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"You're behind all of this?"
The question had come from none other than Chris Jericho as the blond man stared at the Olympian with shock.
Kurt Angle rose from his seat in the locker room, relieved that the door was closed.
"Now, Jericho..." he began, then shifted his gaze to the other two WWF superstars, "Edge, Lita... I'm going to ask you this only once - please, don't blow my cover. No one but you three knows I'm in on this with Vicki."
"Don't worry, Kurt," the raven-haired diva said confidently as she looked at each of the others in turn, her gaze lingering the longest on Jericho, "they're not going to spill the beans. I... I think we can trust them."
Y2J licked his lips as he eyed Victoria, then reluctantly shifted his gaze back to Angle.
"So, let me get this straight, Junior... You're a spy for the WWF - only playing the Alliance..." It was a statement and not a question.
"Exactly," Kurt replied with a nod.
Jericho let out a chuckle as he quickly exchanged glances with Lita and Edge.
"That's great. Yet another guy screwing with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley." Another chuckle. "Only this time, it's not literally."
Victoria couldn't hold back the smirk. Evidently, Chris Jericho despised the bitchy ECW owner as much as she did. She found herself feeling more than glad for that.
"Okay, so... Victoria is really on our side, as are you," Lita said, her expression still looking somewhat puzzled. "The only thing I don't understand is why we weren't all in on it from the get-go."
"Well," Kurt began, "we preferred the element of surprise against these Alliance bastards. And if any member of Team WWF - especially one of you divas - had known, it wouldn't have played out as well as it had.
Edge nodded.
"That makes sense." He turned his green eyes toward the Olympic Gold Medalist. "There's just one problem, Kurt..."
"What's that?"
The tall blond man took a small step forward, closer to Angle and putting himself between the other man and Lita.
"I'm just not a hundred percent sure I can trust you... You've been my friend before, but you'd turn your back on a friend in a heartbeat."
The Olympian put up both hands in a placating manner.
"Edge, I assure you-"
"I can promise you that Kurt is one-hundred percent trustworthy to the WWF," Victoria spoke up on her longtime friend's behalf.
The redheaded diva squinted at the two. There was something none of them had asked yet, nor had the other woman or Angle revealed it.
"How do you two know each other, anyway?"
"We go back a long way," Kurt answered, looking fondly at the muscular diva.
"That's right," Victoria nodded, and, as she began to explain, Jericho moved slightly closer, peering at her with great interest. "You see, I'm originally from Pittsburgh. It's where I grew up. Kurt and I were neighbors. We became friends and went to school together."
"Although I was two years ahead of her," Angle said tentatively.
"Yeah, well, you're also two years older than me, wiseass..."
Jericho smiled at the banter between the two.
"We were even an item at one point in high school," the Olympian added.
"You were?" Chris asked, wondering why his heart had suddenly sunk.
"Yeah, we were," Victoria agreed. "But most of all, we've been friends forever. That's how I
know you guys can trust him..."