The Numbers Game: Oscar Orelash vs. the TTFC

[ScylliasExoter]

The Oria and Jade Phillips remembered glimpses of being carried to the back over someone’s shoulder. They woke up in their locker room, seated on chairs. Both women were drenched with sweat and in a haze. They were out of it considering Oscar had constricted them into unconsciousness. OSCAR! They realized their opponent Oscar Orelash won. And by a bearhug knockout no less. Two falls at the same time. Jade got up and punched a locker.
“He’s going to see that. They all are. They’re going to see us lose and rub it in… Say they were right. FUCK!” Another punch to a locker.

Oroa was more optimistic.
”We’ve lost football games before and come back. This’ll be no different. We fought well. That crowd was cheering for us too, I could feel it. We def popped some ratings there. LAW has to notice how well we did. Forget dad,” she smiled encouragingly.

“That doesn’t change the fact that we had a job to do and didn’t get it done! The fans can cheer our athleticism all they want, they don’t have our contracts. She does.”

Almost on cue, their burner phone they talked to their bosses on buzzed. Their boss was texting them.
Unknown number: ”You didn’t win.
TTFC: He was too fast. His defenses too strong. We need more time but we’ll find a weakness.
Unknown number: ”You softened him up for the mixed tournament and got me more footage of him for me to study. Acceptable. I hired you to handle Katrina and Rylie. Focus on them for now. More allies will come.”
The twins breathed a sigh of relief. They wanted to get home and collapse onto bed. Oria and Jade quickly changed and left the locker room.

[MappleMan7]

The twins would step out of the locker room and hear the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them. That someone, in fact, was Oscar. After a shower to clean up after the match, the Barbarian Prince was now in some casual clothes as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed- giving them a neutral look as his eyes shifted between the two women he just knocked out.

"Hello, you two. I hope you're both feeling alright after that match. Before you two head off for the night- I want to ask you both some questions"

Oscar pushed off the wall and walked toward the two women, keeping a calm and collected presence as he got close enough to have a proper chat- ensuring they both had their personal space.

"I don't suppose any of you could tell me who exactly hired you to come after me like this, would you? And perhaps if they want you to go after anyone else?"

[ScylliasExoter]

Jade, still fuming about losing, snapped ”Really?! Do we look like snitches to you?!
Oria put a hand on Jade’s shoulder to calm her down.
“The principle of the matter aside, we don’t know who she is. And she is a she.
”The way she texts… definitely a woman.”
“She has us use old burner flip phones. Even when she calls her voice is all robotic. She’s taken great steps to hide her identity and has no shortage of cash to hire people to come after you.”
“We can tell you our specific purpose, apart from fucking you up, is to counter your inevitable reinforcements from running in and interfering. Tell your girlfriend we look forward to tangling with her and her friends.”

[MappleMan7]

Oscar got off the wall and looked ready to defend himself when Jade snapped at him- but then Oria calmed her sister down, which led to Oscar relaxing as well. Oscar listened to the twins tell him what they knew and looked, at first, puzzled. All the secrecy and tech behind hiding her identity... it gave Oscar more questions than answers- and honestly made him concerned. Burner phones and voice scramblers sounded like overkill considering what was going on- pushing the line of paranoia for all Oscar knew. The mention of Katrina and her friends was what really nabbed Oscar's attention as his eyes widened a bit, leading to Oscar to take a deep breath before continuing.

"Of course... things don't work out for them by coming at me directly, so your boss has to go after my friends. Honestly at this point I should have expected your boss to do that. She's a coward- plain and simple. You two need to step away and wash your hands of any of this while you still can. I told you once before the start of our match and I'll tell you again- this path isn't going to lead you anywhere good. You're both squandering your potential by playing grunt to a coward and I would honestly hate to see fresh talent get swept under the rug because of it"

[ScylliasExoter]

Jade was clearly still hot from their match. And angry about something else too. She huffed at Oscar’s assertion. ”You think we can’t go anywhere if we’re working for someone? You think we’re that incapable?? You sound just like dad.”

Oria looked far more reflective ”Even IF we wanted to. And we don’t because you’re a mountain for us to climb… a large, red, handsome mountain… but you’re a challenge now. And we don’t back down. But we can’t stop because this woman holds our contracts. We know we’re worthy, but we only got spots in LAW because of our client’s influence. They wouldn’t have looked at us otherwise. You got two guesses why. She got us the contracts and is our manager. And not the friendly advice kind either. She’s our boss literally. You seem like a nice guy so don‘t make this harder-

She was interrupted by the ringing of a phone… her burner phone. Oria answered. All Oscar could see was a nervous expression on her face.

[MappleMan7]

Oscar's feelings toward the twins was very... mixed to say the least. Jade was clearly still upset about the loss and seemed to have some other issues going on beyond that and Oria was... yeah. Oria was definitely flirting with him. Oscar sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I never said anything close to you two being incapable- quite the opposite, actually. I don't know what issues you have with your Dad but honestly- don't worry about him. I don't have an awesome Dad either. Trust me on this- if you stay stuck on whatever problems you have with that guy, you'll never make any steps forward in life. Let it go. Life's better that way"

With his piece said to Jade, Oscar turned his attention to Oria next as he listened to the friendlier of the twins. Damn- Oscar had no idea this mystery person held a manager position. It really wasn't as simple for the twins to walk away as he thought- the situation was more complicated than that. Before Oscar could chime in, the phone went off again- Oria's burner phone. Oscar noticed Oria's nervous expression and responded swiftly by holding his hand out to her- asking for the phone by silently mouthing the words "May I talk to her" to Oria.

[ScylliasExoter]

Oria handed Oscar the phone. There was an audible pause. And then the distorted, yet still noticeably feminine, voice on the other end spoke.
”I knew you would never leave the wrestling business. I had to offer out of my mother’s sense of mercy. But honestly, I’m glad you stayed. Ruining your career will be so satisfying.”

[MappleMan7]

"Let me stop you right there"

Oscar carried a tone he never used toward anyone before. Sharp, assertive, serious. Oscar has finally heard the voice of the mastermind behind everything and he was going to ensure he got his message across.

"First off, how dare you. How DARE you send people after my friends and loved ones. If you have a problem with me, you take it up with ME. Not my girlfriend, not any of my friends. ME. I'm getting sick of stressing out over a coward who won't face me themselves. I'm open to a challenge if you want to settle this properly"

"Second, I want to know why you have this beef with me. What the hell have I done to deserve any of this? I know for a fact I haven't done anything remotely wrong to warrant this crap"

[ScylliasExoter]

”Who said it was anything you’ve done?”
[*]Click[*]

[MappleMan7]

Oscar was about to continue on, but the woman had hung up the phone before he could get another word in. Oscar took the burner phone away from his ear, stared at it for a few moments and let out a frustrated sigh and handed the phone back to Oria.

"Great... just the cherry on top. A fan of the ominous. Thanks for letting me borrow your phone, Oria. And for what it's worth... I'm sorry you two had to get caught up in this"

With that, Oscar turned around and headed off. He was tired- and he had to talk to Katrina and the others about this. As Oscar walked away, he gave one last glance back at the twins before turning a corner out of sight.