Anything You Can Do

Yup, Army turned around and Alicia was on the attack again, coming towards with those lethal legs already in motion, looking to go right back to the pounding.

”Whoa, Army!” Suzy warned from ringside. ”Kick, kick-”

Yeah, he didn’t need to the warning to know about the incoming pain - his body was already reacting, moving his hand down to protect his ribs. They were feeling better now that he’d managed to give them a break, but that would change fast when she started hammering them again.

Or if. As Army was learning, Alicia’s legs had many ways to deal damage and many targets to choose from. Like the knee to his face that he saw coming far, far too late to do a damn thing about it.

The blow hit him straight on the noggin, and if she’d aimed just a little lower, it probably would’ve busted his nose. It still knocked him for a loop, though, and sent him flopping back, right back into the corner. The turnbuckle was the only thing that kept him upright, as he wound up sitting against it, one leg curled in and the other stretched out as the pads propped him upright.

His arms came up for some hasty defense, but that was more reflex than anything - his mind was reeling, the world was spinning, and he’d need a few seconds before he could pull himself back up. Seconds he was unlikely to get.

He was still managing a weak smile, though. What a fight.

As a boxer, Army naturally had good hand speed and excellent reflexes. You didn’t survive in any combat sport without them. Unfortunately (for him, less so for Alicia), he either guessed wrong or listened to the chatterbox on the outside trying to backseat drive the fight. Given how well it’d turned out for her, Alicia would have thought he’d have known better.

So his arms went low, shielding his ribs, leaving his thick skull completely open for the running knee that she promptly slammed into it at high speed.

When the kickboxer turned back around, she’d clearly knocked him reeling – he was flopped back against the turnbuckle, half-sitting, half-collapsed in a way that was basically inviting her to take full advantage.

And Alicia planned to. He was in the ropes, so no point in going for a scissors. But she was standing, he wasn’t and that gave her plenty of options for how to proceed.

Army’s guard was up high now, trying to shield his head. Which was fine. Absolutely fine. Whether it was any good or not – didn’t matter. The way he was looking, it was even odds whether Alicia could just blast through it anyway.

Didn’t matter.

He went high, she went low. Right back to those ribs. Her right foot came up off the ground, arced around and went to cannon into the left side, blasting into the ribs. Instantly, she pulled it back, switched legs with blurring speed and repeated the same kick at his right side. And then Alicia spun around, pivoting to deliver a back side kick to his sternum with as much strength as she could muster.

Time to show him her power.

If this were boxing, the referee would probably come in right about now and issue the ten count, give Army a chance to get back to his feet. It wouldn’t be a good thing, he’d lose points, but at least he’d be to get a vertical base and reset things. He’d be out of the corner.

There were moments were Army missed boxing rules. This was one such moment.

He took the first shot into his ribs full force, crashing hard and reigniting old pains. He managed to keep from crying out. Barely.

Army had time enough to see the second kick coming, but he wasn’t nearly fast enough to do much in the way of defense. He tried to get his arm down. Couldn’t do it fast enough. The kick hit anyway, and this time he couldn’t suppress a groan as his ribs were hammered by what felt like an actual hammer.

He went into full guard as Alicia began to spin around, figuring he’d likely have to protect his chest. He was right. He managed to keep the back side kick from firmly connecting, but that did not a thing to negate the force. It slammed him back against the turnbuckle and knocked the wind out of him, rocking his head against the pads.

Stunned and aching, Army bounced forward and went down to his hands and knees, staring at the canvas and gasping for air.

The first kick landed perfectly. The second landed perfectly, making the big man moan in pain. The third, well, he got his arms in the way of that one for all the good it did him. Really, that one was overkill – a bodyscissors right now would be ridiculous overkill. She could probably make him tap with barely any pressure.

And given how he had fallen forward, almost sprawling on the mat, he probably wasn’t going to be resisting very much for the next few seconds. But she hadn’t worked his arms at all, and Alicia wasn’t certain she’d be able to hold him in a full nelson long enough for her to make him tap to that. Nor did she entirely like the idea of letting a boxer have a free, unharmed arm anywhere near her ankles while she scissored him.

She needed another option.

At this point, Alicia hadn’t any idea of how much time she had left. She remembered the three-minute mark. That had been a while back, so they could be into the last minute. Whatever, they had to be pushing time now. And, well, she wasn’t in the mood for anything complicated. Standing over the boxer, staring down at him on hands and knees, her neck gave a twinge. And that gave her an idea.

The British amazon simply took a stride forward, placing her thick thighs on either side of Army’s head where it hung towards the mat. She dipped slightly down to get the perfect positioning. And then she straightened up sharply, going to cross her ankles and closing the gap between her legs dramatically as well as trying to crank his neck back. Placing her hands on the ropes to aid in keeping her balance, the redhead went to apply a brutal standing reverse headscissors – her little way of paying back Army’s headlock.

She was pretty sure she could do it better.

Army had made a critical mistake, here. He wasn't quite sure what it was, not exactly, but that was the only thing he could think of to explain the current situation, and how he’d gone from controlling things to being pretty well boned.

Getting kicked while he was on his feet sucked, but at least that way there was some give each blow her took. Up against that turnbuckle, there’d been nowhere to go with each blow he took, which just compounded the pain. Any recovery time he’d bought in the past minute or two was gone, now. The pain was just as bad as before. Maybe worse.

But okay. He could work through pain. He’d come back from worse - not much worse, but worse. He just had...to…

Army had started to stand up, when he felt something soft hit the top of his head. He looked to both sides, and for a confused moment, wondered why Alicia’s legs were blocking his view.

When the constriction happened, though, everything became much clearer. He gasped, then groaned, then gritted his teeth as his neck was squeezed with fierce pressure, making every simple breath an intense struggle all by itself. His hands came up to pry at her pants, attempting to unhook the ankles, but he didn’t think there was any real chance of getting them apart. Just a reflex.

No, all he could do was stay there and suffer, try to endure the pain and keep a lucid mind. He’d need it when the opportunity came. If it ever did.

With her legs around Army’s neck and head, Alicia was fairly convinced it was all over bar the shouting. It wasn’t the ideal position for her, not quite. She did her best work on the mat but the posture she was forcing on the boxer had to be infinitely worse than the headlock he’d had her in.

She could feel his hands scrabbling at her ankles but, with her weight on them and the angle he was forced to work at, he wasn’t going to be able to break her lock or do any damage. It was just a question of how much agony he wanted to sit through before he tapped like everyone else. Pulling herself up with the ropes, Alicia rose onto tip-toe, the vice-like embrace of the British amazon’s thighs tightening still further until she fancied she could feel his skull starting to creak.

Keeping her grip tight, working all the muscles of her upper legs against him, she let her gaze fall… and blinked in surprise. Down on the mat, something that she was perhaps the only one to notice given the lack of comments, Army’s foot lay across the rope.

Well. Apparently, he’d just got a stay of execution. Whether he’d done it deliberately or not, Alicia wasn’t about to ignore it. It took her a moment but she broke her hold and stepped back, pursing her lips in slight irritation. At herself, mostly. If she’d thought about it, of course he’d be able to reach the ropes – she was using them for leverage as it was.

Oh well. The big redhead gave him a second to recover and then, mindful of the time she had left, she went to get him back on his feet. He’d put up a good fight and deserved to lose by knockout, not by having to tap out.

Carmen had noticed Army’s foot on the ropes, but had been torn on whether or not she would call it and ask the hold to be broken. She’d said it was freestyle, but hadn’t specified any rules, so binding Alicia to them now seemed a little unfair. But as much as Army coud’ve used the lesson in humility, he did deserve a fair shot.

She’d just started to open her mouth when Alicia made the point moot, breaking the hold and giving Army some much-needed fresh air. Not that his situation had vastly improved - he was still hurting, and Alicia was very much in control. Given her style, the reprieve would be brief, and she’d be switching up for something more agonizing in a few seconds. Alicia clearly wasn’t the type to waste opportunities.

Army, on the other hand, didn’t know why Alicia broke the hold. Frankly, he didn’t much care. He was free now, and his chances were steadily rising. But if he wanted to survive what little time he had left, he’d have to make a move. A big move.

As she lifted him up, Army summoned his reverses and wrapped his arms around her legs, pulling her in tight against his chest. In one, deft move, he lifted her up, fell forward, and slammed her back on the canvas, making sure to throw his weight into the vicious spinebuster.

When it was over, Army had his hand in the middle of her chest, pinning down while he looked her over. He was breathing heavy, but managed to smirk back at her through the exhaustion. ”Back on top.”

Rope breaks weren’t her favourite thing in the world, though they had their place, but Alicia generally liked to think she played by the rules. So Army got to hang on a few more seconds-

Midway through dragging him to his feet, the big redhead found strong arms wrapping around her legs and before she could even think to counter, she was up off her feet and slamming back down again with Army on top of her. The breath exploded out of her, her violet eyes going wide at the sudden reversal of fortune.

If the big idiot had done anything other than stay where he was, sprawled right on top of her, he’d have gotten away with it too. Except, instead, he just lay there, grinning at her like he’d won something.

Well, he had. Sort of. Maybe.

… Probably not.

Alicia was breathing hard too, both from the exertion of the fight and the little matter of two hundred pounds of boxer driving into her midriff. But she managed a sharp, vicious smirk of her own in return, her lips peeling back to bare teeth. The redhead only had breath for two words but she made them count.

”Enjoy it.”

Even as she spoke, Army would feel her legs sliding over his sides, rising up until his thoroughly abused lower ribs were trapped in the firm clasp of Alicia’s rock-solid lower limbs. Her ankles twined together above the small of his back and, with no further ado, the scissor specialist turned her thighs loose on his sides.

If he’d thought her headscissors was bad, this ought to really make him squeal.

She’d have to be a bit careful though. She wanted him to tap, but it was probably bad manners to actually damage his ribs while his sister watched.

In the back of Army’s head, he knew he should’ve been following up on the spinebuster,in a decisive and immediate fashion. Four minutes in the ring with Alicia had proven to be a small war, and she’d shown she wasn’t to be taken the least bit lightly. He’d done well, but that could change. Fast.

But, end of the day, Army was Army. Had to enjoy the moment. Besides, he was still a little winded, couldn’t just rush back up.

Her smile should’ve been a warning. Granted, Alicia smiled a lot, but this was a full scale Cheshire Cat grin. He learned why soon enough, as the iron thighs began to close around his midsection, tighten up, and…

”Gaarrgh!” Army wailed with a croaking groan as her legs clamped away at his tortured sides, pressing into him like steel cables. Bones were bending in ways they weren’t designed to as the pressure mounted, higher and higher, crushing him by inches. He hated the idea of tapping, but this was just a spar, right? Not worth it. Army arched his back, raised his hand, and…

...didn’t tap. Screw it. Spar or not, he wasn't going out like this.

Instead, he slammed his fist into the mat and made the ring shake, along with a primal growl. His muscles began to harden, tightening up to resist the relentless pressure, and after a couple of deep breathes he started to stand up. One foot on the floor, then the other, and a slow push followed. Up, up, up.

Got him. No ropes, nowhere for him to go. And Carmen hadn’t said anything so she’d got time.

She’d got him and the wail he couldn’t hold back told her already that he wouldn’t be lasting through this one. It was just a question of how long, how hard she had to squeeze, the mechanics of it. Simple, easy. A good end to a good fight, as far as she was concerned at least.

His hand came up, wavered, Alicia’s eyes gleamed in anticipation and…

And he didn’t do it. Punching the canvas was a hint but then she could feel him try to fight back. Trying to stand up. No. No, no. That wasn’t happening.

Alicia’s lip peeled back, turning her grin ghoulish with effort as she ramped up the pressure. He wasn’t getting out of this one too. She didn’t care how big and strong he was. As he got to his feet, she tightened her scissors more and more, chewing at his sides with her adductors, working those ribs and working them hard.

She didn’t know how long they’d got left. Thirty seconds? Twenty? But she could still make this work. Her eyes didn’t leave his, her hands clasping behind his neck to support herself in mid-air as she waited to see him give. Even if he didn’t tap straightaway, she’d see it in his eyes as she screwed the vice tighter and tighter.