Queen of Brawl, Wolf of Battle (For Darius)

Ciara had already expected Sarah to take such a course of action, seeing as their arms were already occupied, but her opponent had driven her head forward before the soldier was ready. Stars exploded in Ciara's eyes as the redhead's skull struck her cleanly in the face, but Ciara could already sense Sarah's head rearing back for as many times as necessary. Even though she was still partially disoriented from the attack, Ciara lowered her head and launched her own headbutt, smashing their foreheads together in a painful yet more equal collision.

Ciara actually kept the pressure up on Sarah, driving forward with her forehead to push the other girl's head back, trying to keep her from landing another headbutt, but for another reason as well. Glaring back into Sarah's eyes, she suddenly smiled and winked at the Queen of Brawl, then swiftly let go with her left hand. Keeping Sarah's head in place, Ciara brought her left arm around to deliver a powerful hook into her opponent's cheek.

WHAM!!!

The skulls of both Sarah and Ciara collided with a sickening sound. Rika winced from the side lines, as did a few others that had stopped their workout to witness the fight. The ring practically shook from the impact, and it was amazing the two were still standing afterwards. Sarah pushed her head against Ciara's in an odd contest of stength, gritting her teeth as she worked the effort.

But she blinked when Ciara winked at her, and with the odd position of her head she couldn't see the girl's fist coming ntil it was too late. With a grunt Sarah released Ciara, and stumbled to the side after the blow.

A red mark was on her cheek where the fist landed, and Sarah slowly turned her head to glare at her tenacious opponant. "Alright," she said simply, stretching her neck side to side, and then gestured the army girl for more.

Ciara shook the last of the dazed lights from her vision, but as far as everything else was concerned, she was still pretty fresh. She glared back at Sarah, but she had to appreciate the other girl's toughness; the redhead definitely was just getting warmed up as well. Here was a real fighter, someone worth fighting. The only two people relatively Ciara's age that could fight her evenly up close were Katsumi and Gary. Now finally she'd found this scrapper. Lysandra's right, Ciara thought to herself, AFW's got plenty of gems here.

Stretching each arm across her chest, she grinned. With fighters like Sarah, getting them to speak brusquely was an acknowledgement in itself. Now the real fight could begin.

"Come on, then," Ciara clipped back. Bring her fists up in a loose mixture of a boxing guard and martial arts stance, she advanced steadily on Sarah. Once she closed within arms length, she'd snap a jab at her opponent's upper chest then follow up with a heavy right towards the redhead's face.

Sarah decided that this was an opponant that needed her undivided attention, and her eyes narrowed on Ciara's advancement.

As the first punch came at her chest Sarah swiftly caught it in her right hand, and as Ciara's right hook came in the brawler would catch it just as fast in her left. If all went well Sarah would hold the army girl's arms crossed and immobilized. With a grin Sarah wold raise her foot, and kick Ciara hard dead centre of her chest.

Ciara's eyes widened in surprise as both of her strikes were caught by the Queen of Brawl, then growled as her arms crisscrossed, already bracing herself for a headbutt or a leg attack. But even though her hands were tied, that didn't mean her arms were out of the equation. Bending her wrists, Ciara dropped her forearms and slammed them together, hoping to serve as a makeshift shield against the kick. The ploy only partially worked, as Sarah's foot glanced off of her elbows and planted itself in her stomach instead. Ciara's breath was forced from her lungs and she stumbled back a couple of steps before firmly planting her right foot behind her, halting her backwards motion.

The military fighter truly appreciated the power of the kick, though. If she hadn't blocked and taken it full on, she very well may have been reeling across half the ring or sprawled on the canvas. As it was, a fortunate proportion of the impact had been absorbed and Ciara had regained enough oxygen to counterattack.

Only a moment after regaining her balance, she inhaled sharply, bent her legs, and rushed Sarah, propelling her body in a powerful tackle towards her target. If she connected, her left shoulder would slam into the redhead's chest, her elbow would strike just left of Sarah's stomach into her ribs, and Ciara would power herself forward, attempting to drive her opponent into a corner or the ropes.

Sarah could tell her kick didn't land correctly by the fact that Ciara was still standing afterwards. She frowned irritably. She thought for sure that last one would take the army girl down. Guess I'll just have to try harder, Sarah growled to herself.

Then Ciara charge at her, and instead of jumping out of the way, which she had time to do, Sarah hunkered down like a frontline defenseman, and made to met the tackle head on. Sarah grunted sharply when the girl then speared into her, not expecting such force behind, and she was pushed back across the mat a few feet. But before she could hit the corner, Sarah would stop Ciara in her tracks. Snarling, Sarah would then grab Ciara's hair, and then pull her head down sharply where her face would collide solidly with her knee.

Ciara grudgingly admitted Sarah's strength and resilience as the redhead met her charge full-on and halted her momentum after only a few feet. She also had to hand it to Sarah for facing down everything full-on unlike SOME people.

Somewhere at a red light elsewhere in the city, Lysandra Tremaine sneezed loudly.

Ciara gritted her teeth in pain as her hair was grabbed, then her eyes widened in shock as the knee shot up to smash into her face. Despite her resilience and the likelihood that she could recover from the damage eventually, Ciara refused to willingly take an attack like that full-on, especially at close quarters where Sarah could take advantage with any number of follow-ups. Fueled by her battlefield instincts, the raven-haired fighter crossed her forearms swiftly in front of her face and braced for impact.

Even though her arms absorbed most of the crushing effect of Sarah's knee, the strike was still so powerful that both of Ciara's blocking arms were propelled upwards and slammed roughly into her brow and forehead. Deep down, the painful collision sparked something within her psyche, a small flame of anger borne from pain and rivalry. Quickly uncrossing her arms from her face, Ciara hammered swift rights and lefts into Sarah's upper ribs until the redhead let go of her hair and drew in her arms to protect her sides. Once that happened, Ciara would grab both straps of her opponent's sports bra and suddenly snap her head forward and up, slamming her forehead into Sarah's chest then upwards into her chin in a vicious one-two headbutt combo.

Instead of the sweet sound of Ciara's nose breaking under Sarah's knee strike, she was instead met with the solid thud against Ciara's forearms. Sarah growled in irritation. Why wouldn't this girl take her beating easily?

She was abot to try for another knee to the face when Ciara's first pnch landed in her ribs. She grnted in pain, and then more punches started hammering against her sides, and Sarah was forced to let go after the first few. Sarah wold have backed off then if Ciara hadn't grabbed her bra straps. "GAHH!!" Sarah cried out as the combo of headbutts struck her. The first one left her breathless, and the second sent her stumbling backwards, screaming as she held her chin. "Son of a bitch!! Mother fucker!!" Sarah let loose just about every curse word in the book, and some that weren't as she was left stunned from the attack,

Ciara shook her head quickly, trying to banish the cobwebs from her head. She hadn't expected her counterattack to make her dizzy, but the blow to the face, even though it was dampened, had added on enough disorient her. She grinned when she remembered Sarah's frustrated snarl; the girl clearly wasn't used to fighting soldiers, and skilled soldiers' first instincts were that of survival. She really had to admit that very few nonmilitary fighters would have already pushed her this far that the instinct would kick in, though.

She blinked momentarily in disbelief when Sarah cursed loudly after both headbutts connected solidly; she'd thought even the Queen of Brawl would be on the ground or staggering back against the ropes, much less still on her feet swearing well enough to make a sailor blanch. Still, Ciara had been expecting a tough fight, and she'd have it no other way. At the very least, Sarah was dazed, and the Spec Ops veteran took immediate advantage.

After recovering for a moment herself, Ciara charged forward and drew her left arm back, intent on slamming Sarah with a powerful lariat and slinging her into the corner. If it was successful, she'd follow up, charging in close and hoping to drive her right fist deep into the redhead's stomach.

"GUH!!" Sarah grunted as Ciara once again barreled into her. The girl was certainly quick on the offense, a girl after Sarah's own heart. The force of the lariat send Sarah reeling backwards, and just like Ciara planned she slammed right into the turnbuckle. The impac shook the ring, and once again Rika winced from the sidelines. Sarah seemed to be having a bit of trouble with this opponant, but she knew Sarah was far from done.

Wincing in the corner Sarah knew another attack was to follow, and forced herself to recover fast. As Ciara came in again Sarah waited, and like a matador swiftly moved out of the way at the last second. Her hand would whip out to once again grab Ciara by the hair, and using the rate she had charged with, wold slam the miliatary girl face first into the turnbuckle.