Samantha was led through the dark gray halls of the BPRD, passing several human agents along the way. Most of them knew about her powers, so they would cast a nervous glance in her direction as they passed her. Samantha would ignore those glances, continuing to walk.
Manning stopped in front of a rather large metal door. It looked as though they had stolen it from a bank, as the door looked quite similar. Samantha did not know why the bureau needed such safe guard doors. Shrugging it off, she grasped the handle of the door, turning it, finding it rather hard to do so as the door was sealed tightly and weighed a ton. Literally.
"If you need anything, you can find me at my office. It's a floor up, right above your room," Manning informed her
Samantha nodded and pushed her body against the door, making it squeak in response as it was forcibly pushed. Samantha stumbled into the room, looking up to observe the layout. It was an ordinary set of quarters; a twin bed was in the middle of the room, straight across from the door Samantha had just entered. On one side of the wall, many bookshelves covered the metal wall, yet all were empty. Samantha frowned at this, forlorn that there were no books for her to read.
"There is a map of the bureau just outside your door, just in case you ever get lost," Manning said, indicating the wall to the left of the door.
"Well, I'll leave you to get settled," Manning said and disappeared.
As Manning left her standing in her room, Samantha walked up to the door, pushing against it to close it. The door closed loudly and Samantha huffed at it. If she was going to have to do this every day, she'd rather not have a door.
Samantha turned to face the room and placed her hands on her hips. She pouted, unhappy that there were no books for her to read. Sighing, Samantha grabbed her one and only bag that was set on the floor earlier by the agents. She shuffled through it, taking out the one thing she was ever good with.
She gently plucked out her twin Sais. Even with the room being dimly lit, the two weapons shined greatly. Samantha scrutinized them quickly, looking for any damage that could've happened to them on the way here. Upon seeing none, Samantha twirled them once in her hands, getting used to the feel once again.
She had been grateful that she was able to bring them here. They were her most prized possessions since she was 20, as her grandfather had given them to her. He was the only relative that did not know of her powers, or what she had done when she was little. He was currently living in Japan, and she had visited him when he called her over, telling her that he had something for her 20th birthday.
Samantha took the chance and flew from America to Japan, worried about being arrested on the way for what she had done. As she arrived at her grandfather's home, she had found out that he was a well prestiged weapon maker. As a gift from him to her, he had hand crafted a one of a kind twin Sais for her. She was surprised he would give her such weapons, as she did not know how to wield them. He did have another surprise for her though; he had experience himself on how to wield Sais, giving her lessons.
Placing both Sais in one hand, she used the other to open the door. Samantha found that opening the door with one hand was futile, so she placed her Sais in her belt gently. She grabbed the handle with both hands, gripping them tightly. As she pulled, she felt her feet slid slightly under her, so she hastily lifted a leg and planted it on the wall next to the door.
Samantha mentally cursed at the door, heaving slightly as the door opened. She walked out of the room, not taking the time to close the door. Nothing in her room was precious to her so it didn't matter who walked in or not. Samantha walked up to the map that hung just outside. She found the location of her room and scanned the map for any area large enough for her to practice. The only place that seemed remotely large enough for her practice was the library. A large frown marred Samantha's face as she did not know if she was allowed to practice there. Shrugging it off, she traced her finger from her room to the library, memorizing which turns and corridors she had make.
Walking down the hall, she noticed that many agents kept their distance from her. Samantha kept her head up, not wanting to be intimidated, and briskly walked to the library. As she saw the golden doors ahead of her, she quickened her pace.
Just as she was about to push open the doors, a cat came whizzing past her, making her stumble back a bit. She watched slightly confused, looking at the direction the cat just ran. Samantha couldn't think of why there would be cat in the bureau. Her question was quickly answered as she heard yelling from the corridor. Looking that way, she saw Liz; completely inflamed, walking in the direction the cat ran.
"Wait no! He didn't mean it!" She could hear Red yell as he ran after Liz
"I told you to keep them out of my food!" she yelled, her eyes flashing.
"I will! Just don't kill him!"
Samantha stifled a laugh and turned her attention away from them, not wanting to be burned by Liz as she passed by. Pushing against the door, she grew jealous of it as it opened with ease with just one push of her hand. Walking in, she closed the door slightly, leaving it ajar, the yells of Red and Liz echoing into the room.
With each hand, she grabbed her twin Sais from her belt, walking towards the middle of the room. She came to a halt and stared down at her shadow, debating whether or not to practice alone or with her herself. Biting her bottom lip, she decided it would help her observe her own moves if she fought against her shadow.
Swirling from the ground, her shadow became her replica. She tossed one Sai at it, watching as it caught it skillfully. Sighing, Samantha took her stance, knowing her shadow could sometimes have a personality of its own. Her shadow stared at her with blank emotionless eyes for a few seconds and Samantha wondered if it wanted to fight at all. That is until it lunged at her at an unexpected moment.
Nuada wandered the halls of the bureau, boredom evident on his face. As he passed by the library, he heard the sound of metal against metal. His brows furrowed in confusion and he walked up to the door, noticing it was slightly parted. Looking in, he noticed the new girl, Samantha training with a shadow. Upon closer look, he noticed it was her shadow.
Nuada leaned against the other side of the door that was closed and continued to watch her train. Perspiration has already started to from on her body, showing how intense she had been fighting in the last half hour. Her eyes were fixed with deep concentration as she showed her own shadow no mercy whatsoever.
Samantha continued to practice with her shadow until she decided it was enough for the day. Swiftly, she kicked her shadow's hand that held the Sai, forcing her to let go. As the Sai flew in the air, Samantha's hand reached up and caught it mid-air. Giving her shadow no time to recover from her kick, she twirled the Sai in her hands, placing them at her shadows neck.
After staying in that position for a moment, Samantha pulled herself and her Sai away from her shadow. Tucking her Sais safely into her belt, Samantha merged her shadow with herself once more and back into the ground. A piece of hair fell in front of her face, and she raised her hand, tucking it neatly behind her ear.
Nuada smirked, opening the door wide enough for him to walk through. As he walked down the steps, he reached behind him and grabbed his spear, bringing in front of him. As he lengthened his spear, it made a noise that gave off to her that someone was in the room.
Twirling on her foot, she brought one Sai up, pointing it at his neck.
Nuada raised his head as the pointed tip of the Sai dug into the bottom of his chin. He looked down his nose at Samantha who was breathing harshly.
Samantha glared at her intruder, her eyes betraying none of her surprise at it being Nuada. She slowly removed her weapon, but kept herself alert to any sharp movements from him, though unaware that one of her weapons had fallen from her belt.
"You are very skilled. Considering you have never trained with anybody other than yourself."
Samantha nodded slightly, though clearly annoyed at his presumption. She wanted to tell him that she had trained with her grandfather, but decided not to. Smiling slightly at him, she noticed the spear in his hand. Confused, she pointed to the spear and Nuada lifted it.
"Oh, I was just going to surprise you, see how well your reflexes are. And I can see they are not as bad as I expected."
Samantha's nostrils flared, but she kept control of herself. She really wanted to show how good she really was, but thought better to fight someone so aged. Her eyes flitted to the doors, wondering whether she should just leave.
"You may leave if you want. I am not holding you here." Nuada told the woman as he noticed her glance at the door
She nodded and walked past him, her bare arm brushing against his silk shirt. She shivered at the touch, the silk smooth against her skin. As she placed a small hand on the door, she heard Nuada call out.
"If you ever wish to spar with anyone other than yourself, I may consider it."
Samantha turned her head and glanced at him before nodding once. Rushing out of the room, she quickly walked back to her room.
Nuada stood there in the library, spear in his hand. Sighing, he looked away from the door, twirling his spear once. He walked a little, his foot coming in contact with something in the ground. Looking down, he saw one of Samantha's Sais on the ground.
Sighing, he bent down, grabbing the weapon. He held it in his hand, debating if he should return the weapon to her. Too tired to be cruel at the moment, Nuada minimized his spear and walked out of the library. He knew that if he didn't return it to her, she would no doubt come back for it and disturb his own practice, knowing that he would be there.