Darknet Cage Match: Sortz vs Amea Virou

[Jerec Asyr]

[SIZE=11pt]Deep in Sith Empire territory, the government controls the HoloNet with an iron fist. But outside Imperial monitoring, a patchy, furtive network swaps unregulated data, raw footage, contraband, and things that thrive in the dark. Two of those things are the Darknet Cage Match, and the betting attached thereunto.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]No Force. No weapons. No gimmicks, no gear. And no referees.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Tonight’s match: The Outer Rim spacers [member="Sortz"] and [member="Amea Virou"]. The winner of this first-round fight will get a purse of twenty thousand credits.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The arena is a square cage ten paces wide. The wire-fence walls have plenty of give but won’t break. The floor is a quarter inch of bloody sand over permacrete, offering both traction and treachery.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A light goes yellow, orange, red -- and stays red.[/SIZE]

 

[Sortz]

Sortz hadn't exactly signed up for this.

So it was pretty much part for the course for her.

"Hey, honey, you're up next."

"Um. What?"

"You're up sugar horns. Damn you just keep going don't you? Bet you don't even carry around weapons."

"No, I do not as it happens-"

"Good, now, you know the rules-"

"I do?"

"No weapons. No force. No ref. No rules."

"But those sound like rules?

"Cute. What's your name?"
"Uh, Sortz."

"Perfect. I love it. Get your green arse in there."

"But I-"

And that was how Sortz ended up squinting into the lights opposite a much smaller female human. The Tro'zet looked up and around, but she couldn't really see much outside of the cage due to the glare.

"I think there's been a mistaaaaaaake," she calls, but no one answers. "Um. Hi. So apparently we're supposed to fight, and I'm not sure if that's an entirely appropriate match up, as you can see-"

[member="Amea Virou"]

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Sortz"]​

Runi had talked her into this somehow. It was a Darknet fight so perhaps that didn’t say too much for the average person. Amea found herself pacing back and forth, practicing her punches and kicks as her nerves began to tense up inside. She had kicked and punched several people before, sometimes for good reason and sometimes not, but she had never felt this tension before. Performance anxiety? While she saw no reason she would feel such a thing it was the most likely culprit.

Working up a sweat and warming up Amea paced around the room before she was told to step up to the scene. The lights were blinding, the crowds unbearably loud. Her hands tensed up inside the bandages that clung to her skin to offer protection, her ponytail swung against the exposed back of her tank top, and the rest… Well, pointless character descriptors aside the moment was getting more and more tense for each moment that passed. In front of the bright lights she saw the hulking shape of her opponent, nearly twice her height give or take.

Yet…

“Um. Hi. So apparently we’re supposed to fight, and I’m not sure if that’s an entirely appropriate match up, as you can see-”

Amea blinked for a moment, taken aback by what her opponent said. On one hand, big hulking fighter. On the other hand, innocent sounding and unprepared. As much as Amea wanted to do the right thing and call the fight off she knew that there would be no such thing. This fight wasn’t about the money, but it was a fight nonetheless and bailing at this point would just affect them both equally horrible.

There was just the one thing they could do, and it was the most obvious one at that. Fight.

“Roll with it.” Amea said as she went straight for the stomach to bring Sortz down to her size. A small whisper parted her lips, a small consolation that most likely didn’t mean anything. “You okay?”

 

[Sortz]

On more than one occasion, Sortz had been the muscle for [member="Daro Tarsi"] or [member="Dash Kessler"]. She hadn't enjoyed it, but it hadn't been hard. Heck, she'd been good at it. And there had been the cage match, trying to find out, well, anything about herself, when she had met [member="Kole Harper"]. She'd been.... hard.... then. She'd hated every moment of it. Her opponent had refused to stay down and in the end she'd hurt him. And for what? For information that had led her nowhere in the end. Even if it had brought her something useful, would it have been worth it? Sortz didn't know for sure, but she suspected not.

Her eyebrows went up at the response. The words. Not the punch.

Oh. Roll with it. She could do that.

When Amea's fist hit her abdomen? She leaned over with a whoosh of air. But to the other woman it would feel more like hitting a frozen slab of meat.

"Oh yes, it was a very good punch," Sortz assured her quietly. Not in the slightest winded. She wanted the smaller woman to feel like she was doing well.

Of course that meant it was her turn didn't it? Punch her? That seemed wrong. She didn't want to break anything. Instead she shoved her back, palm straight to her face. She pulled her strength as best she could, but while she'd cracked skulls several times before, Sortz didn't really have a lot of practice in the middle areas. Just enough to accomplish something that looked realistic without actually sending her through the fence. There wasn't a lot of fine control- it was usually either all or nothing. So she had no idea in truth just how hard she shoved her back.

[member="Amea Virou"]

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Sortz"]

Okay, okay Amea could deal with this. Her hand impacted against the other woman’s skin with barely any results. On the bright side that meant Amea could use a bit more strength behind her hits. On the down side, Amea didn’t want to hit the other woman to begin with. Had this been a deathmatch to the — well, death — she would have been in her zone, but the second she understood that she had come into contact with the hulking woman in front of her Amea knew that this deathmatch had just turned into something more reminiscent to a broadcast of Corellian Wrestling. It didn’t make things easier, in the end one of them had to win, but it made it just the fight a smidgen more entertaining.

A great, big firm hand pushed onto Amea’s face and for the sake of drama she ran with the hits. As the force came her way she stumbled backwards and landed on her back before she rolled back and onto her feet again with a little bit more flare than she perhaps should have added.

“Not bad.” She said and spat on the floor. “Not bad at all.”

With a charge towards Sortz she swept for the legs trying to knock the other woman off her feet and make her go off-balance. She’d hoped to follow it up and try to push her away and return the favor, but the size difference between the two probably said something about that. Regardless, it was worth a shot.

“It’s an act, I am horribly sorry for this.” Amea whispered mid-kick and attempted shove. “Feel free to punch me however hard you want. Trust me, I’ve taken my fair share of beatings before.”

 

[Sortz]

[member="Amea Virou"]

Sortz had no idea that Amea had exagerated the fall. She was used to casually breaking things because they were more delicate than her frame could handle, so she just assumed this was more of the same. So when Amea fell back, Sortz winced and mentally used that as some kind of calibration.

Less hard than that moving forward. Got it.

One thing that Amea certainly had on Sortz (besides a willingness to go all in), was speed. Even if Sortz had tried, she couldn't have avoided the swift charge and kick. As it was, she was a little surprised by it. Oh, she'd had her fair share of brawls but that was primarily bar or enforcing moments. Not the same as fighting someone who actually knew what they were doing. While it might take a lot to hurt Sortz? It didn't take that much to set her off balance. It certainly didn't hurt that she was tall and top heavy.

"Uh what-"

Genuine confusion right before the green mountain went over and down onto the sand. She dropped with an *ooph*, both arms slapping out to absorb some of the impact.

Punch her as hard as she wanted?

Sortz didn't really want to punch her at all.

It was like wrestling with a toddler. An oddly apologetic toddler. She didn't really want to hurt her, but she also didn't really want to keep getting hit herself. It didn't really hurt that much but it wasn't fun either. Laying flat on her back on the ground she reached out with both hands, intent on grabbing the other woman in an attempt to pin both of her arms to her side. If it worked, she sit up and hoist her above her head in a two handed grip as she stood up.

Give herself some time to figure out what she was going to do from here.

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Sortz"]

Crap, it was time to make a gamble. This fight so far was far from as lively as it could have been. The crowd’s cheers were still roaring but it was easy enough to see that perhaps both fighters were holding themselves back on account of something they were not aware of. Amea felt the pressure mount up inside. She wouldn’t punch someone who hadn’t asked for it or done anything to warrant it, or seemingly stumbled upon a fight they had not even asked for. It went against her principles, what she knew to be right and it made her far more hesitant than she’d have hoped. This act, fake as it was, was just that.

As the big green hulk grabbed her arms Amea felt her heart sink. This was exactly the kind of situation she had hoped not to get put in. Her arms could be torn off, she could have them crushed… A lot could go wrong but she gave the other combatant just enough faith to hope they weren’t about to tear anything too vital away.

She as lifted off the ground and Amea began to struggle what was at initially a play. Then the strength of Sortz was made known and Amea knew that she was held at the other’s mercy. The grasp around her arms was firm, solid, enough to make the brunette unable to really move or break herself free.

This was… Bad. Very, very bad.

 

[Sortz]

With Amea held above her head, arms pinioned at her sides, Sortz looked around, feet shuffling slightly as she turned a quarter turn left. A quarter turn right.

Hrm.

If this was a fight where Sortz was trying to take the other person out, she'd just throw her into the side of the cage. If she were trying to hurt her, she'd slam dunk her into the ground- that thought came out of nowhere and left Sortz blinking. She had never done anything of the sort, but the thought and the associated subconscious memory-feel felt like something she had done in the past. Something from before the implant had been put into her head? It wasn't the first time that had happened- the last time had been in a fighting ring as well, again in a fight that she hadn't really wanted. The only two times something that had felt anything like a memory from before that veil had occurred.

She didn't like what that said about Sortz before.

The Tro'zet frowned, the expression tugging at her tusks slightly.

Looking around, she spotted a place where the cage wire had been damaged- just about head height for her. Walking over she brought Amea down- hooking the back of her shirt there. Making sure it would hold and then letting go.

There. Perfectly safe.

[member="Amea Virou"]

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Sortz"]

It was like watching a silent prayer work. Amea found that the gentle giant placed her with her shirt pinned to the cage without any greater amount of damage to herself or the bones residing therein. Bruises from the grapple, undoubtedly, but the rest perfectly fine.

As the fabric of her shirt piled onto the small hook that she hung from, and along with her legs flailing for the ground, Amea felt herself begin to pull down towards the floor. Before too long the sound of her shirt ripping sounded through the cage and Amea hit the ground with a quiet thud. Her eyes set on her opponent, her intent as uncertain as it always had been since the start of this fight. It was hard to hurt this person, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.

Amea dashed off towards Sortz with a grunt and a growl, but as she grew closer she did not go high, she went low. Slip between the legs and get at the back. Sortz had already proven she could take a beating and Amea did in reality hope to all that was holy that she did not anger the hulk any further. If successful, if she managed to at the very least get through Sortz’ guard, Amea could try and get Sortz to the ground and hopefully keep her there.

And just this once there was no talk.

It would be too apparent that Amea was working with her opponent rather than against her at this point.

 

[Sortz]

Sortz looked genuinely distressed when the cage bent and didn't hold her safely out of the way.

"Well now, we should-"

But the Tro'zet was left blinking as the smaller woman slid. Too fast- and Sortz was certainly NOT fast. Not in the slightest. By the time she'd realized what had happened, and had started turning around, it was already too late. Funny thing about going after the back of the legs is that even the biggest, strongest person could be put down with the right spot and leverage, and Sortz was no exception.

With a particularly inelegant flail, she ended up face first in the sand. One hand pushed herself up, spitting the sand out of her mouth and blinking it out of her eyes, but the other flailed, reaching back, trying to grab Amea and keep her STILL for goodness sakes if she could.

[member="Amea Virou"]

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Sortz"]

Okay, that had worked. As Amea’s kick pushed the giant over she felt a content smile spread on her lips, but that hardly lasted at all before she found herself out of balance and in a grab again. Say what you would, the hulk had a pretty damn impressive reach.

With another heavy, uncontrolled, thud Amea found herself on the ground dazed and confused for a second as Sortz once again held her at mercy.

Yet it was hard to deny Amea was enjoying this. As far as fights were concerned she’d had several much worse ones.