Ninja Girl

He was not going to make it.

This fact became apparent almost immediately. Though the leap had been strong and his momentum had been good, his initial estimation of his abilities still proved all too prescient. Maybe it was the wind drag, maybe it was gravity, maybe he just really was not up to the athletic level necessary, but whatever the reason his descent began to occur all too early and all to rapidly. At best, he was going to slam face first into the wall of the opposite building and then moments later fall to his death on the pavement far below.

He started screaming.

He didn’t really mean to. It was not a conscious thing. He did not think to himself, “This is where you should start screaming,” and then fulfill his personal request. Rather it came unbidden, ripped out of him like a ferocious beast tearing at his chest.

Then out of nowhere, there was Anya, standing before him. She was leaning out from the building, reaching out with one arm for him. He barely had control over his limbs anymore. He was flailing about like a mad man, or like a rabid octopus trapped on land, but somehow he managed to reach one arm out to her, too.

Suddenly there were her fingers, grasping his, and an inhumanly powerful pull lent him just enough extra forward momentum. His feet still hit the ledge wall, sending him collapsing into a head long roll. He bounced along the rooftop, skidding along against the hard concrete until he finally rolled to a stop.

Pain shot through Nick’s body like a fire – burning, tearing, ripping, shredding – until he wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and die. He wanted to cry, but might have been doing so already. He gasped for breath but could not tell if anything was getting through.

From somewhere in the distance, whether it was a matter of inches or a million miles Nick could not remotely begin to tell, he could hear Anya’s voice.

“That was truly pathetic.”

Nick could not respond save for to groan in pain. Anya let out a sigh of frustration and sat down on the ground to wait for him to recover.

Nick took his sweet time about it, at least in Anya’s view. Only a handful of minutes had passed before Nick rolled onto his side and pushed himself up to a sitting position.

“That really hurt,” he whined.

“Probably hurt less than not making the jump at all,” Anya replied. Nick frowned, annoyed at Anya’s lack of concern but unable to really argue the point. “Can we get going already?” she added, impatience thick in her tone.

“You sigh a lot,” he said instead of answering.

“You make me very tired.”

Nick groaned again as he stretched out his aching limbs. “Don’t ever, ever ask me to do something like that again.”

“We’re probably going to need to do this again in order to break back into the building at the end of the day.”

“Don’t say that,” Nick moaned. “Please, please don’t say that.”

“Well, it’s true.”

Nick let out a muffled sob and turned away. He squeezed his eyelids shut and tried to keep from crying. Suddenly, it occurred to him that no one was attacking them or calling for help. They were alone on the rooftop.

His eyes shot open and he quickly glanced around the rooftop, but they only confirmed what his other senses had already told him.

“Wait, where’s the security guard?”

“Security guard?”

“The one who almost saw you! The one who was up on the roof just a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, him. He’s gone.”

“‘Gone?’” Nick stared at Anya in disbelief, something that looked like horror spread across his face. “What do you mean, ‘gone?’”

Anya met his gaze with a confused look of her own. “I mean, gone. He left. Finished his cigarette and went back inside. What did you think I meant?”

“Oh,” was all Nick could manage to say. He turned away in embarrassment, not wanting to answer her question.

Understanding dawned on Anya’s features. “Oh, I see. You thought I meant that I had killed him. You really think I’m a monster, don’t you?”

“What? No! I mean, not really. Well, maybe a little. I mean, not a monster. I mean, you are an assassin. A ninja assassin, at that. Ninja’s are supposed to all bad ass, take no prisoners, droppin’ bodies left and right killer types. So, I dunno. I guess that’s just what I expect from you.”

To his surprise, Anya actually looked a little depressed by his words. “I’m sorry,” he offered meekly.

“It’s not important,” she said simply. Standing up, she began walking toward the stairwell.

Nick did his best to scramble after her. He quickly discovered, once he stood up, that his feet had taken the worst beating. While the rest of the pain across his body had more or less subsided, standing up had reignited the fire in his feet and legs. Unwittingly, he let out a small cry of pain and nearly collapsed back on the ground. He managed to catch himself on the same nearby ventilation structure Anya had hid behind earlier. Once confident he could stand on his own ability, he limped after Anya as quickly as he could.

“Look, it isn’t anything about you personally…” he began.

“I said it’s not important,” she snapped, cutting him off. “We have a mission to complete.”

Nick watched her as she studied the door to the stairwell in preparation for their entry. Her moves were graceful, purposeful. Even through the fabric of her work suit Nick could make out the tensing of muscles. There was so much strength and power there. She probably needed all of five seconds to end his life if she so chose. She was clearly a seasoned, hard as nails warrior and assassin, yet Nick got the feeling that his fear of her abilities had wounded her deeper than any physical blow ever had. The thought made him a little sick.

“Can you… pick the lock?” He asked, a little hesitant to say anything more to her.

As if in answer, Anya grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. “No need,” she called over her shoulder, and then disappeared into the building.

Nick followed close on her heels. Anya was waiting for him on the first landing, arms crossed in what he was beginning to think of as her normal pose.

“Do you know where we’re going?” she demanded.

Nick grimaced. “Not a clue.”

“Then how are we going to get there?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. I guess… we’ll have to ask? Unless you want to go floor by floor looking for it. Not really sure what will be the less suspicious option.”

“Fine. Let’s start checking then.” She turned to open the door to the stairwell, but Nick quickly hurried in front of her, blocking her path.

“Uh, actually, I doubt they’re on the top floor. Or even the top three floors. Upper floors are typically upper level management. We should probably go down a few flights and start there.”

Anya eyed him with a suspicious look but she released her grip on the door handle. “Very well.”

She turned and headed down the stairs without another word. After they had gone a few floors she stopped and waited for Nick to catch up. Even going downstairs he was slower than her.

“Is this good enough?” she demanded impatiently, arms once again crossed in front of her.

Nick grimaced. The eleventh floor was still pretty high up, but he couldn’t really think of a good reason to not at least check it. “I guess we can take a peek.”

Nick pushed open the door just far enough to stick his head into the crack and look through. The door led to a big open room filled with workstations, cubicles, and long rows of tables. It looked like pretty much any office.

“Does it look like I.T.?” Anya asked.

“Not really,” Nick answered truthfully.

“Can you see the whole room?”

“Not really,” Nick repeated.

“Then I guess we’ll need to go in.”

“I guess,” Nick grumbled. Suddenly there was a pressure on his back. Anya was pushing him through the door, and she did it so quickly that he had no time to react. He stumbled forward into the room with several quick, stuttering steps and arms waving wildly for balance. He came to a stop and then looked around to see if anyone was watching. Face red with embarrassment, he straightened and adjusted his clothing, hoping nobody noticed his sudden appearance.

Looking around, he felt very out of place. He found himself wishing he had thought to buy clothes for himself and not just for Anya when they had gone shopping earlier. Luckily, he was still in some of his nicer clothes from work the night before, but that really just meant a mostly clean pair of cargo pants and a not torn t-shirt with only a name brand on it rather than one of the crazier designs some of his other shirts had.

Anya stepped up beside him and it only made him feel even more inappropriate.

“You’re right,” she said. “This doesn’t look like I.T.”

Nick sighed in frustration. “Well, maybe they’re around that corner over there,” he said, motioning down the hallway to their right. Around that corner just appeared to be more of the same setup, however, and nothing was around to really indicate the department.

“Yeah, pretty sure this can’t be what we’re looking for,” Nick said.

“Fine. Let’s keep looking.”

“Yeah.”

They turned to leave.

“Nick?”

The word sliced through the air like a knife, and Nick straightened so suddenly it looked as though that knife had stabbed through his back and into his heart.

“Nick?” The voice called again. “Is that you?”