First, Do No Harm - Not your usual mugging

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

While trying to decide on where to get lunch, Kyle and Laurie get jumped by a very strange assailant. Kyle fights back, Laurie tries to calm both Kyle and their attacker down, and the X-Men rescue them both.



Laurie stood by the mouth of the alleyway beside the museum, grinning as she listened to Kyle debate the merits of various food carts and take-out restaurants close by. "You really have to think about food before you dive in, don't you?" she said finally after several moments of this.

"What, you mean like, with the food issues, or like, the 'What do I wanna eat today?'", Kyle asked. "Cause it's not just what -can- I eat, but what's not gonna hurt my face, and what's gonna actually make me not hungry, and what's gonna fit into the eighty bazillion ounces of protein that if I don't eat every day, Lorna comes back from California and turns me into a lumpy lump thing." It was easier to blame Looming Threat of Dane than to explain just how much he really did need to eat to fuel the healing factor and his energy levels.

"Probably all of that. Remind me of this next time I even so much as whine about my powers." she informed him, glancing at a hot dog vendor close by. "You can't have hot dogs?"

Kyle made a face and shook his head. "Not those hot dogs. Unless you wanna explain to Amanda why I'm stinking up her bus with the poo gas. All-beef kosher dogs for me, they're the only ones that are safe that I can be sure of." He finally gave up trying to figure out if there was anything nearby that he could eat at and reached behind him into his book bag. "Hang on, I gotta list of places buried in here somewhere." Except that just reaching wasn't working, and his arms were not quite long enough to grab the notebook he knew was probably at the bottom of the bag.

"Hang on, I've got it." Laurie said, finally getting fed up with Kyle's struggles and opening the bag herself. "Why you couldn't just take the thing off your back and open it on the ground, I'll never know."

They were both distracted, and the girl had given him the perfect opening, really. Lykos smirked, hauling Laurie off of Kyle in an attempt to dragg her into the shadows of the alleyway. The boy would follow, of course. He was a teenager, and teenagers were reckless, and easily dealt with.

Laurie reacted immediately, her hands going up as she sharply pushed her arms outward to break the hold her had on her, foot going backwards to hopefully scrape along the instep of his foot.

"The FUCK?" Kyle had felt the tug on his bag, and registered the new and strange smell of unknown person, plus the heightened sharpness of Laurie's fear, and whirled around, already seeing Laurie trying to fend off her attacker, who had gotten her a few feet away already. Already in motion, he dropped the book bag and his jacket to the ground, and had hit the emergency button on his phone. "Dude, we are not the folks you wanna mug." He growled, reaching out a clawed hand to grab at where the man had a hand around Laurie's ponytail.

So deliciously young and vibrant. The hand around Laurie's ponytail tightened, even as Kyle grabbed at it, and he reached out with his power, shivering as some of Laurie's life force surged into him. His eyes widened, a reddish tinge starting to creep into them, and he let out a contented hiss of pleasure.

Laurie screamed once as she felt his grip on her hair tighten and then her body seemed to lose feeling, her mind swimming as she suddenly felt very tired. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, to keep fighting the hold he had on her but it was so hard to lift her arms when all she wanted to do was fall asleep.

Lykos shrieked in triumph and satiation, an almost reptilian sound that echoed in the alleyway. He dropped Laurie to the ground at his feet and clutched spasmodically at his head and body. He let out another shriek, this one of pain. His skin rippled and appeared as though it was turning green. He staggered backwards into the shadows, where only the shifting outline of his body could be seen. When he stepped back into the light, he had undergone an alarming transformation. His shirt hung in tatters around his waist, and a pair of emerald wings now stretched across the width of the alley. His head had elongated to something approximating a pteranodon's shape, with a long narrow mouth full of sharp teeth. All of his skin had darkened to match the wings, and a scaled tail lashed furiously as he stalked forward.

"Mugger turning into a dinosaur" was not something he'd trained for. Kyle spent a few seconds transfixed and disgusted. In that time, all he managed to do had been to catch Laurie before she fell and make sure she was still breathing and then stared at what used to be a man, and was now what Kyle could only describe as a pterodactyl wearing a pair of blue jeans. "Shit. Shit shit shit... " He shook herself, and then glared at the man.. dinosaur... thing. "Your ass is -so- mine." Dinosaur or not, whatever he did to make Laurie scream like that was bad, and this dude needed to be dealt with until whoever got the emergency page showed up.

The stalking didn't intimidate him - it was the mouth full of teeth and the claws that made Kyle wary. Even if this guy - dinosaur -whatever, didn't know a single damn thing about fighting, he had claws, and when Kyle hadn't known a single damn thing about fighting, he still managed to do some serious damage with -his- claws.

The boy was not afraid. Very well, Sauron would teach him the meaning of fear. He lunged forward, raking with his claws at Kyle's face and shrieking yet again.

Claws to the face. It was always claws to the face. Of course, Kyle used that tactic fairly often himself, and had been expecting it. He caught one of his attacker's wrists in his hands, and turned away, taking the other set of claws to his cheek instead of his eyes. He twisted, pulling Sauron towards him and aiming a kick towards the man's knee, hoping to throw him off balance.

Sauron staggered backward. Despite his reptilian form's power, he had no skill in fighting, and the pain in his knee caused him to hiss angrily. "I will ssssslit your throat, boy," he said menacingly, using the grip Kyle had on his wrist to fling him into a brick wall.

"Like hell!" Kyle rolled with the throw, and while he hit the wall, it was with a hip, not with his face. He was back on his feet without having to think about it, and lunged, tackling into Sauron and digging his claws into the place where the man-turned-reptile's wings connected to his lower back.

Sauron managed to get his powerful legs up between himself and Kyle, and convulsively flung the feral back. He got back to his feet and clutched one hand to his side, where some blood was oozing from Kyle's slashes. His red eyes narrowed with a sort of respect for Kyle's skills. He cocked his head to one side, then looked to where Laurie still slumped on the pavement. His claws flexed and his mouth twisted in what might have been considered a smile.

He didn't have a chance to even touch Laurie. Kyle had no idea what the man had done to her, but he wasn't going to let him do it -again-. He growled, lips curling back in a snarl and charged into the man again, shoving him down to the ground and digging his claws deeply into the scaled skin on Sauron's shoulders and neck.

The scales turned the worst of the attacks, but they still cut enough into him to draw blood. Sauron flailed one of his wings back, trying to knock Kyle off of him so that he could turn and not have his back to his opponent. He managed to clamber to his hands and knees, and then lunged at Kyle, his mouth opened wide.

Kyle blocked the lunge with an elbow, ripping his forearm open on Sauron's sharp teeth, and in retaliation, and anger, sunk his own teeth into the reptile's shoulder, biting down hard enough that he felt the scales give and tasted blood. The growls didn't cease, and he as he pulled away from the bite, he drove his knee into Sauron's stomach.

***

Laurie groaned, and pushed herself up off the ground, shaking her head to clear out the lingering ache from whatever it was the guy had done to her. She could hear growling, and the sounds of two people struggling close by her.

Looking up, she was met with a sight that chilled her to the bone, and she immediately pushed sleep pheromones into the air in a panicked gesture to stop Kyle and the man from killing each other.

Because what she saw was dreadful, both covered in blood, she didn't know whose and Kyle, his teeth buried in the man's shoulder as if to chew through his arm.

"Kyle!" Laurie called out weakly, still unable to stand properly. "Kyle, don't do it!"

Sauron shook his head in confusion, sluggishness starting to creep into his body, but it was quickly offset by the adrenaline and pain of Kyle's teeth in his arm. He slashed somewhat ineffectively at Kyle's head, as he couldn't get leverage with him inside his guard.

"NO!" Kyle shouted at Laurie, that she wasn't helping the situation. He could fight her power, or he could fight the crazy dino-guy, but not both. He pushed himself away from Sauron, staggering a few steps. "Turn it off!" He yelled, shaking his head to try to clear it and trying to keep an eye on their attacker.

It was artificial. Sauron roared in anger and flung Kyle aside. He no longer felt sluggish, just enraged. He made as if to attack Laurie again, then cocked his head to one side as he he'd heard something. Then he turned and spread his wings wide, taking to the air and making his escape.

The team had been somewhat hastily assembled, but speed had been crucial once Kyle's alert went off. Clarice's portal opened on the rooftop above the alleyway, this way they all had even footing and hopefully a better view to what was happening before engaging or whatever needed to be done. Teleporting this many was taxing for her still, weight always being Clarice's achille's heel with her powers along side the energy usage, and she was not up to her normal levels consistantly yet. There would be no teleporting Cain for a good long time she knew.

Marius blinked for an instant as he reacquired his bearings, then darted to the edge of the rooftop. "If Gibney's bein' kidnapped again," he muttered, "I say we leave him to it. Continuing to bail him out only encourages the behaviour, I'm certa--"

Something green and winged flashed out of the alley. Marius' hair flew around his face, caught in the updraft. He leaned back, stared after it for a moment, then turned to the others. "Oi, Cyclops? Dinosaur."

Scott actually gaped briefly after the definitely saurian form making its escape. A curse escaped as he glanced down into the alley. "Son of a-" He headed for the fire escape without another word. They needed to get Kyle and Laurie and get out of here before the police arrived.

Terry started to call after Scott then shook her head, ran to the roof's edge, grabbing Marius on her way by then threw them both off the roof, scream bouncing off the building at she cushioned their landing. This close it was easy enough to protect his ears from the deadly force of her voice. She hadn't unintentionally deafened anyone in years. "Get the kids," she ordered him since Scott was still hurtling down the stairs, "I'm going after that thing."

"'Why yes, you may indeed hurl us bodily from a rooftop, cheers for asking,'" Marius muttered, already turning. He gave a quick upward glance to the retreating X-Man as she soared above the rooftop where Clarice presumably still waited, then snapped back to business. Kyle was closest, and the fact this observation included such detail as "slumped against a wall" and "covered in blood" tended to draw his attention. Marius crouched next to the other boy as Scott's footfalls shuddered the last rungs of the fire-escape and gave his friend a quick once-over, noting that the blood had a notably different genetic signature. The pleasant lack of abduction was also refreshing. "Oi, Kyle. You alive?"

"No." Kyle grunted, sitting up and shaking his head. "Ow. My head wants me to be dead. Did anyone catch the dino? He, I dunno what the hell he did. He's a dinosaur man." Belatedly, Kyle realized that a) he was being rescued. Again. and b) If they hadn't seen the dinosaur, that he was going to look really goddamn stupid.

Marius automatically moved to help Kyle, then stopped. A strange, hot feeling crept across his scalp. The Australian pulled back with a grimace. "Sorry, mate, the bloke was an energy-siphon, an' you're--" he gestured to the blood covering Kyle's hands, mouth and neck. Unspoken were the words I'm not touching any of that.

"Right. Dino-aids." Kyle pulled his shirt off over his head and did his best to wipe the worst of the blood off. "Shirt was wrecked anyway. Fucker kicked me in the ribs and he had talons or something." His chest and side were mottled blue and black and purple and green with a spreading bruise and Kyle prodded at it. "Pretty sure I cracked a rib."

Scott was bending over Laurie. "Are you hurt?" he asked briefly, checking her for visible injuries. She did seem out of it, but there wasn't anything obvious.

"Just five more minutes, Mom." Laurie muttered, blinking softly and then trying to roll over. She felt weird though, and the ground was hard, not soft like a bed should be at all. She was so tired though, and her head hurt with a dull throbbing ache. "I'll get up soon, promise."

"Up," Scott said brusquely, pulling her up off the ground and half-carrying her. "Kyle, if you can move, we need to get out of here."

Kyle was upright and continueing to check himself for serious injuries before Scott was done getting Laurie off the ground. "Yeah, I'm good. Dinoass only tried to beat me up, he did whatever to Laurie. Energy thing, that Marius said. Tried to make her his lunch only without any biting." No, the biting had all gone to Kyle. "I could probably see the docs though. Probably need to get some ribs taped and I always screw it up."

"One would think the logical step would be to sustain no injury you cannot yourself repair," chided Marius, though he remained close on the off-chance Kyle decided to do something as untoward as collapse. Cocking his head to the rooftops he noted, "Seems Terry had no luck . . ."

Terry was swearing. The dinosaur-man thing had been fast and she didn't have nearly enough speed in her to catch up. A slight shake of her head communicated this to Clarice then she walked to the edge of the roof to check on the action below.

Teleporting down to where the action was not quite going on, Clarice didn't get in the middle of it all since it seemed to be well in hand. She was tired though. Looking around at everyone Clarice wasn't sure she'd be able to teleport them all back by herself, nudging Marius with her elbow she whispered, "Can you help?" with a significant cock of her head. She had never had to ask for help like this before and it was awkward at best.

Marius returned the head-tilt, then remembered the note in her file about weight-limits. There were also significantly more of them now than on the arrival trip. Well, it wasn't as if he'd never been a teleporter before...

The Australian nodded and withdrew a penknife from his pocket. "Right," he said in an undertone, "where would you prefer? Lady's choice." He glanced down at the knife and said, "It occurs to me that line is somewhat less disturbing under normal circumstances."

"Palm?" she asked, she'd never donated blood for Marius before, but her palm seemed easier than a lot of place. Especially since her wrist just would lead to a lot of unpleasantness. This was just...weird. She wasn't against giving Marius blood, it had just never really been needed before. "Or um...you're the expert on this...Emplate," she couldn't help but snicker at his codename, ruining the mood.

Marius arched an eyebrow. "Was that a snigger I heard? Well, let it not be said I cannot take a joke." He took her hand and smiled brightly. "Cheers, Tinky Blinky."

A shallow, mutual nick of the palms and press of flesh. It was a simple enough process. Marius turned to the others. "Right, who's for home?"