Whispers rippled through the class. What is she doing? Has she lost her mind?

Maya stepped over the puddle and onto the sacred tatami mat.

"Hey!" Marcus barked, his face turning a dark shade of crimson. "Get off the mat! You are not authorized—"

Maya walked straight toward the center of the room, stopping directly in front of the weapons rack. She turned her back to Marcus, completely dismissing him, and reached out. Her hand hovered over the heavy wooden bo staffs and the practice swords, before settling on a pair of old, worn tonfas—traditional Okinawan side-handle batons.

She pulled them from the rack, the wood smooth and familiar against her palms.

Marcus was livid. His authority was being challenged by the cleaning lady in front of his elite students. He marched onto the mat, grabbing Leo roughly by the shoulder and shoving him forward.

"Leo!" Marcus commanded. "Teach this disrespectful girl a lesson. Remove her from the mat. Now. Don't hold back."

Leo looked terrified. "Sensei, I... she's the janitor. I can't hit her."

"Do it, or you're expelled from this dojo!" Marcus roared.

Maya spun the tonfas in her hands, a blur of motion that ended with the weapons locked seamlessly against her forearms, extending past her elbows. She settled into a deep, impossibly grounded stance. Her breathing shifted, slow and rhythmic. The exhausted, hunched posture of the janitor vanished entirely. In her place stood a warrior.

She looked at Leo, saw his hesitation, and gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. Come.

Leo, driven by fear of his instructor, yelled and lunged forward with a wild, telegraphed right punch.

Maya didn't block. She didn't have to. She simply shifted her weight by a fraction of an inch. Leo's fist sailed past her cheek, hitting nothing but air. Using his own momentum against him, Maya brought the handle of the right tonfa up, catching Leo's extended arm at the elbow joint.

With a sharp, twisting motion that required minimal effort but perfect leverage, she redirected his energy downward. Leo flipped through the air, landing flat on his back on the mat with a breathless thud.

The dojo was paralyzed. The entire exchange had taken less than two seconds.

Maya hadn't even looked at Leo when he fell. Her dark eyes were fixed dead on Marcus. She twirled the tonfas again, settling back into her stance, and waited.