Final Rage

Match Type: Handicap Match
Victory Conditions:Victory by submission, pinfall, or knockout.

***

And she accepted the match. Not that their was any doubt in Jack’s mind that Blaze would accept the challenge, but it was nice to get the confirmation. They had just met, but he could already see she was the sort of person who wouldn’t back down from the challenge, moreso when it came after her big stand and tough words. The sort of person who’d come out to save a referee wasn’t the sort of person who’d shy away from a handicap match. She’d stay. Fight. Do what heroes did.

Heroes and damn idiots. Same difference, really.

”Aces, we’re on the same page.” He turned about and made his way to the corner, hands in pockets, with Lock following close behind.  The two of them slipped through the ropes and took up their position in the far corner, with Jack leaning against the pole to watch. ”No worries. Strong woman like yourself, I’m sure I’ll have to step in soon enough. Looking forward to it, love.”

The referee was making her way down to the ring, looking understandably cautious about joining in this particular match - no doubt, there’d been something similar to picking straws in the back, and she’d come up short. Poor thing.

Key only spared her the briefest glance before looking back to Blaze, eying the brunette from head to toe. She chuckled, reacting to a little joke in her own head, before she stood up straight and stretched her chest with a deep breath, getting nice and limber. She lurched forward as she exhaled, dropping into a lower position, almost hunching forward. ”Stupid. Just stupid.” Key took a single step forward as the referee made her way between them, though she was wisely staying closer to Blaze. ”You got any idea what you just walked into with your lameass hero act?”

While she exuded confidence in the outside with a cool demeanor and sharp tongue, Nadine wasn't naive enough to think she had made a good call here. At the end of the day, it was three people and she had kicked the hornets nest. The saving grace was she got to face them one at a time, in theory. The brunette wasn't a woman who stood for much in this world, finding it bothersome to get bogged down by morals. What she did always back though, was her word. She talked herself into many a bad situation but it had always been important for her to see it through. What she said and did were the only things truly within her control in this world, so she made sure to be reliable on that front, to a fault. She answered the call, talked some hot shit, and now it was time to woman up to whatever came next. That didn't mean she wasn't going to fight tooth and nail every inch of the way though.

"Sooner than you think but for shorter than you'd hope." She called back, incapable of letting Jack get in the last word. She felt the urge to fight him at every opportunity, tirelessly hounding his existence. He was just so smug and punchable… reminded her of many a manager that tried to cash in with her band. That arrogant know it all tone and that slick car salesman look. They also liked to hide behind things too. Contracts, clauses, mountains of paperwork. At least she could legally throttle Jack without getting out in the back of a police car. That was worth celebrating.

"Shouldn't talk about your boss like that. He might tighten that choke collar you're wearing… but hey, if that's how you like it I won't rain on your parade. Girl power. It's your body." Nadine brought her arms forward and back, working her jacket to a place where it sat right to provide her full motion with her shoulders. When Key moved in, the brunette stepped in to meet her as to not be outdone. She gave the other woman a small smirk, shipping her hair back over her shoulder with a roll of her head. The motioned continued, circling back around, building momentum until she lunged forward to slam her forehead into Key's face. "I've scraped more intimidating dog turds off my boots than you all."

”I like her.”

Jack looked on and watched the unfolding scene as Lock pulled out her phone and went to the internet. She’d wanted to catch a glimpse of how they were doing on social media, and so far, things looked promising. There were already a few memes floating around, and they were the dominant wrestling trend, with quite a few threads commenting on the match. She could even spy some love for Jack from the more discerning crowd, and the predictable calls for her and Key to somehow make this into some kind of threesome with Blaze.

His words brought her attention, though, making him look up long enough to give a knowing smile. ”I’m sure you do.” Her gaze drifted back down, back to her searching. ”She’s not going to join up, though. So your feelings are moot.”

”Moot.” Lock’s word choice got a little snicker out of him. ”Stranger things have happened, especially in this line of work. People see the light. Who knows? Key might be able to knock some sense into her-”

As if on cue, Blaze made the first move, and what a move it was. The heabutt crashed into Key’s face and made her rock back, her upper body lurching away while her legs kept their position. When sense returned to her a split second later, she glared back at Blaze with wide eyes and a snarl, teeth clenched and seething. ”Cunt!”

With almost the same motion Blaze had used, Key returned fire and threw her body into a headbutt of her own with the same target, shrieking as she did it.

Blaze was open and honest, to a fault sometimes... Okay, most times. Her big mouth had talked her into her fair share of confrontations not too unlike where she currently found herself. Sometimes though, it was best to reach into a bad of tricks and pull out something slightly underhanded. Striking hard and striking fast with the element of surprise was a powerful tool. It was especially important when doing something as gutsy as slamming her head into another person's face. It was an odd mix of of satisfaction in hammering this woman she already dislike and the immediate regret that came from two skulls colliding. No matter how many times she did it, it wasn't exactly something you could get use to even when prepared.

She wobbled, looking on with a cheeky grin, gripping the side of her hair as she watched Key snap back... and stop? The brunette quirked a brow. Not so much as a stumble. Unexpected to say the least. It was like something out of a slasher flick when the snarling redhead leaned herself back into view, red faced and looking ready to explode. The normally quick to comment Nadine was taken aback by the sheer strength in this woman who looked like some sort of a fetishized librarian found herself unable to match the blunt words of her opponent, instead gawking at the fact she seemed almost unaffected.

Key's own skull collided with far more disastrous consequences for Blaze. tripping over her own boots she stumbled in a backpedal, fighting to keep upright until she found some semblance of balance on shaky legs, hunched over with a hand grasping at her face. Her wild mane of hair hung down over her face and spilled over her shoulders leaving her wobbling in place trying to blink the disorientation out of her scattered mind. She may have underestimated the other woman... just a bit.

Jack had a full laugh as Blaze and Key smacked heads, filling the area with the sound of colliding coconuts. While it was hardly the first time he’d seen her do a headbutt, it was the first time he’d seen someone do it to her before she had the chance. This was going to be a fun show, could tell that already. Speaking of which…

”Yo, ref!” He snapped his fingers at the referee, who’d been so preoccupied by the whole scene that she’d forgotten the formalities. ”The bell.”

The referee looked about, surprised, before she spun back and waved to the timekeeper, making the bell ring and starting the match proper. Not that it mattered one bit to Key - she was already striding forward, looking to follow up before Blaze had the chance to gain her wits. The bitch had clearly underestimated, thinking the ‘secretary’ couldn’t put up a good fight, but she was starting to see. It was a lesson she’d had to teach plenty of dumbasses, and one she’d gotten good at.

Key took one step, shook her head to clear it, then rushed forward with a long, powerful stride to close the distance. She brought her arm up and down in a high arc, looking to keep up the head trauma with a hammering blow to the back of the leaning Blaze’s skull.

It was a bad look for the rocker, having run her mouth and put on a good show only to get blasted by a broad in a business suit. She had taken her fair share of hits, possibly haven gotten a concussion or two in her day that went undiagnosed. Things got crazy in the mosh pits, or at the dive band gigs. Even still, Key’s skull had hit her far harder than a shattered bottle over the dome or a wayward bar stool hurled on stage. The ground beneath her feet slanted and her stomach was twisting into knots from the sensation, making her feel sick. With the lingering echo of the starting bell, it wasn’t a good opening to be sure.

The vibration of movement on the mat made her instinctively look up, blinking stupor from a slack expression on her face. There was someone running at her… right, the woman she was fighting. She had heard about wrestling in jello before, but right now she felt like she was moving in it. Her arms were lead, raising far too slow, still bent froward and vulnerable. This wasn’t going to work. Her eyes followed the redheads' arms up as they readied to strike… With a hard lean she threw her weight to the side with a scrambling dodge, briefly scampering on all fours to keep from full on toppling over.

She caught her momentum, legs moving far enough to keep up to the movement as she stood up coming out of a jog, turning back around with face Key with a head full of hair still in her eyes. She had her wits more about her, enough to get up her fists defensively, slowly backing up to the ropes. She didn’t have that fiery in her eyes through, clearly still feeling the effects of the dueling headbutts and stalling for time.

Looking on, Jack was sure that Key was about to plant Blaze on the canvas and start pummeling her. Unlike Lock and himself on occasions, she wasn’t the type to play with her food - when the opportunity arose to bring an opponent down, she took it. He blows were brutal and crippling, a fact that he could speak on from experience. While he was the stronger fighter between them, it always shocked him to feel just how small that gap was, far closer than anyone would guess based on their size.

So he was surprised - a little - when Blaze had the intuition to avoid Key’s crushing strike. Barely, mind you. But she did it. ”Good instincts.”

Lock nodded along in silent agreement. Blaze was clearly more than just some run of the mill Tension overnighter. But then, so was Key, and once her compatriot had her scent, she was a hard woman to shake off.

Case in point: After her attack whiffed, she stumbled forward, cursed under her breath, then immediately went about retargeting, drawing a bead on Blaze as she stumbled away. When the brunette turned back her way with hair strewn all about her face, she’d find Key already moving in, storming her way. She wasn’t that fast, but she was relentless in her pursuit, and that could make up for a few things.

”Think your narrow arse can run, huh?” She lunged the instant she was in range, pouncing towards Blaze with a long stride and swinging her arm towards her opponent’s head, trying to send her over the ropes with a huge, clubbing lariat.

A lucky dodge. She knew it. Key seemed to know it. Nadine couldn't remember a time where she was punch drunk on her feet like this. Sure, she had been knocked down plenty, but that normally came after an exchange not just a headbutt. If she let this crazy redhead get ahold of her while she was like this, there was no telling how bad it was going to get. While she never considered herself to be one for counter play, now was a good time to start.

It was easy to look like an easy target, because right now she was. Staring down the charging Key with only one eyes visible through the parting of her brunette locks. Her boots inched forward closing slightly in on the distance. Just as the other woman lunged to strike her, Nadine pivoted to the side, putting them on the same plane so that arm had nothing to hit. Her gloves hands came out, reaching to grab hold of the lapels of the other woman fancy jacket. A well made tailored suit, clenched tightly. It wasn't going to tear. Good.

It was important when she fell backwards that she pulled Key towards her, transitioning the redheads momentum into power. Her legs tucked in as she dropped to the mat, snapping out just as she had the other woman coming down on top of her to catch her dead in the stomach. With a powerful thrust, she kicked her heels into her opponent's guts, trying to vault her up and out of the ring in an uncontrollable somersault to the hard floor below.

Key clicked her tongue as she watched the proceedings, watching as Key started to move in on Blaze. She was getting too gung-ho, too driven. In most cases, the woman’s aggressive nature was a plus, and it was one of the things she found most attractive in her, both as a partner and a partner. But there were times when she could run headlong in situations that weren’t ideal, where she would’ve been served to hold back and take a cautious approach. This was one of them.

Blaze was going to counter her. The move was so telegraphed, so obvious, she’d be a fool not to. ”Key, she’s going to-”

”Too late.”

Jack was right, it was too late. Blaze fell backward, caught her at the collar, and sent her flying with a well-timed monkey flip, one that had more than enough power to send Key flying over the ropes, but not quite enough for her to avoid the apron. Her shoulder hit it on the way down, and from there she landed in a heap outside, coming down on her chest.

The referee, to her credit, temporarily forgot how this all started and followed her instinct, rolling out of the ring to check up on the fallen wrestler after such a nasty spill. ”Are you okay?” She kneeled down beside Key. ”Answer me, I need-”

”Fuck off!” Key spat those words out as she started to rise back up sooner than anyone could’ve expected, giving the referee a hard shove away as she did. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t showing the effects of her crash, as she came up wobbling and swaying, nearly falling back to her knees halfway through. But she was standing up, and judging by the twitch and sneer, she seemed more pissed than anything.

Nadine just decided to lay on the canvas for a moment, letting her arms and legs flop back down to the mat like a girl in winter intent on making snow angels. Just a second or two to catch her breath and let the world stop spinning. It seemed like her opponent wasn't nearly as keen on the idea of slowing things down though, already making a racket on the outside. It got a snorting chuckle from the brunette who turned her head just enough to catch sight of a fussing referee being rebuffed by the bloodthirsty redhead. She had to comment the official for doing her job well knowing full well what happened to the last girl. With a pained sigh, the rebellious rocker sat herself up, brushing hair from her eyes. Seemed as though she wouldn't get a break. It was fine. She had played sets in front of tougher crowds with a 104 degree fever than this. A bit of vertigo wasn't about to keep her down.

Rising to her feet, she took a few small steps back, mindful to check over her shoulder just to make sure Jack and Lock were behaving. They had the numbers here, not only on her, but on the referee. She had to be careful if they tried to take advantage of that fact. She was almost certain they would. the blond boy on the apron got a small sneer from her and a thrust of her chin, letting him know she was watching. Turning herself back around, she wanted the struggling key shambling up to the ring. The perfect time to say hello.

Taking some bounding steps forward, Nadine reached her hands out with one final leap, grasping hold of the top rope. She pulled her body in, letting her lower body drift down and around to send two of her legs spearheading through the middle and bottom rope to catch the recovering redhead as she tried to gather herself. The rest of her body swung in against the ropes, allowing her long legs to only go so far before her body was pulled back. She let the momentum carry her backwards when her fingers parted, leaving the ropes to land a few feet back with the grace of a dancer. The simple beauty of it was quickly buried though as she threw up the horns with a clenched fist gesture, getting a cheer from the crowd. "Let me hear some noise!"