The Angel of Love & The Angel of Battle

It had been a long day, and with a strangled sigh, Nina lowered herself down onto the couch that she had claimed as a bed not too long ago. The blankets from the previous night were still tangled up and draped over the arm along with a small pillow and an extra pair of socks for wearing around the apartment. Upon reentering the abode, she had snatched up a pair of Pain's pants and repurposed them as pajamas, a belt tight around her considerably smaller form to hold them up. Since her mentor was still out in the city, the girl had unbuttoned her shirt and felt relaxed enough to simply let her torso be bare, with the exception of a sports bra. Combat boots, vest, gloves, and jeans were left in a trail from the bathroom to the living room, guiding any curious eyes to the now reclining young woman with a remote in her hand.

''Say what you will about television,'' she muttered to herself, ''but it is definitely relaxing.'' Her thumb deftly flicked through the channels before settling onto a show that highlighted shenanigans made by the host on unsuspecting civilians in random locations. Nina had heard hearsay about these sorts of programs, and finally being able to watch one felt like a sort of personal victory for her. In her other hand, a glass of ice water perspired and dripped condensation over her fingers and into the fabric of her borrowed pants, making her tense up as she laughed and leaned forward to absorb more of the show. Though she may have appeared relaxed, her army blood still pounded in her veins and kept a small fraction of her focus on the locked door, her subconscious listening intently for a stray footstep or overly loud breath.

When you're the daughter of a military man and the protege of the worlds greatest hero, you can never truly relax, but that doesn't mean Nina wouldn't try her damnedest to. She nursed her water and leaned back against the back of the sofa, her spine and neck cracking like popcorn before she finally flopped against he couch and took another drink.

The sound of footsteps made Nina smile and ease up slightly; Pain had finally come back from defending New York. She closed her eyes and sighed happily, letting her head fall back against the couch. The young girl adored her teacher, treating him more like an old friend than a tutor, but still with all the respect and attention of a young learner. She heard a key slide into the door, listened to it turn and drive back the lock, all without even turning her attention away from the television.

''Who the hell are you?''

Nina's head snapped around and, upon eying the strange woman, she bolted up and threw the glass of water aside, not caring as it soared into the kitchen and shattered on the tile. In mere seconds, her hands were balled into fists, legs a wide, powerful stance, and her eyes steely. She cursed herself silently for being stupid enough to let someone aside from Pain into this sacred place, her own frustration making her reply with a sneer. ''I could ask you the same question.'' Slowly, she sidestepped into the open area between the furniture of the living room and the television, her bare feet slipping with a whisper over the carpet. The voice of her mentor nagged at her from between her ears. ''Don't rush into things, kid. You gotta think first.'' This woman, though clearly foreign, had a key to the apartment, unless she had picked the lock. No, no one would grab a coffee before breaking into someones house, which meant that she knew Pain well enough to earn his trust. Her stance slackened a little, but not enough to completely drop her defenses.

''I'm Pain's er...sidekick.'' she said, the word still strange on her tongue. ''Valkyrie.''

The young heroines eyes never left the woman, even as she smiled and visibly relaxed upon hearing what Nina had to say. She watched intently as the other glanced around the little den she had made for herself, no expression on her face betraying how she felt or what she thought. Even though things seemed to be going fine, her fathers training pounded hard with her heart and filled up her brain, just barely contained by Pain's recent, and therefor fresher, tutelage. Nina would not take action against this woman, but that didn't mean she didn't feel the need to. The soldier remark made her tense up even more; saying such a thing to her was like petting a cat backwards. Funny to you, yes, but definitely annoying to the already perturbed kitty that Nina was at this point.

As Scarletta went into the kitchen, she calmed down some, buttoning her shirt a bit and making sure her mentor's jeans weren't slipping too low on her hips. ''Sorry, Pain never mentioned you.'' she called out, feeling a bit guilty about not knowing, even though it wasn't her fault. Her lounge clothes now in order, she brought her attention and sight back onto Scar, then right onto the muffin. She eyed it like a starving wolf would a wounded lamb, baffled when it was offered to her. ''Oh shit... thanks!'' she exclaimed happily, flopping down on the couch right next to Scarletta. As the woman spoke, Nina took large, unflattering bites right off the top of the delicious pastry, mentally working over each word and its context. So this chick is good enough for the big guy... She thought, examining the strangers every detail in her peripheral vision. A tiny ripple of jealousy marred the otherwise tumultuous pond that was her brain, but it was quickly replaced by a calm sort of endearment when her company spoke of her previous endeavor with a lycanthrope. This puzzled her greatly.

''Wait, you mean like a... werewolf?'' she said quietly, feeling a bit foolish for saying such a thing out loud. ''They're real?'' Another large bite of the muffin. ''Weird... but thanks!'' She grinned, taking care to swallow first.

''Hot damn...'' she muttered, a bit thrown off by the sudden realization that there were things other than humans out there. Before Nina could form something else to say after that brief little mind-blowing experience, Scarletta started talking a mile a minute and handed her a soda, which she took with a respectful nod and placed it on the floor. Maybe the coffee was finally kicking in, but all the young girl could do was watch her and listen, occasionally taking a bite of chocolate muffin. She took a mental note of everything that required her reply, lining them up in her head like three by five cards for a speech that was soon to come.

''I uh... My name is Nina, but call me whatever, really... I mean, I'm not picky about that sorta thing...'' she said, the sentence tapering off to a mutter as she was lead into Pain's bedroom. She looked it over, treating it like a much holier space than it was. Deep in her gut, she felt like she was intruding into his most private sanctum, and she made damn sure that she didn't let a single crumb of muffin fall into the carpet. ''As far as sleepin' goes, I like where I'm at.'' Her thumb gestured back to the living room briefly. ''I like being in the middle of it all, ya know?'' she said, adjusting her posture. ''Kinda like how a guard dog likes sleeping in front of its masters door.'' The girl gave a small smile and a shrug, ''Same shit.''

''What do you prefer? Jeans okay? I'm not a skirt person.''

Nina pondered for a moment, then looked down at her outfit. ''Well ah... we going somewhere?'' She gingerly peeled the wrapper off her muffin and shoved the rest in her mouth, crumpling up the paper and tossing it into a waste basket. For a moment she chewed and scratched at the back of her neck, feeling a great deal less feminine than Scarletta. Was that why Pain liked her, because she was feminine? Her brow furrowed, and she pulled off the belt that was holding up the over-sized jeans, letting them fall to the floor without so much as a second thought. ''I wouldn't mind something that would make my butt look good.'' she said flatly, glancing over her legs, then discretely comparing them to the limbs of her companion. The visual differences were obvious, making Nina feel even more like the proverbial ugly duckling. Even though looking cute or sexy wasn't at all crucial to saving the city, suddenly it seemed imperative. ''And maybe one of those tiny shirts?''

Nina smiled and clapped her hands together excitedly when she saw the jeans, tearing them out of the woman's hands and pulling them on immediately. ''Don't even call me skinny.'' she chuckled, smoothing out the fabric along her legs and checking out how she looked. ''I work out all the time. Beating the shit outta criminals, that's some cardio; Lifting a bus full of civilians to safety is weights; Chasing after Pain is always a good distance jog...'' She counted off the activities on her fingers, giving her lower limbs an experimental stretch. The jeans fit beautifully, making the girl smile. When she was handed the shirt, she carefully took it and returned the wink, setting it on the bed as she unbuttoned her shirt and threw it aside onto the floor. The Batman tee was another good fit, albeit a bit tight in the chest. ''I won't take a lot of your clothes, they're yours after all.'' she said, making minor adjustments to her new outfit. ''We can have a day out later,'' she muttered, remembering the horrific shopping days she would have to endure with her mother and brothers, ''...much later.'' Though Nina knew that the experience was going to be nothing like the outings of her childhood, she still shied away from it, 'Once bitten' and all that.

''And don't worry about me on the sofa.'' Her hand waved away the silly notions that must have been filling Scarletta's head about Nina's sleeping arrangement. ''I steal the bed every once in a while, just happened to crash out there last night.'' She ran her fingers through her hair and looked down at herself again, wondering if she would be able to ask about maybe getting a new jacket whenever the pair went out for clothes. ''Bad back nothing,'' she said flatly, ''I've been thrown out windows, under semi trucks, bashed in the head with wooden beams, lamp posts, bats, I've been shot, stabbed, and one dude even tried to set me on fire.'' Again, she was counting on her fingers, running through her memory banks of all her most notable encounters. ''Point is,'' she said a bit flustered, hands swatting away the invisible moments in time away from her head, ''a sofa ain't gunna be the thing that does me in.''

Once more she gazed down at her newly dressed form, sighing happily at the feel of new, clean clothes that were actually made to fit her gender. As much as she loved her things, it was hard to be upset when you had the bat symbol emblazoned across your boobs. ''Thank you.'' she beamed, giving Scar a large bear hug that lifted her off of the ground.

Nina smiled brightly and gave a respectful little nod. ''Nah, don't worry about getting me underwear.'' she said, holding her hands up. ''I'll get them myself, after patrol.'' She enjoyed how nice this woman was being to her, and felt a small fondness growing inside of her already, but it was still kept at a reasonable level by caution and suspicion. If Scarletta was intimate with her mentor, that meant that she held a power over him that he couldn't fight against; the power to hurt his heart and mind. Nina would befriend this woman, but at the same time, like a vigilant hound, never quite let her guard down. She had seen her brothers get hurt by seemingly phenomenal people, and that was a hurt she didn't want to see touch Pain, not if she could do anything about it.

''Oh, I'm just as strong as Pain is, mostly...'' she muttered, flexing her fingers. ''Pretty much as durable, too.'' She touched her own skin, feeling its supple give, knowing it couldn't be pierced by most anything.

"I like you already, if you just grab the phone and order some pizza, whatever you want and a hawaiin for me and some garlic bread...''

''Oh, uh, sure thing.'' The girl busied herself with trying to find the phone, still listening hard for the rest of Scar's sentence. In all honesty, most of it fell on deaf ears. It was hard enough keeping up when she wasn't trying to locate a device she hadn't even used in years. Man alive does she talk a lot... She thought to herself before congratulating herself on finding the telephone. ''Aha!''

''We'll have a little movie and pizza night, sound good?"

''Sure thing!'' she called out, now looking for a flyer or phone book so she actually had a number to call. ''Do what you gotta.'' Nina eventually found a take out menu for a pizza place, but waited until she heard the sound of the bathroom door close behind Scarletta before calling in the order.