Post by dsb on Jun 24, 2018 20:59:32 GMT
Simultaneously intrigued and worried by the names presented on his last card, the Announcer stepped into the spotlight and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for--”
“The sort of violence not fit for most eyes.” interrupted a cool, sardonic voice from atop the stage.
Relieved to clear the ring well before the owner of that voice got much closer, the poor man took his leave while the FAWNatics turned their jeering attention to the assembled force of Miranda Wainright, Tiffany Mayes and Helena Graylock.
MIRANDA WAINRIGHT:
TIFFANY MAYES:
HELENA GRAYLOCK:
Utterly unfazed by the disdain poured her way, the Prophet of Pain waited for the sheep to tire themselves out before she went on. “Eliza Bliss was a star on a very different stage before she came to FAWN. One that saw her captivate audiences worldwide with nothing more than the power of her voice or the tilt of her head. For a time she was the brightest star in that particular galaxy, which makes it all the more impressive that she could leave it behind and succeed, no, DOMINATE in an arena as dissimilar as our beloved squared circle. In truth opera and professional wrestling occupy virtually no common ground… save for one small, invaluable patch. For you see, brothers and sisters, opera, like wrestling, is exquisitely attuned to tragedy. Indeed, there are a great number of you that will call the end to this…. Year of Bliss, as a tragedy of the most sublime sort, but I am here to offer comfort in your time of need. For sister Eliza’s end is not tragic. Hers is a tale that will frighten wayward children, to make lovers cling tighter in their rapture. She will deliver herself unto our Weeping Angel… and she will be immortal.”
Those assembled for Mayhem didn’t care for the sermon very much and voiced their displeasure accordingly, alas, Wainright had no time or patience for any of their simpering nonsense. “Eyes on me if you dare, heathens! The instrument of Eliza Bliss’s destruction hails from Oxrun Station, Connecticut, stands at five feet six inches tall and weighs in tonight at one hundred and twenty-five pounds. She is the Daughter of Darkness, the Queen of Nightmares and soon to be the Queen of FAWN! Prostrate your unworthy forms before ADELAIDE BREWSTER!”
GLORY & GORE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVBkD4IRhg
The lights died as her name reached the rafters and the speakers answered the call with the soft, eerie opening of Lorde’s ‘Glory and Gore’.
For a moment there was nothing but darkness and pinpricks of cell phone light, then a few lights on either side of the stage ‘whoomped’ on to reveal the three Churchgoers standing in a carpet of ankle deep fog. But there was no sign of the challenger until a cold blue light illuminated the gloomy recession leading to the curtain. A figure swung down from the ceiling of that narrow throat, a figure hanging by her knees from a bar suspended just out of camera view. Arms crossed over her chest, Adelaide Brewster opened her eyes, then twisted loose and landed on her feet just as her anthem warned ‘Now we’re in the ring and we’re coming for blood.’
ADELAIDE BREWSTER:
Heading for the squared circle after a brief conference with her Dark Sisters (who followed along behind at a suitably reverential distance), Adelaide stretched her arms wide, which let her limber up while simultaneously providing the FAWNatics with a great view of her ring attire: a gleaming black two-piece done in crushed velvet that showed off the power in her hips and shoulders in almost agonizing detail. The look was accented with a clunky black belt complete with a buckle done up as a snarling wolf’s head and matching black boots and pads.
Reaching the ring quickly (because no one quite dared extend a hand) Adelaide slunk under the bottom ropes, pushed to her feet and took possession of the center. Eyes on the camera because she knew Eliza was watching, Adelaide offered everyone a toothy smile before she threw her head back and ‘pppffwooooshed’ a gout of crimson mist into the air overhead. Quite pleased by the pitter patter of this miniature rainstorm, Brewster didn’t bother to lick red off her lips as she headed to the corner so Nick Castle could perform his final inspection.
With Brewster and her congregation in place, the FAWNatics stayed on their feet when the house lights faded away. The lowered illumination led to the requisite hoots and hollers from the excited throng. They only get louder when a brilliant spotlight pierced the gloom. Standing dead center atop the stage, her back to the crowd, was a tall willowy brunette draped in a diaphanous robe that did next to nothing hide the limber strength of her frame… or the heavy belt strapped around her waist.
Careful not to step on the Superlative Soprano’s favorite solo, the Announcer called, “And introducing her opponent! Hailing from London, England! She stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and twenty two pounds. She is the Renaissance Woman, the Superlative Soprano and the reigning and defending FAWN World Champion, ladies and gentlemen I give to you… ELIZA BLISSSSSS!”
A sweet melodious set of notes reached to the heights, the highest high of soprano superlatives could only hint at the beauty of the operatic ecstasy. Eliza, her arms raised high, serenaded the crowd with her own entrance accompaniment, no one else able to reach the perfect notes of sweet rapture. After several seconds of, well, pure bliss, the Queen of the Spotlight grabbed the sash at her waist, yanked the robe open and let it fall at her feet.
ELIZA BLISS:
The sight greeting the sold out crowd raised a ruckus that *almost* threatens to overpower Eliza’s high notes. In place of her usual black one piece was a set of deep blue briefs and a matching sleeveless crop-top that left the whole of her midsection bare. Across the seat of her trunks was a single word done in bold white strokes designed to make them look like they’ve been illuminated by a spotlight. It read simply: BLISS. Below and beside, elbow and knees were protected by glossy blue pads, while the Briton’s wrestling boots matched the blue of her briefs.
With the audience enjoying her new togs, Eliza reached back with one hand, snapped the belt loose and flung it over her shoulder before whirling around to head down the ramp. Keeping one hand on the faceplate of her golden prize, Bliss tossed her hair with the other in between crisscrossing the aisle to slap hands with any and all extended her way. A standard bit of business for any babyface champion, but Eliza’s treatment was all the more impressive because she continued to belt out a flawless rendition of the concluding aria of Giulio Cesare.
Finishing her performance with a single loop around the ringside aisle, Bliss quickly climbed the steps, then dipped into a deep curtsey as thanks for this latest round of thunderous applause. Once it died down, she slipped through the ropes, strode to center stage and hoisted the belt one more time, this shove at Adelaide, Miranda and the rest of Eternal Midnight.
“You’ll finally learn tonight, once and for all, NONE of you can or will take the gold from me and make it some sort of half-ass holy relic of your Church.”
Bliss handed over the belt to Castle, who in turn gives it to an attendant so he could put the champ through a final inspection.
Eliza called over the lead official’s shoulder.
“I’m putting the stake through every Churchgoers’ hopes and dreams tonight. You can all recede into the obscurity of your title-free darkness.”
When the bell finally sounded Eliza didn’t quite rush out of her corner (she was of the mind that challengers came to the champion, not vice versa) but she certainly didn’t waste any time closing the distance between Adelaide and herself. Brewster noted the Songbird’s direct approach and mulled dipping between the ropes to try Bliss’s patience, yet in the end she chose to slide out along the ropes, thus forcing the lissome Briton to adjust with her, lest she be flanked.
“Don’t make me chase you, little bat.” the Superlative Soprano warned as she moved with the Churchgoer. “That’s the last thing you want, considering my mood.”
Adelaide eased away from the strands and moved out into the ring, casually gliding past Nick Castle before coming to a stop in the center. “Here we are at long last, songbird. You, our erstwhile but ultimately outmatched heroine against a threat she can barely comprehend, let alone defe--”
Eliza pounced on her without a word, the furious battler snatching a fistful of hair with her left hand even as the right transformed into that oh so dangerous ‘C’-shaped hook. Adelaide stepped back to alleviate the sting in her scalp which gave her just enough extra room to seize the champion’s wrist with the Cleft Note less than an inch from her bottom lip. “Resist all you want.” Bliss threatened in the midst of an effort to remove a great patch of Brewster’s scalp. “In the end you’ll choke and you’ll beg, just like all the other understudies who sought my spotlight.”
The Daughter of Darkness would’ve answered if Nick Castle hadn’t stepped in and tapped the back of Eliza’s left hand. “Ease off the hair, ‘Liza.”
Seeing the irritation in her foe’s dark eyes, Brewster eased her head forward just enough to kiss Bliss’s questing fingertips. Eliza surged forward at once, but Adelaide remained maddeningly out of reach, as evidenced by the champion’s low, frustrated growl. “Best do as he says, sister.” Adelaide kissed the Englishwoman’s talon again, then treated her middle and ring fingers to a playful nip. “You wouldn’t want the heathens to think you were courting intentional disqualification, do NNNGGGGGHHHHH!”
Eliza relinquished the hair-hold to satisfy Castle’s demand and to punish her challenger with a hard slap to the right ear! Adelaide stumbled hard and reeled away, at least that’s what she would’ve done if Bliss hadn’t caught her in a rough Collar & Elbow Lock-Up, which she then used to bully the zealot all the way to the ropes. Continuing to press even when there was nowhere for Brewster to go, Eliza chested up on her foe to force blazing eye contact as she pinched Adelaide’s bottom lip between thumb and forefinger.
“A disqualification is the least of your concerns tonight, sweet girl.” she cooed. “Humiliation and ruin loom large, assuming that you don’t squeal for mercy at the first real--”
“She’s in the ropes, Eliza.” Nick interrupted. “Unhook and back off.”
Eliza replied by slooooooowly twisting Brewster’s trapped lip. “You’re going to scream for me understudy. Long and loud.” On that threatening note she let loose, patted the zealot’s cheek and stepped--
Adelaide exploded off the strands, sweeping Bliss into her own Collar & Elbow. Eliza fought it every step of the way, they were practically tummy-to-tummy for the entire trip across the squared circle, but in the end she was stacked against the strands with Brewster pressed in close and mean. “You don’t scare me, little girl.” Adelaide cooed in her rival’s ear. “And neither does your spotlight.” Bliss started to respond, then grit her teeth in a pained grimace when the Weeping Angel bit down on the side of her neck.
“She’s biting, Nick.” Eliza warned as the referee approached. “Get her off or I’ll do it myself.”
Castle swatted the challenger on the shoulder. “Knock it off, Adelaide. And get her off the ropes!”
Adelaide finished with a teasing kiss, then straightened up and smiled. “Your pulse is already racing, songbird. Imagine how it will feel when the full weight of panic sets EEERRRGGGHHH!”
Sheer proximity left Bliss with few offensive options so she snapped her head forward, driving it into the bridge of Brewster’s nose! Hardly a gentle effort and yet Brewster ceded barely half a step before countering with a Headbutt of her own! Eliza grunted, wrapped her arms around the other brunette’s waist and twisted in a half circle to force Adelaide into her spot against the ropes. Cupping one hand over Brewster’s chin, Bliss puuuuuuuuussssshed her opponent’s head backward over the rubber-coated steel, then raised her other hand high overhead and CRAAAACKED it down on Adelaide’s chest in a vicious Slap! Brewster snarled, tried to twist away, but Eliza maintained the pressure and hampered further escape efforts by threading her foe’s arms over the top rope.
“You’ll fear the spotlight long before I’m finished with you, understudy.” Eliza promised. “In fact you’ll fear it so much that you’ll slink away to hide in Miranda’s shadow until no one remembers your name!”
She punctuated with another stiff overhand slap, the effort earning a loud ‘WOOOOOOO!’ from the Mayhem crowd.
Already aware that he’d have to be rather lenient in this encounter, Castle said, “There’s a whole lot of ring behind you, Eliza. Why don’t you test it out?”
Bliss smiled prettily as she buried her hands in Adelaide’s dark hair. “Why Nicholas, that is a fine idea. Please, allow me to remove this clump of refuse from the roWHOOAAGUURRRHHK!”
Brewster wrenched loose of the Briton’s predicament and went low, wrapping her arms around the champ’s upper thighs. Hands knotted just below the swell of Blissy’s glutes, she powered onto her tiptoes and angled Eliza into a short drop that deposited her throat-first across the top rope! The tension in the strands combined with the force of Adelaide’s drop acted like a crude slingshot that bounced the Renaissance Woman off her feet and into an unpleasant backward somersault that put her on one knee near the center of the squared circle.
On the offensive as soon as she saw Bliss vulnerable, the Queen of Nightmares stomped over and grabbed a double handful of hair. Smiling as she twined the champ’s dark locks around her fingers, Adelaide yanked Eliza to her feet, then hopped up and went down on one knee to BWONK Blissy’s forehead against the posted joint. The quick n’ dirty Facebuster rocked Eliza back on her heels but didn’t take her down so Brewster pounced, cinched a hand around her throat and dropped to all fours to THWHUMP the Songbird to the deck!
RUNNING CHOKEHOLD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SVT6PEIWxw
“SING NOW!” Adelaide barked into Bliss’s fuming face as she braced on one hand and the tips of her toes, the zealot positioned for the perfect push up as she put all her weight into the blatant Stranglehold.
Castle didn’t bother with a warning, he simply walked up to his charges and started to count. “ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!”
Adelaide let go and raised both hands overhead just to make sure the heathen arbiter had no possible reason to disqualify her. Free to breathe again, Eliza rolled onto her stomach and sucked wind, an ugly, rasping sound made all the more so by a short coughing fit. “That can’t be good for your high notes.” Brewster taunted the gagging grappler. “Perhaps a few vocal exercises will help you warm up.”
She crawled over, planted one knee against the base of Eliza’s neck and went back to the hair. The hair-hold got Bliss’s noggin off the mat quickly enough, but Adelaide shifted over to a Chinlock to keep Castle from whining about an infraction. Either way it proved a painful predicament for Eliza as Brewster gouged that planted knee between her shoulders and pulled up on the Brit’s jaw in a crude but effective Camel Clutch. “Surrender whenever you’d like, little bird.” Adelaide cooed. “Preferably after you’ve screamed yourself hoarse.”
Blissy did her best to contain the pain, groaning more than producing the noise Brewster craved. The challenger drew Eliza’s head and neck back farther still, until the diva was forced to look at the lights above. Adelaide dipped to take a nibble on the neck and the conceit cost her as the Blackbird threw her head in reverse much faster than necessary to THUNK it into the Churchgoer’s jaw. It’s not a head turner, but the impact was enough for Brewster to lose her grip and concentration. Bliss twisted out of what remains of Adelaide’s clutch and rolled to her back then thrust both boot soles into the pert chest of the Daughter of Darkness.
The force from the unfolding stems sent Brewster sprawling, but she used the momentum of that backward somersault to pop to her feet and charge the rising Englishwoman. The champ brought a rocketing European Uppercut with her and she DROVE the crook of her elbow under the chin of the dark-eyed devotee of the flesh.
Rocked to her heels, Adelaide ate a right jab to the chin from the suddenly bright-eyed soprano, her noggin snapping away from the connection, a second follows courtesy the World Champion, and a third. Being a Londoner, it’s no surprise even a Songbird from the Kingdom’s capital could brawl and a final right with a little extra ‘ooomph’ knocked the Churchgoer to her back, the crowd roaring its approval. Blissy hovered in a standing straddle over the decked purveyor of Midnight.
“Have you been watching, sweetheart?” Eliza asked. “I’m cleaning out every pew in your Church and you’re going to be the latest, but certainly not the greatest.”
Eliza dipped and tugged the yipping Brewster to her feet. She snuggled the lowered head of her fellow brunette into a tight Front Facelock and started to pop the Churchgoer above. But Adelaide grapevined a leg around one of Eliza’s and stayed grounded. The stubborn diva tried to force her way through but again Miranda’s right hand remains mat-bound. Brewster tried the reverse, but Eliza showed she could counter as well and followed her block with a spine-rattling forearm blast. With Adelaide arching in pain, Bliss regained her balance and POWERED the Churchgoer up, Brewster’s boot soles pointed to the rafters for only a split-second as the champ spun her challenger at the top of the lift, then laid out to teach Miranda’s understudy how a titleholder took control.
INVERTED SUPLEX CUTTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtvaXqCp-TU
As Adelaide flopped to her back, a seated Songbird spun to find the smoking wreckage. She dove atop the splayed phlebotomist and hooked a leg for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Adelaide kicked free with enough fervor to send Blissy to her haunches. Eliza nodded in appreciation and turned to the malevolent, chilly presence of Wainright’s congregation. “Better sign up some new recruits, sister.” she taunted the Prophet of Pain. “This biter is headed in the same direction as you and Tiffy, so bring the reinforcements.”
There was no response from Wainright, but Adelaide moved to hands and knees during the soprano’s sermon so Eliza put an end to her ascent with a nasty stomp to the base of her foe’s backbone, Brewster flattened to the canvas. Blissy dropped to Adelaide’s feet and folded her challenger’s lightly tanned stems in a figure-four cloverleaf. Eliza pivoted around the trapped legs, posting them around one of her own, then leaned back in a beautiful bridge. The finishing touch was added when Bliss laced her hands into a cup and slipped them under Adelaide’s chin. The Songbird wrenched Brewster’s neck, pushing upward with her grip.
MUTA LOCK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrMM7GH2kY
“Time to show off your pipes, understudy,” the soprano shouted. “Sing your own requiem, bytch. I’m sure Miranda’s already wondering if Helena can hang with me!”
Adelaide could only mumble through forcibly pursed lips. She reached out for the ropes but the strands were several feet away and the hand of the extended arm turned palm down. It started to waver over the canvas, appearing as though the champion was making some convincing points to the challenger, namely in the Daughter of Darkness’ spinal column.
Eliza warbled an ultimatum at Brewster, threatening permanent damage to the moaning Churchgoer, but Brewster outlasted the ability of Bliss to maintain her bridge. The tension became too much and the champ flopped to her side, Adelaide released. The challenger melted into a facedown single file, reaching to her neck with both hands for a massage.
Eliza shook out the cramps in her upper and lower limbs and pushed to her feet, feeling and looking every bit the dominant diva; FAWN Arena becoming her own personal concert hall with which to make beautiful music with every contender that dared match ring artistry with the Superlative Soprano.
But Adelaide was unwilling to cede the canvas to the champ. Indeed she turned to her back and then sat bolt-upright, as if rising from the dead. The abruptness of it startled the British Blackbird, Eliza’s dark eyes going wide with alarm.
Calling upon her ‘Eternal’ reserves, the brunette from the shadows of Eternal Midnight pushed to her feet, but the Songbird fluttered in from behind her rising foe. Eliza attacked, slapping her arms around the throat and temple of the Churchgoer, cutting off Brewster’s favorite red liquid at both the carotid and temple. The Sleeper hold strapped in by the dangerous diva, Adelaide flailed to life, arms wildly waving. The Daughter of Darkness fashioned a pointed elbow and tried to nail Eliza in the face, but Bliss ducked and dodged every attempt. Adelaide’s efforts started to slow, her sinewy legs rubbery by the time one perhaps final effort hit home, Brewster finding the bridge of Blissy’s nose.
Somehow, the determined, doe-eyed veteran hung on to her grip and, furious at the throbbing coming from her beak, Eliza used the burst of adrenaline to send Addie up and over with a Sleeper Suplex that delivered the crown of the Churchgoer’s skull to the canvas in an impact that drew a loud groan of sympathy pain from the FAWNatics.
SLEEPER SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHpYDp-MX6g
Adelaide bounced off the mat from the force of the impact to a nearly vertical stance, momentarily appearing as though she’ll somehow remain on her feet before taking another header to the canvas. There she remained, chest down and unmoving.
A supremely confident Bliss knee-walked to her challenger and shoveled Brewster to her back. At her foe’s side, the diva in Bliss came to the surface as she proudly pressed one palm into the cleft of Addie’s modest bosom and the other into a rim of midriff just below the challenger’s navel.
“Count another of these ne’re-do-well’s out, Mister Castle.”
Nick was quick to oblige, taking a knee beside his charges to rattle off the…
ONE…
TWO…
Brewster planted both hands above her head and rose up in a high bridge to end Eliza’s show of dominance. Alas, the challenger’s position was still, shall we say, disadvantageous, and Bliss reminded her why with a short, mean Double Axehandle pounded into Adelaide’s navel. The bridge collapsed at once, leaving Brewster to cough and sputter while Eliza used a double handful of hair to peel the flagging fighter off the mat. A Kneelift to the gut only compounded Adelaide’s respiratory difficulties and made it that much easier for the champion to apply a Front Facelock. Turning so she was facing Miranda, Eliza swatted Brewster’s backside with her free hand, then dipped low and launched herself into the air for a beautiful half-circle rotation that ended with Bliss laid out on her back and Adelaide THWHONKED down on the crown of her skull.
BLISSFUL DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkQArPyqpGM
The FAWNatics clamored for a cover off the DDT that left the Daughter of Darkness slopped out on her back, but Bliss quickly got to her feet and bounded to the nearest corner. Stepping through the ropes to the apron, she climbed to the high rent district and waited for Brewster to rise so she could feed her a dose of Sheer Bli--
Tiffany leapt onto the apron practically within spitting distance of the Renaissance Woman, her appearance so abrupt it was amazing Eliza managed to deck her with a quick Forearm Smash! Mayes staggered but held her ground, so Bliss raaaaaaaaaked a hand across her eyes then gave her a shove that sent Tiff tumbling off the apron and directly into the waiting arms of Helena Graylock. A commotion from the crowd told Eliza that Adelaide would soon reenter the fray, yet the Songbird hesitated as she found herself faced with a difficult choice. Difficult or not, she made her decision quickly and when she took to the skies it was with a gorgeous Flying Crossbody that leveled Tiffany and Helena in a single stroke!
Infuriated by the attack on her congregation, Miranda rounded the corner and might’ve put a boot in the Briton’s ribs if Castle hadn’t stepped up to the ropes and ordered, “Stop right there, Miranda. Unless you want to join these two in the back.”
“What?” Wainwright’s eyes went wide with rage and incredulity. “That heathen attacked them unprovoked!”
“Tiffany jumped onto the apron and paid for it.” Nick answered deadpan. “Clearly ringside is too dangerous for her right now, that’s why I’m asking Helena to escort her to the locker room. So they can go by themselves, or I can ring the bell now and take them myself.”
The Messiah of Misery swallowed an exceedingly sharp retort, however when Helena got to her feet she said, “Take Tiffany to the back, sister. Adelaide and I will rejoin you soon enough.” Helena, who was currently staring daggers at the wary World Champion, nodded once, then helped Tiffany off the floor and headed up the aisle.
Relieved to see the odds against her dropped by half, Eliza turned her attention to the blonde and said, “Encroach on my spotlight and you’ll get what they got, sister.” Wainright said nothing, so Bliss climbed onto the apron and slipped through the ropes to “NNNNNGGGGHHHH!”
Adelaide charged in from behind Nick Castle and slammed a vicious Forearm Smash into the side of Eliza’s skull! Caught flush by the blindside shot, Blissy’s legs turned to jelly and she ended up straddling the second rope in a rather unenviable position. The thought of driving the rubber-coated steel into her foe’s crotch got a toothy smile from Brewster, yet in the end she grabbed Eliza’s near leg and muscled it back through the strands so the Englishwoman was standing on the apron, although still doubled over the middle rope.
Anyone who judged this as an unexpected kindness were proven sorely wrong when Adelaide stepped in close and wedged Eliza’s head between her thighs. “You let my sisters distract you, little bird.” Brewster growled as she poured her considerable strength into crushing Eliza’s noggin. “That is a slight you will soon live to regret.”
Bliss didn’t bother to answer, she was busy raking her nails up and down the back of the challenger’s thighs in an effort to free herself from the pulse-pounding trap. Adelaide growled, grabbed her attacker’s wrists and wrenched them out at her sides before unleashing another prolonged squeeeeeeeeeeeeze. “I can feel you fading, bytch.” she told the moaning Songbird. “The only question now is how long will I let you la--”
“All right Adelaide, that’s enough. Get her out of the ropes!”
Displeased by the interruption, she locked eyes with the official and asked, “Where’s my count?” Castle obliged her with one so Brewster tossed Bliss’s wrists aside and grabbed the top rope. Dipping down into a slight crouch, she sprang into the with the Headscissors still in place, then dropped down onto her butt to SPIKE Eliza’s head into the mat courtesy of a vicious Piledriver!
RIGHTEOUS PILEDRIVER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OddVXPo7kAI
Eliza jolted like she’d been touched with a live wire only to go limp still draped tummy-first over the second strand. More than happy to follow Nick’s commands now that she’d dimmed Eliza’s lights, Adelaide helped herself to a double handful of sparkly blue briefs and used ‘em to drag the woozy Englishwoman back into the ring. With Bliss reeling in the wake of the brutal head drop, Brewster took her time in scraping the champ off the mat, but once Eliza was vertical she immediately scooped her up and tossed her right back down with a textbook Body Slam. Eliza arched her back on impact only to pay for the reaction with a spiteful stomp directly to the navel.
“High notes are what made you famous in an earlier life.” Adelaide noted after she’d taken possession of Bliss’s left wrist and ankle. “And I must admit, they do sound quite lovely, especially when you’re screaming for mercy.” The challenger trailed off as she began to drag her over to the nearest corner. “But tonight I’m more interested in what you can produce in the lower registers. Those quiet, guttural notes of shame and resignation produced by a woman who knows she’s about to lose everything she holds dear.
“Puuuhhh… puhh… piss off, Brewster.” Eliza groaned. “I beat Miranda. I’ll beat OOOFFFHH!”
Adelaide drove a trio of stomps into Bliss’s ribs before tossing the captured limbs aside so she could hop onto the second turnbuckle. The Mayhem throng raised a shrill warning, but it wasn’t enough to roust Eliza before the Queen of Nightmares leapt from her perch to THWHUMP both knees into her opponent’s chest.
MIDDLE ROPE DOUBLE KNEE DROP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ldtOR8urI
Eliza shuddered hard, breathed a sigh of relief when Adelaide got to her feet without going for a cover. The reason for this respite revealed itself when the Queen of Nightmares went back to the corner and the once again mounted the second rope. Facing the audience this time, she flashed them a mocking smirk and leapt out into the void with both knees tucked up against her chest for an Imploding Senton that drove even more air from Eliza’s beleaguered frame. Adelaide flipped over, hooked an arm around the other brunette’s far leg and pulled it high and tight, Blissy’s defenseless rump pointed at the lights for…
IMPLODING SENTON:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKqvI2r9NXM
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOOO!
Eliza got a shoulder off the mat with half a second to spare. Adelaide frowned, though she kept any comments on the speed of Castle’s count to herself. Fingers twined deep in Bliss’s dark hair, Adelaide forced her to stand for a short walk that led them to the center of the ring. Once there Brewster abandoned the hair-hold to cinch her left arm around the champ’s throat and cup her right palm against the back of Eliza’s skull. Gripping her right bicep for extra leverage, Adelaide leaned forward even as she bore down on the breath-stealing Sleeper.
“You belong to me, Songbird.” the Weeping Angel whispered, her breath hot and mean in Eliza’s ear. “So surrender the title now, or I promise you will still be conscious when I start to feed.”
Blissy’s hands reached to pry at the arms of her fellow brunette, but they’re too tight around her braincase and the champ could already feel the expert clamp starting to lower the blood flow to her gray matter. Giving up on that tack, she flailed wildly, trying to grab onto anything more useful. For her part, Brewster hung on as Eliza wobbled around the interior, trying to reach the ropes but nimbly directed away when she made progress in reaching her goal.
Slowly but surely, the diva’s legs grow rubbery, Eliza’s doe eyes going glassy, arms raised but swaying likes reeds in the wind. She ended dead center despite the FAWNatics’ pleas for an escape. When she lowered to genuflect to her right knee, the crowd groaned in disappointment, knowing there would likely be no return if she reached both knees. But as her kneecap touched canvas, Eliza used the impact to bounce back to vertical. Her fingers laced behind the head of her foe, Bliss pulled the point of Adelaide’s chin tight to her skull and sat out.
The impact of the Songbird’s jawbreaker shot Brewster away in whiplash fashion, her noggin headed in the opposite direction followed instantaneously with her rotating nubile frame. Eliza sat, still dazed from the challenger’s significant time in control. She blinked her dark eyes wide while Adelaide massaged her aching jaw, flexing her notorious perfect pearlies while doing so.
Still turned away from the titleholder, The Daughter of Darkness assured the Englishwoman her choppers remained ready to taste the delicacy of World Champion. Her threat wafted into the ears of the Songbird, seemingly guiding the struggling champ to her feet. But Bliss found the Churchgoer waiting for her when she turned in search of the Churchgoer. Adelaide grasped Eliza’s right wrist and bent back the diva’s arm toward her shoulder. Path cleared, the challenger pivoted and tossed a Heart Punch toward the left side of the cleft the Brit’s bosom, hoping to make her foe’s heart skip several beats after already having dropped the blood content to the champ’s brain.
Those not wanting Eternal Midnight to fall across the FAWN landscape were relieved when Bliss managed to dip and spin under her captured arm and avoid the heartbreaking blow.
Breaking free and slipping behind Brewster after the swing and miss, it’s Eliza’s turn to secure a grip, hers around the waist of her foe. Grunting loudly, Bliss heaved backward on her lithe rival, lifting Adelaide’s boot soles off the deck, sending the challenger tumbling to a calamitous collision courtesy Eliza’s German Suplex.
GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD7FeRQAunU
Adeliade landed brutally on the back of her braincase and neck. Momentum took her over to end splayed on her chest. To her credit, though dazed, the determined Churchgoer pushed up to all fours, as though the landing t’was but a scratch. But she remained frozen there in a cloudy-eyed stupor while the recovering Bliss wearily pushed to her feet, ready to take control.
Bliss collected Adelaide’s lowered head with both hands and tugged the reeling Churchgoer to rubbery legs. Eliza lifted a nasty right knee into the pert chest of the doubled Brewster with enough pop to lift Adelaide to tiptoes and beyond. The Songbird did likewise with her left afterward, softening the stooped Daughter of Darkness.
With the Front Facelock tightly attached to the wobbling challenger, Eliza hit a high-C to the fans packing the arena, lifting her right arm with the splendid note. Bliss hopped, pushing her legs out behind and, leaning on Adelaide’s shoulder for a moment, she swung through in violent fashion to her back and sent the crown of the Churchgoer’s skull piledriving into the canvas with an encore of her Blissful DDT.
BLISSFUL DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKO7L7YztyQ
The demolished Brewster slid to a somersaulting stop after the impact, ending in a motionless spreadeagle, Adelaide appearing unconscious. Knowing her foe’s ability to spring to life, Eliza quickly clambered across the stilled frame, the crowd roaring at the thought of the diva’s renaissance continuing. They counted along with the slaps of the canvas for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOO!
Adelaide threw more than a shoulder up, indeed pushing Eliza far enough off the Daughter of Darkness sits up entirely, tanned legs extended in front of her. Her gaze was blank, far different than the dumbfounded expression on the face of the titleholder. Eliza couldn’t help but glance at Miranda and the blonde nodded, smirk firmly in place.
“Only now do you realize!”
When Bliss turned her attention back to the seated Churchgoer, scrambling behind to place a knee between the shoulderblades of her challenger, the look on Wainright’s face changed drastically. The lead proponent of Eternal Midnight showed more than a little concern, particularly when Eliza grabbed both wrists and secured a seated surfboard, the diva apparently considering pulling both of Adelaide’s arms from their sockets in order to end the challenger’s attempt to secure the World Title belt as a holy relic of the Church.
With Adelaide groaning back to life but with no surrender forthcoming, Eliza removed her knee and pulled the fading challenger to her feet. Bliss spun Brewster to face her and dispensed with any foreplay, instead thrusting her three middle fingers into the maw of her foe. Eliza hooked the fateful fingers into soft flesh under Adelaide’s tongue and clamped on her Cleft Note, the claw digging into the mandible of the Churchgoer.
Apprehension, if not fear, flashed in the deep brown pools of the Daughter of Darkness as she gurgled pitifully and weakly latched onto the wrist of the diva, fruitlessly trying to pull the weapon of her destruction free; no faith in Eternal Midnight saving her from this fate.
Or not faith alone as, when Eliza’s fierce application of the Note sent Adelaide into a backpedal reaching just short of the ropes, Miranda grabbed one of Brewster’s legs out from under her. Blissy’s mandibular pressure kept Adelaide vertical, but it didn’t prevent Wainwright from dropping the raised leg across the bottom rope.
With the limb properly placed, the leader of the dark troops shouted to Castle, pointing out the challenger’s position. Having missed the shenanigans, Nick called for Adelaide’s release then quickly starts his count.
Eliza gave up her claw, slipping it from between Adelaide’s lips, but she gave no more consideration to the Churchgoer. Pulling Brewster out from the strands a step or two, determined to give her challenger no time for recovery, Eliza slid behind the flagging brunette. The champ locked Brewster’s arms up at the elbows then turned so her back was to Adelaide’s dipped head, the crown pressed into the small of Blissy’s back.
The crowd roared to life, realizing the diva was about to hit her Decrescendo and obliterate the Church’s favorite daughter once and for all. Rotating slightly to the left, Eliza violently threw her body weight to the right and made her finisher the Prima variety, a rightful ending for the Daughter of Darkness. Adelaide barrel rolled ferociously into a face and forehead first collision with the canvas.
PRIMA DESCRESENDO:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiXgaml-IIw
A beaming Blissy shoveled over what’s left of her waylaid challenger and climbed aboard for the three-count that could easily be a ten if Eliza so chose. Nick slid to the canvas and slapped the canvas for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOO!
There’s no movement created by Adelaide but her body moved nonetheless when Miranda hooked onto an ankle and tugged her ‘Daughter’ not only out from under Eliza but out of the ring entirely, Brewster dropping to a flaccid pool at Wainright’s feet.
A furious Eliza hopped to hers and leaned over the ropes squealing in perfect pitch about her non-existent victory, pointing at an oh-so-innocent Miranda. She turned to Castle but, getting no more than a guilty shrug, Nick not having seen the save directly, Bliss started to exit through the ropes to make the blonde a puddle next to the pool. Castle, however, wrapped his arms around the ivory midriff of Bliss and tugged her to the opposite side of the ring.
Apparently having seen enough, Eliza’s fellow Blackbird Olivia Dare sprinted down the ramp, making a beeline for the opposite side of the ring, the Oncoming Storm never so aptly named. With Wainright’s attention on lifting her still flaccid follower, she picked up only a split-second flash of Dare from the side, dropping Adelaide and making a quarter-turn before Olivia SPEARED the Church leader back into the light.
OLIVIA DARE:
Dare hovered on all fours over a splayed Miranda while Bliss, having broken free of Castle, watched from the ring above, delighted that Adelaide’s last hope had been extinguished by her partner and friend. Nick slipped between Eliza and the ropes, scolding Dare but calling for no disqualification since Olivia attacked Miranda, not the challenger.
Bliss backed to center stage when she saw Adelaide stirring, beckoning Brewster back in when Adelaide threw the upper portion of her shattered body atop the apron.
“Time for the grand finale,” Eliza sang, her right set of fingers twitching in expectation of the final Cleft Note of the evening.
As of yet unaware of the champion’s malevolently melodious plans, Brewster planted a weary knee on the apron, then reached up and grabbed hold of the top rope. Elsewhere, Olivia started to cheer some encouragement to her friend when she felt Wainright stirring beneath her mount. “Much as I’d enjoy watching you watch Adelaide fail,” she told the moaning messiah, “I believe it’s safer for all involved if you were away from the ring.” With that she filled her hands with Miranda’s hair, got to her feet and quickly muscled the smaller woman across her shoulders in Fireman’s Carry.
Castle noted Olivia’s departure but Eliza did not, she was entirely focused on Adelaide, who was moving like some wounded monstrosity in the last reel of a Hammer film. “C’mon understudy.” Bliss whispered under her breath, “Raise your dumpy little face for one more view of my spotlight.”
There’s no way Brewster could’ve heard the demand, yet the challenger raised her head as if responding to a cue and Eliza rewarded her diligence with yet another taste of the Cleft Note. Gurgling pitiably as the Superlative Soprano tried to remove her lower jaw, Adelaide stuffed one hand under Bliss’s chin while the grabbed hold of the top rope and shook it as hard as she could. “BRAYGH! BRAAAAAAYYYYGHH!” she pleaded as loudly as the claw would allow.
Nick stepped up beside his charges but made no effort to end the Cleft Note. “Sorry, Adelaide. You need to get through the ropes before I can enforce the break.”
Eliza beamed at the expression of horror that flashed across her foe’s distended face. “Go ahead, try to cross the threshold.” the Englishwoman cooed. “I always wanted to see what happened to one of your kind if you came in uninvitNNNNGGGHHHH!”
Adelaide stopped pawing at the champ’s chin and snatched a handful of hair instead. With her knees failing, the Daughter of Darkness simply stepped back and let gravity break Bliss’s grip courtesy of a nastily effective Hot Shot! Almost bent double by the force of Brewster’s descent, Eliza bounced up on her heels, spun around in a half circle and felt her left elbow collide with something solid she didn’t realize was Nick Castle until much later. Throbbing arm held tight to her chest, Bliss rolled to her chest and took several deep breaths in hopes of smoothing out the ugly discord of her respiration.
Almost ten seconds rolled by before the crowd noise surged with something that sounded like alarm. Certain she’d find Brewster slinking into the squared circle once more, Eliza pressed her palms to the mat and sat--THUH-WHAM! The brunette, who’d jumped the rail and ascended to the top turnbuckle all in the span of perhaps three seconds, came plummeting out of the spotlight to crush Bliss back to the thinly-sheathed plywood before she sat halfway up.
FROG SPLASH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cC0zLecdAM
Up on the stage, Olivia turned around just in time to see the interloper roll away from the starfished wreckage of Eliza. “What fresh hell is thiSSEERRGGGHHHHH!”
Miranda raaaaaaaaaked her nails across the Briton’s eyes and squirmed until she was able to slide down Dare’s back. Not sure if she was removing Olivia from the board for Adelaide’s sake or simply punishing the heathen for earlier indiscretions, Wainright caught ‘Liv’s right arm in a Half Nelson, then reached across with her left to seize that wrist and pull it tight to secure the Cobra Clutch.
Oblivious to Miranda’s righteous resurgence, the brunette in the black hoodie took quick stock of the situation. Adelaide was leaned against the apron with the bottom rope in one hand and her jaw in the other. She appeared unaware of the newcomer’s presence. Castle was down on all fours in the corner nearest Adelaide trying to clear his head. He appeared unaware of her presence as well. As for Eliza Bliss, her eyes were closed and she’d only managed to drape an arm over her abused midsection, but she was most DEFINITELY aware of the brunette’s presence.
After a moment of indecision, the intruder bent down, buried her hands in Bliss’s hair and scraped her off the canvas. “You should be careful denigrating the chorus girls, little bird.” the willowy stranger murmured in Eliza’s ear. “You never know when one might step out of the shadows and steal the whole show.”
PENELOPE TREMBLAY:
Bliss tried to respond but her attacker wasn’t listening, she’d already dipped her head and stuffed it beneath the Brit’s left arm. A half Waistlock and a greedy handful of blue briefs proved more than enough to hoist Bliss into the sky, but instead of laying out for a Backdrop Suplex, she twisted around beneath the shorter brunette and fell to the canvas with her knees drew snug to her chest to ensure Eliza landed across the posted joints with a sickening THAWHUMP! The Renaissance Woman bounced away and landed on one side where she promptly curled into a tight, agonized ball.
SPINE TREMBLAR:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtNR-oWzQsA
Scrambling to one knee immediately after the spine-wrenching maneuver, the brunette spun around and found herself staring up at Adelaide Brewster. “For you, sister.” the brunette whispered before rolling under the bottom rope.
Though she was just as startled as the rest of the Mayhem crowd, the Weeping Angel didn’t waste any time with paltry questions like ‘how?’ or ‘why?’, she simply leaned over, plunged a hand into Eliza’s dark hair and scraped her off the mat in a series of tugs and jer--
A roar of delight from the sold out crowd when Blissy’s right hand sought the challenger’s bottom lip, alas there was no joyous encore of the Cleft Note because Brewster caught that wrist in a white-knuckle grip. “Not tonight, bytch.” she hissed. “Tonight the spotlight is mine!”
Defiant despite her weak knees and possibly bruised ribs, Bliss poured everything she had into getting her fingertips to within kissing distance of the challenger’s bottom lip. “Spuuuuhhhh… spotlight’s not meant for you… understudy.” she rasped. “It’ll burn you aliEERRGGAAHHHHHHHH!”
Adelaide twisted the captured arm over and behind her foe’s head, then curled her free hand into a fist and drove it into the swell of Eliza’s left breast! The Heart Punch took Blissy’s knees, but she didn’t play penitent because Brewster refused to release her wrist. In the next instant she spun around behind the champ in an elegant little twirl that transformed her unpleasant little trap into a Cut-Throat that stuffed Eliza’s own bicep against her neck.
It was about this time that Nick Castle started to haul himself upright and the FAWNatics clamored for his attention, a whole arena full of people damned near begging the official to take note of this grave injustice, but Castle didn’t turn until Adelaide slipped an arm between her prey’s thighs and muscled her onto her shoulders in modified Torture Rack. Bearing down on both ends of the domineering hold, the Queen of Nightmares turned in a slow circle that ended with her facing the hard camera.
“And so the clock struck midnight.”
Then she kicked her left leg forward and laid out on her left side to THAWHUNK Eliza on the back of her head and shoulders as the latest victim of Blood & Black Lace. Bliss rolled onto her back and didn’t so much as move until Adelaide hooked both legs in a bundle and pointed her rump at the rafters with a Back Press good for…
BLOOD & BLACK LACE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggQhjXPD_fA
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
The Churchgoer tossed those limp legs away and scrambled to her knees, all the better to literally scream with maniacal delight when the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via pin-fall… and the NEEEEEEEWWWW FAWN WORLD CHAMPION… ADELAIDE BREWSTER!”
Castle offered her a hand but she swatted it away and stood on her own. “The belt.” she growled. “WHERE’S MY BELT?” Sighing, he retrieved it from the Timekeeper and presented it to the new champ, not that there was much in the way of ceremony in the way she snatched it from his hands.
Cackling like a loon as she snapped the ten pounds of leather and gold around her waist, Adelaide looked to the stage and saw Tiffany, Helena and Miranda (the latter having put Olivia under several seconds prior) storming down the aisle like a conquering force. Adelaide planned to celebrate with them soon enough, but for now… she turned around and dropped to one knee behind Eliza, all the better to hook her under the armpits.
“Feel that?” the Weeping Angel cooed once she’d pulled the semiconscious brunette into a half-seat in her lap. “That’s the world title grinding against your back because it’s around MY waist. And this… this is how it feels when the lights go out.” Brewster leaned in, buried her muzzle against the side of Eliza’s neck and gnawed until the subdued soprano let loose a single wavering sob. Punctuating with a gaudy kiss to Blissy’s cheek, Adelaide threw her head back and blew a cloud of red mist into the air. Properly baptized by the crimson rain, she regained her feet just in time to meet Tiffany and Helena in a triptych hug.
“You did it!” the Inquisitor giggled. “I knew you could do it, Addy!”
Graylock remained stoic as ever, though she didn’t hesitate to praise the new queen of FAWN. “The Songbird was a powerful foe… a worthy adversary. Consigning her to The Gray will make us stronger than ever.”
“Bliss was only the start.” Miranda’s cool, quiet voice broke over the wicked festivities. “Now that the heathens most prized relic is in the oh so worthy hands of our blood-drenched sister… FAWN will either convert… or suffer.” The Prophet of Pain reached out and laid a hand on Brewster’s shoulder. “I’m so proud of you, Adelaide.”
Brewster stepped in to give her leader a hug, much to the disgust of the capacity crowd. When she broke away she said, “I promise I’ll make you proud. I’ll make you all proud.” The Daughter of Darkness looked over one shoulder, saw the slender brunette standing beside one corner with a pensive expression on her face. “That includes you, sister.” she said with a pink-tinged smile.
The Church of Eternal Midnight lined up four strong with Miranda and Adelaide in the center and Helena and Tiffany flanking on either side. The brunette didn’t move, so Wainright produced a microphone and raised it to her lips. “Adelaide tells me you seek an audience. Stand before the congregation and you shall have it.”
The brunette took a deep breath, nodded once and slid under the bottom rope. On her feet shortly thereafter, she walked over to the true believers and would’ve gone to one knee if Miranda hadn’t raised a hand.
“…Hello.” the would-be acolyte said after swallowing the lump in her throat. “My name is--”
“Penelope Tremblay.” Miranda finished for her. “Adelaide told me about your request and what you’ve done to get my attention. Now that you have it, I’d like to know what you intend to do with it.”
“I want to join.” Tremblay answered quietly. “All my life I’ve been told I don’t belong. That I was a freak, a nobody, a walking, talking stretch of bad luck that didn’t deserve a home, let alone a family. But the Church of Eternal Midnight… you call out to everyone, especially the freaks. So here I am, hoping there’s an open spot in the back row.”
“The doors of this Church are never closed, sister.” Miranda replied. “And considering the tithe you offered,” she reached down and ran her fingers along the face-plate of the World Title, “I’d say you’ve earned the right to stand alongside the rest of us. What say you, Tiffany Mayes?”
“I’d say it looks like she enjoys punishing heathens. Which means she’s come to the right place.” the Inquisitor noted.
“What say you, Helena Graylock?”
“She strikes fast and without mercy. There is much I can teach her.”
“What say you, Adelaide Brewster?”
“I say I love the sound of a faithless bytch landing across Penny’s knees.”
Miranda nodded, a beatific smile flooding her face. “And I say welcome home… IF you will join Adelaide in bringing tonight’s service to a close.”
Tremblay nodded, her dark eyes shining like candles set on some malevolent altar. Handing the mic to the new World Champion, Miranda stepped between Mayes and Graylock as Adelaide took her place beside Penelope Tremblay. She let the silence spin out for several seconds before promising, “Spotlights fade and storms grow calm….”
Brewster titled the stick toward Penny, who leaned in to finish, “…but Midnight comes for one and all.”
The lights went out. When they returned Wainright’s Congregation… and FAWN’s top prize, were gone without a trace.
“The sort of violence not fit for most eyes.” interrupted a cool, sardonic voice from atop the stage.
Relieved to clear the ring well before the owner of that voice got much closer, the poor man took his leave while the FAWNatics turned their jeering attention to the assembled force of Miranda Wainright, Tiffany Mayes and Helena Graylock.
MIRANDA WAINRIGHT:
TIFFANY MAYES:
HELENA GRAYLOCK:
Utterly unfazed by the disdain poured her way, the Prophet of Pain waited for the sheep to tire themselves out before she went on. “Eliza Bliss was a star on a very different stage before she came to FAWN. One that saw her captivate audiences worldwide with nothing more than the power of her voice or the tilt of her head. For a time she was the brightest star in that particular galaxy, which makes it all the more impressive that she could leave it behind and succeed, no, DOMINATE in an arena as dissimilar as our beloved squared circle. In truth opera and professional wrestling occupy virtually no common ground… save for one small, invaluable patch. For you see, brothers and sisters, opera, like wrestling, is exquisitely attuned to tragedy. Indeed, there are a great number of you that will call the end to this…. Year of Bliss, as a tragedy of the most sublime sort, but I am here to offer comfort in your time of need. For sister Eliza’s end is not tragic. Hers is a tale that will frighten wayward children, to make lovers cling tighter in their rapture. She will deliver herself unto our Weeping Angel… and she will be immortal.”
Those assembled for Mayhem didn’t care for the sermon very much and voiced their displeasure accordingly, alas, Wainright had no time or patience for any of their simpering nonsense. “Eyes on me if you dare, heathens! The instrument of Eliza Bliss’s destruction hails from Oxrun Station, Connecticut, stands at five feet six inches tall and weighs in tonight at one hundred and twenty-five pounds. She is the Daughter of Darkness, the Queen of Nightmares and soon to be the Queen of FAWN! Prostrate your unworthy forms before ADELAIDE BREWSTER!”
GLORY & GORE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVBkD4IRhg
The lights died as her name reached the rafters and the speakers answered the call with the soft, eerie opening of Lorde’s ‘Glory and Gore’.
For a moment there was nothing but darkness and pinpricks of cell phone light, then a few lights on either side of the stage ‘whoomped’ on to reveal the three Churchgoers standing in a carpet of ankle deep fog. But there was no sign of the challenger until a cold blue light illuminated the gloomy recession leading to the curtain. A figure swung down from the ceiling of that narrow throat, a figure hanging by her knees from a bar suspended just out of camera view. Arms crossed over her chest, Adelaide Brewster opened her eyes, then twisted loose and landed on her feet just as her anthem warned ‘Now we’re in the ring and we’re coming for blood.’
ADELAIDE BREWSTER:
Heading for the squared circle after a brief conference with her Dark Sisters (who followed along behind at a suitably reverential distance), Adelaide stretched her arms wide, which let her limber up while simultaneously providing the FAWNatics with a great view of her ring attire: a gleaming black two-piece done in crushed velvet that showed off the power in her hips and shoulders in almost agonizing detail. The look was accented with a clunky black belt complete with a buckle done up as a snarling wolf’s head and matching black boots and pads.
Reaching the ring quickly (because no one quite dared extend a hand) Adelaide slunk under the bottom ropes, pushed to her feet and took possession of the center. Eyes on the camera because she knew Eliza was watching, Adelaide offered everyone a toothy smile before she threw her head back and ‘pppffwooooshed’ a gout of crimson mist into the air overhead. Quite pleased by the pitter patter of this miniature rainstorm, Brewster didn’t bother to lick red off her lips as she headed to the corner so Nick Castle could perform his final inspection.
With Brewster and her congregation in place, the FAWNatics stayed on their feet when the house lights faded away. The lowered illumination led to the requisite hoots and hollers from the excited throng. They only get louder when a brilliant spotlight pierced the gloom. Standing dead center atop the stage, her back to the crowd, was a tall willowy brunette draped in a diaphanous robe that did next to nothing hide the limber strength of her frame… or the heavy belt strapped around her waist.
Careful not to step on the Superlative Soprano’s favorite solo, the Announcer called, “And introducing her opponent! Hailing from London, England! She stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and twenty two pounds. She is the Renaissance Woman, the Superlative Soprano and the reigning and defending FAWN World Champion, ladies and gentlemen I give to you… ELIZA BLISSSSSS!”
A sweet melodious set of notes reached to the heights, the highest high of soprano superlatives could only hint at the beauty of the operatic ecstasy. Eliza, her arms raised high, serenaded the crowd with her own entrance accompaniment, no one else able to reach the perfect notes of sweet rapture. After several seconds of, well, pure bliss, the Queen of the Spotlight grabbed the sash at her waist, yanked the robe open and let it fall at her feet.
ELIZA BLISS:
The sight greeting the sold out crowd raised a ruckus that *almost* threatens to overpower Eliza’s high notes. In place of her usual black one piece was a set of deep blue briefs and a matching sleeveless crop-top that left the whole of her midsection bare. Across the seat of her trunks was a single word done in bold white strokes designed to make them look like they’ve been illuminated by a spotlight. It read simply: BLISS. Below and beside, elbow and knees were protected by glossy blue pads, while the Briton’s wrestling boots matched the blue of her briefs.
With the audience enjoying her new togs, Eliza reached back with one hand, snapped the belt loose and flung it over her shoulder before whirling around to head down the ramp. Keeping one hand on the faceplate of her golden prize, Bliss tossed her hair with the other in between crisscrossing the aisle to slap hands with any and all extended her way. A standard bit of business for any babyface champion, but Eliza’s treatment was all the more impressive because she continued to belt out a flawless rendition of the concluding aria of Giulio Cesare.
Finishing her performance with a single loop around the ringside aisle, Bliss quickly climbed the steps, then dipped into a deep curtsey as thanks for this latest round of thunderous applause. Once it died down, she slipped through the ropes, strode to center stage and hoisted the belt one more time, this shove at Adelaide, Miranda and the rest of Eternal Midnight.
“You’ll finally learn tonight, once and for all, NONE of you can or will take the gold from me and make it some sort of half-ass holy relic of your Church.”
Bliss handed over the belt to Castle, who in turn gives it to an attendant so he could put the champ through a final inspection.
Eliza called over the lead official’s shoulder.
“I’m putting the stake through every Churchgoers’ hopes and dreams tonight. You can all recede into the obscurity of your title-free darkness.”
When the bell finally sounded Eliza didn’t quite rush out of her corner (she was of the mind that challengers came to the champion, not vice versa) but she certainly didn’t waste any time closing the distance between Adelaide and herself. Brewster noted the Songbird’s direct approach and mulled dipping between the ropes to try Bliss’s patience, yet in the end she chose to slide out along the ropes, thus forcing the lissome Briton to adjust with her, lest she be flanked.
“Don’t make me chase you, little bat.” the Superlative Soprano warned as she moved with the Churchgoer. “That’s the last thing you want, considering my mood.”
Adelaide eased away from the strands and moved out into the ring, casually gliding past Nick Castle before coming to a stop in the center. “Here we are at long last, songbird. You, our erstwhile but ultimately outmatched heroine against a threat she can barely comprehend, let alone defe--”
Eliza pounced on her without a word, the furious battler snatching a fistful of hair with her left hand even as the right transformed into that oh so dangerous ‘C’-shaped hook. Adelaide stepped back to alleviate the sting in her scalp which gave her just enough extra room to seize the champion’s wrist with the Cleft Note less than an inch from her bottom lip. “Resist all you want.” Bliss threatened in the midst of an effort to remove a great patch of Brewster’s scalp. “In the end you’ll choke and you’ll beg, just like all the other understudies who sought my spotlight.”
The Daughter of Darkness would’ve answered if Nick Castle hadn’t stepped in and tapped the back of Eliza’s left hand. “Ease off the hair, ‘Liza.”
Seeing the irritation in her foe’s dark eyes, Brewster eased her head forward just enough to kiss Bliss’s questing fingertips. Eliza surged forward at once, but Adelaide remained maddeningly out of reach, as evidenced by the champion’s low, frustrated growl. “Best do as he says, sister.” Adelaide kissed the Englishwoman’s talon again, then treated her middle and ring fingers to a playful nip. “You wouldn’t want the heathens to think you were courting intentional disqualification, do NNNGGGGGHHHHH!”
Eliza relinquished the hair-hold to satisfy Castle’s demand and to punish her challenger with a hard slap to the right ear! Adelaide stumbled hard and reeled away, at least that’s what she would’ve done if Bliss hadn’t caught her in a rough Collar & Elbow Lock-Up, which she then used to bully the zealot all the way to the ropes. Continuing to press even when there was nowhere for Brewster to go, Eliza chested up on her foe to force blazing eye contact as she pinched Adelaide’s bottom lip between thumb and forefinger.
“A disqualification is the least of your concerns tonight, sweet girl.” she cooed. “Humiliation and ruin loom large, assuming that you don’t squeal for mercy at the first real--”
“She’s in the ropes, Eliza.” Nick interrupted. “Unhook and back off.”
Eliza replied by slooooooowly twisting Brewster’s trapped lip. “You’re going to scream for me understudy. Long and loud.” On that threatening note she let loose, patted the zealot’s cheek and stepped--
Adelaide exploded off the strands, sweeping Bliss into her own Collar & Elbow. Eliza fought it every step of the way, they were practically tummy-to-tummy for the entire trip across the squared circle, but in the end she was stacked against the strands with Brewster pressed in close and mean. “You don’t scare me, little girl.” Adelaide cooed in her rival’s ear. “And neither does your spotlight.” Bliss started to respond, then grit her teeth in a pained grimace when the Weeping Angel bit down on the side of her neck.
“She’s biting, Nick.” Eliza warned as the referee approached. “Get her off or I’ll do it myself.”
Castle swatted the challenger on the shoulder. “Knock it off, Adelaide. And get her off the ropes!”
Adelaide finished with a teasing kiss, then straightened up and smiled. “Your pulse is already racing, songbird. Imagine how it will feel when the full weight of panic sets EEERRRGGGHHH!”
Sheer proximity left Bliss with few offensive options so she snapped her head forward, driving it into the bridge of Brewster’s nose! Hardly a gentle effort and yet Brewster ceded barely half a step before countering with a Headbutt of her own! Eliza grunted, wrapped her arms around the other brunette’s waist and twisted in a half circle to force Adelaide into her spot against the ropes. Cupping one hand over Brewster’s chin, Bliss puuuuuuuuussssshed her opponent’s head backward over the rubber-coated steel, then raised her other hand high overhead and CRAAAACKED it down on Adelaide’s chest in a vicious Slap! Brewster snarled, tried to twist away, but Eliza maintained the pressure and hampered further escape efforts by threading her foe’s arms over the top rope.
“You’ll fear the spotlight long before I’m finished with you, understudy.” Eliza promised. “In fact you’ll fear it so much that you’ll slink away to hide in Miranda’s shadow until no one remembers your name!”
She punctuated with another stiff overhand slap, the effort earning a loud ‘WOOOOOOO!’ from the Mayhem crowd.
Already aware that he’d have to be rather lenient in this encounter, Castle said, “There’s a whole lot of ring behind you, Eliza. Why don’t you test it out?”
Bliss smiled prettily as she buried her hands in Adelaide’s dark hair. “Why Nicholas, that is a fine idea. Please, allow me to remove this clump of refuse from the roWHOOAAGUURRRHHK!”
Brewster wrenched loose of the Briton’s predicament and went low, wrapping her arms around the champ’s upper thighs. Hands knotted just below the swell of Blissy’s glutes, she powered onto her tiptoes and angled Eliza into a short drop that deposited her throat-first across the top rope! The tension in the strands combined with the force of Adelaide’s drop acted like a crude slingshot that bounced the Renaissance Woman off her feet and into an unpleasant backward somersault that put her on one knee near the center of the squared circle.
On the offensive as soon as she saw Bliss vulnerable, the Queen of Nightmares stomped over and grabbed a double handful of hair. Smiling as she twined the champ’s dark locks around her fingers, Adelaide yanked Eliza to her feet, then hopped up and went down on one knee to BWONK Blissy’s forehead against the posted joint. The quick n’ dirty Facebuster rocked Eliza back on her heels but didn’t take her down so Brewster pounced, cinched a hand around her throat and dropped to all fours to THWHUMP the Songbird to the deck!
RUNNING CHOKEHOLD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SVT6PEIWxw
“SING NOW!” Adelaide barked into Bliss’s fuming face as she braced on one hand and the tips of her toes, the zealot positioned for the perfect push up as she put all her weight into the blatant Stranglehold.
Castle didn’t bother with a warning, he simply walked up to his charges and started to count. “ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!”
Adelaide let go and raised both hands overhead just to make sure the heathen arbiter had no possible reason to disqualify her. Free to breathe again, Eliza rolled onto her stomach and sucked wind, an ugly, rasping sound made all the more so by a short coughing fit. “That can’t be good for your high notes.” Brewster taunted the gagging grappler. “Perhaps a few vocal exercises will help you warm up.”
She crawled over, planted one knee against the base of Eliza’s neck and went back to the hair. The hair-hold got Bliss’s noggin off the mat quickly enough, but Adelaide shifted over to a Chinlock to keep Castle from whining about an infraction. Either way it proved a painful predicament for Eliza as Brewster gouged that planted knee between her shoulders and pulled up on the Brit’s jaw in a crude but effective Camel Clutch. “Surrender whenever you’d like, little bird.” Adelaide cooed. “Preferably after you’ve screamed yourself hoarse.”
Blissy did her best to contain the pain, groaning more than producing the noise Brewster craved. The challenger drew Eliza’s head and neck back farther still, until the diva was forced to look at the lights above. Adelaide dipped to take a nibble on the neck and the conceit cost her as the Blackbird threw her head in reverse much faster than necessary to THUNK it into the Churchgoer’s jaw. It’s not a head turner, but the impact was enough for Brewster to lose her grip and concentration. Bliss twisted out of what remains of Adelaide’s clutch and rolled to her back then thrust both boot soles into the pert chest of the Daughter of Darkness.
The force from the unfolding stems sent Brewster sprawling, but she used the momentum of that backward somersault to pop to her feet and charge the rising Englishwoman. The champ brought a rocketing European Uppercut with her and she DROVE the crook of her elbow under the chin of the dark-eyed devotee of the flesh.
Rocked to her heels, Adelaide ate a right jab to the chin from the suddenly bright-eyed soprano, her noggin snapping away from the connection, a second follows courtesy the World Champion, and a third. Being a Londoner, it’s no surprise even a Songbird from the Kingdom’s capital could brawl and a final right with a little extra ‘ooomph’ knocked the Churchgoer to her back, the crowd roaring its approval. Blissy hovered in a standing straddle over the decked purveyor of Midnight.
“Have you been watching, sweetheart?” Eliza asked. “I’m cleaning out every pew in your Church and you’re going to be the latest, but certainly not the greatest.”
Eliza dipped and tugged the yipping Brewster to her feet. She snuggled the lowered head of her fellow brunette into a tight Front Facelock and started to pop the Churchgoer above. But Adelaide grapevined a leg around one of Eliza’s and stayed grounded. The stubborn diva tried to force her way through but again Miranda’s right hand remains mat-bound. Brewster tried the reverse, but Eliza showed she could counter as well and followed her block with a spine-rattling forearm blast. With Adelaide arching in pain, Bliss regained her balance and POWERED the Churchgoer up, Brewster’s boot soles pointed to the rafters for only a split-second as the champ spun her challenger at the top of the lift, then laid out to teach Miranda’s understudy how a titleholder took control.
INVERTED SUPLEX CUTTER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtvaXqCp-TU
As Adelaide flopped to her back, a seated Songbird spun to find the smoking wreckage. She dove atop the splayed phlebotomist and hooked a leg for the…
ONE…
TWO…
Adelaide kicked free with enough fervor to send Blissy to her haunches. Eliza nodded in appreciation and turned to the malevolent, chilly presence of Wainright’s congregation. “Better sign up some new recruits, sister.” she taunted the Prophet of Pain. “This biter is headed in the same direction as you and Tiffy, so bring the reinforcements.”
There was no response from Wainright, but Adelaide moved to hands and knees during the soprano’s sermon so Eliza put an end to her ascent with a nasty stomp to the base of her foe’s backbone, Brewster flattened to the canvas. Blissy dropped to Adelaide’s feet and folded her challenger’s lightly tanned stems in a figure-four cloverleaf. Eliza pivoted around the trapped legs, posting them around one of her own, then leaned back in a beautiful bridge. The finishing touch was added when Bliss laced her hands into a cup and slipped them under Adelaide’s chin. The Songbird wrenched Brewster’s neck, pushing upward with her grip.
MUTA LOCK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrMM7GH2kY
“Time to show off your pipes, understudy,” the soprano shouted. “Sing your own requiem, bytch. I’m sure Miranda’s already wondering if Helena can hang with me!”
Adelaide could only mumble through forcibly pursed lips. She reached out for the ropes but the strands were several feet away and the hand of the extended arm turned palm down. It started to waver over the canvas, appearing as though the champion was making some convincing points to the challenger, namely in the Daughter of Darkness’ spinal column.
Eliza warbled an ultimatum at Brewster, threatening permanent damage to the moaning Churchgoer, but Brewster outlasted the ability of Bliss to maintain her bridge. The tension became too much and the champ flopped to her side, Adelaide released. The challenger melted into a facedown single file, reaching to her neck with both hands for a massage.
Eliza shook out the cramps in her upper and lower limbs and pushed to her feet, feeling and looking every bit the dominant diva; FAWN Arena becoming her own personal concert hall with which to make beautiful music with every contender that dared match ring artistry with the Superlative Soprano.
But Adelaide was unwilling to cede the canvas to the champ. Indeed she turned to her back and then sat bolt-upright, as if rising from the dead. The abruptness of it startled the British Blackbird, Eliza’s dark eyes going wide with alarm.
Calling upon her ‘Eternal’ reserves, the brunette from the shadows of Eternal Midnight pushed to her feet, but the Songbird fluttered in from behind her rising foe. Eliza attacked, slapping her arms around the throat and temple of the Churchgoer, cutting off Brewster’s favorite red liquid at both the carotid and temple. The Sleeper hold strapped in by the dangerous diva, Adelaide flailed to life, arms wildly waving. The Daughter of Darkness fashioned a pointed elbow and tried to nail Eliza in the face, but Bliss ducked and dodged every attempt. Adelaide’s efforts started to slow, her sinewy legs rubbery by the time one perhaps final effort hit home, Brewster finding the bridge of Blissy’s nose.
Somehow, the determined, doe-eyed veteran hung on to her grip and, furious at the throbbing coming from her beak, Eliza used the burst of adrenaline to send Addie up and over with a Sleeper Suplex that delivered the crown of the Churchgoer’s skull to the canvas in an impact that drew a loud groan of sympathy pain from the FAWNatics.
SLEEPER SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHpYDp-MX6g
Adelaide bounced off the mat from the force of the impact to a nearly vertical stance, momentarily appearing as though she’ll somehow remain on her feet before taking another header to the canvas. There she remained, chest down and unmoving.
A supremely confident Bliss knee-walked to her challenger and shoveled Brewster to her back. At her foe’s side, the diva in Bliss came to the surface as she proudly pressed one palm into the cleft of Addie’s modest bosom and the other into a rim of midriff just below the challenger’s navel.
“Count another of these ne’re-do-well’s out, Mister Castle.”
Nick was quick to oblige, taking a knee beside his charges to rattle off the…
ONE…
TWO…
Brewster planted both hands above her head and rose up in a high bridge to end Eliza’s show of dominance. Alas, the challenger’s position was still, shall we say, disadvantageous, and Bliss reminded her why with a short, mean Double Axehandle pounded into Adelaide’s navel. The bridge collapsed at once, leaving Brewster to cough and sputter while Eliza used a double handful of hair to peel the flagging fighter off the mat. A Kneelift to the gut only compounded Adelaide’s respiratory difficulties and made it that much easier for the champion to apply a Front Facelock. Turning so she was facing Miranda, Eliza swatted Brewster’s backside with her free hand, then dipped low and launched herself into the air for a beautiful half-circle rotation that ended with Bliss laid out on her back and Adelaide THWHONKED down on the crown of her skull.
BLISSFUL DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkQArPyqpGM
The FAWNatics clamored for a cover off the DDT that left the Daughter of Darkness slopped out on her back, but Bliss quickly got to her feet and bounded to the nearest corner. Stepping through the ropes to the apron, she climbed to the high rent district and waited for Brewster to rise so she could feed her a dose of Sheer Bli--
Tiffany leapt onto the apron practically within spitting distance of the Renaissance Woman, her appearance so abrupt it was amazing Eliza managed to deck her with a quick Forearm Smash! Mayes staggered but held her ground, so Bliss raaaaaaaaaked a hand across her eyes then gave her a shove that sent Tiff tumbling off the apron and directly into the waiting arms of Helena Graylock. A commotion from the crowd told Eliza that Adelaide would soon reenter the fray, yet the Songbird hesitated as she found herself faced with a difficult choice. Difficult or not, she made her decision quickly and when she took to the skies it was with a gorgeous Flying Crossbody that leveled Tiffany and Helena in a single stroke!
Infuriated by the attack on her congregation, Miranda rounded the corner and might’ve put a boot in the Briton’s ribs if Castle hadn’t stepped up to the ropes and ordered, “Stop right there, Miranda. Unless you want to join these two in the back.”
“What?” Wainwright’s eyes went wide with rage and incredulity. “That heathen attacked them unprovoked!”
“Tiffany jumped onto the apron and paid for it.” Nick answered deadpan. “Clearly ringside is too dangerous for her right now, that’s why I’m asking Helena to escort her to the locker room. So they can go by themselves, or I can ring the bell now and take them myself.”
The Messiah of Misery swallowed an exceedingly sharp retort, however when Helena got to her feet she said, “Take Tiffany to the back, sister. Adelaide and I will rejoin you soon enough.” Helena, who was currently staring daggers at the wary World Champion, nodded once, then helped Tiffany off the floor and headed up the aisle.
Relieved to see the odds against her dropped by half, Eliza turned her attention to the blonde and said, “Encroach on my spotlight and you’ll get what they got, sister.” Wainright said nothing, so Bliss climbed onto the apron and slipped through the ropes to “NNNNNGGGGHHHH!”
Adelaide charged in from behind Nick Castle and slammed a vicious Forearm Smash into the side of Eliza’s skull! Caught flush by the blindside shot, Blissy’s legs turned to jelly and she ended up straddling the second rope in a rather unenviable position. The thought of driving the rubber-coated steel into her foe’s crotch got a toothy smile from Brewster, yet in the end she grabbed Eliza’s near leg and muscled it back through the strands so the Englishwoman was standing on the apron, although still doubled over the middle rope.
Anyone who judged this as an unexpected kindness were proven sorely wrong when Adelaide stepped in close and wedged Eliza’s head between her thighs. “You let my sisters distract you, little bird.” Brewster growled as she poured her considerable strength into crushing Eliza’s noggin. “That is a slight you will soon live to regret.”
Bliss didn’t bother to answer, she was busy raking her nails up and down the back of the challenger’s thighs in an effort to free herself from the pulse-pounding trap. Adelaide growled, grabbed her attacker’s wrists and wrenched them out at her sides before unleashing another prolonged squeeeeeeeeeeeeze. “I can feel you fading, bytch.” she told the moaning Songbird. “The only question now is how long will I let you la--”
“All right Adelaide, that’s enough. Get her out of the ropes!”
Displeased by the interruption, she locked eyes with the official and asked, “Where’s my count?” Castle obliged her with one so Brewster tossed Bliss’s wrists aside and grabbed the top rope. Dipping down into a slight crouch, she sprang into the with the Headscissors still in place, then dropped down onto her butt to SPIKE Eliza’s head into the mat courtesy of a vicious Piledriver!
RIGHTEOUS PILEDRIVER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OddVXPo7kAI
Eliza jolted like she’d been touched with a live wire only to go limp still draped tummy-first over the second strand. More than happy to follow Nick’s commands now that she’d dimmed Eliza’s lights, Adelaide helped herself to a double handful of sparkly blue briefs and used ‘em to drag the woozy Englishwoman back into the ring. With Bliss reeling in the wake of the brutal head drop, Brewster took her time in scraping the champ off the mat, but once Eliza was vertical she immediately scooped her up and tossed her right back down with a textbook Body Slam. Eliza arched her back on impact only to pay for the reaction with a spiteful stomp directly to the navel.
“High notes are what made you famous in an earlier life.” Adelaide noted after she’d taken possession of Bliss’s left wrist and ankle. “And I must admit, they do sound quite lovely, especially when you’re screaming for mercy.” The challenger trailed off as she began to drag her over to the nearest corner. “But tonight I’m more interested in what you can produce in the lower registers. Those quiet, guttural notes of shame and resignation produced by a woman who knows she’s about to lose everything she holds dear.
“Puuuhhh… puhh… piss off, Brewster.” Eliza groaned. “I beat Miranda. I’ll beat OOOFFFHH!”
Adelaide drove a trio of stomps into Bliss’s ribs before tossing the captured limbs aside so she could hop onto the second turnbuckle. The Mayhem throng raised a shrill warning, but it wasn’t enough to roust Eliza before the Queen of Nightmares leapt from her perch to THWHUMP both knees into her opponent’s chest.
MIDDLE ROPE DOUBLE KNEE DROP:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ldtOR8urI
Eliza shuddered hard, breathed a sigh of relief when Adelaide got to her feet without going for a cover. The reason for this respite revealed itself when the Queen of Nightmares went back to the corner and the once again mounted the second rope. Facing the audience this time, she flashed them a mocking smirk and leapt out into the void with both knees tucked up against her chest for an Imploding Senton that drove even more air from Eliza’s beleaguered frame. Adelaide flipped over, hooked an arm around the other brunette’s far leg and pulled it high and tight, Blissy’s defenseless rump pointed at the lights for…
IMPLODING SENTON:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKqvI2r9NXM
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOOO!
Eliza got a shoulder off the mat with half a second to spare. Adelaide frowned, though she kept any comments on the speed of Castle’s count to herself. Fingers twined deep in Bliss’s dark hair, Adelaide forced her to stand for a short walk that led them to the center of the ring. Once there Brewster abandoned the hair-hold to cinch her left arm around the champ’s throat and cup her right palm against the back of Eliza’s skull. Gripping her right bicep for extra leverage, Adelaide leaned forward even as she bore down on the breath-stealing Sleeper.
“You belong to me, Songbird.” the Weeping Angel whispered, her breath hot and mean in Eliza’s ear. “So surrender the title now, or I promise you will still be conscious when I start to feed.”
Blissy’s hands reached to pry at the arms of her fellow brunette, but they’re too tight around her braincase and the champ could already feel the expert clamp starting to lower the blood flow to her gray matter. Giving up on that tack, she flailed wildly, trying to grab onto anything more useful. For her part, Brewster hung on as Eliza wobbled around the interior, trying to reach the ropes but nimbly directed away when she made progress in reaching her goal.
Slowly but surely, the diva’s legs grow rubbery, Eliza’s doe eyes going glassy, arms raised but swaying likes reeds in the wind. She ended dead center despite the FAWNatics’ pleas for an escape. When she lowered to genuflect to her right knee, the crowd groaned in disappointment, knowing there would likely be no return if she reached both knees. But as her kneecap touched canvas, Eliza used the impact to bounce back to vertical. Her fingers laced behind the head of her foe, Bliss pulled the point of Adelaide’s chin tight to her skull and sat out.
The impact of the Songbird’s jawbreaker shot Brewster away in whiplash fashion, her noggin headed in the opposite direction followed instantaneously with her rotating nubile frame. Eliza sat, still dazed from the challenger’s significant time in control. She blinked her dark eyes wide while Adelaide massaged her aching jaw, flexing her notorious perfect pearlies while doing so.
Still turned away from the titleholder, The Daughter of Darkness assured the Englishwoman her choppers remained ready to taste the delicacy of World Champion. Her threat wafted into the ears of the Songbird, seemingly guiding the struggling champ to her feet. But Bliss found the Churchgoer waiting for her when she turned in search of the Churchgoer. Adelaide grasped Eliza’s right wrist and bent back the diva’s arm toward her shoulder. Path cleared, the challenger pivoted and tossed a Heart Punch toward the left side of the cleft the Brit’s bosom, hoping to make her foe’s heart skip several beats after already having dropped the blood content to the champ’s brain.
Those not wanting Eternal Midnight to fall across the FAWN landscape were relieved when Bliss managed to dip and spin under her captured arm and avoid the heartbreaking blow.
Breaking free and slipping behind Brewster after the swing and miss, it’s Eliza’s turn to secure a grip, hers around the waist of her foe. Grunting loudly, Bliss heaved backward on her lithe rival, lifting Adelaide’s boot soles off the deck, sending the challenger tumbling to a calamitous collision courtesy Eliza’s German Suplex.
GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD7FeRQAunU
Adeliade landed brutally on the back of her braincase and neck. Momentum took her over to end splayed on her chest. To her credit, though dazed, the determined Churchgoer pushed up to all fours, as though the landing t’was but a scratch. But she remained frozen there in a cloudy-eyed stupor while the recovering Bliss wearily pushed to her feet, ready to take control.
Bliss collected Adelaide’s lowered head with both hands and tugged the reeling Churchgoer to rubbery legs. Eliza lifted a nasty right knee into the pert chest of the doubled Brewster with enough pop to lift Adelaide to tiptoes and beyond. The Songbird did likewise with her left afterward, softening the stooped Daughter of Darkness.
With the Front Facelock tightly attached to the wobbling challenger, Eliza hit a high-C to the fans packing the arena, lifting her right arm with the splendid note. Bliss hopped, pushing her legs out behind and, leaning on Adelaide’s shoulder for a moment, she swung through in violent fashion to her back and sent the crown of the Churchgoer’s skull piledriving into the canvas with an encore of her Blissful DDT.
BLISSFUL DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKO7L7YztyQ
The demolished Brewster slid to a somersaulting stop after the impact, ending in a motionless spreadeagle, Adelaide appearing unconscious. Knowing her foe’s ability to spring to life, Eliza quickly clambered across the stilled frame, the crowd roaring at the thought of the diva’s renaissance continuing. They counted along with the slaps of the canvas for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRNOOO!
Adelaide threw more than a shoulder up, indeed pushing Eliza far enough off the Daughter of Darkness sits up entirely, tanned legs extended in front of her. Her gaze was blank, far different than the dumbfounded expression on the face of the titleholder. Eliza couldn’t help but glance at Miranda and the blonde nodded, smirk firmly in place.
“Only now do you realize!”
When Bliss turned her attention back to the seated Churchgoer, scrambling behind to place a knee between the shoulderblades of her challenger, the look on Wainright’s face changed drastically. The lead proponent of Eternal Midnight showed more than a little concern, particularly when Eliza grabbed both wrists and secured a seated surfboard, the diva apparently considering pulling both of Adelaide’s arms from their sockets in order to end the challenger’s attempt to secure the World Title belt as a holy relic of the Church.
With Adelaide groaning back to life but with no surrender forthcoming, Eliza removed her knee and pulled the fading challenger to her feet. Bliss spun Brewster to face her and dispensed with any foreplay, instead thrusting her three middle fingers into the maw of her foe. Eliza hooked the fateful fingers into soft flesh under Adelaide’s tongue and clamped on her Cleft Note, the claw digging into the mandible of the Churchgoer.
Apprehension, if not fear, flashed in the deep brown pools of the Daughter of Darkness as she gurgled pitifully and weakly latched onto the wrist of the diva, fruitlessly trying to pull the weapon of her destruction free; no faith in Eternal Midnight saving her from this fate.
Or not faith alone as, when Eliza’s fierce application of the Note sent Adelaide into a backpedal reaching just short of the ropes, Miranda grabbed one of Brewster’s legs out from under her. Blissy’s mandibular pressure kept Adelaide vertical, but it didn’t prevent Wainwright from dropping the raised leg across the bottom rope.
With the limb properly placed, the leader of the dark troops shouted to Castle, pointing out the challenger’s position. Having missed the shenanigans, Nick called for Adelaide’s release then quickly starts his count.
Eliza gave up her claw, slipping it from between Adelaide’s lips, but she gave no more consideration to the Churchgoer. Pulling Brewster out from the strands a step or two, determined to give her challenger no time for recovery, Eliza slid behind the flagging brunette. The champ locked Brewster’s arms up at the elbows then turned so her back was to Adelaide’s dipped head, the crown pressed into the small of Blissy’s back.
The crowd roared to life, realizing the diva was about to hit her Decrescendo and obliterate the Church’s favorite daughter once and for all. Rotating slightly to the left, Eliza violently threw her body weight to the right and made her finisher the Prima variety, a rightful ending for the Daughter of Darkness. Adelaide barrel rolled ferociously into a face and forehead first collision with the canvas.
PRIMA DESCRESENDO:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiXgaml-IIw
A beaming Blissy shoveled over what’s left of her waylaid challenger and climbed aboard for the three-count that could easily be a ten if Eliza so chose. Nick slid to the canvas and slapped the canvas for the…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOO!
There’s no movement created by Adelaide but her body moved nonetheless when Miranda hooked onto an ankle and tugged her ‘Daughter’ not only out from under Eliza but out of the ring entirely, Brewster dropping to a flaccid pool at Wainright’s feet.
A furious Eliza hopped to hers and leaned over the ropes squealing in perfect pitch about her non-existent victory, pointing at an oh-so-innocent Miranda. She turned to Castle but, getting no more than a guilty shrug, Nick not having seen the save directly, Bliss started to exit through the ropes to make the blonde a puddle next to the pool. Castle, however, wrapped his arms around the ivory midriff of Bliss and tugged her to the opposite side of the ring.
Apparently having seen enough, Eliza’s fellow Blackbird Olivia Dare sprinted down the ramp, making a beeline for the opposite side of the ring, the Oncoming Storm never so aptly named. With Wainright’s attention on lifting her still flaccid follower, she picked up only a split-second flash of Dare from the side, dropping Adelaide and making a quarter-turn before Olivia SPEARED the Church leader back into the light.
OLIVIA DARE:
Dare hovered on all fours over a splayed Miranda while Bliss, having broken free of Castle, watched from the ring above, delighted that Adelaide’s last hope had been extinguished by her partner and friend. Nick slipped between Eliza and the ropes, scolding Dare but calling for no disqualification since Olivia attacked Miranda, not the challenger.
Bliss backed to center stage when she saw Adelaide stirring, beckoning Brewster back in when Adelaide threw the upper portion of her shattered body atop the apron.
“Time for the grand finale,” Eliza sang, her right set of fingers twitching in expectation of the final Cleft Note of the evening.
As of yet unaware of the champion’s malevolently melodious plans, Brewster planted a weary knee on the apron, then reached up and grabbed hold of the top rope. Elsewhere, Olivia started to cheer some encouragement to her friend when she felt Wainright stirring beneath her mount. “Much as I’d enjoy watching you watch Adelaide fail,” she told the moaning messiah, “I believe it’s safer for all involved if you were away from the ring.” With that she filled her hands with Miranda’s hair, got to her feet and quickly muscled the smaller woman across her shoulders in Fireman’s Carry.
Castle noted Olivia’s departure but Eliza did not, she was entirely focused on Adelaide, who was moving like some wounded monstrosity in the last reel of a Hammer film. “C’mon understudy.” Bliss whispered under her breath, “Raise your dumpy little face for one more view of my spotlight.”
There’s no way Brewster could’ve heard the demand, yet the challenger raised her head as if responding to a cue and Eliza rewarded her diligence with yet another taste of the Cleft Note. Gurgling pitiably as the Superlative Soprano tried to remove her lower jaw, Adelaide stuffed one hand under Bliss’s chin while the grabbed hold of the top rope and shook it as hard as she could. “BRAYGH! BRAAAAAAYYYYGHH!” she pleaded as loudly as the claw would allow.
Nick stepped up beside his charges but made no effort to end the Cleft Note. “Sorry, Adelaide. You need to get through the ropes before I can enforce the break.”
Eliza beamed at the expression of horror that flashed across her foe’s distended face. “Go ahead, try to cross the threshold.” the Englishwoman cooed. “I always wanted to see what happened to one of your kind if you came in uninvitNNNNGGGHHHH!”
Adelaide stopped pawing at the champ’s chin and snatched a handful of hair instead. With her knees failing, the Daughter of Darkness simply stepped back and let gravity break Bliss’s grip courtesy of a nastily effective Hot Shot! Almost bent double by the force of Brewster’s descent, Eliza bounced up on her heels, spun around in a half circle and felt her left elbow collide with something solid she didn’t realize was Nick Castle until much later. Throbbing arm held tight to her chest, Bliss rolled to her chest and took several deep breaths in hopes of smoothing out the ugly discord of her respiration.
Almost ten seconds rolled by before the crowd noise surged with something that sounded like alarm. Certain she’d find Brewster slinking into the squared circle once more, Eliza pressed her palms to the mat and sat--THUH-WHAM! The brunette, who’d jumped the rail and ascended to the top turnbuckle all in the span of perhaps three seconds, came plummeting out of the spotlight to crush Bliss back to the thinly-sheathed plywood before she sat halfway up.
FROG SPLASH:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cC0zLecdAM
Up on the stage, Olivia turned around just in time to see the interloper roll away from the starfished wreckage of Eliza. “What fresh hell is thiSSEERRGGGHHHHH!”
Miranda raaaaaaaaaked her nails across the Briton’s eyes and squirmed until she was able to slide down Dare’s back. Not sure if she was removing Olivia from the board for Adelaide’s sake or simply punishing the heathen for earlier indiscretions, Wainright caught ‘Liv’s right arm in a Half Nelson, then reached across with her left to seize that wrist and pull it tight to secure the Cobra Clutch.
Oblivious to Miranda’s righteous resurgence, the brunette in the black hoodie took quick stock of the situation. Adelaide was leaned against the apron with the bottom rope in one hand and her jaw in the other. She appeared unaware of the newcomer’s presence. Castle was down on all fours in the corner nearest Adelaide trying to clear his head. He appeared unaware of her presence as well. As for Eliza Bliss, her eyes were closed and she’d only managed to drape an arm over her abused midsection, but she was most DEFINITELY aware of the brunette’s presence.
After a moment of indecision, the intruder bent down, buried her hands in Bliss’s hair and scraped her off the canvas. “You should be careful denigrating the chorus girls, little bird.” the willowy stranger murmured in Eliza’s ear. “You never know when one might step out of the shadows and steal the whole show.”
PENELOPE TREMBLAY:
Bliss tried to respond but her attacker wasn’t listening, she’d already dipped her head and stuffed it beneath the Brit’s left arm. A half Waistlock and a greedy handful of blue briefs proved more than enough to hoist Bliss into the sky, but instead of laying out for a Backdrop Suplex, she twisted around beneath the shorter brunette and fell to the canvas with her knees drew snug to her chest to ensure Eliza landed across the posted joints with a sickening THAWHUMP! The Renaissance Woman bounced away and landed on one side where she promptly curled into a tight, agonized ball.
SPINE TREMBLAR:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtNR-oWzQsA
Scrambling to one knee immediately after the spine-wrenching maneuver, the brunette spun around and found herself staring up at Adelaide Brewster. “For you, sister.” the brunette whispered before rolling under the bottom rope.
Though she was just as startled as the rest of the Mayhem crowd, the Weeping Angel didn’t waste any time with paltry questions like ‘how?’ or ‘why?’, she simply leaned over, plunged a hand into Eliza’s dark hair and scraped her off the mat in a series of tugs and jer--
A roar of delight from the sold out crowd when Blissy’s right hand sought the challenger’s bottom lip, alas there was no joyous encore of the Cleft Note because Brewster caught that wrist in a white-knuckle grip. “Not tonight, bytch.” she hissed. “Tonight the spotlight is mine!”
Defiant despite her weak knees and possibly bruised ribs, Bliss poured everything she had into getting her fingertips to within kissing distance of the challenger’s bottom lip. “Spuuuuhhhh… spotlight’s not meant for you… understudy.” she rasped. “It’ll burn you aliEERRGGAAHHHHHHHH!”
Adelaide twisted the captured arm over and behind her foe’s head, then curled her free hand into a fist and drove it into the swell of Eliza’s left breast! The Heart Punch took Blissy’s knees, but she didn’t play penitent because Brewster refused to release her wrist. In the next instant she spun around behind the champ in an elegant little twirl that transformed her unpleasant little trap into a Cut-Throat that stuffed Eliza’s own bicep against her neck.
It was about this time that Nick Castle started to haul himself upright and the FAWNatics clamored for his attention, a whole arena full of people damned near begging the official to take note of this grave injustice, but Castle didn’t turn until Adelaide slipped an arm between her prey’s thighs and muscled her onto her shoulders in modified Torture Rack. Bearing down on both ends of the domineering hold, the Queen of Nightmares turned in a slow circle that ended with her facing the hard camera.
“And so the clock struck midnight.”
Then she kicked her left leg forward and laid out on her left side to THAWHUNK Eliza on the back of her head and shoulders as the latest victim of Blood & Black Lace. Bliss rolled onto her back and didn’t so much as move until Adelaide hooked both legs in a bundle and pointed her rump at the rafters with a Back Press good for…
BLOOD & BLACK LACE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggQhjXPD_fA
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
The Churchgoer tossed those limp legs away and scrambled to her knees, all the better to literally scream with maniacal delight when the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via pin-fall… and the NEEEEEEEWWWW FAWN WORLD CHAMPION… ADELAIDE BREWSTER!”
Castle offered her a hand but she swatted it away and stood on her own. “The belt.” she growled. “WHERE’S MY BELT?” Sighing, he retrieved it from the Timekeeper and presented it to the new champ, not that there was much in the way of ceremony in the way she snatched it from his hands.
Cackling like a loon as she snapped the ten pounds of leather and gold around her waist, Adelaide looked to the stage and saw Tiffany, Helena and Miranda (the latter having put Olivia under several seconds prior) storming down the aisle like a conquering force. Adelaide planned to celebrate with them soon enough, but for now… she turned around and dropped to one knee behind Eliza, all the better to hook her under the armpits.
“Feel that?” the Weeping Angel cooed once she’d pulled the semiconscious brunette into a half-seat in her lap. “That’s the world title grinding against your back because it’s around MY waist. And this… this is how it feels when the lights go out.” Brewster leaned in, buried her muzzle against the side of Eliza’s neck and gnawed until the subdued soprano let loose a single wavering sob. Punctuating with a gaudy kiss to Blissy’s cheek, Adelaide threw her head back and blew a cloud of red mist into the air. Properly baptized by the crimson rain, she regained her feet just in time to meet Tiffany and Helena in a triptych hug.
“You did it!” the Inquisitor giggled. “I knew you could do it, Addy!”
Graylock remained stoic as ever, though she didn’t hesitate to praise the new queen of FAWN. “The Songbird was a powerful foe… a worthy adversary. Consigning her to The Gray will make us stronger than ever.”
“Bliss was only the start.” Miranda’s cool, quiet voice broke over the wicked festivities. “Now that the heathens most prized relic is in the oh so worthy hands of our blood-drenched sister… FAWN will either convert… or suffer.” The Prophet of Pain reached out and laid a hand on Brewster’s shoulder. “I’m so proud of you, Adelaide.”
Brewster stepped in to give her leader a hug, much to the disgust of the capacity crowd. When she broke away she said, “I promise I’ll make you proud. I’ll make you all proud.” The Daughter of Darkness looked over one shoulder, saw the slender brunette standing beside one corner with a pensive expression on her face. “That includes you, sister.” she said with a pink-tinged smile.
The Church of Eternal Midnight lined up four strong with Miranda and Adelaide in the center and Helena and Tiffany flanking on either side. The brunette didn’t move, so Wainright produced a microphone and raised it to her lips. “Adelaide tells me you seek an audience. Stand before the congregation and you shall have it.”
The brunette took a deep breath, nodded once and slid under the bottom rope. On her feet shortly thereafter, she walked over to the true believers and would’ve gone to one knee if Miranda hadn’t raised a hand.
“…Hello.” the would-be acolyte said after swallowing the lump in her throat. “My name is--”
“Penelope Tremblay.” Miranda finished for her. “Adelaide told me about your request and what you’ve done to get my attention. Now that you have it, I’d like to know what you intend to do with it.”
“I want to join.” Tremblay answered quietly. “All my life I’ve been told I don’t belong. That I was a freak, a nobody, a walking, talking stretch of bad luck that didn’t deserve a home, let alone a family. But the Church of Eternal Midnight… you call out to everyone, especially the freaks. So here I am, hoping there’s an open spot in the back row.”
“The doors of this Church are never closed, sister.” Miranda replied. “And considering the tithe you offered,” she reached down and ran her fingers along the face-plate of the World Title, “I’d say you’ve earned the right to stand alongside the rest of us. What say you, Tiffany Mayes?”
“I’d say it looks like she enjoys punishing heathens. Which means she’s come to the right place.” the Inquisitor noted.
“What say you, Helena Graylock?”
“She strikes fast and without mercy. There is much I can teach her.”
“What say you, Adelaide Brewster?”
“I say I love the sound of a faithless bytch landing across Penny’s knees.”
Miranda nodded, a beatific smile flooding her face. “And I say welcome home… IF you will join Adelaide in bringing tonight’s service to a close.”
Tremblay nodded, her dark eyes shining like candles set on some malevolent altar. Handing the mic to the new World Champion, Miranda stepped between Mayes and Graylock as Adelaide took her place beside Penelope Tremblay. She let the silence spin out for several seconds before promising, “Spotlights fade and storms grow calm….”
Brewster titled the stick toward Penny, who leaned in to finish, “…but Midnight comes for one and all.”
The lights went out. When they returned Wainright’s Congregation… and FAWN’s top prize, were gone without a trace.