Girl Talk

Ava Ayala, the White Tiger, looked like she just fell through a rosebush. Elixer's healing aside, she was still roughed up and sore from her match against Wolf Cub. It was a bloody, brutal affair. Set up in a wooded setting so they could really 'fight like animals' as Rockslide put it. The match lasted a good 10 minutes and only ended when Ava pounced on him from a trees and 'knocked him out'. To sell the savageness, they had to 'juice' as Rocklside put it, which meant making superficial cuts on each other that bleed a lot, but didn't actually hurt that much. She had about 30 of them all over her. Elixer sealed them up, but she could still see the faint lines. She was told they'd fade by the end of the day, but she couldn't help but stare at them. Or the mess of blood they managed to produce which nearly ruined her costume.

Ava's costume was still in the wash in a futile attempt to get it clean. She had a new, clean one, but she wanted to try and get the blood out herself. To see if it even could be done.

A voice almost caught her off guard as she looked at her latest handiwork, "Did you get it?"

She lazily turned to see Juston Seyfert standing awkwardly in on the patio.

"As close as I think I'm gonna," Ava huffed and turned to Juston, who held two water bottles. He extended one towards her. She smiled and took it, quickly emptying the bottle as she sat down on the patio she was working at. It was an odd setup. A patio overlooking a beach where her suit now hung on a line not 4 feet away from a wash basin where she had spent the last hour mixing chemicals and scrubbing the suit by hand.

"Must have done a lot of scrubbing," Juston sat down next to her.

Ava nodded and just rested as she watched her costume dry and occasionally risked a glance at Juston (who also risked a glance at her). This was the third time he did something like this for her. He had brought her water yesterday for the first trial run of a home-made blood cleaner, and he had water and a towel for after the match that stained her suit. His face when he saw her, bloody and exhausted, brought to mind the looks he gave the Sentinel when it was damaged, bringing up a warm feeling inside her.

"Yeah," Ava finally said, "A lot. But I think I got it, or got it as good as it's going to get."

Juston narrowed his eyes at the suit blowing lightly in the wind, "Looks great to me. I don't see anything left there."

Ava thanked him, "But my tiger senses still pick up some blood."

Juston shrugged, "Well, yeah, they would. Super Powers and all that. I bet Laura could smell it too."

"I use her as a benchmark," Ava said, "She said its faint, but I think she's just being nice."

"Ava, Laura doesn't know how to be nice when telling people stuff."

Ava smiled lightly, "You're probably right," Ava considered an idea and rolled her shoulders, "Hey, Juston, I'm still stiff from being slammed into a tree in my last match."

Juston tilted his head, "Elixer didn't patch that up?"

She shook her head, "He healed it, but I'm still stiff. Could you help me out a bit and work the knot out?"

Juston just barely got "W-work the knot out?" as she lay down on the nearby chaise. Her back to the sun and waiting for Juston, who had broken out into a sweat as he looked up and down her body. She wasn't wearing too much to deal with the costume washes. Biker's shorts and sporty bikini top. Juston's vision blurred a bit from light-headed-ness as basked in her beauty.

"Well?" she said with a teasing smile.

He stuttered an affirmative answer and swallowed hard, "W-w-where is the knot?"

Kate leaned in over the plastic table, "So, did the experiment pay off?"

"My theory proved accurate," Ava said with a flush face, "All that work with machines made his hands really strong."

"I told you, that's what happened with Chase," Nico sipped her drink, "All that work he does on the Leapfrog and the Fistigons. . ."

Gert simply raised her drink and said "That and I trained him well."

Nico looked away from Gert for a moment, Kate quickly filling in the awkward moment, "So how good was he really?"

"Very, very nervous at first," She idly looked to the sky, "He still hasn't bought into the outright hedonism of this place."

"Says the girl who was part of the orgy," Kate sneered, "How as that, by the way?"

Ava shrugged, "Too impersonal for my tastes. And also very confusing. What about you, Nico? You've checked out the most guys here, I bet you have some stories."

Nico rubbed her forehead, "Why am I your first choice to ask?"

Ava shrugged, "It was either you or Kate – you're both kind of tied for kissing the most people 'round these parts."

Kate leaned in towards Nico with a feral grin, "I think I've had more."

Gert rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Everything's gotta be a contest with you, Kate." Nico returned the stare.

Kate just nodded. "Eli, Tommy, Noh and America."

"Oh god, you're really turning this into a contest?"

"Well?"

"I'm waiting too," Ava said, "I wanna hear this."

Nico turned to her best friend with pout, "Gert, help me please."

Gert denied her sympathy with a quick shake of her head, "You're the lapsed catholic, you know confession is good for the soul."

"Emphasis on the lapsed part."

"Well? Or am I the most knowledgeable lover in the Hostel?" Kate stretched back in her chair with to show off her toned body and emphasize her curves.

Gert watched the display with the face of a sheer cliff and the burning fury of a volcano before turning to Nico.

The word "Fine" passed through Nico's mouth like a hiss. "Alex, Chase, Victor, Ken and Jen."

Kate stopped her stretch and bent forward over the table. "Damnit."

Ava turned to Nico, "Who's Alex?"

"Our traitor of a first leader," Gert spat, "Currently dead."

"Ouch."

With a smile, Kate pointed a mockingly stern finger at Nico, "I shall defeat you one day soon, Minoru! One Day Soon!"

"Still a little sore over that Battle Song spell?"

'You really up for this shoot?'

'You bet I am.'

'And you want me to still use my powers?'

'Wouldn't be fair otherwise.'

'Alright, you asked for it.' Nico focused herself and then spoke aloud: "Kaio-ken!"

"Kaio-what?"

The loud crack of Nico's foot hitting Kate's head echoed in the arena and the crowd cried out in sympathy pain at the blow as Kate fell like a sack of potatoes.

"Just a bit."

"Then next time I won't use it."

Kate shook her head, "No. You'd better use it. If I'm gonna beat you, it's gonna be when you're not holding back or anything."

Gert raised an annoyed eyebrow, "So if I ever beat you, you're totally gonna harp on me until you get a rematch, aren't you."

Kate grinned ear to ear, "Of course!"

"It's what she does. Ya wear her out once, she doubles her training and then trounces you." Ava sipped her drink, "But of course, so do I."

"I can't wait to see what you have for your comeback this time, Ava," Kate rolled her fists in a mocking mimicry of turn of the century fisticuffs.

Nico rubbed her forehead and shook her head, "I can't believe you crazy people talked Santo and Cho into doing for-real fights every now and then."

"I can't believe how well Chase has done in that venue," Gert leaned back in her seat.

Chase hefted Rikki Barnes across his shoulders and fell to the side, driving her head into the mat with a massive impact. Rikki slumped to her back as her mind fogged, but Chase fell to his chest, gasping for air, his muscles burning with effort. He couldn't move. No energy. Little will. But the counter ran down on both of them. Still, Chase managed to spasm one arm out and drape it over Rikki's stomach. It gave him the three count, but both had to be carried out of the ring.

"I don't know how he put up such a good fight against Captain America protégés," Gert sighed, "But it humbled him."

"Winning humbled him?" Ava's face soured.

Nico shrugged, "He's weird that way."

"Nah, he's great," Kate said, "He's always willing to do a shoot match and he's such a great underdog!"

With a growl, Kate pulled Chase down into the sleeper and locked her legs around his waist to hold it. With one eye blackened and is nose bloodied, it didn't take much for Kate to work Chase to the ground. His fingers grasped at her arm at first on reflex, but then he did something odd. He pulled his arm away from her and jammed an elbow into her side.

The crowed called out in amazement as he did it again and again, the third time putting his other hand over his attacking arm, pushing it further back and making sure to hit her as she tried to shift her body away. And he still hit.

He tried to get up, but she let go of his waist and kept him down on all fours. His face was turning blue, 'Chase, you're gonna pass out at this rate.'

'Then I pass out,' His mental answer was blunt, 'But hell if I'm gonna make it easy on you!'

He managed to get one foot flat on the ground, but instead of standing up he dove forward and tucked his head down. Kate didn't even realize what was happening until the canvas below them rose up to meet her face. She then saw red, darkness, and flashes of a muted iridescence. She saw Chase roll away from her, but remain on his back, gasping for air, letting the color of his face return from the blue hue she had brought it to fade into a more natural red.

"The Non-Powered champion would totally say that," Ava grumbled.

Kate put on a devilish smile and teased in a sing-song voice, "Someone's still sore on that Yakuza kick."

Ava scowled, "Yeah, cracked molars tend to do that."

"Anyway, I still can't believe Chase managed to upset one of my sleeper holds!"

At the mention of it, every other girl at the table instinctively rubbed their necks, remembering that hold, and passing out in it.

"He's the only one to escape it. I'll take a double count out from that kind of determination," Kate leaned back in her chair, "Plus he's got a really good ground game."

Gert raised her hand, "Totally my fault."

Kate's eyes widened as she lost balance on her chair. She tucked up, protecting her head, but still fell back to the giggles of others—once they saw she was fine.

"And you let that go, Nico?"

"For my best friend," She patted Gert on the back.

Gert grabbed it and smiled, then took on a flat look, "You do of course realize that means we're going to have to do a threesome for his birthday."

It was Nico's turn to fall over with a comment.