Forehead, meet palm.  
 
Was this guy for real? Or did he wander off the pages of one of Pluto's Japanese comics books? That had been in her required reading list when she was crafting her 'How to Create a Villain from an Innocent Unicorn' plan. A plan that worked, though, the unicorn wasn't making enough of a nuisance of himself yet to quite rally Mutant Kind against him.

A brilliant idea started forming.
 
Send Fight-Me McStupid after the Unicorn. The S&M could wait.

"Well if you want to fight and test your skill, that means you probably need to find the most powerful dude around. Then just dash yourself against the rock of his power. Realize you suck. Go train some more until you level up and then try again, right?"

A little crackle of energy danced around his hand and that made her eyes widen in earnest. She didn't feel a thing. No electrons were harmed in the making of that special effect. "Why the hell are you picking on me? My power's non-combative!" She squeaked on the last bit. It was fun to play games. 
 
It didn't take a fighter to deliver packages. And if she had known that she had been sent to deliver death and they tried to pull her in… well, you'd scream too. If he cared to investigate, he'd see that it was the package contents that did the killing. Her little present to those involved. As for her confidence level in telling him off? There were humans who talked a bigger game than Lori (granted they were usually taller than 5'2"), but she'd slipped a little nugget in there to cover that since he seemed bull headed enough to push the issue.
 
And of course this all hinged on the idea that she could keep her cool and take a punch if she needed to.

Plan B was ever evolving. S&M wasn't totally off the list yet.

Had he made a mistake in judgment? An error in his reasoning? From every angle, the woman known as Lori seemed to be quite the opposite of Isabel; she wasn't easily angered, she seemed generally distressed at times about his asking to fight and so far, she hadn't shown any signs of mutant powers herself. Looking at it from a logical standpoint, she was just a girl running around the nasty part of town doing some nasty business. But that animal instinct of his, his gut feeling, told him something was amiss about her.

There was only one way to find out what it was now.

Honestly,words caught him by surprise, enough to make him power down his hand and lift it to stroke his chin in thought, letting the possibilities fly through his mind. Her analysis was again more spot on then he would have liked though it wasn't dead on this time. After all, he didn't always lose and most the time, it wasn't because he "sucked" per say, but rather because he choose to make a retreat based on the situation. In either win, loss or draw, he gained valuable experience and learned how to improve himself for next time.

Her latest freak about her powers being non-combative did one key thing for him. It confirmed that she was a mutant, at least proving to him that he wasn't completely wrong about her. Still, if she continued to refuse to fight and if she "said" her powers weren't meant for it, there was only two options available to him. Force the issue by attacking her and finding out the hard way.....or accept her offers and watch for any signs of danger. He could have left too...but at this point, his curiosity was greater then he concerns by a tiny bit.

Calmly stepping closer, he shrugged his shoulders and placed his free hand on his hip. "Well, it appears I may have been wrong. I suppose I let myself think that just because one woman I met down here acted in a violent way that any others that dared this place would be the same. You've proven that fact wrong and made me realize how simple minded that was. I'd say sorry if I wasn't sure that at this point it wouldn't be enough.

But...sorry anyway. In any case, using that woman Isabel as a comparison was not a good idea. The chances of finding someone with that short a temper again...pretty slim. Now...setting aside my stupidity, care to tell me what those men did that required such a....harsh punishment to teach them their final lesson? In normal cases I'd be tempted to obtain it the harsh way but I figure you'd just shrug that off. " The first game had failed...time to see where the second game might lead.

She watched his face carefully to see how she'd been received. He looked... confused or put off his game. Then contemplative, finally he came back around to her side of things. At least, he stepped forward in a more relaxed way. It could have been a trick, but she wanted to believe his body language. Also, she wanted to be believed.

Relief from Lori's end. Not that she couldn't have fought him. She was secure enough in her ability to survive any scrape no matter the odds against her. Secure enough to be able to turn one down every now and again.

"Wow." He had to be pretty good if he wasn't in the ICU after clashing with Isabel. "That chick is brutal... I'm impressed you want to find somebody worse than that." Lori had never directly fought against Isabel, though she had actually been shot by the younger woman. It wasn't until she'd been wounded by her that she actually respected her.

As for what those men did... "Those people..." She glanced around as if someone might be listening in. Her knowing who they were could have been dangerous information. Worse still of an observer put two and two together, that she was from the Order and on contested ground. "They were part of the Russian mafia. They sell drugs in my neighborhood and that's strictly not allowed."

She didn't like mind altering substances. Those particular gentlemen hadn't actually sold on her turf. They'd had friends who had gone in to sell drugs as a cover for trying to raid a stash of M. She might use many avenues to peddle for a profit, but she never allowed her enemies to share in the profit. As far as Lori was concerned, M was created to benefit the Order. The intruders had been dealt with. This was just a message. Get too close and you'll get burned.

Lori's hands balled into fists as she thought about them. "They tried to... hurt people I love." Or they would have. Or the next wave might. She would send her soldiers out to exterminate them all if she didn't think scare tactics might work better than making them into martyrs. Lori lifted her chin defiantly as if daring him to judge her for her actions. "They were bad people." She sounded both defiant and like she might have needed a hug to convince her that what she'd done was okay.

And Kyle was saying that he was sorry a lot. Wasn't that twice now? Once for running her over and once for... misjudging her? The blonde rubbed her arms as if to warm herself even though it wasn't cold out. "Can we get out of here?"

A flicker of doubt passed through his features when her reaction to Isabel was one of knowledge rather then confusion, but he quickly chalked that up to either the fact that she had heard rumors about her or knew her personally. Either way, it was something on his list of things to figure out as he went along. At the very least, the surprise at his words that leeched across her face seemed sincere, though considering how he seemed to have been duped twice by now, he wasn't betting on anything being the truth yet.

"She was pretty hard to handle, but she sees common sense well enough. I gave her the win in the end, but we both know it was a stalemate. Heck, I still got the scars to prove that fight. Maybe I'll show you a few later if your not squeamish.

As for someone stronger, well...to be the best, you gotta face the best. It might give you a goal at least."

With that said, he went silent to listen to her speak again and was pleasantly surprised to hear her speak about the people she had left a surprise for in the alley. She seemed suspicious about it, so Kyle dared to take a few more steps towards her so that he was effectively standing right next to her, making it easier for her to speak without being too loud. And as she spoke, he scratched his chin in thought, taking in all the details, what few they were, and processing them for later. Kyle was new here, so the connections the underworld people would have to one another and their social structure were unknown to him. But that would change soon enough and if this was his first look into it, he'd be sure to remember everything.

He watched her ball her hands into fists, the anger clearly seeping through to visually manifest itself. He was tempted to reach over and pat her on the shoulder, but he kept that action to himself....for now. When she lifted her chin to him, her eyes full of fire and defiance, Kyle simply stared back at them, matching them with his own fiery glare. He said nothing regarding the matter but a light nod showed that he understood her reasons for being angry and her actions. He was no stranger to those actions himself. Though maybe on a lesser "crippled in a wheelchair" level compared to her "death by surprise in a box."

When she finally broke that iron battle of wills, that's when Kyle dared to reach over and pat her on the far shoulder, though he did lift an eyebrow when she started rubbing her arms as if to generate heat to counter the cold. But it wasn't cold, far from it. Maybe she was cold, some people were like that. Or just maybe something he'd said was putting her off and she was trying to steady her form again. More questions, not enough answers. With a slight smile, he tipped his head to the direction they'd both originally come from.

"That's fine by me. My bike's a little ways back this way and I'll gladly take you wherever you'd like to go rather then this place. Always keep a spare helmet on my bike in the off chance someone needs a ride. Unless of course....you meant to go somewhere nearby where the use of a vehicle would not be required? So...any idea of a place you'd like to go to get away from all this....chaos?"

Isabel? Seeing sense? He had to be mistaken. She had probably just lost interest, not that Lori was about to point that out to Kyle.

He listened, he sympathized and he met her steely look. It wasn't a look meant to scare anyone away, but more a testament to how stubborn or defiant she could be. The look he returned said she'd struck a chord that resounded in his own personality. Perfect. She loved it when people were on her side.

He even went as far as to pat her on the shoulder. A friendly little 'there-there' or maybe a 'I'll protect you' sort of sentiment.

Except he wanted to go back the way she'd come from. Lori shook her head. "I'm not going back. I'll help you find someone strong to fight if that's really what you want, but I don't want to go back there." It was simple as that. Who would want to see that? Or go near there? Or even think about it anymore?

When she shook her head in response to his suggestion to head back the way they came for his bike, Kyle rose an eyebrow in question, but quickly silenced himself when the next words came out of her mouth.

She would help find him someone strong to fight? This woman, who he'd just met, who'd walked into an alley and given a package to a group of guys that would likely be gracing the morgue's halls soon enough. Who said it was for personal reasons, backed by sincere enough a reaction to go with that reasoning, yet had been defensive on just about every front despite putting on an act that made him seem the damsel. Something didn't add up, but Kyle couldn't quite put his finger on it. Yet. He needed to see where this went.

Shrugging, Kyle turned back her way and smiled lightly. "Right, that makes enough sense. Alright then...if you're going to do what you say, then you'll need a way to contact me." He pulled out a slip of paper and quickly scribbled down his cell number on it before handing it to her. "I take it you can guess what this is. Whenever you find that someone, just give me a ring and tell me where to be. Perhaps I could have yours as well so I know its you calling.

Now, I'm gonna go grab my bike. If you need a lift, I'd be more then happy to give you one to where you need to go. I'll even come to you so you don't have to go back past that nasty alley. If not, I'll see you when you give me a call. So....need a ride?"

Urge. to. roll. eyes. rising. Yes. Lori was old enough to recognize a 7 digit phone number with a 3 digit area code. Somehow she managed to accept the paper with all due grace. And she didn't even spill the surprise about who he'd be fighting either.

Lori gave him the number to the Sanctuary. Lisa could usually get a hold of her even if she didn't own a cell phone. Besides, it didn't hurt anything if he called and found out that she lived at a homeless shelter... even if she sort of actually ran the place, that wasn't likely to come up in conversation.

"No... I think I can make it to the subway unless somebody else feels the need to fight." She shrugged to match her skeptical tone. She'd been walking these streets for years and only today had she ever such a strange conversation. Maybe she would visit the trailer park... just to check in. She didn't often come to this side of town by herself anymore.

"I'll call you." This sort of felt like setting up some strange kind of twilight zone date, but for once she was telling a guy that she would call him and she actually meant it. There were plenty of scary people that she knew who could put this pup down, but only one that she was interested in testing. "Probably tomorrow. Gotta put in my research." After all, it would take time to track down her little spy and get a bead on where Sebastian was.

And then it was time for goodbye. Lori waved and stuffed her hands back into her pockets before she wandered toward the subway. Nobody she knew lived here anymore anyway.