A/N: I never said this was a pretty story… In fact, it's kinda like a gruesome story incepted with comic relief…
This was as far as I had originally written in this fic (got to the bit where Jaeger heads off to look for Kid), so if the narrative changes a little beyond that point, it's because I'm picking this up part-way through a chapter many months after writing the original opening.
Recap: Amy set out to return to Muscle Planet, but Mars tried to throw a spanner in the works (almost literally!) by sending Kid Muscle to deactivate the "bomb" on board her return flight, whilst Kevin battled with his increasing curiosity towards Amy.
Chapter 7 – A Day at the Circus
"Kid, doesn't this make you feel proud?" Meat asked as he looked out over the rapidly filling seats surrounding the Hand of Hercules. "Just think of all the great battles that have been lost and won on that hand!"
Meat waited a short moment for Kid to answer him, before his proud smile slowly gave way to a frown.
"Kid?" he asked, turning to look over one shoulder and then the other. "Kid? Kid!"
Meat turned fully around, desperately searching all around for any traces of his pupil, but all to no avail.
"Jaeger!" Meat yelled as he saw the German Chojin walking nearby, heading towards the stands.
"Ja?" Jaeger called, stopping and turning towards him.
"Have you seen Kid anywhere?" Meat asked him.
"Nein, Meat," Jaeger replied, shaking his head.
"He better not be trying to run away again!" Meat growled, clenching a fist in the air.
"Vould you like me to look for him, Meat?" Jaeger asked.
"Yeah, thanks Jaeger!" Meat replied. "And tell everyone else to look out for him too!"
Jaeger started back in the direction he had come from, meeting up with Dik Dik and Checkmate as he did so.
"Have you guys seen Kid Muscle?" he asked them.
"No," Dik Dik slowly replied. "But I really don't like the look of that…"
Jaeger turned around, his eyes wandering upwards and widening a little as a rickety cage was lowered over the ring on the Hand of Hercules, a petrified Trixie staggering about inside it as she tried to remain on her feet against the swaying motion of the cage lowering and moving around to hang in place above the site of combat. As the cage finally came to rest, Trixie dropped to her knees, her head tilting back in interest as Mac Metaphor and Doc Nakano began to announce the fight. Meat ran past the others, urging them to sit down and pay attention, assuring them he would find Kid himself.
"No arguments from me, I want to see exactly what we're up against," Dik Dik said solemnly.
Checkmate and Jaeger nodded, following Dik Dik to their seats.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Bad Blood Tournament!" Ikeman McMadd's voice echoed around them. "Tonight you will see the first tag team match in this tournament, when the Muscle League's very own Terry Kenyon and Wally Tusket take on DMP members Master DJ and Wolfang!"
"It seems a little odd to be sitting here without the girls…" Dik Dik casually observed, looking around himself as he spoke.
"It's not odd, it's peaceful," Kevin Mask corrected him as he and Mars joined them at their seats. "And besides, you can still see them from here, if you miss them that badly."
Kevin pointed at Trixie, earning himself a bland look from the others.
"Kev, nobody likes a girl in a cage more dan I do, but dat was low," Mars told him quietly.
"Vell she von't be zhere for much longer, Terry and Vally are sure to be victorious today!" Jaeger said cheerfully. "Look, here zhey come now!"
The others sat forwards to watch as Terry Kenyon and Wally Tusket started towards the ring, accompanied by Terryman, who looked confident of victory for his team.
"Absolutely no way!" Kevin blurted out, drawing attention away from the contestants and in his own direction.
"But these are our seats," Meat said flatly.
"I am not sitting next to Kid Muscle, he urinates every time he sees one of our foes, and I just had this coat dry cleaned!" Kevin snapped back.
"Ooh…" Mars muttered, grinning at Jaeger. "So dat's why Mask was smellin' like a fresh summer breeze!"
Jaeger snorted out a short laugh before hurriedly cutting himself off as Kevin rounded on them.
"I'm moving to the end of the row," Kevin informed them.
"Well hey, I sure ain't sittin' next to pig-boy!" Mars said darkly, watching Kevin walk away from his side.
"Fine, I'll sit next to Mars," Meat said, dropping himself into the seat Kevin had just vacated. "Kid, you sit next to me, Kevin's sitting on the end seat, Amy, you'll just have to sit between Kid and Kevin."
Kevin stiffened at Meat's words, his eyes watching Kid pass him to sit next to Meat and then a girl dressed in ridiculous clothing skip over his feet and sit down quietly at his side. He turned his head towards her, thinning his eyes at her questioningly, but her eyes were fixed on the ring straight ahead of them. Kevin tried clearing his throat in the hope of gaining her attention, but she did not so much as blink at his actions.
"What are you doing here?" he eventually asked, his curiosity finally defeating him.
Amy turned to look up at him, staring at him blankly as though he just spoken to her in an alien language.
"And why are you dressed like a cow's maid?" he added.
"A wha…" she whispered, her face twisting, starting to move into the sort of angered and indignant look she normally regarded him with. "What rock were you born under? Geez! I'm a cowgirl! And I'm wearing a sham-rock in my hat for Wally, because it's Irish, and it's lucky!"
"Of course," Kevin sighed.
"So that's my story," Amy said lightly, turning her head back towards the ring. "What's your excuse for looking like a clown today?"
Kevin took a breath to answer her, only to find himself almost falling out of his seat as she suddenly screamed out a cheer for Terry and Wally, who had just entered the ring.
"Bloody hell woman!" he grumbled, crossing his arms moodily and leaning away from her.
Ikeman began to introduce their opponents, his voice shortly being drowned out by loud, obnoxious and offensive music. From the corner of his eye, Kevin saw Amy and the others turn in his direction to watch the first DMP tag team make their way towards the ring.
"Oh no Kevin, look!" Amy hissed, pushing at his arm.
"I know, I know," Kevin sighed. "Here come "The Anarchists"."
"They can't do that!" Kid wailed. "Can they do that Meat?"
"I guess so," Meat quietly replied.
"Kevin, you have to look!" Amy insisted, grabbing his arm with both hands and shaking him.
"What is so damn…" Kevin's voice faded as he turned towards the entering tag team and he finally realised why the others looked so concerned.
Master DJ and Wolfang were heading towards the ring, but ten steps behind them, their remaining six team-mates – led by Edward Mask himself – were following.
"Dis is a two on two, dey can't go gettin' involved," Mars pointed out.
Kevin was not so sure his brother would care about the rules, and began to suspect that he was about to make some sort of announcement about turning the match into a Lumberjack Match; which really would be disastrous. Kevin was still surprised that both groups – the Muscle League and the DMP – had made it through Edward's press conference the week before without any unsanctioned fights breaking out, especially when the girls were being held prisoner and no guarantee for their current or future safety had been offered by their captors. Edward always was a little unpredictable, and he did enjoy getting a shock reaction to anything that he did, and so Kevin had decided it was best to simply be prepared for anything and everything.
Kevin silently wondered if Amy was aware that she was still gripping onto his coat sleeve with both her hands.
"Hey wait, ain't dis fight sold out?" Mars suddenly asked, shooting forwards in his seat in alarm.
"Yeah, why d'you ask?" Meat asked casually.
"Well, dere are six empty seats right here in front of us," Mars bluntly replied, pointing at the vacated seats in question.
"You think The Anarchists are going to sit right here?" Dik Dik asked him. "Right in front of us?"
Mars did not answer Dik Dik, instead slowly sitting back in his chair, his eyes moving up to watch the tag team that were scheduled to fight enter the ring, the remaining six Devil Chojins slowly walking over to the railings.
"Shit…" Mars grumbled, covering his eyes with his hands for a moment before forcing a tight, sarcastic smile at Edward Mask as he hopped over the railings and started towards the seat directly in front of Mars.
Checkmate, Dik Dik, Jaeger, Mars, Kid and Kevin all watched quietly as their future opponents walked along the row of seats in front of them, casting them a variety of amused looks before turning around to sit down. Kevin was sure the order Edward's group had sat in was no mere coincidence; Edward was directly in front of Mars, Death Angel was sat directly in front of Kid Muscle and Fargo was sat directly in front of Kevin himself. Apparently Edward now thought of himself as some sort of clever tactician, a master of mind games, Kevin mused.
Kevin silently wondered if Amy was aware that she was gripping harder onto his coat sleeve with both her hands.
The bell rang to signify the start of the match, whereupon Wally and Terry shook hands and Terry stepped back through the ropes, allowing Wally to start the match. As soon as Terry was through the ropes both Master DJ and Wolfang charged at Wally, clothes-lining him over the top rope to the floor below.
"Hey!" Terry yelled at them. "This here is a tag match, not some dang free-for-all!"
Master DJ smirked at him, acting out a clown-like impersonation of a baby crying. Terryman shouted some words of encouragement to Wally, who gathered himself up and slid under the bottom rope, standing up in front of Master DJ, who merely signalled to him to take his best shot. Wolfang slunk back to the opposite corner of the ring, ducking out to stand on the ring apron diagonally opposite Terry, much to Terry's relief. Inside the ring, Master DJ held up his hands, challenging Wally to a test of strength, but Wally hesitated before starting to accept his offer. Before their hands touched, Wally lunged forwards to grab Master DJ into a bear-hug, but Master DJ artfully slid beneath Wally, slipping between his legs and leaping up behind him. He spun around, aiming a kick at Wally's head, but Wally had regained his senses, catching Master DJ's foot before it made contact.
"Atta boy, Wally!" Terry cheered, punching a fist into the air.
Master DJ hopped twice before spinning his other leg towards Wally's head. Again Wally caught his foot, grabbing an ankle in each hand, Wally swung Master DJ over his head, sending him crashing to the mat, face-first. Wally made to grab his opponent up again, but Master DJ predicted his move, kicking out to one side at Wally's ankle, pulling his leg from under him. Wally dropped to one knee as Master DJ jumped up onto his knees, swinging an elbow around into Wally's jaw. Wally was forced to one side, slapping a hand to the mat to stop himself from falling over completely.
"Dis ain't a wrestlin' match, it's a just a brawl," Mars muttered darkly as he watched on.
"You mean zhey fight ze same vay you do Mars?" Jaeger asked innocently.
"You son of a bitch, Jaeger," Mars grumbled.
Inside the ring, Master DJ was back on his feet, but not for long. He grabbed one of Wally's legs and slid under the bottom rope, slamming the side of Wally's knee into the corner-post.
"Hey!" Terry shouted down at him, as the post just happened to be the same one Terry was waiting at.
"Wait your turn, cowboy," Master DJ snorted at him. "Don't worry, I'll finish you off just as soon as I get done with this over-fed circus sea-lion!"
Master DJ wound Wally's leg around the post, bending it sideways as he walked around to the next side of the ring. Wally cried out, twisting around as he tried to move his leg over so that the post was rested at the back of his knee instead of the side. Master DJ quickly slid back into the ring, pulling hard on Wally's leg, twisting it round the corner-post and back into the ring.
Wally grabbed at the ring apron, pulling himself towards the corner and under the bottom rope. One more particularly sharp and forceful tug from Master DJ was enough to off-set Wally's balance, and he fell to the floor at the side of the ring. Master DJ began winding Wally's leg through the ropes next to Terry, who was watching him in a displeased manner.
"Fight fair, ya dirty varmint!" Terry eventually snapped, before punching Master DJ hard in the jaw.
Master DJ staggered back and Terry began quickly trying to untangle Wally's leg; but before he could complete his task, Wolfang dived towards him, flying over the top rope and pulling Terry with him to the floor below. Terry groaned as his back hit the unforgiving concrete surface of the Hand of Hercules, blinking against the temporary haze from the shock of pain to see a rabid werewolf snarling at his throat.
With a yelp of alarm, Terry rolled over one complete turn and leapt to his feet, skipping back from the monster before him, lowering himself into a defensive stance on instinct as he awaited his opponent's next move. As Wolfang stood up and began to advance on Terry, the two moved out of sight from the rest of their team-mates, who all anxiously turned to Terryman for guidance. He appeared to be watching the events outside the ring carefully between offering words of advice and encouragement to Wally, who was still in a bind in the ring-ropes, and so the others settled back, switching their attention back to the action inside the ring.
Edward fidgeted in his seat momentarily as Terry and Wolfang remained out of sight, his eyes fixed on Terryman, who was apparently following his son at a distance. As Terryman began to disappear from their line of sight, Edward stood abruptly, trying to catch sight of what was happening beyond the ring.
"Sit your ass down!" Mars warned him, standing up behind him and grabbing his shoulders, forcefully shoving him back down into his seat.
Edward grabbed a hand at his shoulder, catching one of Mars's hands before he could retract it. Mars froze at the contact, watching as Edward turned his head to look back over his shoulder. As their eyes met, Mars growled at Edward, narrowing his eyes in an expression of warning, but Edward appeared unfazed. Edward moved his head a little, his eyes looking at something else, though his grip on Mars's hand did not lessen. Mars slowly followed the direction Edward appeared to be looking, finding Meat, Kid, Amy and Kevin all turned in his direction, watching him carefully.
"Geddofa me!" Mars snapped, snatching his hand back and leaning back in his chair in an attempt to put as much distance as possible between himself and Edward.
Edward slowly turned back to watch the fight, and Mars stole a couple of sideward glances at Kevin to check his opinion on what had just transpired; but Kevin was watching the ring again, apparently unaffected by Edward's actions.
Back in the ring, Master DJ had expertly tied Wally's leg into the ropes, leaving him dangling upside-down. Master DJ was pulling and twisting on Wally's ankle, sharply adjusting his angle occasionally to block Wally's attempts to lift himself up and attack back. Outside the ring, Wolfang was advancing on Terryman, who was backing away from him cautiously, not wishing to get involved lest his team be disqualified from the competition.
"How about this?" Terry yelled out, leaping into the air and catching Wolfang with a flying bulldog. "A bulldog for a bully dog!"
Wolfang clattered into the unforgiving concrete, his neck twisting as he landed. Seeing that he had successfully incapacitated Wolfang, Terry turned to Wally, pausing to take in his prone position before slapping a hand on Wally's shoulder and shouting "tag".
Master DJ released Wally, turning around in confusion, only managing to partially block the drop-kick Terry delivered from over the top rope. Terry quickly untangled Wally, who managed to stop himself from falling completely to the floor below, landing in an awkward crouch instead. But as Terry finished freeing Wally, Master DJ attacked him from behind, catching his head with a spinning kick that sent Terry into the corner. Master DJ made to pounce onto Terry, but Terry quickly lifted his leg, kicking his heel into the underside of Master DJ's chin.
"Y'all ain't nothin' but amateurs!" Terry yelled at him. "This here is how we do it in the Muscle League!"
Terry grabbed Master DJ's wrist, tugging him around and setting him up for the Bronco Buster.
"Finish him off!" his father encouraged from outside the ring.
"Well I guess dat skinny little brat ain't gotten any stronger…" Mars muttered.
"What would you know about strategy, scarface?" Edward said quietly.
"More'n you do," Mars confidently replied. "Watch dis real close, cause after all my team beats all yous idiots, you gotta face me in da ring."
"I look forward to it," Edward calmly answered him.
Mars frowned at the back of Edward's head, silently wondering why he was acting uncharacteristically calm, confident and in control. A second later Mars caught Sprite grinning at him over his shoulder and he hurriedly corrected his expression into a dark, warning glare.
In the ring, Terry crushed Master DJ to the mat with his famous signature move, the Bronco Buster, his father and Wally cheering for him from his corner. Kid Muscle started to laugh, but stopped as he saw Meat solemnly shaking his head.
"This ain't over yet Kid," he said darkly.
"Wh-what?" Kid echoed, staring at Meat with wide, frightened eyes.
Kid turned back to the ring, screaming as Wolfang flew up over the top rope, diving at Terry. With inhuman speed he bit into Terry's left leg at the back of his knee, clamping down his jaws until Terry let out an involuntary scream of pain and shock.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Wally complained from the corner.
"Yeah, that's not fair, Terry had them beat!" Dik Dik said, standing up from his seat.
"I hope you don't take losing quite so badly when it's your turn to fall at the hands of The Anarchists," Edward sneered over his shoulder at Dik Dik.
"Hey, dis really ain't fair," Mars said, standing up. "Dis is a wrestling match, not some animal freak show! What da hell is dat guy anyways?"
"You can talk!" Sprite scoffed, leaping up and turning to face Mars. "You've got a walrus in that ring and a reindeer sitting right there!"
"I am not a reindeer!" Dik Dik argued back, waving a fist at Sprite. "And you have a wolf, a cat, a jellyfish and a traffic sign on your team!"
"And you have a fat hairy seal, a stupid antelope, a loud-mouthed bird and a chess set on yours!" Sprite growled.
"Okay toots, don't get your panties in a twist!" Mars said, smirking in spite of himself.
"Back off, scarface!" Edward snapped, standing up and rounding on Mars.
"Shouldn't you be goin' through puberty somewhere right about now?" Mars replied.
"I'm going to remember all of this tonight when I get my hands on Kiki…" Edward growled in a low voice.
Mars made as though to answer him, but instead grabbed Edward's shirt.
"Mars, don't do it!" Jaeger pleaded, standing up at his side. "He is just trying to make you angry! Don't let him do it!"
Mars hesitated, his grip lessening on Edward's DMP T-shirt.
"When dis is all over, I'ma hunt you down, and I'ma kill you," Mars quietly warned Edward. "And if I find out you hurt my girl, I'ma kill you by the slowest, most painful way I know how."
Mars roughly released Edward, nodding once at Jaeger before sitting back down. Jaeger sat down at his side, and Dik Dik and Sprite slowly followed, until only Edward remained standing.
"Assuming of course that I don't finish you off first, when we face in the ring…" Edward said smugly, before spinning around and sitting back down.
"Oh, you gotta be-" Mars began, stopping as Jaeger grabbed his arm.
Mars turned to Jaeger, who gave a small shake of his head. Mars reluctantly sat back, grumbling curses as he let out a deep sigh.
In the ring, Terry had dragged himself to the ropes and was trying to pull himself upright, wrapping his arms into the ropes, Wolfang all the while tenaciously hanging onto his leg. Once he had managed to get himself to the top rope, Terry leaned his weight onto the ropes and lifted his free foot, kicking Wolfang in the face.
"Again! Show him no mercy!" Terryman called to him. "Remember you're fightin' a Devil Chojin now son!"
Terry nodded his understanding, sitting back into the ropes to allow him to kick repeatedly at Wolfang's face. The heel of his boot connected a few times with Wolfang's eye, and Terry began to feel Wolfang's bite lessen.
"Get up and fight me proper, ya mangy mutt!" Terry snarled at him in frustration.
"Terry!" Kid Muscle yelled out, standing up from his seat.
The others sitting around Kid turned to watch him curiously, wondering exactly what he was about to say, most of them eying him in a way that indicated they were predicting something ludicrous to follow.
"Terry, dog's can't look up!" Kid called. "Lift your leg, he'll have to let go!"
Meat blinked at Kid in amazement.
"What?" Kid asked him as he sat back down. "I had to learn when the neighbour's Doberman kept biting me."
Meat slowly nodded, looking around himself to confirm that the others were as surprised at Kid's insight as he was.
Terry hooked his arms over the top rope and swung his free leg up into the air, his caught leg following with the momentum of his body, forcing Wolfang's head upwards. For a moment the two wrestlers were suspended, Terry balancing himself on his shoulders over the ropes in a modified handstand and Wolfang's neck twisted as he tried to retain his hold. Terry began to think he might not be able to hold his position, but suddenly the pressure from his left leg was released, and he spun over the top rope completely, landing on the ring apron, facing the audience.
"Alright Terry!" Wally cheered.
Terry saluted Kid, who was too busy inspecting something he had just extracted from his nostril to notice.
Master DJ shot forwards, kicking through the ropes into the bite wound his team-mate had created in the back of Terry's leg, which buckled on instinct. Terry stumbled ungracefully off the ring apron, tensing as his weight landed on his injured leg.
"Tag!" Wally yelled, slapping Terry on the shoulder and jumping into the ring to face Wolfang himself.
Wally began tackling Wolfang, but Master DJ did not stop his assault on Terry Kenyon. Outside the ring, Master DJ kicked into Terry's wound again, sending him to his knees.
"Turntable Snap!" he cried.
"What?" Terry yelped.
Master DJ grabbed his hands onto either side of Terry's head from behind and he leapt into the air, turning into a handstand from Terry's head. In mid-air he spun his legs around before landing in front of Terry, twisting Terry's neck around and bringing his head crashing down to the concrete.
"Terry!" Wally cried, running over to check on Terry. "What have you done?" he demanded, pointing at Master DJ.
"I was just making music," Master DJ replied with a smirk. "You wanna join in?"
Wally watched curiously as Master DJ raised his fists to either side of his head, the records at his wrists starting to spin.
"Get outta there boy!" Terryman warned, waving for Wally to move.
But Terryman's warning came a little too late as Master DJ hopped up onto the ring apron and slashed his hands at Wally, the spinning discs on his wrists cutting two gashes over his chest. Wally staggered back, touching a hand to the wounds in shock, barely noticing Master DJ climbing the ropes.
"Wally!" Terryman yelled. "Pay attention!"
Wally looked up abruptly, gasping as he saw Master DJ leap off the tope rope, aiming his wrists for Wally's neck. Wally side-stepped out of his range, catching him by the waist and spinning around to slam him hard to the mat on his back. As Wally started to move, Wolfang dived towards him, biting into his shoulder, the two heavyweights rolling to one side.
Outside the ring, Terry had managed to drag himself to his feet, and as he saw Master DJ creeping towards Wally and Wolfang, he hurriedly pulled himself under the bottom rope, back into the ring.
"Oh no you don't!" he said, charging at Master DJ and taking him off his feet with a clothesline.
Terry started towards Wolfang in an attempt to get him off of Wally, but Master DJ caught him with a sweeping kick, tripping him over. Terry hurriedly grabbed a hand forwards, managing to secure a hold of one of Wolfang's ankles. He grabbed on with his other hand before pulling back with both hands, trying with all his strength to pull him off of Wally. Behind him, Master DJ got to his feet and stamped a foot down onto Terry's injury, grinding his heel into the wound. Terry cried out on instinct, releasing his hold of Wolfang.
Wally had wrapped his arms around Wolfang's shoulders and managed to manoeuvre out from under him. He pushed down on Wolfang's shoulders with all his strength whilst lifting his head away from Wolfang in the hope of breaking his hold as Terry had done earlier. Unfortunately, he could not get a steep enough angle to make Wolfang open his jaws, and only succeeded in tearing his skin against Wolfang's teeth.
"Come on boys, fight back!" Terryman shouted, smacking a hand against the ring mat.
Terry hardened his resolve, turning as best he could and kicking out blindly with his good leg. He felt his foot clip Master DJ's leg, but his attack was not forceful enough to get his opponent off. Mustering up all his strength, Terry kicked out again, this time his heel connecting with Master DJ's shin with a resounding clunk that made him stagger back. Terry hurriedly turned over, getting to his feet as Master DJ came at him again, staggering to meet him in the middle of the ring. Terry ducked under Master DJ's arm as he attempted a clothesline, grabbing him into an abdominal stretch.
Wolfang tugged back suddenly on Wally, biting further into his skin before tugging in jerking motions, tearing at the skin and flesh of Wally's shoulder. Wally began to panic as he was dragged around the ring, leaving a red smear where he passed. He tried punching and kicking at Wolfang, but nothing was as effective as Kid's suggested method for getting Wolfang to open his bite. Seeing his struggle, Terry dropped Master DJ and leapt onto Wolfang's back, grabbing his arms around his neck, pressing his knees into the small of Wolfang's back and leaning back, using the weight of his body and all his strength to bend Wolfang's neck backwards.
Wally sighed out in relief as Wolfang let go, only to gasp in shock again as Wolfang violently shook Terry off and leapt around to bite into Terry's right thigh. Wolfang stood up to his fullest height, Terry dangling from his jaws. He turned towards the corner Terryman was stood in and began shaking his head from side to side, tossing Terry around as though he were a rag-doll. After the first few shakes Wolfang edged closer to the corner and Terry's head clanged off the corner-post, eliciting a collective gasp and hiss of discomfort from the audience.
"Terry!" Trixie screamed, reaching a hand through the bars of her cage as she stared down at the ring with wide, terrified eyes. "Terry, no! Stop it you dirty mongrel, you'll kill him!"
Wally started towards the corner in an attempt to aid his team-mate, but was stopped short by Master DJ, who slashed at his back with one hand, the disc on his wrist tearing a gash diagonally over Wally's back. Wally arched away from him on instinct, and Master DJ hooked an arm around Wally's neck, yanking him down in an inverted bulldog to the mat to land hard on his newly wounded back. Wally opened his eyes to see Master DJ diving at him and he tried to roll out of harm's way, wincing as a disc sliced into his arm.
"This is terrible…" Meat said quietly as he watched the action with unblinking eyes.
"He'll kill Terry!" Kid screamed, grabbing Meat into an embrace.
"I can't believe they're dominating this match!" Amy whispered, her fingers worrying the material of Kevin's coat sleeve. "Any minute now Terry and Wally are going to turn this around, right?" she asked, looking up at Kevin.
"This isn't a Disney movie you fool, this is wrestling," Kevin snorted at her.
"But if they keep this up, they really will kill Terry!" Amy hissed.
"And then they win," Kevin plainly replied.
"Oh…" she whispered.
Kevin wondered if she knew she was still hanging onto his arm, and had not released it since the start of the fight.
Wolfang was still beating an increasingly limp Terry against the corner-post, and Wally was still trying to block Master DJ's slashing attacks, his arms taking most of the damage as he tried to duck and dodge. In a desperate attempt to shift the direction of the match into his team's favour, Wally shot at Master DJ, grabbing him into a bear hug and staggering back with him before flipping him over the top rope in a suplex Wally quickly ran at Wolfang, who saw his approach and flung Terry out of the ring, turning to meet Wally head-on.
"Terry!" Trixie screamed, her voice breaking hysterically as she watched his limp form crumple against the concrete.
Terryman hurried over to his son, calling his name and trying to revive him, be mindful not to touch or move too close to Terry in case of a disqualification. Back in the ring, Wolfang and Wally were battling in a test of strength, which Wally appeared to be winning, as Wolfang was slowly losing ground, being forced towards the ropes, his feet slipping gradually backwards.
Above their heads, Trixie was becoming frantic, her hair flicking about her face as she glanced back and forth between the fight directly below and Terry's motionless form outside the ring. Her attention finally settled on the fight in the ring as something caught her eye.
"Wally!" she cried out. "Look out behind you!"
Wally glanced over his shoulder, sighting Master DJ hopping back into the ring; but his momentary lapse in concentration cost him as Wolfang finally over-powered him, twisting him around and locking his arms behind his back. Wally tried to kick back to get Wolfang off his back, but he quickly realised his efforts would be better focussed on the threat immediately in front of him, as Master DJ was approaching him with an enormous grin plastered on his face, revealing a gold tooth near the back of his jaw. He held up his hands and brought the lethally sharp spinning discs up to Wally's torso.
"Somebody do something!" Trixie begged desperately.
Terryman made one last attempt to revive Terry before jogging back to the ring to assess Wally's situation; which, he had to admit, looked pretty bleak.
"Find a weakness in his hold and get outta there, kid!" he called to Wally.
Wally tried struggling against Wolfang, but before he could find any way to free his arms, he felt the discs on Master DJ's arms cut into the skin on his chest.
"Come on Wally, don't give up, you can break that hold!" Terryman encouraged.
Wally tried to focus his mind on freeing his arms, focusing all his energy on escaping. Just as Master DJ's cuts began to reach his gut, Wally managed to free his left arm, which he quickly used to his advantage, swinging back his elbow at Wolfang's jaw. Wolfang however predicted his move and opened his mouth, catching Wally's elbow into a bite that burst into his skin as readily as the discs on Master DJ's wrists had.
"Time to finish off another do-gooder!" Master DJ said with a smirk, lifting one wrist towards Wally's throat.
"Hey now, there ain't no need for that!" Terryman yelled at him.
"Orders from the boss are to finish the Muscle League," Master DJ called back to him. "We've taken care of the cowboy already, now I'm taking home a trophy to hang on my wall… Wally Tusket's head!"
Master DJ thrust his arm forwards, the disc cutting into Wally's neck, Wally's mouth opened, but the sound that came out was strangulated, a burst of blood shooting upwards as more blood slipping over the sides of his mouth.
"Stop it!" Terryman shouted, leaping up onto the ring apron.
Trixie whimpered and the audience gasped in awe as a white cotton towel frittered through the air, softly landing in the centre of the ring, next to Master DJ's feet.
"You surrender?" Master DJ asked him.
"Yes damnit, now let him go!" Terryman replied.
"I don't think so, old man," Master DJ calmly replied. "The rules say any move that is in progress when a submission is made must be completed before the match can end. Shoulda thought of that before you threw in the towel."
"Hey come on now, this ain't fair!" Meat yelled, standing up abruptly and waving a fist at The Anarchists sat in front of him. "The match is over, you won, you beat the Muscle League, you don't have anything else to prove here today!"
"We didn't come here to prove anything," Edward Mask calmly replied. "We came here to destroy you. All of you."
Edward turned to glare at his elder brother, who merely returned his glower with an impassive look.
"Call your dog off Eddie, or dere's gonna be trouble," Mars warned Edward.
"Oh really?" Edward echoed with a bored sigh.
"Yeah, really!" Mars insisted.
"Well it's quite simple scarface: if you make trouble for us, we'll make trouble for your girls…"
Edward pulled what looked like a remote from his jean pocket, pointing it at the ring and pressing a red button. Trixie howled out in terror as one of the chains her cage was suspended by snapped loose, causing the cage to bounce around. She tried to maintain her balance, but ended up collapsing to one side and bashing her nose against her own knee, drawing blood.
"He's making us chose between Wally and Trixie?" Kid asked anyone who cared to listen.
"Come on Edward, call your boys off!" Meat demanded. "This is goin' too far!"
"If I go soft on you now, it might give the others the wrong impression about the next three fights, wouldn't you say?" Edward asked, looking back at Meat.
"Let him go already!" Terryman yelled again at Master DJ and Wolfang.
"Yeah, let him go!" Meat added.
Master DJ turned to Edward expectantly.
"Boss…?" he asked, pausing his actions, his disc still embedded into the surface of Wally's neck.
"Stick to the plan," Edward said firmly, drawing his thumb across his throat.
"No!" Jaeger cried, standing up and aiming to jump over the railings.
"Hold it," Hydrazoa warned, rising in front of him, catching one of Jaeger's arms in a tight grasp.
"Vot are you doing?" Jaeger asked him. "Don't you remember vot ve learned at ze Hercules Factory?"
"This is stupid," Dik Dik grumbled, bounding over the railings before anyone could stop him.
"I concur!" Checkmate added, leaping after him.
Mars stood to follow them, but Edward stood up in front of him, turning to face him directly.
"I already told you: no stupid moves!" Edward warned, pointing the remote over his shoulder.
A second chain, adjacent to the first, snapped open, causing the front of the cage to dip down, the back two corners being the only part still supported.
"Release da whole thing, Bambi and Checkers can catch her!" Mars said. "Or did you forget about dat?"
Edward paused, bringing a confident smirk to Mars's face. Dik Dik had reached the ring, instantly throwing himself at Master DJ, taking them both to the mat. Checkmate leapt in to wrestle Wolfang from Wally, who was barely conscious, literally drowning in his own blood.
"You always did underestimate me, scarface," Edward said plainly, pressing another button on the remote.
Trixie's cage swung violently outwards, over the heads of the audience and beyond the palm of the Hand of Hercules, until it was suddenly dangling above the bare ground thousands of feet below the entire hand. Edward then pressed the red button again, a third chain snapping off, leaving the cage spinning and bouncing around on just a single chain. Edward turned his head to look back at Trixie and then at the events unfolding inside the ring.
"I said no interference," he said darkly, turning back to Mars. "I thought you Muscle League losers were all about playing by the rules and abiding by a code of honour. Apparently not. If you aren't going to play fair then why should I?"
Edward moved his thumb over the red button again, pointing the remote at Trixie's cage.
Next Chapter: An ugly fallout from the end of the first tournament match and a loss for the Muscle League leads to the remaining Justice Chojins being forced to rethink their own strategies for fighting The Anarchists. Chapter 8 – Regroup.