"God damn it..." Adam muttered as he stepped into his locker room. He slammed the door before slumping into a chair, wanting to punch something. Better yet, he'd prefer to punch someone - two someones, actually - Bischoff and Morley, and right in their smug, arrogant, ugly faces. Instead, because he needed to do something with his hands, he ran them through his long blond hair.
"What's eating you?"
He looked up into the face of his friend Chris Jericho, with whom, along with Jay Reso, he was sharing a locker room tonight.
"Two words - Eric Bischoff...No - make that five words - Eric Bischoff and Chief Morley," Adam said between clenched teeth.
"Ahh...Pricks of a feather," Chris said in a sarcastically cheerful tone. "What'd those two ass clowns do this time?" He sank into the black leather couch nearby as he waited for the story.
"They have this really idiotic idea for how they want me to turn heel," the taller blond said.
"Turn heel? They're gonna make Edge a heel? Talk about moronic," Jericho said.
"Yeah, I know - I'm a crowd favorite," Adam quipped, losing his seriousness for a beat. "Unlike some people..."
"Hey, don't knock it - it's a lot more fun being a heel."
"I know how fun it is - I've been one before, remember? You used to call me and Jay 'Valley Girls'...Anyway, that's not even the problem," the tall Canadian said.
Chris eyed his friend with anticipation of the real issue, and the man continued.
"They have a very specific method of my heel turn in mind - they want me to physically attack Amy..."
"What? Who attacked Amy?" a voice asked from the doorway, and the two men looked up to see Jay standing there, a bottle of Poland Spring in hand.
"No one attacked her, Jerky," Jericho said. "You just walked in on the middle of a conversation, that's all."
"Oh...Thank goodness," the third blond man said with relief. "I thought I was gonna have to kick someone's ass for a minute there...What's going on?"
"Well, I was just telling Chris about what that prick Bischoff wants me to do," Adam explained. "He wants Edge to become a heel, and via his plan, the only way for that to happen is for me to attack Amy."
"Why's that the only way?"
"Because Bischoff said so..." the tallest man in the room replied. "And if I don't comply with the asshole's wishes, I'm fired. Actually, if we don't comply, we're both fired..."
"Oh, shit!" Jay exclaimed. "And with the roster splits over and done with, it's not like you could go to Stephanie for help."
"Really, Einstein?" Adam snapped sarcastically. He glared at his best friend, then, feeling rotten for it, raked a hand through his long hair. "I'm sorry, Jay...I'm just so pissed off."
"And understandably so. It's okay."
Jericho spoke. "Well, there must be something we can do to stop this."
"Yeah, Adam," the other man agreed. "We can all protest this bullshit, and-"
"And what? Guys, we're talking about Eric Bischoff here - the same man who fired Stone Cold Steve Austin without even blinking - the most popular superstar in WWE history! We act, and he wouldn't hesitate to fire all of us - and it's definitely not fair to Amy, especially since she doesn't even know a thing about this yet..."
"But..."
"You're right," Chris said. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right." He ran a hand through his long blond hair and sighed. "I remember back in WCW exactly what kind of asshole Uncle Eric was. He didn't have a problem with firing wrestlers, even when they were out with an injury. Hell, a few of my friends even received their walking papers from Federal Express!"
Jay shook his head, his blue eyes serious but slightly wide. "So all those rumors were actually true..."
"Definitely...And Uncle Eric never gave much of a shit about women's wrestling, so...He wouldn't care so much about getting rid of Amy - regardless of the fact that she's the most popular female in WWE history."
"Shit!" Adam exclaimed, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He still wanted, and now more than ever, to punch Bischoff's lights out. But there was pretty much nothing he could do.
His back was against the wall.