Carmen Rodriguez vs. Black Dragon - Through the Fire

Carmen grunted as she was denied the satisfying impact she wanted, feeling it all go to waste as Black Dragon blocked the blow. That would have been annoying enough, but he couldn't just settle for being a pain in the ass, could he? No, he had to be a capable pain in the ass.

She tried to steel herself as their bodies collided, but he had the weight and he had the power on his side. It was just a matter of physics - he smacked into her and down she went, landing hard on her back with her arms flopping out. It wasn't all that painful, but it was embarrasing, and it put Carmen in a bad position. At the mercy of the merciless.

The man looked down at Carmen with a sinister glare. It wasn't the most efficient way to hurt an opponent, but it certainly had looked menacing. That's really all he had wanted to do from the start of the match. Intimidate. It wasn't enough just to win for him.

He picked up both of Carmen's legs, spread them lightly and then stomped down onto her abdomen with his right foot.

For a moment, as Black Dragon spread Carmen's legs wide open, she thought he'd go for a low blow. She should have known better - he wasn't going to risk getting the referee involved. No, he wanted this to last as long as possible, and DQs didn't fit into that equation.

Carmen croaked as his foot sunk deep into her gut and crushed her abs for a hot moment. It was all she could do to try and roll away from him and get to her stomach while she nursed her midsection, hoping she could turtle up long enough to make a small recovery. Not likely, but worth the chance.

Army, on the other hand, almost wished Dragon had gone for a cheap shot. "Give me a reason, motherfucker." He pummeled his palm and glared through the ropes. "Just one reason..."

The referee girl gave Dragon a look that warned him to keep the match clean. He brushed it off without a second thought. It wasn't his first rodeo after all. He had Carmen down and had every intention of keeping her grounded where her speed and quickness couldn't help her.

The interjection by her brother though, got him curious. "One reason for what?" he called back to the man. The input gave him an idea of what to do next. He grabbed Carmen by the hair and tossed her the short distance to the ropes where Army was. The referee shook her head and shouted not to hair pull but he just raised his hands up like he didn't mean it.

"Come on, what are you gonna do?" he mocked Army as he dragged Carmen's head to the bottom rope where she'd be facing her brother. He then placed her neck first onto the rope and pressed his knee into her back with the full weight of his body while holding the second rope for balance. "What CAN you do?" he shouted at the man, though the taunt could surely have applied to Carmen as well.

Army would have liked to do a lot of things. He would have been fine with jumping in the ring and beating Black Dragon to the point where he didn't need a mask anymore to hide his identity. He would even be okay with hitting the jerk upside the head with a chair - people already treated him like he was a heel, he might as well get the benefits out of it.

But he and Carmen made a deal when they started this and agreed to come out to each other's matches: as long as things stayed clean, they wouldn't interfere. No matter what. The only thing their family held sacred besides the Bible was the ring, and while Carmen didn't give a crap about the former anymore, she would never forgive him for breaking the sanctity of the latter.

So, for now, his hands were tied. For now. "Wait until the bell rings, asshole." He stared up at Dragon before looking back at Carmen - she was struggling, but even through the pain, she managed to nod. "Just wait."

Black Dragon's weight pressed hard into Carmen's back, but she kept up the struggle as best as she could. It wouldn't get  her out, but pushing on the ropes would alleviate at least some of the pressure, buy her sometime while the referee counted. She shook her head from side to side, wheezing and sucking in as much air as she could.

Dragon leaned his weight as hard as he could against Carmen. The referee quickly counted up, and the man released her right after she got to four. He backed off for a second, his hands up as the ref warned him again to stay off the dirty tactics. He merely grinned under his mask.

Still in control, Dragon reached down and gripped tightly onto Carmen's right ankle. He then lifted her foot up to his height with his strength and then threw it back down to the mat.

Counts. Carmen was thankful for the counts. She was sure Black Dragon would have held it for much longer if he had the chance, perfectly content to just sit there and suck the life out of her while her brother watched.

She wasn't surprised when he immediately followed up, but just because she saw it coming didn't mean she could stop it. She wiggled about and tried to pulled her leg away as he lifted it up, but she couldn't manage it in time. Down it went. Right on her kneee.

Carmen clenched her teeth and growled as she rolled over on her back, clutching her knee with both hands and pulling her leg up. That blow seemed to take the pain through her entire leg, so much that simply standing would be agony from then on.

The man seemed to slow the speed of the match slightly, enjoying the drop of pace. He knew Carmen could only put up so much of her strength when grounded like she was. He took a step back away and crouched over as if stalking her. "Get up," he demanded of her. "Get up and fight me," he repeated while gesturing his hands towards himself.

He looked at Army for a second, that same smug grin on his face, before looking back to Carmen and waiting to see what she would do.

The crowd was behind Carmen. Army was behind her. They were all cheering her on - some were genuine fans that she'd picked up over the year, some were people who just wanted to see someone slay Black Dragon and give the cocky asshole the beating he seemed to be begging for.

Unfortunately, cheers didn't have the magical ability to make her leg hurt any less, and it was still rough going as she made her way back up. Having him look on with that smug, satisfied look on his face just made it hurt worse, somehow. Head games. Always head games, with this one.

She brushed it off and stood up, then moved towards him with all the speed her hurting leg would allow. She brought her hands up as she moved towards him, looking like she was going to try for another tie up, but she dropped at the last moment and fired a right cross toward his stomach, going low and aiming for the same spot she'd hit with the uppercut at the start.

Dragon had to admit, Carmen had heart. Even in pain and struggling to move the woman didn't give up. She approached him and he readied to tie up with her. The woman slipped down at the last second and punched him hard in the stomach. He groaned from the sudden punch but wasn't very tired or sore from the match thus far and managed to ignore the pain long enough to retaliate to the woman.

Instead of trying to punch her back, the man reached out and gripped Carmen by the shoulder and hair and swung around. Using the momentum and strength, he hurled Carmen across the ring before taking another moment to breath and stalk her.