AFW Friction Hardcore Title Match: Silver Ace(C) vs Liberty Vella: Hardcore Match

Really!? That cheer did just nothing to improve Ace's mood. Neither did the slap to the blondes face. This fight had been surprisingly one sided, something nobody really expected to see, given her performance at Avalanche and Liberty's long absence.

There were murmurings that, if Liberty kept this up, Ace's title reign was going to be even shorter than her Entropy title reign, and, much as she hated to admit it, Ace was starting to think something similar, doubts creeping into her throbbing head, as she was dragged too, and then thrown onto, the announce table.  If she didn't get her face painted butt in gear, she was fucked!

So close. Liberty could actually see the hardcore belt laying over by the side of the ring, sitting on a table by the side of the ring. It almost seemed to be calling out to her, longing to be in her hands, to be where she belonged. And all Liberty had to do was put Silver Ace through a table.

As good as done.

She stood up on the table, grabbed Ace and lifted her up to her knees. ”Gotta say, you’re not that bad.  Just bad luck - you’re in the same league as me. So…”

Without any further ado, Liberty shoved Ace’s head between her thighs, lifted her up on her shoulders, got ready for the big plunge, and-

For a brief moment, everything seemed to go in slow motion for Ace. Being slotted between her legs, being lifted upside down, held upwards, about to be powerbombed down...and that's when her opportunity struck.

Pushing herself off of Liberty's shoulders, Ace fell back, landing on her feet, though she wasn't standing long, quickly jumping back up and grabbing Liberty around her head, bringing her back down face first onto the table with a sudden Ace Crusher!

It had all been going so well. Fucking perfect.

Liberty hefted Silver Ace up on her shoulders, exactly where she wanted her. Even with her body hurting, it wasn’t much effort on her part. The Canadian had the perfect body for powerbombing: light, relatively small, but hard enough to make a real impact. She made a mental to note to watch this in slow-mo tonight, next to a case of beers and her rightly reclaimed title.

Then, just like that, it all went to shit.

Silver Ace, tricky bitch that she was, managed to slip off before Liberty could bring her down, giving herself a temporary stay of execution. Not a problem. No big deal. She’d just punch her until all the fight was knocked out of her, and-

It was over. In a flash, it was over. Everything happened so fast, Liberty couldn’t be sure of the specifics, but it involved Ace grabbed her by the head and slamming her into table. The sheer alacrity of the move was what took her off guard - one moment she was standing, the next she was flat on her chest, in the midst of a pile of debris, with the raucous roar of the crowd surrounding her broken.

She couldn’t move, either. Not an inch. ”Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.” She muttered, with her mouth half-covered by the floor.

The announcers table, unable to handle the impact of Ace and Liberty landing on it, shattered, leaving them laying in a pile of debris, neither one moving for a few seconds...until Silver Ace slowly rolled over.

Her lighting quick reflexes had saved her, as there was no doubt in her mind that Liberty's powerbomb would have finished her off right then and there. Grabbing the older womans arm and leg, and getting her head in the middle, Ace nudged and pushed Liberty over to her back, before crawling on top of her for a pin.

Jessica, remembering her job, hopped out of the ring and slapped at the mat.

"ONE!"

She yelled, raising her hand a second time, as Ace stayed on top of her, hooking her leg, silently thinking to herself: "Please stay down, please stay down!"

”3…!”

...three?

Liberty blinked and shook her head from side to side, trying to make sense of the world. Three? She hadn’t heard a two. Couldn’t remember it. Had she blacked out? Ace was on her, pinning her, and it was just...over. So fast. Done. Her best chance, probably her last chance, gone.

The audience was cheering, loving the upset, but Liberty could scarcely hear them over the pounding in her head. ”Goddamn it. Fuck…” She groaned and let her head flop back, ceding defeat. As if she needed to, at this point.

Three?

Three!

She won! Yay! Ace groaned, rolling off of Liberty and slowly getting to her knee's, Jessica raising her arm in victory and handing her the title belt she had successfully defended.

In truth, while she was certainly relieved she had won, she had to admit, there was some bitterness involved. Much as she hated to admit it, she had gotten lucky as fuck. She could out-wrestle Liberty, she had no doubt about that, but this wasn't a regular wrestling match. This had been a hardcore match, a straight up fight, and, in terms of hardcore ability and pure power, Liberty had straight up outclassed her. She had Ace's number, the whole match, and if Ace hadn't had her quick reflexes and instinct, she'd have lost her belt for sure.


She had a lot to learn about Hardcore wrestling. She had gotten lucky, and that burned her more than she cared to admit.

"H-Holy shit...what the hell are you made of?"

She muttered, giving Liberty props in her own blunt way.

River Styx was pissed off.

This, in itself was nothing new. She was rarely not in some degree of a bad mood, unless she was fighting or fucking, and she was definitely not doing either of those as she watched the Silver Ace’s match from backstage. Seeing her fight to retain the hardcore title. Styx’s hardcore title.

She’d bided her time since she picked it up at Avalanche, not wanting to bother with the pain of going to Canada and dealing with certain extradition problems. But now Ace was back. She was home. She was defending. She was calling Styx out, looking for a fight, and she was going to get it...just not when she’d wanted.

As Ace was basking in her moment of glory, the music suddenly changed, as a familiar tune blared out across the arena.

”IIIIIII HAAAAAAAAAAATE YOOOOOOOOU!
IIIIIIIII DOOOOOOOOON’T CARE!”

The boos began right on time, as River Styx appeared at the top of the ramp and began to march down the ramp. More importantly, she’d brought a toy with her and was dragging it behind her, a little something she’d made just for the occasion.

A stretcher. One with the word ‘ACE’ written on it, in big red letters.

Oh.

Ohhhhhh


Ohhhhh....shit.


Ace had only just been getting her wind back after that brutal match with Liberty, only for River Styx to show up. Clearly, her challenge had been accepted.

Knowing she needed to fight, Ace got up to her feet, ready to go head to head with Styx...for about two steps, until she stumbled and fell to all fours, exhausted and sore from her match.

Styx had been making her way around the ring to Ace, but she stopped in her tracks when the champion got up to face her. For a moment, she thought she might have some actual semblance of a fight on her hands, that Ace still had enough in the tank for it...but then she fell to her knees. So much for that.

”Wow. I want respect, but kneeling? Thanks.” She chuckled and let the stretcher drop behind her as she walked up the hardcore ‘champion’. ”What’s wrong? You called me out for a fight, didn’t you?”

She suddenly rushed forward and threw her foot out low, coming at Ace with a field goal kick to the chest.

”Here I am!”