Karina Koji sits alone in a locker room. The room has the general chaotic vibe of a locker room after a major event. Half of the lockers are still open and a general level of trash has been left about, but Karina does not notice any of it. She sits with an ice pack on her head, her eyes focused on a spot on the worn carpet. She hardly moves but breathes at a heavy, quick pace while she continues to stare.
Then suddenly she rises to her feet screaming in a primal way. She kicks at the nearby lockers, and slams doors as she moves with no indication she knows where she is going. She throws herself against one wall of lockers. She continues to scream and starts to hit herself almost as often as the walls. One hand starts to bleed, and then as quickly as it started she gets quiet again. She stares out in a way that is less blank then before and more predatory. With a low growl she rushes out of the room just as security had come to see what the screaming was about.
Karina shoves past them and starts running down the halls. She makes no noise and takes a low stance as if she is about to pounce on someone. People that end up in her path either get knocked down or dive out of the way. She reaches the doors to leave the area and crashes through them. She takes only a moment to pause and sniff at the night air before taking off west of the arena leaving behind her bike and the Party Horde camper.
She runs for hours, very rarely taking a break. On occasion she pauses to look around at what surrounds her but for the most part she just keeps running. In the early morning hours before the sun rises she finds an alley way to sleep in, slumped against a dirty wall. Only after a few hours she starts running again. Her final destination is a shanty town on the outskirts of Bogota. She comes to rest, breathing heavy over the body of a sleeping hobo who has a blanket of plastic sheeting.
It takes the hobo a few minutes to realize that a figure is standing over him. He startles at first trying to push himself away in case the figure means him harm. He then looks at Karina unsure of who she is until he looks further.
“Karina...?”
She nods and the men stands up. He is unsure how to greet her or how to feel about her presence. It seems as if he is seeing a long lost daughter or someone he cares about, but also someone who should not be there.
“I thought you were dead” the man says and looks over his shoulder in a shifty way.
“In a way I did die I guess, but not all the way. I only remember your name and that you lived in Botoga. And...I remember you were kind in a dark place.” she says sounding unsure of herself. Both her arms shake a little as she talks.
The man smiles warmly. “That place....the dark place. It messes with your head. Makes it hard to remember. I only remember a little bit more of it. Mostly I remember the end.”
Karina nods and almost motions to touch the man. “Where was it? What did they do to us?”
The man rubs his eyes and scratches at his head. He has a distant look in his eye. “No...I don’t know. It was Brazil, mostly underground. They did different things....but they had to shut it down. They were sending us back....but you attacked the Doctor. That was the last I saw of you.”
As he talks the words take their effect on Karina. The causes her to flinch as she gets bright glimpses of memory. She remembers rain and old buildings. People being shoved into vans and I man dressed far to nice. A man that she felt so much rage for that it was hard to think about. The hobo, a man named Pablo, stops talking.
Karina looks at him in desperation and with anger “thats it...that is all you know. Eight months of my life and all we know is we were underground...in Brazil. Who was the doctor? Tell me everything.” She shoves the man hard, he tumbles in the dirt and rises quick enough to suggest he was use to getting knocked down. Karina charges at him again and he quickly deflects her attack. He takes a stance that shows he is ready to attack.
“He was just the Doctor...and I don’t know more. I have spent all this time trying to forget..and j...just to stay calm. I cared about you inside but I can’t go back! Leave it in the dark, please.” he says his eyes going wild with fright. He body seems to be conflicted between fight and flight. Karina recognizes his body language and puts her arms down.
“Are you hungry?” she says her eyes looking down at the dirt, unaware of how abrupt a change in conversation this might seem. The man slowly relaxes his stance and smiles.
“Sure, lets eat. We can catch up.” Pablo knows better than to try to shake her hand but they walk together up a small hill heading towards a food truck.
When we catch up with Karina again she is at the parking lot of the airport meeting up with her brother and the Young Lions. His brother looks her over, with concern. It is obvious she has not slept much or changed her clothes since her attack the night before. Dried blood is on one hand and by now most folks had heard about her outburst. Even with all this concern Aleksei knew better than to ask how she was doing.
“Your lucky you caught up with us. I have flight to catch and the boys were going to take the camper to Peru.” he said trying not to focus on his concern. “We have you bike.”
Karina nods dismissively. “Did they book me in a match?”
“Da, you are in tag team match against Necra and Cortez.” he said
“That is bullshit. I don’t want to have another tag team match. I want a match with Necra on her own..or either of her sister bitches!” she says glaring at her brother. Aleksei chuckles.
“Ok, I can work on that for now you have this match.”
Karina sighs, “Who is my partner?”
Aleksei takes a deep breath. “Salco”
Karina laughs and throws up her arms. “You know, brother when I use to watch wrestling with you I always thought it was silly how quickly a bad guy became a good guy or enemies became friends. But now we are working with Mark Ward who use to be a big jerk face.”
Aleksei chuckles “He still is.”
“Ah yes but we are part of his team. We fight for him, and now I tag team with girl that had my title for a while. A girl I have fought before but now we are team mates.”
Aleksei nods. “It is a screwy world. Speaking of I have to go check in on wrestling promotion I am part owner of. Now tell me that is not crazy. Listen don’t worry about the match, just train hard like you always do. Salco is good fighter, you will be fine.”
Karina waves him away dismisivly and starts to walk towards her bike.
“And Karina, please take care of yourself ok. I don’t want to come back in a week and discover your lost again.”
Karina looks over he shoulder and smiles. “Don’t worry, I can’t get lost. I have Loki.”
Aleksei does not look convinced but he has places to go so he turns to leave. Karina gets her motorcycle down from where it rest in the camper and checks her bags. She does not plan to stay with the camper long.
********************************************************************
Days later Karina is in the highlands of Peru. She stands just slightly away from her bike. She looks considerably more rested than the last time we saw her, she looks almost happy.
“When you stand out here looking out at these mountains you realize how big the world is. You realize how petty most of the problems people have are. That is good for me to remember with the war that is brewing. It is good for me to remember that most of the people that try to do me harm, they don’t really matter.”
“Every week us fighters, we try to make big deal out of our silly lives. Every one of us is the best in the world, or is fighting epic fight between good and evil. Even I spend lots of time talking of being a hero. It is funny when I am out here all that seems so small but when I am in the ring those things are all that matters. I wonder sometimes what it is like for other fighters.”
Karina shrugs and looks over to her right. She shares a private joke with the woman who only she can see. The love of her life.
“Loki, thinks for most it is much more like a game. People like Amanda who like to talk a whole lot of smack outside the ring. She is the type that got into this business for attention. She wants us all to look at her hoping that being pretty and edgy will be enough. I mean she certainly does not have any substance beyond that. What can you remember about Amanda? What makes her special? She likes to be tickled? Please...it seems to me that somebody needs to grow up.”
I think that is why she joins Team Erik. She felt all sad and cranky that nobody thought she was top girl anymore. She knows we have all but forgotten the time she was champion. She knows that nobody cares about her tag team efforts, so she gets involved with a man who promises the world. How is that working out for you? Oh right, it is not going so well.”
Karina takes a long sip of water befores she continues.
“Now it is true that Amanda has beaten me in the ring. I hate to admit that but it is true. Perhaps that means she can do it again, but I think not. What most people have not realized about me yet is that I am constantly evolving. I am a different fighter than I was when we last met. I am better now. I fight for purpose and I fight with clear mind. I know how to beat you Cortez and I will make sure to share that information with my partner for next week. As badly as she wants to destroy you, I won’t have to do much to get rid of you but tag in Salco. Now Necra....thats a different story.”
Necra what happened last week has made things more personal. You have gone from delusional and confusing to annoying and now just looking at you sets me off. You must be confused. You think ganging up on me is same as real fight. Necra you have not seen me in a real fight. When we get to meet in there, you won't have your sisters. You won't have your illusions of godly powers. You will just have the reality of the pain I can cause you. Blinding pain that will make you regret ever going against me."
