New York City
An Undisclosed Location
11:30 pm
One Year Later
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

There were people cheering the bald, hulking ape of a fighter on as he held a lithe young girl with short redish blond hair in a choke hold within the ring limits. The people had paid good money for a fight and a fight is what she would give them....once she could breathe.

The "Crusher",as baldy was known, chuckled a little . "Listen lil' lady. You've had a good run, but your beat." He spoke in a southern accent. " Ah' highly reccomend that you give up. I'd hate to hurt your pretty lil--hey!" She bit him. Hard.

"You B--ughn" She landed a strong elbow jab right in the large man's lower ribs, causing him to loose his grip on her and also causing an audible 'cracking' noise in the process as the ribs were snaped. She then grabbed his wrist, twisted it, and jerked it down with all of her weight and his, slamming the guy to the ground.

She placed her heel over his throat to let him know it wasn't a good idea to try and get up. "Call me '"lil' lady" again and you'll be leaving this fight in a wheel chair, got it?." She sneared.

With an angry snarl he grabbed her foot and pushed it back in an attempt to make her fall. Instead, she did a backflip and landed in a low crowch as he got back up and charged straight for her. She meerly moved out of the way and sent a power kick to his back, causing him to lurch to the ground. Once he was down, she made sure he didn't get up again and sent another powerful kick to his rib cage.she then sent a blow to his head, knoking him out cold.

"and Ella Addison wins the round."The anouncers voice...well...anounced..over the speaker system set up in the small, make-shift arena. "Up next..."


Rachael, or rather "Ella", grabbed a water bottle from the side of the ring and took a quick swig from it. God, she prayed the next opponent was more of a challenge. She had been coming to the dingy little bar turned 'fight club' for the past month or so. It was usually effective for blowing off a little steamand getting a small fix of adrenaline. But tonight, things just didn't seem to challenging. Ah well. If things didn't pick up soon, she'd head off to another one. This was hardly the only joint in town where she could get get a challenge.

Standing onthe side lines, she wiped a small bit of blood from her lip with the clothe of her black tank top and looked to see who was up next.

"Up next is Mr. Miles Crawford!" He said, as another young man climbed into the ring, he seemed to be enjoying milking the crowd, giving the 'V for victory' to them.

As they cheered for the next fight, Miles turned to wink at 'Ella'. "Let's give them a good show eh doll?" He asked. His hair was a dark brown, cut short to his head, his left eye was a pale blue while the right was bright green, and he stood just around six feet tall, watching her with an air of confidence.

As he shrugged off his uniform jacket to stand only in a pair of sweats, bouncing around on his heels, she could see his hands and feet had been wrapped in the fashion of Muay Thai fighters, and his stance showed he had some high level of training.

He was prepared. And he was confident.

Could he back it up though?

As that question occured...the bell for round start rang.

With a raised brow, She quickly sized him up. This mght be interesting Dropping the water bottle, she got into a low, relaxed fighting stance. "Your move"came the Batty, stoical invite.

Miles just smiled, circling her slightly, seeming to be looking for a flaw in her stance. He wasn't attacking yet though...either waiting for an opening he might never find, or trying to bait her into the first move.

"I've always been a firm believer in ladies first Miss Addison." He said with a smile, a Bronx accent tinting his vocal inflections. "So please, first move is on me." He finished, his voice still cool and concident as he beckoned her foreward.

She didn't bother to conceal a small smirk that graced her pale features. She knew what he was trying to do. "To bad. I like a man who can take the lead." She jutted a short kick to his right knee in order to knock him off balance and distract his attention. "But if your not going to take the offered opening, then I'm not going to sit around playing the waiting game."She shifted to the right so he would have to adjust and then sent a brutal left hook towards his jaw.

He responded by moving, but not to the side, rather, he ducked. But only enough that her arm was brushing across his head, close enough his hair ruffled from her motion.

With a grin, he wrapped one arm around her wiast, placing his hip against hers and one of his feet in front of her legs, turning with sharp force for the throw.

"Mm, quick. I like fast girls." He smirked.

As she was thrown, she tucked her chin and landed in a roll before coming right back into a stand. "We'll see how much you like it when I stick your head where the sun don't shine." She gave him a withering 'bat-look' out of habit and circled cautiously as she waited to see what he would do next.

First and foremost, Miles blinked at the 'Bat-look'. It was almost like he was familier with it.

Then a smile split his lips again. "An interesting choice of threats missy." He said, adopting a stance familier to fans and students of Muay Thai, he quickly moved foreward, hurling his leg in a low roundhouse kick towards Ella's own, he hoped to distabilize her with the attack...but knocking her down or even dead legging her would also be acceptable, as his shin sailed towards her.

"So, what style do you practice?"

"Nothind you'd be familiar with" She crouched slight and caught his leg, holding it in a lock under her arm before sending a roundhouse of her own his way.

"You'd be surprised what i'm familier with." Miles commented easily putting his arm out to block the roundhouse, of course, the momentum was in her favor right now with her holding his leg, the question was how he could turn it back towards him.

Well, naturally, he did the only thing he thought he could. As soon as Ella's roundhouse kick hit his arm, which was still somewhat painful, but better than the alternative. She was good. He hopped foreward on his free leg, throwing a punch with his left hand, hoping to catch her by surprise with the maneuver.

As the punch connected, she began to realize it was time to stop playing nice, she went with the momentum of the punch and fell back, pulling him down with her. As soon as they hit the ground she rolled over so that she was sitting on top and brought her forearm to his upper chest, pushing down hard so as to keep him from breathing. "C'mon. Is that all you got? I'm getting bored with having to holding back with you newbies. "

"Oooh, is THAT what you were doing?" Miles asked, keeping his breathing shallow so he didn't put to much against her weight on his chest. "I was getting worried that was as good as you were." He smiled a bit before attempting to get out from under Ella, a quick shift to the side, and a pull from his arm was what he was planning. A fairly simple manuever to create empty space and move out from under her. Of course, if she stopped him...he had other tricks.

"Oh?"She brought a knee to his side and pushed down harder. "You think your better, huh? Then comeon, put a little effort into it." She grinned challengingly.

"Fine." Miles said, still grinning with an almost infuriatingly smug look before knocking his elbow into her own elbow joints, and attempting to pull her foreward, almost as though attempting to throw her off. But no, in that space of a second where she no doubt was trying to decide whether to brace or stop the throw, his lips met hers.

He had...KISSED HER!?

And almost as soon as lips were parted he seemed to be attempting another escape from her, attempting to lock up her left side and thrust her off so he could escape before she could either rain blows down on him in fury...or...and this was far less likely, this 'fight' could turn into 'making out on the mat'...

As his lips met hers, she just sat there in shock for a split second, long enough for him to lock up her left side. Damn. She kept her balance, but still ended up rolling off and began standing back up to her feet. Ok, now this little buggers in for it. She wiped her mouth and brought her arms up in a defensive stance.

Miles grinned, his stance now more resembling a boxer. His head low, chin tucked in, face framed by his hands as he held them up, blocking a direct shot to his face, but far enough apart for him to see her and make quick jabs if he so chose.

However, he was keeping his feet ready to move him towards, away, or any other direction he might need to go at a moment's notice.

"Mmm, not a bad kisser missy." He grinned, making a show of licking his lips. "Cherry lipstick if i'm not mistaken?" Of course he doubted she'd worn lipstick into a fight night, but the whole production was meant simply to make her angrier, after all, a mad opponent was a sloppy opponent.

Ella smirked, almost sinisterly so. "Hope you liked it, cause that was the closest your going to get to a woman ever again" She faked an outward crescent kick to his head, hopefully making him back up and putting Miles in good position for the inward crescent kick she then sent to his head with her other leg.

"Ouch, you're a mean o-" Miles seemed to have fallen for the feint, the inward crescent kick slipping past his fists and impacting against his head, however he went with the blow, using its momentum to help him spin, and soon he was making circles and crouching low, even doing ukemi rolls along his side and shoulder, staring up at her.

He almost seemed to be performing Monkey Kung-fu now...

If she had time to come to that conclusion though, it was probably all she had time too as a quick upward thrust with his legs had Miles leaping into the air and turning into what almost looked like a bizarre combination of a flip and a kick aiming one foor for her stomach and the other for her solar plexus.

"Fancy footwork." She used both arms in an upward block and ducked down, thrusting one leg upwards to his stomache as he was in the air.

He would have said 'thanks' if it wasn't for the imminent threat of her attack, acting on instinct rather than any concious thought to avoid her foot he somehow managed to turn himself slightly while in the air, just enough to turn a blow that, coupled with his newfound downward momentum would likely have ended the fight into a blow that was painful, but nothing he couldn't deal with as he hit the mat with a resounding THUD.

'Breakfalls...' He thought. 'Gotta love 'em.' Before any unfortunate pinning or ax kicks into his spine could occur though, he pushed his arms foreward, having landed on the mat using his forearms to break the fall, so that he was alread moving and leaning to roll away, quickly making his way into a sitting position and then into a standing from there.

"This is fun." He said, breathing a little heavy.

As he landed she stepped back into a low to the ground, animalistic kungfu stance. She had to say,she was empressed. not many people could have dodged that.

"Tired already?" She teased, although her own breathing was becoming a little ragged as well. " Theres a disappointment. A good show, but apparently no endurance. " Ella egged him on, in an attempt to get him to make a sloppy move.

"Now now, BEING tired isn't that bad...it's when you give up because of it." He smiled. "I should probably avoid moves like that again though." He chuckled. "Aerial combat when you can't fly is usually a strategic no no."

With that said though, he decided it was time to take an offense, if he only reacted this fight would be over with him on the ground. And he couldn't have THAT now could he?

"So, if I win you wanna go on a date with me?" He called out just after he began charging foreward, another little mind game, trying to divide her attention as he arched his body as though about to bring up a kick from his support leg but instead drove foreward with a strong punch, baring the combined forces of mumentum, weight, and his own physical strength behind it, he was fairly certain if it didn't break through her defenses it would at LEAST move her off balance.

"Ha! If you win I--omp" She went to block the forward kick , and didn't get much time to move once she noticed the punch, only able to move enough so it connected with her colloar bone instead of her shoulder. Not really an improvement.

Caught off guard she stumbled back and grabbed the rope that lined the ring to steady herself. She caught her breath and looked up with a large grin. "Ohhh. Playing rough now, are we?"

Sitting on her heels, she sprung up with a strong punch aimed to the kidneys and lower ribs.

Now things were getting somewhere for him. Although he'd taken two hits from her, they had mostly been glancing his was the first real strike of the night and the crowd seemed to love it.

He did however, find himself moving backwards to avoid her punch, slipping slightly to the side as well, waiting until her arm was extended before slipping into a kick aimed for her own kidney, hoping to drop her with this, but knowing it wouldn't.

She was resilient...it was starting to remind him of someone actually...

She blocked at the last minute, her arm stinging a little from the kick. He was good. Almost too good...She was enjoying t though, she had to admit it. She hadn't fought someone this good since....well, not in a long while.

She attempted a sweep kick to his legs. Knowing the likely hood was that he would likely jump out of the way, she quickly moved in close for a palm strike to the solar plexis.

Miles did do exactly what Ella had expected, and although he let out an 'ooph' when struck by her palm he had a surprising presence of mind, reaching to grab her hand before it left, so, even as he was sailing through the air, he pulled her with him by virtue of his greater weight and uncontrolled momentum, somehow landing on his feet, he yanked her arm harder, and, whatever Ell expected him to attempt it probably wasn't what came next.

He threw his head foreward, slamming his forehead into hers, with a resounding crack that left some of the audience cringing and a slight 'ooow...' coming from them.

For his part, he didn't seem to dizzy or out of it after that, trying for another hip throw to take her down and pin her, hoping for side mount, from which he could deliver punishment to make her submit, or if he had to, move to full mount and tap her with a joint lock...if things went to plan at least.

The crowd was starting to get worked up into an excited frenzy. Only one, red-bearded and solmn onlooker didn't appear to impressed by the fight. In fact, he looked almost angry, if not disappointed.

Ok, that wasn't fun
Her head felt like it had been hit by a ton of bricks and throbbed with pain. However, She tried to keep composure as he sent her to the mat with another hip throw. Now he was just trying to get her mad, she was sure.

On her back, Ella quickly grabbed hold of him and twisted his leg behind her own, forcing him to the ground as well with all of the force she could muster, for a loud SLAM.
While he was still down, she quickly rolled on top into a judo hold, his left arm over her knee to brake it at the first moment of struggle.

"Well..." Miles grunted, "this is rather inconvenient."

'She's good. Very, very good...' He admitted to himself. 'and vaguely familier too...'

But, he hadn't time to worry about that, he had invested too much effort into the fight to lose now, and so, risking the breaking of his arm on what was probably a one time attempt, he slammed the soles of his feet into the mat, using the extra force to spring them higher, attempting a feat of flexability that would leave quite a few people jealous.

He attempted to hook his feet under her arms and use the force of his body pulling back to put her to the mat, effectively reversing the pin and putting her on her shoulders and neck while he'd be in a sitting position.

"Ugn" She grunted as the position was was reversed. She was suprised, to say the least.

She looked up at him scrutinizingly be thrusting her hips upward to throw him off balance in an attempt to get get out of his hold as she then hooked her elbow around his neck and pulled so as to roll over back on top, this time pinning his legs and arms down with all of her own. Ok, he was really really good. Most likely better than her,admittedly. There was only a handful of people she knew who were this good. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Miles said, struggling slightly with their new position, trying to find where she had left enough room for him to make an escape, knowing it would only take a little bit. And assuming on top of that, that the difficulty in keeping all of his limbs restrained would eventually be too much for the inadequite number of limbs she applied to the task. Eventually their combined strength would outdo hers.

"One thing is certain, you're way too good to waste time in a hole in the wall bar's fight night. And at your age that leaves very few possibilities..."

As he said that, while giving a fast jerk of all his limbs to slip away, the color began rising into his cheeks, thinking of the rather short list of women that means he may have just kissed...

edit: I meant "with her own" not "with her arm" sorry. :P

As he managed to escape her grasp once again, she backed away, cautiously rising to her feet. A confused look on her face as she tried to come up with an answer. "He didn't send you, did he?" She asked, almost angry at the thought. But by his somewhat embarrased and equally confused look, she already deduced he hadn't been sent by the Batclan as a favor. However, between his fighting skill, witticisms, and slightly familiar facial features, a small idea began to form as to who it was she was trading punches with.

"Hey blondie, wrap it up will ya? My guys've 800 bucks each placed on you to win the qualifying round tonight for the kumate next week. And if you lose, ya don't want em' breathn down yer neck, trust me." Came the call from the Bartender who ran the place.

"I know, Al, just gimme a minute." She called back, without ever taking her eyes off of her opponent. She did know one thing, she really wanted to be in that kumate tounament. She began to circle, staying in fighting stance as she sized him up once again. Looking for any small clue or characteristic that could tip her off to who it was she was really fighting. A small thought popper in her head. "Heh. Miles Crawford....Mycroft. Interesting..."

He smiled a bit as she made that connection. "Yeah, i've always enjoyed puns." He responded, moving slightly to keep her in front of him.

"$800 each eh?" He asked, keeping his defenses up, while likewise waiting for a chance to exploit even a momentary slip in her own defenses. "That's quite a bit of cash riding on you...so now i'm torn: my pride says 'win the fight, and win it good.' However, the fact that I want as little money going into the pockets of the organizer tells me to walk away..."

"But...I guess we're both fairly deep into this...might as well give 'em an endgame worth watching huh?" He asked, and in two quick long strides was locking up with Ella, his arms trying to keep hers locked down as he brought up his knee in a swinging manuever to hit her in the kidney. Unless Rachel got out of this, she'd either have to deal with a pummelling of her kidneys until he switched tactics or surrender...

"Ugn" She took the blow at full force, willingly, and fought the urge to throw up. She could deal with the pain. But as soon as his leg hit she kicked his one standing leg out from underneath him and jerked her arms away with all her strength.

Miles had done his best to keep a grip on Ella as she knocked his leg out, but still found himself slipping as he did a breakfall while hitting the mat again.

"So...after this is over, you wanna tell me your real name? I assume you've already deduced mine." He said, placing emphasis on the word 'deduced'.

He quickly rolled to his side again though, trying to get to his feet before any sort of offense could be mounted against him.

"Well, I have an slight notion of who you might be, ninja-boy." She said low enough so only the two of them could hear. "But if you haven't recognized me just yet, why should I make it easy for you?"

As he got up to his feet, it became apparent to her this fight could go one for awhile unless she found a way to end it fast. She feigned to the right and then sent an axe kick to his shoulder. Shoe moved in close, to keep him from pulling any fancy attacks and thenwent in for an elbow jab to the solar plexis.

"Oh, I think i've got you figured out too Fearless Leader." He said with a grin, he had followed the feignt unfortunately, slumping down with the ax-kick and looking mightily annoyed with himself but attempted to counter her attack at his solar plexus the only way he could...

'Way of the intercepting fist.' He thought wryly, performing what most refer to as the 'one inch punch', hitting his fist into his opponents solar plexus just as his own were it...

It seemed this fight would come down too who withstood it better...

Rachael stepped back in struggle for a moment as she had the breath knocked out of her. Impressive. "Now there's a move...you don't....see everyday." She caught her breath, keeping on her toes in case he made an offensive attaack.

She shifted to the right and threw a solid right jab before ducking down again and shifting back to the left, hoping to make her opponent work hard to hit her and unable to guess where the next strike would come from--A tactic she had learned from Cass. After another quick punch, she shifted back behind him and then sent a close knee towards his back.

Adam smiled, although he was still coughing too. She hit hard.

Unable to mount his own offensive he was quickly forced to defend as his adversary charged foreward, he backpedeled a bit realizing he was soon going to run out of room, and so he raised his hands up in a double hammerfist and slammed them down the middle area of her weaving, hoping to hit the girl and maybe drop her there, ending the fight.

She stifled a yelp out of pain. As she had tried to move out of the way, one of his hammerfists came down on her shoulder. Hard. She thought she heard something pop, but she tried to ignore it.

"Your better than I remember." Wincing, she cradeled the one shoulder while she rammed the other stright into Shinobi with all her weight.