A Strange Tomorrow

“Worst… anniversary… eveeeerrrrr…” Camille Cosworth groaned from her position face down on the mat, trying to shake off the bodyshock from a knee to the liver about thirty seconds ago.

CAMILLE COSWORTH


She wasn’t even supposed to be here. The trip to Turks and Caicos had been planned down to the last detail, a generous amount of vacation time had been approved by the FAWN front office, the plane tickets had been booked, and the non-refundable deposit had been made at the five-star resort. Unfortunately, everything had been unilaterally canceled against her wishes as soon as Anna Sharpe had been crowned Rookie of the Year, and what was supposed to be a romantic getaway had turned into torturous daily sparring sessions at the FAWN training facility.

“Get up, Cam,” Yoona Park demanded.

YOONA PARK


No response.

“Get. Up,” Yoona repeated much more tersely.

“I don’t wanna…” Camille mumbled.

“GET UP!”

The command was roared with such vehemence that Cosworth had no choice but to obey, her body seemingly moving of its own volition as she struggled upright to one knee. That was as far as she got, however, before she caught another Running Knee Strike flush to her sternum that knocked her flat on her back, gasping and wheezing.

“Goddamn it, get your shit together! That could have been your fucking head!” Park snarled. “Now get up!”

“Screw you, Yoona,” Camille rasped as she rolled out of the sparring ring. “I’m out.”

“The fuck you are! Get your ass back here!”

Yoona stalked out of the ring and grabbed her girlfriend by shoulder, only for Cosworth to whirl around and angrily shove her away with both hands.

“Jesus Fucking Christ, what the fuck is your problem, Cam?! I’m just trying to --”

“You’re trying to get me to fight like you! I don’t want to fight like you! I don’t even want to fight! I want to wrestle!” Camille snapped. “We’ve been over this a thousand times, how do you still not understand?!”

“What I understand is that if you had listened to me, you’d be Rookie of the Year right now instead of --”

“Anna deserved --”

“All that shithead deserves is a one way trip to Pluto!” Yoona interrupted. “Until you decided to give away the match on a silver fucking platter, Sharpe could barely beat a no-name, broke-backed jobber who sweats like a camel’s nutsack in the middle of August! If you just fucking took my advice, you would have splattered her brains all over the mat, because what I do is --”

“WHAT YOU DO IS AWFUL!” Camille screeched, fed up with having to have the exact same argument over and over and over again. “YOU told ME to be my own hero! I don't know about you, but that meant something to me! Do you remember that, Yoona?! Or did you forget while you were busy coming up with creative ways to insult our coworkers?!”

“Of course I remember…” Park said softly with a shake of her head. “Babe, I --”

“WELL, GUESS WHAT, YOONA?!” Cosworth continued, unaware that she was now shouting at the top of her lungs. “MY HEROES DIDN’T PULL THE KIND OF CRAP THAT YOU DO! THEY DIDN’T STOMP PEOPLE IN THE HEAD OR WIN FIGHTS IN PEOPLE’S TRUNKS! I'm IF THAT’S THE PRICE OF VICTORY THEN I’D RATHER JUST LOSE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO YOU THINK ANYONE IS WATCHING YOU AND THINKING ‘GOLLY GEE WILLICKERS, I WANT TO BEAT UP AND SEXUALLY HUMILIATE PEOPLE JUST LIKE MY HERO YOONA!’ OR ‘YOONA SURE IS A GOOD ROLE MODEL!’ NO! NO ONE WANTS TO BE LIKE YOU! NO ONE WANTS THEIR KIDS TO --”

Camille regretted her words as soon as she saw the look of naked hurt on Yoona’s face.

“No one wants their kids to what, Cam?” Park asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“...I didn't mean that. Any of that. I'm -- I'm sorry.”

“Don't be sorry, Cam. Just say what you were going to say,” Yoona bitterly seethed. “What? Are you afraid you're going to hurt my feelings or something? Fuck my feelings, just say it! Say it, Cam! Say it! SAY IT! YOU’RE ALREADY THINKING IT, SO JUST FUCKING SAY IT!”

Cosworth squeezed her eyes shut, though from the sounds of Park’s rapid panting she figured that her girlfriend was on the verge of tears. She stood there with her eyes closed for what felt like an eternity, quietly waiting and waiting and waiting for the dam to finally burst, but eventually the deep, heaving breaths subsided as Yoona regained control of herself. Camille opened her eyes and started to stammer another apology, though the Korean silently cut her off with a raised hand.

“You’re my hero too, you know...” Park said, doing her best to keep her tone steady despite the maelstrom of emotions swirling in her mind. “And I don't like seeing my hero laid out unconscious with a mouthful of her own blood because she wouldn't do what was necessary --”

“Yoona, please, listen to me. I know you're trying to help, but you need to know that I'm not mentally wired the way you are. Maybe if I were, I'd be Rookie of the Year right now, but I'm not and I'm okay with that.”

“You shouldn't be okay with losing! You deserve so much more than --”

“No, you're not getting it,” Camille sighed. “I'm not resigned to losing. Quite the opposite, actually. I want to be successful by wrestling the way I always dreamed about as a little girl. I want ten year old Cammy to be able to say to twenty-three year old Camille, ‘You are everything I ever wanted to be!’ I know it can be done, and I hope that you feel the same way too, because as long as I have your support I can do anything. Yoona… I guess… I guess what I'm trying to say is… can I still believe in the you that believes in me?”

Upon hearing that, Yoona’s expression softened considerably. She took a deep, sniffling breath, wiped her eyes, and then stepped forward to draw Cosworth into a fierce embrace.

“Always,” she whispered into her girlfriend’s ear. “Just who the hell do you think we are…”

“You’re amazing, Yoona,” Camille replied. “Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Not even me.”

Park stepped back from the hug, and then pressed her forehead to Cosworth’s.

“Babe… saranghae.”

“Saranghae.”

Their brief spat resolved, Yoona headed out of the training area with another silent nod. Following her emotional ‘Love Letter’ introduction at in the tournament finals that had won Camille the hearts and minds of a legion of fans all over the world, the brass had offered her a hefty bonus to give a series of seminars on the art of cutting a promo, the first of which was taking place in ten minutes in the adjacent auditorium.

Cosworth, on the other hand, knew that the rebellious Park was instead planning to pontificate on the art of verbally abusing her opponents. The first seminar was simply a list of a thousand and one of the foul-mouthed Korean’s favorite phallic insults, and thus the much more congenial Camille recused herself from the proceedings in order to practice her Double Moonsaults. She had just set up the crash pad in the center of the ring when she heard a voice call out.

“Hips.”

Camille turned her head sharply. There were only a few people still left in the gym and that voice had been close. The only person nearby was another relative FAWN noob, Astrid White, hidden behind a heavy bag as she went through a robotic-looking kick drill. The Stranger was known to be…well…strange, and she was just as likely to be talking to herself as to anyone else, so Cam turned away to head for the showers, suddenly no longer in the mood for Moonsaults.

ASTRID WHITE


“Ms Park reads your intention in your hips, and when you grapple she controls them to control the rest of your body.”

There could be no doubt that this was addressed to her, so Cam turned back around and walked over to that side of the training ring. White was still following her same low-mid-high kick pattern and didn’t give any sort of indication that she wanted a conversation.

Trying to keep the uncertainty out of her voice, Cam asked, “Are you talking to me?”

“Who else would I be talking to, Ms Cosworth?” Astrid still didn’t look up, her speech and breathing punctuated every two seconds as she fired another kick. “Anyone trained in striking, such as Ms Park, knows to look to the opponent’s hips and their chest in order to read their intentions. This is even truer in grappling. Most wrestlers learn to hide this from an opponent, or use it for misdirection. You do not.”

It still didn’t quite seem believable that White had decided to give an uninvited lecture in striking theory, but there was something much more important going through Cam’s mind. Or at least much more important to her.

With a grin she giggled, “Are you saying that my hips… don’t… lie?”

She busted out a little Shakira shimmy dance to illustrate the point. This was enough to get Astrid’s full attention, the blonde abandoning her kicks and taking hold of the swaying heavy bag to steady it. Her face peered round with a look so disapproving it raised another giggle from Camille.

“You are an imbecile,” White stated flatly, stepping out from behind the bag.

Cosworth’s smile faltered, and then she sheepishly stuttered, “I -- I, umm, I was making a joke…”

“Then you are an unfunny imbecile.”

The Stranger’s withering rebuke seemed to leave Camille speechless, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment or irritation or both. Ignoring the miffed look on the brunette’s face, Astrid took a few paces forward and stopped just shy of the ring apron, arms folded.

“Now if I may continue, anyone trained in jiujitsu, again like Ms Park, knows that controlling the hips lets you control the body of an opponent. Your... undisciplined hips allow her to always be one step ahead, and to always come out on top when you spar. Now she is using them to deliberately frustrate you.”

The information was actually kind of interesting, probably worth considering before she next got in the ring with Yoona. Or next got in the bedroom for that matter. But right now there was another more important question on Cam’s mind, and this one was a lot more indignant than the last.

“Why are you watching me so closely?”

“I watch everyone,” Astrid’s voice was expressionless, as if she was just stating something everyone in the world would already know.

Camille took a second to work out whether she was more annoyed or creeped out by this statement, then decided she didn’t care.

“Well, that’s… that's just super... I’m going to start ignoring you in five… four… three...”

This time Astrid paused for a second, looking up into her eyes with a huge, beaming, 100% fake-looking smile spreading across her lips.

“FAWN medical records suggest you are simultaneously the fastest and strongest person on the roster. And you were just beaten on pay-to-view television by a failed tennis player who’s had half as many top-class fights as you. That makes you interesting.”

“I was in the final of a tournament you were too scared to even enter and I lost because I got distracted when I…wait, what do you mean medical records? Have you been spying through my file? How did you even get that?” Cosworth huffed, clearly flustered.

“Of course I haven’t viewed your medical records, that would be illegal,” Astrid’s tone of satisfaction made it very clear that this was a lie, but she steamrolled on before Camille could get any more indignant. “I can excuse someone so physically gifted losing to Ms Park, and Connor and Brewster, they are all highly talented, driven and experienced fighters. But you cannot deny that something went wrong against Ms Sharpe.”

Cam took a deep breath and planned to let it out slowly, but instead it all came out in a rush, “Something’s about to go wrong right now unless you explain why you’ve been spying on me!”

She strode forwards as she spoke and took a firm grasp of the top strand with both hands, knees slightly bent in the classic position of someone who was just about to springboard over some ring ropes and start fucking shit up.
Astrid fixed her with another big fake smile. “You must know you could trigger it whenever you want, Ms Cosworth? You could go into that hyper-aroused state right this second if you just learned how.”

That line seemed to give Cosworth pause again, but the Stranger ploughed on as if she hadn’t noticed.

“Or you’re welcome to just vault over that rope. My left knee will hit your temple on the descent and I imagine you’ll probably come round again within four to seven minutes. Hopefully I won’t have done anything even worse to you whilst you were unconscious.”

The threat wasn’t nearly enough to prevent Cam from leaping down there, but a little part of her wanted to know where the whackjob was going with her conversation.

Astrid very deliberately turned her back, acting as if she knew no attack would be forthcoming. Cam was even more tempted to jump at that point, if only to wipe off that smug fake smile, but she resisted until the tall girl had bent to her gym bag and straightened back up with something in her hand.

The Stranger flicked her wrist, sending a small white business card spinning across the gap and into the ring. Cam didn’t want to take her eyes off the blonde to pick it up, but Astrid didn’t seem in the slightest bit concerned by this.

“Come to that address at twenty-one-hundred tomorrow and you will learn to control your potential. The door will not be open if your girlfriend is present.”

White bent to grab the strap of her gym bag and swanned off towards the showers. Camille watched her go warily before she bent to examine the card. She tapped it pensively a couple of times, then stuffed it inside her top and slipped out of the ring.

******************************

The sign over the door simply read ‘Tiger’ in faded oriental lettering. Well…there were several of what looked like Japanese Kanji too, but these weren’t really discernible to a non-speaker, especially in the dark.

Camille stood outside for a good thirty seconds, debating whether she was even willing to listen to the Scandinavian weirdo and whatever crackpot theory she’d been trying to sell. In fact she was almost ready to turn and leave when the heavy looking metal door opened of its own accord to reveal not the Stranger but another far more welcome figure, that of Autumn Sammain.

The Dragon of Tokyo hadn’t noticed Cam yet, she was too busy hissing something brief and bad-tempered sounding over her shoulder in Japanese. Cosworth let out a slightly embarrassed little cough and Autumn’s head snapped round. The look on her face was surprise, but it gave way to resignation after a second.

Sammain was an occasional visitor to the Hellhole, so Camille knew her a little, and certainly she might have expected at least a ‘hello’. But Autumn was clearly not in much of a mood for being sociable.

Seeming resigned rather than rude, the willowy brunette jerked her head back the way she had come and simply said, “Go on through, she’ll be very glad you’ve come,” before stepping aside.

Cam desperately tried to hide her curiosity, but it must have been written on her face clearly enough for Autumn to see.

“If you don’t know why I’m frustrated now, you’ll realise within thirty seconds of being around her. Excuse me, I have a headache.”

Waving briefly as the Dragon went on her way, Camille turned back and moved through the open doorway. The dark corridor had several rooms coming off it, but the double doors at the end were wide open and the large space beyond was well lit enough to draw Cosworth there.

The room was set up in what Camille imagined was a traditional dojo as might be found in Kyoto or Osaka. Alongside modern gym equipment there were kendo sticks and bamboo canes on several walls, matting areas on most of the floor, and the ring was not raised or padded in the way western ones were. Astrid was off to one side of the room, her back turned again as she repeated the exact same robotic kick drill she had been doing the previous day.

Hoping to take her by surprise, Cam loudly said, “I didn’t know you were friends with Autumn Sammain.”

There was a very slight pause in the rhythmic kicking, but it started again very quickly. Camille thought she was just going to be ignored until Astrid broke the pattern, jumping off one foot and launching a gorgeous high crescent kick, then using the momentum to turn in the air before she landed.

“I don’t have any friends, Ms Cosworth. But Ms Sammain was kind enough to direct me to this one example of a real Dojo in this strange city. It appears she is becoming less tolerant of my presence here. Shall we?” That last question was accompanied with a wide gesture towards the ring in the middle of the dojo. Astrid turned in that direction immediately, but the only muscles Cam moved were in her jaw.

“Why have you been watching me? And you should know that your answer is the difference between me walking out of here and me making a mess before I go, so please don’t just tell me you watch everyone.”

Astrid fixed the shorter woman with an odd look for a second, then sighed, “You misunderstand as usual. When I say that I watch everyone, what I mean is that I see and hear the exact same things as everybody else does. Everybody else only pays attention to what interests them, and only listens so they can think of what to say next. I observe everything, I listen to everything.”

Cam still looked pretty angry, so the Stranger let out a bigger sigh, “Maybe you understand these terms more. I am a mutant. A separate species. But in this case my mutation is only that I can pay attention to what others ignore. So I see and hear no more than anybody else, Ms Cosworth, but I observe and attend to every last detail.”

About halfway through that explanation Cam had stifled a yawn. She’d had a better question anyway.

“Have you really seen my medical records?”

She had been expecting Astrid to bust out that obnoxious fake smile again, but the blonde’s face was expressionless.

“Of course not,” she snapped. “I overheard rumours of your performance, and your response to the question confirmed them. Now, please get into the ring and I can begin to show you how to control your ability.”

A moment passed, and then another, as Camille considered whether or not she was really going to let this crackpot have any more of her time. Then, with a sigh, she stepped up to the ropes and slipped through. Astrid did the same seconds later, approaching without a care in the world as Cam assumed a much more defensive position.

“To be clear, you want control over your own body’s ability, is that right?”

Cam rolled her eyes. “I certainly didn’t come here for the witty banter. Do you actually have anything to offer?”

Astrid caught her eye and smiled, this one looking far more warm and friendly than usual. And at the same time the Stranger shifted up onto her toes and brought one leg up at whip speed, toe of her boot aimed straight at Camille’s chin.

Caught wrong-footed, Cosworth slipped and fell to one knee when she took a hop backwards to get her head out of harm’s way. She didn’t even have time to voice her displeasure at the ambush when a second kick came whistling at her head, Astrid’s left shin swinging at a horizontal arc that put it on a collision course with the right side of Camille’s face. The brunette managed to dodge again, this time arching backwards and letting the deadly limb pass over her chest and head. A third kick immediately followed, and out of options to evade, Cosworth had to block instead by bringing her arms out in front, though the impact of the blow still put her on her back and forced her to roll out of the ring. Thankfully, without a raised ring there was also no four-foot drop to an unforgiving floor, so Camille quickly clambered to a crouch and warily regarded her attacker.

“Oooookay… looks like we’re going to be making a mess then,” she muttered. “And here I am without my yellow jumpsuit…”

Cosworth was just about to barge into the ring again when Astrid’s voice froze her in her tracks.

“A jumpsuit would be very counterproductive. It’s no secret that you used to suffer from heat exhaustion induced by overexertion until you switched to your current ring gear. Any gear that covers more of your body is therefore a step in the wrong direction.”

“Wha -- ? Ugh, no, Astrid…” Camille groaned in exasperation as she rose from her crouch. “The jumpsuit is from Game of Death. Y’know, that Bruce Lee movie where he fights Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?”

The Stranger apparently did not know, and she stared blankly as if Cosworth had started speaking some bizarre alien language.

“You really don't know Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?” the brunette asked incredulously. “Really, really tall guy with the afro, won a bunch of MVPs and championships in the NBA back in the day, hilarious in Airplane? And c’mon, who doesn't know Bruce Lee?!”

“Is there a point to this, Ms Cosworth?” Astrid brusquely said.

“Oh, well… Jabbar was much taller than Bruce Lee, just like you're a lot taller than me. They even fought in a dojo! Although I guess that one was at the top of a pagoda and not… y’know… a converted warehouse in the gentrified part of town…”

“Ms Cosworth, if you must go through this much effort to explain an analogy then it would be more prudent to simply not make the analogy in the first place,” White coolly replied.

Camille pinched the bridge of her nose and sucked a sharp intake of breath through her teeth. Sammain’s warning to her had been prescient, and Cosworth felt the pounding throb in her temples that was the harbinger of an oncoming headache.

She had much more pressing concerns, however, as the Stranger suddenly resumed the assault. Moving with a grace and agility that belied her lanky frame, Astrid leapt onto the top rope, using the springy steel strand to launch herself knees-first at Camille.

Cosworth managed to twist to the side at the last possible moment to avoid the worst of the impact, though a glancing blow from the Springboard Meteora still knocked her to the ground. She regained her bearings just in time to tumble under a Buzzsaw Kick and get behind White, but before she could make a proper countermove she took a Mule Kick directly in her gut. Knocked backwards, Camille stumbled and caught herself on the ropes to stay upright, albeit standing on the outside of the square area bound by the set of cables.

“Thanks a lot, Yoona,” she grumbled to herself once she had caught her breath. “Coulda been swimming with dolphins by now, but nooooooo...”

Despite her grousing over her canceled vacation, Camille knew that she had come to the dojo for a specific reason. With Astrid apparently in a violent mood for the time being, Cosworth figured she would have to fight until the Icelander felt like elucidating, so she stepped away from the ropes and cautiously approached her taller opponent, determined not to be taken by surprise once more.

Sure enough, White’s right leg came snapping upwards as soon as Camille got within a three foot radius. This time the brunette was ready, sidestepping out of the way while simultaneously grabbing Astrid's ankle. Cosworth yanked on the captured limb to draw White closer, and then in one smooth motion she dipped her shoulder and shot forward in a short, explosive burst.

The result was a short-range Shoulder Block that nevertheless knocked the Stranger flat on her back. Camille quickly halved her grip on her opponent’s right ankle in order to corral Astrid’s left leg as well, then she popped her hips and threw herself backwards to catapult the Icelander up, over, and down with a Wheelbarrow Facebuster.

Astrid had the wherewithal to twist her body in midair so that she landed on a shoulder rather than her face. She kicked free from her foes grasps and rolled away, both wrestlers scrambling to their feet more or less within heartbeats of each other. This time it was Cosworth who pressed the offensive, charging forward and dropping down into a crouch as if to go for a Spear. The Stranger swiftly raised her right leg, intending to counterattack with a Knee Strike to her opponent's lowered head, though she found herself hitting nothing but air when Camille abruptly leapt sideways towards the wall rather than continue in a straight line.

Having momentarily out-maneuvered her foe, Cosworth allowed herself a faint smirk even as she hurtled through the air, coiling her legs and preparing to plant a foot against the wall in order to rebound with a massive Tornado Kick from White’s blind spot. Unfortunately for the brunette daredevil, the wall was merely a thin screen of flimsy wood and paper, so Camille simply crashed through the barrier instead of bouncing back.

There was a thump and a grunt from the other side of the screen -- now sporting a Cosworth-sized tear -- and then all was quiet. Even the normally unflappable Icelander was left frozen in slack-jawed disbelief, unsure of how to react to the slapstick scene that just played out in front of her eyes. After several long, long seconds, Camille gingerly stepped back through the hole she created, sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

“I… umm... I thought that was… uhh… you know… an actual wall,” she said with a nervous chuckle as Astrid stared daggers at her. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… my bad!”

“You will pay to repair the damage” Astrid muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose and shutting her eyelids in apparent frustration.

When they opened again those grey-green eyes were more curious than the icy glare Cam had expected.

“Ms Cosworth, why are you apologising?”

“Umm…I dunno if you blinked or something but I just… kinda… broke that wall over there.” Camille waved a hand at the damage and then turned back, slightly confused.

“Yes. You have clumsily caused damage in a space which, less than two minutes ago, I explained was sacred to many pe…” White’s voice trailed off and she blinked again. “What I wish to understand is why, in the midst of fighting a larger opponent who has attacked you for unknown reasons in an unfamiliar setting, you have stopped to apologise.”

Camille still looked confused. “For serious though, that wall is really broken. There’s a big hole just there. Do you honestly not see that?”

“Ms Cosworth, in the last 24 hours I have directly insulted your intelligence nine times, implied that I watch you in intimate moments and have accessed your private records, lured you to a dimly lit backstreet gym and then physically attacked you with no provocation. Is that a fair description?”

“Well… yeah I suppose. But we’re in FAWN, this place makes Stranger Things look like a documentary.”

Cam glanced up and realised that Astrid looked even more confused than usual.

“Is Stranger Things something people say about me backstage?” she asked flatly.

Cam realised her mistake and shook her head urgently. “No, no, It’s a TV show about a place in Indiana where lots of weird stuff happens. Don’t you have Netflix?”

The lady who had voluntarily chosen the name ‘Stranger’ waved a hand dismissively.

“We have already agreed the futility of further explaining what comes out of your mouth,” she continued. “I’ve done a number of things to make you angry or fearful and you have responded by telling me about your light entertainment preferences. Do you recognise that this is an abnormal response?”

Head tilted to one side, Cam considered this. “I guess I’m a pretty chill girl. And most people like Netflix. So that’s just me, you know…Netflix and chill?”

The giggle died on her lips, just like every other one so far tonight. Astrid stared at her for a second uncomprehendingly then just pretended she hadn’t heard.

“The typical response to threat is fight or flight. The body sharpens, heart rate and fat burn increased, pupils dilated, vision and hearing focused. That’s what happens when you go…ahem…’awesome’.”

Cam blinked.

“I can fly?” she asked, only half joking.

Astrid ignored this too.

“The problem may be that you are so pathetically docile that this system barely ever triggers. Prolonged exposure to Ms Park could explain that. Perhaps you are so used to mindless egoistic prattle and constant low-level threat that your brain simply doesn’t process normal reactio… oh, are you so incapable of listening?”

In actual fact none of those last sentences had registered with Camille, who was preoccupied with remembering the lyrics to ‘I Believe I Can Fly.’ This changed rapidly when White’s boot swung out and ‘thwumped’ into her thigh. Cosworth was up on her toes in an instant, backing away and bringing one arm up to ward off Astrid’s follow-up hook kick.

“Bring it on then Kareem!” Camille shouted, readying a counter.

But the Icelander had done the exact opposite of what she asked, dropping out of her striker’s stance.

“Did it work?” she asked, her voice sounding excited for the first time, possibly ever.

The confusion must have been obvious on Cam’s face though because the taller woman rolled her eyes again.

“Is your heart rate raised? Do you feel more focused?”

“I feel like I want you to stop freakin’ kicking me, does that count?”

Astrid muttered something under her breath.

“What was that Princess Elsa?” Cam asked, trying to rediscover a bit of that annoyance she’d felt earlier.

Astrid gave her another withering stare. “I said maybe you’d respond better to oxygen deprivation.”

The last word had barely left her mouth before the Stranger charged in. Only this time Cam was much better prepared, gutting her with a front kick and then launching into a gorgeous backflip dropkick using the tall girl’s ribcage as a foot hold. She landed perfectly, legs slightly bent and ready to jump again…

FLIP DROPSAULT:
youtu.be/G2ELlZUT4QI

…and then registered the second ‘rrrrrriiiippppppp’ noise from the wall which had been behind her.

“Um…sorr…” was all she got out before Astrid stormed over and grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“You will get over to the ring this instant or I shall take payment for the damage in your blood.”

The voice had moved past withering and into gelid, malevolent rage.

“Uh… ok…” Cam squeaked, practically jogging over to the roped area.

White kept her back turned as she surveyed the damage for a second then stomped off after her.
As the taller woman slipped into the ring Cam raised both hands placatingly.

“Look, Yoona gets a ton of money from beating people up on beaches, I can totally cover the damAGH!”

The Stranger took two fast steps and leaped into a tight spin with one arm bent out. The Flying Elbow smashed into Cam’s temple and sent her to her knees.

SNOWBLIND:
youtu.be/lEHFAfrBmj0

Sent into a daze by the surprisingly fast strike, Cam planted her hands on the mat and tried to blink away the cobwebs. This was working fine until one long Icelandic arm wrapped down under her chin and hauled violently upwards. With very little leverage Camille couldn’t stop herself from being dragged backwards and over, Astrid’s long pale legs snaking around her waist and squeezing in hard.

FEAR OF THE DARK:
youtu.be/3u_7qDnqNR0

“I can feel your pulse through the carotid. It is not yet elevated enough.”

Astrid’s voice came from above, but the painful angle of her neck meant that she couldn’t see the Stranger. Cam tried to respond but that alabaster arm across her windpipe made it tricky to say more than “gluhh” which didn’t seem very witty in the circumstances.

White pressed on anyway. “By applying pressure I can reduce oxygen flow as needed. Hopefully this will elicit the response we both desire.” She leaned back a little more, causing spots to appear in the corner of Camille’s vision. “How ‘awesome’ are you feeling at this moment, Ms Cosworth?”

Camille wasn’t feeling very awesome at all, unfortunately. With her vision already starting to dim, she channeled her remaining strength into her legs, kicking and pushing against the mat until the pair of intertwined wrestlers slid on Astrid’s back to the edge of the ring, and then Cosworth reached out and grabbed the bottom rope. White noticed this and promptly ignored it, and then cranked back on the Dragon Sleeper with redoubled force.

“Are you feeling ‘awesome’ yet?” she asked with the same cold, clinical detachment even as she continued choking the life out of the brunette.

When Camille’s struggling predictably grew weaker over the next twenty seconds, however, Astrid grew annoyed. She abruptly released the hold moments before the last embers of Cosworth’s consciousness were snuffed out, and then she climbed upright and began pacing the ring, seemingly agitated.

“What the heck is wrong with you?!” Camille gasped between deep, panting breaths. “Were you trying to kill me or something?!”

“Of course not. I was merely trying to make you think I was going to kill you.”

“Well that’s just so much better...” Cosworth grumbled as she stood up on unsteady legs in a corner.

“The human body fights hardest when it is fighting for survival,” Astrid explained in a patronizing tone that one might use with a small child. “My hypothesis was --”

“Uh, yeah. I don’t know how it is in Robot Ninja-Land, but us Earthlings find it kinda hard to fight without a little something called air...”

White silently considered this for a few moments, and as much as it irked her to admit it, Camille was right. The increased oxygen and metabolic demands of such a hyper-aroused state meant that a chokehold would preclude such a physiologic response rather than trigger it. Astrid mentally filed away this potentially useful tidbit in case of a future tête-a-tête with the Girl of Tomorrow, and then she immediately resumed trying to physically beat Cosworth into awesomeness.

Camille had regained her bearings just in the nick of time to duck under Astrid’s Yakuza Kick, allowing the Stranger’s boot to carom off the top turnbuckle instead. The force of the rebound spun White around 180 degrees, right into Cosworth’s waiting grasps. Still on her knees after dodging under the Yakuza Kick, Camille slipped one arm between Astrid’s thighs and grabbed Astrid’s wrist with her opposite hand to yank the lanky Scandinavian across her shoulders. With the Fireman’s Carry secured, Cosworth promptly dropped onto her side with a sort of low altitude Death Valley Driver. What the maneuver lacked in impact it made up for with control as Camille maintained her grasps and partially rolled through the landing to pin Astrid’s shoulders to the mat.

FIREMAN’S CARRY PIN:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcs3xc7p3qI

Rather than try to kick her way free or resist in any way, the Stranger merely sighed in mild annoyance that Cosworth would attempt a pinning maneuver when there was no referee for their non-match. She was in no distress, so she decided not to waste her breath pointing out such an obvious fact, and within a few moments Camille also realized the futility of the pin and voluntarily let go.

The pair of wrestlers rolled to opposite ends of the ring and got to their feet. Astrid quickly brought her closed fists up to face level and started advancing on the brunette, but Cosworth seemed to want to have no part in any fisticuffs.

“Timeout, Stranger Danger!” Camille said as she made a T shape with her hands and slipped outside the ropes. “I forgot something...”

Having long given up on trying to understand any of the other woman’s attempts at humor or banter, White wordlessly glared as Cosworth rummaged through her bag, retrieved her phone, and began tapping away at the device.

“Hey, what’s the WiFi here?”

A low growl rumbled in the back of Astrid’s throat as she clenched her fists tightly, and then she stared holes in the brunette, her grey-green eyes swirling with indignation and contempt. For her part, Camille just folded her arms and tapped her foot expectantly.

“Sooooo… you don’t know the WiFi either then...” Cosworth ventured after thirty seconds of stalemate.

“Ms Cosworth, I don’t know where you think you are, but we have no use for such frivolties here. This is a crucible in which warriors are forged. Any extraneous creature comforts --”

“Ugh, nevermind,” Camille groaned, rolling her eyes so far back that she could practically see inside her own skull. “I’ll just use my cellular data…”

A few more taps on the screen brought her to the YouTube page she was looking for, and then she set her phone to maximum volume as tinny, 16-bit synthesizer music started playing through the speakers. She set the device in a corner, and with her lips stretched into dopey grin, she began to dance. It started as a slow shimmy and sway in her shoulders before the rhythm worked its way downwards to her waggling hips, and soon she was strutting and swaggering her way back through the ropes.

GUILE’S THEME:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKQETfwYep4

“How long will this take?” the Stranger muttered, unamused and unimpressed by either the sudden background music or Cosworth’s dance moves.

“Oh, no. This is set to repeat,” Camille replied as she continued to bob her head to the beat, though she made sure to keep eyes on the dangerous Icelander the whole time. “Guile’s theme goes with everything!”

Astrid didn’t seem to agree, and she stormed forward to sweep Cosworth into a clinch. Rather than try to twist free, Camille pushed forward until her shoulder was pressed against White’s stomach. She took a painful Knee Strike to the gut for her trouble, but she absorbed the blow without too much damage, and then she wrapped her arms around the back of Astrid’s thighs and straightened her posture to hoist the taller wrestler onto the point of her right shoulder.

White threw an Elbow Strike that found its target on the back of the brunette’s head, though she couldn’t put her usual power into the shot without her feet on the ground. A moment later, she found herself driven spine-first into the floor as Cosworth pivoted in a semi-circle and dove forward.

SPINEBUSTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-RcSahbrjE

Her own fall being cushioned by Astrid’s torso, Camille bounced back to her feet after her Spinebuster and released her hold on one of the Stranger’s legs in order to double up her grip on the other. That turned out to be a mistake when that long, long limb lashed out and booted her in the jaw, sending her stumbling backwards in a daze. Astrid clambered quickly upright despite her still-aching back, then she leapt and spun in a tight spiral that ended with her right foot forcefully planted in Cosworth’s stomach.

JUMPING BACK KICK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNPSdEmPb0

Camille dropped to her knees and gasped loudly as all the air was driven from her lungs. Left breathless, she couldn’t put up any resistance when White looped a pair of arms around her waist and flipped her up into the Powerbomb stall position. With the smaller wrestler’s effectively sitting on her shoulders and facing backwards, Astrid walked over to the ropes then spun to face the center of the enclosed area that served as a ring.

The Stranger took two long strides to build up speed for her Running Powerbomb, but just as she started to pitch forward to slam the brunette into the ground, Camille’s thighs tightly clamped around her head. Timing it perfectly, Cosworth hurled herself backwards just as White was diving forwards, and their combined momentum sent the pair of wrestlers flipping through the air. Astrid took the brunt of the fall as the sudden Hurricanrana counter planted her on her shoulders and left Camille sitting on her chest.

POWERBOMB COUNTERED BY HURRICANRANA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j2lSN9YC1k

The Scandinavian striker’s instincts were second to none though, so she still had the sense to kick up and back with her left leg, thumping her shin into the back of Cosworth’s unguarded head. More discombobulating than harmful, the unexpected strike was nevertheless enough to knock the brunette from her perch. Camille spun around on hands in knees in a four-point stance, and then dipped a shoulder and launched herself at Astrid as soon as the taller woman was rising off the ground. The Spear was on point, but the Stranger rolled with blow to reduce the force of the impact, putting up no resistance when Cosworth powered her into the padded floor.

As soon as she hit the mat, Astrid sprang her trap. She threw her legs up and over Camille’s shoulders, tucked her right foot into the pit of her left knee, then clasped both hands behind Camille’s neck and yanked downwards. White was somewhat surprised, however, when Cosworth blocked the attempt at a Triangle Choke by bringing up her forearms on either side of her neck, thereby meeting bone with bone rather than letting her neck be squeezed by the Stranger’s thighs.

“Is it the music?” Astrid asked flatly as the pair of them remained in a deadlock.

“...what?” Camille grunted in response.

“The music. Is it making you… ‘awesome?’”

Almost as if on cue, the video reached the end and looped back over to the beginning. White didn’t want to wait for a response, so she crunched up to take a closer look at Cosworth’s eyes.

Still their normal hazel without signs of pupil dilation.

The Stranger uncoiled her limbs with a deep sigh, allowing both wrestlers to get to their feet. Instead of getting into her striker’s stance, however, Astrid propped her hands on her hips, turned her back towards the shorter wrestler, and began pacing back and forth.

“You are more capable than you let on against Ms Park,” White stated, her tone flat and emotionless.

Camille only shrugged in response. She thought it was plainly obvious that a pair of lovers would not go full tilt against each other in sparring, though at the same time she doubted that the Stranger would understand such a concept.

“But not as effective as you can be, even without being hyper aroused. The girl who beat Adelaide Brewster is not here tonight.”

“Yeah, cos Sparkles was trying to brainwash me into her cult. Kinda had to fight hard in that one. All you’ve done so far is choke me a bit and be absolutely no help, soo….”

Astrid snorted, “If I had held that choke for another minute you would be dead and I would be considerably less irritated. Apparently being trapped in an unfamiliar location and locked in combat with a widely-rumoured psychopath isn’t enough to trigger the response. You are afraid, just like anyone, but not afraid enough. So what did Ms Brewster do to make things worse?”

She turned away again, seeming to treat that last sentence as a statement instead of a question. There was a different question stuck in Cam’s head. She laid a strong hand on the pacing woman’s shoulder and used it to pull her round. Her lips formed just one word.

“’Trapped’?”

Waving her hand dismissively, White shrugged off the restraint and stepped away.

“The doors have an auto-lock to prevent disturbance to training. I enabled them in expectation that your girlfriend would attempt to interfere. Regrettably I failed to predict that you would be disrespectful enough to damage the walls.”

“Like I said, I’ll pay for the damage. But you told me not to bring Yoona and I was ‘respectful’ enough to do that, so maybe you could lighten up and…like…not lock me in a room?”

It was pretty apparent that Astrid had stopped listening, her eyes were unfocused and seemed to be looking up towards the ceiling, and her hands were slack at her sides. Camille was awfully tempted to attack in this rare moment of finding the taller woman off guard, but after all those barbs about respect she hesitated. And after about twenty seconds of silence and no movement from the blonde she was almost worried.

She stepped up and prodded the Stranger’s shoulder, asking, “Um…are you ok? You’ve gone kind of DAHHH”

One long Icelandic arm came up behind Cosworth’s head, the hand burying in brunette locks and dragging her forwards. Astrid’s other elbow came up to meet her, jabbing into Cam’s cheek and sending her staggering backwards.

“You will not touch me uninvited,” White murmured, somewhat offhand.

Camille seemed more hurt by the implication she had done something wrong than by the elbow.
“Bu… but you’ve tried to kick me like twenty tWOAH!”

White swept up close, her face inches away, keeping hold of Cam’s hair so she couldn’t duck away.

“Your pupils are more dilated than previously and your breathing has increased. What were you just thinking about?”

“I…uh…”

Astrid’s other hand came around to complete in an oh-so-dangerous Muay Thai clinch. Her knee shot up, stopping juuust shy of her breadbasket thanks to Cam’s hurried defence. But Cosworth couldn’t do anything about the second strike, which flew lower into her thigh and caused a gasp of pain. White held on tight, moving herself around slightly to send another knee driving into her flank, and then pushed off her other foot so that the next Knee Strike smashed clean into Camille’s chest.

Suddenly devoid of both air and balance, the brunette was driven backwards and then overcompensated forwards, lurching clumsily into Astrid. The blonde pushed down on her neck clinch, using it to keep Cam’s head low.

“We have moved from using violence as a trigger into using it as an incentive. Tell me what you were thinking about or the next knee breaks your nosSSEOW!”

Exploding upwards from the vulnerable position Cam wrapped both hands around the Icelander’s slender waist and lifted them both up and over. This Spinebuster was a lot less technically impressive than the last one but it did result in the Stranger landing on her back with Cam quickly scrambling into a mount position over her.

“Geez, I thought you were from Iceland, isn’t that place supposed to be chill?”

Astrid’s face was hidden behind her guard, but there was no response and by this point Cam had given up expecting one.

“What I was about to say before you got all Tony Jaa is that I was thinking about Yoona, alright? We were meant to be on holiday and I…well…”

The guard around Astrid’s head popped open, revealing a face which somehow looked even more witheringly disappointed than she had before.

“You argued with Ms Park?” she asked flatly.

Cam didn’t move for a second, during which time one of White’s legs began to worm up under her mount.

“We…we haven’t been getting on so well since before the…wait, how did you know?”

Another long leg worked up into her guard, White pouring power into both alabaster thighs and managing to slide a foot or so away.

“You have now had two opportunities to hit me unguarded,” she said, ignoring the question. “Instead you allowed me to escape. Why?”

This didn’t really register in Cam’s head. She did get to her feet, and watched as the other woman did the same, but her mind was full of tropical islands and the look on Yoona’s face when she had shouted. And those juxtaposed bitter and sweet images were still in her head when Astrid launched yet another kick at her…

…Which might have been why, instead of a defensive reaction, she just ducked underneath the scything lag and wrapped her arms around the Stranger’s torso. White wriggled helplessly but couldn’t do much else as Cosworth powered up and back into a perfect bridge.

CAPTURE SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7isOUp6-tRw

In a match Cam would probably have held on for a pin count, but there was no referee in the room and she was too busy working off instinct. Spinning around into a more conventional Waist Lock she hauled up again, lifting the Icelander off her feet, up and over into a second big impact.

DEADLIFT GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZTreL1o0zE

The Waist Lock was still in place and Cam again rolled around to her feet, ready to finish the trilogy. Unfortunately for her, Astrid had other ideas, rolling forwards just as she felt herself being lifted again. The Stranger ended up popping loose and somersaulting a few feet away, clambering to her feet just as Camille charged in…

ICEBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe2vFB85Vwg

Moving far quicker than those long limbs had any right to, White whirled on one foot and brought the other leg arcing lethally up and around. The heel of her boot smashed into Cosworth’s cheekbone and sent the brunette sprawling, Astrid spinning away and dropping to her knees, clutching at the back of her head after the double suplex. Defying the fog in her vision she knee-walked unsteadily over to the downed Girl of Tomorrow and took another grip of her hair.

“What were you remembering?!” she shouted into the dazed girl’s face. “Wherever your feelings went was enough to trigger a small response. I know you were sopping over Ms Park, but I need to know precisely what you were thinking."

“I was… I was thinking about the day we met…” Camille groaned as she tried to blink away the stars in front of her eyes after taking a spin kick to the head.

The Stranger seemed disappointed in this response. She let go of her handful of hair and allowed Cosworth’s head drop down to the deck with a soft thud, then Astrid got off her knees and laid on her back a few feet away from the shorter brunette. White breathed out a weary sigh and closed her eyes, both to regain her bearings and to consider what Camille had just said. Eager to catch a breather after the flurry of activity, both wrestlers laid on the ground in silence for a good while.

Or at least they would have laid in silence, if it weren’t for Guile’s background music continuing to loop on Cosworth’s phone.

“You are most bizarre,” Astrid finally muttered with a readily discernible hint of irritation in her normally placid tone. “Why on Earth would thinking about the day you met Ms Park trigger a fear response?”

“I -- I don't know… It's just --”

Camille had to cut herself off when she suddenly found her left arm scissored between the Icelander’s legs. Cosworth scrambled upright thereby stacking Astrid onto her shoulders and preventing her from getting full extension on the Jujigatame Armbar. They were at an impasse for a second or two, then the Stranger unlocked her legs from around Camille’s arm and pushed the brunette away with both legs.

White kipped to her feet just as Cosworth backpedaled into the ropes, and with no further preamble, Astrid took two long strides and launched into a Flying Knee. Camille managed to get her forearms up in order to block the jaw-shattering blow, although absorbing the momentum of the larger wrestler still sent her tumbling up and over the steel cables at her back. She landed in a crouch, then immediately dove to one side to get out of the way when White hurdled the top rope as well and landed with a Knee Drop that slammed into the ground where Cosworth had been just a moment ago.

Even though floor was padded, the missed connection on her Knee Drop sent a jolt through Astrid’s leg. As a result, she was still on one knee when Camille was already fully upright, and the Girl of Tomorrow capitalized by launching into a somersault over the penitent Stranger while grabbing White’s chin mid-flip, thus slamming the back of her head into the floor with a Front Flip Neckbreaker.

FRONT FLIP NECKBREAKER:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=zygcKJ9cMNE

Perhaps benefitting from the fact that she didn't take the fall from her full 6’2” height, Astrid remained conscious after her rough landing. She was still too shaken to resist, however, when Camille rolled her onto her stomach, laid out on top of her back, and collected her arms in a Full Nelson in order to keep the blonde restrained.

Cosworth began complaining indignantly about the repeated surprise attacks, but Astrid paid her nattering no mind. Instead, the Stranger focused on the thumpthumpthump of Camille’s heartbeat against her back while simultaneously keeping track of each second that passed. After about twenty seconds, the beat had slowed to a steady thump… thump… thump… and White breathed a soft sigh of disappointment.

“It's getting harder for you,” Astrid said flatly.

“......what?”

“You are finding it more and more difficult to enter that state of hyper-arousal, yes?”

Camille didn't say anything, but the quickening of her heartbeat was all the confirmation that the Stranger needed.

“Every successive time, it's taken you longer and longer,” Astrid coolly continued, seemingly unbothered by the fact that Cosworth was still strapped to her back. “As you have said, it was born of necessity against Adelaide Brewster -- the desperate survival mechanism of a lost cub who was hopelessly, pathetically outmatched.”

“Gee, thanks,” Camille grumbled.

“But now the cub has become a lioness -- or if you prefer the words of Ms Park -- the fish has become a dragon. Those that were once predators are now peers, and without fear lurking in every shadow, your dark edge of insanity has grown dull. I suspect that soon you will lose it altogether. How ironic that strength has made you weak…”

Cosworth mulled this over for a few seconds, then she got to her feet and backed off to a safe distance outside the range of the lanky Scandinavian's legs.

“So what should I do?” Camille asked as she kept a wary eye on the Stranger.

“You must rediscover your fear, Ms Cosworth,” Astrid replied while rising to a stand. “What is it about Ms Park that scares you?”

Cosworth opened her mouth to say something, but before she could utter a single syllable, White came rushing at her with a Muay Thai Roundhouse Kick aimed at the side of her floating ribs. Rather than block or dodge backwards, the Girl of Tomorrow chose to go up, leaping sideways towards ropes and allowing Astrid’s kick to slice through the air beneath her. She planted her feet on the topmost cable and used it as a springboard to launch into a twisting somersault that put her behind the Stranger.

Astrid was still in the follow-through of her whiffed kick when she felt a couple of fingers touch her between the shoulder blades. Knowing that the One Inch Punch was imminent, White let her body go slack, and a split second later, that soft caress turned into a shotgun blast, knocking her off her feet and sending her into a front tumble on the mats.

“Faster… Stronger… Sharper reflexes…” Astrid said through a pained hiss as she forced herself up. “Yes… Yes! You're doing it! Just a little more…a little further…! Why?! WHY ARE YOU SO TERRIFIED OF MS PARK?!”

In contrast to the Stranger’s uncharacteristic excitement, Camille’s voice was low and dangerous when she spoke.

“I don't wanna tell you.”

With that said, the Girl of Tomorrow turned into a human blur when she charged at Astrid. Even the nimblest wrestler would have struggled to avoid such a lightning-fast assault, and White was definitely no Lily Burlingame. She took the full weight of the flying brunette’s Spear tackle in her stomach and was driven hard down to the mat while Cam transitioned into a graceful forward roll and was back upright in an instant.

And she used that to full advantage. With the Stranger still prone Cosworth jumped onto the middle rope and flipped backwards into a gorgeous Springboard Moonsault. Her legs and waist crashed square into the taut crashpad of White’s stomach and drove out any air still remaining after the Spear. And that meant the blonde was still breathless when Camille’s sturdy legs snaked around her head and squeezed shut!

Muffled noises of protest started immediately but Cam didn’t really mind that, at that moment she just wanted all that snide, judgemental questioning to shut up. The Headscissor certainly did that, she felt breath against her thighs but otherwise only Guile’s Theme disturbed the blessed quiet. Camille poured power into those constricting gams, noticing a marked increase in vibrations but more interested in coming to terms with what was in her head.

A few more seconds had allowed her to resettle her nerves from that full blooded rush, and hear head was already processing the answer to White’s question. Unfortunately the Stranger chose this moment to stop complaining and start acting, using the leverage in those long legs to roll Cam onto her butt and rotate herself awkwardly round so she was facing directly into the brunette’s center.

The result was a little distracting.

“Hey, don’t think you can tease your way out of thaa…” Cam squealed, swatting at the Icelander’s torso with her free hands. “I can rrrrr...resist it anyway, this is nothing compared to when Yoona does that trick with the water balloon and the fERRRUMPH!”

Uninterested in whatever effects she might be causing downstairs, Astrid made the most of their adjusted position by planting her hands either side of Cosworth’s constricting legs and pushed her torso up. All of that yoga discipline came into play, the Icelander’s core flexing, her long body winding sideways and upwards into a gracefully controlled headstand. That was held for a moment and then suddenly dropped, White flexing at the waist to bring the longest legs in FAWN ‘SMECK’ing down either side of Cam’s startled face.

The result looked for a second like a sort of mutual headscissors, a 69 suspended in the air. It was pretty clear that position couldn’t hold for long and so it proved, White pushing both hands on the mat and tilting them backwards so that she could plant her feet whilst keeping Cosworth’s head squeezed between her thighs. Camille let go of her own headscissor to focus on getting away from this unorthodox situation, but things got even worse as the Stranger grabbed her legs and pressed to standing, transforming the predicament into an extremely dangerous Sit-Out Piledriver position.

Holding the wriggling brunette White made use of her suddenly unobstructed voice, “You will NOT do that again, Ms Cosworth. And you will not flee from the truth like a child.”

Cam was too busy trying to free her head to respond. She did so, but it didn’t seem to help much as Astrid simply hauled her up and sat down, driving her face-first towards the canvas.

WHEELBARROW FACEBUSTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE_awVlMFhQ

After taking the brunt of the impact square on her nose Cosworth had very little in mind except checking it for blood. It came up clear, but that proved to be a very small mercy when one powerful Icelandic leg slipped in between hers and started pushing. At the same time the Stranger’s hands hooked around her ankle and reefed backwards, sliding sideways to bring a sudden, sickening splash of pain along the back of her foot and ankle.

ACHILLES LOCK:
youtu.be/1F9q6zomUN8

“I assume your girlfriend’s podiatric issues have given you some understanding of foot musculature,” Astrid’s voice had lost any of its previous excitement; now it was just icy cool. “As such I don’t need to tell you that with sufficient pressure this hold will tear your Achilles tendon at which point you will literally be unable to run away from the truth or from anything else. The prospect is currently very appealing. So, please, can you tell me what it is about ms Park that scares you.”

A particularly vicious jerk of the hold punctuated the Stranger’s words, and Cam had to bite down a yelp. In general though the position didn’t seem to be as painful as she’d imagined. Maybe the adrenaline was helping to numb any hurt.

She didn’t fancy the sound of the tendon snapping though, so she growled, “Ok, ok. I know that she loves me but OW QUIT IT!”

Astrid had given another yank and also raised an eyebrow, her face pretty clearly saying ‘’don’t test me” even without the actual words.

“Fine,” Cam muttered, “She can go to some places that are too dark and I’m afraid…”

No more jerks were forthcoming, the Stranger much too focussed on listening intently.

“I’m afraid I could lose her there.”

Camille was slightly lost in this thought, but she had expected some sort of reaction. The hold did ease up a little, or at least the pain seemed to be lessening further, but outside the bubble of her thoughts the only other noticeable reaction was a quiet, exasperated sigh.

“You are scared of losing her. You have placed your own potential in the lap of another.”

Camille took the opportunity roll to her side and piston her free leg out, burying her heel in White’s chest. The Icelander just released the hold, rolling backwards with the momentum and coming to a slow crouch.

She rose to her full height, regarding the prone Girl of Tomorrow, particularly the look of both confusion and pain on Cosworth’s face at that last admission.

“Why are you upset?” the Stranger asked. “You have the strength and speed to follow her anywhere. Just let go of this childish fantasy of heroism and she can never leave you.”

“You don’t understand. She gets in this place where she just feeds on anger and humiliating others and I can barely watch because how can that be my girlfriend? How can that be HEY!”

Astrid’s cool façade had cracked. She swung a Crescent Kick out at Camille’s head, the surprised brunette just quick enough to sway back from it, and then she turned and vaulted the ropes. She stormed over to the noisy cellphone and flicked out a boot. Guile's Theme exploded in a pop of fused circuitry and cracked glass, provoking a wail of primal, wordless terror from the brunette back in the ring.

"HEY THAT’S MY PHONE! WHAT THE FUCK?!”

"You want to be a real role model, Ms Cosworth? You want to make sure Ms Park is proud, that she never leaves you? Then open your eyes. She’s a monster, a tawdry, violent little nymphomaniac without the slightest shred of decency. And because she gives you fleeting pleasure in bed you ignore what is in front of your eyes and fret about her ‘dark places.’ So until you are ready to commit like she has, please leave me to my disappointment.”

The Stranger let out a disgusted sigh and went over to the heavy bag in the corner to restart her kicking drill, apparently having lost interest in anything to do with Camille. Left to her own whims, Cosworth ran her hands over her face, then she walked over to retrieve the remnants of her phone. She held the ruined device in one hand and retrieved her bag with the other, and the Girl of Tomorrow seemed to be on her way out the door, but as she walked past Astrid, Camille suddenly felt the need to set the record straight.

“It’s not the sex, you know…” she quietly muttered, tilting her head back and directing her gaze at the ceiling. “Everyone thinks that’s the only thing Yoona has to offer, but it’s not true. Last Christmas I took her home for the first time. I was so, soooooo nervous… Like, what if she dropped a bunch of F-bombs at dinner or something, right? I didn’t say anything to Yoona, because I didn’t want to put any pressure on her, but geez, with my Mom and Dad, and my brothers, and my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins… I thought it was going to be a disaster. Then the day came, and Yoona… well…”

Cosworth smiled wistfully at the memory, even as the Stranger continued slamming kick after kick into the heavy bag in the background.

“...Yoona was wonderful. She showed my Mom recipes for bulgogi and bimbimbap. She sat through a Die Hard marathon with my Dad and my brothers, including all the crappy sequels. She even taught my fifteen year old cousin how to beat up bullies at school. And then, after dinner, she put on this amazing, one-woman ballet performance of the Nutcracker in the backyard. Everyone absolutely adored her, and in that moment, I saw the woman I was going to grow old with…”

Camille let out a deflating sigh as she shut her eyes, then she continued to talk in a much more dour tone.

“...then she does what she does against Syd, or Babe, or Caity, or Domi, and all… all I see is…”

There was a sudden snap, crackle, and pop. The Girl of Tomorrow opened her eyes and saw Astrid just inches in front of her face. White was hunched over so that she may stare the shorter woman directly in the eyes. Cosworth turned her line of sight to her lightly tingling left hand, and where there had been a cracked but repairable phone before, there was now only a twisted hunk of metal and plastic, mangled beyond recognition and dripping battery acid.

“You’ve done it, Ms Cosworth…” the Icelander whispered intensely. “You’ve triggered that hyper-arousal in a scant couple of seconds. What did you see just now? What did you see?!”

“...Nothing,” Camille replied after a lengthy hesitation. “At least… nothing that I want to see again…”

She gently pushed her way past Astrid and started heading for the door. Her fingers were already around the door knob when the Stranger’s voice rang out behind her once more and stopped her in her tracks.

“Perhaps Ms Park can provide additional insight then. At the very least, I imagine she would be very interested to know --”

White was interrupted by the sound of the brunette’s shattered phone and gym bag dropping to the floor with a soft clack and thump, respectively. Still with her back turned, Camille sucked in a deep breath and puffed it out through her mouth.

“Astrid… if you must blink… do it now.”

“...as I was saying, Ms Cosworth,” the Stranger continued to speak, blithely ignoring the ominous tone of the other woman’s voice. “I imagine Ms Park would be --”

Astrid blinked.

And in the fraction of a second it took for those cool, grey-green eyes to close and reopen, Camille spun around, closed the eight feet of space between them, and gutted her with a Spear.

White was driven backwards into the seventy pound kicking bag she had been using for her drill. The impact was so great that the bag was ripped off its hook on the ceiling, and both wrestlers tumbled to the ground. Despite taking the worst of the collision, Astrid fired a defensive Forearm Smash into Camille’s jaw, and the Icelander managed to be the first to her feet. The Stranger was immediately on the counter-offensive, lifting her right leg high into the air before bringing it back down in a crushing Axe Kick aimed at Cosworth’s gut.

Astrid’s boot slammed into the floor instead, however, when Camille rolled backwards and crunched onto her shoulders. Rather than complete the tumble, the Girl of Tomorrow launched herself forwards and upwards legs-first at her attacker. She wrapped her knees around either side of White’s neck, then she twisted and flipped her body to toss the other wrestler away with a Kip-Up Hurricanrana that might have garnered an ovation in the FAWN Arena.

KIP-UP HURRICANRANA:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=0SOK_SagJ1Y

The Stranger rolled upon landing to redistribute the impact and clambered to one knee. She was just rising to her full height when she had to suddenly drop back down into a crouch to duck under the Everlast bag that Camille swung at her head. Cosworth wasn't done though, and she hoisted the equipment-turned-bludgeon overhead before tossing it at White. Astrid took a big hop backwards and the heavy bag slammed to the floor where she had been standing a moment earlier. The maneuver left her off-balance, however, and she took a powerful Dropkick flush in the chest.

The blow forced Astrid to stumble into the ropes, and the Icelander used the cables to hold herself upright. Meanwhile, Camille had used the heavy bag to cushion her shoulders upon landing from her Dropkick. She gripped the bag at either end and launched into another Kip-Up, simultaneously getting to her feet while lifting the bag onto her shoulders.

Whether Cosworth planned it or not, that turned out to be the perfect counter when White came rebounding back with a Yakuza Kick. Camille turned her body slightly to block the strike with the heavy bag she held across her shoulders, and in one smooth motion, she pivoted on her left foot and pistoned her right foot out in a high Super Kick that caught the side of Astrid’s face. Sent stumbling backwards once more, this time White couldn't catch herself on the ropes and she tumbled over the top, ending up on her back in the middle of the enclosed area.

Unencumbered by the seventy pound weight she was carrying, the Girl of Tomorrow leapt to the top rope in a single bound and a moment later she was airborne once more. Aided by the extra inertia of the bag, Camille effortlessly turned through all six hundred and thirty degrees of rotation that gave the 630 Senton its name, and crashed into the deck like a meteor, the Stranger having rolled clear with just a heartbeat to spare.

630 SENTON:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce3owZ3_29M

The bag absorbed the terrible collision of the missed 630 Senton, bursting at its seams and spilling sand all over the mat. Spared the worst of the impact, Cosworth was on her feet almost immediately, and she barreled into the Scandinavian with a Shoulder Tackle that sent them tumbling through the ropes on the other side of the enclosure. Camille landed on top once they hit the floor, and she looped an arm across Astrid’s chest and took off in a run, dragging the lanky blonde along for the ride. White tried to dig her heels into the padded floor, but that didn't slow them down much as they careened towards the only wall in the dojo that wasn't made of paper.

Just before slamming into the wall, Camille brought her right arm up to use Astrid’s body as a human shield. The drywall and plywood proved to be of little more resistance than rice paper as the pair of wrestlers smashed through the barrier at full speed, and then Cosworth planted her left hand on White’s hip to boost the blonde high into the air. Stumbling but still moving forward at high speed, the Girl of Tomorrow dove to the deck and smashed her quarry's shoulders into the floor with a hellacious Lifting Side Slam.

LIFTING SIDE SLAM:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=B-JVyFRM7ws

Astrid bounced from the hard landing, and her momentum made her flip head over heels before coming to a rest face down on the ground. A few feet away, Camille also remained down where she fell, although more out of exhaustion than trauma. From the other side of the destroyed wall came a series of clattering noises as kendo sticks and various other pieces of equipment fell to the floor after being jarred free from their mounts and shelves, and then all was silent.

After a while, Cosworth stirred to life again. She took a few panting breaths while she laboriously pushed to her hands and knees, and eventually she managed to stagger to her feet.

“That's… that's for my phone, you… you jerk,” Camille groaned.

There was no immediate response, so she turned around and started limping back towards the hole in the wall when she heard a chuckle, perhaps the most unlikely sound she could think of from that particular person and in this particular circumstance. She glanced back as the Icelander sat up, rubbing ruefully at the huge angry welt which spread from her shoulder down her back.

“I was wrong, Ms Cosworth. You aren’t weak at all, I was just searching in the wrong place. You have abandoned heroism, but in devotion to another rather than to yourself. You would let the world burn as long as Ms Park was protected.”

Camille shook her head. “You’re wrong, and you’re wrong about Yoona as well. Just leave us both alone.”

She turned around to leave, stepping one leg through the hole she had made in the wall before she heard the Stranger resume her speech.

“You have just purposefully demolished a space where children come to learn, a space which I have told you is considered sacred. You have destroyed a family’s business. You are pleased about this. You feel it justified. And why? Not because I insulted you or attacked you, or because you were in danger or duress, even though all those things happened. Those were all just normal occurrences in your mind. But then you remembered that your girlfriend had annoyed you. And when I considered talking to her myself suddenly the damage which you were apologising for just minutes ago was justified. And that was solely because there might have been a threat to your relationship.”

"No, Astrid. I trashed your dojo because I wanted to," Camille muttered, her back still turned to the blonde. "I wanted to know how it felt to be Yoona... to channel that inner anger into violence and destroy something beautiful and dear and precious, just because I could. And now... now I understand..."

Cosworth sighed heavily and leaned a shoulder against the shattered wall, seemingly drained of her last reserves of energy after that admission. White quietly considered those words for a few moments before she spoke again.


“I was hoping you would see the benefit of abandoning your emotional attachments. But instead I see you have abandoned your morality, your hope, everything you have, in pursuit of your girlfriend’s heart. It appears I can’t teach you anything Ms Cosworth, you’re already far more of a mutant than I could ever be."

"I said I'll pay for the damages and I haven’t abandoned anything," Camille replied tersely. "On the contrary, I've done what you suggested and rediscovered my fear. I'm terrified by how satisfying it felt to smash you through that wall, and how cathartic and powerful it must feel for Yoona to do what she does. How tempting must it be for her to just abandon all pretense of decency and fully lose herself to that primal fury of sex and violence…”

She paused to swallow a lump in her throat.

“...You wanted to know what I saw? I saw myself in a lightless place, hopelessly surrounded by monsters that would bring my world crashing down around me. And my Yoona... my dear, beloved Yoona..."

The Girl of Tomorrow took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet and somber.

"...she's one of the demons in the dark."

With a heavy, wordless sigh, Camille stepped through the breach, retrieved her bag, and left the dojo.