Disclaimer: The following chapter contains some graphic violence, so please bear that in mind if you don't like reading about that sort of thing.
Chapter 9: 'Proving a point'
Molly stumbled, trying to drag her weary frame off the canvas. The match had barely begun, yet she felt like she had run a marathon. She shook her head to try and get her concentration together; in doing so more spots of blood from her head wound spattered onto the mat.
Victoria slid back into the ring and charged wildly towards Molly. Seeing her in the nick of time, Molly took her down with a tired looking drop toe hold, which only just got the job done. Victoria found herself throttled by her fall on the middle rope, clutching her throat and wheezing painfully. Molly staggered across to where Victoria lay prone and attempted to choke her further.
"You think... You think you can make me bleed... And I will lie down?" she snapped.
Molly held the blatant choke for around ten seconds, until she backed off and took a short breather. The two girls had sprung out of the blocks a little too fast and needed to pace themselves in order to last the distance.
Victoria gradually made it back to a vertical platform, turning straight into the waiting Molly's grasp. Molly grabbed her arm and whipped her into the nearest turnbuckle; Victoria's back thudding into the not so forgiving pads covering the buckles.
Molly normally favoured a hand spring elbow in this situation, but wisely evaluated that such a move was not a great idea after a chair shot to the head... As a substitute, she couldn't help but notice the trash can on the ground beside her.
She considered various ways of utilizing the domestic object in such a way to cause maximum damage. Simply slugging Victoria over the head with it could have been sufficient, but Molly had a more sinister plan in mind. She retreated to the opposite turnbuckle and set the metal menace up, sliding it snugly between the ropes.
Victoria pulled herself out of the corner and set about thwarting Molly's scheme. Before she could react, Victoria stealthily crept up behind her and caught her unawares with a cheeky schoolboy attempt. Molly frantically struggled to escape the pin fall, succeeding after a two count. Incensed by being caught off guard, she seized Victoria and took her down with a short arm clothesline.
Molly retained her grip on Victoria's left arm, in order to pull her up again. She left her slightly hunched over in order to land a kick in her stomach, which gave her the window of opportunity she was looking for. She grabbed a handful of Victoria's hair in one hand and clutched the waist line of her pants in the other.
Molly sent Victoria hurtling head first into the obstruction, her skull making a sickening thud against the offending article. The impact split her head open and evened the score on that front. Whilst Molly had never particularly enjoyed gratuitous violence in her life, she didn't object to seeing her arch enemy bleed. Victoria lay motionless in the corner, but Molly had no intention of going for a cover; she felt hate driving her to inflict more punishment on her bitter rival.
She decided to repay the compliment from earlier in the match, by driving Victoria into the perimeter fence. Sliding outside, she hauled Victoria's prone body to the edge of the apron and lifted her onto her shoulders. Molly's knees shuddered under the strain of the weight, as she proceeded to toss Victoria into the steel with all of her might.
The next phase of Molly's game plan involved something she was very familiar with from past skirmishes; wood. She had been driven through tables herself many times in the past and knew first hand how devastating the consequences were.
She found what she was looking for beneath the apron, and set about sliding it into the ring. Before setting it up, she made sure that Victoria remained out of commission with a couple of cheap kicks.
"Time to go... Go for a ride Vicky..." Molly uttered in her direction. Back in the ring, she fumbled around trying to get the table set up, her frustration growing with every second that elapsed. Eventually she managed to straighten the legs out, and tip the table up so it stood on those legs.
Molly positioned it in close proximity with the nearest turnbuckle, enough space in her mind to execute a top rope superplex. She returned to the outside to retrieve the wounded Victoria, slamming her face into the steel steps for good measure, before shifting her back into the ring.
Once there, she had to draw deep into her physical reserves to lift Victoria up, in order to seat her in a precarious position on top of the buckle. As she scaled the ropes herself to deliver the devastating slam, she was bemused as to why she felt no fear; such a fall was as potentially dangerous to her as it was to her opponent. 'Maybe it's because I have a point to prove...' she surmised.
Molly soon realized that budging Victoria on the top rope was not going to be an easy task. The fact that Victoria was practically out cold meant that she had to do all the work. She grunted, trying to lift Victoria up to a standing position, but she wouldn't budge. After another failed attempt, she lost her cool and made room to slap Victoria across the face.
The blow seemed to stir Victoria, as she woozily began to inadvertently assist Molly achieve her objective. The two women slowly mounted the top rope and wobbled dangerously as Molly set up for the move. Molly wrapped her arms around Victoria's waist, trying to retain her balance.
As she put the final pieces of the jigsaw together in her mind, disaster reared its ugly head. One of Victoria's feet slipped and caused her to lurch forward. Molly was powerless to stop the momentum and braced herself for a bumpy ride, clinging on to Victoria for dear life. She shut her eyes and prayed for the best.
The arena collectively watched on open-mouthed as they corkscrewed through the air and crashed through the table. Wood splintered everywhere as the table was split in two. Molly ended up landing directly on top of Victoria, who took the full brunt of the plummet. Molly's entire mass had crushed her chest and put paid to her challenge. Molly didn't escape unscathed, but was nowhere near as winded as Victoria; she was able to control her senses enough to open her eyes and look for the referee.
Hebner stood frozen in the centre of the ring, not knowing whether to count a pin fall or to abandon the contest and seek medical attention. The scene was one of devastation, with both competitors battered, bruised and bloodied. In his mind calling the match off seemed like a sensible option, but predictably his opinion was not in favour with the champion staring angrily in his direction.
Molly's rage simmered as she sensed his reluctance to count her accidental cover. She was damned if fate was going to shine on her, only for somebody else to rain on her parade.
"What are you waiting for? Count..." she demanded, "I said count damn it!"
Hebner unenthusiastically went along with her demands, dropping to his knees to bring his hand down three times. As his hand slapped the mat for the third time, howls of derision rang around the arena, only punctuated by the ring of the bell to signify the decision in Molly's favour. Molly could not have cared less what anybody else thought of the result, she was elated to have finally gotten one over on Victoria. She didn't allow herself any time to celebrate the outcome, as she sought to fully avenge the nightmare of the previous months.
"Time to make you suffer Victoria." She sneered, the bitterness really showing in her voice. Molly wanted her to endure the same anguish she had gone through earlier that year, and had something in mind to achieve just that.
Molly crawled up and jadedly dragged Victoria away from the wreckage of the shattered table. Hebner sensed trouble brewing and tried to intervene, only for Molly to hit him in the face with a potent backhand. The strike knocked him out and sent him sprawling to the ground.
Molly turned Victoria over onto her front and sought to soften up her intended target. Grabbing Victoria's right leg, she hooked it into a stepover, before falling onto her back to cinch the painful crossface element of the STF hold in.
Victoria yelped, as she was awoken from her slumber by the agony inflicted in having her weakened leg contorted out of position. Molly had scouted her well, knowing that the brace fixed on it was a sign of how vulnerable that area was. She imposed as much impairment as she could, as Victoria vainly tapped the mat in submission.
"Nobody can help you Vicky, you're all mine..."
Molly broke the hold off and slithered out of the ring to look for something to finish the job. It was turning out to be her lucky night, as she immediately recovered the exact object she yearned for; a sledgehammer.
She pulled the weapon out from underneath the apron and held it aloft, showing the fans a deranged side to her personality that had never surfaced before. She had inflicted pain on opponents in the past, but had never intentionally set out to maim them... Until now.
Victoria was helpless to prevent her merciless advancement, as Molly returned to the ring with evil intentions in mind. Molly turned her over in order to play with her head and let her know exactly what was in store for her. Tears streamed down Victoria's blood stained cheeks as Molly raised the sledgehammer above her head. She could only cringe and turn away as the first blow rained down on her right knee.
Her screams echoed around the auditorium, as her brace was shattered and fell away from her leg. Molly landed a second vile shot, creating the sick sound of bones cracking. That was music to her ears and enough to finally satisfy her urges. She let the sledgehammer slip out of her hands and stood back to 'admire' her work. Victoria wailed, distressed at the disfigurement of her leg.
As officials and medics frantically broke the seal to the cell and attended to the crocked Victoria, Molly slipped away from the scene with hardly a care in the world. The blood she had shed and her aching limbs did not matter, retaining the title was barely a concern.
It was Hunter's words that she focused on, as she cut her way through the sea of anger from spectators on either side of the ramp...
"It's time for her to prove her worth to us."
She was convinced she had done just that.