It wasn't until after the fact that Isabel had begun to wonder if calling Zephyr had been the right idea. He'd been wrapped up in the fight she'd just lost after all and she still hadn't completely convinced herself that it had been the result of the pale stranger's mutation. It was too late to backpedal either way, so instead of fretting over it she poured her concentration into staying conscious for as long as she could manage. If the phone call had been a mistake, she'd just have to deal with the results whenever they came her way.

The state he eventually arrived in put her mind more at ease. He looked like he'd been having as pleasant a night as her.

She wasn't entirely sure how they'd wound up at the Mansion. Her concentration was so broken and confused between the pain and trying to keep herself awake that she hadn't spared any effort to pay attention to where they were going. She wouldn't have been able to put up much of a fight even if she'd been clued in.

The Mansion was one of the last places she ever wanted to go. Crawling with goodie two shoes and X-Men, it was a nightmare especially for someone in the Order. She couldn't imagine why Zephyr would drag her to such a terrible place, but she was sure her current inability to protest had something to do with aiding his decision.

The last time she'd been at the Mansion had been for a brawl over the Sanctuary's golden doors. She'd fogught with the X-Men on several other occassions, though, so she could only imagine how they'd react when she showed up at their doorstep. It was a miracle in itself that she was even let through the doors, nevermind all the way to the Infirmary, though she supposed Zephyr's ability to talk circles around people was largely to blame. That and the X-Losers moral beliefs, stupid as they were.

Once she it fully dawned on her exactly where she was the fog in her brain started to lift as her body tried to kick back into high alert. There was no way the residents were going to react well to her presence in their home and she could predict what a mess it would be if any one of them tried to lock a pair of handcuffs around her wrists and tote her off to the police. She might have been half dead already, but she was going to put up whatever amount of fight was left in her to avoid that.

She had barely even settled on the bed she'd been assigned to in the Infirmary before she was fighting to sit herself up and get her armor in place without much success. No matter how badly she wanted to get to her feet the brief rush of adrenaline was wearing off rapidly and the overwhelming pain and fatigue were settling back into her body.

And as if it couldn't get any worse a familiar voice decided to chime in as she struggled. "Well... this certainty an interesting development..."

This night couldn't possibly get any worse.

When Kyle awoke from the slumber his body had been forced into to recover, his first thought was that something was amiss. Once the world stopped spinning long enough for him to focus, that something made itself very clear very fast.

He was in a place he should not have been.

To be honest, Kyle wasn't sure how he'd got here in the first place. The last thing that he remembered, at least clearly, was battling the two mutants down in Times Square. Well...battling was putting it nicely. The thrashing that he was getting battling two mutants in Times Square would have been closer to the mark. For all his skills at close combat and with his abilities, against the might of the two he had encountered, against their superhuman strength, Kyle hadn't stood a chance. He hadn't even been able to retreat once he realized he was outmatched; the one was too damn fast for him to escape from.

He'd tried to give as good as he got at least. He was pretty sure he'd managed to at least give them a wound or two and make them realize he hadn't been an easy mark. Which he had. The last thing he'd remembered before the word went dark was Evelyn's voice and someone moving his body. That had been such lovely agony that Kyle had blacked out after that.

There were moments of haze, spurts of pain that were so mind numbing painful that Kyle only remembered them as the reason why he was constantly sleeping. It was like he was only dreaming and soon everything would return to normal. And while he slept, someone worked his body over carefully, mending the tattered skin, the shattered bones, the bleeding wounds. Slowly and carefully putting back together what would have otherwise been a shell with a brain.

It seemed he wasn't the only one who might have been that way.

Kyle had been awake when new occupants had joined him in the room. The healer, Doc, had for the most part finished putting Kyle back together. There were a few areas he still needed to attend to but the latest arrival put Kyle back a bit in terms of who needed the most aid first. That had not been a shock to him. What HAD been a shock was who had come wandering in; Isabel and Zephyr. While Zeph looked like he'd been through the ringer himself, Isabel looked like she was three inches shy of death. And anything that could put Isabel into that state put a chill down Kyle's spine.

It didn't take Isabel long to come to life on the bed, struggling, flailing, as if she was trying to flee on instinct alone and her body was too battered to listen. It was then that Kyle had chirped up, sliding off his own bed to limp (one of his legs still needed some work) over to her, raising a curious eyebrow. 'Well...this certainty is an interesting development.

Hmm...don't often see you worse off then I am. You might consider relaxing; this is probably the last place you want to start something in your condition. Which begs the question; what the hell happened to you?"

Standing just a foot or so away Zephyr regarded the old man before him with a cold gaze as he resisted the urge to loom over the ancient oak desk between them. He’d met enough stubborn old fools over the years to be able to recognize them; any hint of intimidation and the walking fossil would set his mind firmer than cement. Not that he’d be able to be able to manage it looking as though he’d lost a fight with a lightning bolt in the middle of a monsoon, still he needed to tread carefully.

“For a man who’s taken the Hippocratic Oath I thought you’d care a little more about your patients welfare.”

Careful was not the same as polite.

The subtle sound of pen across paper barely even paused as DocProf, the Mansions lead healer, glanced up from the illegible notes he’d been jotting down and met the hessians gaze without hesitation even as an almost invisible frown appeared on his aged features. “You know as well as I do what that girl is capable of; I have a duty of care to all those living here and I will not jeopardize that. So no, I have not healed her completely, but she is stable and with a week of bed rest she will be back to full heath.”

“Odd, I thought the institution here was about ‘positive development’, ‘harnessing the potential of promising individuals for a brighter future no matter their background.’ If that’s not a second chance I don’t know what is, or should I keep quoting the brochure?” It was funny really, when Maya had dropped off all that literature a week’s back she’d been trying to convince him to apply for a position and he was likely now ruining whatever employment prospect he may have had.

Such a pity really, still needs must. He was certain they’d find someone with the patience to deal with a horde of overpowered, unthinking, jejune adolescents. Perhaps a saint or two, they’d supposedly enrolled a necromancer not too long ago after all.

By the time Zephyr talked the ‘DocProf’ round into finishing what he’d started, Duskmoor had already managed to rouse herself. The elemental had felt her jolt upright even rooms away and knowing whom he’d left her with he’d cut his conversation short and left the doctor to follow as he strode back to the room, arriving just in time to catch the tail end of Forte’s question.

“I imagine the same thing that happened to you Forte.” He answered simply as he took up a spot against a wall between the two Sanctuary residents. “In fact I believe the three of us, and perhaps a few others, have had eerily similar evenings.”

It was this point that DocProf managed to catch up, stopping a few feet away from Isabels bed, giving the girl a politely neutral expression that all angry or annoyed medical professionals managed so well.

“Now Isabel, the good doctor here has agreed to finish healing you with the understanding that you will behave yourself as long as you are here. So nod your head and tell him you’ll be good so we can move on.” He made the command sound as casual as possible but still made sure to hold the soubrettes gaze until she acquiesced. Enforcing the compulsion was perhaps a tad excessive but now was not the time for the brunettes habitual stubbornness.

As the healer got to work Zephyr continued, “While I’m sure we’ve had an unpleasant hour or two I think it would be best to talk over what happened. Isabel why don’t you start? If my suspicions are correct you would have had two attackers. You needn’t go into specifics but if you could tell us their abilities and tactics that would be helpful."

Isabel was just about to pick a nearby object and tell Forte where he could shove it when Zephyr came strolling into the room, followed not so closely by a man she assumed was a member of the medical staff by the way he was dressed. She was far more concerned with the doctor than with the younger man. She didn't like doctors. It was bad enough that they seemed to have patched her up to some extent sometime between entering the building and finding herself in a bed, but they'd also apparently swapped her torn and bloody clothing for a simple white shirt and pants, which was just another thing on the list that put her on edge.

She only took her eyes of the aged man when Zephyr addressed her and she wasn't too happy to hear what he had to say. She grit her teeth and nodded before she could really try to resist and hissed out the confirmation that she would behave herself. Not that she was going to comply. He'd asked her to say it, not to actually do it.

"I went the the Park and two guys stopped me I've never seen them before and I didn't start anything this time," she began, irritably wriggling away from the doctor's hands as she spoke even though there was only so far she could go without leaving the bed. She didn't need his help or the help of anyone from the Mansion and so she was going to make herself as much of an inconvenience as possible in hopes that he'd give up and leave her be. There were plenty of healers at the Sanctuary.

"One of the guys called himself Aries and called his friend Cancer. Real big on astrology I guess. The Aries guy didn't look like anything special but Cancer was real creepy, like someone that crawled out of a sewer," she continued, pulling a face at the memory of the little slimeball. "He didn't say much  except to argue and rattle off creepy rhymes. The Aries guy was a real wierdo, though. Kept saying things like they'd been following me for years, that they had reports about me. He kept saying they were there to kill me."

She didn't really want to talk about what had happened in the fight, especially not while Forte was hanging around, but Zephyr had at least made it clear that she didn't have to go into too much detail. For the time being at least. She was sure he'd start pressing questions again once they were somewhere more secure and she wasn't looking forward to that possibility.

"I don't know exactly how their mutations worked, but I've got a pretty good idea of what they can do. That Aries guy, he carries a sword but I think it's just an excuse to wave it around and try to intimidate. The real trouble with him is that I think he can move injuries. I tore his shoulder apart as soon as he came after me, but once we separated he was fine. Not a scratch on him, but somehow he'd flipped it around on me and it was like I'd tried to tear my own arm out of its socket." She resisted the urge to place her hand on her shoulder. She could feel that it was mostly whole again and didn't want to make herself out to be as shaken as she really was.

Cancer was the one she really didn't want to talk about. She didn't like that man and she especially didn't like the way he seemed to be able to get inside her head and exploit her the way he had. "Cancer had some big, bipedal dog thing that he called, said its name was the Jackal. It just sort of materialized. Real big and pretty strong, like it can pick a person up easily. That's the thing that did most of the fighting. But that's not the only thing he can do. He can sort of get into your head or something. He can figure out what you're afraid of and he can use it. He makes fears into reality."

She refused to elaborate on that last part. There was no way she was going to mention anything that she was afraid of. It was bad enough that Zephyr had wrestled what he already knew about her insecurities out of her during their meetings. He didn't need to know the specifics of this fight. She certainly wouldn't be saying a damn thing to the other young man. She'd had enough trouble with him when they first met.

Thinking back on it was only serving to wear on her nerves again. She was itching to leave the Mansion and get back to the relative safety and security of the Sanctuary where she wouldn't have to deal with potential nosy X-Men or strange medical employees poking and prodding at her. She took a swipe at the doctor in her aggravation and scooted further toward the head of the bed. Goddamn Mansion.

The sound of Zephyr's voice answering made Kyle turn to watch as the man he had only briefly met before entered the room, along with a much older man trailing in behind him. It didn't take Kyle long to recognize Doc Prof, as he was known. Kyle had been conscious during some of his healing sessions and the older gentleman had been the one administering the treatment. It was only through his skill that Kyle was breathing right now and, for that matter, almost one hundred percent again.

He was going to need to be if someone could take down Isabel to the extent she was in.

Giving Zeph a nod to acknowledge the man, Kyle remained silent while Zephyr spoke his piece. It was as much as Kyle had already pieced together for himself; all three of them had been attacked and if Kyle had to guess, beaten to almost an inch of their life. Which, considering the guys attacking him had been trying to kill him, was a stroke of luck in itself. It was time for show and tell, it seemed.

Isabel was first and Kyle listened intently to her tale. Any person, or persons, that could so heavily damage Isabel, who was a force of nature in her own right when she wanted to be, was a serious threat. If they were out there and they didn't limit their attacks to merely her, Kyle wanted to know as much as he could about them, so that if he ever encountered them he'd know what to expect.

Like his attackers, Isabel's had used a sign of the Zodiac to identify themselves. It begged the question, in his mind, that if they were all like that, did that mean there was twelve of them, one for each of the twelve symbols. Between him and Isabel, that was four accounted for...perhaps another two for Zephyr. Which left six that they might not have seen yet. A very dangerous thought. Kyle listened quietly to Isabel after that, his mind taking everything she said and storing it away for later. He felt there was more to it, but pushing Isabel in any form was a recipe for disaster. Considering where they were, it would be best for Zephyr to lead that form of inquiry.

Satisfied that Isabel was done, Kyle waited an extra moment to be sure they were waiting on him before taking his turn. "It's as you said Zephyr; like Isabel, I was jumped. Two men approached me in Times Square and attacked with no warning. One called himself Capricorn and the other I heard him call Taurus...fitting names considering their abilities.

They didn't have anything fancy, like Isabel's attackers, but against me, I don't think they needed it. Capricorn was fast...not super human fast, but fast enough to outclass your average person. And he kicked like a freight train; he all but broke my arm in a single kick. He seemed to be the brain of my duo; Taurus, on the other hand, didn't seem all that smart. A brute just like his sign...but he'd give even the Abyssi a run with his strength. He tossed a car at me like it was a piece of paper...and one hit from him was enough to put me an inch from death.

I think the worse part wasn't there powers though. It was how fluidly they worked together. And how they knew just about every trick I might throw their way; like they had been studying me. Folding his arms across his chest and resting against the bed he'd been lying in, Kyle glanced to Isabel before turning his attention back to Zeph.

"To state the obvious, beating me down is one thing...but anyone that can put Isabel into that state sends chills down my spine. So did any of these Zodiac named folks pay you a visit Zephyr?"

Resting against the wall with his arms folded Zephyr let Isabel tell her tale without interruption. The girl wasn’t a raconteur by any means but she stated the facts, and knowing what he did it was none too difficult to read between the lines and hear what she didn’t say.

A mutant that could transfer injuries and another that could grant fears a corporeal form? The former was bad enough given that Duskmoor was a melee fighter but the latter… He closed his eyes and held back a sigh. It wouldn’t have been a fight so much as a one sided slaughter. Whoever had sent the pair knew what they were doing. The girl was lucky to be alive.

A fact she didn’t seem to appreciate given how much of a nuisance she was making herself for the doctor. He shot the soubrette a mild glare of annoyance, but before he could actually say anything Docprof somehow managed to get hold of her ear and firmly began tugging the brunette back to his side like an unruly child, a look of stern disapproval on his face as she cursed up a storm.

“Tsk tsk, manner Isabel.” He chided, just barely keeping a smirk from his face. He wasn’t overly concerned for the old fossils welfare; if she hadn’t stabbed the man on reflex then she wasn’t going to try it when he could see her. “Children live here after all.”

Entertaining diversion though it was, Isabel’s discomfort didn’t capture their attention for long and Forte related his own tale. From what Zephyr could recall the man was something of a brawler like Isabel; strength, speed and concussive blasts were the primary focus of his mutation. Pitting one against opponents who could hit harder or faster was an old yet effective tactic, but there were ways of dealing of dealing with purely physical mutations. Strength was nothing without leverage after all.

By the time Forte had finished the doctor had finished his ministrations and left with little more than a terse goodnight, leaving Zephyr to tell his own version of events.

“The pair I met weren’t considerate enough to give their names. One was an older Asian man with a beard, suit and trench coat straight from a bad Hollywood film. His power is similar to an adapteds but not quite. He disrupts your control somehow; when he focused on me my power simply didn’t work half the time, and when it didn’t it wasn’t as intended. That being said, he seems to need line of sight if you can hide or blind him somehow he shouldn’t be an issue.”

“The other was a young blonde women not much older than you are Isabel. She dressed like she was in church and acted like a hooker from the 1950’s. Her power is similar to mine but she works with water and seems to be able to sense it in human body’s or else has another means of fighting while blind.”

Seeing that the two seemed to be expecting more the elemental shrugged his shoulders and continued. “There isn’t much more to tell, I met the pair of them in a subway station. When I realized what they could do I took out the lights and left on the first train that came by.”

Pushing off from the wall the elemental shed his jacket and laced it on the back of a chair before making his way towards one of the unoccupied beds and seating himself with a sigh. “We’ve all had… eventful evenings,” He began, glancing from Forte and Isabel, “But there’s still a number of hours until sunrise and we’re all tired.” He placed just the slightest emphasis on the last few word and saw Isabel’s shoulders slump just slightly as she blinked her eyes in sudden weariness.

“Outside of a bank vault this place is perhaps one of the most secure places in the city. We should rest while we can otherwise we’ll simply –“ He paused to give a yawn that wasn’t entirely feigned , “Fall asleep,” he continued, feeling no small amount of relief as he watched Isabel sink into her bed out of the corner of his eye. “…when we try to discuss this later today.”

“We’ll deal with everything when we wake up.”

Isabel wasn't sure how long she'd slept. It was likely she'd been out for at least a few hours, but she couldn't tell exactly how many and she didn't particularly care enough to seek out a clock. She hardly remembered falling asleep in the first place, though she was pretty sure Zephyr had something to do with it. Zephyr always had something to do with situations like that, the jerk.

Her mood hadn't improved since the first time she'd woken up in the Mansion Infirmary. Once the initial grogginess had worn off she was back on edge and entirely agitated. Falling so soundly asleep in a place like the Mansion was unsettling. She wished she knew where her clothes were, though she was pretty sure they'd have been thrown in the trash since they had been so torn up and completely soaked with blood. She'd still rather have those than the clean, white clothing she'd been provided while unconscious. It still gave her the creeps to think of how her clothing had been swapped while she was unconscious.

Only briefly surprised that she hadn't been cuffed to the bed or something similar, she got up and stalked over to the bed Zephyr had decided to sprawl out on. Forte was of no concern to her. He could make himself at home in the godawful Mansion for all she cared, but she wanted out as soon as possible and in order to do that she figured she'd be needing Zephyr's assistance. He was the one that had managed to get them in after all and judging by the doctor's demeanor no one would be too pleased to find her wandering through the halls by herself. Besides, Zephyr knew where the door was. She did not want to get lost somewhere in the Mansion and have to maim her way out.

With a frown she gave the young man a shove, mostly hoping to knock him out of the bed entirely for a quick wake up. "Naptime's over," she stated, pacing around to the foot of the bed and shifting her attention to finding the door. "I want out. Now."

While Zephyr and Isabel slept, Kyle mused.

Kyle had always said to himself, and to those he truly trusted enough to share it with, that the true strength of his power lay not in his ability to fire it from his hands but at the hidden power it bequeathed to him. His ability to stay up longer and fight harder then anyone else without tiring, his muscles fueled by the very energy that he used to send people flying. The less he used it in combat, the longer he could fight.

Doc Prof had restored his body and his body had restored him; Kyle was awake, alert and most importantly, on edge. It had been a long time since anyone had brought him so close to death...and the thought terrified him. He didn't want to sleep, his body too tense for the act, for the fear that his dreams might be filled with that feeling of weakness all over again. So instead he sat there or lay there, eyes closed not in sleep but in contemplation. He wasn't gonna get any rest tonight.

Besides, despite the odd level of control over Isabel that Zephyr seemed to have, not paying proper guard to her seemed like an unwise idea.

It was several hours later when the sound of Isabel moving around broke Kyle from his quiet contemplation, glancing out of the corner of a peeked eye to watch as she gave Zeph a shot to stir the man. It was clear she wanted to be out of his place and Kyle couldn't blame her. There were a few here who'd lose their "stuff" if they found Kyle within the walls. But...

"An unwise course of action. The people who put us all here are still out there...and from the sound of it, they expect us to be dead. Right now, we have that advantage over them. Stalk out of here and you just make yourself a target again and this time, you might not wake up in a bed at all.

So perhaps curb your distaste for our surroundings for a moment and let's think about how we're going to avoid becoming dead the next time we encounter these "Zodiac" folks."

Some might imagine that waking up to the gaze of Isabel Duskmoor, the city’s infamous bone bikini babe, would be the beginning of a very pleasant dream.

Which only goes to show that ignorance truly is bliss.

After taking a moment to gain his bearings and recall precisely what momentary insanity had prompted him to sleep anywhere near his homicidal protege, Zephyr sat up from the floor and gave the brunette an irritated, half-awake glare even as he worked to fix the bruises the girl had just given him with her unpleasant wake up call.

“Nap times over.” She began, stalking around to the foot of his now empty bed.

“Good morning to you as well Duskmoor.” Flashing a false grin at the soubrette to match his insincere tone he spent an unnecessary moment or two dusting himself off as he continued. “Yes I slept fine, thank you for asking, though I had the strangest dream where I save your life and you were utterly ungrateful. “

Pulling himself up from the floor the hessian rose to his full height and took a short step away from the bonemancer, retrieving and slipping his on his singed jacket before deigning to give the girl his full attention as he met her gaze without hesitation. “Let’s try to avoid making that dream a reality hmm?”

“I want out. Now”

Narrowing his eyes at the shapely soubrettes tone Zephyr was spared from replying immediately as Forte gave his own thoughts on the matter, most of which the elemental found himself agreeing with. Unfortunately, the brawlers suggestion had sounded almost like an order and just a quick glance at Duskmoor’s posture showed she was already set against it.

Compulsion or not, just telling Isabel to do something rarely worked out well. The girl had spent so long rebelling against any kind of authority she did it practically without thinking. No, if you wanted the brunette to do something you first forced her to use her much neglected brain, and you did that by giving her options. In doing so you gave her the illusion she was still free to choose her fate without realizing she’d already limited herself to the outcomes you deemed acceptable.

“Forte has a point, we want to stay under the radar for now until we know what we’re up against, which means Sanctuary isn’t an option. That being said we don’t need to stay here, however since I’ve managed to build us a small amount of goodwill I think we should take full advantage of what’s here first, or would the two of you rather not have a good meal and change of clothes before we leave?”

--

A short handful of minutes later Zephyr found himself leading both Forte and Isabel down one of the mansions more desolate corridors as he led the way to the kitchen while distracting them with idle bits of trivia, purposefully taking a more convoluted route to avoid busier sections of the school. Forte wasn’t the issue, for all that he enjoyed fighting the man knew better than to start something here. Duskmoor however was agitated enough as it was and Zephyr didn’t intend to risk her nerves around a gaggle of children.

Which was a problem because, in all honesty, the mansion was currently the best place for them. Granted the Sanctuary had a more infamous reputation when it came to holding its own, but at the end of the day Sanctuary’s security came from its mutant residents; people like Isabel, who’d been beaten within an inch of her life. The Mansion, on the other hand, had mutant residents who were, if not as violent as Sanctuary’s, at least more intelligent, and a security system that rivaled most military bases.

He’d just started mentally outlining an argument to try and get Isabel to see sense when he finally made it to the kitchen and almost immediately saw the cat.

It was stretched out lazily along the kitchen table, atop an unfolded newspaper that had been left out. Its striped tail twitching idly back and forth over the edge as its head slowly swept from left to right in a manner that left absolutely no doubt that it was, in fact, reading the funny pages.

‘…it can’t be this easy.’

Still it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and he’d only get one good shot. Deliberately slowing his steps the hessian allowed Isabel to draw closer just as they drew up to the table, and continued his semi-lecture. “..I think you’ll find that the kitchen here is at least on par with your own. First things first though we’ll need to clear off the table. Isabel, hold this.”

Without missing a beat the elemental deftly snatched the cat from the table by the scruff of its neck and placed it in Duskmoors arms before she or the cat knew what was happening. The sudden hissing and short lived shriek that followed told him all he needed to know.

Apparently, it is that easy.’

Taking a stroll through the Mansion to borrow its kitchen wasn't exactly Isabel's idea of a good time. She was getting hungry, but not hungry enough that she couldn't put off breakfast for a while. She really wanted to leave the school and go back to the Sanctuary, but apparently Zephyr didn't think that was such a good idea and unfortunately his decisions usually outweighed her own.

She was still stewing over the windbag's concerning statement about the Sanctuary being off their list of destinations for the immediate future when they reached the kitchen. She hadn't paid an ounce off attention to whatever he was babbling about the entire way there. Her attention was better spent watching their surroundings for any stray goodie that might stumble across their path. Also, the front door without much success. She only began to halfhway tune back in to the conversation when Zephyr addressed her by name.

Isabel hadn't been expecting to see a certain black and white cat ever again, especially not in the Mansion of all places. She'd let him walk away intact when they'd last parted ways, but she certainly hadn't intended to do so the next time they met. However, she hadn't anticipated a face to face with the feline shifter in such a literal fashion.

She felt the small body tense as it was unceremoniously dropped into her arms, followed closely by a his and several claws hooking into her skin as she almost immediately tried to drop the cat. She'd planned to give Calley a swift kick once he hit the floor and tell him just how much of a sonovabitch she though he was, but a wrench was quickly thrown into that plan.

At first she thought she'd fainted. She felt herself hit the floor and went a little dizzy with the impact. Her vision was gone and she seemed to be having trouble with her limbs. It took a moment before she realized that she was still fully conscious and her loss of vision was caused by a layer of fabric pressing against her face. The smell of it stung her nose a little. Too clean, too sterile smell from the infirmary. She shook her head and wriggled backward, attempting to get away from the offensive material and beginning to wonder exactly where it had come from. She reached a hand out to move it away from her face in order to see exactly what it was only to find that not only did her thumb seem to have gone missing, but so had the rest of her hand. Instead she found herself wielding a paw.

Isabel had been turned into a kitten.

Panic started to settle in as she looked at the appendage, somehow able to see it clearly even with the kitchen light blocked by the fabric around her. She began to wriggle even more, clumsily backing herself up until she found the neck of what turned out to be her shirt and escaped the cotton cocoon. The too clean smell mostly lifted in favor of the old, faded scent of the different foods that had been prepared in the kitchen accompanied by the smell of singed fabric coming from a certain airmancer.

She could hear a set of larger paws scampering down the hallway and was horrified to feel her ears swiveling backward on top of her head to better catch the sound before they pinned themselves to her skull. She fought back the urge to turn and pursue the fleeing feline. She never would have caught up to him anyway. Her fuzzy legs were much too short and she wasn't entirely sure she knew how to properly use them yet. Being caught by some goodie fool in this state was a less than appealing possibility as well.

The fur along her spine stood on end and her tail puffed up as she separated herself from the outfit she no longer fit into, irritated to find that her claws kept catching in the fabric. She turned to look up at the now much taller Zephyr and hissed.

For only the second time in his life, Kyle found himself making his way through the corridors of the most well respected mutant home on the planet. To be accurate, it was his third time officially but his last visit, coming here to speak to Evelyn(and training her a bit) hadn't been much of a journey through the mansion. It had been in, go a few feet, go outside, then leave just as easily. This journey was only his second time actually traveling through the hallways at length. He took advantage of the experience though; he had a feeling he might be here longer then intended.

The notion of food and different clothing was a welcome suggestion. Kyle had no fault with the basic clothes he was wearing, his own being torn and shredded from his battle and the subsequent need to remove it to work on his injuries. So long as he was wearing something that prevented some young mutants from seeing his birthday suit(and in his current situation, Isabel, who would likely have something painful to say about that), anything would do. Food, on the other hand, would be most welcome. It would give his body something to use to fuel its recharge and make sure he was at his peak again.

Kyle suspected, however, that the notion to seek food and clothing was as much that as it was a distraction to keep Isabel from going on a madhunt for the door. Staying here, at least for now, was in the best interest of them all. Kyle didn't expect Isabel to understand that as Zephyr did; she did as she wanted and to heck with what anyone else said. In ways, admirable. In this current situation, however...Kyle just hoped it wouldn't come to physical means to keep her from ripping her way out of here. Zephyr was the calmer mind here though and he seemed to know just what to do to keep Isabel under control.

For now anyway.

What happened next Kyle couldn't describe in words. Upon arriving in the kitchen, all attention shifted to what Zephyr did next. One moment, he was talking about food. The next he was tossing a cat that was upon the table into Isabel's arms. Isabel, expectantly, immediately tried to remove the animal from her, something that the cat itself was resisting it seemed. That's when things got...well, Kyle didn't even know to begin in terms of what this situation was.

One minute Isabel had been standing there, wrestling with the cat...the next she was gone, a pile of her clothes all that remained. No, correction; not all that remained. From within the pile something moved. And as Kyle watched, a small kitten managed to free itself from the pile, wiggling away from it before freezing solid briefly. Then it turned to Zeph and hissed, with all the terrible adorable fury that it could muster. Squatting down, Kyle raised an eyebrow at the now kitten Isabel before glancing back up at Zephyr.

"I believe I understand what just happened but...is this kitten who I think it is?"

If it was, that did solve one problem. At least she couldn't get into that much trouble in that little form. Hopefully. "Because if so...that's a neat trick. Remind me to stay away from that cat."

Watching Calley’s feline form dart out of the kitchen as little more than a black and white blur Zephyr found his estimation of the animal shifter rising a few notches. Normally the boy had all the survival instincts of a lemming faced with a cliff, it was… refreshing not to mention satisfying, to see the youth take a threat seriously.

Making a mental note of the scene for the next time the shifter inevitably irritated him Zephyr found his thoughts momentarily waylaid by a feeble hiss of outrage somewhere in the vicinity of his ankles and when he glanced down he couldn’t quite stop the smug smirk which tugged at his lips as he saw the Lilliputian kitten which had crawled out from the remnants of Isabel’s clothes.

‘What’s the matter Duskmoor, cat got your tongue?’

"I believe I understand what just happened but...is this kitten who I think it is?”

“If you believe it’s our dear Ms. Duskmoor then yes.” Zephyr stated with no small amount of amusement, never taking his eyes off Isabel as he reached down to grasp her by the snuff of her neck. The last thing he needed was for the soubrette to find her feet and dash off to get lost somewhere in the mansion.

“...that's a neat trick. Remind me to stay away from that cat."

“I doubt you have anything to worry about.” Zephyr response was almost absent minded as he batted away Isabel’s clumsy attempts to maul his questing hand. “The shifter in question isn’t one for fights and prefers to stay under the radar; leave him be and he’ll likely grant you the same courtesy. Duskmoor’s reputation simply preceded her.”

Finally finding purchase in the kittens fur Zephyr hauled Isabel hauled Isabel’s upwards until they were both at eye level but beyond the range of her paws. Her hissing continued unabated for a few moments until the hessian grew bored with routine and he gave her a slight but noticeable shake. “Enough of that.” He told her with a resigned yet stern air. “Behave. If you’re good I’ll see to it that you have something to wear when you change, otherwise…”

He glanced briefly from his audience to the pile of clothes at his feet and back again as the idea unfolded. It was entirely jejune and completely unproductive but that didn’t make it any less appealing. “Otherwise, the mansion will find it has a new flag made out of what little attire you have left, am I understood?”

When the kitten remained petulantly silent Zephyr nodded to himself before perching Isabel on his left shoulder and standing as he turned to face Forte. “Now, where were we?”

Isabel had been unable to beat a retreat before a certain windbag's hand reached her and found purchase at the back of her neck. She didn't like being touched and grabbed at normally so being lifted in such an undignified manner was far beyond irritating and she wasted no time in trying to sink her new claws into the fingers of his opposite hand as he fumbled to get a good grip on her. She made sure to wriggle as much as she could to make the task difficult for him when she fauilted to get her claws into anything.

Her ears pinned themselves against her skull while she hissed and spit as she was brought level with his face, the fur along her back stood up and her twitching tail puffed out. She was just working up the energy for another attempt at clawing him when the bastard gave her a shake, effectively jarring her and forcing her into stillness momentarily so that he could deliver his latest threat. She didn't take her eyes off him as he glanced at the floor, her pupils reduced to slits as she glared without blinking.

She conceded to stop hissing in the wake of his threat of playing arts and crafts with her clothing, however she wasn't quite ready to behave entirely just yet. He'd told her to stop hissing and so she wouldn't hiss at hims anymore, but that didn't mean she was going to be docile either. Her claws remained extended as she was dropped onto the young man's shoulders, and though she could feel them catching in his shirt she wasn't so sure they were doing much to the skin underneath.

Feeling unsteady on her feet when she was placed on Zephyr's bony shoulders she grudgingly settled onto her belly, her back end curling half way around the back of his neck while her front half settled nearer his collarbone, claws still catching in his shirt to help her keep her balance. Her fur remained standing on and and a small growl rumbled through her small chest instead of a hiss, occasionally building into the beginning of a small meow as her mouth opened and closed between breaths. The puffed tail lashed back and forth hitting his back and his neck as it swung. Her anger hadn't settled in the least and she wasn't about to let him think he could push her around quite so easily just because she was a fraction of her normal size. And sitting as near to his ear as she was she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to make an annoyance of herself while she was at it.

Kyle watched with fascination and curiosity(and honestly, a bit of amusement) as Zephyr reached down to lift the little kitten that had once been one of the most dangerous mutants known to man into the air.

Outwardly, Kyle showed a little in regards to this new situation. His eyebrows were quirked up slightly and there was a bit of a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. Inwardly, his mind was alive with activity as questions poured into it. How long would this change last? Or yet, was it permanent unless the one who had inflicted it changed her back or would she change back on her own? Did she still have access to her powers or were they sealed during this time? Was it still Isabel in there controlling the show or was it more kitten now, simply reacting as Isabel would react? So many questions to ask! And yet, that could always wait. There were more important things to worry about.

"Hmm...good to know. I don't think I'd make a good cat." Kyle chuckled as he watched Isabel struggle and squirm against Zeph's hands before finally realizing how futile her efforts were at this point in time and going limp, albeit the hissing continued. Kyle had no doubt she was simply biding her time until she had a solid chance to put those little claws of hers to work, for him to slip up his guard and repay him for this...situation. Zeph, as normal, did what Zeph seemed to do; show how little he cared or feared her by putting her on his shoulder.

Kyle half expected her to attempt mauling his face there and then. He was waiting for it, actually. Instead, to his surprise, she simply sat there on his shoulder, gaining purchase with her claws, her hissing reduced to simple growls that were occasionally a hiss. Huffing a laugh, Kyle pulled out his phone and snapped a quick picture. Before Zeph could ask(and to answer what would surely be a hiss from Isabel), Kyle explained his action. "In case she gets away. Then I have a picture to show people to ask if they've seen her. And tell them to absolutely go near her because she's friendly." Kyle shrugged at the kitten. "I'm sure she'd love to put those claws into a few people who live here."

Turning his mind away from the distracting fact that Isabel had turned into a kitten back to the situation that landed them all here, Kyle frowned and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. When they opened again, he'd returned to his balanced state of mind, his expression thoughtful. "Figuring out what exactly happened. You know, it's been bothering me but...someone who could play fears against Isabel? Someone to cancel out your abilities? High end physical threats against me? The pair's that came after us weren't just good against us...they were perfect against us. They were the perfect counters to us. That makes me wonder how long they've been observing us.

Way I see it, we have three major questions to answer. One, why these people targeted us. Two, how did they know so much about us and know exactly how to play to our weaknesses. And three....is where to find them. Right now, we have the advantage but that won't last. We can't stay here indefinitely so eventually, we risk facing them again. We need more information.

What do you think Zephyr? Personally, I say we gather information quickly and then go on the offensive but...I did always prefer action to waiting around."

Leaning against the kitchen counter and doing his best to remain still as Isabel worked to find her balance, the elemental let his eyes trail to one of the discarded pages of newspaper that had so recently been abandoned by another feline.

The article in question was a day or two old and so of course contained nothing about the rash of mutants fights which took place just last night yet something about the title see to draw his attent-

Flick-flick-flick

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes the elemental let out a faint sigh; Duskmoor really did seem intent on making a nuisance of herself wasn’t she? Reaching back with one hand the elemental used his palm to trap the soubrettes rather agitated tail against her side but otherwise did nothing even as the girl gave out a startled mewl at the contact.

He’d give her the benefit of the doubt for now and blame the tail whipping on her new feline form besides, if she was doing it deliberately a scolding would only serve to encourage the gamine.

In any case Isabel seemed to get the hint after a moment or two and her tail fell still, letting Zephyr lower his hand just in time for Forte to snag an unexpected photo which he quickly claimed was for purely practical purposes.

“I’m sure.” The skeptical drawl in the hessians voice was evident as he fixed the fighter with an amused look. “Still, the fewer people who see that the better. Our friendly neighborhood shifter can hardly stay under the radar if you go about publicizing their talents hmm?”

Privately though the hessian wasn’t overly concerned, if Duskmoors raised hackles were any indication the soubrette was likely already intending to take steps to ensure that photo never saw the light of day.

As the conversation turned back to the ore immediate problem of their attempted murders though Zephyr worked to clear his mind even as he kept half an ear on what Forte was saying; the man may have been a brawler but that didn’t mean he was unintelligent, merely more predictable than some.

Still, something was nagging at-

Flick-flick-flick

Frowning Zephyr turned his head slightly and gave the kitten on his shoulder an unamused glance, only to be rewarded with even more lashes as her tail whipped against the back of his neck with increasing fervor.

Fine. If she craved his attention that badly she could have it. Reaching across to his shoulder the elemental again moved to capture the girl’s tail. This time though instead of pausing at the soubrettes flank his hand continued upward, fingers gliding through the fine fur and exerting just enough pressure to keep her feline form pinned until he reached the top of her head.

Then he began to scratch.

He’d owned a kitten once; a tiny golden ball of fur given to him when he’d been about eight or so. It had been an ill-advised yet well-meaning gift from an early tutor, intended to teach a young boy a thing or two about responsibility and patience. It hadn’t lasted of course; boarding school had been on the horizon and during his semester long absence the kitten had been quietly… removed.

Still during the brief time he’s had the little fuzball the elemental had become acquainted with the basics of kitten caretaking, including how to pet the little monsters so they wouldn’t go running off into more mischief.

That being said, Isabel was not an ordinary kitten and she had definite qualms about being touched. Already he could feel her tense as she tried to dig her minute claws into his skin. He ignored the near nonexistent pricks as he continued to edge his fingers around her head and the base of ears, pausing whenever her tail stopped beating against his neck; the message would be rather clear once she bothered to pick up on it.

‘You toy with me and I toy with you.’

Admittedly it was a somewhat puerile punishment but that didn’t make it any less effective or fitting. There were three possible outcomes as Zephyr saw. Either Duskmoor would take the hint and start behaving herself, in which case he won. Alternatively she’d lose what little patience and restraint she had and try to bite him or otherwise escape his efforts; that would be problematic but not irreparable, he could always stuff the girl in one of her socks if it came down to it. The third, well… it wasn’t even really worth considering and in any case he just couldn’t imagine Isabel purring.

While the soubrette was making up her mind the hessian directed his attention to Forte, letting the man lay out his thoughts before replying with a nod and giving voice to his own concerns.
“I agree, everything was slanted too much in the oppositions favour for us to be dealing with some two bit gang. This was planned and planned well, the real question is why they targeted us and why we were left alive.”

Taking a slow breath Zephyr raised his gaze to the ceiling as he tried to make some sense out of the chaos. “I can understand Isabel being chosen, even with her inactivity these past few months her reputation hasn’t dimmed. Taking her down would be a feather in any one’s cap.”

Turning his gaze back to Forte he gestured between the two of them with a poorly veiled expression of puzzlement. “The two of us though? We’ve nothing close to Duskmoor’s infamy, in fact I’ve tried to stay under the radar whenever I can but we were targeted regardless. That suggests they know what we’re capable of and deem us a threat, assuming we weren’t just selected at random.

In all honestly either option was worrying because it suggested that Sanctuary had been under surveillance for far too long. In either case that didn’t answer why the three of them hadn’t been given summary executions, a grenade, some poison gas, hell an RPG if they wanted to make sure, but they hadn’t…

“It’s a message.” The thought left the elemental as soon as it entered his mind. “Whoever’s behind this is making a statement, intentionally or otherwise, that they can take down some of the best the Order has to offer and they want everyone to know they can do it without breaking a sweat.”

“They’ll be expecting a reflexive counter attack, The Order’s known for its viciousness if nothing else. We can’t afford to play into their hands, but at the same time if we do nothing people will start to question us and we’ll risk losing territory and influence.”

“We need to find these bastards and hang them with their own hubris.”