When An Invitation Comes...

[CaptainL]

A company as big as LAW, with as many people involved - in terms of wrestlers and backstage staff alike - needed plenty of staff in order to keep all the gears turning. There was a veritable army of officials who kept the company afloat through signing talent, booking matches, and arranging deals, and wherever the talent went, so too did the people in charge of running the show. Tonight, the arena was set for a LAW show, and even in those hours leading up to the event, the backstage area was bustling with activity. It was also no surprise, then, that plenty of deals could be made behind closed doors, in those places that would be lost amidst the commotion - some for more nefarious reasons than others. With such a rising company, there was power. And where there was power, there was corruption.

When she was called to a private meeting at the arena, Misa Otomura didn't quite know for sure if this was one of such illicit backroom deals. When she'd been active as long as she had in both the wrestling business and the idol industry, she was no stranger to the seedy underbelly beneath all the glitz and glamor of show business, and there was definitely something off about how this was all being conducted. It all started when she was approached by a man she didn't recognize yesterday evening after work, passing on an invitation to speak to someone who wanted an audience with her. Who that someone was, though...he wouldn't say. Nor would he give any indication as to what the meeting was about, or why she was supposed to be there. That was all for Misa to find out when the day came - and now, it had.

Even now, as she stood before the door, checking the number on the wall and comparing it with what she'd saved on her phone to double-check she had the right place, Misa bit at the inside of her cheek, wondering what might await her on the other side. She sucked in a breath, though, reminding herself that there wasn't that much that could go wrong. If this was being held under LAW's auspices, it had to be someone involved in the company - so at least it wouldn't be some random person there to extort her, or worse. Then again, she quickly reminded herself with a gulp that that couldn't be guaranteed either. If worst came to worst, at least she had pepper spray with her. Sucking in a breath, Misa stood a little straighter, and extended her hand to knock on the door...

Spoiler

[Ichi]

     The knocks echoed throughout the seemingly empty hallway. The sound lingered in the air for several moments as it echoed. There was no response from the other side of the door.
     "You may enter," said a deep voice from behind Misa. A tall, imposing Asian man suddenly materialized behind Misa. He wore a green trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat reminiscent of a cowboy hat. He almost seemed like he could have been lifted straight from an old western movie.

Note: The man it's not carrying a gun or holster.

     The man would stand patiently, waiting for Misa to enter. He stood tall, his shoulders back with no tenseness in his posture. His eyes were alert, but seemed to be taking in the entire scene in front of him rather than focusing on any one particular area.
     Meanwhile, inside the room, Húxiān Lì would be waiting. She would be sitting in a folding chair, across from which would be a table. On the other side of the table would be an empty folding chair.

NOTE: Ignore the background of the image.

     Further back into the room would be a conference table with two men—dressed identically to the man outside—sitting at it. The men would be alert, watching intently.

[CaptainL]

The first thought that ran through Misa's mind, when she was greeted with the stark and startling silence through the corridor, was if she had the wrong location. She began to ask herself if she'd made a mistake - what if this wasn't the right place at all, and she was standing before an empty room? With her eyebrow cocked curiously, Misa began to step back...just in time for the man to call to her.

"Eep-!!" Misa would've liked her reaction to be at least a little more dignified. Screaming like a girl wasn't really the first impression she wanted to put forward. But when she was taken by surprise, she couldn't help it. She hopped backward, her hands flying to clasp around her mouth. Had he always been there? Certainly not - Misa would've noticed someone that big and strikingly dressed. But that would've meant he had snuck up on her. And if so...why?

Maybe she was just letting her anxieties get the better of her. It was easy enough for her to assume that everything was about to go wrong when she was this on edge. But surely there was nothing to be worried about in a normal business dealing. With a nervous chuckle, Misa cleared her throat and straightened her back. "Sorry about that, sir...I didn't see you there. Thank you." With whatever composure she could salvage, Misa pushed open the door.

...And it was there that that composure was just as quickly lost.

The moment she saw what was inside, Misa's world came screeching to a halt. Seated right across from her was Huxian Li - a woman who had no shortage of infamy in LAW. From the beginning of her time in the company, she had shown a level of brutality and cruelty seemingly unprecedented even among the promotion's most hated heels. Her sadistic whims had brought her opponents to tears, or worse, even long after the match should have been deemed won by any stretch of the imagination. And now, she was looking straight at Misa.

The announcer knew what Huxian was capable of all too well. That was well enough to put her on guard if she was alone with her. What was even worse was that Huxian's depravities had just been showcased at their depths, with her treatment of Kotone Shiomi causing a riot and resulting in disciplinary action from LAW's oversight. And despite that, Huxian didn't seem the least bit worried...which, if anything, made matters worse, if she still wasn't afraid. Had all this been a trap to lure her into trouble? Misa didn't even question what motive Huxian could have had for doing this. All she could hope for was mercy.

Misa cleared her throat, but then, after a pause where she said nothing, she had to clear it again. Her eyelid twitched, and she bit at her lip, fidgeting nervously back and forth. "D-Do...do you need anything..?" Her eyes flitted around the surface of the table. The mere thought of looking toward Huxian, let alone making eye contact, was one that terrified her.

[Ichi]

     "Relax," commanded Húxiān. "I'm not going to hurt you." Húxiān gestured towards the folding chair across from her. "Now sit down. Right here would be nice."
     The door shut tightly behind Misa. If Misa were to check the door, she would find it unable to open, as if barricaded from the other side. Húxiān would wait for Misa to sit down. If she sat down, Húxiān would continue—otherwise, Húxiān would have to readjust.
     "First thing's first," Húxiān would say before taking a deep breath in, assuming that Misa sat down. "I would like to thank you. For agreeing to announce my fights." Húxiān would put on a sheepish smile. "You're the only announcer who agreed to that. Everyone else declined to announce for me, probably due to my reputation." Húxiān would let out a sigh. "I guess that's understandable. Truth be told, part of me didn't want to go as far as I did in those matches."

[CaptainL]

"R-Right...right." Misa sucked in a breath as she took a step closer to the table. Just play it cool, she told herself. There was no reason to believe she was in any serious danger. Huxian Li was...an incredibly dangerous person, yes, but there was a method to her madness. If she was going to do anything ill-intentioned to the announcer, she wasn't going to beat her up here and now, not when they were in private. If she wanted to send a message, she wanted there to be an audience, she wanted it to be unforgettable, and she wanted to be able to broadcast her victims' humiliation to the world. Beating someone up behind closed doors just wasn't creative enough for her...

...Actually, this train of thought wasn't helping at all. Clearing her throat loudly, Misa looked back up at Huxian with a less than convincing grin on her face. "I'm fine..!" she blurted out, to no one in particular, just before she broke into a nervous chuckle. She heard something move into place behind the door, as though barricading it closed, and the sound made something drop in the pit of her stomach. A chill washed over her, with goosebumps standing up on the back of her neck. She couldn't think of a good reason one would have to barricade the door if everything was above board. It could be keeping her in...or help out. And it would mean she was stuck alone with Huxian, with nowhere to run...

Misa's eyes glanced anxiously from one corner of the room to another as she approached the chair, but she realized soon enough that taking her eyes off Huxian was not going to do her any favors. After taking in a deep breath, she seated herself at the table. She sat there a moment, straightening out her skirt to stall for time. It would be a moment before anyone spoke, but she didn't want to break the silence. She didn't want to provoke Huxian.

However, when Huxian began to sepeak, Misa was surprised...not by the cruelty she had to reveal to her, but by the lack of it. She needed to blink a few times to process if she was really hearing what she thought was hearing. This whole time, Misa thought Huxian was a force of terror and destruction, who cared only for the suffering and humiliation of others. But the woman seated across from her seemed...soft-spoken. Almost shy, even. And genuinely thankful for all Misa's help in announcing her matches.

"You...really think that..?" Misa scratched her head. She was still in disbelief - but she didn't see the need to press things further. If anything, she let out a sigh of relief as she settled into her seat. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe she didn't have to be afraid.

"Oh, really, this announcing thing...it's just a job, nothing really to it! I'm just happy to have steady work, doesn't matter what happens..." Misa chuckled to herself again. She thought for a moment about how she didn't even know she was allowed to refuse to announce a given match, and given some of the mishaps she'd gotten into maybe she should have done that more, but she chose not to say it - it wasn't the time. "But...if it makes you happy, I'm glad." She smiled a little wider. It had been a long time since Misa was at the peak of her idol career, but now she knew she still had her fans, and she could still put smiles on their faces. She never realized how much she missed that, even if it came in the most unexpected of places.

It was what Huxian said next, however, that truly caught Misa's attention, and she raised an eyebrow curiously as she leaned in closer. This was like nothing she'd seen from Huxian before. She couldn't help but believe she was seeing a new side of Huxian - one that threw everything she'd believed about her out the window. And she wanted to know more. "...Wait, really? I...didn't know. Why did you, then..?"

[Ichi]

     "I tried to play a character. That of a twisted, sadistic heel. My own ambition, my desire to gain attention, led me to do terrible things," said Húxiān. Húxiān paused for a moment, letting the words sink in. She then took a deep b breath. "I realize that what I did to Kotone and Rise was wrong. That what I did was abjectly cruel and unnecessary. There's no justifying that." Húxiān sighed before running her hand through her hair and giving her hair a little yank. "I fucked up," she stated, the hand that was in her hair flopping down to her side. "I got too ambitious, and went too far."

[CaptainL]

As she listened to what the woman seated across the table was telling her, Misa blinked a few times. "Just...a character..?" She shuffled her feet under the table, drumming her fingertips against its surface, as she turned everything over in her head. Was Huxian telling the truth? It was possible. Certainly, being involved behind the scenes in the wrestling business as much as she was, Misa was well aware that many wrestlers were keen to play up their image in order to draw tickets and publicity. She knew there were many who delighted in making themselves into the kind of people the public would shell out money to see get beaten up. But even out of some of LAW's most hated heels - Rose Gold, Kyoko Akan, Irish Oldschool - none of them had come close to the depths Huxian had sunken to. None of them had threatened such grievous bodily harm on someone who stood no chance of fighting back - well, maybe some of them did, but they hadn't made as much of a spectacle of it as Huxian had, and they didn't disparage the fans, the company, and the very concept of professional wrestling in the process. They hadn't started a riot on the level of what Huxian had kicked off. If Huxian was just playing the heel...Misa had to admit, she was very good at it. Perhaps too good. But even if it was all an act, was that going to excuse her actions? And would anyone have gone that far just for the sake of publicity?

Drawing in a deep breath to compose herself, the announcer sat up straighter in her seat. It didn't matter whether or not Huxian was being genuine - her actions still had consequences. "...you still crossed a line, you understand. Even if Kotone was never in any real danger, you certainly gave everyone reason to believe that she was. You should be lucky you didn't get shanked on the way out of the arena. Not only that, but your comments about everything in wrestling being rigged was an embarrassment to the company and one that necessitated a public statement. It could've gotten the athletic commission involved. If you really did mean to hurt her, you're a danger to others. If not, you're still a danger to yourself, and to the livelihoods of everyone in LAW. A few of our sponsors pulled their support after that match, you understand."

Misa cleared her throat, taking in another deep breath. Somehow, something in her gut told her that if she was going to deal with Huxian, she had to be ready - for what, she wasn't sure of, but it was better to be on guard. "...Where I'm going with this, I suppose, is that it's for very good reason that you've been booked in a gauntlet match. There was no small amount of outcry for you to be punished. And that, in the end, is the purpose of this match. You do realize this, correct?"