Lorenza Saldano vs. Carmen Rodriguez - ¡Guerra!

If Carmen wasn't rapidly running out of breath, she might have laughed when the spit hit Lorenza's face and she hissed back. It was hardly the first and only instance of them swapping bodily fluids. Carmen's caramel skin was a mangled mess, dripping with blood, and she knew it wasn't all hers. When this was over and she was looking at the playbacks, she'd have a fun little time trying to keep track of it all.

For now, though, she had to focus on staying awake, and with all the damage her head took from Lorenza's retaliatory headbutt, that was getting harder and harder. She had a concussion now, no question, and her head was starting to feel light, like her mind was just slipping away...fading...

No. No. Not like that.

Carmen pressed her forehead into Lorenza's, staring her hard in the eyes her teeth snapped shut. "Go. Down." She let out a guttural growl and started pushing with all she had left to push with, making a hard drive for the door they'd come in through.

Lorenza was concussed, too—if she hadnâ€t been by those first few headbutts, or even earlier in the match, then she certainly was when they both headbutted the other at the same time, their skulls slamming together with a sickening crack. That impact certainly rattled both of their brains around in their heads, and, for a second, Lorenza would sway backwards, eyes unfocused, as she almost fell down again—this time, perhaps, for good, considering how disoriented she was.

But this wasnâ€t the end. No, Lorenza wouldnâ€t let it be the end, and there would be fire in her eyes when they refocused on Carmenâ€s bloody face. She would gladly assume their favorite position, a position they had found themselves in time and time again as they challenged each other for supremacy: forehead to forehead. Lorenza stared into Carmenâ€s eyes, and felt as if she could see into her rivalâ€s soul. Maybe that was the concussion talking.

“No,” Lorenza growled in reply, as Carmen started pushing on her. Lorenza would stumble back a few steps, but then would try to turn around a little bit so that she was not pushed backwards out of the door, but both of them would stumble through it together. Once they were out on the small balcony, above the staircase, Lorenza would pull back from Carmen and would throw a thunderous right hook with the last bit of her strength. She wanted to knock Carmen silly, to set her up for the coup de gras…

Somewhere, dangling around the back of her head, Carmen realized just how precarious a position this was, as they moved to the balcony. Close to a certainly nasty spill. For a split second, she thought about pulling away...but the moment passed. This fight was a like a force of nature, now. She simply could not stop.

Even in her haze, she could see Lorenza's hook coming. Not because it was particularly predictable, but because she was so used to it that she could almost sense the damn thing. Normally she would have blocked it or dodged it or countered it or done anything but take it right on the chin, but she didn't have the energy for any of that. No, all she had left was one, good punch. It would have to be enough.

As she launched her right hook, Carmen shot out with one of her own, going right for Lorenza's jaw. Carmen couldn't be sure how well it landed - when Lorenza's hook connected, her entire world became nothing but pure pain. Her head started to roll about as she stumbled, reaching to Lorenza for anything to hold on to.

Lorenzaâ€s final punch landed powerfully on Carmenâ€s chin, but Lorenza didnâ€t have any time to celebrate a blow well-landed. She was hit at the same time, by a punch which she probably should have known was coming. Her world went dark for a second, and then the next second it was consumed by a bright, pulsating light, before that finally faded back to a very blurry, very inconsistent view of Carmen. The Tijuana Tigress was seeing stars, but she was still on her feet. She stumbled, first into Carmen, then to her left, heading who knew where. She was no longer in control of her feet.

“Nnnnfh…” Lorenza grunted wordlessly, as she would try to grab onto Carmen, finding the Puerto Ricanâ€s head and trying to get a good grip on it, pulling the other boxer close. She felt Carmen reaching for her, as well, her rivalâ€s hands finding her face and shoulder as they both reeled from the otherâ€s final punch, stumbling around in a very dangerous spot…

Carmen still had enough sense about her to panic when she felt her foot slip off the first step, realizing she was going down - it was just a matter of how pretty she was at the end of it. Her body went on autopilot, holding fast onto anything and everything it could find, and in this case, that was only Lorenza. It was time to take a tumble.

Carmen tucked herself into a ball as they fell down the stairs, hoping that might lessen the damage, keep her neck from being snapped on the way. That seemed to work, but it was still a painful ride, as the stone steps slammed into her shoulder, her back, her sides, and probably something else that she was too numb to feel. She spilled out at the bottom, flopping down on her chest as she came to a sliding stop, her face rubbing against the floor for a final insult.

"Ugh." She groaned, slowly writhing about on the floor. She started to try and push up, only to realize she couldn't even move one of her arms for the effort. Stupid thing was dislocated. "Fuck. Jesus fuck, that was stupid."
"

A sense of fear gripped Lorenza as well as she felt herself teetering on the edge of the staircase, about to go over. She didnâ€t realize she was going down until it was far too late to stop it. She was going to crash down one long flight of stairs. She would grab Carmen tightly, pulling the two of them very close together as they fell, tucking herself into her rival so as to avoid any major damage. It wasnâ€t the first time Lorenza had fallen down a flight of stairs. It had happened to her as a child at least half a dozen times. But these stairs were cement, and every impact hurt like a little bitch as they tumbled down to the first floor.

As they hit the first floor, Carmen and Lorenza broke apart, and Lorenza would slam down into the dusty cement on her side, her arm landing underneath her. She felt a crack, or a pop, or maybe both in that arm. She couldnâ€t really be sure, as there were about a dozen other points on her body which felt like they had cracked or popped in some way, as well, and she wasnâ€t going to bother trying to differentiate one sensation from the other. It was all simply pain, and it hurt like hell.

She fell over onto her chest, breathing heavily, trying to move but finding that her body wasnâ€t very interested in obeying her. “Fuck…” Lorenza growled, as she would kick one leg weakly. She looked over to Carmen, who seemed to be in a similar predicament. “It was completely fucking stupid…you okay over there?”

Moving her arm hurt. Breathing hurt. Turning her neck hurt. Even blinking seemed to hurt. Carmen was awash with pain, and it wasn't going to get any better anytime soon. It seemed like another hospital stay was in order, and this time she'd probably need a little surgery to back it up. So she had that to look forward to. Yay.

"Not gonna lie, Saldano. Had better days." She chuckled and craned her neck up, giving herself a look over. "Holy shit, there's a bone sticking out of my leg. Oh, that's just...wow. Carmen let her head fall back. "So glad I can't feel that."

She sagged and rolled her head to the side. "Think that's a draw. Unless you want a staring contest." Carmen glared hard at Lorenza, looking her deep in the eyes.

Lorenza kept groaning, the low sound pretty much never stopping, except when she needed to take a breath. Her whole body was either numb or in tremendous pain, with some areas phasing in and out of both sensations.

Hearing what Carmen had to say about her leg, Lorenza would try to turn her head over her shoulder to look, but found that she was far too stiff to be able to. She hoped Carmen was exaggerating. She had to be, the Mexican boxer figured—but even if she was, a broken leg, regardless of whether the bone broke the skin, wasnâ€t something to be happy about. “Holy shit,” Lorenza repeated. “I think somethingâ€s wrong with mine, too. But…ow, ow, ow. Fuck. Fuck.” A terrible burning sensation suddenly blossomed in Lorenzaâ€s hip, and she cringed, wiggling her leg a little to try to get it to go away. It didnâ€t, not entirely, but it did subside.

She turned her head to look at Carmen. “Yeah…we can pick this up again once I can feel the lower half of my body,” Lorenza would say, staring back into Carmenâ€s eyes. “Maybe. Good match, hermana.”

Carmen glanced at one of the cameras, then to another, then another. They were all zooming in on her and Lorenza, focusing on their prone and battered bodies, controlled by an off-site camera crew in a nearby van. It wouldn't be too long before the EMTs arrived and took them off. She might not be awake for it, but she was fairly sure she'd wake up in an emergency room.

"Yeah, don't move too much. Moving makes it worse." She laid her head back and closed her eyes, letting her weary body start to take her away. "Tempting as that is, I think I'm going to have to put off a rematch with you for a while. Other people want to beat the shit out of us, too, you know? We can't be greedy."

She managed to crank a smile out of her face. It hurt, too, but this movement was worth it. "Always a pleasure, Lorenza." She let out a long sigh, as darkness started to claim her and sweet, merciful sleep settled in. "See you on the..." Her voice faded into mumbles, and she was out.

Lorenza nodded. Or, at least, it started out as a nod, but she was not able to bring her head back up once her chin had touched the floor. Her muscles wouldnâ€t obey her, and so she decided that, if her head wanted to rest there so badly, she would let it. Her eyes rolled down slightly in her head as she listened to what Carmen had to say. It made sense. As much fun as it was to fight each other, the two of them should see other people—other opponents, that was.

“Yeah, yeah. Youâ€re right, Carmen. But no one will have the chance to beat the shit out of us for a while, you know. This is…a month or two in the hospital…at least…” She groaned loudly, as her whole body began to feel very heavy. Her eyelids would start to fall over her unfocused eyes. She, too, would manage to smile, though, seeing the corners of Carmenâ€s mouth turning upwards out of the corner of her eye. “Letâ€s talk again…when we wake up…whether thatâ€s here, or in the hospital, or in the pits of Hell…” With that, Lorenza would drift into a deep, completely exhausted sleep.