SHOWING MY FANGS
Eyes filled with scorn sweep over her, from the top of her sapphire crowned head, over her frame, down to her toes neatly enclosed in her boots.
“THIS is what you called me for?”
Demeaning laughter rings out through the warehouse from the wiry woman. She turns back to the ever rotund Tony, gesturing at the young hopeful that stood silently in the wrestling ring, a small spark of annoyance flickering to life within the pit of her belly.
“She didn’t back down to Luke. She took it from him and kept right on getting back up. You of all should...”
“Stubbornness or...” Tempest casts another glance at Lycana. “STUPIDITY... does not equal promise of talent. I DO know that, Tony.”
“Tempy, listen to me...” Tony wheedles, his cigar hanging out the side of his mouth, wobbling dangerously but always managing to stay in place like it was bound by glue to his lower lip. “I know she doesn’t look like much...” Lycana bristles, her back becoming ramrod straight, shoulders squaring. “And I already took her money. At least give her a tryout, I’m telling you Tempy, I really...”
“She’s better suited to being one of your ring tarts. Slap a bikini on her ass and let her bounce her tits. Nobody will care what she’s doing. She don’t need to train for that. Feed her a couple cheeseburgers first though.” Lycana’s eyebrows slam downwards, a thunderous scowl appearing on her face despite her best efforts, failing in her struggle to maintain a neutral facade. “Thats the plan if this doesn’t pan out, but...”
“But nothing. She isn’t worth the trouble. And I’m not just talking about her looks Tony. Or having the ‘It’ factor. I’m good at what I do, and I know what I see in her. She isn’t cut out for it, bottom line. I’m not going to waste my time.” as she turns to walk away, a snarl from the ring stops her. “Scared, bitch?” Lycana’s anger had bubbled up and over, the leash turning into nothing more than the merest thread as she approaches the ropes, her fingers wrapping around the topmost one. Grayish blue eyes collide with ones as dark as rich coffee as the trainer slowly turns, striding back towards the ring. Lycana steps back as she hops up on the apron, a silent stare down ensuing.
“Little girl... you really think I have reason to be scared of you?” Tempest steps slowly into the ring. Lycana smirks as she lets her eyes travel the length of her figure. Cheeseburgers indeed. Tempest appeared to be just as lithe as she was, dark hair pulled back in a pair of braids. Dark eyes as cold as a blizzard staring out at her from a triangular shaped faced. Their heights? Relatively the same. So what the fuck gave her room to talk? Because she had experience? “What else could it be?” Lycana gives a negligent half shrug of one shoulder.
“I could be because you are too cocky. With no reason to be. What makes you think you can do this? Because you kept getting up when Luke put you down?”
“I...”
“Big deal. You are both stubborn and stupid. Too many out there like you, simply a dime a dozen. Getting back up doesn’t impress me dear... what’s your name again?”
“Tavo...”
“Good enough Tav. Don’t give a shit about the rest of it. You’ve got a look- barely. If one is into eat your soul tramp types. You might even have some ability- and I stress might. But I can tell just by looking, and how you come off, that you don’t have the patience to learn. You have no self-control. All you will do, is rush in, make mistakes, get angry, do it again, and lose. Rinse and repeat. So, tell me why again I need to waste my time just for you to become the laughingstock you seem to so desperately want to be?”
“I...”
“You really seem to think I ACTUALLY want an answer from you. I don’t. You are not worth it. You want some proof?”
Tempest slides her shirt over her head, revealing a snug, midriff baring sports top underneath.
“Bring it here.”
A mild flicker crosses Lycana’s face as she takes in the wiry set of abs, the sleekly muscled shoulders and biceps, realizing that she might have underestimated things. The trainer might be the stronger of the two, but she still had her speed, and... determination. It wasn’t stupidity. She refused to believe that. Tony had run her through some basics before setting up this meeting, a meager amount to be sure, but refusing to back down, Lycana shifts to ready, her jawline firming as the trainer waves her forward.
Lycana carefully paces a circle around her opponent, timing her moment perfectly to rush in and.....
…... feel herself lifted up off her feet, flipping over in the air to land with a heavy thud on her back.
She pops up, ignoring the mild protests from her spine, darting in this time with more care, looking to get an arm around Tempests neck. Instead, she finds herself hooked up and dropped to the mat with little fanfare.
Again, she kips up, frustration at her own inability powering her through a haze of red, only to be met with a right hook. She covers, desperately lashes out between parrying each blow. Blows that seems to come faster and faster as she is effectively backed into a corner, reduced to giving up any offense in favor or protecting her own head as she curls in. They stop, and she peeks up to see Tempest smirking at her.
“Scared, bitch?”
She launches from the corner, enough of the element of surprise on her side that she nails a spear, taking them both to the mat. She vents her fury, unleashing a series of rights and lefts of her own, the impact radiating up her arms giving her a perverse joy as she yells out, hopping to her feet. Feeling firmly in control now, she decided to show off, flipping neatly into the air... crashing down onto a pair of knees that dig directly into her abdomen, sending all the air from her lungs in a tortured sounding rush.
She falls to her back, only to feel another sharp pain, making her already annoyed lungs complain all the harder as Tempest leaps to her feet and drops an elbow down. Lycana tries to suck in air as she rolls away, trying to put some distance between her and what was proving to be more than she anticipated.
“Come on Tav, I thought you had something to show me? Is this it? Pathetic.”
The taunt pricks her pride, as she uses the ropes to get to her feet. She was woefully underprepared, realizing that what she had been taught this far wasn’t just meager, it wasn’t even a drop in the bucket. A fucking single grain of sand in the hourglass. It wasn’t fair. They were probably laughing at her. The sour rage erupts in a bubbling mass in her belly, obscuring all reason as she bellows, charging across the ring at her tormentor.
She gags as an arm smacks against her throat, sending her shoulders back, off balance and off her feet once more.
“Goth bitch.”
Up again. On the attack. Landing a solid blow only to have her lip split within the next second.
“Worthless.”
Her feet under her, relentlessly coming blindly forward, arms swinging, not caring what or where, as long as her fists connected with something. Anything. A solid boot to her belly sending her crashing onto her ass.
“Ugly faced twat.”
She lurches forward again, hot tears of bitter wrath stinging her eyes, seeking now only to hurt Tempest. Wanting the slake the stormy thirst for violence that laid claim over the very center of her being, overriding all thought and sensibilities. A flat of a boot catches her along her jaw, sending her stumbling back against the ropes. A body crashing against her sends her up and over, bouncing off the apron before she smashes face first onto the not-so-forgiving floor mats.
A thud alerts her to Tempest’s arrival, she lunges to her knees, too late, as a fist entangles itself in her hair, nearly yanking a clump of cerulean out by the roots as she drags Lycana along. She kicks, her feet seeking purchase on the floor as she is hauled across the floor. She is flung forward, the hand releasing in time for her momentum to carry her forward, careening into a doorframe before, stumbling through. A sharp shove sends her forward again, her nose getting up close and personal with metal lockers as blood gushes forth. She crumples, her hands sliding along, trying to find something to grab hold of, wanting back to her feet.
The sound of water.
Fingers grabbing her locks once more as she is dragged.
“Cool off.”
She feels herself flung forward, body bouncing off tile as she falls, an icy stream of liquid hitting her body as her shriek reverberates throughout the locker room. She scrambles away, sputtering as she swipes her wet hair out of her face, goosebumps prickling her skin from the freezing shower.
“Maybe you were right...”
Tempest looks over her shoulder at Tony, peeking in at the little show going on with a perplexed look on his face. She turns back to the tattooed woman who is still gathering her bearings on the floor.
“I’ll take her on.”
“She’s too hot blooded to...”
“Fires can be banked.”
“But Tempy, you just said...”
Baleful eyes under dripping cobalt strands look up and lock with the trainers.
“I know what I said. I want to break this one.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
Rain beat a steady tempo against the window as the wind lashed the trees, making branches dance crazily under the onslaught. Delicate fingers reach out tracing the path of the water droplets from the warm safety of her living room. A frown mars her features, deep ridges furrowing her brow as she considers what had happened during the last Warfare she had competed.
It wasn’t the match against Robert Main and Jim Caedus, although that had been where everything seemed to come to a head. What had happened after, had likely scared ten years off of her life. Marf had been drugged, and she had nearly lost him. The implications of that sends a disturbed shudder tripping down her spine. He had seemed fine before the match when they had warmed up together. As they made their way to the gorilla position. Everything had been normal, right up until it wasn’t. Perhaps it was the adrenaline coursing through his blood that finally pushed the heavy dose through his body, but he had changed right before her eyes.
She had seen the waver, the difference in his eyes, the sharp stab of confusion that had torn through her as she desperately tried to get tagged in. He had made it, and she had waged war against Caedus, her only thought to give him a rest, to keep the other team at bay until he shook it off, the way partners should be with one another. Marf had seemed better then, to her eyes, or maybe it had just been some wishful thinking. She had willingly tagged him in, then watched as the drug showed that it still had its ugly hold, despite Marf’s best efforts to fight its effects.
In the end, well... in the end she had tried just to get to him but had been blocked. She had barely registered the bell. And the rest of the night was a whirlwind of flashing lights, sterile hospital, and an assload of worry. The verdict had come from the doctors hours later, after the labs were drawn and concluded.
Poisoning.
She feels that ever familiar spurt of heat roll its way through her blood as the fury sparks to life once more.
Some spineless... gutless... yellow... no account COWARD, had poisoned her partner. If she ever got her hands on them... she would... well. She would end up in a jail cell awaiting a trial for homicide. Her fingers curl into a fist against the cool glass as pictures of the atrocities she would perform on the culprit danced through her mind's eye like a horror film.
Once she found out who it was. Once THEY found out. She had to let Marf get dibs... and maybe he would be kind enough to let her have a crack at the bloodied mass of leftovers once he was done. Or get a few decent shots in beforehand? She wasn’t sure there was going to be ANYTHING left once he was through with them. But again, it was figuring out who it was. Who would do such a thing? THAT list was a mile long most likely. But more specifically, WHO would do it to Marf? And why was he targeted?
The automatic reflex was to go to Apex. After all, the match was with them, and they had seemed to make Marf the target of most of their promos. However, she didn’t really think Robert Main had it in him and as for Caedus?
Well, she and Jimmy had their little tete-a-tete in the 24/7 hallway over (not) tea and she didn’t believe it was him either. A gut feeling for sure, but it was rarely wrong... So, with Apex cleared in the book as suspects... who would be the ones who most wanted Marf not only out of the picture for a match, but pushing up daisies?
She pops her fist against the glass, lighter than she wished, her knuckles white in anger as she whirls around and smacks right into a very familiar wall of muscle. Her head falls back as she stares up into his bold blue eyes, her own crinkling at the corners as she smiles, just happy that he was out of the hospital and home. Marf tilts his head down to look at her, his eyes truly blazing from the surging veins ready to burst in his eyes. “....Hey....what’s up?”
“Just thinking...” she pauses a brief moment, unsure if she should go on, before deciding to do so. “About what happened. And who it could have been.” Her smile slowly morphs back into an angry grimace, thunderclouds storming across her face. Marf closes his eyes for a moment, a tsunami of rage walled up behind his trembling exterior. He holds in his anger but it’s very visible and he knows she could sense it regardless.
“I have come to terms with the cold hard fact that whoever is responsible for what happened will never be revealed. They are far too massive a pussy to actually come at me face to face. And it is very clear to me there are other lesser pussies covering this up for their fucking douchebag friend. Cowards will sadly remain, cowards. These wolves need not trouble ourselves with the thoughts of sheep...”
Lycana’s lip curls upwards, knowing that he was likely right, but not liking it one bit. “One day...” Two simple words, filled with both promise and threat hanging heavy in the air between them. She didn’t really need to say more. He knew. She places a gentle palm on the warm wall of his chest, rubbing soft circles there, instinctively trying to calm him. “How are you feeling?”
Marf took a moment to subtly appreciate her soft hand. Being alone at the hospital for long stretches had opened his eyes to how much he enjoyed having her around. He takes a long, slow breath before answering her. “I’m getting close to whatever the fuck my normal is, I guess. Doc says I should feel no more effects by War Games. I’ll take it...” She inclines her head. Worlds better than what the alternatives could have been. Her eyes close as she takes in a shaky breath. It had been close... too close. She flicks her gaze back to him. “You ready for this? Ready if we end up in there against each other, again?”
He looked down upon that beautiful face and almost shuddered, knowing they were surely going to wind up pitted against each other. He hated the idea of having to face her, wanted nothing to do with it. “It is what it is, I’m sure there’s a high possibility we’re against one another. All I can say is don’t hold back.” The corner of her mouth quirks ever so slightly. “You better not either.” Their match seemed eons ago, when they had both stepped into the ring looking to test the other, nobody knowing that they were already plotting together under the moonlight. They had emerged battered and bloody... with a deeper respect for one another. But now? Now things were different. They would do what they needed to but...
“It’s going to be... interesting to say the least considering our teams. I have to go and get a few things that I want to have on hand.” She glances at the window. “I had hoped it would stop raining but...” She shrugs. Marf finally breaks his bleak demeanor and actually let’s out a chuckle. He smirks at Lycana. “Yeah, our teams...Charlie is my captain. I have absolutely no clue what to expect from where this is going to go. I haven’t heard from him since the picks were made...”
“He will likely call or something sooner or later, maybe want to meet up. Same with Betsy.” she shakes her head. “Crazy world. Who would have expected?” She sighs softly, knowing she needed to leave and get things done, but still hating leaving him behind, having just gotten him back. But she would be quick, and back to him soon enough. Not much could happen in that short amount of time. “I have to run, do you need anything?” She slips in to press against him with a warm embrace.
“Nothing I can think of, thanks. I can always pop out if I need anything. I’m not helpless, don’t worry.” He pushes a meaty knuckle softly on her jaw and playfully nudges it. An almost giggle emerges. “I always worry, remember?” She rises on her tiptoes, pausing to look around for anybody or anything that might pop up at the last minute. After nearly a solid minute, not believing her fortune, she brushes her lips gently over his. With a small smile, she whisks away, filled with happiness.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Days.
Days had gone by with no word.
She had returned that day from her errands to find an empty house. She had nearly worn a path into the floor before the large bay window in the living room, stopping to peer out for any signs of movement.
Nothing.
It was always nothing.
Pace to the right.
Pause.
Continue.
Turn.
Pace to the left.
Pause.
Continue.
And repeat.
She had known he was leaving, at some point anyway, not while she was gone. It was clearly expected with the pay per view starting to loom ever closer on the horizon. But he had never been completely out of touch with her before. It was strange. All texts gone unanswered. Phone calls getting nothing but voicemail.
Given what had happened, she couldn’t help but freak out a little.... okay, a LOT... about the silent status of their relationship. Did this mean she was the crazy girlfriend?
Was she his girlfriend?
This was not the time to try and figure that out. She just needed to know that he was ALIVE. Even their mind link was seemingly somehow blocked. The only way that could be, is if there was something at play, or he was... No. She refused to believe that. He was just off with his War Games team or something, and knowing Charlie.... well.... Still, she had never felt so damn helpless in her life.
She hated it.
She hated worrying so damn much over something, the answer was so simple, and right there in front of her damned face. She had a good idea; it was a reasonable one. There were many others as well. Maybe he went home to Canada? So why couldn’t she get past the fact that he had not contacted her?
Because it wasn’t normal for them.
But she needed to stop worrying.
She spins on her heel once more, hair swirling around her shoulders. Hair that she was about to yank out. With a growl she stalks in the other direction, her eyes automatically looking to the window as her footfalls slow. She is about to step forward, when what she is seeing sinks in. A car. A car coming up the driveway. She is frozen for a long moment before her muscles burst into motion, sending her flying through the house and out the door. As the car pulls to a halt, the light in her face dies a slow death. She could already see who it was... and it wasn’t Marf.
It seemed her day was about to get even ‘better’.
“Finneas called me.” Arcana announces as she exits the vehicle.
“Of course he did.”
She would kill the incubus if that were possible.
“You know this isn’t good for you Ly. You have to get out of the house and do something. Something fun to take your mind off of this. He's going to come back, you know that.” She ignores Lycana’s shaking head. “Isn’t there any place exciting or something where we can go, maybe have a girl's day or... something?”
Lycana stares at her as if she had lost her marbles. GIRL’S DAY? Not only that... girl’s day with ARCANA? Was she really that hard up, this is what they thought she needed? She shakes her head again. “Look, I... well you know I don’t do that sort of thing... besides, I do have something that should be taking my mind off it, I just can’t seem to...”
“What?”
“I have a match, with Jim Caedus. I really need to focus on him, he’s not a slouch. And I mean it's at fucking Disneyland on the damned Goofy’s Sky School coaster thing and...”
“Oh! Disneyland! Let's go now!”
“I don’t know how they're going to get a fucking cage up there and.... what?!”
“Let's go to Disneyland. Now. With Reika!”
“How.....? Oh right... your fancy teleportation spell shit. I don’t know Arcana, I really should stay and....”
“It would make Reika happy.”
Dammit. Guilt washes over her as she realizes she has been far too distracted the past few days, not interacting with Reika as much as she usually did. She cringes slightly, feeling like all sorts of an asshole. Could it really hurt? Going there early and getting the lay of the land for a few days? She could watch Arcana and Reika go on some rides, eat some expensive, overpriced food, and maybe actually keep her mind occupied.
And figure out how the fuck they were going to get a cage on top of the damnable ride.
“Alright... Let’s go to Disneyland.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
“War Games is hurtling towards us like an asteroid, and I am living for it. Six teams, all battling to come out on top... but in the end there can only be one left standing. Under three weeks left until this all goes down, and yet there is so much going on between now and then. Titles can still change hands, record sheets will change, injuries can occur. One never knows what might happen on the average night in the XWF, it is a place where anything can and will, happen.
Including callous acts like poisoning.
I don’t know who, and I don’t know why... but something that everyone should count on... is that I will find out, and when I do, whoever did this to Marf is going to pay. Pay dearly. Consider your days numbered. You now have an expiration date stamped on you, and the executioners are the Dissentients. When you mess with one of us, you mess with the other, and I can think of nothing better than scraping what's left of your carcass off the ground after Marf finishes smashing you into a bloody pulp, shaping you back into something resembling a human, just to fucking destroy the very epitome of the piss yellow thing you call a soul.
You made a mistake when you chose him as a target. The moment you did, a bright crimson one of your own blossomed right on your fucking head... so congratulations on that.
It is true that the Dissentients have made few friends in our time here, and garnered more enemies than anything, and we own that. The identity could be any one of numerous people, the reasoning, as simple as we pissed them off and their panties got into such a tight wad, they couldn’t stand it anymore. Perhaps it was all part of some carefully derived plan to punish, to tear us apart, or maybe it could have been someone trying to get into the good graces of Apex.
In any case, the end result was a mockery of what could have been an incredible match. Everyone was cheated that night.
The fans were cheated out of something they paid to see, four people bringing their all to one another.
The Dissentients were cheated out of putting their full strength against Apex.
Apex was cheated out of feeling the humiliation of a loss to the ‘curtain jerkers’....”
She flashes a wink and a grin.
“But most of all, each member of the teams was cheated out of seeing how they fully stacked up against one another. I fully intend to right that wrong on my end. Perhaps one day we will see the Dissentients meeting Apex in that ring in a tag match once more, all four at one hundred percent and ready to dismantle one another limb by limb. But I want to add onto that. I want to face Robert Main one on one. He and I have now stepped up to each other twice, once in a battle royal for the briefest of moments, and once in the tag. Neither did we really get to focus as much as I would have liked... I’d like to think you are watching Mr. Main, however I have my doubts with how oblivious to the world you seem... How little you pay attention to anything. Know Lycana is coming for you. Sweep the cobwebs off your docket and make plans for your once monthly match slot to be filled by the Dark Vixen of Violence quite soon.
But first...
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.
Hello my darling.
I admit it, I was very surprised to see you when you came to my hallway for that lovely, spirited little tea party. I had not expected you to approach me with the same feelings about the tag match that I was carrying. I had thought you would be overjoyed about the victory, and thinking about moving on to the next. Quite intriguing. One of the main phrases I would use to describe you... That makes the travesty of that night even more disappointing, does it not?
I’m pleased, very pleased to find we share the same sentiments about it all.
Our shared moment in the halls before the match, where you admitted you were impressed... well, to be clear I felt the same. Still do. I watched during Leap of Faith. I knew I wanted to try my skills with you in the ring from the first. I had thought I would get more of a chance to test the waters with you in the tag match, but it really didn’t seem to work out that way, did it? We such little time together, and you got me full steam ahead, angry, looking to tear down whatever was in my path and that just happened to be you for my stint during that match. I never truly got to see what you could bring to the table.
And I want to.
I’m always hungry for a challenge Jimmy, one I know you can provide.
Let’s go back to that question, wanting to know what I was doing by jumping from Alias, to TNGB, to Page, to you and Main... I’m doing ME, Jimmy. I said it before, but I will say it again. I love to test what people think my boundaries might be.
I love to rip them down and throw them out, because the sky isn't even the limit for me.
I have no limits.
I’m fucking uncontainable.
This is why I go after those who are considered the cream of the crop. This is why I go after the ones whose name next to mine might raise a brow, bring forth a quick snort and a sarcastic ‘good luck.’ The more I push myself Jimmy, the better I become. I learn. I do better my next time out if I don’t get by them on my first try. But sometimes, there are the ones who underestimate my ability, and OVERESTIMATE their own. (Hi Page!)
Win or loss.... I always fucking come out winning. In every damn one of my matches. It will always be the way I see it.
Everyone can fall... even legends. And the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And I’m not talking about size... In this case it pertains to the ego. It can get in the way and make you blind to what is staring right in your face. It can make you think that you have the ability when in truth, it's been a little bit more luck that has you going by. It can make you complacent, waving away those you deem unfit or unworthy to share the ring with you. (HI PAGE!) And then when that bomb drops... when that little nobody rolls you on up and pins your shoulders to the mat...
The earth quakes with the impact of their damn ego plummeting back to the ground.
The explosion of realization, they are fallible after all.
It’s the ones who don’t think they can fall, that are the easiest to surprise. They are the ones I look forward to being the one to pop their overinflated balloons. (Hey Robert!)
I have seen your ego Jimmy, it is rather... large. But I would also like to think you are much smarter than the walking wad of self-importance you align yourself with. In fact, I know you are. Just by the manner in which you handle things versus him has proven that to me. Take both of your forays into my 24/7 hall as examples. I give, what I get. Just take this little warning from me, and do with it what you will.
Don’t look past me Jimmy.
Don’t make me lose my respect for you.
Just don’t.
I want your eyes firmly on me and what I have to offer you. I want you to be watching when I deliver what you will STILL, never see coming. I want you to give me your all, and give me that fight I crave. I won’t settle for anything less. I want to see just what Jim Caedus has to bring inside that squared circle, one on one. Nobody else involved. Just you, and me seeing who can do it better inside that steel cage. Who will be the one who can not only climb out of our playground, but all the way down to the ground from the top of Goofy’s Sky School? (And please tell me you are just as baffled by this little turn of events as I am.)
Who will be faster?
Who will be more agile?
Who will be the one who gets to the ground, and the X first?
I got a bit of a spoiler for you Jimmy....
It’s going to be me.”
