>>19871686The ladder breaks and Cactus Jane feels her spine compress. It's like the greatest high you've ever known. Shivers run down her scarred legs and she lets the moment overtake her... but only briefly. The fight isn't over, and as Ava Mortis celebrates for one moment too long, the one they call Cactus connects the crowd of her head to her opponent's jaw. The fight continues. This is heaven.
Ava kicks out of Cactus' Mandible Claw. The Cactus Driver is countered, and Jane rolls to the table. The metal digs into her flesh. It sooths her beating heart and racing mind. The connection of something metal against her legs snaps her back to reality; Ava Mortis has returns to the ring with old faithful. A baseball bat, of course. Of course.
Stop signs. A diving clothesline. Closed fists to the eye socket. The match is a mess, and Cactus is revelling in the pain, the violence, and the reaction from this sold-out Spaghetti Town crowd. This is her moment, to rend flesh and flay skin, break bones and spill blood. But that's not what happens. Cactus mind goes elsewhere, and she gambles on something Ava will not expect. As Ava bounces off the ropes, no doubt expecting a headbutt or a wild flailing of limbs, Cactus Jane... uses a drop toehold, sending Ava Mortis' face directly in the upturned steel supports of the table.
Cactus sees the connection clearly, and as much as she wants to keep playing, she knows that much more of this and she herself will be in no position to continue. She shoots the half, and makes the cover -- and wins. Cactus Jane wins her second Hardcore Championship, and goes 3-0 over Ava Mortis. As her music plays and the referee hands her *her* belt, Cactus Jane looks out over the sea of mortified, terrified faces looking back at her, and smiles.
She turns her gaze towards Ava Mortis...
"ava... avla pay again soon..."
