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.

[Hagen-Autem]

Astra Nova might be on her own for a while, watching Starboy fare against two henchmen who, despite their size and lack of strength, were bruising him, stretching him and bending him as if he were nothing more than an elastic sandbag.

Meanwhile, ViVi would be sipping from a flask full of room-temperature water with a squeeze of lemon to look after her vocal cords. Other than that, whilst she was cooling off, a member of staff had fetched her jacket, which was too big for her and had the Gart’s pub logo on the back. She loved it because it gave her wicked nature an adorable touch; plus, wearing it open always drew attention to her smooth abs and all that. And since the Blueberrys would be taking their time with Starboy, ViVi had plenty of time to enjoy her own show and flatter herself.

The deal she’d made with those two was simple: they could do whatever they wanted in the ring in exchange for buying her some time. Starboy was a fool for agreeing without putting a single condition in his favour. But then again, who cares now? she thought, sitting on one of the folding chairs backstage, legs crossed and tapping one foot as she counted the seconds, playing with the straw in her flask. Thinking about what to do with these 15 minutes.

The sensible thing would be to go to her dressing room, but she’d already practised her monologue a thousand times. Or she could stop leaving the lovely Galactic cake she’d left in a room until last and go and eat it now.

Her eyes lit up. That was a better idea.

The staff had already retrieved a black ribbon with pink diamonds for her. It was going to be a long night for this cosmic heroine. So, the pinkette sauntered through the corridors with her sway—the one she only does when she has a perfectly wicked idea in her head—which she held the ribbon behind her back.

ViVi was about to knock on the door when she reached the room, but instead, she simply bit her lip before opening it. After all, why should a woman like her announce her arrival? So, she just slipped inside.

“Hello~.” Her gaze sparkled with that viper-like glint. “I hope you’re not as battered as you looked on the cameras.”

The pinkette leaned against the door, pushing it shut with her bottom until it closed.

“Because, you see, we had a deal.” She said before bite her lip.

It was then that she held up two fingers, with that black ribbon dangling from them.

“Do you remember who your queen is?”

What she was going to do to Astra Nova wouldn’t be something the cameras would know about. Which was only fair. The deal for them to hand this girl over to her was that she wouldn’t be allowed to humiliate her like that in public. But they weren’t in public anymore.

[Jaystar]

Astra was watching intently at the TV screen, witnessing Starboy's performance in the ring she had just occupied herself first-hand... Or perhaps a more accurate description would have been the performance of the cyan-haired girls at Starboy's expense. It was obvious that alone, he was no match for them... And most likely, his fate was to be plaything for them to toy with.

The Interstellar Heroine could only hope that her own performance against ViVi had look at least a little better than that... And that the performance of the LAW heroes in this pub tonight wouldn't get overly tarnished by her own failure to defeat the villainess.

Speaking of the villainess, suddenly, Astra could hear a "Hello" from behind her... Getting startled, the blonde quickly turned around to see the villainous Viper having entered the room. And the pinkette immediately went on to comment on how battered Astra had looked on the cameras... Something that immediately caused her to blush. Had she simply looked like a ragdoll in ViVi's hands...?

The heroine didn't have much time to think that though before the Heartbreaker Queen's hips pushed the door shut, and the pinkette's sultry yet deceptively strong form began approaching her. Astra's body tensed up and retreated a little onto the bed, eventually adopting a stance on her knees in the middle of it, as ViVi had stated her words, and was dangling a ribbon in front of her.

Of course, Astra could guess, that she probably had now some... Duties, that she had technically accepted before. Or, that she had been forced to accept along with her defeat...

But after having gotten some check-ups, and a moment to rest in the lavish bedroom? Perhaps she wasn't still quite as keen to follow ViVi's orders, as she maybe should have been in her position...

"And what makes you think that I would be battered enough to accept your devious deals, and go down without a fight? You evil she-devil..."

Maybe Astra's defiant attitude would come as a surprise to ViVi... And honestly, it did also come as a surprise to the blonde herself. But it was just something about this setting, something about being alone with this super sexy and strong villainess ViVi in private, on top of a lavish bed... That was suddenly firing up the heroine's fighting instincts again. Even if any continued battle would have more than likely turned out to be inevitably futile for her in the Viper's Den...

[Hagen-Autem]

ViVi’s eyes widened for a moment. She hadn’t expected this girl to put up such a challenge. However, rather than ruining her little fantasy, something about it struck her as… fascinating.

“She-devil.”

Could it be that Astra Nova wanted to play the heroine opposite her villain? Because that was a role ViVi could play very well.

Her eyes rolled as she feigned thought, whilst the rope disappeared behind her. She’d start by unfurling a length of it to fashion a lasso, assuming Astra Nova wouldn’t see it coming while ViVi was approaching the bed, invading the defeated wrestler’s little refuge

Also, the Pink Viper She arched her back, accentuating her smooth, flat stomach through the open front of her unbuttoned pub jacket. A classic distraction on her part.

Muttering to herself as she plotted, the pinkette finally spoke in that characteristically Machiavellian tone of hers, when she reached the edge of the bed, drawing out every syllable like a Red Queen about to devour the heart of an unsuspecting victim.

“Oh, little heroine.” Her eyes gleamed once more in the shadows of the room, capturing Astra’s gaze. “Are you going to resist me?”

And the moment she said it, she barely gave Astra a chance to answer. She flung the lasso towards Astra Nova’s neck and, if it found its mark, would immediately yank it tight around her slender throat, pulling her forward whilst simultaneously raising one leg and propping it against the bed frame.

Her foot came to rest in the space between Astra’s knees, dangerously close to her most intimate area.

The pull of the lasso would force Astra’s chest against ViVi’s leg. And, naturally, the queen would tug again once the blonde realised just how close she was to that seductive, gleaming length of skin. Forcing Astra to look up at her as though she were a pet and ViVi her owner.

“Are you going to talk to me like that?” She leaned closer, their noses almost brushing. “Do you want me mindbreaking you like I did in the ring?” she murmured in that unmistakably domineering tone of hers. "Because I can, but I’ll be gentler with you. Hmhm..."