Strange Therapy

Behold, the Tension women's locker room. A fabled land, fraught with danger and mystery. Many a Tension man had been dragged into this dire and darkened room, lured in with honeyed promises and batting eyelashes, only to be torn apart by the insidious maidens within. But Army was no mere mortal. He was a warrior. And a warrior feared nothing, not even lands where angels didn't dare tread.

That was what Army pretended, thought to himself to help spice out of the time. It was just something to help take his mind off the fact that he was only in the Women's Locker room to clean the place. No steamy, hot liaisons with gorgeous and willing women. He was a janitor, at least for the moment, doing the job of getting the place nice and clean for the sexy women he was supposed to be facing in the ring. Not what he'd pictured himself doing when he left Puerto Rico all those months ago on his sister's heels. Sure, he did imagine himself in the women's locker room at some point, but the mop in his hands? That was distinctly not part of the dream.

He sighed as he worked his way back through the bathroom, trying his best to scrub out a particularly hard and mysteriously whitish stain near the shower curtains. He was working the day shift now, which meant he had to clean the place when it was more active and nastier. Less of the solitude than the late night shift, but less chance of Jackie sneaking up on him again, so that was a load off his mind. Not that it meant he was really safe from the tiny terror. With her, there was no such thing.

After she jumped him a few weeks back, it became more apparent than ever that she was completely out of her fucking mind, that she'd attack him whenever she wanted and do whatever she wanted if she thought she could get away with it. And so far, it was looking like there wasn't much to stand in her way when she put her psychotic mind to it.

He had to do something to stop her, he just couldn't imagine what. Another match would probably just end up in a worse beating than before, and even if he did manage to get a decent hit on her and win the match, it wouldn't change anything. Jackie was just not the sort of person to back off. Ever. So what was the plan?

"Fuck..." He laid the mop to the side and decided it was timing for a break, taking a seat on a nearby bench and fishing out a water bottle. Just a few more minutes and he'd be out of there. Then he'd have the pleasure of cleaning up the men's locker room.

Oh, joy.

Mariko had just finished a workout in the AFW gym, and was heading off to the showers. But on her way into the women's locker room, she stopped as she saw Army seated alone on a bench.

"Hmm…?" She hadn't met or seen the man before, but there was something she found curious about him. He was wearing a janitor's uniform, but he easily looked young and well built enough to possibly be a real competitor there. Ordinarily she might simply shrug at a situation like this and leave it alone, but in this case it seemed curiosity got the best of her.

Walking toward the man, she stopped just in front of him, placing her hands on her hips before lightly kicking the toe of her boot into his shin to get his attention. "Hey there, big guy. Something bothering you?"

There was a time when Army would have spent his day working out and hanging around the mall, maybe bought a few new comics from the local shop. Now? He was in the woman's locker room, trying to figure out if he'd have enough money to get by for the week.

He still couldn't believe he'd been stupid enough to bet a year's worth of drinks against a nutbag like Jackie. You wouldn't think a woman who wasn't an inch over five feet could drink much in a single night, but somehow, the bitch was chugging them down and bleeding his wallet dry. With the extra job he might be able to squeak by this week if she didn't go on a binge, but there was no guarantee. That was the worst thing, having no idea how much money he'd need at any given time. Like taking a punch with a blindfold on, no way to prepare.

He'd been so wrapped up in doing the math that he hadn't even noticed someone come in until she kicked his leg, making him look over his shoulder and see her. There was quite a lot to see, too. A tight, voluptuous body, classic hourglass figure, pleasing in all the right places with a lovely face to make the cherry on top. He didn't recognize her, but he was sure he'd never seen her before. With a body like that, he would've remembered.

"A metric shit-ton of things, yeah." He shook his head and stood up, grabbing the mop from the side. "Sorry, I'm almost done here, won't be in your way long."

"Oh? And who said you were in anyone's way?" she asked, giggling as she crossed her arms in front of her. "I'm Mariko, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Hoping her talking had at least been enough to keep the man's attention and stop him from leaving, she then sat down on the bench, crossing one leg over the other as she pat the spot next to her to invite him to sit down next to her. "Having a metric shit-ton of things bearing down on your mind sounds rather tiresome. So sit down and tell me what's going on. I can't promise I'll be of any help, but at least you won't have to keep all those worries bottled up."

Army paused in mid-step, looking at the spot where she wanted him to sit like there was a tack there. He'd been in Tension long enough to know that, nine times out of ten, women who were inviting and pleasant for no apparent reason were up to something that probably involved smashing your balls.

But there was something genuine about Mariko, and it wasn't her dynamite looks, either. Not just them, anyway. Maybe she was the one in ten. He could take the chance. And if his instincts were off, he'd take a hit and slam her for it. No problem.

"Armando Rodriguez. Call me Army, like it better." He let the mop fall and plopped down beside her, nestling into the seat. "You sure? Last warning before your ears get talked off."

Mariko certainly had it in her to be as sadistic as any of the other women around, especially inside the ring. But in a situation like this, there was absolutely no motive or reason to attack Army in any way, shape or form. But she wasn't your average "good samaritan" either. She was offering to listen to his troubles mainly out of simple curiosity. Still it was likely better than nothing.

"If I were worried about something like that, I wouldn't have asked." she replied with a giggle. "Go ahead, Army. Tell me what's up."

Army raised an eyebrow and looked her over, head to toe, wondering for a scant second if he was dreaming. He doubted his imagination could come up with a girl like this, though, so he figured it was safe. Hell, even if she wasn't, it would be good to talk about this with someone. His sister knew some of the details, but he hadn't laid the whole thing on her.

"Okay." Army ran a hand over his face and gathered his thoughts, thinking of the best way to dole all this out. "Couple months ago, I was at a bar, getting tipsy. I met this girl named Jackie. Hit on her a little bit, and she blindsided me for...some reason. I don't know, but she beat me shitless. Turns out she's a wrestler, too, so we get a match set up, and it went to shit for me. Like, almost immediately. Can't even get a good hit on her, she's crazy fast, she's everywhere and I just..."

He threw his hands up in frustration, remember the battering her took. His body was still sore from it all. "Okay, so she gets some brass knuckles, beats me down, wins the fight. And I made this bet with her, right? Loser buys the winner drinks for a year. So now I'm paying her bar tab, and it's so damn crazy that this wrestling gig doesn't cover it." He gave his shiny janitor jumpsuit a stretch, figuring that explained enough. "That would be crazy enough, right, but one night I'm alone here, and Jackie shows up, and she just...jumps me. She starts stripping, and..."

He took a deep breath, readying for the hardest part. "We have sex, pretty much. And she says we're going to do it anytime she wants, or she'll keep beating me down." He gnawed away on his knuckle for a moment, shaking his head. "I liked it. That's what makes it the worst thing, I fucking loved it. But I want it to stop. But I don't. It's weird. And the shitty thing is that I don't want to be intimidated by her, but the fact is? Every time I fight this chick, I get wasted. Bottom line, I can't go to the hospital every other week. So it's crazy, all around."

He leaned forward, elbows on knees, staring straight. "There. Felt good. Sorry."

Mariko's eyebrows lifted a bit, a sense of surprise evident in her expression as she patiently listened to Army's story. She wasn't sure what exactly she'd expected to hear, but this certainly wasn't it. "Wow…" She took a moment to consider what he'd said. And suddenly, another giggle escaped her lips. "Sounds like you got on the wrong side of quite an…'interesting' woman, Army." She hadn't been laughing at Army and his struggles, but was rather simply trying to lighten the mood, as if to subtly reassure Army that the world wasn't going to end because of what he'd gone through.

"You know, I have an older brother. We used to wrestle a lot. He's not quite your size, but he's still bigger and stronger than me. But, I still won almost every time we wrestled. Want to know how?" she asked, a slight grin forming as she remembered those past matches with her brother. "I was faster. Still am. He's slow enough compared to me that almost anything he tries I can see coming from a mile away. And no matter how much power any punch, slam, or whatever has behind it, it doesn't amount to anything if your opponent can avoid it easily." she said, essentially verifying she understood just what Army meant as far as his difficulty fighting against a woman much faster than him.

"I'm not even going to pretend I know enough about this woman to tell you how to get out of this whole situation, but…" she nodded her head toward the ring in the gym, "If you want, maybe I could give you some pointers for fighting against quick opponents. Might at least give you more of a fighting chance the next time she… Well, you know…"

Army's face scrunched up at the laughing at first, but it softened fast enough. He was enough of a prankster himself to know when someone was laughing with him instead of at. It helped that Mariko had a nice, lilting voice that was good on the ears, too.

He was wary, just a bit. This was quite an offer from a woman he'd just met and barely knew...but, truth be told, he was in no position to say 'no'. Best case scenario, she actually gave him something useful. Worse case scenario, he got to see a hot girl bounce around the ring. No downside, here, might as well roll with it.

"Sure, I'm down." He sat up straight and held his hands out, looking over the jumpsuit. "Not exactly in wrestling attire, though. Let me make right quick, I'll square things with my boss and meet you in the ring after I dig in my locker. Ten minutes, tops."

"Perfect. That'll give me just enough time to shower and change clothes. That is, unless you'd prefer your tutors nice and sweaty." she said sarcastically with a chuckle, before standing up and giving a brief wave as she headed for the showers. "See you in the ring, Army."

It was only minutes later that Mariko then came back out of the showers. But instead of putting on the golden top and shorts she'd been wearing, the Japanese woman put on a black bikini, then made her way out to the ring wearing only that. Stepping through the ropes to enter the ring, she then waited patiently for Army to return.