in disgust. He thought Trish had a hell of a lot of nerve calling the Women's champion a bimbo, when that word seemed to fit her to a T. "Hey, Trish!" he shouted at the petite blonde's visage on the TV screen. "You're the pot calling the kettle black!"
And then, Lita was announced. The redheaded diva rushed to the ring with her title belt in her left hand, and Edge thought she looked super hot in her black midriff tank top and low-slung olive green cargo pants. She quickly rid herself of the Women's title belt as she ran into the challenger with a spear. The blond man found himself highly into the bout as the fiery woman punched the nasty blonde repeatedly.
"Yeah!" He raised his right arm and punched the air.
After a moment or so, Lita had executed a side-suplex on the other diva, then prepared for her moonsault to finish her off as she climbed up to the top turnbuckle...
All of a sudden, Test and Albert were at the ring, and Edge felt fury burning within him as Albert shoved her off the top rope. Meanwhile, Test distracted the referee on the other side of the ring, and when his attention was back where it should be, the blonde went for the cover, getting only a two-count.
Before too long, Albert had had enough. The big bald, tattooed, pierced man stepped into the ring, and the redhead instantly saw him, cowering in the corner. Edge's hands clenched into fists as he watched, and he wanted in the worst way to go out there and do something to stop whatever was about to happen...
Test soon joined his partner into the ring as the Women's champion made a quick dive out of the way of a splash in the corner by Albert, who instead hit his head into the steel ring post. But Test grabbed the diva from behind, holding her steady so that Trish could strike.
Edge held his breath but then felt proud as the redhead swung her leg back and kicked the big Canadian where it would hurt him most, and she blocked a would-be slap from Trish, knocking the other woman down. And then, as Test straightened up again, Lita climbed up to the top turnbuckle and leapt to attempt a hurricanrana...
But the tall blond caught her in a huge powerbomb, dropping the young woman right on the back of her head.
He felt angrier than ever as Test grabbed the redhead by one arm, Albert holding her by the other, and Trish began to slap her across the face. He'd known they'd had something planned for Lita, and he could have done something about it - maybe even stopped it, but he hadn't.
Edge bolted up from his seat as he was burning mad, and then he felt a vast measure of relief as the APA, Faarooq and Bradshaw suddenly ran out to the redhead's aid.
"Oh, man!" he cried, one hand tearing at his long blond hair. He'd actually been terrified of what T&A might have done to Lita. What was the matter with him? Since when did he care?
And then, it suddenly hit him - he did care. After the previous night, after getting to know her so much better and seeing the real Lita, he cared a whole lot...