Post by hawkeye on Apr 9, 2019 0:10:15 GMT
“Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall with a thirty minute time limit and it is the last match in a Best of Five Series! Introducing first, hailing from Antonio Bay, California, she stands at five feet four inches tall and weighs in at one hundred twenty seven pounds. She is the Innovator of Offense, the NorCal Sensation, the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds… JENNY JACOBS!"
JENNY JACOBS:
The jeers were almost unanimous amongst the Jacobites, their former heroine’s consistently hard-hearted showings against her opposition doing further damage to the goodwill she’d all but destroyed in claiming the World Title a few years prior. Not that Jenny Jacobs gave a damn about their opinion, she looked as icy and unmoved as ever once she’d brushed through the curtain. Taking a moment to absorb her surroundings, the Innovator apparently deemed them a worthy venue for tonight’s festivities because she started down the ramp without even bothering to raise the J’s.
Tuning out their disdain to better focus on the hell she‘d inflict upon Mallory Slade, Jacobs couldn’t smirk when the mouth-breathers quieted for her passing. Of course they did. Tonight she wore the indigo version of her ‘starstruck’ briefs as well as a matching halter-style top with the cups held together by a small metal buckle in the shape of a star. Her boots and pads were a grim, matte black while her hair was swept back in a bob that just tickled her shoulders. It was an iconic look for the Innovator, one that never failed to seize the attention of supporter and detractor alike. Even so, the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds remained silent as she made her way down the ramp. Her slow, patient stalking ended at the aisle, Jacobs bursting into a blurred sprint that took her under the bottom rope and well past middle ring before she bounded to her feet.
Alone save for the jeers and the quiet presence of Senior Official Nick Castle, Jenny climbed the opposite corner whereupon she raised the J’s, holding them aloft for several seconds before transitioning to a pair of raised middle fingers. “Boo all you want.” she muttered after hopping down from the buckles. “It’s not gonna stop me from feeding the Tigress her own goddamned tail.”
Castle was tending to the first round of pre-fight inspections when the Announcer called, “And introducing her opponent, hailing from Tallong, Queensland Australia, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and thirty-four pounds. She is the Tigress… MALLORY SLADE!”
MALLORY SLADE:
A raucous roar greeted Escape the Fate’s ‘One For The Money’ when it bellowed outta the big speakers flanking the stage. The initial pop drew out for several more seconds before the woman in question swatted the curtains aside. Choosing to stalk rather than sprint, Mallory kept her eyes locked on the ring until she’d made it halfway down the ramp. Then she spread her arms wide and looked to both sides of the aisle. “WHAT TIME IS IT, ORLANDO?”
‘IT’S TIME TO HUNT!’ they replied in a chorus several thousand strong.
Slade waggled a finger ‘no’. “HUNT’S OVER! TONIGHT… I… FEED!” This deviation didn’t bother the March to War throng at all, indeed they grew that much louder when Mallory resumed her march to ringside. For this deciding contest against a former World Champion, the Aussie stunner wore a tiger print halter-style bikini top and matching bottoms, the waistband of which were adorned with an inch or so of orange and black fringe. Pads at knee and wrist were black while her wrist tape and boots were bright orange. Her hair, a shoulder length dark brown highlighted by sun-born golden blonde streaks, was pulled back in a tight ponytail more than a little evocative of a tiger’s tail.
Eyes still trained on Jenny when reached the shadow of the squared circle, Mal put her right hand on the apron and made a point of draaaaaaaaagging her nails along the canvas as she walked from one end to the other. Upon reaching it she turned back, made her way to the middle and hopped / slid under the bottom rope. Long legs stretched out behind in a near split, Slade put her right hand down and again made a show of raking invisible furrows in her canvas battleground. In doing so she propelled herself out of the split and into a graceful back handstand that earned another round of cheers. Breathing deep to refrain from hurling herself at the American then and there, Mal backed into the opposite corner to await Castle’s perusal of her knee and elbow pads.
Everything about Jenny Jacobs, from the set of her jaw, to the hunch of her shoulders, to the near imperceptible thrum in her legs, spoke of the utmost attention devoted to one Mallory Slade. In essence it was true, the Innovator’s body was most certainly honed in on the Tigress of Tallong. Her mind however was more than a year removed from tonight, Jacobs once again poring over the details of a Cage Match with none other than Maddy Crane. She’d watched that match dozens of times in the near sixteen months since and though she knew, she knew there was nothing in her effort to be ashamed of, she also knew that Crane’s reputation as a one-time comedy act turned hardnosed veteran had come at her expense and that was an extremely tough pill for the blonde to swallow.
The CLANG of the bell brought her back to the present and sent her toward the center of the ring in one stroke. “I’m not going to be your stepping stone, Slade.” she murmured under her breath. “Not tonight. Not ever.”
Elsewhere Mallory Slade mulled a race laid out in five legs. She’d managed to hold her own through the first four, it was dead even with the finish line finally in sight, but she’d never managed to pull ahead. Jacobs had jumped out to an early lead in their first encounter and it took everything Slade had to just catch up with the California blonde. She’d done so twice, but even now it felt like Jenny was about to break away and leave her choking in the dust.
“Not tonight.” Mal shook her head to emphasize the point. “Not tonight, girl. Tonight’s the night I bring you to ground. No more flash pins, no more distractions, no more excuses. Tonight I lock you down in the middle of this ring and squeeze some respect into--”
The CLANG of the bell called Mal forward and she didn’t fight it, the tawny, whippet-sleek battler closing the distance between herself and the American in a few long strides. There was no talking when they met, just some seriously energetic hand-fighting that lasted for all of five seconds before Jacobs caught Slade in a Front Facelock and brought her to the can--
Mallory twisted out of the blonde’s grip, answered with a Side Headlock and dropped to one knee to grind Jenny’s temple against the point of her--
Jacobs slid out like smoke, helped herself to the Tigress’ right wrist and twisted around behind to fold it up between her shoulders with a Hammerlo--
Mal’s reversal was just as effortless, though the Waistlock she snugged around Jenny’s hips was tight enough to make the former champion’s eyes widen for a heartbeat or two. From a crouch she powered to one knee and from there her arms shot up in search of a Full Nelson that would--
Jenny dropped to a seat, leaned back flat on the canvas and kicked her legs up to hook ‘em under the brunette’s biceps when Slade hunched over to thwart the jailbreak. Popping her hips as soon as she caught the Tigress in her trap, Jacobs sat up while simultaneously drawing Mallory down into a squirming bundle, a sort of low-flying Victory Roll she turned into a perfect Reverse Matchbook in the time it took Craig to swoop in and count…
ONE…
TWO…
Mal thrust her hips straight up and rolled backward to press Jenny to the mat with the Tigress coming to rest comfortably atop her chest, Slade effectively turning the Matchbook into one of her own, an effort good for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Jacobs mirrored the brunette’s own strategy and the results were identical, the Matchbook rolled back on itself to leave Slade flat on the deck. The Girl of 8,675,309 Holds tossed those sleek limbs aside, scrambled to her feet and immediately tried to put them through Mallory’s chest with a Double Stomp that THWHUMP!
Slade barrel rolled out of harm’s way and bounced to her feet, the lissome lovely not taking her eyes off Jenny despite the rousing round of applause their first skirmish earned from the FAWNatics.
The Innovator was equally unfazed, merely ‘flicking’ her waistband back into place as she resumed circling. “How long since you signed on with them?” Jacobs asked in a tone of feigned disinterest.
Mal’s brow furrowed as she moved to keep pace with the Californian. “Who?”
“Don’t play dumb, Slade. It doesn’t suit you. Dufresne. Harker. Murray. Wicked. How long?”
Slade stopped in her tracks, dark eyes tossing sparks. “Excuse me? I’m not the one they’ve been scouting for… what, four months now? They’ve been turning your J’s into their W ever since you--”
Jenny pounced and caught the taller woman, not in a Collar & Elbow but a white-knuckled Fish Face and an equally vitriolic handful of Aussie ponytail. “I’m NO ONE’S stablemate, Slade. Those three cost me our last match and no one’s seemed to realize that a W becomes a M with a flick of the wriHURGH!”
Slade countered with a blatant stranglehold as well as her own handful of the blonde’s sleek locks. “I hunt alone, honey.” Mal snarled when she’d managed to pull her cheeks free of Jacobs’ clamp. “Always have, always will. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone else on this roster take the credit when I finally make you submit in the middle of this--”
CRAAACK!
Jenny slapped the Tigress’ mouth hard enough to draw blood, so Mallory slapped her right back and then they were on one another, two world class wrestlers forgetting everything they knew of technique in favor of the sort of hateful, shrieking calamity one sometimes stumbled upon in certain disreputable parking lots in the small hours of an August morning.
Nick Castle bless his kind, foolish heart, stormed into that maelstrom of tooth and claw and damned if he didn’t manage to prize his charges apart without losing several layers of skin in the process. “ENOUGH, ENOUGH OF THAT CATTY SHYT!” he barked once they’d stopped trying to shred one another. “Both of you came here to wrestle, if you want to move this to a penthouse or an alley I can call it right now, is that what I should do?”
Blonde and brunette swallowed something that must’ve tasted awful, then shook their heads ‘no’. Castle sighed, stepped clear and gestured them forward. “Keep off of each others eyes. And knock off that clawing crap. You’re both better than that.”
The look in their eyes told Nick neither lass thought her adversary was better than anything more evolved than a cockroach, but their next lock-up was much cleaner, at least by the letter of the law, if not the spirit. Drawn together in a Collar & Elbow so tight it almost looked like a Bear Hug, Jacobs and Slade stamped around in a wobbly little circle while trying to scrape her opponent’s mouth and nose clean off her face with nothing but the heel of her palm. Hardly what you’d call sporting, yet there was nothing illegal in it, so Nick held his tongue even when he noted thin rills of blood on both of their chins. This increasingly aggressive stalemate held sway for another ten seconds or so, that’s when Jenny abruptly pinched Mallory’s nose between the first knuckles of her index and middle fingers and twisted like she meant to snap it clean off! Slade voiced a nasal howl, abandoned the Collar & Elbow and swung at the Californian’s--
Jacobs relinquished her grip to duck the Haymaker and curl her right arm around the Tigress’ neck. With Slade’s right arm draped awkwardly over one shoulder, the disgraced leader of the Jacobites snatched hold of her foe’s waistband and powered her up and around, Jenny coming down flat on her belly to THAWHAM Mal with a Uranage. Slade bounced hard or at least she would have if Jacobs hadn’t stretched out on her chest Crossbody-style and hooked the leg for…
URANAGE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWByV4ihoqE
ONE…
TWO…
Mallory escaped with a full second to spare, the force of her kick-out tumbling the burnished brunette onto her tummy. Jacobs shook her head in disgust, not at the pace of the count, but at the continued presence of one Mallory Slade in her ring. “Let you hang around too goddamned long.” she muttered in the midst of collecting her opponent’s ankles. “Should’ve blown your doors off the first time we met, but no, I took it easy on you and look what happened.” Jenny crossed Slade’s feet in a squashed ‘X’ and pressed the Aussie’s heels into her own glutes. Controlling the knot with her right hand, she slapped the back of Mal’s head several times, then helped herself to some ponytail and puuuuuuuulled until Nick hurried over with a warning on his lips. “Look at you now.” Jacobs growled. “Managed to steal two matches from me and you think you’re gonna steal a third. Just like that thieving b*tch Crane.”
The Tigress growled, tried to slide away from the predicament, then groaned when Jenny set both knees against the small of her back. “You didn’t LET me do a damned thing, Jacobs.” her words were muffled because her chin was tucked against her chest, she knew exactly what the Innovator had on her mind. “You got complacent and I made you pay for it. You’ve been complacent for years Nuuuuunnnnngggghhh!”
Jenny put her free (left) hand between the brunette’s shoulders, vaulted into a gorgeous handstand and swung back the way she’d came to THWUMP every bit of her hundred and twenty-plus pounds into her rival’s defenseless spine! Slade cringed, gouged her elbows into the canvas for purchase and tried to crawl away only for pay the price when Double J palmed the back of her noggin and bounced her forehead against the deck.
“Complacent? Does that feel complacent to you?” Jenny almost screamed it.
Rather than wait for an answer she boosted her boots to the rafters a second and then a third time, the incensed veteran making sure to lead with the hardest part of her knees. Snuggling in a little closer once Slade’s escape efforts trailed off to almost nothing, Jenny cupped her left hand under the other woman’s chin and rolled onto her back, deftly drawing Mallory into what was arguably the most famous submission hold in all of FAWN. Of course this was technically a Bow & Arrow and not the legendary London’s Bridge, yet Jenny’s version must’ve been damned close to the genuine article because Slade wailed and squirmed like she was about to break in half!
BOW & ARROW:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SBaVy6WL10
“GIVE UP!” Jacobs pulled down on chin and ankle while simultaneously bouncing her knees to increase the strain. “SUBMIT, YOU BYTCH!”
Mal waved a finger ‘no, no, no!’ and even verbalized a cogent denial or two before she devoted herself fully to escaping the hellish hold. Pulling at Jenny’s fingers proved a non-starter, as soon as she even reached in that direction the vindictive blonde bounced her burden that much harder. Denied anything like an elegant solution, Mal flattened her right hand into a paddle and started lashing out with blind shots until she CRAAACKED a few off Jacobs’ chest. They weren’t enough to get her out of the Bow & Arrow, they did however give her a reference point so that her next blow, a white-knuckled Hammer Punch, landed flush on the Californian’s mouth!
Jenny let out an ‘unnnngghh’ followed by an ‘ooooofffhh’ as Slade rolled off her shins to land heavily atop the blonde’s chest in a Crossbody! Catching Jenny’s left wrist in both hands, Mal kept that limb glued to the mat while Castle and the FAWNatics counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
Jacobs bucked loose in time with ‘TWO!’, sending both ladies scrambling to verticality with the blonde just the tiniest bit ahead. This proved all the lead she needed to grab the advantage, or rather a Wristlock and another handful of her opponent’s face! “What did I tell you, huh? WHAT DID I TELL YOU?” The NorCal Sensation abandoned the Wristlock, reared back with her right hand and delivered a truly spiteful Overhand Slap directly to Mal’s modest décolletage!
TEACHIN' A LESSON:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lYd2wap08Y
Groaning at the flat whip-crack of the report, the crowd’s sympathy for Slade’s plight only grew when the former World Champion reclaimed the Wristlock to send her racing into a corner on the far side of the ring. Pleased by the grimace of anguish that passed over Slade’s face when her back hit the buckles, Jenny raised the J’s overhead before turning them into a pair of middle fingers aimed directly at the Tigress. Then she took off after her prey, Jacobs burning up the distance en route to an Avalanche Spl--
“OOFFFHH!” Mallory got her legs up just high enough to drive both feet into the blonde’s encroaching midsection! Bounced away by the force of the rebuke, Jenny lost her footing, landed flat and somersaulted backward to come up on one knee near center ring. She was still catching her bearings when the Tigress pounced, Mal exploding out of the corner to THWHONK her right knee against the Californian’s temple!
BASEMENT BICYCLE KNEE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBYRC51ZNY
Jacobs hit the deck in a stunned sprawl that Slade soon transformed into a stunned parody of verticality thanks to a double handful of hair and some enthusiastic tugging. Somehow resisting an urge to slap Jacobs’ face into the upper deck, Mallory settled for a Headbutt to the bridge of the nose, thus ensuring that Jenny’s eyes were watering something fierce when the Aussie stunner slung her into the ropes for an Irish Whip. Jacobs hit the strands and came back showing no sign of duplicity, so Slade dipped down and thrust a shoulder-- Jenny skipped up n’ over the ducking grappler and raced for the opposite side, leaving Mallory to spin around with something unprintable on her lips. No waiting this time, she raced after the blonde and met her on the rebound with a ClothesliNO! Jenny caught Slade’s bicep in a Half Nelson, dipped around on her six and caught hold of that tiger-striped waistband. Just like that Mal was airborne, long tanned legs swinging up overhead as Jacobs dropped to one knee and fetched her victim’s back another hateful THAWHUMP!
HALF NELSON BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHkVgOhJnck
Slade arched like she’d been electrocuted so Jenny hauled her upright with the Half Nelson still in place. “You can’t hang, Slade.” the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds hissed in her foe’s ear. “Never could. Never wiNNGH!”
The Tigress drove the point of her right elbow back into the side of Jenny’ s head once, twice, three times! Finally pulling free of the shorter wrestler’s clutches, Mallory spun around, hooked a Front Facelock and forced Jenny to stare at the canvas while she thum-thum-thum-THUMPED half a dozen Kneelifts into opposing tummy. After that she took hold of Jacobs’ right wrist in her free (left) hand and pulled it snug across her own midsection. “We both know I can hang, girlie.” Slade spat at the blonde’s back. “The real question is, can you land?” Eager to find the answer, Mal kicked her right leg forward, then snapped it back to sweep Jenny’s right leg just as the Australian threw herself forward in a nasty little tuck n’ roll. The result saw both ladies swept off their feet in a veritable tangle of limbs, but whereas Slade landed on her tush in relative comfort, Jenny THWHUNKED down hard on the back of her head and shoulders.
KNEELIFTS & RAZORBACK DRIVER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4uSKaVsEYA
Left facedown and out by the brutal power of the Razorback Driver, Jacobs was little more than luggage when Mallory shot her own Half Nelson to roll the American onto her back. Setting the ridge of her forearm against Jenny’s jaw even before she hooked the far leg, Slade grrrrrroooound back n’ forth and huffed, “How’s this for a flash pin, bytch?” as Nick counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOOO!
Jenny wedged a hand against Mal’s chin and shoved her clear with a whisper to spare. “Stuuuhhh… still not good enough.” the former World Champ rasped at her rival. “Just like everything else about HEY! NO! DON’T EVEN WHOOAAAARRRRGGGHHH!”
Sick and tired of Jacobs’ disrespect, Mallory caught her blonde by the ankles and tucked them beneath her armpits. Hands locked, she lifted Jenny up ‘til she was stacked on her shoulders. Then she shifted her hips, carefully nudging the blonde from her shoulders to her cheNO! Jacobs shot a hand out and caught Slade’s ankle in a death-grip to prevent the hold from progressing any further. “Your technique is slow and sloppy, just like you.” the Innovator grunted. “There’s no way I should’ve been able to block this if you weren’t half assing UNGH! UNGH! UNGH! NNNRRRRRRHHH!”
Mallory used her free leg to drive several quick Kneelifts into Jacobs’ tailbone. And if that wasn’t unpleasant enough, she shifted that foot around and pressed it to the blonde’s cheek for a bit of spirited grinding. “You’re not blocking a goddamned thing, honey.” the Aussie growled. “You’re stalling, looking for a way out that doesn’t exOOOOWWW!”
Jenny swatted the encroaching foot away, made the Tigress pay for her cattiness by gouging her nails into that bronzed expanse of calf. “There’s always a way out, you tacky bytch. Now keep your f*cking foot out of my OOOOFFFFHH OOOOHHHH FAAAAAAAAAHHHHHK!”
Slade wrenched her right leg free, drew back and spiked a Soccer Kick into the blonde’s exposed back! Another kick demolished Jenny’s other grip and just like that she turned the former World Champ onto her chest and dropped into a crouch that put the full weight of her right knee in the small of Double J’s back.
Lion Tamer, Mallory Slade to Jenny Jacobs in the center of the ring.
LION TAMER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKuZi26X0kQ
The ‘TAP!’ chants started at once, didn’t matter that Mal hadn’t ever used the move in a FAWN ring before, the Orlando faithful KNEW this particular bit of torture almost always resulted in ignominious surrender. Jenny knew it as well, hell, Jacobs’ Ladder was a twist on this very maneuver. Moaning through clenched teeth, the NorCal Sensation tried to push Slade’s foot away from her noggin and got a knee wiggled against her spine for the effort.
“Give up.” the Tigress ordered before Nick could frame it a bit more diplomatically. “I don’t want to put you on the shelf, but I’m not going to let you go eith--not a chance, girlie.” Yet there must’ve been at least the ghost of a chance because Jenny managed to eat up another few inches of canvas with nothing save her planted hands. “Never make it.” Mal promised. “You’ll pass out from the pain long before you reach the ropes!”
Jenny choked down a shriek to contradict her rival. “Is that so, kitty? Then why do you sound so nervOOOOOOOOHHHHH BYTCH!”
More than willing to let the blonde suffer for that insolence, Slade planted her left foot and leaaaaaaaaaaaaaned back on the Lion Tamer until Jenny had both arms swaddled around the back of her skull.
“What do you say, Jenny?” Nick asked shortly thereafter. “Need me to call for the bell?”
No response for more than five seconds. The Senior Official was about to repeat the query when Jacobs unlaced her arms and braced both elbows against the deck. She didn’t have to tell Nick to get out of her way, she just started moving forward and Castle did so of his own accord.
Simultaneously impressed and appalled by the Californian’s resilience, Mallory continued to pour her considerable strength into the hold, but the ever increasing volume of the crowd told her Jenny was going to hold out long enough to reach the sanctuary of the strands. A glance over one shoulder confirmed that Jacobs was less than a foot from achieving her goal. It also gave Slade an excellent idea. Standing up without so much as a word of warning, Mal turned the blonde onto her back, effectively ending the threat of the Lion Tamer.
Too relieved to question her rival’s motives at the moment, Jacobs reached out with both hands, grabbed hold of the rubber-coated steel and pulled herself partway under the bottom rope. “ROPES!” she barked. “Break the hold, asshole! I’m in the ro--” There was a nasty TWAAANG followed by an ‘oooooohhhh’ from those assembled when Slade laid out on her back to pull Jenny into a throat-first collision with the bottom rope!
Jenny forgot all her aching back in favor of fresh agonies, the discombobulated blonde so focused on her compacted windpipe that she didn’t notice Mallory dragging her out to the middle of the ring until the Aussie turned her onto her stomach. Driven by an innate instinct to pick herself off the damned mat, Jenny did just that, or rather she did the best she could considering the wracking she’d so recently endured. And give the devil her due, Jacobs made it to all fours and would’ve reached boot leather sooner than later if the Tigress of Tallong hadn’t sprang into the air, stretched out full length and brought every bit of her hundred and thirty plus pounds THWHAMMING down on Jenny‘s defenseless vertebrae!
TIGRESS SPLASH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlrZuXVk8dQ
The Innovator collapsed with a single loud sob, her impression of a snake with a broken back a decided contrast to Mallory, who rolled onto her shoulders and bounced to verticality with a perfect kip-up. It looked showy, even ostentatious at first glance, but it turned out to be anything but, as Slade ran the ropes a heartbeat or two before Jenny fought her way to a slumped seat. Quite unaware of Slade’s position or current strategy, the Innovator looked up as Mal came back and threw herself down into a low-flying Cannonball Senton… or not? In truth it was and it wasn’t. The Aussie certainly barreled into her blonde hard enough, but mere collision wasn’t the point. Instead she cradled Jenny’s right leg on contact and rolled all the way back to her feet, which in turn scraped Jacobs off the mat and draped her across the brunette’s shoulders in a Fireman’s Carry!
No theatrics from Slade once she was upright, she immediately tossed Jenny from her perch into a nearly vertical descent and dropped to her butt to SPIKE the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds on the nape of her neck courtesy of the nastiest Samoan Driver FAWN had seen in a very long while. Sliding into a seat on the blonde’s chest while the ring was still shivering from the impact, Mallory hooked the right leg in a Half Matchbook and pulled it tight beneath her arm for the…
BASEMENT ROLLING SAMOAN DRIVER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrWtA8Fara0
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Jenny twitched a shoulder off the deck so late in the count that Nick threw a warning signal to the Timekeeper to make sure he didn’t inadvertently ring the bell.
As for Mallory Slade, she didn’t pound a fist against the mat or rage about a slow count, she only took several deep breaths and tightened the hair tie holding her ponytail in place. With that tended to she buried a hand in Jenny’s sweat-damp locks and clambered to her feet while forcing the veteran to do the same. “You’re so f*cking tuff, it’s almost unreal, girlie. I’m seeing it with my own two eyes and I’m still not sure I believe it.” Mallory took Jenny’s near wrist in one hand, put her other hand to the small of that devastated back. “But I’m not letting that stop me. I didn’t push you this far just to lay off with the finish line in sight.”
Jenny tried to answer but Slade didn’t let her, she surged forward and went down on one knee, the Aussie stunner sending her adversary racing toward the nearest corner. Jenny saw the buckles closing in and couldn’t do a damned thing except brace for “UUUUUUNNNNNNNGGGHHH!” Jenny hit the top turnbuckle sternum-first and would’ve collapsed to her knees if she hadn’t draped both arms over the top rope. In the end it might’ve been better if she had because then Mallory would’ve had a harder time rushing in and BWUUUUNGING her against the roughly-padded steel with a cringe-inducing Avalanche Splash!
Drawing her blonde out just far enough to wedge her head under one arm, Mal secured Jenny with a Half Waistlock and her other hand braced against the former champ’s butt so she could muscle her up onto one shoulder, then sit her down on the top turnbuckle. Once Jacobs was in place the Tigress mounted the second rope, pulled Jenny’s head back and trapped it beneath her left arm in an Inverted Facelock. Catching hold of the NorCal Sensation’s waistband with her free (right) hand, Mallory yoked up on both grips, forcing Jacobs to slowly but surely ‘climb’ her way to standing, a shift in position that would ultimately-- Slade hoisted her burden the rest of the way, Jenny floating up and over the lissome brunette as she capacity crowd held its breOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!”
Inches removed from destruction via Inverted Superplex, the Innovator raised her knees to chest level and tucked in tight to flip around behind Mallory even as gravity pulled both women to the canvas. Knees wedged between her foe’s shoulders, Jenny clasped her hands over the Tigress’ chin on nothing more than instinct, yet it was more than enough to turn one doom into another as Slade THAWHUMPED down full force atop those cleverly posted joints!
Lungs blown all the way back to Tallong by the Avalanche Spivey Point Driller, Mallory bounced onto tiptoe and somehow stumbled all the way back to the corner before her legs gave out and she collapsed chest-first against the top turnbuckle. As for Jenny, she hadn’t fared much better, sandwiched as she was between the thinly-sheathed plywood and the freefalling Tigress. Eyes closed tight against the blinding overhead glare, the former World Champion sucked air back into her lungs while trying to tune out everything but Castle’s slowly ascending count.
“ONE… TWO… THREE… FOUR…” Mal let out a piteous groan, then turned around in the corner, but she barely managed half a step before the throb in her back forced her to throw an arm over the top rope. “FIVE… SIX… SEVEN… EIGHT…”
Jenny rolled back onto her shoulders, drew her knees in close and popped her hips to reclaim boot-leather with a perfect kip-- Slade hopped onto the second strand and launched herself at Jacobs, the brunette’s long legs stretched just wide enough to ‘smeck’ shut around Jenny’s NO!
The Girl of 8,675,309 Holds caught Mal around the hips, effectively freezing her atop Jacobs’ shoulders. Then she charged the corner and just tossed the other wrestler away, Slade’s spine making a sickening BWUUUNG! as she collided with the thinly-sheathed steel!
BUCKLE BOMB:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFad_YK1kIY
“Aaaaaahhhhh faaaaaaahh…” Mallory’s sob of anguish was surprisingly soft, it seemed the scream she wanted to loose was simply too large to escape her throat. Jenny noted this with absolutely no sympathy, though the astute observer noted it was grim determination and not cruel pleasure etched on her face as she peeled Mallory off the buckles. A Standing Headscissors followed and the FAWNatics buzzed worriedly, thinking that the vindictive battler might repeat the Buckle Bomb. In the end Jenny didn’t repeat herself (t’was a cardinal sin far as she was concerned) but Slade probably wished she had. Spinning the both of ‘em around in a half circle, Jacobs spun Mallory onto her shoulders for a Powerbomb only to go down on one knee and THWUMP the small of Slade’s back against the posted joint! Mallory did wail in the wake of that particular tactic, a high, keening noise that elicited sympathetic cringes from fans in the first half dozen rows.
POWERBOMB BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLJtX8tBRNg
“Thuuu…. they might call me cruel, later.” Jenny huffed to the Aussie in the midst of hauling her up with a double handful of ponytail. “But we both know that’s not true, don’t we, Mal?” Jenny lowered her shoulders, wedged them in against Slade’s left side and hooked an arm around her thigh. In the next instant she snatched Mal’s left wrist and muscled her up across her shoulders with a textbook Torture Rack. “I’m not cruel, I’m thorough.” she called over the groans of the groans assembled, not to mention the stifled screams of her rival. “This is the only way to guarantee you stay down.” Jacobs tossed the brunette up n’ forward even as she laid out, Jenny once again soaking up a rough landing to dish out exponentially more hell when Slade THWHUMPED down on her upraised knees for the third time in no more than two minutes.
ARGENTINE DOUBLE KNEE BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0MsrrZTtaI
Mallory didn’t bounce so much as she slopped, the decimated Aussie stunner landing awkwardly on shoulder and hip before Jenny shoveled her onto her back and trapped both legs in tight bundle that had to be good for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Mal Slade wrenched free and turned onto her stomach, the Tigress just refusing to give her nemesis the series-ending ‘THREE!’
Beside her, Jenny Jacobs put her elbows on her knees and raked both hands through her hair. After a moment she turned a weary eye on Nick Castle. “Girl’s done, Nick. She can’t defend herself.”
The ref wasn’t entirely sure he disagreed with that statement, but he’d never administered a quick count in his life and he wasn’t about to start now. “Count says otherwise, Jenny. Match is still live.”
“Not for long, if you’ve got any goddamned sense.”
Spinning to one knee immediately after the words left her mouth, Jenny took the brunette’s ankles in both hands and neatly tucked Mal’s right ankle into the pit of her left knee and folded the latter over the former to create a quick Figure Four. From there she braced her right knee in the small of Slade’s back and reached through the negative space created by her gammy knot to crank those captured stems off the mat at an agonizing angle. “AAAAAWWWWWWWW FAAAAAAAAAAHK!”
JACOBS' LADDER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvNEx-_gBmk
Mallory jolted to life as soon as the Ladder was cinched in, the trapped brunette gouging furious furrows in the mat as she tried to drag her way to freedom. Jenny paid it no mind, she only tucked Slade’s left shin beneath her right armpit and leaaaaaaaaaaaned back that much farther. Satisfied with her perch, Jacobs flipped hair out of her eyes and grunted, “Give it up, honey. You’re trapped.”
Mal shook her head ‘no’, reached down with her right hand and tried to shove Jenny’s leg off her back. No luck, the veteran just ground her knee in a little deeper and jostled the Tigress’ legs from side to side. “Submit, Slade.” Jenny’s tone was cold. “Don’t make me hurt yo--”
Slade braced her hands against the mat and sloooowly powered her torso off the mat by a good three inches. Astounded by the resilience of the crippled bendyback, the capacity crowd exploded into a chorus of ‘PLEASE DON’T TAP!’ as Mal inched / dragged her way toward the ropes. Eyes locked on the rubber-coated steel sanctuary, Slade was within an arm’s length of escape when Jenny shifted her plant knee to the nape of the brunette’s neck and CRAAAAAANKED back until Mallory was bent into an agonizing ‘L’ shape.
“OOOOOOOHHHHH GAAAAAAAHD!” Slade sobbed. “STAAAAAAAHP! STAAAAAAAHP! I SUBMIT!” she tapped the mat half a dozen times, though the verbal capitulation had been more than enough for Castle to call for the bell.
As for the NorCal Sensation, she eased the pressure on the Ladder as soon as Mallory tapped, but she didn’t actually relinquish the hold until the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via submission… JENNY JACOBS!”
Resting on one knee in the immediate aftermath, the NorCal Sensation took several deep breaths before she stood up and raised the J’s overhead. While there were plenty of jeers from disappointed Slade fans, Jacobs noticed an undercurrent of applause she hadn’t heard in quite some time. Too tired to bother with any sort of interpretation, she shook her head and muttered, “Fickle weirdos.”
The FAWNatics grew noticeably louder, not in derision or alarm, but appreciation. A shuffling sound behind her drew Jacobs’ attention and somehow she wasn’t surprised to see Mallory Slade struggling to boot-leather with an assist from Nick Castle. Jenny grunted, turned to leave, then whipped around on full alert when Mal reached out and laid a hand on her bicep.
The Innovator twitched away from Slade’s touch, Mallory on the other hand didn’t so much as flinch. “Good match.” The Tigress swallowed a lump in her throat, then repeated herself. “Good match, Jenny. Thank you.”
Jacobs extended a hand, some long dormant instinct powering through the last three years of her career. Mal regarded the gesture with understandable wariness, indeed she seemed as divided as the crowd, half of which implored her to ‘SHAKE!’ while the other half advised against this in the strongest possible terms. Cheeks stinging at the hesitation, Jenny cursed under her breath and-- Slade took her hand and gave it a single hard squeeze.
“Series goes to you, girl.” the brunette said with a weary smile. “But I’m going to get you next time.”
“Come around whenever you want, kitty. I’ll be happy to run up the scoNNNNGGGGGHHHH!”
The show of sportsmanship came to a rudely abrupt end when not one, not two, but three figures hit the squared circle and converged upon blonde and brunette with fists flying! It was Wicked of course, with Lucy Harker and Mina Murray focusing their attention on Mallory while Daphne Dufresne devoted herself to Jenny.
DAPHNE DUFRESNE:
LUCY HARKER:
MINA MURRAY:
This was no simple mugging though, at least not for the Innovator. Yes, D² clouted her about the head and shoulders with an alternating series of Knife Edge Chops and European Uppercuts, but rather than beat Jacobs to her knees the limber brunette trundled her back to the edge of the ring and quickly trapped her would-be stablemate’s arms between the rubber-coated steel of the top and middle ropes.
“What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?” Jenny snarled in the midst of straining at her bonds. “Get me out of here, Daphne. I f*cking mean--”
Dufresne caught the blonde’s chin between thumb and forefinger and held an index finger within an inch of her nose. “Hold please. Someone will be right with you.”
The Gatecrasher turned away, strode over to Nick (who was doing his damndest to get Scandalous away from Slade) and caught him in a Half Nelson / Waistlock combination just long enough to turn the poor dope inside out with a huge Suplex.
HALF NELSON SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QRYjEMDyeE
No longer burdened by the official’s intrusion, Lucy and Mina stomped away on the vulnerable Aussie for a good ten seconds before Harker snatched a handful of hair and scraped her off the mat. “Mina dear, would you like a present?”
“Certainly, Lucy. What’s the occasion?”
“Oh nothing, really. Just thought you might like something fragile to destroy.”
Licking her lips, Murray took a few steps back. “So thoughtful! How do you always know what I want?”
“Intuition, I suppose. Catch!”
Lucy slung Mallory at her partner and Mina did as bade, catching the Tigress in a Gutwrench she used to spin Slade around in a smooth half circle.
Smirking from between Mal’s stems, Mina chided, “Your turn, Lucy dear!” She dipped her knees and slung Slade up and away from her torso so that only the Aussie’s ankles were laced atop her shoulders. Lucy charged, hopped up and caught the defenseless bendyback around the back of the neck, all the better to pull her down onto a pair of Scandalous knees! Caught in the center of that Champagne Stupornova, Mallory reared back on her knees before toppling to one side without so much as a word.
CHAMPAGNE STUPORNOVA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xIc9Xo4Op8
“That was fun!” Mina clapped her hands. “But something tells me she’s not quite done. What do you think, Daphne?”
Dufresne, who’d strolled back to Jenny after dispatching Nick, shrugged. “She IS a Tigress. Doesn’t hurt to be thorough.”
“Doesn’t hurt US.” Lucy corrected.
Murray’s blue eyes sparkled. “That gives me an idea. Don’t go anywhere, kitten!”
“What the hell is your game?” Jenny snarled as Mina dipped through the ropes. “First you cost me a match, then you show up to beat the crap out of both of us after I’ve won? Are you f*cking insa--”
Dufresne rounded on her in a flash, the Green Queen burying a hand in Jenny’s battle-damp hair. “Are WE insane? No Jenny, I assure you we are all within our right minds. YOU however, we have no idea where your head is at tonight. The three of us have been lurking out there amongst the Sheeple for the last fifteen minutes, just WAITING for you to win so we could join you in destroying this piece of Aussie trash after the bell. So you can imagine our disappointment when you actually offered her your hand!” Daphne wrenched back on Jenny’s hair and stepped in close. “We thought you were done with that sort of sympathetic weakness. We still see great things in you, so we’re going to overlook this little… lapse in judgment… and turn it into a teachable moment.”
Jacobs strained against the ropes and the hair-pull but could escape from neither. “There’s nothing you three sociopaths can teach me.” she snarled.
“On the contrary!” Lucy piped up once Mina rolled back into the ring with a steel chair in hand. “We can teach you how to finish the job! Right there if you would, Mina.”
Murray set the chair a little beside her partner, then helped Harker haul Slade’s unconscious bulk to verticality. Collecting Mallory’s noggin in a Front Facelock, Lucy slung the other brunette’s near arm across her shoulders, then grabbed hold of opposing Waistband and muscled her into place directly overhead.
Jenny noted Murray’s position, the placement of the chair and redoubled her escape efforts. “DON’T!” she shouted. “DON’T, LUCY! SHE’S UNCONSCIOUS, SHE CAN’T TAKE THE--”
Mina delivered a lightning-fast Roundhouse into the back of Slade’s skull, the THWHACK of it acting as Lucy’s cue to lay out and thus BWANG Mal down atop the steel chair!
TABLOID FIELD DAY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vTiJczwXqo
“Jesus, what the hell are you thinking?” Jenny gaped.
“You might’ve ended her career.” “Could have, but didn’t.” Daphne smiled. “Lucy and Mina know what they’re doing. Probably not gonna see Miss. Kitty around for a while though. You should’ve seen to that yourself, Jenny. Next time you have a bytch at your mercy, do the job right or we’ll--”
A massive roar from the FAWNatics drew Wicked’s attention to the aisle. It drew Jenny’s too, unfortunately she couldn’t twist her head far enough in either direction to see who was on their way to the ring. Judging from the contemptuous sneer spread across their faces, it wasn’t a gaggle of refs, but the trio didn’t seem too concerned either. In fact Lucy sounded downright incredulous when she asked, “You again? You can’t really be stupid enough to come at us three on one. Not after what we did to you the last time.”
The crowd was still quite loud, but not loud enough to drown out the newcomer’s answer. “You’re right, I’m not stupid enough to come at you three on one…”
Jenny almost blurted “Autumn?” before she saw a woman armed with a steel chair slide under the bottom rope on the other side of the ring. Biting her tongue to keep from either laughing or screaming, Jacobs couldn’t contain a fit of giggles when her old friend added, “Three on TWO, however.”
MADDY CRANE:
Maddy Crane SLAMMED her weapon across Lucy’s back, sending the unsuspecting brunette tumbling through the ropes! Mina and Daphne rounded on her at once, the former taking the rounded edge of the chair to her gut while the latter found herself yanked off her feet and dragged under the bottom rope by the Dragon of Tokyo.
AUTUMN SAMMAIN:
The exchange that followed must’ve been as furious as it was brief because Autumn rolled under the bottom rope no less than ten seconds later. As for Maddy, she’d BWANGED a second chair shot across Mina’s shoulders and bum rushed her through the strands before turning her attention to a FAWN tech. “Get a medic out here, now!”
“You bytches are going to pay for this.” Daphne called from somewhere behind the blonde. “We’ll make you f*cking suffer.”
Autumn raised one hand, daring the Wicked contingent to encroach on the ring while she stood guard over Maddy, who was herself checking out Mallory Slade. No answer from Dufresne, but there was a rush of footsteps and shortly thereafter the squared circle filled up with half a dozen referees and a pair of EMT’s.
Beyond frustrated by her lack of involvement in all this action, Jenny cleared her throat and called, “Ummmmh, hey Autumn? Could you maybe get me out of--”
Sammain turned her head and said, “How’s she doing, Crane?”
Maddy stood up, shrugged her shoulders rather dispiritedly. “I don’t know. Breathing’s ok, but they’ve put her in a neck brace and they’re talking about concussion protocols.”
Autumn nodded. “Keep me posted. I’ll check in later.”
With that the Joshi Phenom dipped through the ropes and disappeared from Jacobs’ sight.
“F*cking A, you gotta be-- hey, Crane! Maddy! C’mon Maddy, get me out of here.”
The Sultana of Slapstick grimaced, shook her head in disgust before walking over to her restrained rival. “Why’d she get a handshake, Jenny? Was it because you beat her? Like, you can only admit the chick on the other side of the ring is any good after your own hand has been raised?”
Jenny sighed. “Is this really the time, Maddy?”
“Probably not. But it’s the only chance I had for an honest answer.”
“For f*ck’s sake, you still want a handshake? Get me out of these ropes and I’ll--”
Crane grabbed the ropes and gave them a sharp twist. They came undone with a low ‘twang’ that dropped Jacobs to her knees, the exhausted battler rubbing at her biceps to work some feeling back into the tingling muscles. After a moment she looked up and extended a hand only to find Maddy nowhere in sight. A glance over her shoulder revealed the redhead was already heading up the ramp.
“I said I WANTED a handshake.” Crane called back to her. “Past tense. Take those precious J’s and stick ‘em up your ass, Innovator.”
Jenny opened her mouth to reply but Mads just turned around and kept on walking.
Confronted by loneliness on a scale she’d never experienced before, Jenny Jacobs cast one last look at Mallory Slade, then made her way through the strands and trudged up the ramp looking like anything but a winner.
JENNY JACOBS:
The jeers were almost unanimous amongst the Jacobites, their former heroine’s consistently hard-hearted showings against her opposition doing further damage to the goodwill she’d all but destroyed in claiming the World Title a few years prior. Not that Jenny Jacobs gave a damn about their opinion, she looked as icy and unmoved as ever once she’d brushed through the curtain. Taking a moment to absorb her surroundings, the Innovator apparently deemed them a worthy venue for tonight’s festivities because she started down the ramp without even bothering to raise the J’s.
Tuning out their disdain to better focus on the hell she‘d inflict upon Mallory Slade, Jacobs couldn’t smirk when the mouth-breathers quieted for her passing. Of course they did. Tonight she wore the indigo version of her ‘starstruck’ briefs as well as a matching halter-style top with the cups held together by a small metal buckle in the shape of a star. Her boots and pads were a grim, matte black while her hair was swept back in a bob that just tickled her shoulders. It was an iconic look for the Innovator, one that never failed to seize the attention of supporter and detractor alike. Even so, the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds remained silent as she made her way down the ramp. Her slow, patient stalking ended at the aisle, Jacobs bursting into a blurred sprint that took her under the bottom rope and well past middle ring before she bounded to her feet.
Alone save for the jeers and the quiet presence of Senior Official Nick Castle, Jenny climbed the opposite corner whereupon she raised the J’s, holding them aloft for several seconds before transitioning to a pair of raised middle fingers. “Boo all you want.” she muttered after hopping down from the buckles. “It’s not gonna stop me from feeding the Tigress her own goddamned tail.”
Castle was tending to the first round of pre-fight inspections when the Announcer called, “And introducing her opponent, hailing from Tallong, Queensland Australia, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and thirty-four pounds. She is the Tigress… MALLORY SLADE!”
MALLORY SLADE:
A raucous roar greeted Escape the Fate’s ‘One For The Money’ when it bellowed outta the big speakers flanking the stage. The initial pop drew out for several more seconds before the woman in question swatted the curtains aside. Choosing to stalk rather than sprint, Mallory kept her eyes locked on the ring until she’d made it halfway down the ramp. Then she spread her arms wide and looked to both sides of the aisle. “WHAT TIME IS IT, ORLANDO?”
‘IT’S TIME TO HUNT!’ they replied in a chorus several thousand strong.
Slade waggled a finger ‘no’. “HUNT’S OVER! TONIGHT… I… FEED!” This deviation didn’t bother the March to War throng at all, indeed they grew that much louder when Mallory resumed her march to ringside. For this deciding contest against a former World Champion, the Aussie stunner wore a tiger print halter-style bikini top and matching bottoms, the waistband of which were adorned with an inch or so of orange and black fringe. Pads at knee and wrist were black while her wrist tape and boots were bright orange. Her hair, a shoulder length dark brown highlighted by sun-born golden blonde streaks, was pulled back in a tight ponytail more than a little evocative of a tiger’s tail.
Eyes still trained on Jenny when reached the shadow of the squared circle, Mal put her right hand on the apron and made a point of draaaaaaaaagging her nails along the canvas as she walked from one end to the other. Upon reaching it she turned back, made her way to the middle and hopped / slid under the bottom rope. Long legs stretched out behind in a near split, Slade put her right hand down and again made a show of raking invisible furrows in her canvas battleground. In doing so she propelled herself out of the split and into a graceful back handstand that earned another round of cheers. Breathing deep to refrain from hurling herself at the American then and there, Mal backed into the opposite corner to await Castle’s perusal of her knee and elbow pads.
Everything about Jenny Jacobs, from the set of her jaw, to the hunch of her shoulders, to the near imperceptible thrum in her legs, spoke of the utmost attention devoted to one Mallory Slade. In essence it was true, the Innovator’s body was most certainly honed in on the Tigress of Tallong. Her mind however was more than a year removed from tonight, Jacobs once again poring over the details of a Cage Match with none other than Maddy Crane. She’d watched that match dozens of times in the near sixteen months since and though she knew, she knew there was nothing in her effort to be ashamed of, she also knew that Crane’s reputation as a one-time comedy act turned hardnosed veteran had come at her expense and that was an extremely tough pill for the blonde to swallow.
The CLANG of the bell brought her back to the present and sent her toward the center of the ring in one stroke. “I’m not going to be your stepping stone, Slade.” she murmured under her breath. “Not tonight. Not ever.”
Elsewhere Mallory Slade mulled a race laid out in five legs. She’d managed to hold her own through the first four, it was dead even with the finish line finally in sight, but she’d never managed to pull ahead. Jacobs had jumped out to an early lead in their first encounter and it took everything Slade had to just catch up with the California blonde. She’d done so twice, but even now it felt like Jenny was about to break away and leave her choking in the dust.
“Not tonight.” Mal shook her head to emphasize the point. “Not tonight, girl. Tonight’s the night I bring you to ground. No more flash pins, no more distractions, no more excuses. Tonight I lock you down in the middle of this ring and squeeze some respect into--”
The CLANG of the bell called Mal forward and she didn’t fight it, the tawny, whippet-sleek battler closing the distance between herself and the American in a few long strides. There was no talking when they met, just some seriously energetic hand-fighting that lasted for all of five seconds before Jacobs caught Slade in a Front Facelock and brought her to the can--
Mallory twisted out of the blonde’s grip, answered with a Side Headlock and dropped to one knee to grind Jenny’s temple against the point of her--
Jacobs slid out like smoke, helped herself to the Tigress’ right wrist and twisted around behind to fold it up between her shoulders with a Hammerlo--
Mal’s reversal was just as effortless, though the Waistlock she snugged around Jenny’s hips was tight enough to make the former champion’s eyes widen for a heartbeat or two. From a crouch she powered to one knee and from there her arms shot up in search of a Full Nelson that would--
Jenny dropped to a seat, leaned back flat on the canvas and kicked her legs up to hook ‘em under the brunette’s biceps when Slade hunched over to thwart the jailbreak. Popping her hips as soon as she caught the Tigress in her trap, Jacobs sat up while simultaneously drawing Mallory down into a squirming bundle, a sort of low-flying Victory Roll she turned into a perfect Reverse Matchbook in the time it took Craig to swoop in and count…
ONE…
TWO…
Mal thrust her hips straight up and rolled backward to press Jenny to the mat with the Tigress coming to rest comfortably atop her chest, Slade effectively turning the Matchbook into one of her own, an effort good for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Jacobs mirrored the brunette’s own strategy and the results were identical, the Matchbook rolled back on itself to leave Slade flat on the deck. The Girl of 8,675,309 Holds tossed those sleek limbs aside, scrambled to her feet and immediately tried to put them through Mallory’s chest with a Double Stomp that THWHUMP!
Slade barrel rolled out of harm’s way and bounced to her feet, the lissome lovely not taking her eyes off Jenny despite the rousing round of applause their first skirmish earned from the FAWNatics.
The Innovator was equally unfazed, merely ‘flicking’ her waistband back into place as she resumed circling. “How long since you signed on with them?” Jacobs asked in a tone of feigned disinterest.
Mal’s brow furrowed as she moved to keep pace with the Californian. “Who?”
“Don’t play dumb, Slade. It doesn’t suit you. Dufresne. Harker. Murray. Wicked. How long?”
Slade stopped in her tracks, dark eyes tossing sparks. “Excuse me? I’m not the one they’ve been scouting for… what, four months now? They’ve been turning your J’s into their W ever since you--”
Jenny pounced and caught the taller woman, not in a Collar & Elbow but a white-knuckled Fish Face and an equally vitriolic handful of Aussie ponytail. “I’m NO ONE’S stablemate, Slade. Those three cost me our last match and no one’s seemed to realize that a W becomes a M with a flick of the wriHURGH!”
Slade countered with a blatant stranglehold as well as her own handful of the blonde’s sleek locks. “I hunt alone, honey.” Mal snarled when she’d managed to pull her cheeks free of Jacobs’ clamp. “Always have, always will. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone else on this roster take the credit when I finally make you submit in the middle of this--”
CRAAACK!
Jenny slapped the Tigress’ mouth hard enough to draw blood, so Mallory slapped her right back and then they were on one another, two world class wrestlers forgetting everything they knew of technique in favor of the sort of hateful, shrieking calamity one sometimes stumbled upon in certain disreputable parking lots in the small hours of an August morning.
Nick Castle bless his kind, foolish heart, stormed into that maelstrom of tooth and claw and damned if he didn’t manage to prize his charges apart without losing several layers of skin in the process. “ENOUGH, ENOUGH OF THAT CATTY SHYT!” he barked once they’d stopped trying to shred one another. “Both of you came here to wrestle, if you want to move this to a penthouse or an alley I can call it right now, is that what I should do?”
Blonde and brunette swallowed something that must’ve tasted awful, then shook their heads ‘no’. Castle sighed, stepped clear and gestured them forward. “Keep off of each others eyes. And knock off that clawing crap. You’re both better than that.”
The look in their eyes told Nick neither lass thought her adversary was better than anything more evolved than a cockroach, but their next lock-up was much cleaner, at least by the letter of the law, if not the spirit. Drawn together in a Collar & Elbow so tight it almost looked like a Bear Hug, Jacobs and Slade stamped around in a wobbly little circle while trying to scrape her opponent’s mouth and nose clean off her face with nothing but the heel of her palm. Hardly what you’d call sporting, yet there was nothing illegal in it, so Nick held his tongue even when he noted thin rills of blood on both of their chins. This increasingly aggressive stalemate held sway for another ten seconds or so, that’s when Jenny abruptly pinched Mallory’s nose between the first knuckles of her index and middle fingers and twisted like she meant to snap it clean off! Slade voiced a nasal howl, abandoned the Collar & Elbow and swung at the Californian’s--
Jacobs relinquished her grip to duck the Haymaker and curl her right arm around the Tigress’ neck. With Slade’s right arm draped awkwardly over one shoulder, the disgraced leader of the Jacobites snatched hold of her foe’s waistband and powered her up and around, Jenny coming down flat on her belly to THAWHAM Mal with a Uranage. Slade bounced hard or at least she would have if Jacobs hadn’t stretched out on her chest Crossbody-style and hooked the leg for…
URANAGE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWByV4ihoqE
ONE…
TWO…
Mallory escaped with a full second to spare, the force of her kick-out tumbling the burnished brunette onto her tummy. Jacobs shook her head in disgust, not at the pace of the count, but at the continued presence of one Mallory Slade in her ring. “Let you hang around too goddamned long.” she muttered in the midst of collecting her opponent’s ankles. “Should’ve blown your doors off the first time we met, but no, I took it easy on you and look what happened.” Jenny crossed Slade’s feet in a squashed ‘X’ and pressed the Aussie’s heels into her own glutes. Controlling the knot with her right hand, she slapped the back of Mal’s head several times, then helped herself to some ponytail and puuuuuuuulled until Nick hurried over with a warning on his lips. “Look at you now.” Jacobs growled. “Managed to steal two matches from me and you think you’re gonna steal a third. Just like that thieving b*tch Crane.”
The Tigress growled, tried to slide away from the predicament, then groaned when Jenny set both knees against the small of her back. “You didn’t LET me do a damned thing, Jacobs.” her words were muffled because her chin was tucked against her chest, she knew exactly what the Innovator had on her mind. “You got complacent and I made you pay for it. You’ve been complacent for years Nuuuuunnnnngggghhh!”
Jenny put her free (left) hand between the brunette’s shoulders, vaulted into a gorgeous handstand and swung back the way she’d came to THWUMP every bit of her hundred and twenty-plus pounds into her rival’s defenseless spine! Slade cringed, gouged her elbows into the canvas for purchase and tried to crawl away only for pay the price when Double J palmed the back of her noggin and bounced her forehead against the deck.
“Complacent? Does that feel complacent to you?” Jenny almost screamed it.
Rather than wait for an answer she boosted her boots to the rafters a second and then a third time, the incensed veteran making sure to lead with the hardest part of her knees. Snuggling in a little closer once Slade’s escape efforts trailed off to almost nothing, Jenny cupped her left hand under the other woman’s chin and rolled onto her back, deftly drawing Mallory into what was arguably the most famous submission hold in all of FAWN. Of course this was technically a Bow & Arrow and not the legendary London’s Bridge, yet Jenny’s version must’ve been damned close to the genuine article because Slade wailed and squirmed like she was about to break in half!
BOW & ARROW:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SBaVy6WL10
“GIVE UP!” Jacobs pulled down on chin and ankle while simultaneously bouncing her knees to increase the strain. “SUBMIT, YOU BYTCH!”
Mal waved a finger ‘no, no, no!’ and even verbalized a cogent denial or two before she devoted herself fully to escaping the hellish hold. Pulling at Jenny’s fingers proved a non-starter, as soon as she even reached in that direction the vindictive blonde bounced her burden that much harder. Denied anything like an elegant solution, Mal flattened her right hand into a paddle and started lashing out with blind shots until she CRAAACKED a few off Jacobs’ chest. They weren’t enough to get her out of the Bow & Arrow, they did however give her a reference point so that her next blow, a white-knuckled Hammer Punch, landed flush on the Californian’s mouth!
Jenny let out an ‘unnnngghh’ followed by an ‘ooooofffhh’ as Slade rolled off her shins to land heavily atop the blonde’s chest in a Crossbody! Catching Jenny’s left wrist in both hands, Mal kept that limb glued to the mat while Castle and the FAWNatics counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
Jacobs bucked loose in time with ‘TWO!’, sending both ladies scrambling to verticality with the blonde just the tiniest bit ahead. This proved all the lead she needed to grab the advantage, or rather a Wristlock and another handful of her opponent’s face! “What did I tell you, huh? WHAT DID I TELL YOU?” The NorCal Sensation abandoned the Wristlock, reared back with her right hand and delivered a truly spiteful Overhand Slap directly to Mal’s modest décolletage!
TEACHIN' A LESSON:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lYd2wap08Y
Groaning at the flat whip-crack of the report, the crowd’s sympathy for Slade’s plight only grew when the former World Champion reclaimed the Wristlock to send her racing into a corner on the far side of the ring. Pleased by the grimace of anguish that passed over Slade’s face when her back hit the buckles, Jenny raised the J’s overhead before turning them into a pair of middle fingers aimed directly at the Tigress. Then she took off after her prey, Jacobs burning up the distance en route to an Avalanche Spl--
“OOFFFHH!” Mallory got her legs up just high enough to drive both feet into the blonde’s encroaching midsection! Bounced away by the force of the rebuke, Jenny lost her footing, landed flat and somersaulted backward to come up on one knee near center ring. She was still catching her bearings when the Tigress pounced, Mal exploding out of the corner to THWHONK her right knee against the Californian’s temple!
BASEMENT BICYCLE KNEE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBYRC51ZNY
Jacobs hit the deck in a stunned sprawl that Slade soon transformed into a stunned parody of verticality thanks to a double handful of hair and some enthusiastic tugging. Somehow resisting an urge to slap Jacobs’ face into the upper deck, Mallory settled for a Headbutt to the bridge of the nose, thus ensuring that Jenny’s eyes were watering something fierce when the Aussie stunner slung her into the ropes for an Irish Whip. Jacobs hit the strands and came back showing no sign of duplicity, so Slade dipped down and thrust a shoulder-- Jenny skipped up n’ over the ducking grappler and raced for the opposite side, leaving Mallory to spin around with something unprintable on her lips. No waiting this time, she raced after the blonde and met her on the rebound with a ClothesliNO! Jenny caught Slade’s bicep in a Half Nelson, dipped around on her six and caught hold of that tiger-striped waistband. Just like that Mal was airborne, long tanned legs swinging up overhead as Jacobs dropped to one knee and fetched her victim’s back another hateful THAWHUMP!
HALF NELSON BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHkVgOhJnck
Slade arched like she’d been electrocuted so Jenny hauled her upright with the Half Nelson still in place. “You can’t hang, Slade.” the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds hissed in her foe’s ear. “Never could. Never wiNNGH!”
The Tigress drove the point of her right elbow back into the side of Jenny’ s head once, twice, three times! Finally pulling free of the shorter wrestler’s clutches, Mallory spun around, hooked a Front Facelock and forced Jenny to stare at the canvas while she thum-thum-thum-THUMPED half a dozen Kneelifts into opposing tummy. After that she took hold of Jacobs’ right wrist in her free (left) hand and pulled it snug across her own midsection. “We both know I can hang, girlie.” Slade spat at the blonde’s back. “The real question is, can you land?” Eager to find the answer, Mal kicked her right leg forward, then snapped it back to sweep Jenny’s right leg just as the Australian threw herself forward in a nasty little tuck n’ roll. The result saw both ladies swept off their feet in a veritable tangle of limbs, but whereas Slade landed on her tush in relative comfort, Jenny THWHUNKED down hard on the back of her head and shoulders.
KNEELIFTS & RAZORBACK DRIVER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4uSKaVsEYA
Left facedown and out by the brutal power of the Razorback Driver, Jacobs was little more than luggage when Mallory shot her own Half Nelson to roll the American onto her back. Setting the ridge of her forearm against Jenny’s jaw even before she hooked the far leg, Slade grrrrrroooound back n’ forth and huffed, “How’s this for a flash pin, bytch?” as Nick counted off…
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOOO!
Jenny wedged a hand against Mal’s chin and shoved her clear with a whisper to spare. “Stuuuhhh… still not good enough.” the former World Champ rasped at her rival. “Just like everything else about HEY! NO! DON’T EVEN WHOOAAAARRRRGGGHHH!”
Sick and tired of Jacobs’ disrespect, Mallory caught her blonde by the ankles and tucked them beneath her armpits. Hands locked, she lifted Jenny up ‘til she was stacked on her shoulders. Then she shifted her hips, carefully nudging the blonde from her shoulders to her cheNO! Jacobs shot a hand out and caught Slade’s ankle in a death-grip to prevent the hold from progressing any further. “Your technique is slow and sloppy, just like you.” the Innovator grunted. “There’s no way I should’ve been able to block this if you weren’t half assing UNGH! UNGH! UNGH! NNNRRRRRRHHH!”
Mallory used her free leg to drive several quick Kneelifts into Jacobs’ tailbone. And if that wasn’t unpleasant enough, she shifted that foot around and pressed it to the blonde’s cheek for a bit of spirited grinding. “You’re not blocking a goddamned thing, honey.” the Aussie growled. “You’re stalling, looking for a way out that doesn’t exOOOOWWW!”
Jenny swatted the encroaching foot away, made the Tigress pay for her cattiness by gouging her nails into that bronzed expanse of calf. “There’s always a way out, you tacky bytch. Now keep your f*cking foot out of my OOOOFFFFHH OOOOHHHH FAAAAAAAAAHHHHHK!”
Slade wrenched her right leg free, drew back and spiked a Soccer Kick into the blonde’s exposed back! Another kick demolished Jenny’s other grip and just like that she turned the former World Champ onto her chest and dropped into a crouch that put the full weight of her right knee in the small of Double J’s back.
Lion Tamer, Mallory Slade to Jenny Jacobs in the center of the ring.
LION TAMER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKuZi26X0kQ
The ‘TAP!’ chants started at once, didn’t matter that Mal hadn’t ever used the move in a FAWN ring before, the Orlando faithful KNEW this particular bit of torture almost always resulted in ignominious surrender. Jenny knew it as well, hell, Jacobs’ Ladder was a twist on this very maneuver. Moaning through clenched teeth, the NorCal Sensation tried to push Slade’s foot away from her noggin and got a knee wiggled against her spine for the effort.
“Give up.” the Tigress ordered before Nick could frame it a bit more diplomatically. “I don’t want to put you on the shelf, but I’m not going to let you go eith--not a chance, girlie.” Yet there must’ve been at least the ghost of a chance because Jenny managed to eat up another few inches of canvas with nothing save her planted hands. “Never make it.” Mal promised. “You’ll pass out from the pain long before you reach the ropes!”
Jenny choked down a shriek to contradict her rival. “Is that so, kitty? Then why do you sound so nervOOOOOOOOHHHHH BYTCH!”
More than willing to let the blonde suffer for that insolence, Slade planted her left foot and leaaaaaaaaaaaaaned back on the Lion Tamer until Jenny had both arms swaddled around the back of her skull.
“What do you say, Jenny?” Nick asked shortly thereafter. “Need me to call for the bell?”
No response for more than five seconds. The Senior Official was about to repeat the query when Jacobs unlaced her arms and braced both elbows against the deck. She didn’t have to tell Nick to get out of her way, she just started moving forward and Castle did so of his own accord.
Simultaneously impressed and appalled by the Californian’s resilience, Mallory continued to pour her considerable strength into the hold, but the ever increasing volume of the crowd told her Jenny was going to hold out long enough to reach the sanctuary of the strands. A glance over one shoulder confirmed that Jacobs was less than a foot from achieving her goal. It also gave Slade an excellent idea. Standing up without so much as a word of warning, Mal turned the blonde onto her back, effectively ending the threat of the Lion Tamer.
Too relieved to question her rival’s motives at the moment, Jacobs reached out with both hands, grabbed hold of the rubber-coated steel and pulled herself partway under the bottom rope. “ROPES!” she barked. “Break the hold, asshole! I’m in the ro--” There was a nasty TWAAANG followed by an ‘oooooohhhh’ from those assembled when Slade laid out on her back to pull Jenny into a throat-first collision with the bottom rope!
Jenny forgot all her aching back in favor of fresh agonies, the discombobulated blonde so focused on her compacted windpipe that she didn’t notice Mallory dragging her out to the middle of the ring until the Aussie turned her onto her stomach. Driven by an innate instinct to pick herself off the damned mat, Jenny did just that, or rather she did the best she could considering the wracking she’d so recently endured. And give the devil her due, Jacobs made it to all fours and would’ve reached boot leather sooner than later if the Tigress of Tallong hadn’t sprang into the air, stretched out full length and brought every bit of her hundred and thirty plus pounds THWHAMMING down on Jenny‘s defenseless vertebrae!
TIGRESS SPLASH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlrZuXVk8dQ
The Innovator collapsed with a single loud sob, her impression of a snake with a broken back a decided contrast to Mallory, who rolled onto her shoulders and bounced to verticality with a perfect kip-up. It looked showy, even ostentatious at first glance, but it turned out to be anything but, as Slade ran the ropes a heartbeat or two before Jenny fought her way to a slumped seat. Quite unaware of Slade’s position or current strategy, the Innovator looked up as Mal came back and threw herself down into a low-flying Cannonball Senton… or not? In truth it was and it wasn’t. The Aussie certainly barreled into her blonde hard enough, but mere collision wasn’t the point. Instead she cradled Jenny’s right leg on contact and rolled all the way back to her feet, which in turn scraped Jacobs off the mat and draped her across the brunette’s shoulders in a Fireman’s Carry!
No theatrics from Slade once she was upright, she immediately tossed Jenny from her perch into a nearly vertical descent and dropped to her butt to SPIKE the Girl of 8,675,309 Holds on the nape of her neck courtesy of the nastiest Samoan Driver FAWN had seen in a very long while. Sliding into a seat on the blonde’s chest while the ring was still shivering from the impact, Mallory hooked the right leg in a Half Matchbook and pulled it tight beneath her arm for the…
BASEMENT ROLLING SAMOAN DRIVER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrWtA8Fara0
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Jenny twitched a shoulder off the deck so late in the count that Nick threw a warning signal to the Timekeeper to make sure he didn’t inadvertently ring the bell.
As for Mallory Slade, she didn’t pound a fist against the mat or rage about a slow count, she only took several deep breaths and tightened the hair tie holding her ponytail in place. With that tended to she buried a hand in Jenny’s sweat-damp locks and clambered to her feet while forcing the veteran to do the same. “You’re so f*cking tuff, it’s almost unreal, girlie. I’m seeing it with my own two eyes and I’m still not sure I believe it.” Mallory took Jenny’s near wrist in one hand, put her other hand to the small of that devastated back. “But I’m not letting that stop me. I didn’t push you this far just to lay off with the finish line in sight.”
Jenny tried to answer but Slade didn’t let her, she surged forward and went down on one knee, the Aussie stunner sending her adversary racing toward the nearest corner. Jenny saw the buckles closing in and couldn’t do a damned thing except brace for “UUUUUUNNNNNNNGGGHHH!” Jenny hit the top turnbuckle sternum-first and would’ve collapsed to her knees if she hadn’t draped both arms over the top rope. In the end it might’ve been better if she had because then Mallory would’ve had a harder time rushing in and BWUUUUNGING her against the roughly-padded steel with a cringe-inducing Avalanche Splash!
Drawing her blonde out just far enough to wedge her head under one arm, Mal secured Jenny with a Half Waistlock and her other hand braced against the former champ’s butt so she could muscle her up onto one shoulder, then sit her down on the top turnbuckle. Once Jacobs was in place the Tigress mounted the second rope, pulled Jenny’s head back and trapped it beneath her left arm in an Inverted Facelock. Catching hold of the NorCal Sensation’s waistband with her free (right) hand, Mallory yoked up on both grips, forcing Jacobs to slowly but surely ‘climb’ her way to standing, a shift in position that would ultimately-- Slade hoisted her burden the rest of the way, Jenny floating up and over the lissome brunette as she capacity crowd held its breOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!”
Inches removed from destruction via Inverted Superplex, the Innovator raised her knees to chest level and tucked in tight to flip around behind Mallory even as gravity pulled both women to the canvas. Knees wedged between her foe’s shoulders, Jenny clasped her hands over the Tigress’ chin on nothing more than instinct, yet it was more than enough to turn one doom into another as Slade THAWHUMPED down full force atop those cleverly posted joints!
Lungs blown all the way back to Tallong by the Avalanche Spivey Point Driller, Mallory bounced onto tiptoe and somehow stumbled all the way back to the corner before her legs gave out and she collapsed chest-first against the top turnbuckle. As for Jenny, she hadn’t fared much better, sandwiched as she was between the thinly-sheathed plywood and the freefalling Tigress. Eyes closed tight against the blinding overhead glare, the former World Champion sucked air back into her lungs while trying to tune out everything but Castle’s slowly ascending count.
“ONE… TWO… THREE… FOUR…” Mal let out a piteous groan, then turned around in the corner, but she barely managed half a step before the throb in her back forced her to throw an arm over the top rope. “FIVE… SIX… SEVEN… EIGHT…”
Jenny rolled back onto her shoulders, drew her knees in close and popped her hips to reclaim boot-leather with a perfect kip-- Slade hopped onto the second strand and launched herself at Jacobs, the brunette’s long legs stretched just wide enough to ‘smeck’ shut around Jenny’s NO!
The Girl of 8,675,309 Holds caught Mal around the hips, effectively freezing her atop Jacobs’ shoulders. Then she charged the corner and just tossed the other wrestler away, Slade’s spine making a sickening BWUUUNG! as she collided with the thinly-sheathed steel!
BUCKLE BOMB:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFad_YK1kIY
“Aaaaaahhhhh faaaaaaahh…” Mallory’s sob of anguish was surprisingly soft, it seemed the scream she wanted to loose was simply too large to escape her throat. Jenny noted this with absolutely no sympathy, though the astute observer noted it was grim determination and not cruel pleasure etched on her face as she peeled Mallory off the buckles. A Standing Headscissors followed and the FAWNatics buzzed worriedly, thinking that the vindictive battler might repeat the Buckle Bomb. In the end Jenny didn’t repeat herself (t’was a cardinal sin far as she was concerned) but Slade probably wished she had. Spinning the both of ‘em around in a half circle, Jacobs spun Mallory onto her shoulders for a Powerbomb only to go down on one knee and THWUMP the small of Slade’s back against the posted joint! Mallory did wail in the wake of that particular tactic, a high, keening noise that elicited sympathetic cringes from fans in the first half dozen rows.
POWERBOMB BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLJtX8tBRNg
“Thuuu…. they might call me cruel, later.” Jenny huffed to the Aussie in the midst of hauling her up with a double handful of ponytail. “But we both know that’s not true, don’t we, Mal?” Jenny lowered her shoulders, wedged them in against Slade’s left side and hooked an arm around her thigh. In the next instant she snatched Mal’s left wrist and muscled her up across her shoulders with a textbook Torture Rack. “I’m not cruel, I’m thorough.” she called over the groans of the groans assembled, not to mention the stifled screams of her rival. “This is the only way to guarantee you stay down.” Jacobs tossed the brunette up n’ forward even as she laid out, Jenny once again soaking up a rough landing to dish out exponentially more hell when Slade THWHUMPED down on her upraised knees for the third time in no more than two minutes.
ARGENTINE DOUBLE KNEE BACKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0MsrrZTtaI
Mallory didn’t bounce so much as she slopped, the decimated Aussie stunner landing awkwardly on shoulder and hip before Jenny shoveled her onto her back and trapped both legs in tight bundle that had to be good for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Mal Slade wrenched free and turned onto her stomach, the Tigress just refusing to give her nemesis the series-ending ‘THREE!’
Beside her, Jenny Jacobs put her elbows on her knees and raked both hands through her hair. After a moment she turned a weary eye on Nick Castle. “Girl’s done, Nick. She can’t defend herself.”
The ref wasn’t entirely sure he disagreed with that statement, but he’d never administered a quick count in his life and he wasn’t about to start now. “Count says otherwise, Jenny. Match is still live.”
“Not for long, if you’ve got any goddamned sense.”
Spinning to one knee immediately after the words left her mouth, Jenny took the brunette’s ankles in both hands and neatly tucked Mal’s right ankle into the pit of her left knee and folded the latter over the former to create a quick Figure Four. From there she braced her right knee in the small of Slade’s back and reached through the negative space created by her gammy knot to crank those captured stems off the mat at an agonizing angle. “AAAAAWWWWWWWW FAAAAAAAAAAHK!”
JACOBS' LADDER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvNEx-_gBmk
Mallory jolted to life as soon as the Ladder was cinched in, the trapped brunette gouging furious furrows in the mat as she tried to drag her way to freedom. Jenny paid it no mind, she only tucked Slade’s left shin beneath her right armpit and leaaaaaaaaaaaned back that much farther. Satisfied with her perch, Jacobs flipped hair out of her eyes and grunted, “Give it up, honey. You’re trapped.”
Mal shook her head ‘no’, reached down with her right hand and tried to shove Jenny’s leg off her back. No luck, the veteran just ground her knee in a little deeper and jostled the Tigress’ legs from side to side. “Submit, Slade.” Jenny’s tone was cold. “Don’t make me hurt yo--”
Slade braced her hands against the mat and sloooowly powered her torso off the mat by a good three inches. Astounded by the resilience of the crippled bendyback, the capacity crowd exploded into a chorus of ‘PLEASE DON’T TAP!’ as Mal inched / dragged her way toward the ropes. Eyes locked on the rubber-coated steel sanctuary, Slade was within an arm’s length of escape when Jenny shifted her plant knee to the nape of the brunette’s neck and CRAAAAAANKED back until Mallory was bent into an agonizing ‘L’ shape.
“OOOOOOOHHHHH GAAAAAAAHD!” Slade sobbed. “STAAAAAAAHP! STAAAAAAAHP! I SUBMIT!” she tapped the mat half a dozen times, though the verbal capitulation had been more than enough for Castle to call for the bell.
As for the NorCal Sensation, she eased the pressure on the Ladder as soon as Mallory tapped, but she didn’t actually relinquish the hold until the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via submission… JENNY JACOBS!”
Resting on one knee in the immediate aftermath, the NorCal Sensation took several deep breaths before she stood up and raised the J’s overhead. While there were plenty of jeers from disappointed Slade fans, Jacobs noticed an undercurrent of applause she hadn’t heard in quite some time. Too tired to bother with any sort of interpretation, she shook her head and muttered, “Fickle weirdos.”
The FAWNatics grew noticeably louder, not in derision or alarm, but appreciation. A shuffling sound behind her drew Jacobs’ attention and somehow she wasn’t surprised to see Mallory Slade struggling to boot-leather with an assist from Nick Castle. Jenny grunted, turned to leave, then whipped around on full alert when Mal reached out and laid a hand on her bicep.
The Innovator twitched away from Slade’s touch, Mallory on the other hand didn’t so much as flinch. “Good match.” The Tigress swallowed a lump in her throat, then repeated herself. “Good match, Jenny. Thank you.”
Jacobs extended a hand, some long dormant instinct powering through the last three years of her career. Mal regarded the gesture with understandable wariness, indeed she seemed as divided as the crowd, half of which implored her to ‘SHAKE!’ while the other half advised against this in the strongest possible terms. Cheeks stinging at the hesitation, Jenny cursed under her breath and-- Slade took her hand and gave it a single hard squeeze.
“Series goes to you, girl.” the brunette said with a weary smile. “But I’m going to get you next time.”
“Come around whenever you want, kitty. I’ll be happy to run up the scoNNNNGGGGGHHHH!”
The show of sportsmanship came to a rudely abrupt end when not one, not two, but three figures hit the squared circle and converged upon blonde and brunette with fists flying! It was Wicked of course, with Lucy Harker and Mina Murray focusing their attention on Mallory while Daphne Dufresne devoted herself to Jenny.
DAPHNE DUFRESNE:
LUCY HARKER:
MINA MURRAY:
This was no simple mugging though, at least not for the Innovator. Yes, D² clouted her about the head and shoulders with an alternating series of Knife Edge Chops and European Uppercuts, but rather than beat Jacobs to her knees the limber brunette trundled her back to the edge of the ring and quickly trapped her would-be stablemate’s arms between the rubber-coated steel of the top and middle ropes.
“What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?” Jenny snarled in the midst of straining at her bonds. “Get me out of here, Daphne. I f*cking mean--”
Dufresne caught the blonde’s chin between thumb and forefinger and held an index finger within an inch of her nose. “Hold please. Someone will be right with you.”
The Gatecrasher turned away, strode over to Nick (who was doing his damndest to get Scandalous away from Slade) and caught him in a Half Nelson / Waistlock combination just long enough to turn the poor dope inside out with a huge Suplex.
HALF NELSON SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QRYjEMDyeE
No longer burdened by the official’s intrusion, Lucy and Mina stomped away on the vulnerable Aussie for a good ten seconds before Harker snatched a handful of hair and scraped her off the mat. “Mina dear, would you like a present?”
“Certainly, Lucy. What’s the occasion?”
“Oh nothing, really. Just thought you might like something fragile to destroy.”
Licking her lips, Murray took a few steps back. “So thoughtful! How do you always know what I want?”
“Intuition, I suppose. Catch!”
Lucy slung Mallory at her partner and Mina did as bade, catching the Tigress in a Gutwrench she used to spin Slade around in a smooth half circle.
Smirking from between Mal’s stems, Mina chided, “Your turn, Lucy dear!” She dipped her knees and slung Slade up and away from her torso so that only the Aussie’s ankles were laced atop her shoulders. Lucy charged, hopped up and caught the defenseless bendyback around the back of the neck, all the better to pull her down onto a pair of Scandalous knees! Caught in the center of that Champagne Stupornova, Mallory reared back on her knees before toppling to one side without so much as a word.
CHAMPAGNE STUPORNOVA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xIc9Xo4Op8
“That was fun!” Mina clapped her hands. “But something tells me she’s not quite done. What do you think, Daphne?”
Dufresne, who’d strolled back to Jenny after dispatching Nick, shrugged. “She IS a Tigress. Doesn’t hurt to be thorough.”
“Doesn’t hurt US.” Lucy corrected.
Murray’s blue eyes sparkled. “That gives me an idea. Don’t go anywhere, kitten!”
“What the hell is your game?” Jenny snarled as Mina dipped through the ropes. “First you cost me a match, then you show up to beat the crap out of both of us after I’ve won? Are you f*cking insa--”
Dufresne rounded on her in a flash, the Green Queen burying a hand in Jenny’s battle-damp hair. “Are WE insane? No Jenny, I assure you we are all within our right minds. YOU however, we have no idea where your head is at tonight. The three of us have been lurking out there amongst the Sheeple for the last fifteen minutes, just WAITING for you to win so we could join you in destroying this piece of Aussie trash after the bell. So you can imagine our disappointment when you actually offered her your hand!” Daphne wrenched back on Jenny’s hair and stepped in close. “We thought you were done with that sort of sympathetic weakness. We still see great things in you, so we’re going to overlook this little… lapse in judgment… and turn it into a teachable moment.”
Jacobs strained against the ropes and the hair-pull but could escape from neither. “There’s nothing you three sociopaths can teach me.” she snarled.
“On the contrary!” Lucy piped up once Mina rolled back into the ring with a steel chair in hand. “We can teach you how to finish the job! Right there if you would, Mina.”
Murray set the chair a little beside her partner, then helped Harker haul Slade’s unconscious bulk to verticality. Collecting Mallory’s noggin in a Front Facelock, Lucy slung the other brunette’s near arm across her shoulders, then grabbed hold of opposing Waistband and muscled her into place directly overhead.
Jenny noted Murray’s position, the placement of the chair and redoubled her escape efforts. “DON’T!” she shouted. “DON’T, LUCY! SHE’S UNCONSCIOUS, SHE CAN’T TAKE THE--”
Mina delivered a lightning-fast Roundhouse into the back of Slade’s skull, the THWHACK of it acting as Lucy’s cue to lay out and thus BWANG Mal down atop the steel chair!
TABLOID FIELD DAY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vTiJczwXqo
“Jesus, what the hell are you thinking?” Jenny gaped.
“You might’ve ended her career.” “Could have, but didn’t.” Daphne smiled. “Lucy and Mina know what they’re doing. Probably not gonna see Miss. Kitty around for a while though. You should’ve seen to that yourself, Jenny. Next time you have a bytch at your mercy, do the job right or we’ll--”
A massive roar from the FAWNatics drew Wicked’s attention to the aisle. It drew Jenny’s too, unfortunately she couldn’t twist her head far enough in either direction to see who was on their way to the ring. Judging from the contemptuous sneer spread across their faces, it wasn’t a gaggle of refs, but the trio didn’t seem too concerned either. In fact Lucy sounded downright incredulous when she asked, “You again? You can’t really be stupid enough to come at us three on one. Not after what we did to you the last time.”
The crowd was still quite loud, but not loud enough to drown out the newcomer’s answer. “You’re right, I’m not stupid enough to come at you three on one…”
Jenny almost blurted “Autumn?” before she saw a woman armed with a steel chair slide under the bottom rope on the other side of the ring. Biting her tongue to keep from either laughing or screaming, Jacobs couldn’t contain a fit of giggles when her old friend added, “Three on TWO, however.”
MADDY CRANE:
Maddy Crane SLAMMED her weapon across Lucy’s back, sending the unsuspecting brunette tumbling through the ropes! Mina and Daphne rounded on her at once, the former taking the rounded edge of the chair to her gut while the latter found herself yanked off her feet and dragged under the bottom rope by the Dragon of Tokyo.
AUTUMN SAMMAIN:
The exchange that followed must’ve been as furious as it was brief because Autumn rolled under the bottom rope no less than ten seconds later. As for Maddy, she’d BWANGED a second chair shot across Mina’s shoulders and bum rushed her through the strands before turning her attention to a FAWN tech. “Get a medic out here, now!”
“You bytches are going to pay for this.” Daphne called from somewhere behind the blonde. “We’ll make you f*cking suffer.”
Autumn raised one hand, daring the Wicked contingent to encroach on the ring while she stood guard over Maddy, who was herself checking out Mallory Slade. No answer from Dufresne, but there was a rush of footsteps and shortly thereafter the squared circle filled up with half a dozen referees and a pair of EMT’s.
Beyond frustrated by her lack of involvement in all this action, Jenny cleared her throat and called, “Ummmmh, hey Autumn? Could you maybe get me out of--”
Sammain turned her head and said, “How’s she doing, Crane?”
Maddy stood up, shrugged her shoulders rather dispiritedly. “I don’t know. Breathing’s ok, but they’ve put her in a neck brace and they’re talking about concussion protocols.”
Autumn nodded. “Keep me posted. I’ll check in later.”
With that the Joshi Phenom dipped through the ropes and disappeared from Jacobs’ sight.
“F*cking A, you gotta be-- hey, Crane! Maddy! C’mon Maddy, get me out of here.”
The Sultana of Slapstick grimaced, shook her head in disgust before walking over to her restrained rival. “Why’d she get a handshake, Jenny? Was it because you beat her? Like, you can only admit the chick on the other side of the ring is any good after your own hand has been raised?”
Jenny sighed. “Is this really the time, Maddy?”
“Probably not. But it’s the only chance I had for an honest answer.”
“For f*ck’s sake, you still want a handshake? Get me out of these ropes and I’ll--”
Crane grabbed the ropes and gave them a sharp twist. They came undone with a low ‘twang’ that dropped Jacobs to her knees, the exhausted battler rubbing at her biceps to work some feeling back into the tingling muscles. After a moment she looked up and extended a hand only to find Maddy nowhere in sight. A glance over her shoulder revealed the redhead was already heading up the ramp.
“I said I WANTED a handshake.” Crane called back to her. “Past tense. Take those precious J’s and stick ‘em up your ass, Innovator.”
Jenny opened her mouth to reply but Mads just turned around and kept on walking.
Confronted by loneliness on a scale she’d never experienced before, Jenny Jacobs cast one last look at Mallory Slade, then made her way through the strands and trudged up the ramp looking like anything but a winner.