"What the hell is this?"

"What?"  Trish turned to glance over her shoulder at her friend.  She was standing at the vanity, a brush in her right hand, as she'd been in the middle of styling her long blond hair.

"This must be some sort of joke..." the redhead said as she looked up to meet her friend's eyes.  "Guess who they have me wrestling tonight?"

"Who?" the blonde Canadian diva asked.  By the look on Lita's face, her first guess would be that she was slated to compete against a man.  However, Lita had wrestled men before, and she'd even defeated some of them.  But what if she'd been ordered to take on someone like Triple H or Batista rather than someone along the lines of Spike Dudley?  That idea was just ludicrous...

"Torrie Wilson!" the redhead practically spat out the name, and she slammed the papers down on the coffee table beside which she was standing.  Trish winced, actually surprised the glass topping hadn't shattered under the force.  Wow... No wonder Lita was so pissed.  However...

"You know what?" she began.  "In a way, I'm sorry I'm not scheduled to meet her tonight..."  As Lita gave her an incredulous look, Trish smiled and continued.  "I'd love the opportunity to kick her ass all over the ring."

"Well, you do have a point... Eh... I don't know what Bischoff's problem is..."

"He's a vile, disgusting, pathetic, sexist pig..." the petite blonde offered.  "He doesn't know squat about women's wrestling - or about women in general.  He probably doesn't even realize that what we do out there is wrestling - so how can he know Torrie can't?"

"I'll just bet..." the redhead said.  "But it's not fair!  Stephanie is also General Manager - maybe I can speak to her and get this ridiculous 'match' overturned.  She knows I'm above getting in the ring with the human blowup doll."

"So am I - above getting in the ring with the human blowup doll, that is - all the woman who know what they're doing in the ring are..." Trish said.

"Yeah!" the high-flying redheaded diva exclaimed.  "And you know what?  I'm not going to Stephanie to complain - I'm going straight to the source - Eric Bischoff!"

"You go, girl!" Trish cried.  She pumped one small fist in the air, and then the redhead stormed out the door.

Lita marched down the hallway, ignoring all and any wrestlers who happened to be out there.  Her mind was currently focused exclusively on one thing - and on giving one particular person a piece of her mind.  She'd make sure not to be shy about it, either.

As she headed straight for Eric Bischoff's office, she suddenly realized the GM wasn't even in there, as she heard his voice just around the bend of the corridor.

"I don't care what you two want or don't want to do!" he was shouting, and the diva inched steadily closer to the corner to get a glimpse.  She was wondering who the unfortunate victims of the man's tirade were until she saw them...

The Dudley Boyz were standing across from Bischoff, who had that smug jerk Chief Morley beside him, as always.  The General Manager had a finger pointing at D'Von, then directed it toward Bubba Ray, and the two brothers looked pissed.

"Look, Bischoff!" D'Von spat.  "We're sick and tired of your games, and we're not gonna take it anymore.  Bubba, my brother - we can't cooperate with them anymore!"

Bubba Ray glared at Bischoff, but he spoke to his brother.  "D'Von, we have no choice... Yes, the man is an arrogant prick, but we wanna keep our jobs, right?"

That brought a big grin to the GM's face, despite the fact that he'd just been called an 'arrogant prick.'

"That's what I thought..." the man in charge said, and he turned toward his Chief of Staff, who nodded and laughed.  The Dudleys, however, looked pretty damn unhappy.

"God damn it!" Lita exclaimed, no longer caring about spying on the four men.  She'd seen and heard enough.

As she charged their way, the four of them all looked surprised to see her.

"What do you want?" Bischoff demanded.  "Spying on us, were you?"

"No... Actually, I was looking for you, because we have to talk about my match for tonight," the redhead said firmly.  "However, now that you mention it, I do have to step in here... These two guys are friends of mine - and I won't let you screw with them any longer!"  She positioned herself in front of the Dudleys.

Bubba Ray and D'Von exchanged glances.  While Bubba's face just wore an expression of surprise and bordered on a frown, D'Von couldn't help grinning at the woman's spunk.

"Oh, is that so?"  Eric glanced at Morley, who still wore that ridiculous smile, which Lita wanted more than anything to just slap clear off his face.

"Yes, that's so!" the diva stated.  "And as for this match you've got me in tonight, I will not wrestle that human Barbie doll!"

"Yes, you will..." Bischoff said, the mock amusement now gone from his face.  "You don't make the matches around here, lady - I do."

"I refuse to sell for someone who's more interested in parading around naked for horny teenage boys than actually learning how to wrestle!"

"Oh, yes you will!" the man reiterated, his voice louder than before.  "And quite frankly, I'm getting sick of you, so I suggest you make yourself scarce."  He looked toward the Dudleys, who looked annoyed, and perhaps a second away from attacking him to protect the redhead.  "You two - get out of here!"

Bubba and D'Von were reluctant to move from their spots.

"Go on!  You heard Mr. Bischoff!" Chief Morley yelled.

The Dudleys left, albeit reluctantly.  As they were a few feet down the hall, Bubba Ray turned to look back once, but both men continued walking.

"You know what?  You are really starting to get under my skin, little girl..." the GM hissed as Lita glared at him.  "Chief, why don't you do the honors?"  With that, he went calmly back into his office.

The redhead's intention was to stand her ground, but she was not prepared for Morley actually putting his hands on her.  She let out a yelp as the man grabbed her forcibly by her upper arm, struggling in his tight grasp.

"Let me go, you ass!"

"Not a chance..."  Morley's grip tightened.  "You're a real troublemaker, you know that?"

All of a sudden, Lita was free.  The Chief had released her, and as she spun around, she realized why...

Someone had seen her being manhandled and had run over and attacked him.  The man who'd saved her pummeled Morley repeatedly - and then she realized who her savior was...

It was Edge...