Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

River nodded along with Liberty as she spoke. Really, she would have been just fine with letting her go on a rant, probably would have been entertaining as hell. When was the last time she had a good talk like this? Oh, yeah, that was right - fucking never.

"Hold on. I'm getting philosophical." She finished off the cigarette and flicked the charred remains into a dish five feet away. That sort of aim took years of cigarette butt flicking to master, and she was damned proud. "I see it as a crossing of cultures. Take American society. American entertainment is extremely violent. What are some of the most popular shows? Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Good, quality television program." She held up her hands. "I'm hooked to Game of Thrones, seriously. But I digress - the point is, Americans are very desensitized to violence, and despite what the Bible-blinking, thought-averse, knuckle-draggers would have you believe, it's not a recent phenomena. Look back in the eighties, the seventies, you find movies like Caligula, I Spit On Your Grave - personal favorite, that one - fucking Shaft."

She slid off the arm rest and plopped down beside Liberty making the best she could with the room she had. "So, now, we got Japan, where you can make a solid living drawing dicks all day for some hentai company. And you have the AFW, which is this giant cultural clusterfuck conflagration. Sex and violence, together at last." She clapped her hands and squeezed her palms together, giving them a vigorous shake. "But people like the cheap thrills. Somewhere along the line, it got tainted. The balance got messed up. They let more and more of these little dime-a-dozen bitches in, half of them don't even know how to wrestle, just want to fuck and get paid. And I don't blame them - if I heard they'd pay me to fuck, I'd sign up, too. If I didn't have any self respect, at least."

Goddamn, now she needed another cigarette. This habit was getting costly. "And it's just going down the drain, faster and faster. Soon, they won't even have the ring anymore. Why bother? Just show the girls having sex." She lit up another cigarette...or started to, anyway, before she turned to Liberty and shook her head. "I mean...a No-Holds-Barred pudding match, Lib. They're having No-Holds-Barred...in pudding. Jesus fuck, some kid in Africa is starving right now, and they're wrestling in pudding. Think about that for a second. Just think about it. And they say we're fucked up. That's fucked up."

Started on the new cigarette, taking a few quick puffs. "Anyway. Feel free to wail on me for ranting when you just apologized for almost-ranting."

“Game of Thrones is fucking elitist,” countered Liberty. The Italian girl was visibly preparing herself for a good little debate, enjoying an argument just on principle, although she kept a sincere tone. “Stabbings, incest, good guys, bad guys, blah blah, except thereâ€s not really good and bad guys, just a bunch of arrogant pricks who only got their jobs because of where they were born. Even the “good guys” donâ€t give a shit about the peasants, do they? I guess thatâ€s realistic. But I donâ€t know where our society gets off on romanticising a softcore porn version of the middle ages. Rules of chivalry? Just there to protect the rich people. And we fucking accept it. We love it, because at some level, we know that nothing much has changed for us.”

The black-haired punk was drawing on her cigarette a lot slower than the other girl, leaning back and exhaling slowly, staring at the smoky ceiling as she collected her thoughts.

“Shaft was the man,” she nodded, holding up her vodka bottle in agreement. “But that was back in the day, the sixties and seventies, we were at least making a half-assed effort at having a proper society. Real people could still make a difference - mainly by throwing dudes through windows, but it all counts,” she smiled.

“But now - now we just tell ordinary people to go fuck themselves. And where does our cinema violence come from? Fucking ninety per cent superheroes, born into money or magic powers or some shit, near enough to the Game of Thrones feudal system as makes no difference.”

“I hear what youâ€re saying about the American-Japanese clusterfuck going on here. You might be right, although itâ€s not like the Americans donâ€t know how to market tits and ass. And Japan may have its crazy hentai shit, but it has damn good wrestlers, too. Probably down to the warrior code and all that samurai crap.”

Liberty took another quick slug of vodka, wettening her mouth which was getting quite dry from talking. Her aching head was no longer bothering her, so maybe the spirit was doing its job. Or maybe she was just distracted by having someone to sound off to.

“So, I think we come to what the real problem is. Rules. All the codes set up to tell people what to do and how to act. Theyâ€re probably stronger here in Japan, and theyâ€re whatâ€s forcing people down this weak, giggling, hentai fingering-fest. Styx, you know whatâ€s really fucked up about a no-holds barred pudding match, even more than the waste of good pudding? Itâ€s that they have the nerve to tell us that itâ€s no-holds barred. Really.” Liberty rolled her big grey eyes. “Like, if you put two bitches dumb enough to roll around in chocolate together, youâ€re going to get anything other than some lesbian humping and grinding. They tell you theyâ€re being edgy and extreme, but Iâ€ll bet anything that no pudding wrestler ever pulled out a steel chair, or did anything other than what was expected of her.”

Liberty prodded her cigarette into the air, as if she had made a profound point. Realising it was done, she tossed it towards the ashtray, although due to alcohol and head injuries, her aim was way off.

“Thatâ€s the fucking problem. Everyone toeing the line. No matter how corrupt and self-serving the line gets!” she spat with feeling.

Styx looked at Liberty as if she'd just given the Gettysburg Address. In fact, the Gettysburg Address made no mention of porn so far as River could recall, so this was an improvement in some ways.

"Lib." She offered the girl her second to last cigarette. "One day, you and I are going to have the hardest match that's ever been conceived. There won't be any crowd. No referee. Just us, some cameras, an empty arena, and all the time in the world to fuck each other up. Not an 'I Quit Match', because I think we'd both starve if that happened. Iron Man, maybe. Something great. Something they've really never seen before. Something they've never dreamed before." She reached down and poked Liberty's chest for emphasis. "When that day comes, it'll be my honor to beat you black and red all over this arena."

She got starry eyed for a moment, imaging the scene. It would be glorious. The sort of match she was born for, if she was born for anything at all.

"But!" She raised up a finger. "Until then, I want to work with what we have here. Got the feeling this is a real watershed moment, that we can accomplish things together that we couldn't do alone. Right now, Lukretia's got her nose so deep in snatch, she probably doesn't even know there is a new hardcore champ. Wouldn't care if she did. If anything's ever changing around here, we've got to grab her attention. Make her listen. Make her care."

She sat back, shaking the final cigarette around in her box, as an unspoken question loomed: 'How'?

Taking the proffered cigarette, Liberty turned and fixed her eyes on Styx as the blonde prodded her in the chest. A slow, wry smile formed on her lips.

“Donâ€t think I havenâ€t noticed how fucked-up that is,” she grinned. “You went easy on me in the ring, so you could get me back to full health, just so you could kick my ass even harder when the time came. Thatâ€s… I havenâ€t quite decided whether thatâ€s evil genius or evil dumb.”

She took a second to light up again. Dirty habit. Styx was definitely a bad influence. Though she seemed more of a bad influence on everything, which in Libertyâ€s book rolled around to a net positive.

“I guess one of us is going to get taken apart. Biblical fucking annihilation. And when itâ€s you, youâ€re going to look really dumb,” she challenged, with a glint in her eye. It was fun to let the prospect of that rivalry simmer, while they got up to some other shit together. “I will be happy to help plan out new levels of pain and punishment for this little pet project.”

“In the meantime, yeah, other stuff to be done.” Liberty took a long, thoughtful drag and exhaled into the increasingly smoky air. Her long hair was going to start stinking of nicotine, but that was an improvement on blood and sweat, so she couldnâ€t care less. “Need to drag the GMâ€s nose out of all that pussy and then, preferably, break it,” Liberty replied, balling her fist.

“I know itâ€s not technically her company, but Lukretia von Crazyfield seems to be calling all the shots round here. And all she does, or so Iâ€ve heard, is hold sex dungeon orgies all week, in her mansion or whatever. No wonder the morals of this place are sliding down faster than a pair of her panties. Expensive silk panties, no doubt.”

More vodka swilled round Libertyâ€s mouth. She hoped they wouldnâ€t be planning a trip too soon, because the black-haired punk wasnâ€t in much of a condition for anything right now. But she still had ideas. “So I think we hit her. Personally. Where she lives. Give her a taste of real violence and real danger. Smash shit up. Leave a message. Spraypainted across the place.”

No co-ordinated plan as yet, but Liberty was happy to help, even if it mainly consisted of anarchist free-association.

Styx returned the glint, thinking about all the possibilities. Maybe some sort of streetfight, do it like they do with the 24/7 Title when it wasn't held by Kawaiis. Maybe in a bar, a little old school, with people watching on the side. Pool tables, bar stools, broken glass bottles. Or in the middle of the mall! That open up all sorts of crazy ideas. Did Japan have a Victoria's Secret? Because wrecking up a Victoria's Secret would probably be the most ironically awesome thing to ever happen in the AFW. Styx could choke Liberty out with a bra!

She had to forcibly snap back to reality - she'd save that little daydream for later. "Eh, dumb, genius, doesn't really fit into it. I just do what seems good at the time. Let my instincts guide me. They don't let me down."

Styx stroked her chin for a moment, pondering Liberty's suggestion. Certainly wasn't a bad idea, and it had been quite a while since Styx got her vandalism on. The idea of tagging Lukretia's house certainly appealed, and it would definitely get her attention. Though...

"That's not bad. That is not bad." She wagged a finger Liberty's way. "But. I think we need to do something a little more permanent. Paint, she can just wash off. We color up her place, she can get a crew out and have it gone by nightfall. She can have things replaced, she's rich." Styx leaned in, grinning wide as her few strands of hair swayed in front of her face. "But people...that's a lot harder to replace. Her maids. Her staff. She's had them for a while now, they're used to her shit, she can't just go out and get new ones at the drop of hat. We don't need to just get her attention, we need to keep it. And if we start taking away the only thing she really cares about, her pussy? We will keep her attention and it gives us something beyond just messing up her stuff: leverage. Bargaining chip."

River Styx was finally graduating to kidnapping. This was a glorious day.

Libertyâ€s eyes narrowed in uneasy thought. She took a swig of vodka to cover her apprehension. “When you say ‘taking away†her pussy, you mean, like, abducting them? Her staff… theyâ€re kind of innocent in all this…” she added tentatively as she tried to think through her position. She was more used to, and comfortable with, tackling problems head on - if someone was too rich or too powerful, then you went straight for them. Or their hired muscle. Kidnapping seemed a different proposition altogether. Seemed too sneaky.

Although, on the other hand…. Liberty really didnâ€t want to lose this chance at getting something done. Styx seemed like a useful ally, and was pretty keen on this idea. Now that she thought about it, she could see the merits…

“But then… the ones working for Lukretia, how innocent can they be, really? All the shit that goes on, theyâ€re probably just as bad. Definitely part of the same problem. Yeah, letâ€s do it. Hit her people.”

Liberty grinned at Styx. It really hadn't taken long for her to realign her moral compass. She didnâ€t doubt that if the two of them worked together, they would be an unstoppable force. Crazy, but unstoppable. “This could be big, you know,” she said excitedly. “If we get under the skin of the GM then youâ€re right, weâ€ve got leverage. If we get power over the woman at the controls then… we get to make real changes. We get to call the shots!”

The black-haired girl beamed at Styx. She hoped the alcohol or the partial concussions werenâ€t clouding her judgement, because this all seemed impossibly awesome.

Styx canted her head to the side as Liberty seemed to go through one of those 'moral dilemmas' that bugged people from time to time. People who weren't Styx, anyway. If she'd ever had one, she couldn't remember it. This was strictly a point A to point B affair - they had goals, and this was the quickest way to get them done.

She eased up when Liberty seemed to come back around, though she did worry if this was just the alcohol talking. Maybe the deal needed some sweetening. "Glad we're on the same page." She patted Liberty's thigh and slid off the couch, then knee-walked over to a pile of magazines and books a few feet away. "But I'll be fair, here - a relationship, any good relationship, is about compromise. Let me see if I can meet you halfway. Think I got someone who really deserves it."

She dug around the pile, pushing away some encyclopedias she'd snagged from the library, until she found what she was looking for - an AFW magazine from a couple years back. Mostly full of crap articles and wank material, but there was one part that she remembered.

"This bitch." She held up a picture of Morgan Corvidae. "Remember her?"

Liberty leant forward with interest, sitting on the edge of the couch to look at what Styx was holding up.

“Morgan…Corv…” she mumbled uncomprehendingly. However, when she saw the shock of red hair in the photo, she guessed who Styx meant. A closer look confirmed it.

“Oh THAT bitch,” Liberty said darkly. “Yeah. Morrigan. I know her. She stuck a fucking taser in my back. I was kicking the ass of Brittany Luvve, she and Morgan are like girlfriends or something, doesnâ€t like what she sees so she runs in and just ruins the match. Coward and a sadist. Kept zapping me even after I was paralysed.”

Liberty shuddered at the miserable thought of that match. “Both of them, just terrible people. Iâ€ve been wanting to get even for a while. I knew Morrigan was working for Lukretia or something, no wonder she thinks she has the right to mess with matches and decide the outcomes in advance.”

In truth, Liberty had no real way of knowing what was going on in the corridors of AFW power, only what ever rumours that were passed down second hand. She had mentally linked together Brittany, Morrigan and Lukretia as a shadowy cabal of annoying, cruel, lesbian sex addicts.

“So… youâ€re thinking two birds with one stone? Get a bit of leverage over Lukretia, and at the same time show Miss, uh, Corvidae that you canâ€t just taser people and expect to get away with it?”

A wicked smile spread across Libertyâ€s lips at the prospect of some righteous revenge.

Styx's smile widened in full as Liberty darkened down to her own shade. The prospect of revenge was a great motivator. Styx doubted Morrigan alone would be enough to sway the squirmin' German, but they had to start somewhere. Morrigan would be the perfect gateway drug to get Liberty in the mood, before they got into the real fun stuff.

"Corvidae." She pronounced it slow, throwing a little Irish brogue into it. "Birds. Ravens. Connects to the goddess, Morrigan. Celtic bullshit, probably not even her real name, pretentious cunt." Said the woman nicknamed after the Greek river of the dead.

"But yeah," River slid her way back to the couch, put her hands on the hardcore champion's knees and leaning forward on them, looking up at her with crazily focused eyes. "She thinks she can drop you like some bitch and walk off? No. Fuck that. You're Liberty. You. Are. The champ. Lukretia, Morgan, Luuve, all the little Kawaii rings, the glamour girls with more silicone than brains, they all need to see the way this is supposed to be done. We'll show them."

She pushed up and stood, getting a foot away from Liberty's face, close enough to smell the vodka and sweat and everything else coming from her body, mixing with the room's natural aroma and making a heady mix. "So. You're with me?"

Liberty was getting pretty excited. She was sure, now, that this wasnâ€t just the booze giving her some false confidence - this WAS a kick ass plan.

“You had me at ‘fucking Lukretiaâ€s shit upâ€â€ grinned Liberty. “You donâ€t need to blow smoke up my ass.”

In truth, though, she didnâ€t mind Styxâ€s little pep talk. The muscular girl seemed like an effective fixer, the type to make shit happen, a real force of nature. Especially with that frenetic look in her eyes. Plus her hands on Libertyâ€s knees. It felt good to be on the same side as her.

“We do this right, itâ€ll really shake up the status quo, that whole rotten circle. Show ‘em what real hardcore girls can do!” Liberty was buzzing with excitement as Styx stood up in front of her, muscular frame looming tall. She was definitely glad to be on the same side.

“Whoâ€d fuck with the two of us?” Liberty enthused, pulling herself forward and standing upright. The fast motion gave her a real rush of blood to the head, reminding her of her weakened state, but she managed to stand firm. She wasnâ€t quite as tall or as muscular as Styx but she came close and held her own, standing close enough for her large breasts to press against Riverâ€s own firm chest.

“You got yourself a deal.” Liberty spat into her right hand and held it up for Styx to clasp in agreement.