The Gang's All Here

Betty is fighting again, and her friends get to watch.

By Mongoose750 (mongoose750@yahoo.com).

It was an early Thursday evening and almost closing time at Barefoot Betty's Auto Repair Shop. The founder and owner of the garage, Betty Conrad, planted her bare feet on her desk and yawned just as her co-worker, Irena Bresnev, planted her naked feet on the desk and did the same thing.

"This was a boring day," Betty said, stretching her 5'7" light brown, muscular frame.

"Tell me about it," Irena replied. "I almost fell asleep changing someone's plugs today."

"They didn't see you, did they?"

"Oh no, I was under the hood, so they couldn't see me. If I didn't get myself moving, they would've heard me though."

"Daddy told me there would be days like this," Betty said as she picked up her appointment book and glanced over the next day's workload. "Yesterday, we stayed open an extra hour because of all those customers coming in at the last minute. Today, we could barely find a customer."

"Well, this will give me the chance to work on my car," Irena said.

"How far are you on that car anyway?" Both women not only repair vehicles, but they also rebuild them as well. Irena was working on a black, 1955 Chrysler four-door sedan. Betty was restoring a silver 1969 Mercedes convertible.

"Almost finished, I just need to polish the chrome."

"Almost finished? No wonder you almost fell asleep changing spark plugs. So are you going to keep it or sell it?" Betty asked as she rubbed a spot of grease off her arm.

"I was going to sell it, but I spent so much time with my baby, I can't bear to see it go."

"Your baby? No doubt, you're holding on to that one. Won't your old truck get jealous?"

"No, I love him too. We've been through a lot together. I'll keep them both."

"I have to find a front quarter panel for the left side, and do some work on the engine, then I should be polishing some chrome myself."

"You are keeping him?"

"It, not "him.' If I start calling the car a "him,' I'll never get rid of it. Besides, it's spoken for. Some banker wants to drive to work in style, so he called me to ask what I was working on. As soon as I told him what car it was, you could almost hear him drool. How could you not sell a car to someone like that?"

"I take it he gave you a good offer," Irena said.

"Oh yeah, a real nice offer," Betty said. "He gave me the figure; I said yes sir, when do you want it, sir, right away sir." They both laughed. "Besides, on a day like this, I should get a lot of work done on it. I just wish something exciting would happen today."

In an unexpected answer to Betty's question, the door opened wide, and six women walked in. They were of various heights and sizes. Betty recognized them from an earlier time when a former nemesis, Fred, attempted to send them after her. After Betty cleared up the misunderstanding, they decided to come after Fred themselves. They were unsuccessful in their effort, and Betty had to take care of Fred herself. Their leader, a 6'0" woman with long red hair, a large bodybuilder's physique, and a perpetual scowl on her face stepped forward to talk to Betty. As she stood before her desk, she looked over and down at Irena, her face giving her as much regard as one would give a cockroach.

"Betty, we need to have a word with you," the woman said.

"Why hello, Sheila, what's up?" Betty said.

"We understand you took care of Fred."

"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way. Last I heard, he has a good job, a nice girlfriend, and a new way of life." The last time Betty and Fred clashed, Betty came close to literally beating him to death. Only a moment's hesitation and the intervention of a friend stopped her from applying the fatal blow.

"You see, that's where we have our first problem. Fred was our prey to deal with, and you took him from us."

"Well at least he was taken care of."

"He was ours to take care of. We do not appreciate that."

"Sorry, but after he sent three men to attack me after I came home one evening, the last thing on my mind was who had squatter's rights on kicking his butt. I wish you got to him before I did. He probably would've spent less time in the hospital being thankful he got to live one more day."

Sheila hesitated for a moment, and then continued. "There's also the matter of your title of being "The toughest girl in town.' In all the gyms and bars, a day doesn't go by without hearing something about how you beat up all these people."

Betty sighed. "If the title means so much to you, it's all yours. I freely give it to you. I never wanted it in the first place. I just wanted to run my garage. If it wasn't for me whacking a few people across the head for trying to tear up my garage, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place."

Sheila folded her arms and gave Betty a superior look. "Well, that's not how it works." She sat on Betty's desk. "You see, you can't just say you "give up' the title. It wouldn't mean anything to the person who wants it. It has to be taken from you. That way, there's no argument. Not only that, but it turns out there's a few of us that have some type of gripe with you."

"What kind of gripe?" Betty said, then she saw a woman come forward who matched Irena's height of 5'5", had short curly black hair, and an impressive muscular build. She was wearing a bright purple tank top and shorts, cut just right so any observer can see her muscular development. To finish off her outfit, she wore purple flip-flops that showed off her toenail polish of the same color.

Betty stared at her for a moment, and then continued. "Okay, I've never seen you before in my life. What do I need to know about you other than your obsession for the color purple? Nice build by the way, though I think you should lose the shoes, but then, that's my preference."

The purple-clad woman huffed, then said "My name is Annie, I run a gym on the north side of town, and I was known as the area's resident "tough girl' before you came along. Anyone who had a wimpy bone in their body would steer clear of me, because they feared my "fists of steel,' which happens to be my last name, Annie Steel."

"How nice," Betty said.

"I could go anywhere I want or take anything I want. Then one day I hear at the gym about this girl named Betty who has been beating up all the tough people in town. Men, women, even groups of people get their butts kicked by you. I even heard about you putting this construction dude one step away from intensive care."

Betty turned to Irena. "How did they hear about that, none of us told anybody." Irena just shrugged.

"Pretty soon, I hear your name everywhere I go. It's "Betty this," or "Betty that," or "Betty is pretty tough." Even in the rare times I allow my boyfriend to speak, he dared to say to me that you might be a match for me. All that training, then he speaks your name, and I have to beat him up again. When he gets out of the hospital, he should know better. But the fact is I'm sick of hearing your name, and I want to set the record straight on who the toughest girl in town really is."

"Wait a minute. If all this is about being the toughest girl in town, then wouldn't that mean you gals will eventually have to fight each other?" Betty hoped the question would confuse the group momentarily. It worked last time, she thought.

If the group was confused, they showed no sign of it, as another woman stepped forward. She was 5'7" with tanned skin implying an Italian heritage, and cut muscles implying a bodybuilder's physique. Unlike the first woman, she had styled long brown hair that hung in ringlets to her shoulders. She wore a black muscle shirt with black shorts that displayed as much as her leg as was considered legal in public. She wore black clogs. She looked Betty up and down a few times before deciding to speak.

"My name is Claudia, and I'm Annie's second."

"Second what?" Irena said.

"Second as in backup or assistant," Claudia said to Irena, giving her a look like the answer was obvious.

"You mean if Annie can't make a fight for some reason, you fill in for her?" Betty asked.

"Yeah, her second," Claudia said.

"I guess you also schedule her appointments for her too."

"No, we have a secretary for that."

"What is this, a non-profit organization? Are you here to claim the "tough girl' title?"

"Nope, I just love a good fight," Claudia said. "Besides, Annie and I are a team. She has her "fists of steel,' while I have my "legs of steel.' My kickboxing skills in this town are the best. Even that blonde chick you hang around with is no match for me. Perhaps if Annie leaves anything left of you after she gets through, I'll show you what I can do."

"Her name is Susan, and if you're so good, how come I haven't seen your name anywhere?"

"That federation stuff is nothing; I'm talking about real fighting. And no, we are a "profit' organization. After we're finished, you may want to inquire about our "protection services' some time soon."

"I have enough "protection,' thank you. All right, let's speed this up. Who else has a gripe against me?"

A 5'6" woman with long blonde hair came up front. Her upper body did not have the tone and development of the bodybuilders before her, but she was clearly muscular. Her lower body was well built, but her legs looked almost puny in comparison to her chest and arms. She wore a pink tank top, black shorts, and white socks with black wrestling shoes.

"You look familiar," Betty said, eyeing her closely. "Didn't I go to high school with you?"

"The name's Julie," she said.

"Julie! Yeah, I remember you. What-"

"And you stole my boyfriend."

"What?"

"You remember the school prom, don't you? You couldn't ride in a limousine like everybody else. No, you had to drive one of your old cars to the prom."

"A red Ford Thunderbird, 1963, the first car I restored and rebuilt. Yeah, I remember now."

"So did my date. All through that night, he couldn't stop talking about that dumb car. When we danced, he talked about that car. We couldn't even make out without him saying something about that car. It was always the car."

"You're mad at me and want to beat me up because your boyfriend had eyes for my car instead of you? Let me remind you, he's a guy, and many guys love cars. A lot of guys almost fought that night over the privilege of just touching the car. I'm sorry if your guy ignored you because of it, but that was many years ago. It's over, forget it."

"Easy for you to forget it, as pampered as you are." This time a black woman, about 5'7", also a bodybuilder stepped up. She looked like she came from the swimming pool wearing a thin white cover-up over her blue bikini. She was subconsciously playing with her blue flip-flop on her right foot, slipping it off and on.

"You're JanTana, right?" Betty said, wondering what childhood indiscretion she was guilty of now.

"These days I go by Anna, and I just want to beat you for the spoiled brat you are. You had everything handed to you on a silver platter, a nice education, cars, and this fancy garage you have here. You all had handed to you. Maybe I should take it, then where will you be?" She said.

"Maybe you should do your homework before you accuse me of having a silver spoon in my mouth. First off, I wasn't given those cars, I rebuilt them. Piece by piece, from the engine to the tires, I fixed, replaced, or polished. Second, selling one of those cars paid my education. I'll admit, I didn't have to worry about expenses for books or anything after that, but it wasn't given to me. The garage was given to me as a graduation present. I don't know what your deal is, I ' forget it, who's next? You!" Betty pointed at a massive 5'7" blonde standing in the corner. "Who are you? What's your beef?"

"I'm Kasey," the woman said, "and I just like a good fight. I understand you like to fight, so here I am." The woman along with her build had well defined arms, the biceps threatening to burst out of the light blue T-shirt she was wearing. Her blue jean shorts and tennis shoes with no socks shown how well defined her legs were, not as developed as the arms, but well cut in their own right.

Betty inhaled and blew out a long breath. In about ten minutes, her day was dreadfully boring, and then it turned into a bad evening that would never end. She turned to Sheila.

"Sheila, this is only the second time I met you. You didn't go to my high school or my college, and you're not even from this town, are you? Yet you gather together people, some I haven't seen in years, and set them up to go after me for something that I may or may not have done years ago. Why? What's in this for you?"

"The satisfaction of knowing that the title of "tough girl' has been given back to its rightful owner, and all these wrongs have been righted. You have been going on a free ride for a while, now it's time to pay up."

Betty opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, and sat down at her desk massaging her temples. She knew what was next, so there was no sense delaying it. "Okay Sheila, where and when?"

"This Friday at the playground by the hospital, in the area next to the soccer field and playground at 10 p.m."

"There's bleachers in that area, aren't' there?"

"I think so, why, were you thinking of bringing guests to your beating?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you were going to bring more guests. You might as well give them a place to sit down."

"I almost forgot, there will be another surprise for you. I can't tell you now; you'll just have to find out when we get started."

"Fine. Now get out of my office, please." The women all turned and left. Sheila, being the last one out, stopped and turned to the two mechanics.

"Oh Betty, to help even things up for you, feel free to bring the runt along with you. She should give us some extra fun." She laughed and left.

Betty turned to Irena. "How are your workouts on the Bowflex# machine going?"

"Excellent!" Irena said. "It gives me a great workout. I don't understand, why did you ask if there were bleachers where we were going to fight?"

"We are supposed to be going out with the gang, and since they are always so anxious to hear about our fights, I'm going to invite them to see one. Irena, could you do me a favor?"

"What's that, boss?"

"The next time I ask for something exciting, tell me to shut up."

Early Friday evening, Betty and Irena had an onrush of last minute customers during the last hour of business. They left a message to their friends that they would be there as soon as they can, and that they have a special treat waiting for them, so they shouldn't plan anything. The five friends sat at their usual table at the local Denny's, discussing the day's events. They were happy, barefoot, and loving it.

Seated at the table were Janelle Edwards, a judo instructor of her dojo called The Iron Foot. She was 5'11' with a fair complexion, long black hair, and an almost constant smile to highlight her muscular frame. She was wearing a dark blue velvet-like crop top that was covered by a white, long sleeve blouse. Dark blue tights of the same material followed this, the legs stopping at the ankles. Blue toenail polish along with a few toe rings and a sapphire ankle bracelet topped off her footwear, or rather the lack of it. Only Janelle's closest friends have seen her wear shoes, and they are usually hard-pressed to remember when she wore some recently. A woman passionate and extremely confident in her abilities, they make people overlook her eccentricities.

Seated next to her was Susan Davidson, who at that time, was now counting the weeks before she graduated from the local university with her education degree. She was 6'0", had long blonde hair, and muscular as well, because of her bodybuilding regiment. Her bodybuilding routine was one of the parts of her training that made her a possible contender for the Tri-State championship in amateur kickboxing. She was dressed a little more simply than Janelle, wearing only a white v-necked T-shirt and black leggings that stop at the knee. Her feet were only decorated by a gold ankle bracelet, a "soon to be graduated' present from her fianc#, David. Similar to Janelle, she's confident as well, but much more subdued.

Next to her was Kim Chang, an accountant by day, and a Tae Kwon Do instructor in the evening; Betty was one of her prize students. The woman of Japanese ancestry stood 5'5", with a figure that was deceiving. An observer may think at first glance that Kim looked rather fragile. At second glance, or for the unlucky person who sparred with her, one would find out that her "fragile' build is well toned and defined. Like Susan, she decided to dress simply as well with a black tank top covered by a gray zippered sweatshirt, and Capri-cut blue jeans. Kim normally teaches her classes Monday through Thursday throughout the week, and on Saturday mornings, leaving Friday free to play catch-up on her office work or to have a night on the weekend. Having some time off from the office, Kim felt free from everything, including shoes, which is the first thing that comes off and stays off when business hours are over.

Loretta DeGarmo was a large woman (6'3") of Hispanic descent with shoulder length wavy light brown hair, and almond colored eyes. She is a free-lance carpenter who runs a small company that specializes in handyman jobs and general wood structure construction. Her other job is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor who runs a training camp or "boot camp' as it is usually called. She was wearing a tan sleeveless sweater and white drawstring pants, along with brown toenail polish on her feet. A relatively new member of the group, she was looking forward to hearing Betty's "fight of the week.'

Seated next to her was Velvet Jones, a 5'10" black woman of a medium brown complexion who wore short black hair cut close to the scalp, and displayed a muscular, well-toned build that was the result of regular weight training and judo training. Of the latter, she was Janelle's chief student and assistant at the dojo. She attended her college classes in the daytime. Velvet was wearing a white long-sleeve blouse and blue jeans that were cut right above the ankle. She decided to go with what she calls her "slave girl' look, which consisted of wearing several ankle bracelets on each foot, along with a few toe rings.

"So where are they?" Velvet said as she looked over the menu, feeling a little indulgent, trying to decide which type of cheesecake she have with the dinner she hasn't ordered yet.

"She called me and said there was a little rush of last minute customers at the garage, so she'll be here shortly," Susan said.

"Well, I hope it won't be too long. I'm hungry, and this menu looks good enough to eat, and hello!" Betty and Irena just walked in the restaurant as Velvet finished her statement. Both of them were wearing long black jackets covering their clothes.

"I hope I didn't keep everybody waiting too long," Betty said, then turned to Loretta. "Loretta, it's a pleasure meeting you here."

"Likewise," Loretta said. "You still have that Thunderbird?"

"Yes I do, and no, you can't have it. If you can find an old Thunderbird carcass out there, I'll be more than happy to redo it for you." She turned to the group as she sat besides Velvet while Irena found a seat beside Janelle. "Loretta has been coveting my cars for a while now."

"Who has time to go to the junkyard with my schedule? Besides, I wouldn't know where to look."

"Tell you what, there's this one place in the next town that has a few remains of some old clunkers. We can go there a week from this Saturday if you want, and see what we can do there."

"It's a deal!" Loretta said. "In fact, if you could rebuild a car for me, I can add an addition to your garage."

"I think we're talking business. The garage was getting a little cramped anyway."

"If I could interrupt the business negotiations for a moment, we have someone who needs to be introduced and you're supposed to have a "special treat' for us," Janelle said.

"I'm sorry, excuse my manners," Betty said. "This is from Irena, my assistant. She's originally from a town in Russia I cannot pronounce, and she knows the guts of a car as well if not better than I do. She also rebuilds cars, and is a very nice person."

"Hello," Irena said.

"I understand she's a pretty good fighter too," Janelle said. "I heard about what you did to the "parking lot' robber not too long ago."

"It was nothing," Irena said, "but then again, so was he."

"The way you broke his wrist with one twist, I would've loved to see that."

"Maybe you'll see that again," Irena said.

"I know there was a special treat I had for you, but I would like to eat first, so could we go ahead and get that out of the way? After we have some food in our bellies, then I'll spring the big surprise," Betty said.

The women ordered their food, and about halfway through the meal, Betty addressed the group.

"As you well know, whenever we get together like this, one of the burning questions that I get is, "Betty, who did you fight this week?" It's almost gotten to the point where I think you ladies would be disappointed if I didn't have someone to fight for the week. Well tonight, I have a special surprise for you. Once again, I have been challenged, and this time, instead of telling you all about it, you'll get to see it."

"See it?" Susan asked. "Tonight?"

"Yes, all of you will get a ringside seat while Irena and I whack some jerks across the head."

"Well, that will take care of the excitement for the evening," Velvet said.

"So who are they, how many, and how come?" Susan asked.

"I don't remember all the names, but the ring leader is Sheila, there were six of them when they came into my office yesterday, and how come? A number of reasons, none of them make much sense." Betty said.

"What reasons were those?" Janelle asked.

Betty counted off on her fingers. "Let's see, one reason was because I got to Fred before they did, another reason is I took the title of tough girl away from one girl, a third reason is I had everything given to me on a silver platter, and, oh yes, when I went to my high school prom, my car stole some girl's boyfriend away from her."

"What? Those are reasons? They're just plain loco," Loretta said.

"It sounds like they just wanted to fight, never mind the reason," Janelle said, as she motioned to the waiter so she could look at the desert menu.

"That reminds me, there was one girl there who was there just for a good fight," Betty said.

"What do they look like? Are they built?" Loretta asked.

"They all appear to be bodybuilders, so they have muscle, though I wonder as goofy as they are, if they take some steroids too. This may be of interest to you Susan, one claims to be a boxer, and another claims to be a kickboxer. They say they have "fists of steel' and "legs of steel,' respectively."

"That sounds familiar, but I can't place the phrase with the face. I guess I'll find out when we get there. Where is it anyway?" Susan said.

"At the playground at 10 p.m." Betty turns to Kim. "Sensei, you are invited of course, but I would understand if you don't want to come. I know this isn't what you intended when you first taught me."

"Are you kidding? Of course I want to come!" Kim said. "This will be the biggest excitement I've had all week. I trust you tried to negotiate with these people, and tried to solve it in a non-violent way?"

"Yes I did."

"Then you did your part with your heart. Now it's time to do your part with your hands and feet. Besides, I get a chance to see my star pupil in action. I still think you should've gone into competition."

"I get anymore challenges like this, I might as well."

"Will you need any help?" Loretta said excitedly, "I'll be glad to lend a helping hand or fist."

"No thanks, Irena and I pretty much got it. You got to see this woman in action! One look at her and you'll see why she went undefeated in the cage fights back home."

This caught Loretta's attention. "You were in cage fights?"

Irena downplayed it. "Yes I was. I needed some extra money to come to the states, so I participated in some matches. After you win a couple, they pay you very well."

"Do you know a martial art or have a fighting style?"

"Yes, I know Combat Sambo and Betty and I are taking Krav Maga classes," Irena said with a slight grin.

"What time is it, I'm ready to go!" Loretta said, starting to motion the waiter over for the check.

"Well I'm not, we have plenty of time," Betty said. "Besides, I've been craving strawberry shortcake for a couple of days now, and I'm not leaving until I get some."

The whole table laughed.

After everybody finished their meal and took care of the bill, the women walked off to their separate cars to travel to the battlefield. Before they could head to their cars, Janelle came behind Velvet and Susan and offered them a ride.

"Hey you two, there's no need for us to take all our cars over there. Ride with me," she said, and then headed to her car. Susan and Velvet followed.

As soon as they got in the car, Susan said, "Okay, what's up?"

"Why? Is there anything wrong with someone offering her two friends a ride in her car?" Janelle said innocently. "You make it sound like I have an ulterior motive or something."

"No, there's nothing wrong with it," Susan said, "but I do know you have an ulterior motive. I'm just waiting to see what it is."

"Oh Susan, you know me too well. Actually, I wanted to say that this invitation by Betty was an excellent idea on her part. We get to see something more exciting than a movie, and we get to keep an eye on our lethal weapon here; emphasis on "lethal.'"

"Lethal?" Velvet said. "That's a bit extreme, isn't it?"

"I wish I was joking about that Velvet, but think about it. There's probably a few doctors, nurses, and EMT's out there who could probably be thankful Betty is around to give them patients to care for."

"So she beat a few people up. That's what they get for messing with her."

"No, beat up is what you get with two kids on the playground. They wrestle around a little, one suddenly gets a bloody nose, the fight is over, and everybody goes home. Hospitalization is a different matter entirely."

Velvet raised up her hands. "Okay, so she sent some jerks to the hospital. If any of them attacked us, we could do the same thing."

"Let me explain what Janelle is getting at," Susan said. "I don't think you know all the details of some of her past battles. She really busted a couple of people up. I still remember what she said regarding her fight with Rocco, about preparing to send her foot through his skull."

Velvet still was confused. "In a fight, a lot of us say goofy things like that. That's nothing new."

"A lot of us say that, but Betty was going to do it."

"Do it? But you can't do that, can you?"

"Look, I know we don't sit around and brag to each other, boasting who can beat up who; we're better than that. But I think Betty may be the toughest out of all of us," Janelle said.

"I don't brag about things like that either, guys are more likely to do that," Velvet said, "and I don't doubt that Betty is tough, I've seen a little of what she can do when she demolished those wooden pallets after she fought Rocco. But still, I'm sorry guys, I don't get it."

"Let's explain it this way," Susan said. "When we fight, it's generally against another person, one on one, in an arena with specific rules. Betty has faced off against men, women, gangs, and so-called experts all by herself until recently, with no rules, no holds barred, in playgrounds, her back yard, construction sites, wherever. She has won every fight, and has grown more powerful with every fight, and possibly more deadly."

"My question is how many times can you be constantly challenged by people before you start becoming as hard as the challengers?" Janelle said. "My concern is there's a line that hasn't been crossed yet, and I wonder how close to that line she is."

"Okay, so she's close to that "line.' If so, what do we do?" Velvet said.

"I don't know," Janelle said.

"You know the funny thing about this?" Susan said. "Our two friends are going to face off against six people, bodybuilders, and we didn't bat an eye, like it's no big deal."

"I think I got it now," Velvet said, as the car pulled into the playground parking lot.

After everyone arrived, the women walked to the area where Betty and Irena would be fighting and waited for the opposition to arrive. They stood in front of the bleachers.

"Do you have any particular strategy?" Loretta asked.

"Yeah, we're going to give them all a whack across the head," Betty said. Everyone laughed. "Actually, we're going to take it easy on them. We just want to beat them enough so they won't bother us again."

"Take it easy? These are some big women," Kim said. "You'll need to hit them harder than regular people."

"Oh, we don't plan on breaking any bones, just leave a few bruises."

Susan and Janelle both breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"So when you competed in the cage fights back home, did you take on opponents my size?" Loretta asked Irena.

"Oh yes, all the time. I discovered the bigger they are, the bigger the target," Irena said. "Foes your size have to bend down to catch me, while I have the choice of attacking you high or low, particularly low, because it takes time for you tall folks to bend down to reach me."

"Never thought of it that way before."

"I see somebody coming," Velvet said, glancing in the distance. "Let's grab a seat."

The spectators found a good spot to sit down while the two fighters prepared themselves to face their foes. Sheila and her group walked out of the shadows like characters in a rap video, cocky, and looking sure of themselves.

"You made it," Sheila said.

"Of course I made it, you made the arrangements. You're five minutes late," Betty said.

"You're in that much a hurry to get your butt kicked?"

"No, I have important things to do when I get home, and I like to get this over with."

As the opposing group arrived, Susan, sitting on the bleacher seats by Janelle, noticed something.

"Hold it, I know that person," Susan said to Janelle as she pointed to Claudia. "She's the one who has the "legs of steel,' or so she says, anyway."

"Where do you know her from?" Janelle asked. "Have you two fought?"

"I know her from the gym. She's decent, but she's undisciplined. I heard she goes to the local bars and fights for money. She supposed to be one of the town's "tough people.' We never fought, but we've met in passing, but she never gave me the time of day. It's as if she has a giant chip on her shoulder or something. She has a real bad attitude."

Janelle patted Susan on the shoulder. "Susan, let me tell you about the benefits of working out at home. . ."

Sheila said to Betty, "Who are these people?"

"Oh they're my friends. Don't worry about them, they're here to watch," Betty said.

Sheila stared at the women sitting in the bleachers for a moment, as if there was someone she recognized, and then turned back to Betty. "You remember me telling you that I had a big surprise for you?"

Betty sighed. "Yes, I remember. What is it; this all is an April Fool's joke or something?"

Sheila laughed. "There's no joke about this surprise." She turned behind her and shouted. "Hey Rachel, come on out!"

Out of the darkness walked a woman who was older than the others, about 37 or so, standing at 5'9", sporting a muscular build on her tanned skin was not as overly bulky as the others, but the toning and definition of those muscles could be seen. Her light brown hair was cut short, only going down as far as her chin with bangs. As she walked toward the other fighters, she gave Betty what could be described as a hungry look.

"Ms. Cooper?" Betty said in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"To help put you in your place," Rachel Cooper said, clenching and unclenching her hands. She was wearing a low-cut black tank top with form fitting black bicycle shorts. On her feet, she wore black mules that she slipped off, as her eyes never left Betty's face.

"You know her?" Irena asked Betty.

"Yeah, that's Ms. Cooper, my high school gym teacher."

"Gym teacher?" Velvet said to the other women on the bleachers. "Where does Sheila recruit these people?"

While Betty's high school years were enjoyable, her physical education class, or more specifically, her PE teacher was the bane of her existence. Since she was in good shape from working on cars, gym class was never a problem to Betty, unless one counted Ms. Cooper. All throughout high school, she scolded Betty for being a lazy athlete and student, neither of which were true. The truth was, the gym teacher was always jealous of Betty's looks and athleticism, even though she was in excellent shape herself, and worked part-time a few nights as a fitness trainer at one of the gyms in town.

There were rumors that Ms. Cooper made two types of visits for a select few students who graduate. For the ones she liked, men, or women, she would come over to their house to give them a "special graduation present.' This "present,' was given when the parents were gone and the student was home alone. For those she didn't like, she made visits to give a different kind of "gift,' one that usually involved pain and suffering. No one has been able to find proof to those rumors, and no one had confessed, but students made it a point to stay on Ms. Cooper's good side so they wouldn't have to find out.

Back on the bleachers, Velvet couldn't help but shiver.

"That PE teacher gives me the creeps. You see that look on her face?" she said.

"Yeah, it reminds me of my old high school algebra teacher. He always had that look when he gave pop quizzes," Loretta said.

"Ew," Susan said.

At the impromptu battlefield, Betty and Irena and their foes faced each other.

"Are we going to get started?" Betty said. "I have work in the morning."

"Sure," Claudia said. "Take off your coats, and stay awhile."

"Don't mind if we do." Betty took off her long jacket first. She was wearing a plain white T-shirt, black jeans with the legs long enough to cover the knee, and her customary lack of footwear. She pulled her fingerless black gloves out of her jacket pocket and put them on.

"You got to admit, Betty knows how to dress for war," Janelle said.

After she finished, she walked over to Irena, who was pulling off her jacket. To her opponents and her new friends, they were quite surprised by what was hiding under the jacket.

Irena was wearing a dark blue leotard, which revealed a superbly muscled figure. The leotard was cut high at the bottom, revealing her whole legs, from the highly defined thighs to the arches of her feet. Instead of shoulder straps, the top of the leotard went around her neck, like a mock turtleneck shirt. The outfit being sleeveless revealed the mass of her shoulders and powerful biceps of the former cage fighter. As Betty took her jacket, everyone was staring.

"Whoa," Loretta said.

"She hides it well," Susan said. "I never would've guessed she had such a powerful build."

Looking at Irena's arms, Janelle said, "I think I know how she broke that man's wrist."

The adversaries were equally surprised, but Julie was transfixed by Irena's strong figure. As Betty took their jackets and handed them to Kim, Irena noticing all the attention that has been placed on her, gave a few muscle poses.

"Do you like what you see?" she said.

Julie, without even realizing it, was slowly shaking her head up and down.

"Julie!" Sheila said, snapping the woman out of her trance, "You, Claudia and Rachel take care of Betty. Annie, Anna, and Kasey, you three take care of the runt."

The two groups split to face their respective foes. Julie walked over with her group to oppose Betty while still sneaking a few glances over at Irena.

"That's the second time in two days I've been called a runt," Irena said. "I don't much like it."

Anna walked up to Irena. "And what are you going to do about it, you little-"

Irena ran forward, and grabbed Anna's right hand, then she jumped up and planted her bare soles on Anna's right armpit and on top of her shoulder. She pulled up on Anna's arm, straightening it out as her body weight pulled both of them to the ground. She braced for impact as she landed on her back. Anna landed on her back as well, but with a dramatically different result. As soon as she landed, she was suddenly hit with an excruciating pain. Her scream cut the air, momentarily freezing everyone in their tracks as she lay there, crying and clutching her dislocated arm.

Irena rolled to her feet to face her two remaining foes.

"A flying arm-bar, she did a flying arm-bar!" Loretta said to the gang. "That was beautiful!"

"I like the way she recovered," Janelle said. "She knew her opponent was out of the way, so she didn't waste any time rolling to her feet to face the others. Very well done."

"I liked seeing the look on their faces," Velvet said, pointing to Annie and Kasey. "They don't know what to do."

"I wish I brought some popcorn," Kim said.

The other group, attempting to screen out Anna's cries, decided more or less to face off against Betty one-on-one. Rachel stood back, deciding to wait until the others had their turn, and Julie stood back, more intent on watching Irena in action. That left Claudia, the kickboxer to face her first. She was decked out in a red tank top and black running shorts.

"You think you're so tough because you don't wear any shoes," Claudia said. "Well two can play at that game." She then started to take off her running shoes.

"You sure you want to do that?" Betty asked, holding her fighting stance.

"Why are you asking? You think you're the only one who can fight barefooted? I'll show you."

Claudia moved forward to engage Betty, then suddenly her left bare foot landed on a rock, the sharp point jabbing her instep. She started jumping up and down, holding her injured foot.

Betty sighed. "My feet are "so tough' because I've been going barefoot for years. A tenderfoot like you has a long way to go before you can tackle rocks." She dropped her stance and put her hands on her hips. "Anybody here want to take her place while she puts her shoes back on?"

"Have you noticed the way that girl keeps staring at Irena?" Susan said back at the bleachers. "That's weird."

"Maybe she knows her," Kim said.

"I think she's in love," Loretta said.

All the women on the bleachers turned to her for a moment.

"Think about it," Loretta said. "She didn't start staring until Irena unveiled herself not long ago. Since then, she hasn't been able to keep her eyes off her. Maybe with her, how does Betty put it, her doors swing that way?"

"That makes sense, but she's going to have her head knocked off if she doesn't pay attention to anything else going on around her," Janelle said. "But then again, it's not my problem."

It turned out nobody filled in for Claudia while she put her shoes back on. Rachel didn't feel it was time to step in yet, and Julie still spent a good deal of her time looking at Irena. Once she was ready, Claudia rushed at Betty, throwing a number of wild kicks and punches at her. Betty just simply blocked or avoided each attempt.

"What kind of technique is that?" Kim asked.

"A short-lived one," Susan said. "My worst sparring partner fights better than that. That may work in the back alley of a bar, but not in the ring."

Betty finally got tired of this. Claudia threw a left cross which Betty blocked, and then caught the left arm. Claudia then attempted to kick Betty with her right leg, but that proved unsuccessful as well, because Betty managed to catch her leg as well. Betty suddenly pulled Claudia toward her, and then slammed her right knee into Claudia's solar plexus, driving all the air out of her. She let go, and Claudia dropped to the ground, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her next breath.

"All power, no skill," Betty said as she stepped over the wheezing Claudia.

She walked over to Julie, who at that time was now totally engrossed in watching Irena, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hmmm?" Julie said.

The last thing Julie saw before she lost consciousness was Betty's fist in her face.

I can't believe she fell for that, Betty thought.

"Looks like it's down to you and me," Rachel said, coming forward to face Betty.

"I'm afraid so," Betty said.

For Sheila, things were going badly. She sent six women to take care of two, and as a result, she has one with a dislocated arm, one currently incapacitated, and one knocked out in the first five minutes. She needed to do something to help balance the scales a little, if at all. She looked toward the bleachers where Betty's friends sat, and saw her, the one who insulted her cousin. Yes, she'll do nicely, she thought.

She walked toward the bleachers and pointed a finger in the general direction. "You!" She said.

The gang was a little confused at first, then Susan pointed a finger to herself.

"Me?" She said.

"Not you, you, the one with the velvet outfit, that fancy getup," Sheila said.

"She must mean me," Janelle said. "What do you want?"

"I have a bone to pick with you,"

"A bone to pick with me? I don't even know you. Don't you have a fight to avoid or something?"

"You know my cousin, the one you kicked out last week."

"Kicked out? Is that what this is about? Hold on, I'll be down in a second." She unbuttoned her blouse, revealing her blue crop top, and handed it to Susan.

"So tell me again about the benefits of working out at home," Susan said.

"Shut up," Janelle said. She walked down the bleachers to the playground to stand about 15 feet away from Sheila.

Sheila pointed her finger at Janelle. "My cousin Johnny wanted to practice judo for a long time, and after he was there two weeks, you called him a wimp and threw him out of your place. You're going to pay for that."

"Is that so? Well, now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing you chose me, because I'm the one who'll be the most merciful to you." Janelle waved her hand towards her friends on the bleachers. "Kim would just kick your head off as soon as she'd look at you, Velvet is a judoka like me, but she likes to specialize on throws and chokes. She'd just throw you a couple of times, and then choke you out, which is not too pleasant. Loretta here would rip you apart, no questions asked. Our acrobatic young friend over there would probably do other damage besides dislocating your limbs, and I shudder to think what Betty will do to you."

"What will you do?" Sheila said with a smug expression on her face.

"Talk to you about the facts of life, which is more than what Susan will do to you. She'll just probably tie you to a tree someplace and really beat on you."

"I heard that!" Susan said from the bleachers.

Janelle turned her head to the side. "Yes, I know you did. We don't have any rope for you to do your thing, so I guess there isn't anything for you to do here."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Susan said. Some time ago, three men attacked her while she was finishing her hike through the woods at a local park. As a result, one suffered a broken finger and the other had a dislocated hip, and they were the lucky ones. The ringleader was tied to a tree and used as target practice for Susan's punches and high-powered kicks. It was months before he was able to leave the hospital. The "tree' incident has become somewhat of an inside joke among Susan and her friends.

[The full story, "Susan's Bad Day," can be found in Mongoose's bookshelf ' author.]

"Live that down?" Janelle said, her attention more to Susan than to Sheila. "The whole thing is so unlike you-"

Sheila saw her chance and started charging at Janelle. Once she got her, it should be a simple matter to pound her face in the ground and teach her a lesson for dismissing her brother. She reached out her hands to reach for Janelle '

- and ran directly into a hip throw, that left her breathless. It turned out Janelle wasn't ignoring her as much as she thought, but it was a ploy for her to do something rash. While she was flat on her back, Janelle grabbed her left arm, and took the bare sole of her right foot and shoved Sheila's head into the grass.

"I've taught my art of combat for years, long before your cousin was beginning to be a juvenile delinquent. Did you really think you could sneak up on me? A true warrior is aware of what goes on all around him. Your name is Sheila, isn't it? My name is Janelle. Let's have a talk."

Meanwhile, Betty has encountered a dilemma of sorts with Rachel. Her and her old gym teacher circled around with each other; Betty was unsure how to act, while Rachel had an evil grin on her face. Her fighting pose was more like a wrestler, making a few feints at Betty, forcing her to back up a little.

"Why are you here, Ms. Cooper? High school was a million years ago!" Betty said, in an attempt to resolve the conflict without throwing a blow.

"I have a long memory," Rachel said. "Little miss perfect you thought you were. All the man teachers saying nice things about you. I am going to teach you another one of life's lessons girly." She made another lunge that causes Betty to back pedal.

"What is it with you people? All these years, and you want to hit me because the other teachers liked me? What is this?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe jealousy?" Rachel said.

"Jealousy? Those teachers were twice my age! I didn't have anything to do with them," Betty said.

"Come to think of it, they weren't my type either, but I'm not here to analyze, I am here to demoralize."

Rachel made another lunge at Betty, which she avoided by stepping back. However, her back hit a tree, and caught off-guard, she rebounded off the trunk, into Rachel, who trapped her into a bear hug. The bear hug felt strange to Betty, because it felt more like an embrace than a bear hug.

Janelle ground Sheila's face into the ground a little more.

"Let me tell you about my teaching methods," Janelle said. "They say I'm a good teacher. I hope I am, because I want my students to be the best they can be. However, I do have one specialty that I like to take pride in. I like to break wimps. Oh, most of my students are good students, eager and willing to learn, and obedient to instruction."

"I'm gonna break your arm and kick your aaaaah!" Sheila managed to say before Janelle exerted more pressure on her arm.

"I believe I'm talking here. I will let you talk when it's your turn," Janelle said. "As I was saying, I usually get decent students, but every now and then, I get someone who comes in with a bad attitude, acts macho, or thinks they can become the next Bruce Lee. As a matter of fact your cousin said something like that. I had to tell the dumb kid that Jeet Kung Do is a form of Kung Fu, not Judo, and the nearest Kung Fu studio is down the street if that's what he wants to do. But whenever someone comes in with a chip on his or her shoulder, I take pleasure in breaking them. I break them down into a person who has respect for other people as well as themselves. If they don't comply like they're supposed to, they have two choices; I am extra hard on them, or they hit the door. I can always get students so losing a few doesn't bother me, it's their loss. Now, is there anything you'd like to say?"

"My cousin is a good boy," Sheila said through clenched teeth as her head was still pushed against the ground. "He would be a great fighter."

"Yeah, he thought the very same thing. Problem was he thought he was there already. He wouldn't listen to proper instruction and thought he was better than everybody else. Not in my dojo. I finally gave him a choice; he could either straighten up and act like a student, he could clean up the dojo by himself until he straightened up and acted like a student, or he could hit the door and no longer be my student. So he quit. Why? Because he was a wimp, that's why. And from the looks of things, it doesn't look like the apple fell far from the tree. You are a wimp, Sheila."

Sheila became enraged. "I'm not a wimp! I was the toughest woman in New York City. People moved out of my way because they were afraid of me. I've busted a few jaws and knocked out the teeth of people who said less than that to me."

Janelle's tone became condescending. "Aw, so little miss redhead was the toughest girl in New York City? Like that's a real big deal. Well, Miss. Tough Stuff, I've been in New York City, and I know for a fact that the people up there aren't quite that different from the folks down here. And if you were such hot stuff up there, what are you doing down here? The toughest girl in New York City, ha! And here you are, under my foot. My raw recruits who aren't even white belts yet give me more competition than you do. You are a wimp, Sheila, and you're not even worth my time."

Janelle suddenly dropped Sheila's arm, removed her foot from her head, and walked away, back toward the bleachers.

Irena, Annie, and Kasey circled around each other, looking for an opening. In fact, that's all they've done ever since Irena dislocated Anna's shoulder. Since Anna's sudden injury, they became overly cautious in their method of attack. Anna, who was still lying nearby, next to a sandbox, had stopped screaming and had now limited her expressions of pain to a few whimpers and a lot of swearing. Irena, normally a patient woman, especially when it comes to combat, was getting weary of her two opponents almost tripping over each other to keep her at arms' length.

"Any time you're ready comrades," Irena said, as she stopped moving and faced her two fighters. "I tire of this. Either attack me or give up, but do something. I'm tired of this dance."

Kasey and Annie stopped moving as well, and they tried to think of a plan of action. Finally Kasey said, "I'll go to her left, you go to the right."

In their tedious exercise, Irena ended up a few feet away from Anna. Suddenly coming up with an idea, Anna grabbed a handful of sand with her good arm, and when Irena looked her way, threw it in her face.

Betty was still embraced by Rachel's embrace/bear hug a little unsure of what to do. Then Rachel started talking huskily in Betty's left ear.

"Hmmm, my little Betty grew up," Rachel said, slowly. "You got more muscles than any of the other students I've had. Nice, thick, strong muscles. It's a pity that there's a lot of women out here. I would love to have you all to myself."

And with that, Rachel's right hand moved down Betty's back to her left buttock, and squeezed.

While Janelle was walking away, Sheila, who found herself unsettled by her talk, held her injured arm as she said to herself, "I'm not a wimp, I'm not a wimp." Seeing Janelle's retreating back, she sprang up and decided to go low and to go for a tackle. She grabbed Janelle around the waist and pulled down, inwardly thrilled with the sudden takedown. Or was it? Instead of just falling down, Janelle rolled, taking Sheila off guard. When Sheila recovered, preparing to give Janelle a punch, she realized that her opponent wasn't where she was supposed to be. As soon as she started to look for her, Janelle came from behind, locking her in a Kataha Jime chokehold.

"I see we're not through talking yet," Janelle said.

Irena backed away, her hands went to her face in an attempt to wipe the sand away. Her friends, in this case, Velvet and Loretta, who saw what happened, asked her if she was all right.

"Are you okay?" Velvet yelled.

"Quiet! I can't hear!" Irena said. The two looked at each other in confusion.

For Annie and Kasey, they were looking for this chance. Instead of going with their plan of approaching her on both sides, they both decided to rush her head-on.

"I'm going out there. I'll keep the muscle woman away from her," Loretta said.

"I'll take the boxer wannabe," Velvet said.

"Stay where you are!" Irena said, pointing in Velvet and Loretta's general area. The two women sat back down, stunned.

Irena puts her hands to her sides, and crouches, eyes shut and head cocked, as if listening for something. Suddenly, she leans to one side, leaving her left leg outstretched. Kasey in her charge, sees the outstretched leg, but can't do anything about it as she trips over it and goes flying to land on her stomach on the dusty ground. Irena then stands up, then stoops down, and straightens her right fist out, hitting Annie in the solar plexus. Annie bends over from the blow, where her head makes contact with Irena's uplifted right knee. Irena then throws Annie over her right shoulder. She turns low to her left, feels around for Kasey's ankle, first feeling the shoelace of her running shoe, then feeling the texture of her tennis sock. Realizing she's gripped Kasey's ankle, she gives a sharp jerk.

Kasey, who was almost halfway up, was suddenly jerked back down on the ground. Irena made her way crawling over Kasey's back, feeling around. She paused and listened. As expected, Kasey started screaming obscenities and threats. With a satisfied grin on her face, Irena reached out, placing her right hand on the source of the noise to help keep it steady, then with her left hand, delivers a chop to the neck that knocks her out. As she rises up, she opens her eyes. She can see again. She walks over, kicks Anna in the face, knocking her in the sandbox. She then faces Annie, who was getting up a little slowly; trying to shake off the effects of the punch and throw that was given to her.

"It's just you and me now comrade," Irena said, smiling.

The first reaction that Betty had when Rachel grasped and groped her bottom was one that she experienced a few times in her life ' panic. This was followed by something she hardly ever does, she screamed. To be grasped that way by a loving boyfriend is one thing; being grasped that way by a man making a crude pass is another thing, but to be grasped and groped by your female gym teacher is something totally different.

Betty's scream caught Rachel off-guard. She suddenly raised her arms, breaking Rachel's hold. She backed up, with a horrified look on her face, while Rachel stared at her with a leering look.

"You, you pervert! What are you doing?" she shouted. "All the rumors are true! Why don't you fool with someone your own age?"

Rachel looked at her and smiled. "People my own age aren't any fun. Seniors out of high school have a lot more juice, more energy. Even the ones I had to force something out of gave me a wonderful taste. But you, though I wasn't able to get to you after you graduated, I'm glad I waited. I can't wait to feel those muscles again. I love the way they feel against my skin. I can't wait to-"

"No!" Betty yelled. "Ms. Cooper, I've been taught to respect my elders and most people in authority, including teachers. But if you touch me like that again, I will be forced to take you down, got it?"

"Playing hard to get, I like it," Rachel said. "It makes the fruit so much sweeter." She starts advancing forward.

Betty found herself shaking. She couldn't locate the exact emotion; it seemed to be a mixture of many, not the least of which is rage. Rage toward what her gym teacher has done over the years, what she is attempting to do to her, and toward Shelia for recruiting her in the first place. When she gets her hands on her, she's going to whack her across the head so hard, she'll have to drive in reverse so she can see where she's going, she thought. Unfortunately, she can't gather a clearer thought about anything else; Rachel has rattled her so much.

Quickly, Rachel grabbed Betty, pushing her hard against the tree. Rachel looked her in the eyes and spoke to her seductively.

"C'mon, you don't want to hurt your old gym teacher. Let's kiss and make up, huh? C'mon, gimmie a kiss." She said, puckering her lips.

For Betty, her reaction was more reflex than anything, but it was enough. She shoved her left hand into Rachel's throat. Rachel backed away, holding her throat and gagging. Betty knew that she would have to act now, without hesitation, for she may not give herself another chance. Turning on her left foot, she gave a spinning back kick with her right foot, striking Rachel in the head, knocking her out.

Glancing for a long moment at Rachel's still form, she looked over at Claudia and Julie, who had both recovered from Betty's earlier blows. Julie, who has kept her eyes on Betty this time, saw the look in Betty's eyes and decided that vengeance was not a good idea after all.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I apologize for trying to fight you. That boyfriend was no good anyway. I give up, okay? Bye." And she left the playground, walking quickly at first, then turning into an all-out sprint into the darkness.

"Do you give up as well?" Betty said to Claudia.

"No, no, I want another chance to get a piece of you," she said.

"Good," Betty said. "I need something to hit."

"I've got to find out how she did that. Wasn't that something?" Janelle said to Sheila while she maintained her rear chokehold on her. The two of them had a ringside seat to watch Irena's technique with her opponents, as well as Betty's traumatic experience with her old high school gym teacher.

"It looks like Irena can beat your girls blindfolded. She probably could do it with one hand tied behind her back too," Janelle laughed.

"You think you're funny, huh?" Sheila said as she gasped.

"Let me ask you another question," Janelle said as she tightened her hold a little more, making Sheila grimace. "Why did you stoop so low as to bring Betty's old gym teacher to this shindig?"

"She . . . wanted a piece of Betty too, so . . . we brought her along," Sheila said, as she struggled for a breath.

Janelle raised her voice and tightened her hold a little more. "She wanted a "piece' of Betty, huh? Did you know what "piece' that was?"

"No, uhh," Sheila struggled to say.

"I guess it would help if I loosened things up, wouldn't it?" Janelle released the pressure. "Now, what were you saying?"

"No, I didn't know she was psycho."

"It looks like you didn't know a lot of things, like how to recruit, how to organize, how to fight, etc. Betty is going to want your head for what you did. I'm probably the only thing between your safety and the hospital ward. I have half a nerve to give you over to her. You're lucky I'm a nice person."

"When I get loose, I'm going to ' uhhhhh," Sheila said, or rather attempted to say before Janelle tightened her hold again.

"You're going to do nothing but sit here and watch this. See your "soldier' over there fighting Betty right now? She's doomed. Not just because Betty is the better fighter, but because of that stupid stunt you pulled. She can't get to you right now, so she's taking all her anger and frustrations out on her. After she tears her apart, she'll probably have enough left over for you. Sheila, you're not just a wimp, you're a stupid wimp who doesn't have the sense God gave a rabbit."

"I'm not a uhhhh!"

"Shut up wimp, and watch what happens."

When Irena fought in the cage matches in her home country of Russia, she took on fighters of almost all disciplines from boxers to martial artists to street fighters. Being trained and taught to end fights and matches quickly and efficiently, dueling with these three losers have taken a toll on her patience. Before the fight began, Betty asked her not to hurt them too badly, just enough to "convince them' not to mess with the two mechanics. As a result, Irena had to waltz around with two fighters who were afraid to engage her, and suffer the indignity of having sand thrown in her face by the wounded fighter who shouldn't be on the field anymore. She was not pleased.

"Let's go comrade," she said to Annie, "I do not have all night."

Annie came forward sporting her fist-fighting offense, while Irena held her defense guarding her face, but leaving her midsection uncovered. As expected, Annie went for the bait, firing a right into her stomach. When nothing happened, Annie fired a left, then another right. She glanced at Irena, who smiled.

"'Fists of steel,' meet abs of steel," Irena said, then fired her own right jab to Annie's jaw.

While Annie was staggering, Irena grabbed Annie's left arm and launched a right kick into her stomach. As Annie bent down, Irena delivered a hip throw, landing her flat on her back. After she landed, Irena grabbed her right hand with her left, and landed her left knee on her throat. Irena started applying the pressure.

Kasey, regaining consciousness, saw what was happening. "What are you doing?" She said.

"Putting her out of my misery," Irena said. When she saw Kasey start to come forward, she also said, "You take one more step, and I'll snap her wrist like a twig. You know I can do it."

Kasey stepped back. "Okay, I backed up, all right? Don't hurt her."

"If I wanted to harm her, I would have," Irena said, as she glanced down at the form that was wiggling to get loose and losing her breath. "Instead, she's going to take a little nap, she looks a little tired."

"You little Russian, commie, bit-" Anna strained to get out.

"Excuse me," Irena said, and punched Annie in the face with her free hand. "You girls are pathetic. Betty told me to take it easy on you, and not hurt you too much, but what you've done is try my patience. If you're trying to be a gang or something like that, you have a lot to learn. Yet I can't get on you, except being stupid enough to follow a leader like that."

Annie's movements were starting to slow down.

"If your leader was any good, she would have some type of a battle strategy instead of just showing up and ganging up on people. She knew of Betty's reputation, but she just sent you here to fight and hope for the best. You also didn't know anything about me. If you did, you wouldn't be facing me like a scared rabbit."

"Russian commie bit-" Annie squeaked out again. Irena belted her again.

"That's right, I am Russian, though not for long, Russia hasn't been communist for quite a while now, and if you attempt to call me that name again, you will be missing some teeth. Do I make myself clear?" Irena increased the pressure on Annie's neck.

The only reply from Annie was a gurgling sound as she slowly lost consciousness.

"As I was saying," Irena said, "if it wasn't bad enough that your leader doesn't join in the fight herself, but she had to drag one of Betty's high school teachers into this. She'll be sorry if I get my hands on her."

Anna said with a weak attempt at bravado, "Sheila's stronger than you."

"Maybe, but her bones still break. Perhaps if you take a peek, you'll see Sheila isn't as good as you thought she was." The two looked over at where Janelle has a chokehold on Sheila.

Irena rose to her feet. "And the worst thing is, one of your own was wounded, and none of you helped her. You just let her lie on the ground and cry and moan. What kind of leader is that who doesn't care for her own?"

Kasey spoke up. "Well Anna is tough, and-"

"Silence!" Irena said. "This fight is over! What you are going to do right now is take Anna to the emergency room of the local hospital, where she can be taken care of."

"I didn't drive, Annie did."

Irena mumbled under her breath in Russian, dug her hand in Annie's left front pocket of her blue jean shorts, and threw the keys to them. "Here, go. Don't worry about the others, they'll be here when you come back. In fact, it looks like right now, Betty is, as you people say, "putting on a clinic.' When you come back, you may have to take her to the hospital too. Now go! And if you ever confront me like this again, I will not hold back like I did tonight. I'll break your bones, and give you new meanings of pain."

Kasey helped Anna into the darkness where Annie's car is located. Irena watched them go, then turned and headed toward Janelle and Sheila. She looked at the unconscious body of Annie, considered giving her a kick to the head or ribs, but thought better of it and walked away, muttering under her breath in Russian.

Janelle watched both fights with her captive audience, then realized that the only remaining fight of the evening could have serious implications if it continued. However, her first order of business was to take care of her prisoner.

"Looks like I need to do something about this last fight before your last remaining fighter ends up spending the next few months eating her meal through a straw. It's been nice, but now it's time for you to say goodbye," she said.

With her muscular arms, Janelle increased her pressure on her chokehold, catching Sheila unawares and near the brink of consciousness.

"Say goodnight wimp, it's time for you to go," Janelle said as she finished choking her out.

"I wish I had the pleasure of doing that," Irena said as she approached.

"She blamed me for her cousin quitting my dojo," Janelle said. "So she wanted to take me on."

"Pity she didn't take me on, there's a few of her bones I'd like to break before I'd choke her out."

"When she recovers, you'll have your chance. In the meantime, let's make sure your teammate doesn't get too carried away."

After letting Sheila drop to the ground, Janelle joined Irena as they walked toward where Betty and Claudia were fighting.

Rachel slowly rose from where she was knocked out. She was knocked out, but only briefly because Betty in her panic didn't land a solid blow. Still, it was enough to make the gym teacher rub her jaw. When she woke up, she didn't get up right away, deciding instead to watch the rest of the fight around her.

It was a stupid mistake to team up with these idiots, she thought. They may be muscle-bound, but they couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. Still, the experience was worth it for one thing, to see Betty again. Betty was originally on her "beat to a pulp list' after she graduated, but seeing her now being well built meant something else for her. She wants her, and will have her, but when she plans her next move, it won't be with this group of numskulls, it will be alone, with nobody else around, like her other victims.

After she got up, she started walking toward the darkness where her car is located, remembering almost as an afterthought to pick up her shoes on the way out. She couldn't help smiling to herself imagining what the next encounter will be like.

Betty was bored and frustrated, both because this pathetic excuse for a kickboxer was wasting her time. She was starting to look forward to giving Sheila a good whacking, until she saw that she was caught and knocked out by Janelle. What's Janelle doing in this? Well, since she can't punish Sheila, she'll just have to sock it to this woman.

Claudia delivered a punch and kick combination that Betty could see coming in her sleep. "Who taught you to kickbox anyway?" Betty said.

"Rick VonSpegiel, one of the best in the area," Claudia said, panting as she threw a roundhouse kick at Betty that hit thin air.

"Well either this man wasn't as great as you thought, or you must have been absent a few days. You're horrible."

"We'll see who's horrible after I kick your tail," Claudia said, attempting a side kick that like the last kick, missed.

"You call that a side kick?" Betty said. "No, this is a side kick."

She pivoted on her left foot and snapped a side kick with her right foot that landed the ball of her bare foot on Claudia's forehead. It wasn't so much of a blow, but more of a touch. In either case, Claudia jumped back in shock.

"Oh, don't worry, I was just delivering a "love tap' there," Betty said. "If I wanted to give you a concussion, you'd have one right now. Of course, you would be unconscious, but that's beside the point. The point is, that is what a real side kick is. Now let me show you how to do a roundhouse kick."

Claudia saw a blur of motion, then she suddenly felt a foot land on the right side of her face ' hard. She almost fell down from the force of the blow.

"You see that? Well, maybe you didn't. That was with my left foot. Those were also my two warning kicks."

"Warning kicks?"

"Yes, that means each kick I demonstrate to you now is going to be personal and painful. School is now in session. Here's my side kick from my left foot."

Betty sent her side kick crashing into Claudia's chest, nearly knocking the breath out of her, and sending her staggering.

"Cheer up, I haven't busted your ribs ' yet. Not while I still have a large selection to show you. Here's a spinning jump kick, hope you like it."

Claudia didn't have the chance to say whether she liked it or not. All she knew was Betty turned and a hard foot suddenly struck the side of her face. As stars appeared before her eyes and she struggled to stay on her feet, the sad truth came to her; she was outclassed and outgunned. She must have been toying with them all along. Betty was moving so fast and so smooth, she couldn't prepare for the blow, even if she knew it was coming. Escape is the only choice she had left. Perhaps if she launched a few kicks to distract her, she could make a run for it to the dark part of the playground where her car was located. She took a quick look around, and only saw two other people on her team, Annie and Sheila, both knocked out and lying in the grass and dirt.

As Velvet watched the last remaining fight, she turned to Susan.

"Susan, I think I know now what you and Janelle were talking about," Velvet said. "I didn't think I would say this, but I feel sorry for that poor fool out there."

"I thought she might stop after she knocked this woman for a loop, but it doesn't look that way," Susan said.

The spectators saw Irena and Janelle head toward the two fighters, and without a word spoken, they all got up and followed them.

Exercising her desperate plan, Claudia launched a frantic roundhouse with her right foot headed toward Betty's head. Betty deflected it with her right palm, pushing the leg back so hard, it almost spun Claudia around.

"Haven't you learned anything?" Betty said, shaking her head. "I taught you how to do a roundhouse kick already. It looks like I'll have to show you all over again."

Before Claudia had a chance to even think about reacting, her whole head exploded in pain as another blow from Betty's foot slammed against the side of her head. The blow knocked her off her feet, sending her crashing down to the ground. As she laid on her back, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sheila recover from whatever knocked her out. Finally, someone to give her a hand against this madwoman. Her encouragement turned to shock as she saw Sheila look around to see if anyone was looking. Her eyes set on Claudia's for an instant, nothing more. Satisfied that no one else was looking, she got up and ran into the darkness, running as fast as her legs could take her. Now Claudia was truly alone.

If Betty saw Sheila's departure, she didn't show it as she stood over Claudia.

"Time to get up, the lesson is not over yet," she said, matter-of-factly.

Claudia got up on trembling legs, trying to find a way out of this nightmare. She took her left hand and wiped it against her lips. She was bleeding, but not much.

Betty saw Claudia wipe her lips. There was blood, not much, but enough. Enough to want to see more of it.

"I changed my mind," Betty said. "I think we need to stick with the basics, like a good old fashioned front kick."

Betty shot a front kick toward Claudia's forehead. However, instead of grazing it like before, the ball of Betty's right foot struck hit it hard, snapping Claudia's head back. Not even putting her foot down, Betty jabbed Claudia in the chest with her toes. Claudia started to bend forward from the last blow when Betty grasped her around the shoulders and rammed her left knee into Claudia's side. Claudia suddenly felt something break inside, and she had a shocked expression on her face. Betty, looking straight into her eyes, had a tight grin. Claudia looked back in Betty's eyes, and saw one of the most frightening things in her life.

Claudia fell to the ground in fear. There was only one thing left to do.

"I give up, I give up!" She said.

"You should have thought of that when your friend, "she who stares a lot,' threw in the towel," Betty said. "What was with that, anyway? All she did was stare at Irena and, oh, now I get it. I don't think Irena will be flattered when she finds out one of your girls was ogling her. Anyway, get up, we're not through."

"I don't want to fight anymore! Please, I give up! I can't fight you anymore, what do you want me to do?" Claudia was backing away on the ground, holding her injured side.

"What do I want you to do? Prayer might be nice."

"Prayer?"

"Yeah, because you're going to need it," Betty said, as she walked toward Claudia, foiling her efforts of escape. "This is war, and sacrifices must be made. What do you do with that so-called skill of yours, hmm? Bully helpless people around? Practice your protection racket? I know, I bet you kickbox in the alley of bars to earn money. That must be it, because you sure aren't a pro. So I think we'll sacrifice your livelihood. I don't think I demonstrated my axe kick to you yet. I think it comes in handy to one in your position, especially since you keep scooting away from me. Your kneecap should be a good spot; I'll start there after I cripple your arm to keep you from crawling."

The next few moments were a combination of sounds. The first sound was a blood-curdling scream from Claudia, as she stopped crawling, and instead curled up into a ball, crying uncontrollably. The second sound or sounds came from Betty's friends as they trotted over to where the two combatants were. Betty stopped in her tracks, looking like she had just woke up from a dream. She looked over at her friends, then looked back down to Claudia.

"Please, please don't let her hurt me," Claudia pleaded to the gang. "I'll do anything, just don't' let her near me, please, I beg you." She started crying again.

Irena glanced over and saw Annie walking to the group, uncertain of what was occurring; all she knew was she never heard her long-time friend, the woman with the famed "legs of steel,' behave like this before.

"Come, tend to your friend," Irena said, as she walked Annie over to where Claudia was laying.

"What happened to her?" Annie asked.

"She needs medical attention. Take her."

After watching Annie help Claudia walk back to where they came from, the group turned to talk to Betty, only to find she was already on her way back to the bleachers to collect her jacket.

As the rest returned to the bleachers, Loretta complemented Irena.

"Irena, your fighting style and ability were phenomenal! It was a pleasure watching you in action," Loretta said.

"Thank you," Irena said.

"I do have one question. That time when that woman threw sand in your face and blinded you, how were you able to fight them off?"

"Yes, I'm dying to know myself," Janelle said.

"At the cage matches in Russia," Irena said, "every now and then they would have "novelty matches.' One of these matches would be for the contestants to fight blindfolded. It wasn't held too often, but it always was a crowd pleaser."

"That would be challenging," Kim said.

"It would be, especially if you're a striker, because you can't see where you're hitting. If you're a grappler like myself, you have more of an advantage, because you can use sound and touch to locate and subdue your opponent. The matches were extremely hard, but an excellent method of training. I signed up for these matches whenever they were available."

"Wow, I need to see if I could incorporate that into my training camp somehow," Loretta said.

"I'll give you a hand if you like," Irena said.

"That would be great."

Betty addressed the group when they arrived. "Well, I hope you enjoyed the show everybody. I'm sorry we didn't have better opponents."

"That's all right," Susan said, "some people found a way to get involved themselves." She jabbed Janelle with her elbow.

"Hey, she challenged me. I didn't want to fight; this was a new outfit. Thanks to that redheaded dingbat, it's all dirty," Janelle said.

"So where is that "redheaded dingbat' anyway?" Velvet said as she glanced over at the spot where Sheila laid not too long ago.

"I guess she left while the getting was good," Susan said.

Betty glanced at her watch. "Irena, I think it's safe to say that I don't think we're going to work tomorrow."

"Excellent, that will give me more time to sleep, and to put the finishing touches on my new car," Irena said. "I also think I'm going to workout for an hour or two before I go to bed. The Bowflex machine will give me more of a challenge than those three idiots I was stuck with."

"I'm going to go ahead and leave. I'll catch you guys later." Betty walked to her truck and left.

Loretta turned to Kim. "Well, sensei, what do you think of your prize pupil?"

"Pupil? From the looks of things here, she stopped being my pupil a long time ago. This is indeed a case where the student has surpassed the master," Kim said. "I think she needs to work a little on her self-control, but other than that, she should be teaching me!"

"Betty is indeed a formidable fighter. When she fights, she has the soul of the bestia," Loretta said.

"I'm sorry Loretta, I'm rather rusty on my Spanish," Janelle said.

"The soul of the beast."

"You mean like she's demon-possessed or something?" Velvet said.

"No; she's a believer, so I know that's not the case. What I mean is this is something that I've ran into quite a bit at my training camp. They would be some of the nicest or most quiet people you meet. They seem so meek, they couldn't frighten a mouse. However, when you put them in competition or in a fight, they're ferocious, and without fear, like a beast."

"That makes sense," Janelle said.

"Sometimes it can be triggered by something. I had one student who would do okay in competition until he's hit in the face, and then he goes all rabid and merciless on his opponent."

"Well all I know is this is one fight that has more questions than answers," Janelle said.

"Like where did Sheila dig up Betty's old gym teacher?" Velvet said. "That would take some research on her part."

"Sheila doesn't have the brains that god gave a chipmunk," Janelle replied. "Someone else is behind this, and I'd like to know why."

"The best person to ask those questions would be Sheila, and nobody knows anything about her," Susan said.

"I know she's from New York City, she bragged about that while I was stretching her arm. That's all I know though."

"I've ran into quite a few connections while I've worked at Betty's garage," Irena said. "I'll see if I can come up with something. I resent someone coming into my place of employment, and calling me a "runt.' That makes me rather annoyed."

"I don't think anyone will think of calling you a runt after tonight," Velvet said.

"Hey, I propose that we play this detective stuff sometime later. I'm supposed to meet David for brunch tomorrow," Susan said.

"That's right, I have Tae Kwon Do in the morning," Kim said, hitting herself in the head. "I think I'm going to have my assistant teach tomorrow."

"That won't work with me, my assistant is right here," Janelle said, shoving Velvet.

"That's okay, I didn't feel like teaching anyway," Velvet said.

"Well you're not sleeping in. If I have to suffer, so do you."

"Enough talk everybody, let's go home. I want to sleep," Loretta said.

Everyone got into their respective cars and went home.

Despite a long evening, Betty couldn't sleep. She was still a little keyed up about the events of the evening. So instead of going straight home, she took a scenic route through town. Finally, after driving around for half an hour and feeling a little thirsty, she stopped at an all-night convenience store at the south side of town. She parked the truck at a dimly-lit spot along the side of the store and walked in.

She saw two men hanging around the counter. One was a white man, about 5'9", wore a black beard and mustache to match his long hair put up in a pony tail. He was wearing a blue jean jacket, jeans, and a gray Harley-Davidson T-shirt over his small potbelly. He briefly reminded Betty of a biker, or someone who wants to be a biker. The other man was a 6'0" black man of a slim build, wearing a black jogging outfit with a black toboggan, which Betty found odd, since it was much too warm to wear something like that. Oh, whatever, she thought to herself as she grabbed some bottled water and walked to the counter to pay for it.

"Whooee!" the black man said when he looked at Betty. "What's a little girl like you doing out so late?"

betty ignored him and placed her money for the water on the counter.

"Where your shoes at, girl?" the white guy said.

"Don't wear any," Betty said and walked out the door.

Once she stepped out of the store, Betty opened the bottle and took a few swallows. She sealed the cap back on her bottle and started to head toward her truck. It was time to go home. As she reached her truck, she saw two figures leaning against it in the dim light. When she came closer, she found it was the two characters that she met in the store.

"Little girl like you shouldn't be out so late," the black man said. "That's not too healthy."

"Yeah, there's nobody around, and nobody to hear you scream," the white guy said. Both men laughed at the little joke.

"Nobody around but us," the black man said as he flicked open his knife.

"No witnesses?" Betty said as she took her gloves out of her jacket pocket and put them on.

"What?" the white man said.

"No witnesses?" Betty said as she started taking off her jacket. "You see, I just came from a fight that didn't satisfy me, and I'm still a little keyed up from it. I'm in need of a little release, and you two fit the bill." She started cracking her knuckles and flexing her feet.

"Who are you girl? You're crazy," the black man said.

"You don't know who I am either? That's even better," she said.

"Maybe we should leave this girl alone, Jay," the white guy said. "She needs help."

"Help? No, I don't need help, but you're going to, for messing with the wrong person." Betty faced both men in her fighting stance. "Now tonight, I'm only going to give you guys two choices. You can either fight me one at a time or together. Either way doesn't make a difference to me."

Both men looked at each other. "Let's do it, Tommy, I've been looking for a piece of tail all night tonight, and I'm going to get my piece right now," the black man said as he and his companion moved toward Betty.

The white guy reached her first. "You should've left as soon as-"

That was as far as he got as Betty fired a right hand straight into his face. Betty could feel the impact her fist made, breaking bone, cartilage, and spilling . . . blood. Blood that flew from Tommy's nose and landed on Jay's jacket. Tommy staggered back until his back hit the wall, holding his nose in a futile attempt to keep it from bleeding any more. Jay, cursing and swearing partly because of Betty's first blow and partly because his favorite jacket was ruined from the blood that got on it, slashed his blade in wide strokes, causing Betty to back up. However, as fast as Jay was with his knife, Betty was even faster as she ducked down and delivered a right spin kick that landed to the side of Jay's right knee. The night was filled with a howl as Jay fell down, holding his shattered knee.

Tommy moved from the wall to make an attempt to grab Betty, but Betty pinned him to the wall with her right bare foot against his throat. His breathing already compounded by his broken nose, Tommy was gasping for air as the passageway to his throat was being closed.

"You know, you really picked the wrong time to mess with me tonight," Betty said. "You should've just stayed in the store and drink your coke. But instead, you decided to "get a piece of tail.' For that, I'm going to kick yours. Don't worry though, I'll try to leave enough of you so people won't know who you are. But you're right, we're all alone, and there's nobody to hear you scream."

Betty released her foot so Tommy could slide down the wall catching his breath. She then gave a kick with her left foot, sending the sole of her heel against Jay's forehead. His head snapped back, hitting the side of the truck. She turned and waited for Tommy to make another attempt at rising. When he did, she shoved him against the wall and delivered a rapid succession of pile driver punches, bruising, fracturing, and eventually breaking several of Tommy's ribs. She delivered two more punches into his face, breaking a cheekbone as well as creating a black eye. She looked briefly on her handiwork and walked over to Jay, who now had a pain at the back of his head as well as his right knee.

"Big boy like you shouldn't be out so late," she said. She then delivered an axe kick with her right foot on Jay's right shoulder blade. Another howl filled the night as Jay's shoulder bone was broken. Betty walked around Jay, studying him clinically, like a doctor would examine a patient.

"Something is out of place, and I don't know what. Wait a minute, now I know, you need a pair!"

Betty raised her left foot, and slammed it down on Jay's other knee. After hearing more screams from him, he looked back at Tommy. The man was struggling to get up, but not successfully, struggling to catch a breath and coughing blood.

"I'd be careful moving around if I were you. There's enough rib fragments floating around in there to puncture a lung, if that hasn't done already. Ribs are so easy to break." Betty reasoned she doesn't need to fool with him anymore, she's seen enough of his blood.

As for the other man, she wasn't sure what to do. She broke his right shoulder blade and both legs, let he still wouldn't bleed to her satisfaction. He also won't shut up. Betty kicked him in the face with her right foot, then after seeing no success, kicking him in the face again with her left foot. He began to plead to Betty.

"Please don't hurt me anymore, I'll leave you alone," Jay said weakly.

"Shut up!" Betty said, grabbed him by the collar, and backhanded him a couple of times. When she saw blood flowing from a corner of his mouth, she finally found what she was looking for.

She let go of Jay, letting him drop to the ground, aggravating his injuries further. She walked over to her truck, and then realized that the first guy was leaning against it, trying to get away. Without a word, she grabbed the man by the lapels of his blue jean jacket and dragged him over to where his friend was at, and dropped him, piling him on top of him. Another sound of pain from broken limbs and broken ribs combined filled the night.

As Betty was pulling off her gloves and putting her jacket back on, she noticed some blood stains scattered along the side of her pickup truck, her 1956 powder blue Ford pickup. Her first impulse was to go back and beat those two men some more for staining her truck, but she was tired and needed to go home so she could get some sleep. Besides, those stains shouldn't be too hard to wash off. She took and drained the rest of her bottled water, then tossed the bottle on top of the two moaning bodies.

"Take care of that for me, would you?" Betty said, then got in her truck, started it up, and drove off into the night.

Any suggestions, questions, or advice, send them toshrewsberry@juno.com.