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The four members of the newly-formed faction The Clique left Eric Bischoff's office thoroughly infuriated.

Trish seemed to be the one to get most hot under the collar first.

"Damn bastard!" she cried, her pretty face a mask of indignation. She found herself horribly worried for Jeff, who seemed to receive the worst fate of the four of them. Sure, the match she and Lita had been booked in would be humiliating - and Edge shouldn't have much of a problem against Chief Morley - but the younger Hardy brother could have his hands more than full. If Bubba Ray and D'Von went along with Bischoff's plan... She shuddered to think about it. Of course, the odds were great that they would comply with the General Manager's wishes - after all, Lita had told her that while D'Von had been pretty cordial with her, his brother hadn't been quite so warm, not by a longshot.

"Are you going to be okay?" Lita's questioning voice cut into the blonde diva's thoughts as she gazed up at Edge with intense hazel eyes. His Street Fight against the GM's right-hand man would be up next. She placed a hand on the tall blond man's shoulder.

"I'll be fine," he assured her, his jaw set firmly. "And what's more, I am going to beat Morley's ass!" He rubbed his large hands together, an almost wicked gleam in his emerald eyes as a grin spread across his face. Despite the fact that Bischoff had issued a stipulation in both his and Jeff's matches that none of the other members of The Clique could interfere and assist them, he would enjoy making the Chief of Staff feel a world of pain.

"I can't believe that bastard is making you ladies fight in such a stupid match!" Jeff exclaimed, his face angry as he looked from the redhead to Trish.

"You mean such a sickening and degrading match, Jeff," Lita corrected.

"He's doing it to get his jollies by seeing two women pawing at each other in a tub of mud!" the petite blonde said with disgust. "Maybe it's something to do with the fact that no woman in her right or wrong mind would ever give him the time of day..."

"We could protest taking part in the match," Lita suggested.

"It wouldn't do any good other than to give Bischoff an excuse for firing us," the blonde pointed out. "That pig!"

"Aside from the two of you being degraded, I think Jeff is the one in the most trouble here," Edge spoke, the tall blond man mirroring Trish's exact thoughts. "Since none of us can help him, maybe we can ask someone else to lend a hand - a friend we know we can trust..."

"Like who?" the colorful-haired young man asked. "Until recently, I've pretty much been a loner. I can't think of anyone who'd be wantin' so badly to help me out." He shook his head, his shaggy locks shaking in the process as well. "I was cool with Shawn Michaels and RVD for awhile, but that was before I kicked Shawn and hit Rob with a chair," he continued, bowing his head out of embarrassment. "I doubt either of them would stick their necks out for me after that."

"Shit..." Trish said, her brown eyes full of concern. "Well, we can't just let you go into that match against the Dudleys empty-handed!"

"Or," Edge spoke, eyeing each of the others in turn, "we can appeal to Bubba and D'Von. They really aren't happy going along with Bischoff's orders - and Lita did say that D'Von was nice to her and seemed willing to join us."

The redhead frowned, shaking her head.

"It doesn't matter, Edge - Bubba was pretty adamantly against that - and he's pretty much the leader between the two of them."

The tall blond man ran a hand through his long hair and held it there for a beat as he thought furiously. Then, he snapped his fingers and looked up.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed. "Spike... Spike is the answer!"

Jeff, Lita and Trish all eyed him questioningly.

"Spike is close with his brothers again and has been for awhile now," Edge explained. "Maybe we can get him to convince Bubba."

Trish nodded, her gaze traveling from Edge to Jeff.

"I guess it's worth a shot..."