Steele Sniper

➳Chapter☯Three➳

The men all stood still, mouths ajar as they stared at the screen, the last scene of the video still frozen and allowing them to analyze the last baffling event. Slowly, Daniel, The Head of the FBI, turned to Rina with a smile gracing his lips. "Well, she's got my vote." Though he was the only one.

Patrick, the head of Homeland Security, instead turned to Alex. "As impressive as that was, I'd like to see the improvements made over the years." Alex nodded.

"Of course, and I'd happily obliged but none of the other trainees would last 5 minutes with her."

"Then set her up with her partner." Jonathan, the head of Congress, spoke turning to face Rina. "If they are to work together, then they might as well get their bearings on each other now." Rina showed no change in expression as Alex looked over at her.

"Very well, let's move to the training arena." All at once, the men stood up, backs perfectly erect. "Lead the way." He motioned to Rina. She nodded and spun in place.

Soon they finally made it to the training wing. The large room had high ceilings and no windows. There were training dummies, sparring mats and fighting simulators. On the sides there were weapons stacked up on shelves and timers for building bombs and diffusing them.

"How about we see a sparring match?" Alex asked.

Rina had her arms crossed over her chest, her face wearing an unreadable mask. Blank had his soldier's stance, his face wearing the same mask. They both nodded and walked to the mat. Rina pulled her hair up into a ponytail, her curls hung loosely up in the air.

Blank couldn't take his eyes off her. He watched her fall into position with grace and finesse. His eyes followed her flawless movements.

He snapped out of his trance and focused on the match, jumping into his stance. When the buzzer beeped, Rina pounced on him, giving him now time to analyze her. She threw punch after punch, firing them like a machine gun. Blank blocked and dodged almost every one, but a few managed to get passed him. He quickly took over and started throwing his own set. She blocked and dodged all but one. He could feel his face begin to swell as he watched her touch the bruise to her cheek. She looked at the blood and suddenly her face lit up. She looked back at him with wide eyes and a small smile.

As quickly as she he blinked she did a roundhouse kick and a sweep kick, sending him sprawling to the floor. The impact of her foot on his skull sent and echo through the room, making all other fighting cease, but he managed to stay awake. She quickly straddled him, pinning him down and throwing her own set of punches; to his face, to his sides and stomach. He barely had time to breath.

With a quick thought he threw his legs around her neck and flipped them over. But before he could do any damage, Rina had kicked him off her, sending her into a somersault and spinning on her hands, landing perfectly on the end of the mat. Her breathing was fast and shallow but she hardly seemed tired. Blank's, on the other hand, was quick and deep. He hadn't expected such an opponent.

He felt Rina's penetrating gaze pour into him. Her small smile still playing on her face. The sounds of murmurs filled his ears once he had calmed down slightly.

"Is she smiling?"

"I don't believe it. She can actually feel!"

"How is he still alive? She should have taken him down already."

"Why is she stalling?"

The whispers swirled with one another, making it hard to distinguish anything anymore. He focused back on Rina only to find her already coming at him. He barely had time to prepare before her fist made contact with his stomach, kicking the air right out of him.

Blank refused to double over. She went to send him another punch but he quickly deflected it and put her in a lock. Her arm stretched behind her, pressure being put on her bones.

"Tap out." He said. Rina said nothing. Her face still held her wide eyed look as he put more pressure on her arm, she didn't even scowl. "I said. Tap out." He told her once more. But she didn't listen, instead she pulled on her arm as hard as she could, dislocating it from her shoulder and letting her escape his hold. She showed no signs of pain other than a small grimace and a slight whimper.

Once Rina was out of the hold, her arm dangling by her side, she threw herself forward, flipping on her good hand and putting his head in a lock with her legs. His breath was caught in his throat as he pulled and clawed at her legs. His eyes started seeing black and he felt his heart slow down. Before he could fully pass out, he tapped his hand on the mat and Rina released her hold immediately, standing up and leaving Blank on the floor catching his breath.