Hammer and Tongs

Another crank on Army’s arm, and more pain came flooding in. He was seriously starting to regret not doing more to up his flexibility when he had the chance. While he was more limber than some guys he knew, he was still stiff enough for this to be damn uncomfortable, especially when she’d been working his arm for so long. Alicia was like a wide-hipped, redheaded pitbull. Once she sank her teeth in, she wasn’t letting go for much.

Army tried to fight it when she brought the struggle back on the canvas, but it was a futile effort. She had all the leverage like this, so wherever she wanted to go, he was following. Didn’t mean he had to make it easy, though.

It was an awkward landing, and it did wonders for his arm. It was starting to go numb, definitely a bad sign, and while he didn’t want to submit to it, he was keen on the possibility of a real injury, either. His fists were his life. Not something to gamble with.

For now, he was keeping his options open. As they laid on their side, he tried to pull forward. Didn’t think he’d be able to yank himself free, not with Alicia’s death grip, but he hoped to get enough space for his move - he jerked around swung his arm behind him, trying to elbow her in the face. Or chest. Or shoulder. He’d settle for anything at this point.

Rolling the boxer down and to the side was a relief, lessening the chances of him trying to drop his weight onto her or something like that. And that meant Alicia could work her hold with a bit more security. She still hadn’t been able to get her hooks in to his legs, meaning she wasn’t as tight to his back as she’d have liked but she didn’t think it’d matter.

Army’s escape skills seemed to be distinctly on the basic side.

The elbow to the temple was an excellent reminder that she definitely couldn’t count him out just yet. It wasn’t going to do more than disorientate her but, well, she’d probably regret it if she stayed put to keep taking hits to the head. With another final wrench of his arm, confident she’d neutered that limb at least, Alicia released her hold to roll away into a crouch and then to her feet.

If he gave her the chance before he got up, she’d try for a kick to his ribs. But, overall, Alicia found herself feeling confident. Army was a strong, dangerous opponent who she could underestimate or try and rush to beat. Both would be major mistakes. Now she wanted to see how badly she’d wounded that arm, though that wouldn’t stop her taking her shots where she could take them.

It wasn’t going to do much, but Army was satisfied as hell when he landed that elbow on Alicia’s skull. She’d been holding his arm hostage for what? Two minutes? Three? Too damn long to be in pain like that. It was nice to get some small measure of revenge.

And hey - it worked, too. He was free. Free-ish.

Army let go and started to breath a sigh of relief, but it was cut short when he hissed in pain. He tried to move his arm and sure enough, the damn thing hurt like blazes. He couldn’t roll away from Alicia fast enough, getting back to his feet far faster than most would guess a guy like him could do.

He stepped away from her, and while his first instinct was to try and play off the pain in his arm, he gave that up after a moment and just let it hang at his side, stretching it to work some feeling back in. No sense in pretending. She knew how bad it was. Even if she didn’t, it was going to become damn obvious once they got back to fighting.

”Ah, not bad.” Army moved back, keeping some distance away from her with his good arm up on defense. ”I’d clap, but yeah.”

The kick she’d tried to catch Army with missed, the boxer moving considerably faster than she’d expected of him. But that and the elbow were only fair compensation for the work she’d done on his arm. He wasn’t even trying to hide it, more credit to him.

Seeing how he was holding his arm, Alicia’s lips curled into a wolfish, predatory grin. She’d known how she’d twisted and worked the limb, but she’d not really had a chance up until now to really test Army’s upper body and the limits on it. He was a boxer. He had strong arms, very strong arms. But apparently the couple of minutes she’d had control of one was enough to at least temporarily disable it.

Oh look, now she had the advantage. Fancy that. To put a more nautical spin on it, she could smell the blood in the water. She wasn’t foolish enough to think she’d won. If she wasn’t careful, Army could still turn the tide. That was why he was backing up, trying to put off their next clash for as long as possible.

Calmly, silently, she matched Army step for step, almost stalking him. She kept moving towards that dead arm, doing her level best to get herself into a position he’d find it harder to defend. But, either way, the big redhead made her way into range. First, Alicia feinted high, as if she was going to kick at his ribs, but then she angled the kick down instead to try and hit his knee from above.

Alicia didn’t talk a whole lot. She didn’t laugh much, either. But she sure did smile more than her fair share, especially when she had something worth smiling about. Like now. Couldn’t blame her, either. She had him pinned without ever putting his back to the corner, and she knew it.

But he wasn’t done, not as long as he still had one arm to work with. There was some hesitation in her steps. She realized. All he really needed was one arm to knock her out, just so long as he was smart about it. He was always telling people he was brighter than they gave him credit for, and now was the time to prove it.

He glanced left and right, looking between her and his aching arm, wondering when the strike would come. It wasn’t a long weight, either - her kick came, he tried to move his arm out of the way, wound up taking an unorthodox hit right on the knee that made him stumble back to the ropes.

Army bounced off them and came straight towards Alicia, not fighting the momentum at all. Deciding that this called for a ‘go strong or go home’ approach, he threw a hard right out as soon as he was in range, trying to catch her on the chin with a cross.

Alicia knew she hadn’t won this yet. But here was the thing. Army needed to guard that arm, because any more hits would just keep it out of action for longer. But he also needed to do it without letting her pound his ribs instead. She didn’t know if they were still sore from earlier, but he couldn’t be eager to let her at them again. So any feints at that area were things he’d have to react to, which meant it’d be harder for him to guard that leg.

And if she could take out that knee as well as that arm, leave him limping and down a weapon…

Then she’d have him.

The big redhead scored with the kick, sending the boxer staggering backwards. Not a bad result, though she’d have preferred to drop him down to a knee there. But sending him into the ropes was something she could work with. True to her nature, Alicia came forward, looking to catch him on the hop and land another blow to somewhere important. Given the way he’d been acting, she hadn’t expected him to do much other than stay in the ropes.

She certainly hadn’t expected him to bounce right back at her, because it was such a turnaround from just before. The net result was her taking a right cross nearly to the chin with only a hasty block saving her from something like an early knockout. As it was, Alicia reeled back a pace and to the side, blinking furiously as she tried to recover.

The more insightful part of Army’s brain, the part that was trying to inject a little strategy into his fights, was starting to key on Alicia’s nature. She was a hunter. Army’d never done any hunting himself, but his uncle did, and he knew enough about it to recognize the glint in Alicia’s eyes. She wounded her prey, got them weak, then moved in for the kill. They were currently in phase. A little too far for his liking..

Obvious. But maybe he could work with that. An idea was starting to form, but he’d keep it in his back pocket for the time being.

The present, however, had more than enough interesting things to dig into. His punched worked. She was stunned. Wide open. One of the few golden opportunities he’d ever get with her. He had to make this one count, and he had just the move.

Army closed in on her, but he didn’t just do that - he spun around as he neared, turning around with a quick rotation, building up momentum. Right before he could make a full circle, he extended his good arm and swung it towards Alicia’s, looking to clobber her with a discus lariat - one of his signature moves, a little something he liked to call Hurricane Armando.

She hadn’t known Army long but Alicia had been sure he wouldn’t let a chance like this go, so she needed to get her head back in the game as soon as she could. It might be easier said than done, but she had to try. The first step, which she managed instinctively, was getting her legs back under her. Re-establishing that firm base she could rely on, had to rely on to defend herself.

Except Army was spinning around like a top, like he was about to try a spinning roundhouse but he was a boxer and…

And Alicia had absolutely no idea what he was doing. She’d fought boxers before but she’d never seen any of them try anything like this. Still dazed, she hesitated, her guard wavering between high and low, and for her pains she took his arm solidly across her body.

The big redhead went down hard and fast, so much so in fact that a smaller woman might have turned ass over teakettle before she hit the mat. Alicia was too big and solidly built for that, but it was still all she could do to keep from taking the impact of landing right on the back of her skull. She still came down with a crash, her shoulders slamming to the mat before the rest of her body followed. Her arm flopped lightly but otherwise she was still as her brain did its best to reboot, except for the rise and fall of her chest.

Even with Alicia stunned, going for Hurricane Armando was a Hail Mary move, one that could’ve bit Army in the ass and taken out a decent chunk of it.

If she caught him while he spun, he was screwed.

If she ducked under it and he kept on spinning, he was screwed.

If she caught the arm and started some crazy MMA submission shit, he was so fucking screwed.

Fortunately, none of that happened and his little gamble paid off. Alicia was down, and it was all a matter of following up in a way that didn't require two working arms. Something simple. He wanted to work on her legs, but there was some wisdom in softening her up a bit more, too.

After turning around as soon as his momentum would allow, Army hopped back over to Alicia’s fallen form, jumped, and drove his elbow deep into her stomach, hoping to get all of his weight into the crash.

A less stunned Alicia might have been a bit readier to defend against the lariat. As it was, well, she wasn’t and she didn’t and it left her on the floor staring at the lights. The hit itself hadn’t been that painful, but being dropped like that was enough to shake, rattle and roll her.

And, sensibly, Army didn’t seem to be inclined to just leave her there to recover.

While the redhead had started moving, she hadn’t moved anywhere near far or fast enough to avoid having an elbow driven into her belly with Army’s weight behind it. Her breath more or less exploded out of her, the Amazon trying to jack-knife around the invading limb before slumping back to the mat with a cough. Then, if she could, she’d roll onto her side to clutch at her abused midsection.

There she lay, waiting to see what Army did next and gathering her strength to resist as best she could.