Passing the Torch

"Ghhh..."

The hooded girl hissed and jerked when Nikolette's fist thudded against her midsection, and stumbled back a couple steps. She spun to face the Serb, and hesitated for a moment. The wheels were turning behind her eyes, maybe planning her next move.

Then suddenly she sprung forward, her chain-wrapped fist cocked back and commanding attention. She pulled the punch, using it to cover the low kick behind it, her leg swiping in and knocking Nikolette's leg out from under before giving the girl a dismissive shove of her own.

She turned, and her calculating stare darted from Lukretia, to the maids, to the torches, and back to Lukretia. She stepped up to the stately general manager, the glamorous and ruthless woman, and stood face to face with her in a feral half crouch.

A moment passed with their eyes locked, in a challenge or a threat or something else entirely.

Nikolette was ready and dipped her head to the side. That fist was nothing if it couldn't hit anything and Nikolette was well versed in the pugilistic arts. However, the kick she did not see and as she jerked her head to the side, she felt the sharp kick to her leg and fell off balance, crashing to the canvas before being shoved.

She rolled and attempted attempted to scramble to her feet quickly, watching the rest of the scene unfold.

Lukretia watched as well and when the masked intruder turned to face her, the German sneered and brought the torch in front of her quickly. She stared down the hooded girl and narrowed her eyes, her lips split into a wicked grin. She then began to wave the torch at the masked girl striking out and trying to get her to back off.

"You von't ruin zhis." She growled.

Nikolette watched carefully, her eyes shifting around. This wasn't a good situation for anyone, but which crazy woman did she go after first?!

The hooded girl inched back when Lukretia waved fire in her face, and then all at once her body snapped into action with surprising speed. She stepped in, grabbed the torch to one side and hammered her palm against Lukretia's grip to pull the thing free.

"We're not playing your games now," the girl whispered, only to Lukretia, and backed away, wary of Nikolette and the maids and of Lukretia herself, back to the corner she entered from. She found the rectangular black container on the floor with her foot and then bent to pick it up.

She held the torch behind her back, far away from the container as she unscrewed the cap, and then stepped forward and slung liquid from it across the ring. The crowd had no way of knowing, but everyone in the ring immediately recognized the smell of gasoline, and the hooded girl was slinging it all over the mat.

Lukretia smiled as she got the hooded girl to back off for a moment. Thinking that she would retreat, she was surprised when suddenly she was disarmed with a quick strike. Her eyes narrowed when she heard the soft whisper and she nodded to her maids who stepped forward but were halted by the torch, wary of its flame.

Nikolette too was hoping to snatch away the torch in the confusion, but was halted. She wasn't yet ready to run into flames to try and stop the madwoman.

As the women watched the hooded girl back away and begin to open something, Nikolette's eyes widened.

"No, don't!" She said and looked around.

Lukretia's eyes widened too. burning things with the torch was one thing, but this... this was no mere spectacle or cry for attention. She began to scream in German and pointing towards the entrance ramp as she waved off the maids and slipped through the ropes. The maids still hesitated but Nikolette's scream woke them out of their daze.

"IT'S GASOLINE YOU IDIOTS! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE RING!"

Nikolette cleared the space and the maids quickly followed.

The crowd, now audibly cued in, began to roar. Some in panic, some in awe and anticipation.

The wounded Conway was wheezing on the mat while Nik and the dickweed went at it. She didn't waste anytime clawing at the mat to try and crawl her way to the nearest ropes to escape. Her beat down was embarrassing enough but she was done getting killed, she couldn't even breathe. She had enough and tried to crawl away, fleeing for much needed safety.

And yet her eyes would still look towards the mysterious woman from time to time as she more or less fought with Nikolette and Lukretia before snatching away the torch....

Kelly's eyes widened and she did a double take as she watched the hooded chick with the torch start to sling some crap over the mat. Kelly didn't need Nikolette's stupid mouth to tell her what it was. She had a nose and her eyes widened with horror. She swore this chick had to be another member of the Wilson family.

"RUN, JESUS, RUN!!" Kelly screamed as she got air back in her lungs (somehow) and hopped right over the ropes before flopping on her side on the padded concrete floor as she dove for safety and did the smartest thing she could think of, which was follow Nikolette! Scrambling to her feet from all fours.

The hooded girl upended the gasoline can and dropped it in the middle of the ring. She held the torch high as she vaulted the ropes to land on the apron, and tossed it into the ring as she hopped down to the floor below.

She covered her face with her sweatshirt as the whole thing quickly went up in flames, reaching up toward the ceiling and illuminating the faces of the crowd, some shocked, some elated, some already heading for the door.

She kept her head down and tugged at her hood, glancing around at the exits while she watched the ring slowly fall apart, but she stood her ground. She only held up two middle fingers at the wreckage, a fitting salute.

Lukretia switched to English and began to bark orders at the staff running down the ramps. Referees, medical crew and security all swarmed en masse as the fire raged in the center of the ring. The flames licked higher and higher until the automated systems began kicking in, keeping the audience safe, but well past the point of salvaging the show or the ring.

"Get her! Schnell!" Lukretia barked and pointed at the rebellious masked girl as a few of the security team moved to pile onto her, while the referees waved their hands in futile disapproval of the situation.

"Nein! Nein!" She screamed and shoved aside the referees. "Not you dunderheads!" She growled. "I vant ze police. She vill not simply be removed! I vant her arrested! Zis is no game." She growled towards the masked girl.

Nikolette was making sure that everyone was safe. Checking for Aoi and Gail and even Kelly, before looking over the straggling audience members and trying to shoo away the gawkers. As the ring smoldered and cracked and creaked, she was still worried about what might happen next.

The show was finally over for the crowd once the sprinklers kicked on and rained down on them while they swarmed toward the exits.

The hooded girl paused for a moment while she watched them go, wondering how she was going to get out... But she knew there was probably only one way out for her.

She dropped low again as security came pounding down the ramp and let her chain unravel again from her hand, and swung it in big, wild arcs at the staff to keep them at bay. She saw Lukretia up at the top of the ramp, screaming orders, and started running toward her.

She leapt up onto the metal rail barricade and ran across it like a tight rope and jumped down onto the ramp, and began feverishly struggling to keep the grasping hands of security guards off of her. Every time it looked like she was finally subdued, she slipped free again and managed another couple steps toward the German queen of Friction.

Lukretia stood with her arms crossed at the top of the ramp, looking around at the chaos and making sure that things settled down. She had to make sure none of the audience was injured and, aside from the ring, nothing else was damaged beyond repair. Unfortunately, she had to keep the cameras rolling for now, recording the chaos as she watched the hooded girl struggle against security.

She narrowed her eyes as the girl broke free. Her fingers tightened into fists. Of course she would probably have to deal with her personally as well. The incompetence was astounding. However, as the hooded girl plodded towards her, from the backstage more reinforcements came. This time it was actual police and they overran the vandal with an efficient expertise that the regular security could not manage. Swarming upon the hooded girl, they finally brought her to the ground and roughly yanked her arms behind her back while one pulled out their handcuffs.

"Ungh!" The girl cried out when she was slammed down on the ramp. She was quickly overpowered, and her hands cuffed behind her back.

"Mm, my favorite," she growled as the cuffs clicked on. She kept her head down low and tried to turn away from the cameras as she was hastily led away by the officers. She spared only one inscrutable glance at Lukretia before she was gone.

Unlike most AFW troublemakers, this one didn't stop backstage. She police dragged her into the back, down the halls, out a side exit and stuffed her into the back of a waiting police car, while a trailing camera man struggled to capture the ordeal on film, hoping for just a glimpse of the girl's face...