Lackluster

Stamina

The woman caught herself before she fell to the floor again. She finally took note of the room around them. It was a large circular fighting ring with a black mat covering the floor. All the way around the walls were racks and racks of weapons. Standing in the middle of the room, seemingly bored, stood her guard.

'I really should learn his name.'

"I'm fighting again?"

"This is going to be a bit different than your examination. The information from that test wasn't conclusive enough. It was simply needed to confirm you will be the perfect subject for our experiments, not to clearly define the limits of your ability. We need more exact parameters if we are going to continue with the research. I am going to observe your fight with Mikhail. And monitor your strength and stamina in the meantime. You will not be allowed a weapon for this portion of the test. I need to see you pushed to your absolute limit. You are going to fight until either you or he is no longer able to move. You can begin."

Y/N moves toward where Mikhail stands in the center of the ring. As she grows closer, he materializes a Claymore. The woman stops and looks back at Theta who has an eerie grin across the part of his face she could actually see. "I thought you said..."

The man cut her off, "I said you would not be allowed to use a weapon; I said nothing about him."

She hisses in annoyance and turns her attention back to Mikhail. He had raised his massive sword in a ready position and now stood looking at her with the same bored expression. Theta watches Y/N closely, his eyes unmoving. He motions for Mikhail to engage.

The woman shudders in nervousness as she once again begins to walk forward. Before she can take more than two steps, the Agent makes a quick lunge forward, and slashes his claymore down aiming for her legs. She jumps back just before he lands the blow. Y/N takes a deep breath.

'That's a big sword, it has to take a lot to swing it around like that. Not having a weapon may give me an advantage with speed.' She decides to give it a try. The woman throws her weight into her legs and pushes off the floor, rushing the man in front of her. She whips her hand back and aims for his face as she swings.

Mikhail reacts instinctively and moves his weapon to block her. Her fist connects with the iron of the claymore with a dull ringing sound. She hisses in pain and moves to yank her hand back but the Agent catches her arm and yanks her forward. He holds her completely still, for a moment, while he stares into her eyes in challenge.

"You have a spirit to you that is most unnatural." Y/N hears The Doctor speak but, in the heat of the moment, she fails to understand the words that he says.

She yanks on her arm trying to loosen her opponent's grip before quickly giving up and using their close proximity to her advantage. 'He can't swing that sword with me this close.' The woman swings her knee as hard as she can at Mikhail's unguarded ribs. At the same time, she thrusts her free hand at his face reaching to try and attack his eyes through his mask.

Mikhail moves his body at the perfect moment to avoid her knee and turns aside to avoid the attack on his face, moving his weapon back to his ready position. His eyes lock on the woman's as he begins pushing forward with his hand still wrapped around her wrist. His massive powerful body forces her to back-pedal. In an attempt to prevent herself from falling, Y/N has no choice but to cooperate. Before long she feels her heels hit a wall.

A sudden desperate idea occurs to her and gritting her teeth, she rushes to close the gap between them...and bites his hand, hard. He releases her and she quickly drops to the ground and throws herself forward between her opponent's knees. When she emerges on the other side of his body, she uses her momentum to brace her hands against the floor. Lifting both feet in the air she then slams them into the back of the man's knees. 'Hah'. The woman gasps.