Showdown '19 Alice Gaster (C) vs Drake Fond: 24/7 Championship Match

Clara struggled and thrashed through the crowd. She apologized and excused herself, but ultimately, her method was far too slow. Brutus had made up his lost ground thanks to his aggressive approach, and was quickly gaining on the masked woman. Soon, there was hardly even a person between the two of them! The man’s heavy footfalls sent vibrations through the floor, shaking the surrounding crowd slightly before he threw them off their feet. Like a horror movie monster, Brutus seemed to be ever present and always behind GASTER. Soon, she would feel the strange experience of disturbed air just behind her shoulder. The warmth of another human being getting in close…

And the cold, frightening touch of her tormentor latching grasp! Like a leech, the feeling would make her skin crawl! Each of his finger’s clamped down on the woman’s collarbone and shoulder blade. Clara was locked in tight! And soon Brutus would spin her around to face him, locking in her other shoulder with a cruel, sadistic grin!

“Got you now! You annoying lil’ banshee!” He said, bringing the masked woman’s face closer, “Scream all you like now. No one will blame you. Not after what I am gonna do to you!”

The man’s knee went back as Brutus got ready to slam it into GASTER’s guts! Vicious payback for making him chase her around these people and the building!

__

Drake was happy to leave this whole thing at the doorstep and never see a wink of the Gaster sisters again. It was an interesting distraction, but that time had now passed. Time to gather up his assets and move on to bigger, more stimulating things. Word was King was hanging around the back of the gym. Perhaps the famous heel could be purchased for a good price? Strong partners were the best stepping stones after all!

But then a word managed to cut through his pleasant thoughts and jab into his ear drum. Like a gnat just out of reach, yet always visible, the word buzzed around in his head and quickly destroyed any concentration he had.

“Coward...”

A small spark of began to burn in his stomach, making his pace slow until he came to a total stop. Kaine wandered a few steps further before he noticed his employer had stopped a few minutes prior. Alice’s barking traveled down the hall, ringing in the two men’s ears as she smugly announced that he was the loser in this situation! He didn’t win! He was nothing!

Just like what they all said...He was a coward for biding his time...a loser for planning and scheming rather than charging into a fight! A weakling for fighting with one eye! Everyone said it! His whole life had been nothing but this pestering and prodding about his person! A world that thought they knew him just by looking at him! He could be nice, and called cruel! He could be brave, and called stupid! He spares Alice the humiliation of losing her precious belt, knowing it meant more to her then him, and what does he get rewarded with? Names! Slurs! And worst of all, doubt!

Who was she to doubt him? Who was Alice to think she could spout such garbage towards him, beaten as she was.

Drake took in a deep breath, held it for ten seconds...then let it out.

The businessman turned, his smile gone, but his eye smoldering with barely contained anger. He crossed his arms and gently clicked his tongue, walking towards the downed champion with the sound of his footsteps bouncing off the walls. He came right in front of Alice’s angry glare, his own expression a neutral mask barely hiding his contempt for her.

“Is that what you want? You need me to tear that toy from your hands and violently stomp you to the ground? Why is that? Really, I am interested in why you won’t just drop this and let it go!”

"Please...please, I am so sorry, please let me through..."

GASTER continued making her way through the crowd, with the large monster of a man right behind her. For now, her aim was just to exit the sea of people at the entrance to save herself from a beatdown from Brutus...

For 10 seconds, she didn't turn around again, almost afraid that the simple act of turning around would teleport her hunter behind her...but soon enough...

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

She felt Brutus breathing right at her ear. As she tried to dash forward, she realized that she couldn't move anywhere, as Brutus seized her at her right shoulder, before turning her around to face him!

"Ah..please, I am so----GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"

A single knee strike would send the Shadow Lord flying if Brutus released her shoulder. All the oxygen left Clara's lungs, as she desperately gasped for fresh air...

---

Alice wasn't sure how effective her namecalling and insulting Drake would be. She didn't have a firm grasp on the eyepatched man's character, other than that sometimes, for him, humiliating people, forcing them to know they are beaten, was reward enough...so she simply thought, what would happen if he knew he didn't win? He didn't crush her spirit, despite her body hurting beyond belief?

Even if Alice's theory wasn't completely true, the method proved to be correct. Drake stopped in his tracks...and was silent. Alice glanced to her left, to the turn in the corridor that lead deeper into the building, a few empty private locker and storage rooms.

As she turned back...Drake was coming straight for her. Her gambit worked out as he, neutral faced, questioned why she wanted this match so badly:

"Because you thought humiliating me was a good fucking idea...", Alice would speak, before pulling her left leg upwards, trying to slam into Drake's crotch:

"And I need to make it clear that you do not fuck with me..."

GASTER really didn’t stand much of a chance against Brutus. The man probably had two feet over her, and probably a good hundred pounds. To say this fight would be a slaughter was an understatement. So when GASTER flew from a single shot to the knee, nobody around seemed too shocked by it. Of course, no one stepped in to help either. Even as the masked woman gagged through her voice filter, she remained alone in a fight that her sister had dragged her into. A bit sad, but nothing the man standing above her would shed any tears over.

Brutus leaned down and grabbed GASTER’s ponytail. He didn’t bother being gentle as he looked to pick her back up onto her feet. The fiery look he gave her promised more punishment, but it was a single voice in the crowd that stopped the man’s petty vengeance from coming to fruition.

“That’s enough Brutus. It’s time we went and met up with the others.”

“What?! Why the- They are probably fine! I’m almost done here, so just go ahead yourself!”

“Just do what you are paid to do. You’ve already embarrassed yourself enough. Let’s go.”

Rin’s tone cut through any anger Brutus could muster. The way she spoke, the way she carried herself...It was as though she considered herself the superior threat of the two. Judging by the way Brutus glared at her, he might have been thinking things over about that very topic. But, instead he dropped Clara, grumbling to himself in annoyance as Rin turned and walked away from the catastrophe.

__

Drake’s eye narrowed even more as Alice gave him such a flat response. He had expected something more. He didn’t know exactly what that might have been. Perhaps he was still holding out hope that Alice would impress him, or maybe even leave some sort of impression on him. She probably had the potential to do something like that, but after her response...Drake couldn’t even bear to look at her.

“Oh, I see.” He said plainly. His discontent and disappointment were deeply laced in his words. The anger was gone. Rather, a look of empty confusion was left in his eye. Like he didn’t even know why he was mad, anymore.

“Well, aren’t you cool?”

Drake quickly turned away, done with all of this nonsense. Championships, belts, all of it was meaningless in the end. If this was what Alice clung to so desperately, the bet and her pride, then he had won long before he had ever thought to interact with someone like her.

As soon as he turned around, he felt a swift kick in his rear, to which he looked over his shoulder. An act of defiance from the grounded woman. Likely, she was trying to get a rise out of him...as she had done before. Instead, the look she received was one of mild discomfort. He was tired of being here, and tired of the Gaster sisters. The fun was gone, and now it was just sad.

“Like I said Alice...you don’t matter to me. Clara doesn’t matter, your pride doesn’t matter, not even your belt matters anymore. I’m done with you. I thought you could be interesting, and I’m sad to say I was wrong. It was fun for a while, but I think it is best we go our separate ways, and never speak to each other again.”

Drake would rub the footprint off the seat of his pants before walking back the way he came. Kaine watched Alice for a bit before following behind Drake. The one-eyed man gave a silent wave to Alice, a goodbye token after all they had done.

“I’ll call Brutus off Clara. Be sure to treat her right. You owe her big after this…”

"Gaaaaak...p-please...", the Shadow Lord managed to wheeze out, her lungs completely devoid of air as Brutus roughly and painfully yanked on her ponytail, forcing the Brit to stand up when she had no power to...

The only thing that saved Clara was a timely arrival of Drake's right-hand woman. Rin would order Brutus to let GASTER go, claiming they were "done here"...but the fact that it wasn't said by Drake himself in any way made Clara believe that there was no way the match was done in the slightest. If Alice was still in fighting Drake and Kaine, adding Brutus on top of her troubles would definitely lose her the belt...

She dropped on all 4s when Brutus let her go, turning to leave towards the locker rooms.

GASTER would catch her breath for 5 seconds, managing to maintain herself on her feet before rushing right back towards Brutus, and aiming her arm straight for the back of the big man's knee, looking to provoke him further to keep him away from Alice!

_________

Alice was slightly shocked when Drake turned away from her, kick to the crotch resulting in the kick to Drake's pants instead, as he was left unimpressed by Alice's words. The Brit was getting anxious. She couldn't let the eyepatched man show her up twice in a row, else she might've as well gave up the title right then and there...

Drake turned to leave once more, and if Alice couldn't intrigue him in staying, he would leave for good, match be damned. If insults and trying to goad him to play his game didn't work...maybe playing his game a little more would do the trick?

"And what if we spice things up? Say, if you win, I become your new Kaine?", she put the terms to Drake bluntly, to make sure he didn't go too far away without hearing her out.

Rin had finally gathered Brutus up from his annoying fit, and had planned on heading back towards Drake’s last position in an attempt to reconnect and reinforce him. The cool beauty was well aware of what Clara was doing in splitting off from her sister and fleeing the scene, and were it not for Brutus’s bullish nature, such a plan would have failed miserably. She had only come along to ensure the man didn’t cause any more trouble than was necessary to incapacitate Clara and bring him back to her employer’s aid. Hearing him whine and seeing the crowd gawk was nothing she had any interest in witnessing, and her curt, cold statements reflected that rather prominently. For some reason, Brutus didn’t seem as willing to battle her as he did anyone else. He had not hesitated to shove the audience members in the main area around in his desire to grab Clara, and yet he seemed to follow her orders with only a slight grunt of hesitation.

It was a curious case, but not one that would be pondered for very long. The pair had only made it partially past through the room when Brutus suddenly felt his leg come out from under him, and he toppled to the carpeted floor. A few nearby crowd members chuckled at the sight, but Brutus quickly whipped around to find the cartoony smile of GASTER’s mask staring him in the face.

“God damned Bitch! Why don’t you just take a hint and-”

“Brutus…”

“Wha-? What?!? She’s fucking hitting me!”

As the man and Gaster continued to wrestle around with one another on the floor, Rin’s cold glare seemed to hide a frustrated personality as she crossed her arms in annoyance. These two were like children!

Absolutely incompetent….

--

Alice’s words rang hollow as they traveled down the hallway. Drake was just trying his best to stare straight ahead and move on from this whole thing, fishing around for his phone to call up Rin and find out exactly where she was. It was a bit strange that neither of them were back yet, but Drake wrote it off as GASTER getting pretty far into the building before she was caught. After all, Brutus was not hired because of his running speed, and Rin...well, she was Rin.

Drake had finally found his phone underneath the myriad of other items he had stuffed in his pocket when he finally heard Alice’s proposal. Apparently, she just couldn’t let this go, and offered herself as servitude to be the prize of Drake’s official victory. Drake heard her plea, and actually kept on walking. He seemed to ignore her offer, not even sparing a look at her. He genuinely seemed content to leave it at that.

However, he began to devise a query in his head. His pace slowed down a bit before finally stopping just at the other end of the hallway. He continued to have his back to Alice, but he scratched his neck in thought while Kaine made sure Alice didn’t try anything. Finally, Drake would look over his shoulder with a gaze that showed his disinterest. Even his tone had grown hollow, and held none of the fake cheer he usually salted it with.

“I don’t want you Alice. What would I even use you for, hmm? You can’t be my Kaine, because I have Kaine. I am in no need of any services you could provide...but...” Drake looked up at the ceiling before turning halfway around to face Alice, “I suppose I could use an entertainer. Someone who could make me laugh, or anything similar. Your sister’s villain impression might be just the thing I’m looking for. So, how about instead of you...I get to take Clara under my wing? Would you be willing to risk your sister for the chance at victory, Alice?”

It was simple curiosity that sat in Drake’s bored gaze. He sat there, waiting at the end of the hallway ready to turn around and leave as soon as Alice answered in a negative manner. Kaine had simply crossed his arms and leaned against the wall again, staring straight ahead, as if he wanted no part in this verbal exchange.

I don't need your hints!", Clara bravely proclaimed as a face of what the last thing she would see before her death showed his angry face to her. Despite the protests from Rin, Brutus would be angered enough by Clara to continue chasing her, Clara trying to dash away from Brutus on all fours to make a little bit of ground between the two of them. It seemed to her that running away would only prompt Rin to drag Brutus away like dog on a leash, meaning that the time to fight was now!

--

This really was a matter of pride to Alice. If Drake were to walk away now, it was a humiliating defeat in her eyes. She could even drop the belt right then and there. No matter who she defeated later, this was how her title reign would be remembered.

So in the end, if she thought like Drake, she would simply choose a proposal that would degrade her further in a case of a real loss. At first she was worried that even that wouldn't faze Drake, but ultimately, it got his attention...though at first, it seemed like he wasn't agreeing with her proposal...

...before ammending the terms. Alice wouldn't wait another second to say her answer:

"Sure!"

Scamper as she might, Brutus was determined not to let GASTER escape anymore then she already had! Her scampering around and constant flailing was not only irritating him, but now Brutus was starting to get Rin mad as well! Rather then dissuade him, the brute seemed more keen than ever to break GASTER’s stupid face along with her smiley mask! All it would take was one good swing, and it would all be over! The problem was, GASTER was like a gnat! Small, speedy, and random as all hell! Even as she pulled away from him, and tried to flee on all fours, she still managed to be a bit speedy for her! In the blink of an eye, she already had a few feet of distance!

Like a crocodile lunging from the lake it hunted in, Brutus burst forth in a surprisingly speedy lunge, his powerful arm reaching out to snatch at his prey like the jaws of a predator looking to clamp down on its victim. All he needed to do was hook his fingers around her ankle, and she would be through!

Brutus couldn’t help but think that this entire thing would be over in a second if Rin decided to participate! Yet for some reason, she simply glared in annoyance as her patience quickly dissolved. Her empty eyes and expression was a mask in itself, but the way she spoke, the cold shard of ice that pierced his back with every word she spoke...it made him want this to be over with!

--

“Oh?”

The bored, apathetic tone echoed through the empty hallway like the church bells in a funeral. Drake’s hellfire eye was like that of a demon’s as his amused gaze peered at Alice’s form. His smile returned to his face, but with none of the pleasantries that came with such a gesture. This smile was amusement of the darkest kind as Drake finally faced Alice directly.

“Such a quick response...No hesitation…Heh!”

The one-eyed man’s laugh was so quick and sharp, it was hard to tell if he was amused, or disgusted.

“You’ll put your sister on the chopping block for your own self-gain? Really?”

The atmosphere was shifting, changing...It was starting to get hot and the walls seemed to churn as Drake’s eye consumed Alice’s passionate gaze as though it was nothing. There was no pen, no paper, but the feeling of signing a contract with a devil for her very soul seemed to linger in the room like the stench of the dead.

“Fine. Deal is done. But whatever you plan on doing, whatever plan you have rattling in your head, fucking hurry up and do it. You bought yourself some time thanks to your sister, but time runs out. Make your move, and make it count Alice. I bore rather easily when I see the same act thrown at me multiple times.”

GASTER believed that her managing to get a bit of distance on Brutus would be enough for her to initiate another escape attempt, running off...and yet keeping Brutus close behind her while the match was still going. Only issue was telling when she could fully run away once the match concluded, but she decided to focus on one thing at a time...

...except all her hopes and dreams would end up crashed as she felt large fingers grasp her around her ankle:

"GYAAAAAAAAAH!"

The forcefull pull on her ankle would result in GASTER painfully impacting the floor jaw first, leaving the Brit quite a bit dizzy from the impact...and fearful at Brutus getting her hands around her.

_____________________

Alice's logic was simple. She knew she could beat Drake, so whatever she'd put on the line against him other than his belt, she'd keep. She could even put her apartment on the line or the like, so putting Clara on the line for Drake seemed like a good idea to her, especially since the eyepatched man was finally interested in fighting her.

With that, the match restarted anew, as Alice stepped closer to the corner of the wall near her, to the point where her arm was covered by the wall, saying to Drake: "Sure thing!", before a bat materialized in her hidden hand, Alice swinging it straight into her foe's face!

Success!

A sadistic feeling of glee washed over Brutus as he managed to catch the annoying little flea that managed to jump around for far too long! With such a powerful hold over her, keeping GASTER in hand should be no trouble! Especially since the masked “villain” seemed to have taken a particularly nasty fall! The situation was simply too perfect! It was finally time to squash this pest, and after all the work she had put him through and the ire he had earned from his superior, Brutus would be sure to savor every bit of it!

The man ragged GASTER closer, like a monster dragging a child under the bed, and with just as much malicious intent! The unsettling grin on his face seemed inhuman, and he squeezed down on the poor girl's leg with enough force that it seemed as though he was already attempting to break it! Brutus couldn’t wait to finally finish GASTER, and maybe even take her mask as a sick trophy of the exchange.

--

Drake’s calculating eye watched as Alice smiled back at his affirmation. It seemed she actually did have a plan, which was a silent relief to the bored troublemaker. At the very least she didn’t outright deny she had a plan.Judging by her complete lack of thought or preparation for such an uphill battle, the one-eyed man figured Alice was not prone to planning anything out at all. Her “tough as nails” attitude only supported Drake’s theory, and now he was going to witness what sort of devious scheme the supposed second of the “Dark Lord” could conjure up.

Of course, Drake backed up a few paces. He might have asked for her to spring her master plan, but he was not stupid enough to actually step into it! As Alice walked over towards a certain wall, Drake simply retreated a few feet, and Kaine would join his side shortly afterwards. The moderately armored thug blew a stressed sigh through his lips, annoyed at how long this whole thing was taking in the first place.

Where was Rin and Brutus anyways? They should have been back by now…

Drake’s wandering thoughts were interrupted in a rather blunt fashion as Alice whipped around with a baseball bat, of all things. She swung the bat towards Drake’s face to which he, in his wisdom, sharply ducked under! His hands clutched his head as he dropped to the ground like a bomb was going off, leaving the bat to continue unabated until it SLAMMED into Kaine’s armored shoulder! Of course, motorcycle armor was tough, but a pained grunt and expression quickly spread across the man's face! The clatter of Alice’s kendo stick could be heard as he dropped it and stumbled to the side, knocked off balance by the force of the blow as he cursed a myriad of obscenities at the small woman.

Drake would swiftly retreat, scooching backwards in surprise of Alice’s brunt, new weapon of choice. It was nothing he hadn’t seen or used before, but he knew damn well how much it hurt to be smacked by one of those things! Alice’s plan wasn’t all that impressive, but damn was it suddenly effective.

"Ah...ah...", Clara gasped in fear, fealing her heart beating in her chest, wanting to scream as her leg was painfully squeezed by the monster dragginer her closer to himself, but unable to do anything. Not helping the matters was the creepy grin on Brutus's face, as she tried to claw herself away from Brutus on instinct, only to uselessly drag the soft skin on her fingers against the rough floor...

As last attempt to escape, she tried to use her free leg to kick at Brutus's arm, afraid of what he could do once she was close enough...

--

Alice giggled as her surprise attack worked, nailing, while not Drake, then at least his lackey on the shoulder, causing him to drop the Kendo Stick he seized from her earlier, the Pale Rider promptly kicking it away to avoid Kaine from using it in the near timeframe.

"Oh, don't worry, I have something for you too!", Alice chirply remarked as her hand disappeared behind the wall once more. What was actually happening is that, right at the edge of the wall, there was an inconspicuous trashcan that Alice placed there earlier in the day. Whenever a crew for the arena passed it, they quickly realized that they could not put any trash inside, for the bin was filled with a ton of weapons and gimmicks for wrestlers to use, both for this match and outside of it (as long as something was left there, Alice wouldn't mind anyone else using any weapons in the match).

Thankfully, the bin's gone unused until this moment, as Alice picked up a small bag at the end of another Kendo Stick inside the bin. Within a span of a second, Alice was already evacuating the contents of the bag as a cloud of salt erupted from her hand as she aimed to blind Drake!