Quoted By:
>81
Tarantula was on you in an instant, erasing the distance between the two of you in only a few short steps. You reacted accordingly, blocking and parrying a flurry of quick strikes meant to disorient and disable.
Somewhere in between those strikes, though, you managed to flick your wrist downward and fire a web at her foot. By the time she realized what had happened, the power and accuracy of her punches had already taken a hit, due to her lack of balance.
Her last punch put her way off balance and she tripped momentarily. You took the opportunity to deliver a devastating knee to her jaw. Her head jerked back like she’d been hit by a cannon, and she nearly doubled over right there.
While she was disoriented, you placed your raised leg on her shoulder, launched yourself into the air and shot a web at the cage’s ceiling.
The audience let out a resounding “Ooh” as if they’d felt her pain from there. But to the girl’s credit, she recovered far faster than you thought she would. Within seconds, she was already trying to take pot shots at you.
Even while dangling upside down from the ceiling, you were able to easily lean away from her punches, taunting her all the while. Her anger grew, and she decided to try a high kick to your temple.
Anticipating this, you flipped backwards to avoid it, webbed her raised foot and connected it to the one on the ceiling. When you landed, you were met with cheers from the audience.
Tarantula sat there, one leg glued to the ground, and the other dangling in the air and hanging by a thread. She kicked and squirmed, but both of you knew that she wasn’t going anywhere.
You approached her casually, raised your hands to rile up the audience, turned and delivered a well-placed right hook to the side of her face. You were careful to avoid hitting her in the exact place, just to mitigate some of the damage.
The girl’s body fell limp, and her head and shoulders sank towards the floor. For a brief moment, everything and everyone went silent.
<span class="mu-r">“Can someone let me out of here? Let’s move this along, people!”</span> you said while clapping your hands.
The crowd went wild. As you soaked up their praise, you mentally evaluated Tarantula’s performance tonight. She wasn’t a bad fighter at all, just a bit out of her league. You probably won’t be hiring her anytime soon, but there’s a possibility that she uses gear to augment her abilities.
You’ll have to look into it later.
—---
<span class="mu-r">“How’re the bets looking?”</span> you asked Flint while leaning over a metal railing.
<span class="mu-g">“We made good money on that last fight, but people are starting to think that you might be some sorta dark horse.”</span> he said with an amused grin.
<span class="mu-r">“After that last match, I don’t blame them.”</span> you shrugged. <span class="mu-r">“Does that mean that we won’t be making much back from these fights?”</span>
(Cont.)
