“Holy hell that girl is fierce! Where the hell did she come from? I tell you she is it, Dre, Eminem, you found yourself the girl. Mad skills, mad skills!” P. Diddy roared after Regina and Marshall stepped off stage to a tumultuous applause.

“Shit, Regina, you were fucking amazing!” Marshall screamed when they were finally off the stage.

“I can’t believe that, oh my god, I didn’t think I’d make it!” Regina laughed

“You were so fucking hot,” Marshall grinned at her.

“You weren’t bad yourself baby boy, get over here,” Regina said with a practiced smile. He licked his lips and leaned over.

“Hey Reggie, you guys were, oh man, sorry!” Kuniva called backing out of the room.

“Huh? Oh yeah Marshall, we better take this back to the hotel,” Regina said as she sat up and pulled Marshall’s hand out of her shirt.

“What? I guess so, lets hurry, gonna finish what you started,” he said as he nipped at her ear again.

“All right, come on baby boy,” Regina said dragging him off the couch and out the door.

“You two finished?” Kuniva asked.

“Yeah, for now,” Regina laughed.

“Fantastic, both of you, great, they loved it!” Dre said enthused.

“See, knew you could do it!” Proof said throwing her over his shoulder and spinning her around.

“All right, all right, I got it!” She laughed.

“Really girl, fabulous, incredible,” Bizarre said giving her a hug after Proof had put her down.

“To celebrate! Come on, who’s going to the after party?” Kon asked.

“So this bitch still thinks she can rap, boy what the hell you all been smoking?” everyone turned to the voice and Marshall glared at the source.

“Hey, Ja Rule, what’s up? I loved your last album, really great stuff. Though I still got to say, best song period, ‘Down Ass Bitch’,” Regina said as she walked over to him and held out her hand.

“You hear the interview I gave ‘bout you?” he asked confused.

“That was a load of shit!” Swifty snapped but Regina waved him off.

“Yeah, I did,” she kept her hand out, waiting for him to get the message.

“And why you talking to me then, ain’t you gonna call your boy to kick my ass or some shit?” Ja asked looking over at the group, all seething and ready to pounce.

“I’m gonna murder that son of a bitch,” Marshall said under his breath.

“Let her handle it. She’ll tell you if she needs help,” Dre said as he watched the scene unfolding in front of him.

“Maybe I agree with you, but there’s only one way to find out,” Regina replied with a smile.

“What you talking ‘bout?”

“A battle, you and me, out there, one shot, you pick the beat, you choose to go first or second,” Regina replied, her mouth curved into a small smile, her eyes as sharp as knives.

“A battle, what the fuck you think this is, ‘8 Mile’ or some shit?” Ja laughed.

“No, but it’s not ‘Fast and the Furious’, so you don’t have to lose,” at this Marshall and the guys all laughed.

“So, we got a deal?” she asked.

“Terms, what’s the terms?” Ja asked, he was gonna have fun kicking this bitch’s ass.

“One minute, you pick the beat, audience acts as the judge. You win, I’m out of it, you win, I get the respect I deserve, you game?” Regina kept her hand out.

“All right you crazy bitch, you must have some balls if you willing to walk into a massacre, lets do this shit,” he actually shook her hand and nodded to her as Dre called the stage manager. They had to wait about five minutes to do it, considering it was a spontaneous thing, they had to find an odd moment between the awards and such.

“Regina, are you fucking nuts?” Proof asked as she came back over to them to wait for their cue.

“Thought that was obvious, what you so worried about?” she asked

“Battles are no joke Reggie, you could get killed out there,” Kon said nervously.

“Thanks for your faith man, I’ll remember that,” Regina snapped.

“You’ve never battled before,” Bizarre added.

“So? I’d never rapped or free flowed before, I’m gonna do this guys. I am, ain’t nothing gonna stop me. All right come on, I want your asses out there when I cream his ass,” Regina said as she saw the crew guy calling them over.

Regina took her mike from the crewman and walked out on the stage with her guys following her. Ja Rule was already on the other side of the stage, his crew behind him. P. Diddy was in the center of the stage explaining what was going on, about the interview the battle and then turned to Ja Rule.

“All right, you got the beat Ja, you going first or second?”

“I’ma murder dis bitch, I’ll go first and scare the crap out this funk ass girl,” Ja replied. Regina nodded and gave him a satisfied smirk.

“A’right, here we go baby, here we go, come on Regina, get over here,” P. Diddy called and she walked confidently right up to Ja and the beat came on. When he started to rap and got right in her face. “Look at this, broke ass, white bitch, coming up in here, thinking that she can do something about this, acting like she black, girl, you ugly and you whack, who the hell you think you are, you ain’t no star, putting girls in your hometown to shame, blame , it on you cuz you stupid, you think you game, fucking a backstreet lookalike to get your fame, you got one song, one inch, and now, you’ll tank, now here’s some advice, and you’ll take it even if you don’t like it, go home, get a man, go back to prostituting, and take it back to the bank, you’ll see, you can’t make it, you ain’t as strong as me and you ain’t got the color, or the right, to say you deserve the respect!” Ja hadn’t even taken up an entire minute but the crowd was roaring. Regina stood, a smile still in place. As the audience wound down she asked.

“All right, you finished?”

“Yeah bitch, see what you can do with that, come choke on it, just like you do on your boy’s dick!” Ja laughed.

“Ah, funny little man, kay Diddy, time me for a minute, cause here I go. Okay, you did it, you said some shit, that wasn’t where I was going to take this, but I’ll take it, flip it and make you regret it. You think that your comments are gon’ affect me, you think now, that I’m gonna back down, sit my ass down, or ask you to help me out, fuck it, forget it, you got another thing coming. I ain’t running home to mommy, I ain’t gonna run and call Em out to protect me. I’ll kick your ass, your boy and your white security guard, blasting on me, cause I’m half Spanish, half Italian, cause my boy is white and proved you was wrong, nah. Now that I’ve got the record strait, I’ll really make you cry, fall on your damn knees, and make you wish you wasn’t alive. Cause rap is not about the color, it’s not about the black or white, not the color of a motherfucker. You think that blackness is what makes you able to spit, chuck words together and know how to flow with it. In this game you thinking cause you black you got one up in this shit. Now you going back and acting like all those people you think are prejudicing against you. You don’t get respect, cause you black, you can’t get a cab, cause you black, you pulled over, cause you black, you want to complain about all injustices done to you, but you won’t give a woman props, cause she ain’t from the same race as you.” The audience jumped and roared at the finish of Regina’s free flow and didn’t stop screaming for a full five minutes.

“Well it looks like we got a winner here, Ja, have you got to say for yourself?” Diddy asked as he pulled them both under his arms.

“She won it, fair and square, so, here’s to you Regina, you got balls I got to say,” Ja laughed and put out his hand. Regina took it and he pulled her in for a small hug.

“This is what sells the records, not the wars, keep that in mind,” Regina whispered and pulled away, giving him a wave.

“REGINA! WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM!” Dre, as well as the rest of the guys were jumping up and down as she walked over to them.

“No body insults the music I love and gets away with it,” she smiled before they lifted her on their shoulders and carried her backstage.

“Fucking awesome,” Proof yelled as he flung her around some more.

“Hey guys, you got yourselves one hell of a girl there,” everyone stopped to look at who had spoken.

“Yeah, we seem to think so,” Bizarre said, glaring down at the man.

“Look, I didn’t come over here for any trouble. I just wanted to tell Reggie there, that I agree with her. This rap wars shit has gone on long enough. It’s time we worked to put an end to it,” Ja said as he stepped forward.

“This coming out of you?” Marshall asked with a furrowed brow. Regina smacked him hard.

“Don’t push it wise ass.”

“We blame it on the labels pushing us around, but I think we can all agree, that we don’t want any more people taken over words,” Ja replied seriously.

“You got that right,” Kon nodded.

“There’s no need to have soldiers for anything. You guys are all smart enough, I’m sure that you could figure out something,” Regina added.

“Exactly. I mean, one of my guys, Esten, just got shot a few days ago, still alive thank god, but it was close. I ain’t calling a truce, but an all out stop on all this shit. I think if we, start working together, especially with that girl of yours, some of this ridiculous bull shit can stop before it ruins the industry,” Ja replied. All six of the D-12 members were speechless, Fifty, Ace and Dre just looked at him stunned.

“You got it Ja,” Regina said with a smile as she shook his hand. She elbowed Marshall and he did the same, though hesitantly. It took a few minutes but finally everyone in the group had shook hands with him.

“I’ll see you around, yo, and good luck on that album Reggie, maybe we can work something out!” Ja called as he walked away.

“Reggie, what did you say to him?” Fifty asked.

“I told him that stuff like this is what sells records, not the wars and shit. There’s no reason for anyone to lose their lives over a lyric.”

“I’d beg to differ,” Marshall thought to himself, though the lyric he was thinking of wasn’t the same one she was.

“Yo, we’s going back to the hotel, catch you all later,” Marshall said giving Swifty a quick handshake.

“Damn don’t you two fuck enough as it is?” he asked.

“Not nearly, we’ll see you all later,” Regina giggled as she turned to walk away with Marshall.

“Oh, wait a minute,” she said rushing back over to Dre.

“Thank you,” she stood on tip-toe and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him and ran back to Marshall to hit the limo.

Marshall and Regina were on their way out to get the limo when a remark came flying out of nowhere.

“Lovely performance out there, hits a little close to home doesn’t it?” Regina turned to the source of the voice and found AJ walking with his boy band members a little behind him.

“Should I hit him now or later?” Marshall asked.

“I’ll take care of it,” Regina replied. Their limo pulled up and she heard one of the guys whisper at AJ.

“Aw, what’s the matter AJ? Couldn’t drag yourself to the bar, hoping I’ll throw something else your way? Just remember bitch, you’re the one who started it, but I’ll finish it. Oh, by the way, if you stopped smoking maybe you wouldn’t have to paint your fingernails to hide the ugly yellow they’re rotted to. Bye sweetie, it was nice meeting you too!” Regina chirped giving him a sweet little smile and climbing in beside Marshall.

“You are friggen amazing. Not only do you blow them all away with that performance, but you’re even pissing off the little boy band bitches, you know, how fucking hot you are right now?” Marshall asked as he attacked her right there on the seat.

“Hey, take it easy, save some for the bedroom,” she laughed as his hands roamed her body.

“Yeah, and what if I can’t wait for the bedroom, what if I want you, right here, right now,” he mumbled as he climbed on top of her.

“I don’t think so Marshall, I’m not into sex in public, oh, now, you have to stop that,” she said as he hit the spot behind her ear.

“You sure you’re not into some freaky shit, huh, maybe I could tie you up, torture the shit out of you for a while,” Marshall growled in her ear.

“I don’t need ropes to hold you down, do I baby?” Regina asked. He knew she was right.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll do that, tie you down so you can’t get away from me,” Marshall continued to mumble as he straddled her hips on the seat.

“I can’t get away from you baby, don’t want to,” Regina replied, her hands slipping around his neck and into his hair.

“Good, cause you ain’t baby, you ain’t going anywhere, ever, never baby, your mine,” Regina stiffened tightly at these words, “mine, never, ever.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked noticing the change.

“Huh, nothing, nothing, look, we’re here, come on, before we both explode,” Regina covered grabbing Marshall and running into the hotel.