Jessica Jones (thehword) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-07-14 18:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, colleen wing, jessica jones |
Who: Jessica and Colleen
What: Fight clubs and bar fights
When: This weekend
Where: An underground fight club, then a seedy bar
Ratings/Warnings: Rated PG-13 for violence
Status: Complete
Aside from the fact that it was a wife getting Jessica to tail her husband, Jessica’s latest job wasn’t the usual kind. For one, the wife didn’t think that her husband was cheating on her. In fact, she was more worried about him than anything else. He had, apparently, been coming back home at all hours of the night with no explanation, covered in bruises that he refused to talk about. The wife had done some snooping on her own, and had found out that his bank account had more money in it than usual, and half-convinced that he’d taken up a life of crime and was going to get himself killed, she had hired Jessica.
But, well, if this man was working for a crime lord, he didn’t seem like it. He didn’t keep an eye out for tails, and didn’t seem inclined to hide where he was going. Following him to the large, concrete warehouse had been almost laughably easy. She’d tried to follow after him through one of the back doors, but the large, beefy security guy had told her that spectators had to use the front door, and she frowned. She could have easily taken out the security guard, but it seemed unnecessary, though she did wonder what she was about to spectate.
It hadn’t been too hard to get in the front door. A $20 entrance fee, which she would bill to her employer, and a couple of suggestions about where she could place her bets, and she was inside the concrete cube, with high ceilings ringed with steel catwalks, all overlooking a large cage. Had she managed to stumble into some sort of underground fight club? At first, she looked around to see if she could find the entrance to where the fighters would emerge from, but the press of bodies was too thick, and so she pushed herself up the stairs to one of the catwalks so she could get a better view, making it to the top just as an announcer came to introduce the next two fighters.
As much as Colleen tried to avoid the fight clubs (a true fighter didn’t fight for money as she told her students), there were just times when she couldn’t. Like when an emergency came up and something needed to be repaired right away and so suddenly she was in need of cash. Then there was the part of her that also enjoyed it. Which she shouldn’t, she had more training and self control than that. But it was what it was.
Which was also why she had told the announcer that she wanted to fight two guys and he double her earnings.
“You’re crazy, you know that? But I like it.”
Rolling her eyes, Colleen just walked into the ring as she was introduced as the daughter of the dragon, along with stating how she didn’t think the current fighter, Duke, was enough and how she wanted two times the action.
Which was when another large man joined into the cage. Once they were all locked in, the fight began. First with Colleen using the cage itself to propel herself behind the man closest to her with a running start and flipping back over him. What followed was a violent dance - punches, kicks, getting pinned and headbutts and getting dragged out from under a now unconscious body by the second man to join the fight.
After all, it was either knocked out or tap out otherwise anything goes.
There were more headbutts, more punches that she’d be feeling later but that was ignored because she was able to kick up and hit conscious guy’s head and then wrapped her legs around is arm until she dislocated his shoulder.
Getting back up, it was more parrying and punches - this time with one arm hanging limply at the guy’s side and Colleen ignoring whatever injury might have reopened. And as the lug of a guy went down, the cage was unlocked and Colleen was declared the winner. Which meant double the earnings for her.
Jessica watched as the slight girl entered the ring, a little nervous for her though she didn’t let it show on her face, but it wasn’t until she had pulled down her hood that Jessica recognize her. Then, the corners of her lips twitched upwards, recognizing Colleen, the woman from the Network who’d been raised in scientology, and who Jessica had personally seen kick the asses of a group of zombies some months back.
She almost felt bad for the guy; his wife definitely wouldn’t be pleased. She snapped photos throughout most of the fight, and then once it was over she headed down. Her job was done, and she could have gone home and drank herself to sleep for the night. Instead, she found herself headed toward the cage, where she could still see Colleen in her white hoodie.
“Daughter of the Dragon, huh?” she asked once she was close enough, avoiding using Colleen’s name in a place she might not want it used.
Collecting her money, Colleen had to say she wasn’t expecting anyone she knew to show up and so when she heard someone mention her name, the woman quirked a brow and looked to see who it was. Right, Jessica. Who also had shown up in her Dreams recently. Well that was..unexpected. Or not, Colleen knew that people shared Dreams and had a tendency to run into said people. Still though.
“What can I say, it does the trick.”
After all, while the fighting was all real, it was still a production for those who placed bets. And with production came nicknames and titles.
“Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Work,” Jessica said by way of explanation, lifting the camera that hung around her neck for proof. “Can’t say I expected to see you here either. Though maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised.” After all, Jessica had known that she could fight. Jessica might have been able to throw Colleen across a room with a flick of her wrist, but she still couldn’t be absolutely sure that she’d win if they went toe to toe, especially if Colleen had her sword with her. “You come here often?”
Made sense. She had forgotten that Jessica a PI. Then again, with her experience with the Scientology PI’s always trying to keep tabs on her, it usually was something she didn’t pay too much mind to once she determined Jessica wasn’t one of them.
“Fair.”
As for why she was here? Colleen shrugged.
“Needed quick money.” And that was basically all there was to it. It went against the Bushido Code she tried to live by, but she also needed to survive and when things happened and she needed to do repairs? Well. This was what she did.
“Guess that depends on your definition of often. Maybe every few months depending on what’s going on.”
“Work with what you’ve got,” Jessica said knowingly. What Jessica had was in infallible ability to see the worst in people, so she made money by doing exactly that. Colleen had the ability to kick a lot of ass, so it only made sense that she used it for quick money when she could.
“I take it you usually win?” She’d been pretty confident about her chances of winning, at least.
“Exactly.” Because sometimes that was all there was to it. Things happened - especially in Orange County with the constant damn invasions that almost always caused some form of damage to the dojo - and money was needed quicker than what she had on hand or from her teaching. And if she knew she could easily win? Great. Maybe it was a bit unfair to the people she got in the cage with but that wasn’t Colleen’s concern when she still had to keep her business running.
“You could say that. The announcer thinks I’m insane but likes it since it gets him good money as well.”
“It’s definitely a spectacle, though I think seeing a girl your size taking a guy like that,” she jerked her thumb over to the Duke, who was currently being helped out of the ring by two other guys, “would be a spectacle even if there was only one of them.” She frowned contemplatively. “How’d you like to spend some of that hard earned money of yours on a couple of drinks?” she asked.
Sure, she was still carrying her thermos of whiskey, but this place was packed and Jessica wasn’t necessarily the biggest fan of crowds.
Poor Duke. He really did try but Colleen wasn’t going to shed any tears for the guy. It was a means to an end at the moment.
“This is very true.”
And then the offer to go to a bar. Well, she didn’t have any morning classes the next day and it wasn’t like she couldn’t spare a few bucks for a beer.
“Sure, why not.”
Luckily, there wasn’t a bar too far away from the underground fight club. Maybe it wasn’t what many would consider a nice, or even a safe bar, but Jessica could handle herself and she knew that Colleen could too. And it was in walking distance, something that was practically a necessity as far as Jessica was concerned. She didn’t drive.
It didn’t take the two of them long to get to the bar, and Jessica pulled up a stool at the bar instead of finding a table. She’d get her drinks faster if she was closer to the bar. “You’re still doing the teaching thing?” she asked, after she ordered her drink.
Colleen tended to walk most places as well, so it wasn't like she was going to complain about it being close to where the cage fighting had been. And so long as the drinks were fine, the atmosphere didn't really matter all that much.
At the bar, Colleen put in her own order before nodding.
"Yeah, I am. It's good work but with things as they are here… " extra money was necessary sometimes. Even without Scientology messing with her business.
Jessica snorted. She might not have known too much about the Scientology side of things, but she did know well enough about the Orange County and the things it could do to businesses. Jessica’s office was also her apartment and it generally came out unscathed, but she knew other people, like Veronica, weren’t so lucky.
“Maybe I should give this a shot sometime,” she said. “Though someone with superstrength might be a little conspicuous.” Not that Jessica Jones had ever worried about being conspicuous, but she did tend to worry about hurting people. Her dream self seemed to know how to control her strength enough to not injure people too badly most of the time, but Jessica didn’t quite trust herself that much.
“Hey,” a voice barked behind them. Jessica glanced up at the mirror behind the bar, taking in the burly man behind them, and then decided to ignore him. She took a sip from her beer. “Hey, ‘Daughter of the Dragon.'' I'm talking to you.”
While the shit with Scientology came up occasionally, Colleen tried to avoid talking about them whenever possible. Besides, there was enough shit in Orange County to last a lifetime of unexpected repairs and interfering with work.
Right. Superstrength was Jessica’s thing. Something that probably would do no good against the Hand. Except they weren’t there and Colleen had been trying not to think of them, or Bakuto, since she’d Dreamt of fighting him after he had been resurrected.
As someone tried to get their attention, Colleen looked back briefly then went back to her drink. Honestly, why couldn’t they just drink in peace? Of course then he kept talking and used her fighting name and that did get her attention. So she just turned in her seat and quirked a brow.
“Do I know you?”
“No, but I know you,” the man snarled. “You’re the bitch that cost me a grand because of your cheating in the ring.”
Jessica shot Colleen a look, rolling her eyes, as if to say oh, here we go.
“I don’t know how you convinced Duke and that other guy to throw the match, but you’d better give me my money back.”
Oh. Of course. All she wanted was a beer and to talk with an acquaintance and some punk ass little bitch couldn’t accept that two large men were taken out by her. Well that was annoying.
“Or they actually just lost though I’m sure that’s too much for your little brain to wrap around. Just go.”
And as that was all she had to say on the matter? She turned back to her drink.
“Don’t you turn your back on me,” the man snarled, clapping a hand on Colleen’s shoulder so that he could whirl her around to face him again. He wasn’t done yet, and he would be damned if he was leaving this bar without either his money, or without teaching this girl a lesson, preferably both.
Seriously? It wasn’t the most unexpected thing to happen but it was still annoying. Not to mention she had a serious issue with men (well, people in general but who was she kidding, it was usually men) who seemed to think they could make demands of her. She had put up with that shit in Scientology and she wasn’t about to just back down.
The leverage wasn’t great since she was sitting down but oh well, Colleen had worked with less. So quickly leaning back, she grabbed the hand on her shoulder, spun under it and held it twisted behind the guy’s back.
“I said, just go.”
“Ow ow ow,” the man cried. “Let me go, you bitch!” he snarled, and Jessica couldn’t help but grin, finally turning around in her seat to watch him. It was a lot more entertaining to see him in pain instead of trying the macho thing.
“Hmm, I don’t like your tone.” And with that, she twisted his arm some more, “Now, are you going to leave us alone or do I do more than this to you?” Okay, so this was definitely against the Bushido Code, but at that moment? Colleen really didn’t care. Someone had to teach this asshole a lesson.
“Freddie!” the man called out, the pain evident in his voice. Behind Colleen, a man with a pool cue in his head turned around, and made his way toward her, holding the cue like a baseball bat.
Now that wasn’t fair, Jessica thought, and so she grabbed the dirty prezel bowl from the bar counter and threw it with considerable might at the man. It hit him square in the forehead, shattering, and he stumbled back, dropping to pool cue so he could clutch his forehead with both hands.
The shattering dish, however, seemed to be the rallying cry for drunk douchebags everywhere though, and some more guys, who Jessica wondered even knew the guy in the armlock, were rushing toward them.
And of course he had friends. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Colleen quickly made due with the asshold who had started this whole thing by knocking his head onto the bar and then turning and grabbing the discarded pool cue. Well, this would work in place of her bokken.
Though maybe friends was less accurate and just men looking for a fight. Either way? Colleen was unimpressed and started to use the pool cue to knock them back. So much for a nice drink after the fight.
Jessica moved her drink just in time for the other man’s head to come into contact with the bar. It really would have ruined her night if he’d managed to spill it with that rock hard head of his.
“You got this?” Jessica asked, because while she was fairly sure Colleen could handle them all, especially now that she had something like a weapon, it was probably better to make sure that the other woman wasn’t getting in over her head.
“I’ve--” A spin of the pool cue and knocking one of the men to the ground “got” then a jab to the stomach of another man, “it” which involved her arm getting grabbed by the third man and Colleen using the leverage to her advantage to spin knee him in the groin.
Letting out a breath, she turned to look at Jessica, “Wanna find somewhere else?”
Jessica opened her mouth and poured the rest of her drink down her throat, then shot Colleen a crooked smile. “But the entertainment at this bar is free,” she said, though she got up anyway. She glanced over at the bartender, who did not look the least bit impressed. “Though, we’ve probably worn out our welcome here.”
Colleen just rolled her eyes at the comment with an amused smirk but then noticed the bartender. Yeah. They definitely did wear out their welcome, though the bartender could have stepped in if he had bothered. But no matter.
“Just a bit. Let’s get out of here.”
“Thanks for picking up our tab, boys,” Jessica said, not even bothering to turn to look at them as she left the bar. If nothing else, at least they got a free drink out of their visit.