Reply *SPOILERS* Feedback and Post-PPV Shenanigans

A few hours after Summer Swelter faded to black...

Mariel's phone trilled again.

That'd be Val's twelfth text since the end of her match with that redheaded witch. And if Stems' pattern held true there'd be at least another three texts before she tried another phone call (that'd be the fourth) and the cycle would start all over again. The thought had just finished crossing her mind and damned if the phone didn't buzz yet again. ”Not now, Val.” McGinty picked up the gadget with a savage swipe and came to within a heartbeat of hurling it across the locker room before she settled on mashing the power button until everything went black.

Tossing it on the bench beside the congratulatory bottle of champagne (properly chilled in a large bucket of ice) her longtime partner had so graciously left waiting for her without so much as a second glance, the exhausted blonde raked both hands through sweat-tangled hair before she set both elbows on her knees to better rest her head in her hands.

Observed from a distance one might think she was crying, but the Gamazon shed no tears despite the occasional shudder that racked her shoulders. They might come later, but at the moment she was simply too exhausted and too disappointed. “I was so close.” she said to the empty locker room. “I was so goddamned clo—”

Something scraped against the tile down in another part of the room and McGinty looked up at once, the disappointed Destroyer suddenly certain there was someone else in the room. “Hello?”she called out, her voice echoing back half a heartbeat later. “Look, I know space is at a premium, but I reserved this locker room weeks ago and I'm really not in the mood to share.”

Mariel waited for some sort of embarrassed apology, yet all she got was the quiet fluorescent hum of the overhead lights. She frowned and stared intently in the direction of the noise. There was no reason to think she wasn't alone and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was waiting just out of sig—there was a low sigh followed by a metallic clinking to her left, the sound of it causing McGinty to leap to her feet and shout, “What the fuck?” before she realized it was just the champagne shifting in the slowly melting ice cubes.

“Jesus Mariel, get a grip.” the blonde huffed after a relieved, somewhat embarrassed breath. Sighing in resignation, Legs trudged over to Stems' gift and pulled it out by the neck. It was a good year. Would be a shame to let it go to waste. “Something's gotta change.” she said to no one in particular. “Getting champagne drunk when I'm dehydrated is probably not the best start, but inspiration can strike in some weird pla—”

Mariel yelped in surprise as the lights went out.

“Who THE FUCK is there?” she shouted into the newly minted gloom. “Come out right now or I'll break this bottle over your head!”

Still no response, but there was a sort of...shifting... off in the dark that told McGinty she wasn't being paranoid. Spinning the champagne around to hold it like a bludgeon, the towering, furious blonde muttered, “Screw this noise.” and stormed toward the door meaning to either flip the light switch or just get the hell out, whichever came first. Groping for the switch yielded no immediate results but locating the handle was no problem at—she pulled only for it to clunk heavily in her clutching hand.

Locked.

“Celia you witch, if this is one of your games I'll tear your MMMMPPPPPPHHHHHHHH!”

Someone sprang on her from behind, Mariel had a heartbeat to note Scissors threaded around her waist and then there was a cloth over her mouth and nose and the whole room started to spin.

“Hmmmmppphhhh.....mmmpppppppphhh....guuuhhhh...” Mariel McGinty spun around and tried to backpedal into a row of lockers, but her legs were already starting to fail and she ended up collapsing to her knees.

“It's ok. It's ok. It's going to be fine.” a soft, excited voice murmured in her left ear. “Just go to sleep, Mariel. Go to sleep and dream of being your best self.”

McGinty groaned, powered to her feet and stumbled backward once more only to trip over her feet and land awkwardly in... an armchair? An office chair? Then small, strong hands grabbed one wrist and strapped it to the arm rest of this, 'Wheelchair.' Mariel thought as she drifted down into the dark of unconsciousness. 'Why am I in a wheelchair?'

No answer from the woman who put her there, she only secured the blonde's other wrist, then hurried over to the door and undid the lock. After that she turned the lights on and cleaned up the mess as best she could.

Careful to leave McGinty's phone beside the bucket which once again housed the unopened bottle of champagne, she produced a blanket from one of the empty lockers and carefully covered the slumbering Destroyer. “Don't you worry.” the woman patted Mariel's knee fondly. “You don't know it yet, but this is just the change you were looking for and it doesn't even come with a champagne hangover. First you'll make her better and then she'll make you better. That's a promise.”

With that said, Mariel's new best friend laid claim to the wheelchair's handles and trundled her cargo toward the door. Getting out into the hall proved more awkward than she'd expected, but Celia had promised this wing would be empty at this time of night and the Temptress was correct in that regard.

In less than a minute she'd maneuvered Mariel into the hall and from there it was off into the dark of a brand-new day.