AV 15 Hardcore Title Boiler Room Brawl: Adrian Kytes(c) Vs. River Styx

Welp, this was it. River was charging down on Adrian, arm swinging to take her head off to finish the fight once and for all, even with a tweaked ankle. Perfect.

The former cosplayer sighed in relief as she dropped down to one side, pushing off the wall to let River coming charging past while her legs scissored around the stampeding brawler's ankles, trying to drop River down with a drop-toe-hold. "Remember... like, months ago, when I said there was more to hardcore stuff... ya know... more than just hitting each other with sticks?" she asked.

Everything was perfect. Styx was closing in, moving as fast as a woman her size with a likely-fractured ankle could ever hope to move, and it seemed like she was so close to ending this. In two or so minutes - provided she could figure out how to leave - she would be the AFW Hardcore Champion. Just like she was always supposed to be.

Then...Styx wasn’t sure what happened. Adrian disappeared, she tripped and wound up going face first into the wall, smashing her face against a pipe at terminal velocity. Against most women, that would’ve knocked them out clean in an instant. Not Styx. With her, it just made her wish that happened.

She dropped to the floor on her chest, hearing Adrian’s taunt from behind but being unable to respond with all the blood in her mouth. Too much blood. In fact...in fact…

Styx slammed her fist into the floor and groggily pushed up, as she rolled her tongue around her teeth. She spat a burst of blood onto the floor, clearing her mouth of it all. Sure enough, right in the middle, there was a chipped tooth. Half of a canine, she was pretty sure.

Even in her foggy haze, she managed to snarl and steal one of Brittany’s favorite lines. ”You’re dead. You’re so dead.”

Adrian pulled herself from the wreckage, chuckling despite the pain. She was probably definitely going to pay for that, but at least she could enjoy the moment while it lasted. Crawling over to the bloodied brawler, the brunette tried to get her hands around River's head, feeling some of the blood running down the bald woman's chin as she put as much strength as she could into lifting her up before dunking her head straight back down.

How many bar fights had Styx been in? How many cage matches? How many people had she gone through over the years? More than she ever cared to count. Maybe more than she could count. Out of all of them, not a single one - man or woman - ever broke her damn teeth. Only Adrian Kytes. ”Adrian Fucking Kytes…”

Styx cursed and spit out a little more blood as she continued to rise, eager to only to have her face smacked right into her own blood. A loud, sickening crack rang down the corridor as her skull struck the floor, and now it was her turn to lay there in a pool of her own bodily fluids. Not unconscious, not yet, but getting closer and closer with every moment.

"Nggh!" Adrian grunted as she pressed River's forehead back down into the blood and concrete, that was heavier than she expected. It was tempting to just let her lie there in the growing red pool, leave her bleeding out in the halls for the medics to find once she got the heck out of the boiler room, but there was still things to take care of here before the hardcore champ could leve safely.

If River got back up... it was unlikely but she might... and got a surprise attack with her brass knuckles then they might as well start the funeral processions there and then. She needed to disarm the bald brawler, and lying face down was the perfect time to go to work, shuffling over, trying to find the right hand and slowly slide the brass knuckles off. Adrian doubted those would fit her, if that was even how brass knuckles worked, she never used them, still: better for no-one to have them. "Off ya get" she gunted, trying to separate flesh from metal.

For a few seconds, Styx was out. It was brief, a flask knockout, but she drifted into unconsciousness while she as flat on the floor. When her brain was done restarting, she was greeted by a strange sensation. Fingers, fidgeting with her brass knuckles, trying to slip them off. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she realized what was going on. Once again, Adrian Kytes was trying to steal what was rightfully hers.

From the grave rose River Styx. With a fierce, feral scream, the bald brawler pushed up and reached out, trying to wrap her fingers around Adrian's scrawny neck with a crushing goozle.

Rage - unbridled, unfiltered, undiluted - burned in her eyes, as she growled through her bloody teeth.

Adrian had just about gotten the latest in the long line of foriegn objects used by River away from her when a sudden scream of pure rage made her hands slip from the shock before the bald brawler started to push herself back up. "Nononnononononnono staydown you want to stay down!" Adrian insisted, moving to raise her arm up in an attempt to smack her back down before a massive hand wrapped around her throat.

Just what was River made of? The hardcore champ was making a running list of all the things she'd done to the brawler and it still wasn't stopping her! Yeah, Adrian had managed to pick herself up from being out cold and bleeding on the floor, but there she had time to move, she didn't have someone lying on top trying to essentially loot her for weapons. This was something else and Adrian wanted no part of it.

Despite what many thought, Styx didn’t think she really hated anyone. That required a level of caring and attention that she usually didn’t have. But, as she held Adrian’s throat, squeezed away, and enjoyed the pained expressions on her face, she knew that she’d reached that rare point. She wanted to make sure the hardcore champion realized it, too.

Styx sat up and continued to rise, keeping her fingers clamped down tight all the way. Her gloves helped the grip, and even though her arm still hurt, she could push past it long enough to do what needed to be done. For this, it was worth the pain.

She got back to her feet and charged forward, carrying Adrian along with her. She didn’t go too far, though, merely darting to the other side of the corridor, as she tried to slam her rival’s back into a fire extinguisher hanging up on the wall.

Rival? Was that what Adrian really was to her, at this point? They’d fought enough for it to qualify, and that fact just made Styx want to break her even more.

Adrian gagged as River tried to throttle the life out of the former cosplayer, both her hands grabbing on to the bald brawler's wrist for dear life as River continued to rise up, and then she charged.

The brunette was dragged along for the short ride with a painful stop, her back being forcibly bent over the Fire Extinguisher and the back of her head bouncing off against the wall, causing her to slump in the bald brawler's grasp, eyes half-closed.

As gratifying as it would be to win the title, Styx wouldn't be satisfied. She knew it wasn't enough to just beat Adrian Kytes, not anymore. True, when she won this, the stipulations would mean that she’d never be a problem for Styx ever again, but she craved something deeper. She didn't want to see Adrian again on television. She didn't want to hear the name. She didn't want the soon-to-be-former hardcore champion to set foot in the same ring she did. Styx wanted to destroy Adrian, here and now, for all time.

She released the hold on Adrian’s neck, only to quickly replace it was another one, as she wrapped her arms around the former cosplayer’s chest and pulled her close for a bearhug, mashing their bodies together, crushing the smaller woman against her chest. With her hurting shoulder she couldn't get 100% of her power into it, but she had more than enough to make the hold really hurt.

And the best part? She was in a perfect position to watch as the life drained from her body. She'd get to see the look on her as the title slipped away.