>>18682468As Colby releases her grip, Miss USA's mind races. She stays still with her face to the mat. As the endless amounts of contingency plans she had devised prior rushes all at once into her head she turns over to face the rafters.
For a split second she contemplates retrieving her bat to smash Colby’s skull in. But she doesn’t. Miss USA stays down.
Her periphery is inundated with flashes coming from the the crowd. She focuses on an arena light shining directly down onto the ring. Shining directly onto her. Silhouettes dance around and on her but she pays them no mind.
The sounds of the arena diffuses into a dull, droning hum. She closes her eyes. She assesses the situation.
Tonight, Miss USA had been defeated. It isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. Colby was the better woman and Miss USA’s streak was a casualty of the war against the Divine Angels.
Colby Jefferson represents almost everything she detests about a person, but she was the only Angel Miss USA had any modicum of respect for born of kinship that she could never explain. She'd been Colby’s beginning and she'd failed to be her end. As much as she hated her, Miss USA couldn’t knock the triumph of a Southern belle against all odds even if it was at her expense.
Many disregarded Colby given their last encounter but she knew that she was more than the rookie she faced all those months ago. She was a legitimate competitor and had little qualms about losing to her. An American proving the world wrong will always be a win for Miss USA.
In a war many battles will be fought but not all will be won. She knew that if anything, she could outlast the Divine Angels. She was one person against a faction of deviants. It was an uneven fight to begin with, but only because there were only 7 Angels. All the loss does is feed fire within her to follow through with her crusade.
The battle is lost but the war isn't over. She will endure. She will conquer. As America, so Miss USA.
