Anything You Can Do

Carmen kept her position on the outside of the ring, didn’t move much as Alicia began to put on the squeeze, but inside she was becoming more distressed than she let on. There was the safety element to consider - again, this was far from her area of expertise, but she didn’t need to watch much MMA to get an idea for what this sort of choke could do to a person if it was applied for too long.

She had just begun to raise her hand when Alicia ended things before they could reach that point. Suzy was left choking and gasping as the bigger woman moved to straddle her, left helpless underneath. Humbled, and hopefully wiser from the experience.

”God damn!” Suzy spat, shaking her head. ”You…”

Whatever insult she was about to throw got interrupted when she shut her mouth tight, thinking better of it. Yes. Definitely wiser.

Carmen nodded at the display with soft smile, suitably impressed. It was a quick demonstration of Alicia’s ability, but an effective one, and the redhead seemed keen on continuing. Since there wasn’t really anyone else around, it seemed like Carmen would be getting a firsthand look.

She opened her mouth to speak the door to the gym burst open and extremely soaked Army came bursting in, carrying two Pizza Hut boxes. ”Woo! Holy shit!” He came in laughing, as the water cascading down his hair and dripped off his Street Fighter V t-shirt, clinging tight to his muscled body. Probably looked good. Didn't feel good. Reminded him a lot of home, though, so that was nice.”Man, it’s coming down, Jesus-”

He’d only taken a few steps inside when he noticed Carmen, along with exhausted Suzy, and some redhead straddling her chest. A sight worthy of his raised eyebrow. ”Oh. Hey.” He stared at the new woman for a moment, before turning to Carmen. ”What I miss?”

Alicia didn’t bother acknowledging let alone replying to the boxer she’d just thrashed, particularly given the way she very sensibly bit off the insult before she got too far. Instead, her attention was focused on Carmen, who was thinking something through. She hadn’t seen anyone else since she’d walked in, which meant either she was done – which would be annoying because that warmup had just got her blood going enough that she could really use another match. Or she’d be fighting Carmen and…

Well, that was something to appreciate.

Except then someone else decided to drop in.

Keeping her position over the Latina, Alicia glanced over at the door when the voice rang out to find they’d been joined by a tall, well-built guy who’d clearly not bothered with a coat. Not that she was objecting because he certainly could pull off the wet t-shirt look, given his obviously athleticism, and she spent a moment giving him a very interested look.

A master of stating the obvious, it seemed, given how soaked he was, but nice to look at. She had to wonder how the pizza would be if he was that drenched though.

”Carmen wanted to see what I could do,” Alicia dismounted the boxer’s body as she spoke, rising up to her feet and stepping over to rest her arms on the ropes as she eyed the newcomer curiously, ”So I kicked this loudmouth’s ass as a warmup.”

That’s what he’d missed, in a nutshell. Whoever he was. Given the way he looked in that t-shirt, she was ready to bet on him being another boxer. Carmen had mentioned a brother; maybe this was him. That would make sense and there was certainly a family resemblance there, as her eyes flickered from one to the other.

Army had been expecting an explanation from Carmen on that, but the woman spoke up before she had the chance, speaking with some British in her voice and standing up. He could get a clear look at her as she made her way over, and what he saw made him wonder what Suzy was thinking taking her on. She was only an inch or two shorter than Army himself, and he’d tussled with more than enough women to recognize a fighter’s body when he saw it. This woman had it. Completely.

Interesting. On top of that, she looked pumped, like she was ready to run through the entire gym. Which would’ve been fun to watch, if anyone else had been around.

Judging by the way she was looking at him, she was a little intrigued herself. For a second, they gazed at each other with identical stares, sizing themselves up.

”This is Alicia Wells.” Carmen started the introductions as Suzy rolled her way out of the ring, gingerly rubbing her neck. ”She’s a walk-in, Friction wrestler, thinking about joining up. Alicia, this is Armando, my little brother.” She moved over to Suzy and gave her some water along with a pat on the back, getting her to sit down and take it easy. ”He’s also a loudmouth. You two will get along.”

Army waved Carmen off and sat the pizza down on a nearby table, smirking all the way. ”Being a loudmouth’s only a problem if you can’t back it up. Which I can. And do.” He looked back at Alicia over his shoulder. ”And call me Army. Sounds less like a porn star’s name.”

Army started to peel his wet t-shirt off, working it inch by inch. ”So you’re warming up.” He got the shirt up to the halfway point, speaking muffled words through it. ”Warming up for what? You and Carmen going at it?”

Little brother.

Alicia couldn’t help but snicker at that one. It wasn’t as much of a misnomer as it might have seemed, because Carmen was an inch or so taller than she was and couldn’t be giving up more than an inch to her brother. And, while he was bigger, she wouldn’t say it was more than… what? Thirty, forty pounds? He definitely wasn’t the Incredible Hulk. Equally though, there wasn’t much little about him.

The redhead gave him a nod and a wave as she was introduced, her gaze sliding from one Rodriguez sibling to the other as they bickered. She had to admit to being curious about why Carmen thought they’d get along, though she’d admittedly been interested from the second he’d been introduced. He looked like a fighter and that was a sure way to net Alicia Wells’ attention.

That said, Armando – or ‘Army’ – promptly made it pretty clear, the tall kickboxer’s lips curling into a smirk of her own as he talked. Though Army still sounded like a porn star’s name to her. And as for whether he could back being a loudmouth up? Well, that was practically an invitation.

”Is that so?” Alright then, that made two Rodriguez siblings she was going to have to fight, if he had any talent at all.

And the view from the back did match the front. Nice. Her eyes skittered back to Carmen, who was still nursing the younger boxer and back to Army, then her smirk widened.

”Maybe. Or maybe you’d like to try your luck, big guy?”

Alicia spread her arms wide in a ‘come at me’ gesture. One Rodriguez, two Rodriguezes, step right up and she’d take them on.

There was a time when the idea of challenging a girl to a fight wouldn’t have crossed Army’s mind. Those days were long gone. He was in the world of Tension, and in this world, that sort of thing was a regular occurrence.

He’d been all set to throw down the guantlet at Alicia’s feet - the woman was clearly aching for another fight, and he’d have no problem giving her a good one. Then she went ahead and beat him to the punch. That was new. Typically, he was the one calling others out, talking big, trying to get people to come at him. Was weird to be on the other side.

When he finally finished peeling off the shirt, the look he had for Alicia was quizzical. He put on a little show, taking a moment to scan her over from head to toe, like he was giving the idea some serious thought. Just a quick tease, before the inevitable.

”Yeah, we can go.”  He was already wearing his red and blank boxing trunks and it had been a littlle too long since they’d thrown a match his way. He was hungry for it. ”Fair warning, though: when I put you down, luck's got nothing to do with it.” He held up his fists and tapped them together. ”All comes down to these, big girl.”

Carmen wasn’t the least bit annoyed by this sudden development. Both Alicia and Army seemed to crave good fights, so them challenging one another was something she saw coming...perhaps not so quickly, but still, hardly unexpected.

Even so, a sparring match between them could go for a while and get more intense than she was willing to allow in the middle of the day, smack dab in the center of her gym. So…

”Five minutes.” She held up five fingers to emphasize the point, while Suzy plopped down on the floor beside her, sitting indian-style to enjoy the show. ”That’s what you two get before I call it. Understood?”

Neither of them would probably like that, but tough. Carmen’s gym, Carmen’s rules.

She hadn’t really expected to need to prod Army Rodriguez anymore and Alicia had known him for about five minutes, so she wasn’t disappointed when after doing the usual ‘I’m thinking about it’ routine, he accepted.

Good. And then he slammed his fists together, talked the talk about how it was all about them and tried to trash talk.

Cute. Very, very cute.

The big redhead rolled her head around, stretching in preparation for what was definitely going to be a harder match. Definitely a boxer then, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise or anything that intimidated her. The contrast thrilled her, particularly given the chance to pit her own kicks against his punches and see which came out on top.

”I’ll make sure to leave you one to tap out,” She shot back, ”And you’re right – luck won’t have anything to do with it.”

It was at that point that Carmen threw in her proviso, and Alicia blew out a sigh of disappointment, returning her gaze to the other woman with a roll of her eyes.

”You’re no fun.” Her complaint was mostly joking, but she’d certainly have preferred not to have that limit. Still, Carmen’s ring, Carmen’s rules. She’d just have to make the most of those five minutes. No doubt Army would be thinking the same thing, but the kickboxer took a step back.

Taking up a hipshot stance, resting one fist on the bold curve of her voluptuous hip, she beckoned the big boxer on with the other – the very picture of confidence. A mischievous grin played about her lips.

”C’mon then, Army, stop wasting time.”

Army cocked an eyebrow as Alicia started to bounce inside the ring, far more eager than most women would’ve been to take on a heavyweight boxer. Not that Tension had any shortage of women who could throw down with a guy and win, far more often than you’d expect. But few of them were this damn gung-ho.

Not that Army was complaining. Hell, he liked it. He was a fan of the pose she was taking, too.

”I’m coming, I’m coming.” He threw the same smirk back at her and pulled out a pair fingerless gloves from his pockets, not unlike the ones Alicia was wearing. Not all Tension fights happened in the ring, a fact he’d quickly picked up on after coming to Japan. Never hurt to be prepared.

”Five minutes is all I need.” On came one glove. ”Knocked plenty of dudes out in the first round.” Then came the other one. ”Only takes is one good punch. Just one.”

Army hopped up on the apron, then grabbed the top rope and leapt in with a single bounce, landing hard in the ring. It wasn’t meant to psyche her out - she didn’t seem like the type to faze easy - but it was enough to get his blood pumping. He raised his fists and took up an orthodox stance, swaying from side to side, keeping off his heels. Just like he’d been taught for well over a decade. Very much ready to go.

Quick thing, though: he extended his fist and offered a bump to her. Just a little sign of respect. She seemed friendly enough so far, wouldn’t hurt.

If that had been meant to impress her, the big redhead wasn’t much impressed. She’d knocked plenty of guys out with one good kick herself and had fought enough boxers to have an idea of what to expect. Exactly what would depend on what Army himself brought to the table, but he conversely didn’t have a clue about what she could do. He hadn’t seen her fight the younger Latina and none of them seemed really familiar with her matches.

That at least gave her one advantage here. That said, she’d have to dodge. Trying to block any punches he threw was not going to work out for her.

The hand not presently resting on that still-cocked hip came up, Alicia raising one finger to illustrate her point.

”Who says you’re getting ‘one good punch’?” She followed it up by raising a second and giving him a devastating smirk as she waved down the curves of her body, ”And you might have noticed but I’m not a dude.”

Matching his stance with her own, Alicia stepped close enough to rap her own clenched fist against his respectfully. Then she moved back, not taking her eyes off the big man as she called to Carmen.

”Mind starting us off?”

Call her old-fashioned but she’d quite like a bell for this or at least someone officially calling the start. As soon as things kicked off, Alicia would start sliding to the side, darting in to throw a jab of her own to test Army’s speed.

This was going to be fun.

Army just followed Alicia’s hand as it traveled up and down her body, nodding with approval. - yes, he did, in fact, notice that she was not a ‘dude’. It was just about the hardest thing not to notice, really. Baggy pants did nothing for her, but aside from them, he could tell this was a very well put together woman, a body that looked like it had been honed with the precision of a fine instrument.

Would be nice to have someone more his size around the gym for workouts. More immediately, it was hopefully going to make this spar a fun little five minutes.

”We’ll see.” He tapped gloves with her and hopped back, falling into his rhythm. ”We will see…”

With both of them in place, Carmen glanced down at the phone in her hand and started up a timer. ”And…” She snapped her finger at just the right moment. ”Go.”

Army didn’t waste much time with Alicia. With others, he might’ve danced around the ring a bit, tried to get a feel for the way she moved. With her, he figured the best way to do that was to press in from the start. She’d either be able to hang and give him a good feel for what she could do, or she’d go down quick and he’d win. Both outcomes he was cool with it.

He came towards her and wound up taking a jab against the side of his guard. Good shot. Not the best he’d ever taken, but far from the worst, either, with good movement to back it up.

Army stepped forward the second after it hit, trying to keep on her before she could get away, and threw out a jab of his own, going straight towards her face with it. An instant later, he moved to the side and threw out another, going for the head again, but this time with more force behind it, enough to really hurt if he could get past her defenses.

From the very first, it was clear to Alicia that she was dealing with a totally different class of opponent in Armando Rodriguez. He was obviously bigger and stronger than her last challenger, but he was also just as confident and just better. He wasn’t about to let her steamroll over him and it seemed she’d have to be a bit careful in her own right.

Her jab landed, but against his guard, wasting the effort but at least confirming her suspicions. Definitely a boxer then.

The jab he threw back her way just confirmed that, a testing shot in return for hers, and she bobbed her head away. The one that followed was far more serious.

And she didn’t want to just keep on ducking and dodging.

But, like she’d been thinking, Army’s punches weren’t something she could afford to just block. He didn’t have that much of an edge in her in height or – looking at him – weight, but he was a boxer. Alicia would have to be incredibly stupid to try trading punches with a boxer any longer than she had to. She needed to pit her strengths against his weaknesses, not let him set the pace of the fight. So, instead of going to match strength against strength, the redhead went to knock his second jab away and out of line. She resisted the urge to step into him as she did so, instead looking to keep the distance open by backpedalling and sidestepping around to aim a sharp kick at his knee.

This was still the testing each other out stage but, given how little time they had to play with, she didn’t imagine either of them would be wasting it.