Vincent moved in silence, his concentration solely focused on the complicated kata he was currently performing. The motions helped him vent his frustration, and considering his other preferred option was to thump inanimate objects, this was by far the better of the two. Last time he'd got this wound up he'd picked a fight with a wall which had left his hand bruised for a week. Technically the wall had won that little incident, but he had managed to take out a sizeable chunk of plaster and put the fear of God into his fellow Turks at the same time, so the experience wasn't a complete loss.

Usually he sparred with Deacon or Linden, but thanks to their injuries that hadn't been possible. Preston put up a good fight now and then, but he was more often than not away on assignment. Right now though, solitude was the order of the day, so he instead chose to practice the karate movements he had been taught, kicking and punching the air as he put his body through its paces. If his mind was concerned with the practice then it wasn't off thinking about what made him angry in the first place. Spinning on one heel, he planted his foot squarely in the gut of one invisible opponent, before following through with three quick, successive punches to a second.

Focus.

He snapped one leg out and back in the blink of an eye. A third opponent would have been dropped by the kick.

Discipline.

His left arm moved above his head, blocking an anticipated blow, before swiftly reversing and lashing out behind him.

Concentrate.

oOo

Lucrecia couldn't help but look round in surprise as she stepped into the Turks Lounge. Linden pocketed his swipe card, letting her pass through the door. Only a select few held authorisation to enter this area of the HQ - the Turks, the President and one or two carefully selected individuals. There was too much risk involved otherwise, and any visitors were escorted by a Turk at all times. She wasn't quite sure what she had expected. A vast armoury, she supposed, some kind of dirty pit of depravity. What she hadn't expected was this clean, quiet atmosphere, comfortable seats and wide screen TV.

Ushering her through, Linden propelled the scientist in the direction of the practice room. "He's in there", the Turk whispered. "Be gentle with him." The door was ajar, and Lucrecia cautiously approached, putting her head round while Linden hung back a way.

Inside, she saw Vincent, oblivious to everything around him. He looked so graceful, flowing from one movement to the next without pause or hesitation. Like a cat, she thought. Or a coiled spring, waiting to go off… A flicker of doubt crossed her mind. Seeing him like this served as a vivid reminder of just how dangerous he was. Dangerous, and powerful. She could see now why Linden's 'first kind of woman' as he put it were attracted to Turks.

The petite scientist watched as he fluidly ran through the movements like it were a dance. The top of the gi had come apart slightly, exposing a slim but muscular chest. Yes, certainly attractive…

"He's not bad, is he?"

She jumped, unaware that Linden had walked up behind her and was standing only a few inches away, speaking quietly. She wondered if he'd noticed exactly the way her eyes were glued to the leader of the Turks

"He won a martial arts tournament a few months ago" Linden breathed. Lucrecia felt thankful, obviously he thought she was appreciating the karate rather than the performer. "And he kicks our scrawny butts on a regular basis. Only the Sensei can give him a proper whipping, more's the pity."

They stood there for a few more moments, before it became evident that Vincent was lost in his own world and wasn't going to notice them of his own accord, at least not any time yet. Squeezing himself past Lucrecia, Linden stepped into the room and coughed loudly.

"Er… boss?"

Vincent stopped midway through a series of kicks and punches, clearly surprised at the interruption. His face, normally a wonderfully blank canvas, chose this moment to register an amusing sequence of emotion. Startled at first, then questioning when he saw Linden. Once his eyes alighted on Lucrecia they widened, before narrowing in a grimace as his gaze settled back on the other Turk.

Linden coughed again. "There's someone here to see you" he said briskly, before hurriedly excusing himself. Having caught Vincent's attention, he now wanted to get out of it as quickly as was physically possible before repercussions started being handed out.

The leader of the Turks, still mildly pole-axed, stood in the middle of the dojo, speechless. On one hand, even though his rage had mostly abated by this point, it was starting to simmer again, with the realisation that despite promising to the contrary, Linden had taken matters into his own hands and interfered. But on the flip side of the coin, Lucrecia was here, and she wasn't running away, and she was talking to him, and he hadn't been paying attention for the last minute because he'd been thinking all this, and… He decided that he'd better start paying attention, and quick.

"So, you see" she was saying, "Linden kind of explained things to me."

"In his own inimitable way, no doubt" Vincent couldn't help but point out.

Lucrecia conceded the addition with a slight inclination of her head. "True, he is a character… But he did make me think again about some things." She looked up at him, fiddling with her hands as she did so. "Incidentally, he muttered something about being put on surveillance for months for doing this to you."

"If he's lucky" the tall Turk murmured darkly under his breath. If she heard, Lucrecia ignored the comment.

"And I'd really rather appreciate it if you didn't, after all I wouldn't be here now if it weren't for him running round the building trying to find me." She started to walk over to where he was standing. Vincent eyed her with uncertainty, unsure of where precisely the conversation was heading. "And now I think about it, I realise that although Turks do things that maybe I don't completely approve of, there's things we do in Science that others don't approve of." She gave a wry smile. "Boy, if I had 10 Gil for every animal rights protestor that's hounded us, I'd be…" she floundered. "Well, I'd be very rich, put it that way. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm sorry for avoiding you, I just got a bit put off by the whole… Turk thing." She made 'pointy gun' gestures with her hands, as if to emphasise the idea. "I was hasty and judgemental, and I ought to have known better. So if you'd like to… you know…"

Two main thoughts went through Vincent's head. Firstly that he was probably supposed to say something at this point, and secondly that for some strange reason, all his linguistic ability had vanished, rendering him speechless. He started to try and say something, but then stopped. Thought of something else, but decided not to say that either. He had the sinking feeling that he was doing a fair imitation of a gasping fish.

In the end, he did what he always did when stuck in a situation he wasn't sure how to handle. He fell back on his Turk training. One phrase trickled through his mind, a piece of advice given to him by Grisham himself. Simple, but appropriate. "If in doubt, improvise."

He quickly assessed his options. He could do what Linden would do and give a cheeky answer. No, that was definitely out – he couldn't pull off that style without sounding like an idiot. He could play it cool, detached. But that might scare her off again. He could ask her out… Butterflies fluttered in the pit of his stomach, a feeling he hadn't had in years. Out of options.

He improvised.

From where he had sneaked back in unnoticed to check on any progress, Linden watched with a big grin on his face as Vincent Valentine, leader of the Turks, scourge of the underworld and highly paid assassin, leaned forward and kissed Lucrecia full on the lips.