"Let's fucking start," Barbara snarled, her guard high, her legs firmly settled on the floor of the ring and her fists clenching so hard that one could see the straining in her hands.
Before Leo could even attack first, the woman was on top of him, with a left hook right into his ribs, and when he dodged out of the way, she followed with a barrage of short jabs all pointing at his torso. It was clear she was not aiming for a knockout or even subduing him; she was just letting up all her pent-up aggression as if the boy were a punching bag.
Leo was pushed to a corner of the ring between dodging and blocking the punches. "Wow! Getting a little bit spicier! You want to talk?" he yelled, noticing that there was something wrong with her.
Barbara let out a deep sigh and then took a step back. "It is just that . . . I thought . . . when I had a chance with you, it would be the happiest day in my life, but with all the shit going on . . . I didn't feel like I expected," she finally confessed, letting Leo get back with her to the center of the ring.
Not wanting to break the rhythm of the fight, Leo went on the offensive. A long-winded kick aiming right for her left side. "I mean, it is normal; you are super stressed with the gym and I go and drop this bomb. Sorry," he apologized and then his whole frame shook as the attack was blocked by Barbara's forearms.
"Nah! It is fine," she answered, and closed the distance with a step forward. Three quick jabs punched the air out of Leo's lungs.
"That didn't feel like it was fine!" he answered with a left hook to her chin that landed, but . . . she just tanked it, only getting a tiny drop of blood staining her pristine ivory teeth red.
"I get to fuck you, then what?! My gym is not getting fixed! You are still a hero risking your life! What little my parents left me is still rotting away! And I grow distant from Sarah and Mila each day more and more!" she exploded, and a haymaker landed right into Leo's solar plexus, making the redhead fall in the middle of the ring. The sheer strength of the attack broke not only his guard but his footing.
("Don't worry! I am getting a lot of information right now! You will get stronger soon!") Nigredo yelled inside his head.
[Combat experience gained!]
[Level 2: 10/100%]
("No pain, no gain,") Leo answered with his back touching the floor and his eyes looking at the old wooden rooftop before his vision got blocked by two big celestial objects.
"Sorry, I fucking ruined the moment," Barbara apologized with an awkward expression on her face while looming over the boy with her massive milktanks blocking the light. She extended a hand to help him get up, and Leo grabbed it.
"It is fine; that is why you have us, right? To fix stuff together. We could get some money . . ." he suggested, his breath still ragged and his torso stinging from the multiple punches.
"How can I say this . . . you are a minimum wage worker, Leo. Sarah is an indie musician and the rest she donates to charity, I won't steal money from dying kids to fix my problem," she tried to say as subtly as possible that all of them were broke.
"Well, Mila has money," he tried to find a solution, but yeah, they were screwed. The only thing he could think of was about kicking Barbara since punches didn't work on her.
Barbara saw the low kick coming from a mile away and side-stepped it, dodging it and landing a backhanded quick strike to Leo's shoulder to avoid him following the attack. "Oh hey Mila! I know you are super busy saving the city and we don't talk that much, but could you give me some cash? Fuck, I sound like an asshole!" she barked, clearly guilty for asking her friends for cash while beating the everloving shit out of another.
"I don't have money to fix the glass and damages! I don't even have the money to fix the old machines or buy new ones, and now with the whole catastrophe going on? I can see what's left of my clients just stopping their subscriptions!" Barbara barked, wailing on Leo without any technique or even form, just punching to the center of mass with her knuckles.
Leo did his best to dodge and block out of the way, but he was again in a corner and his forearms were starting to give up and were full of bruises.
"No matter how hard I try, it isn't always enough! I even fucking hate this! Fuck, I hate it!" the girl finally screamed, winding up her punch for a final haymaker, and at that moment, Leo countered.
CRASH
Barbara collapsed on the floor as Leo used the opportunity to go for a tackle, lowering his body and using the forward momentum of the girl against her, breaking her stance, grabbing her waist and making her fall on the floor, lifting her in the air for half a second and then slamming her.
Before Barbara could get up, the boy put her neck in a leglock, with those muscular legs grabbing and strangling her until she tapped out.
[Combat experience gained!]
[Level 2: 20/100%]
"Did you calm yourself?" Leo said and was actually surprised that Nigredo didn't push him to get into another kind of action; her face was right between his legs.
("Didn't want to ruin the moment; we can fuck after we're done with this,") the alien answered that thought in an instant.
Both slowly got up off the floor and stretched for a moment, taking a deep breath and already getting covered in sweat. However, of the two, Leo's extra stamina was showing as he wasn't even starting to get tired. "Thanks . . . sorry for dumping all this on you so suddenly . . . do you still want to date this screw-up?" she asked with an honest tone, not even looking him in the eyes and with her smile shaking for a moment.
"You know what they say: crazy is always hotter," Leo answered and patted her on the back.
She chuckled and shook her head. "Cheeky brat, get ready for round three," Barbara finally said as they needed to do a lot of farming.