New York at night. The tall buildings lit ablaze with lights from hundreds of windows were like beacons to draw outsiders to the city, from near and from far. Even in the dark of night, the city was lit by so many lights that it was never truly "dark" anywhere, save for the places in between buildings where the bright lights could not extend their grasp. Or, of course, the seedier parts of town, where the not so legit business of the day happened under cover of darkness.

It was a city of possibilities...and of even greater darkness, if one knew where to look. And Kyle knew where to look. Which was a good thing, because while the mansion had been many things since his arrival a few days ago, it had been lacking one thing that his mind and heart had come to be familiar with. A real fight. Not the training simulations that they undertook or the lessons in how to perfect the use of your power, nor the day to day lessons that were no different then what normal school would be like or the lectures. A fight that pushed his limits and let him really test himself.

And thus, he'd headed off into the city to have a look at what he could see. In a city like New York, there was bound to be crime. The bigger the city, the better the chance of something happening in the shadows that did not confirm to the law and order that the government tried to push onto the persons under their rule. Kyle himself found some of those laws to be a pain in the butt, but he conformed to them nonetheless. And what better a reason to fight then in the interest of protecting law and order?

For the most part, Kyle was wearing simple clothing; a black shirt with a black hoody over top, blue jeans and black sneakers with red stripes. More red lines were over his hoody and he wore black gloves that covered his entire hand...but that was his surface clothing. Beneath, a tight bodysuit clung to his body, a custom made mask that would cover the top of his head and wrap around his mouth to protect his identity should he engage in battle. Not the most outstanding of uniforms or disguises, but what did they want? Bright colored spandex?

The dark alley's were the best place to look for possible trouble. The part of New York he was in was known for its criminal elements, not the kind of place a normal citizen would want to find himself. But Kyle was far from normal. So he wandered the dimly lit streets, his eyes low under the hat he wore, glancing for moments at the people that passed him by. Watching the shadows for danger or possible trouble...trouble worth disturbing. So many people, so many possible sources of trouble.....everybody out at this time of night seemed to have a kind of malicious look to them. From the men to the woman...especially the one that seemed to be having an issue across the way.

She was stirring up a storm, this woman. Amused slightly, Kyle leaned against a nearby post and folded his arms across his chest to watch; he needed a moment to relax anyway.

Isabel had decided to go out and about a little later than usual. Her aim was to find and saunter through some of the seedier parts of New York and scope out the kind of people that were also wandering around such places after dark. The Order had been peddling M for a while, so she told herself, and Lisa, that she'd be out scouting a little to see where else they might be able to push the Drug.

Of course, her incentive didn't last too long once she'd gotten herself a few blocks from the Sanctuary. Scouting wasn't as interesting as she first anticipated, but it had gotten her out onto the streets for a while and into a part of the city that could provide some fun regardless.

The people that tended to skulk around alleyways certainly weren't known for being civil and young women especially were warned against traveling through them after dark. And with her reputation and a reward hanging over her head, she was sure some idiot would recognize her and try something. The people that skulked through alleys weren't always sober, so they weren't very bright.

She was right, of course. It didn't take long at all before someone tried to accost her. He was at least smart enough to travel with a few friends. Two of them from what she could see in the poor light. One scrawny, shifty looking thing and a larger, more well-muscled individuals.

Isabel just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. The scrawny guy didn't seem to eager to do much else than sit back and observe. He was probably a rat of some sort. If so he probably knew better than the brawn in the group. People that messed with her didn't often end up walking away from it.

She smirked as one of the thugs reached for her and only ended up taking away a spike of bone speared neatly through the palm of his hand. From that point things started getting a little loud. Thing One was shouting because he was in pain, issuing a number of curses and addressing her with a list of uncivil titles. Thing Two joined in for the principle of the thing. She couldn't keep an eye on Scrawny. She assumed he'd slunk off somewhere.

It wasn't a very long fight, once the two idiots had stopped all their screaming and actually decided to do something about her attack. They were big, but they weren't very smart, or very fast. She had more murder notches in her belt than she could count. It really wasn't any kind of challenge, but it was amusing none the less. Neither of them lasted more than a few minutes without gaining a few more spikes driven into their midsections, either already dead or soon to be.

Brushing at her shirt absentmindedly, she leaned her shoulder against the nearest wall and calmly inspected her fingernails, looking for any grime that may have gotten stuck under them and silently debating whether or not it'd be worth it to search the men's pockets. Maybe they'd have something interesting she could tack onto her bedroom wall

Well, needless to say, the woman knew how to make a ruckus. A ruckus that would no doubt send those scurrying in fear to look for the nearest possible form of law enforcement to come and handle the matter that had just transpired before their eyes. Let them scurry away; after all, it was the logical thing to do in this kind of situation for normal humans. After all, what good would standing up to a mutant who had just killed without even sparring a shred of obvious care for her victims yield? More victims likely; best to call in the professionals and let them handle the matter while they went back to their normal, everyday lives.

In a way, it was cowardly and yet the most sound move they could make. Besides, it only meant that Kyle didn't have to worry about them if what he was about to do got ugly.

The woman, whoever she was, had been impressive. Three men had approached her, two of much bigger statue and one of a rather scrawny and unimpressive nature. Kyle knew looks could deceive though; the smaller man could secretly be the worst of the three, with hidden tricks up his sleeve. The smaller ones did tend to be the masterminds after all, of large criminal groups. At least in his experiences at times. He'd been tempted to intervene before the men tried to have their way with the woman but something about her, the way she held herself and that unconcerned look in her eyes had held his actions for the time. And he was intrigued to see he was right.

In little time at all, she had dealt with the two larger men, the smaller and obviously not so brave smaller man vanishing in the midst of the chaos. The men were big but they weren't too smart, obviously thinking their bigger bodies and defined muscles would be enough to overcome some small woman. A logical thought in most cases....expect when the woman wasn't part of that normal logical spectrum. And it wasn't through skill that she purely dispatched the two foes; no, there was something else she was using to aid her in removing her two accosts. Kyle's eyes never faltered from the scene of chaos, watching every move she made with keen interest, remembering as much of it as he could. And more importantly, watching that unique skill she used to give her the clear advantage over the two men.

He couldn't be sure from his distance what she was doing but the reactions of the men and the sight of them was enough. Each time they tried to attack her, they suddenly flailed back in pain...and on one occassion, he noticed something white protruding from one of their midsections before the man collapsed in a heap, panting heavily as his life faded away. Was she creating something from her body to attack them with? He'd need a closer look.

No sooner had she finished them off and the people had fled, Kyle pulled his makeshift mask up over his head and started towards her from the shadows, clapping as he stalked his way past the two injured men. Stopping between them, he knelt down for a moment to check on them; one was dead already and the other was nearing it...no, he was holding on actually. He might make it, provided help arrived fast enough. There was nothing Kyle could do for the man...but keep his attacker from finishing the group. And during that moment, he took a quick moment to inspect the item stuck into the two men....it was white, hard....was it....bone? Rising back to his feet, he turned his eyes on the woman, chuckling beneath his mask.

"My my, I come out to see what trouble I can get myself into and lo and behold, a trouble finds me. Very impressive work of two idiots with more muscle then brain matter..or rather I should say, two humans with more muscle then brain matter. I wonder how it would hold up against someone a bit smarter and more...unique then these two here.

I'm sure the police will have questions about this matter...but I think the best solution to that matter is to have the one responsible answer those questions. Don't you think so, Ms Boney?" It was sarcasm, through and through. He doubted the woman wanted to be anywhere near here when the police got here. But his tone was clear; he intended to make sure she was here when they arrived. And in the meantime, he'd get a chance to test himself against hopefully a worthy foe. It had been much too long.

Isabel turned her attention away from her perfectly clean nails and back toward the length of the alley as the sound of footsteps reached her. Her expression showed nothing but bored disinterested as another individual gradually approached. She didn't particularly care who it was. In her mind it was just another idiot either looking looking to scavenge from her playmates or trying to pick up where they had failed. Either scenario wasn't very impressive. Most people in the city seemed dumb enough to try something so foolish. Others in such an area of the city tended to be too hopped up on something for the act to be considered brave.

Either way, the individual was likely to end up like the pair on the ground. She didn't like the thought of some rat going through the pockets of the men while she was still within sight of it. They may be broken, but for the time being they were still her toys and she didn't like to share. Once she'd lost interest and moved on, then they were free to do as they liked with the bodies, but not before.

She arched a brow as the stranger, apparently a young man, stopped to check for pulses and then launched into some speal about trouble and humans. Most people didn't call each other humans. Either he knew that she was a mutant or he was one himself. That made things a little more interesting.

When he mentioned the police, heavily implying that she should be held responsible for the fools on the ground, she simply laughed. She was going to go ahead and assume he was a mutant. Anyone that knew her also knew that using the cops as a threat was the last thing that would work on her. 'Ms. Boney' might stick around, but not for the reasons he'd given.

"You must he new around here," she said, grinning at the young man and straightening her posture so she was no longer leaning against the wall. "The cops don't scare me, and they certainly won't stop me. I'm the kind of trouble they run from. You should probably follow their example."

She cast a glance at Things One and Two on the ground as one gave a low groan. The other remained motionless. Hm. She must have missed his vitals while he'd been wiggling around. She'd fix that easily enough.

Producing a sharp length of bone from the palm of her hand, she gave a bit of a cocky grin to the masked hero wannabe. "You know Halloween's not for another few weeks, right?" she quipped, aiming the spike at the back of the downed thug's head and shoving.

He had expected one of two reactions to his words from the woman; either she would become very hostile towards him and threaten him with violence or what not. The other reaction he expected was for her to laugh. Obviously it was the latter, as the empty night and dark streets carried her echoing laugh for blocks around. And yet, somehow she managed to do the former as well without even directly attempting to.

Oh yes; he'd come to just the right place tonight to find a way to unwind. Now, so long as he played it smart and careful, then maybe that's what it would remain. A way to unwind. And not end up dead.

Beneath his mask, he smiled at the very thought of going into a fight where his life was on the line. Friendly battles were good and all and they had their moments. But nothing got the blood rushing, the power flowing through his veins, the brain ticking through the ways to stay alive, when your were in a true fight with your life on the line. There was likely to be repercussions for this, if those at the mansion figured out that he was running about doing this. But so long as he kept damage to the surroundings to a minimal and more importantly, avoid others getting hurt, he should be okay.

Should be.

Shrugging his shoulders, Kyle turned his eyes to the men again before lifting his eyes to the woman, his senses on alert for danger that he knew was likely to be coming soon. "How'd you guess? Am I that obvious? Well, your completely right, I am new. So if you say something along the lines like "you don't know who your messing with" or "don't you know who I am?", then I really don't. That and I honestly don't care. I see someone making trouble and I'm going to correct that trouble.

If the police can't handle you, I will. I don't run from anyone or anything; especially not a woman."

The still breathing thug had to pick the worst moment to make a noise. Granted, the man was in pain and probably did so without thinking...but it was the worst timing possible. Maybe if the man was lucky, the woman wouldn't notice. A moment later, a sharp blade of bone extended from the palm of her hand, just in time for the woman to give him a cocky grin. Guess not. He flexed his fingers and slowly started flowing his excess energy into his hands, keeping it to the level were it wouldn't show on his hands. Yet. She made her comment about Halloween, not the first time he'd heard that...and then thrust that bone spike down towards the groaning man.

With a flick of his finger, a spurt of purple energy shot from his finger, aimed at the arm that was descending down at the man. In quick succession, he flicked another bolt for her midsection, aiming to knock her back and away from the man. Even if he missed, it would likely force her to retreat, something his third shot aimed at her feet might as well accomplish. If anything else, it would give him time to put himself between the man and her. From beneath his mask, he chuckled. "You know bones are supposed to be "inside" the body right? Play nice now or I might have to play a little harder at being the hero. Good for me, likely bad for you."

So the kid was new to the city after all. That wasn't so surprising. The only New York natives that seemed eager to approach her were the cops and the X-Nerds. And while the wannabe's choice in costume could probably pass for acceptable with the X's loser parade, there was no way he could have been with them if he was a tourist, and certainly if he didn't know her. She was sure the X-Losers at least kept themselves up to date on the NYPD's list of wanted criminals.

If the idiot really thought he could stop her, than he was welcome to try. She'd fought mutants before and come out on top. She may not have had brawn on her side like some, but she had the freedom of creativity that the control she held over her mutation afforded her, and when she got into tight spots it could certainly prove to be very useful.

Isabel chose to ignore the comment about her being a woman having any bearing on the young man's attitude. It would just be all that much more satisfying for her and humiliating for him when she maimed him. And that was exactly where she expected their little confrontation to go, especially when the little rat decided to interrupt the tail end of her game with the remaining goon.

"Guh!" Something had hit her arm and ruined her aim. the tip of the blade struck pavement instead of skull and ruined her mood in the process. "Oomph!" And then her stomach. She saw the flash of purple that time before she hunched over slightly with the impact, a patch of skin just to the right and above her bellybutton stinging with the impact and continuing to hurt after whatever it was that had hit her dissipated.

That little brat! She was going to show him exactly who it was he was picking a fight with. And then she was going to finish what she started with the fool on the ground to spite him. No one got in her way and left in one piece. Especially not some wannabe hero.

"I've probably been killing people longer than you've been wearing spandex," she said and she readjusted her posture, all traces of her previous humor having fled once the rat had decided to try and really throw his weight around. He was a mutant for sure, but he wasn't all that impressive, especially if the best he could do was sting her. She still had the blade in her hand and she intended to use it.

Swinging her arm up and around, she aimed to drag the blade across his midsection. She didn't feel much like toying with the kid just yet. He'd irritated her and she wanted to put him down fast. After she'd done some damage, then maybe she'd play with him a little. The mask would make a good souvenir, maybe along with some other piece of him.

Creating a spike from each knuckle of her other hand she followed up her initial attack by aiming a punch at his face. She might not manage to kill him, but she could certainly try to maim or disfigure him. She could give him a reason for wearing that stupid mask.

Three shots, three home runs. That was a good start to what Kyle was already sensing to be a good fight to come.

His first blast had soared true, connecting firmly with the joint between her hand and the rest of her arm, aka the wrist, forcing that boned weapon of hers to miss the man's head my mere inches. He noted with interest that the pavement cracked heavily where the bone connected with it, a fact that he would have to keep in mind when dealing with this woman. If just one of those managed to connect with his body, it would do serious damage that would take some time to recover from. If it didn't end him right there and then.

His second and third shots proved just as effective as his first had been. The second connected cleanly with her stomach, knocking her back a few steps as she hunched over in pain and the third kept her from making any quick moves in the moments following his attack. Which was good, because it allowed him to put himself between her and those men, hunching slightly into a better position with his arms brought up slightly to either side of him. He could already see the anger glint in her eyes even now and knew it was only a matter of time before the counter came his way.

For a moment, he broke that posture, standing up and shrugging his shoulders as he smiled beneath his mask again, his return words coming out with a sarcastic tone to them. "Well considering I just switched to spandex last week, I don't doubt that that statement is true. Though when you say a lot longer, do you mean like a day or like a week or...because longer can be taken so many ways."

Whoops, no more time to dily daly it seemed. Her attack came as fast and as Kyle expected it to, using that bone blade that was still locked firmly in her hand as her first method of attack. Kyle had already seen what the thing could do in close combat, so the best course of action was to put a constant distance between him and her and attack from outside her range. As far as he could tell, her power allowed her to produce those bones from her body at will. From where she could produce them was still a mystery save for her hands, but caution was never a bad thing in a death duel. With two quick steps back and a slight tilt to his upper body, he managed to lean away from her first swing, the tip of blade shredding a line across his hoody. A bit close for comfort but no harm, no foul.

Her second attack came in close succession to the first, a fist with bony spikes protruding from her knuckles coming in towards his face. With a flick of his finger, the stored energy in his hands shot out, a bolt that would hopefully shift the blow to the one side while he darted to the other. That was the thing about momentum; put too much into it and once you started going, you weren't stopping till that drive ran out of juice. Hopefully now was that case. Either way, he flexed his body and leaned his upper body back hard as he proceeded to back flip away from her, to create that distance he required. Landing firmly on his feet, he clenched his fist as the stored energy gathered.

"A lady shouldn't be so violent you know. I mean sure, she's got to have some fire in her, but not death to the constantly talking hero kind of fire. I mean really, you keep up that look, your going to wrinkle that pretty face. That would be a shame I think." Without wasting a motion, he lifted his arm up suddenly and unleashed another bolt of his energy, this one larger then the finger flicks from before by almost three times its size. He aimed it firmly for the center of her chest, then spun and flicked two more quick bursts from his fingers on his other hand towards her legs. Knock off balance, knock down, threaten to blast into nothing with a full charge unless she surrendered. He only hoped one thing.....

That it wasn't that easy.

sabel's first hit had struck, but not as deeply as she'd hoped. She'd torn a nice gash in his sweatshirt, but there wasn't any blood spilling onto the ground in addition. That was a real shame. She'd always rather liked the color of blood and the problems that came with losing certain amounts of it were always favorable if it wasn't her that was bleeding. The damaged clothing was a start, but it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her temper. Her anger wouldn't even begin to abate until she split flesh.

Her second swing was stopped before she could connect her fist with anything. Another one of those purple bursts had caught her hand. She didn't know what he hell it was, but it certainly felt like her knuckles had connected with something solid. She had, of course, long since formed her signature layer of bone armor beneath her skin, so it didn't do as much damage as it could have otherwise. It still stung, though. The bone seemed to have absorbed most of the impact, but her fingers also suffered. Her hand shook slightly as the stinging slowly receded. She'd most likely have a bruise within the next few days.

She had been anticipating the option that she might miss, and as such she didn't have much correcting to do once her swing was deflected. She only had to take one or two steps before she was back on track again, shaking her hand out as she continued to advance on the rat.

"Not my fault you idiot hero types are always sticking your noses where they don't belong. You said you were looking for trouble and you damn well found it," she spat, choosing to ignore his comment about her 'pretty face'. She was very slowly getting used to comments of that nature after those god awful posters had emerged. She didn't like them any more than she had before, but it was getting just a little easier to brush them off without completely exploding.

She was just close enough to the young man playing at gymnastics that she had difficulty in avoiding the largest assault he'd directed at her so far. She attempted to quickly sidestep the thing and only ended up catching it on the collarbone, between her neck and her shoulder. The force of the thing caused her to spin in a sloppy semicircle, her free hand flying up to press against the skin. Her fingers dug into the skin and she exhaled somewhat heavily as a sort of slow burn settled over her flesh. It was fading, but not quickly enough. She could just barely see a red tint coming to the pale flesh in the poor light.

Having swung the way she had, the smaller follow-up blasts didn't both connect. One missed her entirely. The other managed to catch her thigh. It hurt, but the angle with which it managed to hit didn't do much to throw off her balance.

She could see that the kid was trying to stay out of her reach and keep her at as much of a distance as he could manage. While her fighting habits tended to favor close combat situations, she wasn't limited to them. If the wannabe didn't want her to get her hand on him, she could still manage. She had her ways of executing long-distance assaults.

Turning to advance on the young man again, not willing to let him get too far away from her, she swung with her blade again. However, rather than the bone remaining in its solid shape, it elongated and split into three points at the tip, all the while becoming thinner and more flexible. Arching her swing in the young man's direction, she sent the whip-like protrusion in his direction, aiming to tangle the trio of tails around his legs and trip him up.

This whip, however, was not like the normal kind. She was in full control of its entire length. Should he manage to avoid the first swing, she was capable of continuing to lengthen it and manipulate it to follow his movements. She was determined to put him down somehow, and this was a good bet.

Kyle could help but let that smile beneath his mask continue to paint his face. True, the woman wouldn't be able to see it, a sad loss simply for the fact that it would set her off even more. The woman, so far as Kyle could tell, had a short fuse that could be stroked quite easily with the proper actions and words. And in battle, keeping your cool was a major factor to coming out the winner in the end. And in this case, staying alive.

Once again, his snap bolt to deflect her attack worked wonders, stopping that incoming fist from progressing any farther. It made it even easier for him to move into that back flip to create some distance from her, gave him those extra seconds he needed to firmly reassert his position before she came with another attack. More importantly, it gave him time to prepare his own second set of attacks.

His first attempt at an attack, the much larger burst of energy, flew true and blue into the woman. To her credit, she managed to twist her body enough so that the bolt didn't connect with the center of her chest, where he intended to hit, but clipped her collar bone instead. It kept her from being knocked back and off balance, though it did send her spinning from the nick to the side. Kyle silently and mentally slapped himself for not thinking that move through; he should have accounted for the possibility of her dodging. Lesson learned for the next time he tried it.

By the luck of her dodge, the woman managed to evade the two sharp bolts Kyle had thrown towards her legs. One of them managed to clip her thigh, but with the true lack of power behind that blast, it really did nothing to her more then sting. Beneath his mask, Kyle clicked his teeth together, both in disappointment at his failed attack and in thought about what to do next. His hands were already pulsing with the energy he needed for the next attack, he just needed to think quickly about what that attack should be like.

He didn't get long to think as the woman suddenly advanced on him, swinging her blade towards him. Quick as his reflexes were, Kyle was already back pedaling away from her, preparing to lift his hand up to unleash a bolt of energy as soon as he was outside the bone blades reach. However, the bone blade didn't simply just swing at him; it got LONGER. What was once a simple blade of bone had now become a triple-jointed bone whip that was quickly snapped towards him. Clicking this teeth together again, Kyle quickly picked the best direction to go...and cart wheeled to the direction the whip was going. If he went to where the whip had come from, the woman could simply backhand slap it towards him. This way he at least be able to use the environment to his advantage; in this case, the nearby dumpster.

The blade sliced the spot he'd been before, forming a nice red line along his leg as it grazed him on the way up. Landing on his side on the dumpster, he rolled over the dumpster and landed on his feet on the other side, glancing briefly down to the red line on his leg. Smiling beneath his mask, Kyle chuckled as he thought over his next move. "That's amazing! You can control its length when its already been formed? Impressive indeed!"

His mind quickly pondered options; if she could keep extending it like that, running away would do him no good. He might be out of her range but she'd be out of his as well; a stalemate. Therefore he had only one option open for the moment. Go forward. Without wasting an extra moment, he charged towards her, flicking his fingers rapidly towards her to send a small barrage of his blasts her way, roughly about six as he approached at timed intervals. As he closed in, he prepared a bigger blast and feinted the attack with his left before thrusting his right arm out and launching the attack at her waist.

A sound of irritation issued from Isabel as the young man fell into a cartwheel. Figures she'd find the one guy out there that had taken gymnastics or something. The damn dumpster he'd rolled himself across was a nuisance, too. It was just a little difficult to keep her eye on both him and her weapon in order to successfully maneuver the latter. She did, however, manage to catch a glimpse of the shining red line that welled up on his leg. She couldn't help but smirk at the sight of it.

That wasn't enough to slow him down, apparently. The kid even went as far as praising her. Normally her ego would have appreciated such stroking, but in the middle of a fight she didn't really have the time to appreciate such things. Besides, he didn't even know the half of what she was capable of. It wouldn't be very long before he found out what other tricks she could do.

The little rat didn't stop for very long after he took a moment to appreciate what she'd managed to do. He even charged at her. Now that wasn't very smart. Even the dumbest of people knew better than to run toward someone that was trying to kill them. If she'd had any and suspicions before that the kid was a few marbles short, she was sure of it now.

And there were those damn blasts of energy again. At least, that's what she thought they were. They carried a burn to them, like a flame, but she'd never seen any type of flame glow purple like that. She brought her free arm up instinctively to fend off the annoying things, though it didn't do much to stop them from stinging like hell.

He'd gotten very close very fast, and as he moved to the left, she shifted in the opposite direction and back. She'd be damned if she let the kid land a good hit on her. She could see that odd purple pulsing in his hands and she didn't really care for the look of it. Her hand that held the whip swung up across the front of her, the whole length of bone sprouting numerous nasty looking spikes. Her aim was to bring it up between him and herself and hopefully get him to strike or run into it. If she was lucky the tail end of the thing would even trip him up as it was brought toward them with the motion.

Kyle's leg protested the rush towards the woman, the blood on his leg still slightly wet from where it slowly oozed from the cut the woman's blade had inflicted. It stung fiercely, but the adrenaline rush from the battle, combined with the knowledge that letting it get to him would likely cause his death, helped Kyle to push that pain to the back of his mind. The wound wasn't deep, indeed, it was already starting to clot over despite the pressure he was exerting on it. It would still sting for a while, but it was hardly a threat to his well being.

Instead, he focused on what would be a threat to his well being if not properly addressed. His barrage of blasts towards the woman had succeeded in allowing him to close the distance between them, though the plan wasn't going as he'd hoped. Instead of getting caught off guard and knocked off balance by them, the woman had lifted her arm to shield her main body from that bolts, letting her arm suffer in exchange for standing firm before his attack. Not a bad tactic, though one she would be stinging from for a while.

He was drawing his right arm back for the main attack when the woman shifted the arm carrying to bone whip to snap in his direction. At this distance, the main body of the whip was his concern, though there was always the possibility of the end managing to snap around and clip him. One thing at a time. His first thought was to duck and roll under the incoming attack....a thought that had to switch on the fly as the bone whip suddenly added another feature: bony spikes across its entire length.

"My lord, you'll just full of lovely surprises."

The timing was bad for him as the whip snapped around, its spikes now adding in a new factor to have to deal in. Ducking wouldn't work...he couldn't duck low enough to evade the spikes after all. Flipping over would work, partially, though there was a chance he would be clipped and worse yet, forced out of an attacking position. That left him with one tactic...considering the distance between them, it could work. He'd likely take a hit but....well, if this paid off, it would be worth it. He waited till the last second...and then dropped down completely into a slide.

The gravel stung against his hurt leg and he didn't slide to far in general...but he slid the amount of space he needed to make this work. The bony whip snapped over his body, several of those spikes being long enough to leave red gashes on his torso and upper arm...but he'd evaded the worst of it. The main point was this; she was completely exposed at this angle. With a grin, Kyle had already brought his hands together, cupping them one over the other and pointing them at her chest.

"Kamehameha bitch." And a long stream of purple energy burst free from his hands at her.

Isabel muttered a string of curses as that slow burn settled in over the flesh of her arm, and the few spots on her body where she'd been unable to block the assault that had just passed. She would need to take a cold shower later on to sooth the burns, if they really were burns at all. At least she'd been able to repay the favor.

Making him bleed again hadn't occurred quite the way she had hoped, however. She'd managed to cut up his arm and chest with her weapon, but had only managed it because he'd been able to avoid the brunt of the attack by sliding under the cord of bone. He was really turning out to be a pest. She was starting to get to the point where she wanted to put him down for good and do it quickly so she could be on her way.

Seeing him bring his hands together in front of him and aimed in her direction, she knew she was in for a decent amount of pain if she didn't act quickly. At such a range it was possible that he could do some real damage, more than just the annoying bee stings he'd managed so far, and she wasn't exactly keen on the idea of dealing with that.

Giving a cry of frustration, she quickly brought the whip around again, hoping to strike him again in the process. As the extension of bone curled back her way, it rapidly flattened and fused together, forming a flat length of bone that would act as a shield between her and the incoming blast.

The structure was hastily constructed and therefore not as string as it could have been, but it served its purpose. It cracked and splintered under the weight of the blast, but successfully took the brunt of it. This time she did lose her balance, though. She hadn't been standing in the best way to stand up to something so solid feeling slamming into her and as such she ended up on her rear.

With another string of curses, she righted herself into a sitting position. The shield she still held in her hand, its base siting against the pavement in front of her, looped up and over her head, the top of the structure coming to rest on the asphalt behind her. From there the sides stretched to meet at her sides, encasing her in a roughly globe-shaped case of bone. She didn't doubt the kid wouldn't up and leave in the middle of a fight, and so she would see what happened if she tried to wait him out a while.

The focused power erupting from Kyle's hands was like a speeding truck, plowing towards the woman not more then five feet from him. Compared to the small bursts that flicked her arm aside or the semi decent blast he'd used before that had sent her spinning, this blast had enough force to knock a car back a few feet. It was one of his best attacks, short of unleashing his entire supply at once. He rarely, if ever, used that though.

The woman was quicker to react to his attack then he'd expected but in the end, that changed little more then how much damage she took. With a snap of her wrist, the bone whip snapped back around towards her, the spiked weapon grazing his right shoulder as it swung by over his head. Just as his power erupted forth, that bony whip collapsed in on itself, stretching out vertically and horizontally to become what Kyle could only classify as a shield of bone.

The shield managed to form itself into a proper shape just in time to catch the purple stream that smashed into it. However, unlike the quick blasts from before that vanished upon contact, the stream remained constant in its attack as Kyle focused the beam into staying active by pouring his energy into it. Behind the humming of the energy as it made contact with the shield, Kyle could hear a faint cracking which gradually grew louder. Grinning, he pushed a surge through the beam before breaking the attack off. That surge cracked that bone shield wide and more to the point, sent the woman hiding behind it stumbling back as she lost her footing and was knocked onto her respective rear.

Both of them moved at the same time, Kyle moving to get back to his feet in case she countered, the woman likely trying to get up so she could counter. As he readied another quick burst of energy, he tensed as the woman brought the arm carrying the broken shield up...and then slammed it into the ground in front of her. Kyle reacted quickly, hopping back to create a little more distance from whatever she had planned and sent two quick blasts of energy her way, hoping to catch her before her attack came.

To his surprise, no attack came at all. To his even greater surprise was what she did next; the bony plate before her suddenly extended from all sides towards her, looping over her head and curving around her sides. His blasts hammered harmlessly into the bony wall before them and as he watched, that bony wall turned into a complete shell around the woman, effectively creating a small bunker of bone from which she could protect herself and likely attack.

Kyle sat there in silence for a moment, pondering what his next move should be. Any other person would have used this chance to get away, Kyle saw it only as another chance to test himself. And perhaps, gain a little information as well. With a flick of his wrist, two small blasts of energy connected with the shell in quick succession into the same spot. As the energy vanished, Kyle studied the spot he'd hit...no damage at all, no sign of the blasts doing anything to that hardened white armor. Most interesting. Stalking slowly around the globe, Kyle let his brain go to work about how to get past this lovely little challenge while his mouth worked to ask questions that had been on his mind.

"Well, this isn't very fun now, is it? But hey, maybe now we can talk a little, be a bit civil and all that random crap.

Your not doing much to prove why I should fear you though, Ms Boney. Which, now that I think about it, is a terrible name for someone as strong as you. So...who exactly should I be fearing or watching out for so I can tremble in my little booties whenever your name is mentioned, hmmm? Do you come with a name that strikes terror into the hearts of all the do-gooders that would stand in your way or do you just make do by looking pretty and people remember that?"

Isabel sat inside her makeshift hideaway, mumbling and grumbling to herself as she listened to things bouncing off the outside of the shield. The kid wasn't very bright if he thought his annoying little attacks were going to do much to her dome. If it cracked or chipped under the weight of one of the blasts, she could very easily repair the damage. She was hardly limited when it came to her mutation.

She rolled her eyes and did her best to ignore the muffled speech that reached her, trying to busy herself by blindly exploring the areas of her body that had been struck. Her skin was tender to the touch in some places and felt hot in others. She'd have to find ice and aloe when she got back to the Sanctuary The Infirmary probably had the aloe. She could always raid he kitchen for ice.

While she as largely ignoring the kid, she could still catch the gist of what he was saying. Mainly that she didn't scare him and that he wanted a name from her. Pft. Normally she wasn't at all shy about giving her name to whoever asked. However, she was quickly growing irritated with this particular individual and decided to withhold that information for a while just to spite him. She wasn't going to play civil. And if she heard the word 'pretty' one more time, she'd rip his head off.

In any case, so long as he kept talking she could roughly gauge at least how close he was still standing to the sphere. He was almost making it too easy. Keeping both hands pressed flat against the curved interior of her enclosure, she started to feed more bone into the structure. As a whole, the sphere stayed intact to protect its occupant. The surface area of the structure is what was molded. Spikes sprouted up all over the outermost layer of bone. From there they quickly erupted outward, sprouting barbs and twisting and spiraling around one another. Rapidly the thorned tendrils were filling the alleyway, first to either side to meet the brick of the buildings to her left and right, an then expanding outward toward the mouth of the alley

She would see just how quickly this rat could scurry.

Complete silence. That was what Kyle got back in response from the armored shell of bone that contained the woman he'd been fighting. Well, not that he had expected her to answer, truthfully, but he figured trying and failing was better then not trying at all. At least there was a chance, a really small one at the time, that she might reply for whatever reason she deemed fit. Lesson learned it seemed, at least for now.

That wouldn't keep him from trying though. Even if the chance was small, practically miniscule, there was really no harm in trying to strike a conversation with the woman outside maybe making her madder. Which, actually, would only make the fight easier for him since it could force her to make a mistake in her rage. Considering so far how easy it had been to irk her, he figured it wouldn't take much more to actually make her really snap. Still, just because it could lead her to make a mistake, setting her off could also be very dangerous. Like a cornered mouse when threatened by a cat might fight back with a hidden strength, so could the woman in anger.

Of course, the same was true of him as well.

At least he knew she was still in there. Quiet in might have been following his question, he could still hear her shuffling about in there, the sound muffled heavily by the bone shell, but there nonetheless. The trick was discovering how to crack a shell made of solid bone; he wouldn't be able to do it with his punches or kicks and his energy, while it had proven to be able to crack it, would take a lot of him for likely no gain. After all, she could likely reform the bone just as quickly as he blew through it and he'd only end up exhausting himself. Just like she had made sudden bone spikes from such a thin.....

The gears in his head clicked almost a moment to late. He was halfway into darting back from the shell when the bony barrage of spikes shot out. From the spikes erupted barbs that shot out in every direction, impaling everything in their path. As he booked it in retreat, Kyle charged energy into his hands, enough to create blasts about half the level of the one that had shattered her shield and started tossing them into the spikes and barbs that came to close, trying to give himself room to move. It was not easy at all. The barbs and spikes nicked his skin, leaving small red cuts whenever they did. He cursed silently under his breath, but couldn't help but chuckle. This was getting better by the minute.

The alley was quickly filling up and he was running out of ideas in how to keep ahead of the assault. His answer came in an instant as he passed the dumpster from before. As another spike came his way, he dove. The spike slid past his head as he dove, clipping the mask and shredding through it...by luck it barely remained on, though he could feel the blood starting to flow down. He landed in a heap behind the dumpster, which managed to prevent some of the smaller barbs from hitting him. That's when another idea came to him and without thinking about it too deeply, he acted.

Charging the energy in his hands as fast as he could, he pointed it at the dumpster before him....and fired. The energy hammered into the metal can and, after a moment, started forcing it down the alley towards the bone shell. Being on wheels, the dumpster started gaining speed and at least a ton of solid metal started plowing its way towards the shell, shattering the spikes along the way. And right in its wake came Kyle, reading a burst of energy in his free hand. His plan? Let the dumpster shatter that shell, see if a ton of steel couldn't break some bone and, provided he got the opening, give the woman a friendly smack to her chest with his energy. Chance of success....fifty fifty. But those were odds he'd take anyday.