Lee dragged herself up the stairs and into her room, worn down from the "tests" Dom had been giving her throughout the week. She assumed she had passed with flying colors, realizing with each test that she had blown him away.

She stood in front of her bedroom window, peering out into the quiet neighborhood outside. Even though it was quiet and peaceful - the kind of neighborhood the American Dream of a family and safety is built on - she could still almost smell the corruption encrusting it. She saw it as she roamed the streets of the city, as she flew past the buildings and citizens on her way to the house, as she gazed out over the ocean to the island beyond them; it was almost like the city had a soul all it's own, and that soul was trapped under the skin of corruption and hate and anger enveloping it. She could almost feel it trying to tear its way out, but the already-corrupt minds of the law enforcers and citizens and even government officials wouldn't allow it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her bedroom door. She pulled herself away from the window and went to open it.

"I just wanted to tell you, you better get some good rest tonight. You start training tomorrow." Lee shook her head.

"What? What training?"

"Weaponry. I don't want you walking around these streets completelydefenseless. If you're good enough, I might take you on some business with me on Friday." Lee frowned at the news... she wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly what kind of business he did.

"I wouldn't becompletely defenseless, though. We just spent the last week realizing that," Lee quipped. Dom wasn't entirely pleased with her response, but played it off all the same.

"I'd feel better if you knew how to handle a gun." Lee nodded.

"Alright, Dom. I was just getting ready for bed when you knocked."

"Don't look like it," he replied, cocking an eyebrow. Lee rolled her eyes and shook her head, grinning.

"Goodnight, Dom." She began to close the door in his face.

"I'll be up here at 10, you better be ready!" he called through the gap in her door before she shut it tight.

"Okay," she called back. She turned around and began to head toward the bathroom.

"Don't forget," Dom said as he quickly opened the door, grinning. That said, he shut it as quickly as he'd opened it. Lee laughed at his playfulness, wondering how anyone could be that fun after living the way she imagined he'd been living for years now.

After her shower she plopped immediately into bed, completely exhausted and not necessarily looking forward to the next day.

"Weaponry? What the hell good will that do me when I don't have a weapon?" she thought out loud. She reached over the edge of her bed and picked up a notebook from beneath it. She opened it and flipped through maybe 10 pages filled with words before coming to a clean blank one. She'd decided she'd keep a journal, just in case she had another "memory lapse." That was what she was calling it, for lack of a better term.

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The next morning she awoke to Dom shaking her and staring her dead in the face.

"I told you to be up and ready by 10. It's 10:30 now and you're still not up. Get the hell up before I get mad." Lee rubbed her eyes and stared at him through morning blurs.

"Before you get mad? You sure seem mad right now," she said sleepily. Dom just shot her a dirty look and turned to walk out of the room.

"Get ready." With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Lee alone to get showered and dressed.

As soon as he left she showered and dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast, only to greet an empty table surrounded by an equally empty kitchen. Dom crept up behind her and leaned his face down by her ear.

"You were late, Lee." Lee jumped and turned around swiftly.

"Damn it, Dom. Stop doing that." Dom laughed and gently took Lee by the arm.

"You can wait for lunch. Until then, I want to see if you can handle a gun. Come on, we're goin' to the cellar." He led her by the arm to a barely-noticeable door. As soon as he opened it she stared down a good number of stairs - Lee assumed probably 20, at least. He then led her by the arm down the stairs and into the cellar, Lee instinctively taking a look around her surroundings.

It looked like a fairly typical cellar: some furniture, some boxes, a couple mannequins dressed in rather old looking, but nice, clothes - nothing too out of the ordinary. Dom then led her to a door on the far back end of the cellar and opened it, pulling her inside a dark, confined space. She could feel him groping her arm as he felt around for the light string. She felt a little bit awkward, but knew he didn't mean anything by it. Finally he found it and switched the light on. Lee noticed his face was still a bit red from an apparent blush.

"I, uh, didn't touch anything did I?" he asked, apparently embarrassed. Lee laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, not really... my arm," she replied, amused at his embarrassment. As soon as Lee directed her attention away from his blushing face, it immediately snapped to the room filled with arms and ammunition. Her eyes widened as her fingers caressed the large weapons.

"Quite a collection," she began, trying not to let the shock she felt show in her voice. Dom looked at her and then nodded his head in the direction of a small, almost toy-like pistol.

"That's the gun you'll be workin' with today." Lee went over and picked it up, examining it as if she knew what to look for. "It may be small, but don't let it fool you. That thing packs one hell of a kick, and a lot of power to go along with it." Dom handed her some bullets and picked up his own gun, showing her how to load it. Lee followed his action, loading up her own gun. Dom then pointed his gun towards a bulls-eye on the wall and fired. Lee jumped as the loud pop rang in her ears, the gun nearly kicking into Dom's face. He situated himself again, as surprised as Lee at the kick on the tiny gun in his hands. Dom nodded his head toward the bulls-eye, signaling her that it was now her turn.

Lee lifted the gun and aimed it at the bulls-eye, spreading her feet about 1 foot apart so she wouldn't topple over. She slowly cocked the gun and squinted her eyes a bit, looking dead into the center of the bulls-eye. Finally she squeezed the trigger and closed her eyes tight, feeling the gun kick so hard it nearly hurt her hands. When she finally opened her eyes she looked at Dom - his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. He walked over to the target and tugged it from the thumbtack in the wall.

"How in the hell..." he began, still dumbfounded. Lee grinned proudly. As soon as Dom's shock wore off, he eyed Lee up suspiciously. Lee just stared at him, awaiting more words. "I just can't believe...have you ever handled a sub before?" he asked. Lee glared at him, confused. Dom reached over and picked up a medium sized, oddly shaped black gun. Lee looked at it as he loaded it and pointed it toward the wall where the target once was. "This is an Uzi, it's a sub-machine gun." Lee nodded. Dom handed her the gun as he went to get another paper target and pin it up to the wall. He took the gun from her upon return and glanced at her with a "pay attention, your turn is coming up" kind of look. Lee watched attentively as he aimed at the target and fired, missing the center by about a centimeter. It made quite a pop as well, but not anywhere near as loud as the python. He then handed her the gun.

"Your turn."