Hardcore Remidial

"RIVER!" boomed a high-pitched voice down a corridor, either someone very loud was learning about the water cycle for the first time, or someone had a death wish. There was only one woman named River in the AFW complex and she was someone that nearly everyone had deemed a threat to their well being just by standing within 20 yards of her. One of the baddest women in the company, someone who had just come back from Madison Square Garden after slaying a giant in the ring, and someone was calling her out. Who else would it be but Adrian Kytes, fresh off the injury list and seemingly looking to go straight back on it.

The Hardcore Champion was not in a good mood, no sirree. Not only had she suffered an injury at the hands of River Styx, it had cost her the opportunity to wrestle in MSG herself, and to someone who prided herself on her wrestling knowledge that was a big freaking deal, she had to spend her recovery time watching her girlfriend get added to River's list of victims while the bald brawler paraded around with one of the champ's most prized possessions. Normally this would lead to her calling River out in the middle of the ring, but she was so mad that the brunette was skipping stages 1 and 2 and going all the way to 3: whack River over the head with a Kendo stick until it stops being funny or cathartic.

Fortunately for the eardrums of all in the vicinity, River Styx happened to actually be at the AFWDome today. This was not a coincidence. She'd figured that, after wrecking her girlfriend, the 'hardcore champion' would come to work spoiling for a fight, so she made it a point to hang around the place a bit more than usual, as much as it annoyed her. She'd been expecting Adrian to come out and do a promo, ramp up the crowd, make a bunch of statements she couldn't back up, the usual bullshit. What she got instead was much different. And better.

Back when she was practically living in the AFWDome, she'd become very familiar with the layout, enough that she could follow Adrian around well enough and keep her distance. She didn't want to attack Adrian - not yet.  She wanted to have a little conversation about their relationship, and the best way to do that was to wait until just the right moment and the right place.

As Adrian came out of the corridor, a whistle tweeted her way from the top of some steps leading up to the second floor. There, right at the peak, stood River Styx, Adrian's coveted belt in one hand and an aluminum baseball in the other.

"Hey." Styx waved down at the woman who'd stolen her hardcore championship away from her. There was a slight, knowing grin on her face, just small enough that you couldn't call it a full smile. "Looking for me?"

Adrian didn't have far to look to find the object of her ire. PRobably a good thing too, her voice wouldn't be able to handle screaming her name non-stop for however long it took to find River in the place. The complex was a maze sometimes. "Damn right I am!" The hardcore champion declared, pointing her weapon of choice up at the bald brawler before heading straight to the steps. No hesitation as she set out to retrieve her precious ICW/ICWA Tri-state TV championship.

Adrian was either incredibly ballsy or incredibly stupid. Most likely some combination of the two.

Styx was still hurting from Rebecca, so she wasn't in 100% shape. That being said, she two blunt objects and the high ground over her opponent, all of which could make up for such problems. She was fairly optimistic about her chances if it came to a fight.

But it didn't have to, did it?

She threw the belt behind her and gripped the bat tight with both hands, but she didn't go swinging at Adrian just yet. "Before we kill each other, I've got a little offer for you." She tapped the bat a couple of times against the concrete. "Might want to hear it."

Adrian managed to get halfway up the stairs, the big woman standing above her before the bald brawler said she had an offer for the former cosplayer. Her initial thought was that it was bullshit, maybe River just didn't want to fight face to face instead of jumping her through the crowd or attacking from behind, maybe she was just stalling or something. But on the other hand, River really was in the better position here. Yes, they both had weapons and Adrian's was longer, but River technically had 2, having already shown her willingness to use Adrian's vanity title as a weapon. "Can't we just skip this and cut to me throwing you down the stairs?" She asked, gripping the handrail tight, ideas bubbling up in her head about how to best approach this. "What do you want?"

So Adrian wasn’t quite as stupid as she looked. Good. Styx could work with that.

”It’s cute that you think I’m the one that’d be going down the stairs. But whatever.” Styx stepped back and brought the bat up to her shoulders, holding it up like she was getting ready to step to the mound. ”As much as I’d love to beat the shit out of you, it wouldn’t solve anything. You’d still be the champ. And even if you took me down, I’d still show up at your matches and fuck them up until you lost the title. So.”

She reached into her pocket and tossed a small, folded piece of paper to Adrian - a contract she’d gotten from the main office an hour ago. ”You and me. Boiler Room Brawl. Avalanche. Loser can’t be anywhere near a hardcore match until the winner loses her title. Simple solution.”

Adrian was fuming but River was making a degree of annoying sense. Both participants had been in and out of hospitals only to come charging back in to continue the cycle of violence. Case in point: Adrian had just come back from a hospital to try and break something of the bald brawler's with a kendo stick. If the loser River couldn't get involved in any more hardcore matches, that might be the end of it for good.

But a boiler room brawl... "Where'd you get that idea from?" Adrian asked as she snatched the contract from the air before it drifted over the railing. Boiler Room Brawls were a very rare and very specific sort of match. No pinfalls, no submissions, no knockouts. Just the two of them in the middle of nowhere beating each other to a pulp before they could find an exit. Kind of like a cage match, only instead of a relatively safe ring and steel wire cage, there were concrete floors, steam vents, pipes and other weapons. All the worst aspects of a falls count anywhere match with no officials to oversee it in case one of them died in the room. Adrian might have been mad, but even that prospect gave her pause for thought.

Honestly though, what was the difference between agreeing to a match like that and what she was already doing? The former cosplayer was already out hunting for blood and River was willing to give as good as she took, at least this way she might actually make a big show this time. "Fine..." she growled, sticking the contract in her waistband as she pointed her kendo stick at River threateningly. "You want it, you got it... if you promise to put my title up for grabs as well." She said, it was a big risk at this point, but so was anything to do with River.

Styx groaned and rolled her head around. ”The fuck does it matter where I got the idea from?” Her tone was exasperated, annoyed, as she brought her gaze down on Adrian. ”Look, the referees have a little strike going on against me, okay? It was the best I could get. Take it or leave it.”

She looked over her shoulder at the ICPWAWTF belt or whatever Adrian called it, then turned back with an amused smirk. ”Fine,” She thumbed towards it. ”You want your toy back, you can have it back if you win. When I win, you owe me a pack of Lifesavers, because that’s about all its worth.”

Ah, that explained a lot. You didn't really need officials to oversee a boiler room brawl, just someone to watch the door far away and not be abused by River. Considering her record of attacking announcers and refs this was probably something she should have seen coming. "Alright, deal." Adrian said firmly, glaring at River as she declared her personal belt to be just a toy. "I don't know what a pack of lifesavers are."

Styx evened her eyes as she looked back at Adrian. ”Lifesavers. The candy.” She canted her head to the side. ”Shit. You went deep native, didn't you?”