This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine II vs Zahra
Jul 22, 2017 18:05:10 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2017 18:05:10 GMT -5
Chicago, Illinois
Saturday
Saturday
“Braxtooooon,” Madison whined into the night. “I really hate you right now.” Brax despised anyone being in his car, and out of respect she hadn't used the valet service at the club. That left her walking several blocks back to where she had found a parking spot in her roll-up ballet flats while the pumps she had worn out dangled from one hand.
Her feet hurt and she'd had too much to drink to teeter around in heels anymore. She was probably going to have Braxton come get her as it was, unless the little cafe across the street from the car was open late and she could sober up for a while. Still, a night out with Kayley, aka JuneBug, was long overdue.
Finally the car came into view ahead, parked parallel against the curb. It was no longer surrounded on both sides, which was good, because if she had to try to squeeze it back out of the parking space in her condition, someone's bumper was getting tagged. “Not that you would,” she reminded herself sternly. “Brax'll always come get you, no questions asked. Don't be a dumbass.”
“You always talk to yourself?”
She whirled around so quickly that she almost lost her balance, searching for the source of the voice. The shifting bright of the street lights and dark of evening made it hard for her eyes to adjust. She heard a low laugh, somewhere to the left. Just as she finally caught sight of the dark-clad figure leaning on the rail of the stoop to the building, he moved.
She threw her hands up instinctively, only to find her arms crushed into her chest. The cold grip on her neck turned out to be leather gloves as she clutched at the adjoining wrist, digging her fingernails into flesh. “Hey!” How wrong was it that when she collided back-first with the car her immediate thought was that she hoped the shoes in her hand and chain strap on her purse didn't scratch the paint?
“Get the fuck off of me, creep!” she shrieked, looking up and down the block for anyone whose attention she could get.
“You were supposed to make a delivery,” the stranger drawled. Maddie forced herself to look at him, to memorize his face. His eyes were sunken and tired. He had patchy facial hair, trying desperately to grow what his follicles couldn't sustain. His lips were ashen, and there were scratched-at sores on one cheek. He looked like a junkie, no one she knew. But his words... “Bobby was very disappointed.”
Her throat constricted on its own, making it even harder to breathe. “How do you know about that?!” Don't be stupid, Bobby picked this guy. He's a rando so there's no connection. He's just doing it for whatever money he was promised.
Time seemed to stand still as he fished around in his pocket, producing some kind of pocket knife with a rusty blade. It probably wasn't even sharp, but for the moment that didn't make it less frightening. “You get one warning,” the junkie twitched a little, losing focus. She knew she could have used that to throw him off, but she was frozen. “Bobby said so. Don't disappoint him again.”
She stood there, agape, for what felt like forever passed even after the man was long gone, though it was probably only a matter of seconds. It wasn't until a ringing phone pierced the silence that she was shaken out of her shock. It wasn't her phone, wasn't her ringtone, but the glow of a screen came from inside her purse. When she picked it up, she remembered that Kayley had stuck her Galaxy in there earlier in the night.
It was a good thing she didn't have a lock code set, so Madison could actually answer. “Hey.”
“Ohemgee you do have my phone, good. I thought I left it at the club. Are you home yet? Can I come get it?”
“Nah, I'm not home yet.”
“...What's wrong? You sound weird.”
Madison cleared her throat and finally got into the car, locking all of the doors as soon as she did. “Nothing,” she lied. “I'm fine. I just went for a little run. Got to thinking about my match and started feeling guilty about partying.”
“Ew, you went running after drinking? Did you puke everywhere? I totally would have.”
“Not yet, but I might.” That part wasn't a lie. “If you wanna come get—”
“Wait, you're facing that Zahra chick again, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds like you pissed someone off already.”
“Tell me about it.” Pushing a hand back through her colorful hair, Madison tried not to sigh. She didn't really want to talk about this right now, but she couldn't hang up on her best friend.
“So what are you going to do?”
“I'm gonna kick her ass, Kay, what else would I do? You saw my last match. I had Tiffany on the ropes the whole time, I had it won. It was Zahra's interference that cost me. Well Horse-Face Hunter is hurt and Matthias has his hands full with Tiffany later in the night. Zahra has to face me one on one, with nowhere to run”
“You aren't worried about it being a leather strap match?”
Maybe talking about wrestling would help her heart stop racing so badly. “No. It's my first, but it's her first too. She might have more overall experience, but she doesn't have any more with this particular match than I do. She's smart, and she likes to control the pace to play to her advantages. The strap eliminates that option for her. She can't get away, can't avoid my strikes, and can't buy herself time hoping someone will come rescue her.”
“You are going to be in close quarters, though, and she's a grappler.”
“But that's all she's got, Kay, and that's just it; she's a submission wrestler. I might prefer high-flying for the rush, but I'm an all-rounder. I've got a more diverse skillset than she does, so when one thing doesn't work out I've still got an arsenal behind me to keep drawing from.
“When her one thing doesn't work, she's done for and she panics. I'm going to force that panic. When she slips I'm going to use my size, speed, and strength to overpower her and destroy her. I'm going to take all of this shit from the past two shows, and I'm going to use it like fuel to make this match the most brutal fucking beatdown of the night. She's gonna walk away with her face an uglier shade of purple than that cheap weave.
“Then I'll be done with this Zahra bullshit and I can focus on something better. Like getting that briefcase back. After watching Logan try to keep it for a while, that is. He's gonna get his before I take back what's mine.”
“Alright, alright. Hey I'm out of quarters for this payphone, I gotta go. I'll come get my phone tomorrow, okay?” If she said anymore, it was cut out when the line went dead.
Madison finally let out that sigh. “Now... to face Brax.”