The Viper's Den - Where Heroes Fall

[Hagen-Autem]

Continued from Here

The security guard had carried the semi-conscious heroine to the infirmary, where he laid her on one of the stretchers before going back to his routine whilst she was being treated. Throughout the journey, the security guard had a blonde slung over his shoulder, with her backside facing forward. He even kept one hand resting on her thigh, though not for any improper reasons. He was a true professional. What’s more, they had plenty of specialists on hand, ready to deal with whatever came from stepping into their ring and walking away in one piece. So Astra would be in the best of hands.

Astra Nova wasn’t completely unconscious; she only needed a little push to keep herself conscious long enough to answer the routine questions. So the paramedics used ammonia salts to help her come round.

Despite her spectacular fall onto the spectators, the interstellar babyface was doing quite well. She’d have a few bruises and would need a bit of rest—and no further blows to her abdomen—but nothing out of the ordinary for a professional wrestler after having been tied up, much to ViVi’s delight, bent over and beaten for the audience’s entertainment, and humiliated for everyone’s pleasure.

Once they’d confirmed she had no head injuries or any truly serious injuries anywhere, they handed her the change of clothes she’d left outside and placed her in the care of an attendant, who led her to a room.

A fairly spacious room, dominated by a huge red bed, scented candles and that playful atmosphere characteristic of a place run by ViVi. Quite isolated from the noise and without windows, but with a large LED television on one of the walls. For some reason still unknown to her, Nova had been brought here instead of upstairs to enjoy the pub, all the freedoms of an open bar, the affection of her fans and the great atmosphere she’d been promised earlier, thanks to her participation in the Heroes vs. Villains Night.

Anyway, the attendant also produced an elegant, golden key, holding it up between his fingers in front of Nova, before dropping it onto her belongings. Apparently, she could leave whenever she wanted.

"Have a good time, miss. You put up a good fight," he concluded, though it already sounded like a rehearsed line; perhaps Astra Nova wasn’t the first to bite the dust, and he was already used to being here.

But just as he was about to leave her there, he relented and added one more thing. Just ONE more thing. So he paused for a moment to look at her.

"Do you remember what would happen if you lost?" he asked calmly. ‘What ViVi promised you if you let her crush you, right?’ After a brief pause, he added, allowing the idea to sink in fully. "Exactly that. Lady."

He knew the Heartbreaker was coming for hers.

[Jaystar]

It would be an understatement to say that tonight had been one of the rougher nights so far in Astra Nova's wrestling career. And it wasn't just the exhaustion from travelling halfway around the world and the jet lag... But rather, the thorough beating she had just taken in the hands of the devilish villainess ViVi S. Valentine inside this strange, English pub was the reason behind most of the roughness. And while physically, the Interstellar Heroine was still pretty sound - as confirmed by some medics apparently present in the backstage areas of the pub, pretty peculiar in itself - mentally, it was going to still take quite a lot to comprehend all that had just transpired, and cope with the results of it all.

Not that Astra would have particularly complained though. She had never expected the life of a wrestler to be easy. She had never expected to win all her battles. Instead, she was proud of taking up all kinds of challenges... She was proud of getting to perform as a brave heroine, ready to take on any villainess, anywhere, that called for bringing them to justice. And that was exactly the opportunity that she had been granted tonight with this strange, peculiar, unusual matchup!

Of course, the heroine couldn't shake the feeling that the odds had surely been stacked up against her either. There were just a little too many coincidences, the location of the battle been so unfamiliar for her, and seemingly sported such a home field advantage for her opponent, that she could have been destined to fight a losing battle right from the start... And of course, those thoughts in the back of her head were surfacing some insecurities inside the blonde. But then again, she couldn't deny that such perilous scenarios often were ones that held the potential to intrigue a heroine the most...

But that was all something that she was going to have all night to think of now. As the security guard finally led the defeated heroine after all the check-ups to her room, Astra was looking forwards to just lay down, rest, tend to her wounds, and catch some sleep. Maybe there had been some talks about meeting up with some fans or such in the pub, but frankly, in her current condition, the blonde wasn't having any energy to do any of that. Besides, the room that she was taken to... It was lavish. Very comfy. Not something that you wanted to leave.

And honestly, Astra had no reason to leave anywhere. This looked like a perfect place to stay. "Oh... Well, thank you. I appreciate the effort." the blonde merely replied to the attendant as he had complimented on her performance and left the key with her, being quite happy that she was finally being left to be by herself. And just as she was preparing to get comfy on the large bed after the attendant would have left, he decided to still add some important words.

First, there were two questions. Astra wasn't answering either one of them. Frankly, because she had no answers. She had no clue. No, she didn't remember what had been said to happen if she lost. No, she didn't remember anything that ViVi might had promised her.

But the blonde was already fairly sure that none of the answers was going to be any good. Especially with how ominous the tone of the attendant was...

There she was now, left alone in the room, sitting by the edge of the bed. And she tried to reminisce. What had been said...? What were the stakes...? What had been the stipulations...? Honestly, Astra wasn't sure if any of them had really been disclosed to her or not...

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the TV suddenly turning on. And what it showed was a pretty familiar sight... Sight of the ring that she had just battled in. But now it was occupied by ViVi and some guy... Who seemed to be ready to battle the she-devil... In order to save her? Save the Interstellar Heroine?
(Thread ongoing here viewtopic.php?t=22914)

Wow. This was unexpected. Astra's attention was quickly glued to the screen... Although what then transpired was that apparently, the brave guy, presenting himself as some kind of a superhero, wasn't getting to fight ViVi after all... But instead, getting a challenge by two blue-haired girls that he had to fight instead. And as soon as ViVi had left the ring, it started to become rather quickly apparent that the superhero wasn't exactly coping very well with getting outnumbered by his opponents at all...

But where had ViVi left? She had mentioned something about "sending Nova regards"... What did that mean?

And then it hit her. This room, this bed, this was all just too lavish. This wasn't all set up simply for the rest of a defeated heroine, not in this kind of lair. Her defeat must had held some consequences. And this room was the key to those.

Biting her lip, Astra made the realization. This night wasn't over yet.