Chain Reaction

Chapter 7 - Beginning

Paige

It was almost the middle of the night when Paige woke up and made her way towards the training room in the base. She had been here before, trying to sneak a few practices in combat for her own benefit, whenever she wasn't called upon by Hux or Kylo or Snoke. This time it was for her Sith training, although she didn't know how they were going to go about it since she didn't have her lightsaber. It was colder in the training room at this time of the night. She had worn her  First Order uniform in order to prepare for whatever combat or practice Dooku expected her to do. She hoped Kylo or Snoke wouldn't find out. She was strong enough to keep them out of her mind, all she needed to do was not act suspicious, and avoid them catching her while training.

She moved to the middle of the room and sat on the floor. Now, all she had to do was wait. Dooku had told her to be prepared at midnight. Although he did not say where they were going to meet, she took a wild guess and decided to wait in here. Since it is the training room of the First Order. She looked around and at the metal rods propped up against the wall. Figuring she ought to do something to kill the time, she stood and walked over towards the rods and picked one up. It wasn't too heavy, but it wasn't light either, and it towered over her height by a foot. She twirled the rod in her hand and tried switching it from one hand to the next. Successful, she tried to swing it around, jabbing at an invisible enemy. She then started to practice fighting with it. Later, she took a running start and jabbed the rod on the floor, using the momentum to leap up and twirl herself around the rod, kicking a punching bag nearby. As she landed, panting, she was about to go again when she heard Dooku's voice.

"That's enough of that child's play."

Paige quickly composed herself, dropping the rod on the floor. She ran a hand through her hair and walked towards where he appeared. He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Take out your lightsaber. I'd like to see how you are with it."

"I don't have one. If you hadn't noticed before." She said and she waved her hand in exasperation. "Kylo took it. He said he needed to keep it for a while."

"Why?"

"I don't know"

"How long does he intend to keep it?"

"I don't know" Paige sighed.

"That is unfortunate." Dooku put his hands on his hips now, he rolled his eyes.

"Although, I've seen you with that rod you toyed with. You seem to be familiar regarding how to wield a weapon."

"I am a weapon, but that didn't stop me from practicing before anyway. They wanted me to be ready for anything."  Paige said.

"They are right about that."

There was a moment of silence between them. Paige shuffled her feet awkwardly and waited as Dooku thought to himself.

"Use the force. Destroy that thing." He spoke.

He pointed towards the metal rod she had dropped on the floor. This was easy for her. Paige held her hand out and she focused on the metal rod on the floor. Using the force, it crumpled up and folded itself multiple times, until it was misshapen into a ball at her feet. She heard Dooku chuckle beside her.

"I asked you to destroy it, not reshape it."

Paige furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She did technically destroy it, she did not know what he was asking for now. It wasn't a rod anymore, that was clear, it was a ruined piece of metal now.

"Destroy it." Dooku spoke in a low voice that sounded dangerous and even darker than he already was.

"I don't--"