Defense, defense, deflect. She snapped.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE A GIANT F#$%ING MARSHMALLOW AND IF I DON'T PROTECT YOU SOMEONES GONNA BREAK YOUR HEART!"

Her whole face was red with rage, fists curled at her side, and her entire body tense.

"Who cares if I do it to piss my dad off? He doesn't like you because he doesn't think you're f@#$%ing real. How could he?! You're too F@#$%ing much some times!"

It was oddly silent from another side of the wall for a bit after Elke shouted loud enough to wake the whole block until three soft knocks sounded from the other side of the wall.

Juniper had gotten into the habit, sometimes, of trying to knock to see if he wanted her to come over before she threw herself through the wall onto his couch.

In this particular instance, she had a special reason for asking.

The tall blonde's eyes widened as Elke started yelling... that... He was a Marshmallow whose heart needed to be protected. He was... shocked. Blown away.

She was going to protect him. He didn't hear what she said next. He was too busy walking across the room, grabbing her by the shoulders, and leaning down to kiss her deeply.

That was... the single sweetest thing anything had ever said to him. Everyone had always assumed that he was the person who was going to protect them. Never once had anyone ever allowed him to be somebody worth protecting.

There was a soft knock on the wall. Boundaries, like they'd talked about. He hardly noticed.

Whelp. She'd tried a nice way, then. Hearing the screeching from her apartment had knocked some of the drowsiness right out of her and instead had filled that empty void with pure, concentrated MAD. Who the hell did she think she was screaming at such a sweet person like Xavier?

Juniper had forced herself up, kicked her shoes off, finished off what was left in her bottle, and gone over to knock. After receiving no reply she took a deep breath, rolled her neck and shook her arms out, and steeled her nerves. With determined steps she stepped through the wall and onto his couch, eyes landing on the two of them embracing and kissing deeply.

Didn't matter. Xavier was going to be bad at her no matter what she did at this point.

"Oi, @#$%face, back up a little so I can kick your ass."

That's right. She was here to PHYSICALLY beat some goddamn manners into that mule-headed girl.

Elke broke the kiss and turned to look at her with both eyebrows lifted and immediately started laughing.

She stopped laughing when Juniper picked up X's coffee table like it didn't weight a damn thing and threw it at her.

Elke hadn't expected a kiss in retaliation to what she had said. She hadn't known what to expect, really. He was so FRUSTRATING!

She locked up in surprise the moment his lips captured hers, still in the mode to swing her fists at something, but... gradually started to calm down again as the kiss deepened and went on.

.... Until she wedged herself into their business again.

When the words 'kick your ass' stumbled out of the small woman's mouth, Elke's first instinct was to laugh. So she did! Deep, belly filled laughs. The sheer audacity that someone like Juniper, who wouldn't even look her in the eyes on a good day, was going to try and whoop her in a fight? HA!

She was mildly surprised when the 5ft nothing girl picked up the whole table to throw it at them (Xavier was RIGHT there! ), but recovered quickly as Xavier kept the table from actually hitting them. She did drop into her typical stance and ready herself though, even if she didn't think Juniper was capable of much other than some fancy tricks. The last time she'd been punched by her it hadn't felt like anything worse than what a toddler could do.

"Oh, that's rich. What are you going to do? Cry enough to fill the room up and drown us?"

The blonde's mouth twitched but didn't move from the frown it was fixed in. The constant poking and prodding at her in general might have finally begun to wear on her.

"I... am going to bend your legs back and shove them so far up your @#$ you'll finally be able to smell all of the sh*t you've stepped in." The petite woman started rolling up the sleeves of her skeleton themed bodysuit.

It was going to be okay. She cared. In her own strange, forceful and bone headed way, she cared. They could calm this down, and talk it out. He knew that now that he knew that she really was doing this for him in her odd way.

And then Juniper stormed through the wall, called his girlfriend a @%$^face, and boldly announced she was going to kick her ass... Uh oh. Elke was laughing already. This was bad. A table flew there way, and he let out a, "WOAH woah, Juni calm do-" With just the right amount of bump back he slowed the table enough to guide it to the ground with a thud.

"wn!"

He looked back to Elke as she got into it as well, and tried to step inbetween them. "Come on, we don't want to do this!" His eyes were on Elke, giving her that 'dont' expression as Juniper rolled up her sleeves, and he looked back.

"Juni, stop please."

"Yes I do!" The Native was getting hyped, even with Xavier trying to hold her back.

Juniper didn't look to be backing down either, as she was off the couch and slowly crossing the space between them. "Sorry, no can do Adonis." Right then in the hazy cloud that was her mind, his feelings on the current matter didn't matter. he didn't matter, even, so much as it mattered that she makes it crystal clear to Elke that her behavior toward him, and everyone else for that matter, was not OK.

Elke was having a tiny bit of a problem getting around Xavier so that she could meet Juni head-on. They were physically pretty evenly matched in most cases.

Juniper didn't waste any effort trying to go around him or push him out of the way. She just lunged at the end of a slow step, springing forward with surprising speed to dive right through him in order to get at her.

Elke spotted the lunge coming and danced back a few steps, arms up to guard and ready to swing at her. Only... there wasn't anything there to swing at. Juniper was cautiously keeping everything but the pads of her feet phased she closed in. She didn't wanna duke it out in Xavier's apartment. She wanted to take it down to the street where she had all the room she needed and wouldn't have to worry about feeling quite as bad later.

"Stop hiding behind that stupid @#$%ing power of yours! Fight me fair and square!" Elke had tried to get another quick jab in, looking for any part of the girl that wasn't phased while continuing to keep herself just out of reach.

"No!" The Blonde darted at her again, small pale fingers reaching. All she needed was to just get a hold of her! "You're such a huge jacka$% to everyone! I don't understand how you can be that mean all the time and get away with it!"

This was getting out of hand quick. In his mind, when this got crazy, it was Elke he imagined having to hold back, but Juniper was going hard, here. He'd just managed to tangle up Elke a bit when he looked back to see the small blonde moving right through him to get at his grilfriend.

"Oh Jees!" He turned as Elke backpedaled, and he was now on the other end of both of them. "Please, PLEASE can we just talk about this?!" He needed to stop Juniper from making contact with Elke. Who knew what would happen if she didnt?

He reached out to try and get his hands in the way of Juniper's vision. "Elke, Run!" It sounded crazy, sure. Elke was a complete bad ass. He would never deny that.

He was worried for her safety.

"Excuse me?! RUN?!?" Like hell! She hadn't been in a decent fight in at least a week while having to study for her finals. She wasn't about to run from one now!

Try as he might, Xavier's hands weren't a barrier that could keep her out. Juniper flew through them like they weren't even there as she pursued Elke across the living room in yet another quick circle. Elke couldn't get a grasp on how exactly Juniper fought because she didn't typically fight. There was no rhyme or reason to her methods other than to try and get her hands on her. She was backing quickly toward the window that Xavier sometimes used to get in and out of his apartment quickly when Juniper jumped at her. She used her legs to propel herself up, upper body phased for extra height, and brought her arms up and closed in.

"Mind your own buis-"

Elke brought her arms up to grapple, assuming that Juniper was actually going to try and get a hit on her for once, and was caught off guard when the Blondes hands and forearms fully passed through her own, only turning solid once more when they smacked into her chest full force and pushed her back.

How much freaking control did she have over her power?!

Elke stumbled back, Juniper went with her and fully phased the both of them as they rolled right through the wall and careened down through the metal fire escape outside.

"AHSH@^!"

Juniper allowed non-vital parts to re-solidify before they could smack into the ground and both vanish into the earth's crust permanently. They slammed into metal stairs and railing as one cussing, punching, hairpulling ball, until they both finally landed on the pavement and briefly seperated. Both were littered with fresh scrapes and forming bruises, but not seriously injured... yet.

"Phsyco!"

"Bitch!"

"SKANK!"

Juniper let out a high-pitched growl and dove at Elke again. Meanwhile, Elke was busy splitting off three clones of herself to help aid in the fight. If Blondie was gonna play dirty, so was she!

so... He could have guessed it. Warning Elke didn't go over well. She wasn't going to run. If anything, he'd made her more determined to say. He couldn't help but facepalm as Juniper simply glided through him, and he found himself completely helpless to get in their way.

He was told to mind his own business, or almost was, as Elke was interrupted by fighting. Walking forward with his hands reached out helplessly, his eyes went wide as they both went through the wall. the OUTSIDE WALL. He charged forward, and gasped in releif as he found that they had landed on the fire escape. "Ohthankgod, Stop! Come inside! This is getting dangerous!" Unable to do anything else, he opened the window and climbed out and hurried down the fire escape after them as they rolled down.

Elke was making clones. This was getting more serious by the second... Should... should he call the cops. What the hell could he do? How was he going to stop this?!

They were on the street now. He was down there shortly after, scraping his leg on the nearby dumpster as he jumped down the last length.

The larger girl dodged her as she rushed in, and Juniper tried to phase the pavement directly under her to trap her for a moment. Elke felt the give under her feet and sprang away in a few flips, landing far enough away that there was some distance between them. They stared each other down as Elke's twins formed and split off from her.

Juniper hadn't ever seen her use her power before. Duplicated? Was that it? Sure, she was pretty dangerous when it came to formal fighting and whatever, but... she had been expecting something more explosive, really.

Xavier had joined them by that time. Two of Elke's clones left her side after she gave out a low whistle, circling around to try and get at Juniper from behind. They ran with their arms all the way back like cartoon ninja's because of course, they would. "I don't get it. everybody's always trying to explain you away like you're so much better now that you're older. You aren't any @#$%in different than that time you tried to shoot me in the face with an arrow! You're just a taller brat now!"

"Oh right. Like I'd put any thought into the words of some desperate loser who can't even keep a job for more than a month. I saw all of your shitty applications!!"

Juniper froze, eyes going round. "...You... were in my apartment?" Her head pounded suddenly. She flashed back to all of the times her mother had barged into her room as a kid to trash her stuff and take things she 'didn't need' for her 'own good'.

"What's the matter? Don't like it when people return the favor and invite themselves into your place? That's funny coming from someone comfortable enough with ripping the pants off of sleeping friends!"

The twins closed in behind her, both looking to try and tackle Juniper to the ground from behind. She phased, stumbling through them as they flew through her, and reached out to snag their ankles as they fell. It was quick work phasing the feet together and leaving them as one.

Elke had been in her room, too. Juniper could only silently panic at the idea that she had been rifling through her stuff. The trunk the pants had been on had her scrapbook and...

The two clones on the ground were out seeing as they couldn't do more than hobble like in a three-legged race, but Elke and her last clone were on the move. The clone came in first and tried to sweep her legs out from under her. She had to be standing on something!

The attack failed, but it gave Elke the opportunity to jump in and punch from a different angle. Juniper didn't react fast enough and barely had the opportunity to fling a hand out and sink it into the fighter's right arm.

"I'm not going to let some snotty hussy with daddy issues try and give me morality lessons when she can't even get her own @#$%ing life together!"

The clone latched onto her calf as it solidified. sh*t, how long had it been, she hadn't been keeping track-

Elke's rock hard fist slammed into her jaw sideways just as her power cut out. Juniper's head rocked to the side violently but she remained on her feet via the fused connection she had with Elke's arm. The Native had one moment to grin in victory, and then Juniper whipped her head back up and rammed her forehead into Elke's mouth and nose.

The phaser didn't feel bad at all for phasing the other clone's hands right into the ground as she regained control of her power, dislodged herself from Elke's arm, and staggered back.

She could feel her upper lip bleeding freely. Copper on her tongue and running little rivers down her chin. Warmth also started dripping into her left eye from a gash where Elke's teeth had cut into her skin. It stung and semi blinded her.

Elke didn't make it out Scott free, either. She took a few big steps back and hunched over, spitting blood and exactly two front teeth onto the street. Three frightened, handicapped clones were thrashing about and shouting- It was chaos.

Juniper and Elke just stood and stared each other down.

Holy fuck, No really. Oh god oh god oh god this was going as bad as it possibly coulgh. Seriously. How could it be any worse. His girlfriend and best friend were locked in full on BATTLE in the middle of the street. He tried to move in to intervene, but found himself tripping over two conjoined clones, and struggling to get past them.

By the time he made it close, Elke full on sucker punched Juni, who turned back and headbutted her with a violent crack that left her head bleeding. His eyes widened as he rushed forward, looking to Juniper, but stopping next to Elke. Were those... teeth on the ground. Oh god.

She'd maimed her. "Jesus, Elke are you okay?!" There were so close to resolving this... And then... well... Now they needed to get medical attention. He tried not to get mad. He tried to keep his cool. Stepping between the two, he spoke, as calm as he could muster.

"Are you done?"

Two teeth were nothing. She'd lost a tooth before and if you were quick about it they weren't exactly a pain to put back in. It also helped that she had easy access to quite a few healers, and if nothing else, dentists.

"Are you kidding? Of couse i'm not-"

"Yeah. I'm done." Juniper cut in softly, standing a few feet out of arms reach of Xavier. Comparatively, she knew she looked the part of the loser, but at the end of the day, she'd managed to make a mockery of the duplicator's clones and had probably landed the most painful hit between them. A split lip and other lacerations were sadly things she was familiar with. They looked bad, but if she put some pressure on them they'd clean up pretty good. Might have another scar later, but right now it was worth it. Future Juniper could worry about that.

"Excuse me?!"

The short blonde turned, unwilling to give her the satisfaction of any parting words. She had done what she set out to do; she was done. She tried and failed to wipe some of the blood from the eye directly below the cut, only succeeding in smearing it all up her forearm. She needed to go... somewhere not home. Find someplace to sit and clean her wounds, sleep it off, and worry about what was gonna happen later, later. Was she gonna regret it? She didn't know. Right now she didn't. It felt like on some small, petty level she'd won something. She liked it.

If Xavier tried to get her to stay he'd find it impossible to do through more than just words. For the first time since she had thought to call him a friend, she wouldn't physically be there if he reached out to her.

Elke watched Juniper turn and just start to walk off and couldn't help but throw her arms up in frustration. "Cheap shots like that don't count as kicking my ass!" It was a goad, and it didn't work, but hey she'd tried at least! She didn't think she'd make it past Xavier since he actually seemed fed up for once, so she resorted to bending to retrieve the two teeth she'd lost. She'd need them later.

All that left was checking to see how bad she was bleeding. Most of it from the nose, really. Juniper apparently had a pretty hard head.

To say that he was fed up was selling how he felt incredibly short. He was at his witts end. He was emotionally exhausted, he was angry at the situation. He was... concerned. He was terribly worried about two people he cared about.

Juniper seemed to think that she'd won. When she went to leave, of course he tried to stop her. He couldn't, but he tried. He looked back to Elke helplessly as she yelled after Juniper, and he rejoined her as she collected her teeth.

"I'm sorry... Let's... C'mon. Let's go wake up doc Prof..." He felt... drained. The finality of his words might seem like he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Truth be told... Juniper had won this fight. Looking at the meekly struggling clones everywhere, that was easily evident. Elke needed to get patched up before she ended up with thousands of dollars in dental bills.