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Lita was a bundle of nerves as she, Trish and Jeff sat backstage, eyes glued to the television monitor. Edge's match against Chief Morley was about to begin.
The redhead was apprehensive as to what might occur during the bout. Even though D-Von had been nice to her, she couldn't shake the feeling that the Dudley Boyz would somehow get involved.
She bit her lip, mentally cursing herself. This was all *her* fault. If she'd only kept her nose out of the argument between the Dudleys and Bischoff, none of this mess would have happened. Despite her good intentions in standing up for her friends, she'd managed to get *other* friends into hot water. It wasn't fair that she'd dragged Trish, Jeff and Edge into this.
"Li?" Jeff asked, and she met his expressive green eyes. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"No... not really, Jeff." She bit her lip again to stifle the tears she could feel wanting to form and break free. Her colorful-haired friend's handicap match had not yet happened, but she felt so horribly guilty knowing how badly beaten he'd no doubt be.
"Lita, Edge will be fine," Trish assured her. "He's tough as nails - not to mention going up against *Morley*, of all people." The little blonde made a face, complete with a roll of her brown eyes. "Hey," she went on as she reached out to lay her hand on the redhead's shoulder, "*I* could kick Morley's ass in a street fight!" She nudged the other woman, and, somehow, Lita managed a tiny smile.
"Yeah," Jeff agreed. "If Trish can bust Victoria's nose in a hardcore match, she could definitely take Chief Morley! He's not half as tough as psycho Victoria!"
Trish giggled, and the younger Hardy Boy chuckled as well.
"Besides," the blonde diva added, "if we see Edge getting into *real* trouble, we'll just run out there to lend him a hand."
"And then Bischoff makes our lives even *more* miserable," the redhead muttered.
Trish shrugged.
"Whatever he does, it couldn't be any worse than what he's probably already planned for us after we shoved him in mud like the pig he is!"
Lita cocked her head as she eyed her friend and fellow diva. Well, Trish *did* have a point there. No doubt, the General Manager was already plotting his next scheme. Her gaze quickly returned to the TV monitor.
Edge was in the ring, a fire extinguisher in hand as Chief Morley made his entrance. The former Val Venis had a microphone in his hand, and he held it up to his lips.
"You know what? I'm pretty sick and tired of you, Edge!" he shouted. "And I can't tell you how happy I am that Mr. Bischoff hand-picked *me* to put you in your place, you pretty boy punk!" With that, the man let the microphone drop with a resounding thud and ran to the ring - only to be met with the fire extinguisher foam in the eyes.
Morley stumbled around for a moment as Edge snatched up a trash can lid. As the chief of staff turned toward him, arms spread out and blindly searching, a manic gleam entered the tall blond man's eyes, and then - Edge smashed Morley over the head with the lid.
After a moment, the Chief managed to roll out of the ring, shaking his head as his eyes slowly cleared. His back was toward his opponent, so Edge was unable to see that he'd picked up the object nearest him.
Wham! Chief Morley surprised Edge with a steel chair-shot to the head, the tall blond man instantly collapsing to the arena floor.
Lita let out a horrified gasp at the impact, and then she noticed the blood... Edge had been busted open.
"Oh, no!" She sprang to his feet, the only thing on her mind going out there to help Edge in any way she could.
"Wait!" Jeff cried, his finger pointing to the screen.
To the redhead's further horror, the Dudleys had suddenly appeared at ringside. The pair snuck up behind the fallen blond Canadian, Chief Morley grinning like an idiot as he noticed them.
But then, in a shocking move, Bubba and D-Von snatched the chief of staff - 3D-ing him on the floor.
As Lita, Jeff and Trish gaped in surprise, D-Von tossed a table into the ring. Bubba dragged Morley into the squared circle - when the Dudleys powerbombed the GM's right-hand man into the table.
Edge was just rousing in time to see the fallen Morley, then D-Von and Bubba going out of the ring - where, to his shock, they helped him up. Realizing the Dudleys had just helped him, the blond man went for the cover. The referee counted three, then signaled for the bell. As Edge was announced the winner, the two other men again helped him to his feet, each holding up one of his hands in victory.