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Back in his and Christian's locker room, Edge changed back into his regular clothing and settled back to watch the beginning of the pay-per-view.
He was alone in the room at the moment, as Christian had gone to see Stephanie. That suited him just fine, because he intended to keep his eyes on Lita during her match, which was slated as the second bout of the night.
When the tag team turmoil involving the Dudley Boyz came to an end, the Women's champion was announced, and the blond man grinned as he watched his new girlfriend run out to the ring. He was definitely looking forward to seeing Lita put that trashy Trish Stratus in her place.
However, after a moment, he sat forward on the couch, watching in disbelief as the cameras cut to the back. Bradshaw had apparently been blindsided by T&A, the man laying on the floor and pinned in place by a steel cabinet. Faarooq ran over to try to avenge his partner and beat up the two big men, but they outnumbered him and ended up getting the better of him as well.
"Oh, no!" Edge raised a hand to his head as Test and Albert hurled a heavy metal box onto the fallen Faarooq's knee.
As the cameras cut back to the ring, Lita, who looked very concerned for the men who were supposed to be her tag partners for the night, slipped out of the ring.
"Li, what are you doing?" the blond man asked her image on the screen, a cold knot of fear forming in his belly.
The redhead made it as far as the entryway, and T&A suddenly arrived to their music, causing the woman to back away a bit. Then, suddenly, Trish snuck up from behind, striking the other diva in the back and knocking her down.
Edge was positively livid as he witnessed the blonde kicking Lita all the way back to the ring, where she proceeded to execute a bulldog. After that, the huge Albert put his filthy hands on the redhead.
The tall blond man practically jumped to his feet, frantic with worry. He wanted to go out there and lend the Women's champion a hand, but... Damn it, he thought. Well, at least Test was man enough not to do anything to her...
But then Edge suddenly realized how wrong he was in that assessment, as Albert lifted Lita in his arms. Test climbed up the turnbuckles, obviously intending to deliver a big elbow to Lita - when, all of a sudden...
The crowd went wild as the Hardy Boyz, still dressed in their street clothes, showed up to save their friend.
Edge ran his hand through his hair and kept it there, relief sweeping through him. He'd been so terrified of what T&A and Trish the Witch might have done had the two North Carolinians not shown up when they had...
"Hey, are you ready?"
Edge looked up and saw Christian standing in the doorway. "Our interview with Lillian is up next."
"Yeah...yeah, I'm ready." The tall blond stood up and followed his tag team partner out of the locker room.
"Did you see what just happened out there?" Christian asked, a big smile on his face.
"Yeah, I saw it," Edge muttered. He wasn't looking forward to the next words he knew the other man was about to say.
"That so totally reeked of awesomeness!" Christian exclaimed. The grin still present on his face, he raised his hand for a high-five.
The taller man held back the sigh he felt coming. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was to high-five his friend for Lita having been attacked so viciously. However, for appearance's sake, he forced a grin on his face, trying not to let it falter as he slapped his partner's hand.
*
"Lita! Lita, are you all right?" Matt asked the redhead frantically as they made their way down the hallway to go back to the Hardys' locker room.
"Yeah...I think so," the young woman replied. She had one arm around Jeff as he supported her, the other up as she held a hand to her throat. When Albert had slingshot her into the middle rope, it had hurt, and it still did.
"Those guys are gonna pay for what they did to you!" the darker Hardy Boy shouted, and the redhead knew he was making a promise, not a threat. "This isn't the first time they've attacked you like that..."
"Fine - you guys go after Test and Albert, and I'll take care of that little bimbo Trish," Lita said. And then, she suddenly caught sight of the two blond men a bit further down the hall, and her gaze was fixed on the taller of the two.
"Oh, look at this," Jeff muttered. "Can you believe those guys? They're claiming 'food poisoning' tonight."
"Yeah? Well, seems to me like they're trying to pull a similar stunt as they did a couple of months back at Fully Loaded," the elder Hardy said. "I don't think Commissioner Foley's gonna buy into it this time, though."
Lita bit her lip as she listened to the conversation between the two brothers but didn't say a word to contribute.
"Jeff - When we get the Conquistadors tonight, let's go for their masks before the bell even rings," Matt said. "Something tells me those two might just be a couple of Canadians claiming they're sick with food poisoning."
The younger man nodded. "Sure thing, man...Those two are going down."
The redhead glanced from Matt to Jeff, a feeling of worry coursing through her. She hoped neither of them would wonder why she wasn't putting in her two cents on this subject.