Beat It

Army was excited. A rare sort of excited, the kind he hadn't had since he was young enough to care about presents on Christmas morning. He'd been in the AFW a good while now, and he'd done quite a lot of things, but even through it all there was one importnat thing he'd yet to try. That was changing today.

His first promo. Fucking finally.

He'd wanted to do one for a while now, but never really had a good reason to. Now, he did. After his little run in with SEME, he’d been itching to get in the ring for a rematch with Ryuunosuke or a shot at the scruffy looking jackass who gave him a cheap shot, and today was his chance. It had taken him a little while to get a promo spot on the Tension show, but after much bitching, it went through.

Army’s music started up and he came out from behind the curtain soon after, one fist raised high in the air while the other tightly gripped a microphone. The crowd gave him a warm greeting as he made his way down to the ring, knowing what he was here for and what it likely meant - a fight was about to go down. You could tell that from his attire - he was wearing a black DBZ t-shirt, but he had on his red and black boxing trunks and his matching boots, not to mention the tape around his fists. He was ready for action.

”Hello, Kyoto!” He called out as he made his way into the ring, jumping over the top rope and bouncing to the center of the ring. ”Well! Y’all seem fired up about something today, wonder what that could be…” He rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment, then lifted up a finger. ”Oh, right, this!”

He pointed towards the big screen as some highlights from his last match. The brutal brawl, the way it broke down, the interference that kept Army from finishing the job. When it was over, he stood in the middle of the ring with his arms fold and his head shaking. ”I’m sorry you had to see that again, people. I know, it’s a hard thing to watch. See, where I come from, an unfinished fight is like a song without an ending - it just goes on and on and on. Unsatisfying. You guys pay to see a match end the right way, you put down your hard-earned money for a Tension ticket, and that’s what you get?”

Army slapped his chest and waved her hand across the audience. ”Fortunately for you all, I am fair man. And more importantly, I’m a healed man. And most importantly, I’m a man who’s looking for a fight!” The crowd began to get up and clap, feeding off the energy he was throwing their way. ”So, Ryuu!” He pointed towards the entrance. ”I know you’re here tonight. Why don’t you come on out, leave your two bitches in the back this time, and let me finish the ass-kicking I started, huh?”

After a riveting introduction like that, it was no wonder that all eyes were fixated on the jumbotron and eagerly awaiting the response. The screen went red and gradually zoomed out to an image of a billowing Japanese flag against a clear blue sky. Heavy spotlights came together and obscured the faces of the three wrestlers who emerged from backstage, but there wasn't a soul in the arena who didn't know who it was.

Lower lights that ran along the ramp lit up and revealed their coat-clad identities, raising another wave of cheers from the audience. As the activity died down, Mitsuru lifted a mic towards her lips and looked to Army with a smile.

"Nice to see you again, Armando. You say you're a fair man, a healed man, a man looking for a fight? Interesting choice of words for someone who continued to beat on a downed man, even after the referee called it." she began, looking out at the sea of indistinguishable faces. There were some oohs and aahs, but mostly people were wondering where she was going with this; Army had called Ryuu out, hadn't he?  "To paraphrase a Western cliche, you've messed with the bull, and now you're going to get the horns" she declared, raising her brows and looking across the crowd. She stepped forward and placed a hand confidently on her hip. "Fact of the matter is, you fought the least experienced of the three of us. You asked for a fight, and I'm going to give you one"

Army could appreciate some fanfare, sure, but SEME was taking it a bit too far. Taking too long. He was amped up, and he didn't much see the point - everyone knew who they were at this point, so why all the smoke and mirrors? Not to mention, he was feelling a little bit like a dick, fighting the hometown heroes.

But whatever. He bounced on his toes, back and forth, ready for another shot at Ryuunosuke. Or maybe Hikaru. Either one. Hell, both. He was in that sort of mood.

But what he got, instead, was neither, and it took him a moment to process what Mitsuru was saying. He thought she was just their manager or something. Like a valet, coming down to the ring and looking pretty for all the fans. Seemed not to be the case.

"You?" Army looked her up and down as his brow raised. After a moment, realization hit him. "Look, Mitsy," He held up his hand and sighed. "I get it, and you're hot and everything - little fru-fru for my tastes, but not bad. But I've got to turn you down. It's not you, it's me. Got a girlfriend now, so the hentai matches are just not happening.  If you'd come..." He paused and snickered for a moment, before straightening back up. "Sorry. If you'd arrived here a year earlier, sure, but now..."

A wave of snickers and laughs erupted from those with less-sophisticated senses of humor following Army's jokes. Hikaru was visibly annoyed, you could sense the anger on his face and in his body language, almost like he was vibrating. Ryuu on the other hand was calm as a clam, his neutral expression unchanged. And last but not least, Mitsuru seemed to be smiling in amusement, without an ounce of anger palpable within her.

"Cute rhetoric" Mitsuru replied unfazed. It wasn't big news that she wasn't going to be taken seriously because of her looks, but that kind of misogynism also always worked in her favor. "I'm not here to get your rocks off, Armando, but it's cute that you'd think I'd sink low enough to roll around in the mud and muck with you. I thought you were all about the no nonsense, straight up, no punches pulled fight....so it puzzles me why you're so opposed.

Though, you know, we all understand why you would be hesitant to agree, you've spent a better part of that year getting knocked on your ass if I recall?"

Without taking her eyes off of Army, she gestured behind her to the screen. Her own little highlight reel flickered to life, showing various clips from his most recent exploits up till his first, ending on a slo-mo of a brutal punch that ended up KO'ing Army in his debut cage match.

"You've built your Tension career on getting your ass kicked, so what's one more to a faux-face turned jobber like you?"

Army was being baited. He knew he was being baited. Mitsuru wasn’t being all that subtle about it, and he’d been in the game long enough to know it when he saw it. Mitsuru couldn’t have been more obvious about it if she were holding up a bright, neon sign that read: ‘I’m baiting you, dumbass.”

That didn’t mean it wouldn’t work, though. And, to her credit, the ‘highlight’ reel helped egg him on.

”Okay,” Army huffed and looked off to the side, making sure everyone knew how much he didn’t care about what was going on with the screen. Extra, extra sure. Because they needed to know, damn it. ”You want to play wrestler, we can do that. But one condition!”

He made his way over to the ropes and leaned over to point at the two male members of SEME. “Those two? Thing 1, Thing 2? Hit the back, go on, both of you. I don’t need to be taking cheap shots in the back when your boss bites off more than she can chew.”

Mitsuru licked her lips as Army grudgingly agreed to the match up. Whether he realized he was being baited or not was a mute point right now. "Don't you worry big boy, we aren't the cowards you might be used to with the likes of King's crew. You see, SEME is a team, but we fight our own battles. We play by the rules so long as the enemy does....but the first slip up and all bets are off."

Mitsuru glanced back and gave her teammates a nod as she began to slip out of her elegant white coat. Ryuu took the coat and draped it over his arm, nodding in understanding. Truth be told he would much rather be the one down there to settle the score, but if Mitsuru had a plan then he had to trust her. Hikaru was his expressive self and raised a hand to flick Army off as he grudgingly began to back off as well.

This left Mitsuru alone on the ramp, hands on her hips as she looked out over the anxious crowd. "Just you and me, Armando."