Anything You Can Do

The second after Army let go of Alicia and sent her skyward, he had to fall down to one knee, grasping his side and wincing. Surprise, surprise, but lifting her like that with such explosive force required quite a few muscles working in tandem, some of which had been smashed hard by the currently airborne redhead. He wasn’t critical yet, but it needed some tending to, and it meant he didn’t get to watch his handiwork.

He did get to hear it, though, as the ring rocked from the sizable impact. And he got a review.

”Hell yeah! Nice!” Suzy chirped from ringside, though her voice was still full of groans from the stomping she’d taken. ”Drop her!”

It was nice to have encouragement, Army guessed, but he knew he still had a ways to go. The suplex was good, but it would only keep her down for so long. Probably not damn long at all. He needed to follow up on it, ASAFP.

First step was going to be locking her down, wearing on her to even the gap. With that in mind, Army spun around on his knee and pounced on Alicia from behind, roughly grabbing her head and trying to intercept her before she could fully rise. The idea was to pull her into a headlock, squeezing down on her skull and keeping her tight against him. Not a devastating offensive maneuver, nothing he’d ever get her to quit with, but it would keep her grounded and give him some time to recoup. Good way to transition into better things.

More importantly, it would keep her legs away from his ribs. Jesus.

And he’d got a cheering section. How nice for him.

Alicia’s thoughts were a bit snarkier than usual, given she’d been on the receiving end of that and also given she had no intentions of being ‘dropped’ any time soon.

She’d also been wondering how Army would be following up on that one. He didn’t keep her waiting long. The kickboxer had got about halfway to vertical when a heavy weight slammed into her from behind and she went back down.

Well, half way back down. Forced to use her hands to stop herself falling, she couldn’t use them to stop the headlock.

Down on one knee, pressed tightly into Army and with her head being squeezed by his arms, Alicia wasn’t exactly in the best of spots. It could be worse, but it could have been a lot better too. And given the size disparity plus her position, getting to her feet with him on her back wasn’t an option either. So, with her choices limited, the redhead gritted her teeth through her smirk and started firing a barrage of short, snappy elbow strikes into any point on his torso she could hit.

If she could loosen his grip up, Alicia was thinking that maybe she’d be best off taking things to the ground. So far, Army had shown he could throw a kick and knew some wrestling tricks too. But if she could ground him, she could maybe damage those arms a bit, take some of his punching power out. Or get her legs around those ribs, really make them hurt.

First things first, though. More elbows.

Army managed to snag the headlock pretty well, tightened it just like he’d done a hundred times a hundred times in practice. He was still learning a lot about wrestling, but some moves came more naturally than others. This was one of them - it involved his arms, utilized his strength and weight, and was good for grinding an enemy down.

”Having fun-”

He’d been working on a short taunt, when Alicia’s elbows came raining down. They weren’t nearly as bad as her kicks, few things really could be, but they were still a cut above what most fighters were capable above. It didn’t help that his midsection had already had a decent taste of hell. The blows certainly weren’t making it feel any better.

He almost lost the hold after the first couple of strikes, faltering for a second, but he was quick to snap it back on and wrench Alicia’s head about for extra measure. ”Nope, nope.” He gritted his teeth down hard and shook his head, stubbornly keeping the hold as another elbow drilled him. As simple a move as this was, the headlock was the best thing he had going since he stepped into the ring with this woman. Letting it go would mean more kicks. More nasty, nasty kicks. No thank you.

”Okay…” Another couple of elbows came in, one hitting a tender spot, and that was when Army decided to go for broke. He started to stand up, but only so he could get a little height to plant both of his feet on the floor. As soon as he had a got both feet on the ground, Army took a quick twist to the side and tried to whip Alicia around with him as he moved, trying to force her down on her chest while he stayed locked, transitioning into a side headlock.

The second she felt his hold start to loosen even a little, Alicia’s elbows increased in savagery, the redhead twisting her head to the side to relieve the pressure even a fraction. It wasn’t enough to get him to release her, but it was a damn sight better than it had been. Having her head twisted around wasn’t fun, but she was still drilling blows into those ribs and sooner or later he’d have to let go or… Well, potentially run out of time. More importantly, they both knew he’d never get a submission this way and Alicia’s storm of strikes against his ribs could very easily leave him in a bad state for the rest of the fight.

Down on one knee, in an awkwardly uncomfortable position, there wasn’t much else to do for the moment anyway.

Until Army decided he’d had enough and pulled them both up. Initially, Alicia wasn’t sure what he was up to – taking her to her feet would actually make it easier for her to get out without giving him any real advantage in return.

Things cleared up and not for the better when he hit vertical and immediately spun, clearly trying to get her limited vertical base out from under her, leaving her face first on the ground and in an even worse position.

As he tossed her, she dug both hands into his gripping arm, twisting as hard as she could. If she succeeded, she’d still be stuck in the side headlock but at least she wouldn’t be face down – which would give her a bunch more options going forward.

Either way, Army was going to get his headlock. The only question was whether she’d manage to turn around or not.

In the back of Army’s head, internally, he was wondering how well they were stocked up on painkillers in the med cabinet. He knew they had enough of the smaller stuff, the kinds that would work well with the women that Carmen often taught. But he was a big guy taking big blows. He'd need the big guns to put this pain down.

The main reason he worried about this was the current agony his ribs were going through, courtesy of Alicia’s endless attacks. Fighting people who targeted areas of the body was hardly a new thing for him, but he’d never come across someone with such razor focus. He was in control. He was covering her. He has the advantage. But, on top or bottom, she was still bringing the fight to him. He'd managed to get her down, but his sides felt like they were burning from the inside out.

”Goddamn,” He sucked in a few deep breathes as he wrenched the hold, twisting it around to work her neck. The position was good, but she was fighting it like crazy, pushing him to the brink. ”You're a fucking livewire, Red. Shit.”

Breathless and gasping, Army struggled to keep Alicia under control, trying to figure out his next step. Keeping her down like this felt like a winning strategy, but he needed to move on to bigger and better things. He had an idea on what that could be, but first, he needed to make sure she stayed in place for it.

Without a word of warning Army suddenly let go off the headlock, freeing her from the grip and giving her some room to breathe. It wasn't for the sake of mercy, though. He just needed his arms free.

Barely a full second passed before Army planted a foot on the canvas and used it to bounce straight up with a short jump. He raised his arm up as he ascended, then brought it down hard into the center of Alicia’s back as he came down, putting his full weight into an elbow drop.

Not the most devastating move, but he was banking on it keeping her nice and pliant. Just for a couple of seconds...

It’d be nice – but a lie – to say that Alicia was entirely resigned to her failure. She’d still ended up face down on the mat with Army on top, further limiting her options although she was still doing everything she could to make his life difficult. The trouble was she didn’t have many options. The change of position had left her legs useless, meant she couldn’t easily get at his body with her elbows and he was twisting her head and neck like he wanted to pop them off.

It wasn’t enough to make her submit, not even close, but it was intensely frustrating: an emotion the big redhead was channelling into thrashing and squirming as hard as she could. If he was stupid enough to let her get a grip on him, she might be able to get him off her back and then she’d be able to do something about this. As it was, Army was one of the few opponents big and heavy enough that Alicia couldn’t just push up and roll over, not with his dead weight on her back.

Twisting and turning, she managed to put another elbow into his ribs vindictively before suddenly the pressure around her head vanished. The weight on her back followed but Alicia wasn’t a novice. Army hadn’t given up his hold because he felt bad, he’d done it to transition to something worse. Immediately doing her best to replace the oxygen she’d lost, she began pushing herself back up as fast as possible.

She’d have done better to roll away. She was blaming it on the lingering effects of the headlock.

Before she’d got much beyond a push-up position, Army’s elbow slammed down right between her shoulder blades, driving her right back down again. Dazed and moaning, Alicia just lay there for a moment, trying to get her limbs to do what she needed them to do.

”Boom!”

Carmen watched from ringside and made a mental note to chastise her cheerleading pupil later. For now, her eyes were focused forward, centered on the match. It was getting good, in more ways than one. Army was fighting smarter than he usually did, smarter than he usually had to - it seemed like Alicia was bringing out a better style in him. But she doubted the redhead was finished, either. She had an energy that Carmen wished she could bottle and make her students drink.

Another quick check on the clock, and she was back to watching from the ring apron. ”Pushing three!”

The announcement came right as Army drilled Alicia into the ground, and it made him click his teeth. A little annoying, that. There was no way he could pin Alicia or knock her out in that time. He wasn't too sure on making her give up, either, but that felt like his best chance. He didn't know too many submission moves, though, aside from the basics. So the basics would have to do.

Staying on top of her, Army whirled around on her back and reached forward, going for her ankles. He grabbed one, snatched it tight, then reached for the other, pulling them both under his arm and tucking tight.

The Boston Crab. He’d never done it before, but it was a pretty hard move to mess up. Capture the legs, squeeze tight, lean back and…

An elbow to the back might not be the subtlest or most devastating move of all time, but it was still no fun at all when delivered by someone like Army who had some real mass to throw behind it. So, even someone as big and determined as Alicia wasn’t going to just shake it off right away.

She was still moving but the kickboxer wasn’t in any real position to stop the Latino boxer from doing whatever he’d wanted to do following on from that.

The warning bells started to sound in earnest when Army turned to face her legs. It hadn’t been that long since she’d been in roughly this same position and it gave her a great idea of what was coming her way. That was only reinforced when Alicia felt him grab for her ankles and start to lean back – Boston Crab. She could already feel the pressure building in her spine and this really wasn’t somewhere she wanted to stay for any length of time. She’d heard Carmen’s comment. Two minutes in this hold would be hell.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, planting her palms flat on the mat, Alicia shoved up as hard as she could and simultaneously yanked back with all the force her legs could muster. It was an awkward position, one that could only get worse, but her best chance seemed to be to throw Army off her back with as much authority as she could assert. Given how much damage this could do to her legs and spine, the redhead needed to cut this hold short now.

He didn’t seem as familiar with the hold as Cecilia had been, so that gave her some hope she could power out before he really locked it in deep.

There was some urgency in Army’s movements, as he tried to scoop Alicia into the Boston Crab and get the pincers locked in. Not the least bit because he knew this was pivotal to his success. Damage like this wouldn't come easy.

If he'd had any doubts on that point, all he had to do was feel Alicia’s legs as he started to lock in the hold. It was hard to really tell through the pants, but he could easily see that they seemed bigger that just about any other women he'd come across so far. Firmer. Harder. He didn't want to get a further demonstration on what they could do. His ribs had enough to say on the matter.

That was too bad, really, because it seemed like he'd get that demo anyway. Before he could properly lock things in and start the bending, he felt the raw energy surging through her legs. This was already an awkward position by design, and it was getting noticeably more awkward with each second, as he was pulled forward, more and more until…

Over her went. Tumbling forward, ass over teakettle. ”Fuck!”

Army came down on her shoulders and landed weird in the corner, stuck upside for a moment with his body folded in half and his butt driving up in the air. He muttered a quick curse and rolled back to his knees, shaking it off and turning around to see how Alicia was doing.

That was good. Really good, and Carmen’s short applause from ringside showed she had similar thoughts. Didn't think she could pull off a move like that, but Alicia legs kept on proving to be things you couldn't underestimate. Just reinforced the need to shut her down - Army was starting to feel like he was playing with a live grenade, one that would blow up and kick the shit out of him at a second’s notice.

It hadn’t been an elegant counter by any means, mostly brute force and ignorance, but it’d worked and that was what counted. At the end of the day, elegance was nice but decidedly second to not having her back twisted into the letter ‘c’ or worse. Actually, after having Army all over her for the last minute or more, just not having his weight at her back was a massive relief.

That said, despite the twinges in her back and the way her neck and head still felt, the first thing Alicia did was scramble to her feet. She hadn’t been in the driver’s seat of this match since the suplex had rattled her and he’d got that headlock on her. True, it could have been a hell of a lot more punishing but – win or lose – the big redhead was determined to get some serious offensive momentum going in the next two minutes.

Her impromptu counter had thrown Army into a corner, where he’d managed to get himself back to his knees looking her way. She could work with that.

Deciding it was her turn to keep him down, Alicia began to move towards him. She started with a quick shuffle but, as she approached, the redhead sped up to a sprint. Her plan was simple – get to the point where he thought she was going for a kick, race in as fast as possible and slam a running knee into his face.

Get him down, get him on his back and get her legs around those ribs.

Then they’d see who was having fun here.

Alicia was back to smirking, a grin that a shark would be proud to own, complete with cold, dark eyes that promised a merciless end to anyone who let her get her jaws around them.