Ooo Cassie-deaaar...

Dark Angel smiled underneath her mask when she noticed Cassie go speechless. It only motivated her to keep going. She took a half step forward and opened her mouth to continue the verbal assault. It had gotten away from her so much that she didn't expect what came next. Cassie leaped onto her and scissored her waist between her legs. Angel dropped the microphone which made a loud noise as it struck the metal ramp. Angel was dragged onto the ground atop Cassie and her right arm was trapped. The audience got to their feet to get a better view of the action at the top of the ramp.

Cassie whispered into her ear what now sounded like a real threat instead of the clearly forced ones earlier. Finally, the girl had been pushed into snapping. And Angel suddenly forgot why she was trying to provoke the Canadian in the first place. She squirmed left and right but couldn't budge. She looked right back at Cassie. "No thanks...I'd rather not experience the Elliot family's Sunday brawl...keep your domestic issues to yourself!" Angel screamed in Cassie's face as she reached up with her free hand to grab at her hair and try to smack it against the metal ramp.

The look on Cassie's face bore no resemblance to the unstoppably positive girl from moments ago. Her eyes narrowed and she stared back up at Dark Angel, at the white mask that was her face. She was inhuman. She was an animal, a dangerous troublesome animal, and for once Cassie had no reservations in treating her like one.

Anger and pain turned her cry into a snarl when Angel yanked on her hair. As soon as Angel pulled back, though, Cassie tightly hooked an arm and a leg on one side and kicked off the mat to roll Angel over onto her back. She came up on top, shifted one leg to put her shin across Angel's neck, grabbed the back of her head with both hands and pulled. She kept her body low and balanced while she sunk in the choke. She wasn't getting out. She had to learn her lesson. She had to feel sorry for all the things she said, about her family and about Taylor and about her and Akashi. All of it.

She didn't have to say anything. Cassie wasn't looking for an apology. She wanted Angel to regret everything. It made no difference, though, with Dark Angel unable to speak.

Dark Angel didn't get the response she wanted from Cassie who took advantage of Angel exposing her arm. She felt herself roll to her back and the next thing she knew the girl's shin was roughly being forced into her neck. Even her head was being pulled up and into the hard bone of Cassie's leg. She couldn't even make a statement or insult to Cassie as her air supply got cut off. Angel flailed and squirmed as much as he could but she couldn't break free. She tried to open her eyes to see what was happening but all she saw was that cold, blank stare looking right back at her.

This was exactly what she wanted in a way. She knew this what Cassie was like on the inside. She just didn't think her plan entirely through. Now she couldn't even think a straight thought as she struggled to breath. Angel tried desperately to get out but it wasn't enough. As Cassie kept up the hold, Angel's resistance would slowly decrease to the point that her body started to go limp. This violent, forceful Cassie was far more than what Angel had expected. And now she was facing the price of provoking her.

Cassie's arms strained like she was trying to decapitate Dark Angel, and not just choke her unconscious. Every second that she kept her hold locked on felt like justice, like Dark Angel was getting what she deserved. Cassie had finally managed to get her to be quiet, and she didn't ever want to hear her stupid voice again.

She couldn't see her face. She watched the expressionless white mask intently, at the eyes on the other side of it, and she could feel the girl weakening. Once she started to go limp, Cassie let her head flop back on the mat and grabbed the side of the mask, curling her fingers under it and gripping it so tightly her knuckles turned white. One yank and she would finally see the face of this horrible girl. She could look her in the eyes properly and see that she had beat her and shut her up and that she would never want to mess with her again. She drew a long breath through her nose and got ready to pull the mask off.

But suddenly, she pulled her hands back like she'd been shocked, or like she couldn't believe what they had just done. She was suddenly horrified by the thought of actually seeing Angel's face. What could she possibly say? All she'd done is apply a submission hold, and there was nothing wrong with that. Was there? Cassie knew perfectly well what was wrong. She'd broken the rules. She had wanted to hurt her, to break her, because of how it felt.

She was red faced and ashamed when she leapt off of the half-conscious girl and ran out of the arena while the crowd cheered her like a hero. She didn't look back, she didn't stop by the locker room to get her stuff. She had to get away, and she started at as fast a walk as she could manage but that quickly became a frantic run down the halls and toward the exit.

Mamouru had thankfully been in the building when everything started to go down. When Cassie was in house, he tried to be as well, even if the two weren't meeting up for any thing specific. A lot of times he was around even when Cassie wasn't. But he had no clue that Dark Angel had something in mind. When she called out Cassie, he clenched his fists angrily. She was a nuisance. She was trying to screw with Cassie and he wanted nothing more than to take care of the woman himself.

When Cassie walked out, part of him was apprehensive and part of him was relieved. Cassie shouldn't hide from this girl. Cassie was way better than her. But, she shouldn't face Dark Angel on the girl's terms either. He stuffed his hands into his suit coat and watched the monitor. It seemed though, that Cassie was going to remain her jubilant, optimistic self. He let out a sigh and then smiled. Cassie was such a girl. Not even this wench of a woman could break her spirit.

However, it seemed that even Cassie had buttons that could be pushed and Mamouru's mouth fell open as Cassie went berserk on the girl. Well, berserk for Cassie. Still, even if she wasn't kicking, punching and swinging her body around like most people who snapped might, Mamouru knew that what she was doing was far far worse than some layman who had had enough.

"C-Cassie-san! Dammit!" He barked and furrowed his brow. His fists clenched tightly as she wrenched hard on Dark Angel until the girl went limp. He moved a step as he felt his forehead get hot suddenly. He was about to rush out to the arena but he couldn't peel his eyes off the camera.

He sucked in a breath when she was about to pull off the mask. Maybe that would finally put an end to this business? Maybe that was what the masked girl wanted. Mamouru scowled. As someone who played games for a living, Mamouru hated people who had no clue how to do it. If it was him out there instead of Cassie, he'd have no problem taking things up a notch. But Cassie was different. At least, she was trying to be.

Everyone thought she was some naive little stuffed doll who was pie eyed to the world around her. She definitely wasn't. But that didn't mean she was a soulless skank looking to work out some fucked up issues in her life either. People here seemed to think that those were the only two kinds of people who existed. The ones who stumbled in on accident or with some hopes and dreams, where it was only a matter of time before they were swallowed up and those who had already been chewed up and spit out by life and were looking to fill the hole inside them by beating or fucking whatever was thrown at them.

Cassie just wanted to fight and show that she was good at it. Was it Mamouru's job to put her in the position where she COULD? Was he supposed to keep that other stuff away from her so she could focus on competition? Or was that just him subconsciously believing she really WAS naive or worse, him becoming subservient to his own fucked up notions of protection. He cracked a smile. HE surely belonged here more than Cassie probably did.

His smile, however, quickly faded when Cassie bolted down the ramp and out of the arena. He darted off to try and catch up with her. He had to get to her before anyone else did. But he wasn't even sure where she would be going. He had one hunch and began to sprint through the hall, his foot steps heavy in his dress shoes.

If he was right, he could get to the employee exit before her. She'd have to run through the arena. At least, he thought, he could catch her there, even if he had to wait. He wasn't sure, but he felt like he needed to run. If he was out of breath and looked like a fool, waiting there for ten or fifteen minutes, then so be it.

When he arrived, he skidded along the hard marble of the lobby and turned to face the hallway he had just come out of. He was panting when he saw that blur of red in a full run towards the entrance he was standing in front of. He was slightly hunched over and held out his arms in front of him, his face urging her to stop as he tried his best to just be in the way of the door entrance.

"Cassie-san! Stop... hah... Please stop!" He pleaded, not knowing if she'd try and go around, or through him just to get away. With the look he caught in her eyes, he definitely couldn't be sure and he could feel his heart thump against his chest in anticipation of what was coming.

Cassie slowed to a trot. She wasn't surprised to see Mamouru, not really, but she couldn't decide if she wanted to see him. Part of her wanted to run the other way and ignore him entirely. Another part didn't. She stopped.

She was red faced and huffing, her hands opened and closed and eventually found a home on her hips. She looked at Mamouru as if she had no idea what to do about him. Then she clenched her fists.

"Get out of the way, Mamouru!" She shouted. She stepped forward and gave him a push. "Leave me alone!"

She barreled into him and tried to knock him out of the way to make her escape.

Mamouru heard Cassie's words and saw her shove. When she tried to barrel past him, he reached out to grab her and hold on tightly to her. If it meant he lost his balance and fell down, so be it as long as he fell tot he ground firs and made sure he held on tightly. He just knew he couldn't let her leave the building.

"You didn't do anything wrong! You stopped before things got out of control but if you walk out that door, you'll DEFINITELY be playing into her hands!" He tried to plead with her, to clear her cloudy head with the quickest words he could think of.

Cassie let out a frustrated shout, but had the presence of mind to steady Mamouru and keep him from falling. She jerked her hands back fitfully, but they remained stubbornly stuck in Mamouru's grip. She stamped her foot.

"Well, well I have to go home sometime! Do you want me to stay here forever and live in the locker room? I have to go! I have to go because I hate this stupid place and everyone in it!"

She thrashed her hands back and forth, and then kicked Mamouru in the shin and yanked herself free. She shoved through the door to the freedom of the outdoors, and was immediately aware that her yellow super suit and bare legs were ill suited to the late-winter chill.

She pulled her cape tightly around her and hugged her arms against her chest, legs together and shivering. She peered back over her shoulder, her face stretched by the agony of indecision before her resolve hardened and she was determined not to go back in, no matter how ridiculous it was that she was outside dressed like a super hero.

After two steps, she realized she wasn't done yelling at Mamouru, and she spun to face him.

"And who are you to say if I did anything wrong! What do you even know about that? Huh?" She waved an angry finger at him. "You're not my dad! You're nothing like him, because he would've told me what I did. He'd have a thing or two to say to you, too!"

She paused. She felt like she wasn't sure what she was talking about. Somewhere, she'd gone off track, and she took a second to reset. "I didn't wanna do anything, but the things she said, Mamouru!" She turned a darker shade of red and lowered her voice. "The things she said..." She said weakly, but then a renewed fire in her came rushing back out.

"AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! You don't love ANYBODY the way I love them! You don't love anybody the way I love ANYBODY!"

Mamouru tried to hold Cassie back but she was struggling pretty well. Even if his size might have made him physically stronger, the awkwardness of the situation combined with Cassie's drive to push through him made her difficult to contain. Her words made his eyes widened. He didn't mean LITERALLY! She knew that!

When she stomped his shin, he recoiled and she was gone. "Gaaah!"

"C-Cassie-san!" He cried out as he limped after her, trying to push his way outside as he pulled off his suit jacket and slung it around his shoulder. But it seemed like she wasn't done and he stopped when she trudged back to him.

He stiffened up when she came at him with her words. His eyes were wide but he tried to keep a stoic face. She was really laying into him. Even if she might have been right, again literally, she was way off base! His free fist clenched when she was finished and he moved his body to face her.

"I'm not TRYING to be your father! I never SAID I was him!" He yelled back, staring at her with a hard gaze. He pressed the flat of his palm against his chest. "You think there's NO ONE I care about!? No one in this whole world I could possibly love!?"

He clenched his teeth. "I have a mother and father too, you know." He said, turning his head. His cheeks were flush. He loved his parents too. She acted like she had the monopoly on familial love, or worse, that because he treated girls badly that he must not care about his parents either.

He turned back and looked at her. "I'm trying to HELP you, Cassie-san!" He said, his tone taking on a pleading tone, even though his brow was still knit as he stared her down. "I'm telling you, she WANTS you to get enraged! If you're going to make this about US, about your family, instead of HER then she'll beat you every single time! If you can't figure THAT much out, then you might as well take the next one way flight back to Canada!"

"Maybe I will, you jerk!" Cassie shouted back and shoved Mamouru with both hands. "It'd probably be the best thing ever, because at least then I'd be home with my family and everything would be easy!"

Her voice broke in a way that signaled that her anger was giving way. Her voice was losing it's edge and her eyes were cast down at the ground, rather than glaring holes through Mamouru. When she continued, her voice was quieter and desperate and hopeless.

"I hate it here..." She lamented. "Everyone is either really mean or really weird or... you know... that way. I feel like I don't have any real friends. Just Taylor, and she doesn't even live here anymore, and I just miss my family so much. I want to see my brothers and my dad and my mom and just... just nothing, I just want to see them again. I just don't know what to do without them..."

She shivered.

"And I've never hated someone like this before! I don't want to be like this! I choked her, Mamouru, and not because we were competing or... for defense or anything. Not even to beat her, just because I liked how it felt! I wanted to do it more! I just wanted her to shut up and to be sorry for everything she ever said and I wanted her to see me doing it and to be afraid of me. It felt good!" She wailed, and collapsed. She squatted on the ground, knees together with her head in her hands, cocooned in her cape.

She was shaking her head. "It's not me. It's not. I'm not like that. I can't be. I just... I was rebellious too, ya know! And I always had my parents to help me when I didn't know what to do. I don't know, Mamouru, maybe this place is changing me. Maybe I should get on the first plane back home." She almost mumbled, dejectedly scratching the sidewalk with her finger.