After Friday Night Clash 3, San Francisco, California
Valora groans and shakes her head. “The one fuckin’ time I don’t stick to my usual routine…” Abbigail Dresden raises an eyebrow. “You mean your paranoid insistence that whatever you drink never leave your sight for a second?” Valora turned and looked at her protege. “Paranoid? Paranoia keeps you alive kid. Also, tonight. I left my water bottle alone for two fuckin’ seconds and someone drugged it. Luckily, Walter Reagan is as incompetent as he is old.” Abbigail blinks. “He drugged you both and beat the shit out of you two.. Seems to me like he did a good job.”
Valora laughs a bit. “That’s because you’re a rookie kid. I’m a pro. And I don’t just mean a pro at wrestling.” Abbigail walked over to Valora, definitely interested in what her mentor was saying. “Got anything to add on that?” Valora nodded and slid down from the medical exam table she had been sitting on. “Plenty. But not here.” With that, Valora grabbed her hoodie and the two headed out of the medical area and made their way into the night..
Valora’s house, Los Angeles, California, The Day after Friday Night Clash:
Valora sits in her living room, drinking from her tequila. She wears her usual torn blue jeans, and black shirt with her name, face and Hardcore Icon names on it blood decorating the words Hardcore Icon. Over the t shirt, she wears a hoodie. Abbigail Dresden is there as well, wearing blue jeans and a generic UOW long sleeve shirt. Valora laughs a bit as she hears Abbigail arrive and walk in. “So. I assume you’re serious in wanting to know?” Abbigail nods. “Uhh yeah..” Valora nods.”Started long before I was in wrestling. I won’t bore you with all the details But bottom line is this… This is new to me. I’m not usually the heroine of the story..”
Abbigail nods. “I know. I remember watching you in one of the earlier points in your career. You and Kronin going to war with each other.” Valora smirks. “Yeah well.. Wrestling wasn’t my only income. I was.. Well there are a lot of words to describe it. Assassin, hitman, mechanic. I preferred… ‘problem solver’ Assassin and hitman well they imply murder, torture, things like that. Problem Solver encompasses so much more. Some years back, back in one of the feds I worked for a guy like Mudcock. Pay was good. He had problems… I made them go away. He made me champ and helped me keep the belt. For a brief period of time I even worked for Warhammer. I doubt Vastrix had any say in that department but I’m sure he has access to Allen Anderson’s files on me. That was less...willing but Anderson found a way to recruit me. Point is.. I’ve always been a ‘End justifies the means’ kinda gal. And my past… well that gives me special insights into the mistakes Walter Reagan made.”
Abbigail sits down and listens, not quite able to believe what she is hearing as she listens. “Wait… you… you killed people? For money?” Valora nods. “Sometimes. Sometimes it wasn’t for money. Sometimes.. Well sometimes a person just needs to be removed from the equation. I like to think of those as service to humanity killings.. In Medical school I focused on psychology. More specifically the divisions of psychology one would need to become the perfect crime fighter… or the perfect criminal. I learned some things about myself during those studies… made adjustments to deal with those discoveries. But I’m getting off topic. Point is this. Yeah for the short term, Walter Reagan didn’t do too bad. For an amatuer.”
Abbigail tilts her head to the side. “So? What would you have done?” Valora smirks. “Well, first off, drugging both of us was a mistake. It was obvious, everyone noticed. Then he comes out and ambushes both of us. Again, in plain view of the public. All Walter Reagan did was make Takuma Sato and I much more popular with the people, make his boss more hated, and now people will blame Walter and Mudcock for ruining their main event instead of blaming Sato and/or myself. Also, the way things unfolded this past event, it couldn’t have been more cliche if they named it ‘Friday Night Clash episode 3: Revenge of the Mudcock’ So.. anyways he cuts it, Mudcock lost big in San Francisco. Now, for your question in what I would do. I suppose there are a few options.” Valora says, taking a break to take a swig from her tequila.
“Basically, the mistake he made was drugging both of us. If he had just drugged me, he and Mudcock could blame the resulting scene on my well documented love of alcoholic beverages. If Walter decided to beat the crap out of me and I’m found backstage, Mudcock can create division in the locker room, I’m paranoid, it wouldn’t take much to frame another wrestler. Divide and conquer, every one..knows. Well apparently not everyone If he drugs Sato. The same result can be achieved. I have a well documented past of being willing to take shortcuts to ensure I win. Now Sato might take more convincing than I would to believe that I was behind it, but again.. Convincing him another wrestler did it. Not the hardest thing world to do. I suppose those are the two simplest solutions to the problem. If left to my own devices.. Results might vary depending on the situation.”
Abbigail pauses a moment, obviously torn. It doesn’t take an expert in body language or a close friend of Valora’s to see she is seething. She clears her throat and nods. “Alright.. Well stupid idea… you mentioned you worked with guys like Mudcock before… why make it hard on yourself by fighting a war? He seems to be a businessman, surely he can see the money here.”
Valora smirks. “Heh.. well that mentality is exactly what got me working as the problem solver for guys like Mudcock. For evil inc. aka Warhammer corporation. Mudcock isn’t a businessman. He a propagandist. He has money. UOW could go bankrupt, Mox news would never speak of it again and it would be relegated to arcane trivia knowledge right next to say.. A certain professional football league that went from the Next big thing to ‘The Pro Sports failure that must not be named.’ Bottom line is there is no deal to be made.. McStrump declared war when he said Mexicans were ‘Thieves, Rapists, and Murderers.’ He declared war on hispanics when he refused to aid American Citizens in Puerto Rico by criticizing a mayor trying desperately to keep her fucking people from dying. You know, Abs… Fidel Castro in Cuba used to mock Puerto Rico. He called them a colony of the American Empire. That America was no different from the Spanish. Another foreign power that would take and take and take and give nothing back. McStrump proved Castro right with how he has handled Puerto Rico’s recovery from the Hurricane. I.C.E. used be a sort of Jekyll and Hyde situation.. On one hand, the Border patrol would aid refugees.. Give them food, water, blankets, medical care.. And deal with them from there. McStrump doesn’t want that. He built his wall and put men with guns on that wall. He wants to deport everyone with brown skin. Shit anyone who isn’t white. Like I said, the definition will continue to narrow. It has to. There always needs to be an enemy to distract the people from how bad the dictator is fucking them over.”
Abbigail looks over her mentor and nodded as she thought. The personal emotion within her was obvious. Truth be told, she relished these moments. Ever since she had first seen Valora perform in Chicago. Saw the way Valora fearlessly stood up to the status quo. Abbigail was a novice to Professional fighting it’s true. But she knew a little. She knew that by the numbers Valora should never have been able to succeed in Wrestling. She was a woman. And a Mexican. In American pro wrestling, Women were seen for sex appeal and while Valora was certainly an attractive woman, she wasn’t the typical bubbly bimbo type to run around the ring in a pillow fight, or engage in mud wrestling in a bikini, or indulging other male fantasies to make money. She was a fighter. Mexicans by and large were used as comic relief. Not taken seriously. Valora had 2 major strikes against her and had succeeded. She had inspired Abbigail to track her down. That hadn’t taken much effort. The effort came in trying to convince Valora to take her on. Valora was not initially interested in training a wrestler. That brought up a question. She laid back on the couch in the room, positioning herself so that she was upside down, looking at Valora who was still drinking from her tequila. “You know.. You don’t seem to have many close people. I mean… you. Tara. Samantha. Me. That seems to be about it. No family?”
Valora smirks. “Mom died. Cancer. She wanted to me to play soccer. I was good. Good enough to get a scholarship to USC. Made mom happy. Local college. She could visit. Check in on me, make sure her little girl was alright. Watch me play. I made a promise. That I would do whatever I had to to give her a good life. To get her out her shit ass job.” Abbigail interrupted here. “What’d she do?” Valora smirked and took another drink. “At one time.. She worked in the American Embassy in Mexico City. Her job was a translator. She also taught American Diplomats and federal agents Spanish, taught them who the power players in Mexico were. Who the bad elements were. The criminals, the corrupt officials. Also the little things.” Abbigail nodded. “What about your father?” Valora’s expression darkened a bit. “Don’t remember much about Dad. But I did some research on him. His record is very well covered. Covered to the point I believe he worked for a Government. I’m told he’s dead. I’ve visited his grave. But I’m not sure I believe that. So if he’s still out there.. He’d be mostly what counts as family. I have a twin sister but she is.. Well let’s just say I don’t need to worry about her at the moment. But yeah… I keep my group small because the more connections you have, the easier a target you are.”
The conversation was about to continue as it was clear Valora was just getting started on a point but both women were interrupted by the door opening and Samantha walking in. Valora smirks. “So who am I defending the title against this week?” Samantha, surprisingly, did not look at Valora first, she instead looked at Abbigail. “This week the big match is a tag team title match. Takuma Sato and Vendredi vs. Valora and Abbigail vs. Kronin and Davey boy O’Brien vs. Abishag and Vastrix.”
Valora scoffs. “So Abs and I against Sato and Vendredi, basically?” Abbigail blinks. “Writing off two other teams?” Valora nods. “I’d be worried if it were Kronin and his twin sister. Shit, knowing how twins are… I’d probably be the closest I’ve ever come to being scared. Abishag hates pretty much everyone and Vastrix is definitely the type of person he can’t stand. They have no chance. Now, tell me why you’re worried about Kronin’s team..” Valora said, giving her protege a chance to shine.
Abbigail thought for a moment. “Diversity of Styles.. Thunder and Lightning.. Forget how you say that in German but Kronin is a big, powerful fighter and for someone as big as he is, he has scary athletic ability and he’s a veteran. He seems smart too… like you, he always seems to have a plan and I’ve never seen him panic.Davey Boy has one match.. Lot of unknowns about him, hard to scout.. Is willing to work with Kronin as he came out to try and help him.”
Valora nods “my German is rusty so I’ll let someone else handle that. Good observations but in tag team wrestling knowing your partner is just as important as knowing your opponent. You need to know when your partner is hurting. When they’re in trouble. You need to know when to let them fight out of trouble and when they need help so bad you need to get in there and risk distracting the ref. You need to know what your partner can and can not do to get a decent gameplan together.” Abbigail nods and cuts in. “But 4 teams? You always said multi-fighter matches were chaotic and anyone can come out.”
Valora nods. “True. I guess it will mainly depend on what setup our fascist boss has in mind.” Abbigail blinked. “What do you mean?” Valora smirks. “Easiest way to handle a match like this is only 2 fighters are ‘legal’ at any time. Say Kronin and I start off. I get in trouble. Abishag tags me. Now he’s in the match and we’re out. In that set up the trick is to measure resting with staying in the match to have a chance to win. Another way is one fighter from each team. Then you have rules. Is it first pinfall wins? Elimination?” She says looking at Samantha who shrugs. “World Tag Team Title match. That is what I was told then told who was taking part.” Valora nods. “So first pinfall wins. Alright, come on kid.. We need to get training and get ready to kick some ass.”
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