Damage Control (For Weonna)

[Hitman45]

Continued from Here

Spoiler

"Nah Nah...it's alright...I am fine. I can walk just fine..." Allison leaned against a wall momentarily talking to one of the stagehands and a medical personnel, who were trying to talk her into getting herself checked out for any injuries after her gruelling bout with the Fighting Filipina, Christina Perez.

The fight hit all the right notes in terms of the quality of action on display for the people, but what stood out was the climax of the fight, ruled in Allison's favour, despite her tapping out, as the referee could see Christina in a position which saw the woman pin herself, an massive oversight on her part, which unintentional of not was probably going to get her an earful by the top brass and probably a massive fine as well.

Both people in front of Allison were unfazed and less than amused seeing her trying to put on a brave, nonchalant face, their raised eyebrows indicative of them being not entirely convinced of her.

"Ugh...it looks like I ain't gonna win with both of you here..." Allison finally gave in, her shoulders slumping and face wrinkled into a slight wince.

"Alright look, I got to sort some things out. If you both really wanna help....get me a towel, and...point me towards the nearest vending machine. I need something freezing cold to wash down my throat, and to press against my head. Actually, you know what? I need two of those fine drinks. Girl banged my head like a hammer on a nail....ooff.." Allison rubbed her head with eyes squeezed shut for a moment, just in time for the towel to arrive.

"Aight...I Will get myself checked soon." She hobbled away from them, turning back to make her point and then continued on, to the lockers.

"Ahhh...Niiice..." the cold liquid went down her throat to see a satisfied, sharp exhale out of her, while the other found itself presssed against her forehead, the frozen water melting down into trails, just as she entered the lockers to see the woman she had made a point to look for after the fight.

"Look, it may not have been the best idea to gloat about my win out there...." Allison dragged on the last part of the sentence as she strode towards the seated woman with a limp, pulled and nearby chair and took a seat in front of her.

"I may have gotten carried away there. A tiny bit. A teensy-weensy bit...." She tried to explain, the index and thumb of her right hand brought very close together to indicate the fine margins, eyes narrowed and focused on the digits to make sure she got right, the 'amount' she got carried away by.

Her eyes fell on the two cans of soda on the long bench, on which the other woman sat. Allison gently grabbed the unopened can. "A soda, perhaps? To cheer ya up..." Her hand extended with a nervous smile to offer the drink to the probably fuming woman, with all the right to be so and await her less than pleasant response.

[Weonna]

Christina didn’t even look up at first. She sat hunched forward on the bench, elbows on her knees, hands laced in her hair, still in her gear. Her chest rose and fell slowly, but the tension in her shoulders said everything.

“…You got some nerve walking in here.”

Her head lifted, eyes locking onto Allison with a glare hot enough to melt steel. She looked her up and down, then at the soda in her hand like it personally offended her.

“A soda? A soda?”

Christina let out a sharp, humorless laugh.

“You tap out, I choke you half to sleep, and you think the solution is… carbonated sugar water?”

She pointed at the can.

“What is that, apology-flavored cola?”

She stood up, wincing slightly at her ribs but too mad to care.

“I felt you tap, Ford. Tap tap tap. Not Morse code. Not interpretive dance. A TAP.”

She slapped her own side three times to demonstrate.

“You were seconds away from dreaming about sheep and clouds and whatever people see when they go night-night.”

She paced now, running a hand through her hair.

“And this ref...this legally blind, spiritually confused human traffic cone decides, ‘Oh hey, her shoulders are down!’ Yeah, because I was busy strangling you, genius!”

She threw her arms up.

“What was I supposed to do? Submit you from a standing PowerPoint presentation?”

She stopped in front of Allison again, still fuming, but a crooked, disbelieving smile tugged at her lips.

“And you...don’t get me started on you playing it up out there. Arms out, soaking it in like you just solved world hunger. I’m backstage thinking, ‘Did I get choked too? Am I the one hallucinating?’”

She jabbed a finger lightly at Allison’s shoulder.

“You did not beat me. You survived me. There’s a difference.”

Christina finally grabbed the soda from her hand, popped it open with a sharp crack, and took a long drink.

“…But,”

she added, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, still glaring,

“next time? No refs screwing up. No weird pins. No lucky physics.”

She stepped closer, voice low but intense.

“Next time, I don’t let go until you’re snoring.”

[Hitman45]

Welp, there it was, as expected. Slowly, yet surely, Christina's anger boiled over, and she popped off like uncorked champagne. And Allison had no choice but to endure it all.

When Christina quipped about the flavour of the soda Allison had offered her to sip, A part of her knew it was just rhetorical, a slight detour from her very justifiable rant, and it wasn't meant to be answered.

".....Close enough. It's....uhhhh.....Citrus-Cola Explosion....An orange-flavoured cola. Energy Booster and... also available in....Pot flavour...? And Motor-Oil flavour...? That can't be right. The Japanese on this must be a mistake. I have learned enough of the language to read simple sentences. What the heck did I get from the machine?" Allison did a double-take, squinting at the can to see if she really read it right.

".....And why does it taste good?"

She then met Christina's gaze again, with a bewildered expression, but quickly got back to the topic at hand.

The Filipina even practically demonstrated the tapping action to her, and differentiated between the contexts where Taps could be used, as if explaining it to a toddler. Allison couldn't do anything except bring up her free hand to cover her mouth with a couple of fingers and nod along.

Spoiler

When Christina brought up the incident of Allison's celebratory antics posing in the ring, after her 'victory', the raven-haired woman, still with that suspicious, yet surprisingly palatable soda in hand, held her arms up in mock surrender. Gloating and celebrating seemed like a bad idea in hindsight. She definitely got carried away there.

"Alright, alright, I'm guilty for that. The ref did make a serious blunder there. " She nodded in agreement look up at Christina, who had paused her furious pacing around, eyes shooting daggers."But, you gotta cut me some slack becaus—Oww!" Her sentence got cut off with a surprisingly sharp shoulder poke. "Being crabby does boost the stats. Ouch..."

Allison rose, gently massaging the shoulder with a finger, as Christina closed the distance between them. Being a couple of inches taller, the woman from Brooklyn looked down diagonally at her San-Diego counterpart to meet her steely gaze, letting the prospect of a rematch sink in.

Despite the unexpected outcome of their fight, Allison enjoyed going toe-to-toe with the Filipina. The constant back-and-forth, the intensity and the quality on display were something she looked for in every match she was put in, and this one had ticked all those boxes.

"Heh..." A sly, lopsided smile appeared on Allison's face. "No refs screwing up. No weird pins. No lucky physics....You got it" She repeated Christina's words, answering with the same verve as the Filipina.

"And my snoring would be the last thing on your mind when your lights go..." Allison brought her gloved hand up to snap her thumb and middle fingers, emiting a crisp sound...

"OUT..." she whispered back, hushed yet menacing

[Weonna]

Christina stared at her for a moment after the whisper, eyes narrowed, studying the cocky smirk on Allison’s face. For a second it looked like she might start yelling again.

Instead, she huffed out a short laugh through her nose.

“Look at you,”

she muttered, taking another sip of the bizarre soda.

“Girl almost gets choked unconscious and five minutes later she’s already threatening round two.”

She shook her head, pacing once before stopping in front of Allison again.

“So let me get this straight.”

Christina pointed between them.

“You know you tapped. I know you tapped. Half the arena probably knows you tapped.”

She lifted a finger.

“And you’re still standing here thinking for a rematch with the woman who just squeezed the life out of you.”

Her eyebrow lifted slowly.

“…You serious?”


Christina watched Allison’s expression carefully, searching for hesitation, doubt—anything. When she didn’t see it, a crooked grin slowly formed.

“Well damn.”

She folded her arms across her chest.

“I’ll give you this, Ford… you’ve got balls.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“Or ovaries. Whatever the correct anatomy term is.”

A short chuckle escaped her.

“Most people would take that lucky win, disappear for three weeks, and pretend they dominated the whole match.”

She jabbed a thumb toward the hallway behind them.

“You? You walk straight into the locker room of the woman who almost choked you out.”

Christina stepped a little closer, still smiling, but the competitive fire was obvious in her eyes.

“I respect that.”

She pointed lightly at Allison’s chest.

“Because it means when we do this again… there won’t be any confusion.”

Christina cracked her neck to the side.

“No refs screwing up.”
“No weird pins.”
“No lucky physics.”

She repeated it once again...Her grin widened slightly.

“Just you… and me… until one of us stops moving.”

She lifted the soda can in a small mock toast.

“So tell me something, Ford…”

Christina leaned forward just a bit.

“You actually okay with that?”

[Hitman45]

The way Christina was staring daggers at Allison after the raven-haired woman accepted her challenge to duke it out in the ring again, Allison started to think that maybe it wasn't really a challenge, but rather a part of her whole vent and that maybe she shouldn't have stoked that fire of annoyance with her smug antics. Actually, she shouldn't have hogged the spotlight for the 'win' in the first place.

Instead, she took another swig of the very suspicious soda while gauging whether Allison was trying to pull her leg.

"My turn again....lemme have a sip..." Allison would cautiously extend her hand to take the can from her hand, all the while looking into her eyes to see how accepting she would be to it. "The company making these is smoking some reeallly good stuff..."

"Oh very serious. Don't you worry about me running away. Throwing hands until one or both of us can't stand sounds way more fun" Allison shrugged, with a half-smile, leaning sideways against the locker.

"Yeeeaahh....no. Don't think ovaries carry the same weight there. Allison narrowed her eyes and used her hand to do the 'so-so' gesture before continuing "Balls is fine. Actually, Guts is the better body part to have...." she concluded with a thumbs-up.

From the looks of it, the Filipina was still processing the raven-haired woman not disappearing after the fight and being open for another throwdown. And once she accepted that this was for real, she would close the distance between them again to reiterate the mistakes that she wasn't willing to let happen again. Christina seemed to savour the prospect of the rematch, seeing as a wide grin appeared on her face. Allison had to be even more careful this time.

Allison's gaze locked with hers when Christina leaned forward to see if the taller woman was up for it. She could feel Christina's breath over her mouth and chin, owing to Allison tilting her head down to meet the Filipina's gaze, and her eyes gleamed with determination and intensity.

"I AM Okay with it, Perez. You'll see me in the ring on the day of the match, and definitely not somewhere remote, in the jungles or the mountains, or lost in the Shibuya crossing, trying to avoid you. You can sleep like a baby knowing this, alright?" Allison replied while patting Christina's arm, her brows furrowed, and lips curved in a lopsided manner...

[Weonna]

Christina watched Allison take the can back, raising an eyebrow as she did.

“Yeah, yeah,”

she muttered, waving a hand.

“Don’t drink too much of that. If you start glowing or speaking fluent motor oil later, that’s on you.”

She leaned back against the locker for a second, arms folded, studying Allison like she was sizing up a rival across a poker table. The tension in her shoulders had cooled a little, but the competitive spark in her eyes hadn’t gone anywhere.

When Allison confirmed she was serious, Christina gave a slow nod.

“Good.”

She pushed herself off the locker and stepped closer again.

“Because I already talked to management on my way back here and as it turns out they liked the chaos out there. Crowd went nuts, social media’s probably melting right now.”

A crooked grin tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“So guess what.”

She pointed two fingers at Allison.

“Next week.”

Christina tapped the locker beside them for emphasis.

“Same ring. Same arena. You and me again.”

She leaned in slightly, her tone dropping into something half serious, half teasing.

“And this time… we’re not leaving anything up to a referee with the eyesight of a potato.”

Christina reached out and lightly poked Allison in the chest.

“So you better show up.”

Another poke.

“Don’t get cold feet.”

A third poke, this time with a smirk.

“And don’t suddenly disappear into those mountains you were talking about.”

She straightened, grabbing the soda again for another sip.

“Because if I walk into that ring next week and you’re not there…”

Christina tilted her head with a mischievous grin.

“I’m coming to Brooklyn personally to drag you back.”


She gave Allison a final look, competitive but amused now.

“So don’t chicken out~"

[Hitman45]

Christina let her have a swig of the cola without saying much, except for the warning about drinking it too much, which was understandable because of the range of flavours this company produced.

"This...certainly has....an...overwhelming taste..." Allison let out a sharp exhale as the fizzy liquid washed down her throat. She could feel the can was almost empty and held it from the top with her fingers to rotate the metallic can with her wrist, before resuming the conversation.

"If I start to speak it fluently, then ya better hide your lovely bike away because I'll steal that beauty away, with its consent...." Allsion retorted, bringing up the hand, rotating the can and detaching the index finger from the moisture-coated exterior to point at the Filipina, trying to maintain a serious expression, but soon broke down into a snicker while still trying to maintain her facade!

"I am not surprised seeing people on social media losing it. It wasn't exactly a conventional finish after all..." Allison stated calmly, her body language now more at ease, shoulders looking relieved and not on edge.

"What I AM surprised by is that you managed to get us into a rematch by next week. You REALLY are itching for a payback,huh?" Allison leaned towards her with a cunning smile, stating the obvious, aware that the Filipina could get annoyed again, which she did to an extent.

"Hmm...?" Allison felt Christina's finger jab at her chest, which felt like a prick, albeit not painful

"Oww..." The second poke packed a better punch. This time it was like a needle poke.

"Owww...ouch....you wanna bore into me or what...?" Allison took a step back to avoid the Filipina's finger digging into her chest, nursing the affected area. But not before Christina snatched the can from her. "Wait...I was...that was...alright...it's yours" Allison watched on, looking defeated, as Christina gulped down the remnants of the soda, which the raven-haired woman was definitely going to try again later.

Christina's challenge was very fresh on her mind. Next week, they were both going to run it back, without any shenanigans, without any oversights. And in front of her was a woman who was one of the most formidable fighters of LAW. So, there wasn't any reason to back off now. Allison wasn't thinking of protecting her record against the Filipina or maintaining the head-to-head superiority. The possibility of losing was never a reason for her to pull out of a fight before, and she wasn't gonna do that now. All the raven-haired woman wanted to do was to get in the ring and duke it out with her peers, which included The Fighting Filipina.

"You don't need to think about flying all the way from San Diego to Brooklyn on a Six-hour flight, with crappy food just to drag me back. I am not THAT evil" Allison quipped, aware of Christina's residence, just like she seemed to have known the raven-haired woman's. She seemed to have done a bit of research.

She would then extend her hand towards the Filipina for a shake of hands, gentle yet firm...

"Rest assured, I WILL be there next week"

[Weonna]

Christina looked down at the extended hand for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly as if debating it. The tension hung there for a second… then she snorted.

“Yeah, you better be.”

She reached out and clasped Allison’s hand, her grip firm and confident despite the soreness still running through her arms. The shake wasn’t friendly exactly, but it wasn’t hostile either—more like two fighters acknowledging unfinished business.

Christina gave the hand one solid shake before letting go.

“Next week,”

she said simply.

She tossed the empty soda can into a nearby trash bin with a lazy flick of her wrist, then started heading toward the locker room exit.

Just before leaving, she glanced back over her shoulder at Allison with a crooked grin.

“Get some rest, Ford.”

A small pause.

“You’re gonna need it.”

With that, Christina pushed through the door and disappeared down the hallway, leaving the promise of their rematch hanging in the air.

TO BE CONTINUED…