Angels of a Different Sort

Cassie stared vacantly at the floor past Dark Angel while she kept on talking. She did a lot of that, but none of it fooled Cassie. She knew she was only saying the things to Cassie that she felt for herself. That was, until she pulled Taylor into it. That was too much.

She flashed angry, dangerous eyes at the masked girl and then dove on her. She wrapped her arms around Angel's body and hooked a leg around her's, using her momentum and weight to send them both crashing to the floor. She growled but said nothing, and wasn't sure what she was going to do once she got on top of Angel but she was sure ready to do it, until Taylor walked in.

"Cassie?" Came her voice from the doorway. She stared in total disbelief. Cassie reacted like she'd been caught breaking the rules, and instantly sprung off of Angel and grabbed her bag.

"S-sorry." She said quietly, and hurried out the door past Taylor.

Taylor watched her pass with concern on her face, and then remained in the doorway. She folded her arms and leaned against the door frame, gazing coolly at Dark Angel. She knew who she was, of course. She nearly lost her mind watching that match. She screamed at the TV and cheered and pantomimed moves like she was in the match. It nearly killed her, and there was the girl who caused them so much grief.

She didn't say anything, just stood there and waited.

The way Cassie got upset and quiet made Dark Angel really drop her guard. She never expected bringing up Taylor would trigger something like what happened next. The orange-haired girl tackled her to the solid floor below them. "What the-" Angel barely said before Cassie as on top of her. Instinctively, she brought her arms up to protect her face. She imagined it would have been Cassie's first target since that would have been Angel's target if their positions were switched. But before anything happened, Cassie jumped off of her and sprinted out of the room. It ended as quickly as it had started.

"Jesus Christ..." Angel muttered with a sigh after a moment. She rested her head on the cold floor for a few seconds before sitting up. That was eerily familiar. It almost turned into the same thing as when she jumped Taylor that time in the gym so long ago. "Speak of the devil," she stated as she turned her head to look at Taylor in the doorway. She knew someone had been there, but she hadn't expected it to be her. Angel jumped to her feet and turned to face the girl. There were so many things she wanted to say. Unfortunately, none of it was anything she could say.

"Well well well..." she said while crossing her arms. "The quitter herself..." she laughed while shaking her head. "Now what could you possibly be doing here? I thought they'd mail you your retirement checks."

Taylor wore a faint smirk and lifted one eyebrow slightly while she kept her blue eyes calmly fixed on Angel's mask. She was not the least bit affected by Angel's attempt to rile her up. In a word, Taylor was very thoroughly unimpressed.

"Well, I'm not making friends." Taylor responded. She knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if she wanted to she could destroy this little bully. She could physically wreck her, break her spirit, and send her packing back to whatever part of crazy-country she came from. As long as they were face to face, she was Taylor's property, and she should be thanking her for not deciding to pay her back for the shit that she pulled.

But she wouldn't do that. Not now. She didn't need to prove anything when they both knew this girl was scared of her. After all, she was Taylor Parker, and the other girl was just a skinny wannabe hiding behind a mask.

"So." She said. "You like to hurt people, huh?" She looked Angel down and up once and tossed her blonde bangs to the side. "Me too."

"Then we already have a lot in common," Angel responded simply to Taylor's threat. The masked girl wasn't as interested in getting into the girl's head as she was for Cassie. After all she attacked her in the middle of one of her matches but (as far as she could tell) it didn't do much to the girl's train of thought. It seemed to be pointless to attempt such a task. But there was still the task of masking her past rage. Just standing near the girl made her angry beyond belief. The way Taylor felt so smug and cocky just drove her crazy. Fortunately, that one event that both pleased and irritated Angel was what kept her in check.

It didn't matter if Taylor was better than her. After all, she quit. So even if Taylor was better than her, she broke before Angel did. So Angel was the better wrestler. Right? This broken logic satisfied her for now, so she just kept her arms crossed. "So how has the retired life been?" she asked while tilting her head. It dawned on her that just because Taylor didn't know who she was didn't mean she didn't want to pummel her. She had seen her rough up Cassie in the ring after all.

"I like your hair," she stated with a nod. It didn't have a sarcastic tone but from the tension in the room it obviously wasn't a serious statement. "Honestly though, I liked it better blue."

Taylor didn't break eye contact for a second. She held her unflappable smirk and leaned against the door frame like she was just hanging out while Angel talked. She had been around, she'd faced off with people much more intimidating than this skinny little girl. The scariest mask in the world wouldn't help her cause.

"Oh, so you're a fan?" Taylor asked. "Do you want my autograph?" She padded her pockets for a pen, but of course she didn't have one. "How about I sign your mask?" She shifted her weight to her other leg and leaned her hips to the side, putting a hand to her mouth as if thinking it over. "No... I'll let Cassie do that." She didn't smile when she said it. Her deep blue eyes were determined to bore a hole through Dark Angel's mask so she could see her eyes.

"Look, newbie, as a vet, lemme tell you something. Girls like you, you don't last, right? You're like a little dog on a leash barking its head off at all the big dogs walking by. Sooner or later, though, someone's going to let go of the leash. You're going to find out the difference between a wannabe tough guy and a genuine bad ass. You're not talented, you're not any good, you're not strong, you're not that fast. You've got nothing going for you. You're just a psycho. You're just a girl who decided that you're the most important person in the world, but look man, you're surrounded by really tightly wound girls who all want to be something big. How long do you think you have until people get wise to your shit? You'll find out real quick the difference between someone who has it and someone who fakes it."

She slipped one hand in the pocket of her jeans and raked her bangs to the side with her other hand. She flashed a big, sharp, killer grin. "I think it looks pretty good blonde, by the way." She said. "Later."

She turned and strode out the door without hesitation. She didn't stick around to hear what Dark Angel had to say about it. She didn't care.

Angel managed to stare right back at Taylor through the whole interaction. She let her talk which the girl clearly enjoyed doing. If anything, she felt it was Taylor's greatest strength. Her ability to talk trash. Despite the insults Angel just stared undaunted. One thing she had learned rightfully from her whole experience in the AFW prior to this new identity of hers was that everyone here was full of shit. Everyone was high and mighty. And everyone spoke like they knew everything. Taylor definitely didn't know everything. She didn't know who she was. And even if she did, there was no way Angel was going to take any advice from a has-been.

But before she had a chance to respond Taylor just walked away as if nothing had happened. Whatever. She didn't need to take any shit from the blonde. Angel could've respected Taylor in the past but after all that had happened there was no shot. In her eyes, Taylor had quit. Regardless of what the girl may had accomplished, it was all for nothing since she simply gave up. Angel wasn't about to listen to anything she said. Then again, it wasn't likely that Angel was going to listen to anyone. She just shook her head as Taylor walked away.

Angel laughed to herself. That had been unexpected but at least she knew how to get into Cassie's head. As she started to walk out of the locker room herself, though, the girl noticed her right hand clenched into a fist and twitching. Perhaps Taylor had gotten to her more than she thought.