Why did everyone look at her and raise their eyebrows? She couldn't see his actual eyebrows, mind you, just the sudden tilt of his head back a bit. He was surprised. What was so unusual? She was average in height. Her hair was brown, average again. She was wearing normal clothes, a gray hoodie and loose pants, nothing like the showy intruder in front of them.

Sigh. She just didn't get it. And Noel had wanted to see what communion tasted like, too.

"Fine." She had gone elsewhere to train a few times, but there was nothing like fighting Sebastian. He once said that fighting with her was like fighting his own shadow. She took it as the highest compliment.

At least Forte and Noel were both in the open aisle instead of the more restricting pews.

Talking, talking, oh— a have at you? He jerked toward her and his hat went all funky. Noel didn't even have time to finish drawing her sword. So she stepped quickly to the side and caught his arm against the long pummel of her sword so that pesky blade wouldn't get her hand.

Close quarters were not the best for sword fighting, but it had been the best dodge at the time. Besides, they didn't just play swords when they trained.

Noel stepped in again, this time even closer and ran her sword hilt along the inside of his arm to keep it at bay as she finished finished her drawing movement. The result? Her pummel rammed toward his cloth covered chin with enough force that maybe, just maybe he would quit talking. Oh, and the rest of that sword? It was behind the pummel and the most natural place for it to go was up through the center line of his body. If he was fast enough to dodge the pommel, in theory, the rest of the sword afforded her the reach needed to score a hit.

Sebastian approached Lori with casual ease. He was different now. She had heard the reports, but seeing it happen in front of her was another thing entirely. He had never seemed uncomfortable around Lori before, but this open confidence. This was new.

> “Lori, isn't it?”

He surprised her. She hadn't been sure what was left after Noel wiped him. Noel seemed to have forgotten Lori. Why hadn't Sebastian? "I wasn't sure if you'd recognize me. It's been a while." She smiled at the unicorn. Because his sword was metal. Because he was different. But mostly, because she had orchestrated the events that had been shaping his life lately and, as far as she knew, he had no idea.

"I didn't know you did swords." There was a sound that finally indicated a fight and Lori's attention wavered in that direction. Though she much preferred pictures of Sebastian hacking and slashing, she didn't want to go home empty handed. "Who's the girl?" Not she she didn't know. Lori was more interested in who the girl was in relation to Sebastian.

Was she going to have to kill off one of her employees to make sure Sebastian had nothing left to his name so he would get desperate enough to start being the bad boy she wanted? That would be really inconvenient. She liked having a lie detector on hand.

The world around him was put aside. He knew Lori and the man were seated in front, watching the two of them begin their fight. He was well aware that neither of them could be trusted fully and to keep a small portion of his mind open to watch for surprises. But here and now, as metal clanged against metal and the woman before him prepared her counter to his attack, he put that all aside for one purpose. To ensure he came out of this fight the winner. Or alive. Either would be fine, especially if they came as a pair.

Her counter to his incoming swing was to start drawing her sword. His surprise attack appeared to catch her off guard, because by the time she was drawing it, he was already within inches of catching her with his attack. Despite that, her response was flawless. Seeing that she wouldn't get her weapon clear in time, she blocked him with the pommel of her sword. In light of the situation, it was the quite possibly the best answer to the attack.

Kyle smiled under his helmet and was about to press his attack, when she suddenly made her own move instead. She stepped closer to him and, using the hilt of her sword to keep his right arm from being nuisance, continued to draw her weapon. Had he not been paying the full attention to her actions, the incoming pommel would likely have given him a nice new beauty mark on his jaw. Fact was he did see it coming, prompting him to lean his head back so that the pommel missed his head by inches.

Of course, that also left the fact that she was DRAWING A SWORD! on the table and his stance was anything but ideal for blocking that rising blade. His mind scrolled through what he could do to avoid getting damaged, ways to take the least amount of damage, counters to do damage...he didn't have much time to think of them and as such, settled for the best he came up with in a short time. His left arm shot up, facing the bladed portion of the arm towards the incoming steel. He caught it slightly a little late, the tip of the blade clipping his leg...but he kept it from reaching him fully. Sparks accompanied the grinding sound metal made on metal....and Kyle made his next move in this rather difficult position.

His right arm was free by now and with a flick of his elbow, he brought it around towards her side with fist clenched, an attack that would look like a strike to her side. But that was, in reality, a feint. As his arm closed in on her, it suddenly stopped and his fingers switched from a fist to snapping his fingers...and letting the small bolt of energy gathered there to launch up at her jaw. To cover that incoming bolt, Kyle had shifted his body so that his left arm slightly covered the right, then moved it slightly so the attack would fly up freely. And if it hit, it would likely knock her off balance, which Kyle would use to his advantage by shoving back against the blade to further collapse her balance. If it worked, after all. If it didn't, he could always take a step back and then try something else.

“I didn't know you did photography,” Sebastian countered, putting his elbow over the back of the pew and turning slightly back so he could see both the fight and the blonde woman in front of him. “Old hobby. New hobby?”

“She's my apprentice, like I said. She's got talents that make her perfect for sparring against.” Like fighting his own shadow, he'd told her once.

“As for the hot head,” Sebastian gestured casually over the back of the pew. “Where'd you find him? Ssyn family reunion?” His tone supplied, Don't you have better taste?. He assumed he was with her, or she was with him, or something. They had come in together and she hadn't left with the rest of the flock. Besides, Lori, in a church?

In the back, Forte had gotten up inside Noel's guard. Sebastian wasn't too worried. He knew at least three ways to get out of that situation, so that meant Noel knew them, too. The pews made for an interesting terrain. Not at all like the flat ground fighting she was used to. It would be interesting to see how she adapted to that, or even better, used it to her advantage.

The tip clipped his leg and that sent her blade off course. Blast. She'd been hoping for a symmetrical slice right up the middle. The fact that she got leg meant she was off center, otherwise her first cut would have been a bit higher up.

He caught her blade before she could swerve back to the good stuff. Those arm blades were awkward for him. It caused him to hunch his body inward to use the outward parts of his arms. In short, his upper body was off balance.

Noel had options. Stay in close where he would have to keep up the funky chicken to block her or get some ground and use the reach of her blade to her advantage. Sticking close appealed to her even though it was a mutual disadvantage. That was exactly why she didn't. Noel had no fancy fisticuffs to warrant the proximity. She had a sword.

Punch under, kick over was the general rule. He brought his arm around in a wide arc which was stupid. It gave her plenty of time to bring her sword up under to catch the swing with the sharpened edge of her blade. She had enough center to bring a foot up with the blade. She leveraged the weapon against her shoulder to leave an upward slant open for his arm to travel up toward the guard (and hopefully off balance) and kicked out from her hip with a faded red tennis shoe.

Before Sebastian came along to stay in shape Noel knew only one thing. Run. It didn't take fancy equipment or any special know how. It just took legs. Noel had one serious set of legs grounding her naturally lower center of balance and kicking out.

His arm never made contact with the blade. A feint? Or had the kick given her the distance she wanted in time?

The answer came in the form of a little spark that buzzed up her cheek and popped like a punch against her cheek. Had she been a bit closer, it would have hit her in the throat or jaw. That could have been bad. As it was, the thing still shoved her face back and stung and felt like she'd gotten punched in the face. Remotely.

She grit her teeth, pulled down on her hilt to lever the blade against her shoulder. The blade came up and around and she stopped the movement when the blade leveled between them. Dirty trick. She had no range. Maybe she should carry a gun as well as her sword.

More like a zombie hobby back from the dead thanks to necessity. "I had to drop photography in college because it got too expensive." It went beyond the class' ruined film. Cameras, hers and a few others, had mysteriously stopped functioning. She had to drop or risk being found out for what she was. Back then that kind thing mattered to her.

As for talent, Lori turned back to inspect the brunette. She'd been part of the decision to okay the sword at work. Her head of security thought it was something to do with Noel's mutation and any way that they could harness a mutant's abilities to better protect Faust Pharms was allowable by his standards.

What part of her mutation had Lori not caught on to, she wondered. The lie thing had been a quick discovery. The memory thing, an awesome asset. Swords…? The blonde just didn't see how they fit into the picture yet. But seeing the girl handle herself did make her feel better about allowing the blade in the work place.

Lori couldn't help but giggle in ernest at Sebastian's reference to the color themed Ssyn family, but then she'd had a soft spot for unicorns that dated back to her trapper keeper days. "He just walked up to me on the street. Wanted to fight me." She clearly did not want a fight, but was enjoying this one.

"Told him somebody had punched a nun in here." She flicked blue eyes at Sebastian with no small amount of humor in them. "Sorry." But the kid did have spunk.

And weren't the unicorn and his apprentice the most fabulous distraction? Lori snapped another no flash picture and showed the digital still to Sebastian. Someone in her network would have to get incriminating pictures next time. If photos of this leaked to the press, the unicorn would know just who to blame.

The woman had good reflexes; Kyle had to give her that. As he’d brought his arm around to feint at her side, she’d easily shifted her form in order to prevent that attack from reaching her. All the while, he could see her pondering her options in her mind, searching for the best possible move for the situation they found themselves in. And it came as quickly as his feint turned into his real move, give or take a few seconds between them.

His bolt had shot forth, quick and true, towards her jaw. In the same moment, her leg had shot up and snapped out towards his midsection. He probably could have dodged it, but his earlier block and his feint had the unfortunate side effect of leaving him with a body that was still in motion to a degree. She was in the same boat as him through, he kick leaving her little ability to adjust to that small ball of energy that snapped for her head.

The results of their attacks came at the same moment and if looking at a purely tactical level, they were equal. Damage wise, she won this round, however. His bolt caught her upside the cheek and snapped her head to the side. Not what he was aiming for, but it had caught her by surprise and that saved him from any further attacks no doubt. As it were, her kick found purchase on his gut solidly. Knowing he couldn’t dodge it, he’d steeled his abs against the blow to reduce the damage it would inflict, but it still ended up pushing him back and erupting a small gasp for air from him.

Now they stood about a meter or so apart, her long blade faced towards him, his arms close in to his center in case she’d tried to press the attack. She didn’t though and he grinned under his mask as he saw her cheek start to redden from his attack. ”Good counter. Surprised you though, didn’t I? As they say…I float like a butterfly… and sting like a bee.”

He moved in again, his arms spreading wide for a moment as he shot in, but quickly coming back into a guard position in front of him. He stepped quick to the right twice, stepped low left, then feinted a dodge to the right only to quickly pedal to the left and snapping his arm in a quick flick that sent another two of his smaller bolts for her midsection. In the same motion, he spun quickly, keeping his one arm ready to fend off a sword attack while he aimed to sweep her legs out from under her.

Sebastian watched the action. The purple sparks that hit Noel in the cheek looked like they packed a little bit of a punch. So, he wasn't only relying on his silly elbow knives after all. Good thing, too, or this could get boring really fast.

Of course, it could also get dangerous really fast, if he had just started with a little taste of purple sparks. Though he was young, and may not be fully grown into his powers, he could also have access to something much stronger than little sparks with a little punch. These little blasts could just be feints. He seemed rather prone to them. Really, if he always feinted first, his moves were going to get predictable, and what was that ridiculous zig-zagging for? He was wasting a lot of time and energy with unnecessary movements.

Noel would probably win this, if he kept it up. Especially if he kept wasting his breath with small talk.

“Why do people do that?” Sebastian indicated the pair of people fighting in the center aisle. “Why go up to random strangers and demand to fight them?” He didn't understand the reasoning. Sure, fighting could be exhilarating, but why random strangers you knew nothing about? Why not a rival you wanted revenge against, someone you knew who would be a good match for your skill, or at very least someone who insulted your honor.

“It seems a little arbitrary.”

If he was the butterfly or the bee, Noel was the flower: rooted until he finished being silly and came in to cut her down. He danced around as the brunette shifted into a kendo stance and watched the hollow at the base of his neck through the cloth rather than his dodgy arms and legs. This was one of those flash moments. Her body tensed in anticipation of the quick movement to come.
 
He sent two bolts for her and spun. Classic mistake. He should not have turned his back on her. She spring into action in order to stay in that blind spot.
 
Two bolts toward her middle meant she would not be standing still waiting for a firecracker 1-2 to the gut. 
 
The best way to avoid getting hit is to not be there when the hit lands.
 
He finished his spin with a powerful kick meant for legs that were long gone.
 
The best way to ensure an enemy is where you want them to be?
 
As his leg came further around than it was originally meant to, its momentum slowed. Noel stomped down with all the force of a proper horse-stance, aiming for the more vulnerable knee joint as she swung her sword across, low to high in an angle perfect for decapitation.
 
Hold them there.

"Have you ever read one of those Japanese comics that Pluto is so fond of?" Lori shrugged, eyes on the clash. If Sebastian remembered her, surely he remembered Pluto.

"The plot seems to be the same in all the ones I flipped through. Wear a stupid costume. Fight the villain. Lose. Train really hard. Get a new power. Fight again. Rinse, wash and repeat." By that formula that left Kyle "call me Forte" in the train really hard portion of his life.

"Wonder who beat him last time?" Some people seemed to like to pretend they lived in a comic book just because they had an ability.

The entire time he was approaching the woman, Kyle was watching her response to his movements. But it wasn’t her body or her weapon that he was watching; it was her eyes. His darting from one side to the other as he approached was a series of feints designed to keep her guessing what direction he would come from. But her eyes weren’t watching his legs or his arms…she was watching him. Her eye level suggested either upper chest or above, the areas to watch because no matter what he did, his center would not be able to feint. It was a tactic in football actually, in order to read the runner’s moves…and she was using it well.

So it came as no surprise when she masterfully countered his quick attack. When he whipped his two bolts her way, he managed to catch a brief glimpse of her quickly changing her position. So she had learned from the first hit how much those bolts could sting. Good; it would make her cautious whenever he made the motion.

His spin, as quick as he’d made it be, was not quick enough. With her shift of position, his intended sweep fell short of its target, sweeping nothing but empty space. He had intended to quickly stop his leg and pull it back after, but she moved faster than he would have liked at seeing an opportunity to strike. It only took a second to realize where her strike was intended to strike but his stance left little options for how to avoid it. So he didn’t. But he did change the target.

Shifting his leg, he positioned it so that her incoming stomp, which was aimed for his knee, did indeed make contact with that area…but his knee was bent forward to catch the blow on the armored spike protruding from his boot. His knee gave way a little under the blow, but the guard stunted the damage. And then he saw the sword coming.
Time slowed as the blade came in towards him, from low to high.

Where…..his neck? Yes, the angle and positioning all suggested that was its target. Which meant he needed to...move? No time. Redirect its course? He wasn’t in a position to do that. The only thing left was…oh, this was going to suck. Shifting his head to the angle the sword was coming in from, he felt something heavy smack into the side of it. It made his head ring inside his helmet, but he still had his head and although he couldn’t see the blade from this angle, he knew his helmet had stalled the weapon. Without wasting time, without even worrying about the damage done yet, he threw his left arm at the woman, each finger flashing as five bolts snapped free towards her. Well, not all towards her really, three of them were scattered to the sides in case she ran. But the last two were aimed for her alright.

And then a much larger bolt, about the size of a baseball, snapped free from his palm. Compared to the little bolts, this bolt would make them bee stings in comparison. And it was headed for her chest, fired in quick succession after the bolts. If he had any luck, she’d be taking a seat on her behind in a moment, which would give him time to get back to a better standing. If he had any luck anyway.

Sebastian shook his head. He remembered Pluto, of course, but he didn't remember any Japanese comics. They must not have started publishing them until centuries after he had left Japan.

“Ah,” he intoned after Lori's description of the plots of mangas. “It's a wonder that people still want to read them if they are so repetitive.”

“It seems like kind of a pointless existence, to always be destined to lose. Why do they keep coming back? Are they masochists, or is there some higher purpose to challenging someone they cannot possibly win against?”

Sebastian also wondered who else Forte had gone up against. It seemed like it had been someone not very intelligent with how many fake ducks and dodges he threw in. If that had fooled someone... or maybe it hadn't and Forte just hadn't learned.

And then the pajama-and-boot mutant released a much large purple sparkly bolt than any of his previous ones. Sebastian raised his eyebrow and sat up just a little straighter to see what it would do.

“It looks like he does have some tricks up his sleeve.”

It was... stuck. Had she not used enough force to sever the spine? Noel tugged at the sword again and noticed his helmet jerk in time to her pull. She couldn't see where it must have been embedded into the silly thing, but it was stuck good. And not in his spine. The fight wasn't over yet.

It was so stuck, she thought the only way to unstick it would be to prop her foot against his chest or face and tug...

Before she could execute this brilliant plan, his arm snapped out toward her. Crap. She had one leg up in the air already moving toward his chest and she had no time to do anything but move that foot over and step on that arm to maybe knock off his aim.

Bolts flew out as she'd feared they would. The first ones too fast to be affect by the re-direct. Three flew completely wild as if they hadn't even been aimed in the first place. The others, she didn't have time to properly avoid.

And her momentum was already carrying her weight forward, in toward the energy. Whatever he had aimed at before, she was a lot closer now.

Snap, pop. She took two small explosions to the leg that had been her main weight support. Now she had no choice but to fall on top of him. Which was fine. She could take his helmet off with her hands even better than she could wrench it off his head by her sword. What was not fine was the feeling that someone had taken a baseball bat to her foot in order to try to take it off. She hadn't even seen the large bolt since the bulk of her body was by now past his arm.

Noel cried out in pain. The others had hurt but those were minor pains that had hardly earned a grunt. Nothing compared to this. She scrabbled at his helmet despite everything else. Her goal? Wrench the damn thing off, sword and all. Then she would see if she couldn't get him to look her in the eye, make him forget he was a mutant and then kiss him to remind herself that she was.

> “It's a wonder that people still want to read them if they are so repetitive.”

"Hollywood made 6 different Rocky movies." Or so she'd heard. The newspaper made fun of the newest release even though it had given it relatively good reviews. "People like a fight and even stupider, they like to root for the underdog." Movies like Rocky and never ending manga like Bleach just fed into all that inspirational heartwarming story of the human spirit crap. Real life was never as neat or complete.

The fight got too low for Lori to see over the benches so she hopped up and stood on the pew seat. She wasn't entirely sure who she was rooting for. Forte was disposable, but she had brought him. Sebastian's underling was also her employee... she had her uses at work and in Sebastian's life.

That was why the blonde flinched when she saw the exchange. Ohh. That didn't all look like it was on purpose and it really had to hurt.

If Kyle could have found a moment to laugh in the situation he was, he would have. The shift of his helmet to the side to avoid being beheaded had worked perfectly. He still had his head. He also now had a sword stuck in the side of his helmet. And from the woman’s constant tugging and baffled face, Kyle could only guess that the sword was stuck rather deep. A good thing; it meant she wouldn’t be able to use it for a short while and he wasn’t going to waste that advantage.

She changed tactics after a moment, trying to put a foot to his chest to steady her for some stronger tugs. When she saw his arm coming up though, she shifted the direction of that foot to slam down on his arm. Sadly, her reaction was not quite fast enough to stop his attack. If anything, it actually made it twice as effective.

Three of his smaller bolts missed completely, as he’d expected they would if she didn’t dodge. The other two, however, contacted with the best body part for the situation. The leg she was using to support her full weight. With her other leg in the air, her body had no way to remain upright. As her one leg went back, the other leg went forward and the result was her body pitching forward. Right on top of him. Now, in most cases, having a beautiful lady land on top of you would be a good thing. In this case, it was a good thing, but for different reasons. The first and foremost being that his larger bolt couldn’t miss; and it didn’t.

The bolt struck home and lifted her slightly from him from the force of the blow, even earning a cry of pain from her lips. It was the first one he’d manage to get from her and for a moment, he pondered how cute her voice was. Then he was all work again as her hands started scratching away at his helmet, looking for purchase underneath it or on its sides to remove it. Why would she do that? Oh right, so she could get her sword back. Well, as much fun as fighting the blade had been, he wasn’t going to let her have it back so easily. That wouldn’t be any fun.

As she found a place to grip and tug his helmet off, Kyle acted quickly. The helmet came forward…but Kyle’s arms reached up and aimed to tug her forward at the same time. Just as he pushed his head back a bit, then forward with the intent to slam his unorthodox helmet into her brow. At the same time, both his hands charged with energy and rose above her after the tug, releasing two bolts that were smaller than the one that hit her a moment ago, but smaller than the flickers. If all went well, she’d get a headbutt, and then get slammed back down towards him. And to top it all off, his coming around fist to the stomach.