Ninja Girl

Ryoichi looked up as the door to the room slid open and Nick sidled on in.

“You!” the ninja exclaimed, sounding more angry than surprised. “I told you to stay away!”

“Yeah, I know,” Nick said, tapping on the keypad to Ryoichi’s cell. “I didn’t listen.” The lock clicked and Nick threw the door open. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Where’s Anya?” Ryoichi demanded as he hurried out of the cell.

“Geez, really? Are all ninjas this ungrateful? She went off to fight Robotsu.” Ryoichi cast Nick a look of confusion, so he clarified, “That’s Robot Kokatsu. Robotsu. Get it? You don’t like that? Okay, forget it. Just… you get the idea.”

“She went alone?”

“Yeah.”

“You let her?”

Nick’s eyes went wide. “What? You think I could stop her? I’d like to have seen you try.”

“I did try. You saw how that went.”

“True, I suppose. Here.” Nick held out a sword with a long hilt wrapped in a black string and housed in a simple, black sheath. “I know it’s not the one you’re used to, but I’m told it was designed specifically for you.”

Ryoichi took the blade and held it in his hands. He unsheathed it, waved it around, felt its weight, and tested its sharpness. Nodding his approval, he sheathed it again and tied it off to his belt.

“Anya wanted us to destroy the lab and get anyone still inside out of the building. I suppose we should do that.”

“I do not need your help,” Ryoichi replied, brushing past Nick to the room’s exit.

“Yeah, I get it, you don’t trust me. But Anya said…”

“No,” Ryoichi interrupted, stopping and turning to face Nick. “You misunderstand. I do not need your help.”

Nick shook his head in confusion, mouth opened to continue arguing, when finally the words sunk in to his brain.

“Go on,” Ryoichi said. Nick needed no further prompting.

He ran from the room and back to the room where Kokatsu had been kept. Following the man, he knew, would likely be fairly easy. He just needed to follow the trail of destruction.

Nick climbed through the wreckage of the room, pulling himself up onto the floor above. As he had suspected, a clear path of destruction led him onward. He did not come across many people, dead or otherwise. The fire alarm he had set off as a distraction appeared to have worked well in terms of getting most everyone out of the building, even from the subbasement laboratories. A couple times he came across an injured person or someone cowering behind a desk. Nick helped them up and instructed them to get out of the building as quickly as possible.

He hurried ever onwards through the devastation. As he moved, it seemed to him like the range of the destruction was growing larger. It might have just been his imagination, be he considered it to possibly be a sign that fighting had commenced between Anya and Kokatsu.

What was really surprising to Nick was the way the path just kept leading further and further upwards. It led him eventually out of the subbasement, up into the lobby, and from there continued on to further and further higher floors. With each flight of stairs Nick took in following them, he expected to find the two locked in battle, but again and again they proved to have already moved on to a higher floor. Finally he reached the eighth floor, the top floor, and saw a small hole punched into the ceiling. Through it, he could hear the sounds of battle. They were on the rooftop.

The stairway Nick had used to reach the eighth floor did not go up any further. He searched around until he found one with rooftop access and quickly pounded up the steps. At the top he threw open the door of the roof and bursts outside into the bright, midday sun.

Anya and Kokatsu were locked in battle. Their movements were fast and rhythmic. They looked more like dancers locked in a complicated, heavily choreographed ballet than they did two warriors ready to kill. Anya was particularly light on her feet, weaving this way and that, leaping into the air, performing somersaults and flips, all just to stay out of reach of Kokatsu’s robotic appendage.

Nick could not help but to simply stand there, frozen in place, mouth agape in awe at the display. He wanted nothing more than to help Anya, but he had no idea whatsoever where he could possibly fit in to this deadly battle unfolding before him.

Suddenly, the tide seemed to shift in Anya’s favor. A blow from Kokatsu went wide, and Anya dove in under the opening it left. Lifting her arm, she jabbed one of her kunai deep into her father’s chest. Kokatsu roared in pain, but surprisingly was able to grab onto Anya before she could move away, locking her in place. Kokatsu pulled back his free arm and punched Anya in the gut.

Anya dropped to her knees and coughed up blood. Kokatsu pulled back, and swiped at Anya with the back of his hand. The blow was strong enough to lift her up of the ground and toss her several feet to collapse on the rooftop.

“NO!”

The scream came roaring out of Nick so powerfully and so suddenly that he didn’t even realize he was doing it. Adrenaline now bursting through every pore in his body he burst forward, running flat out toward the other man. He leaped into the air, one fist raised to strike. Kokatsu swatted him aside like a fly. He flew across the rooftop several feet, finally coming to a landing on the hard concrete and rolling away.

Anya was back up, renewing her attack on the cyborg man. Her blades flashed like lightning, ripping, tearing, and biting away at the man’s flesh. Finally, she drove one of the blades into a gap on Kokatsu’s robotic arm. The arm stiffened and froze. Whatever she had hit, it had clearly been important.

Unfortunately, in order to commit to the blow, she had to get close. Too close. Unable to pull away in time, Kokatsu punched her in the side of the head. She stumbled away, dazed, and he kicked her in the gut.

For a moment, Anya stood on tiptoe, wavering, and then collapsed back to her knees again. Kokatsu lurched forward and punched her in the gut yet again. Anya doubled over, coughing and spitting up blood.

Kokatsu reached up and yanked the dagger from his mechanical arm. He stared at it, growling in abject rage, and then raised it to strike Anya with it. The ninja woman suddenly hurtled forward, another blade at the ready, and slit open Kokatsu’s stomach. Kokatsu roared in pain, falling back several steps, and then stepped forward once to kick Anya in the chest. She rolled away, and stopped moving.

Nick screamed, a wild, wordless battle cry, and pushed himself back up to his feet. He began running back across the rooftop toward Kokatsu. Kokatsu raised his good arm, ready to strike.

A flash of light rent the air. Anya had risen up to one knee and thrown a dagger. The blade dug into Kokatsu’s good shoulder, sending him staggering back a couple more steps. From there, Nick’s training took over his mind completely.

Two steps. Jump. Kick out. Hit target. Push off. Land.

Kokatsu, already off balance from the dagger, stumbled back still further from the blow Nick delivered. This time, however, there was nowhere for him to go. He was already at the edge of the rooftop. His back foot tried to find purchase, but there was nothing there for it to find. He stumbled, his good arm reaching out wildly for support that was not there, and tumbled off the roof.

Nick stood there a moment, breathing heavily, eyes widened in shock, unable to believe what had just occurred. Then he turned, and saw Anya. She nodded at him, and then collapsed onto her back.

“Anya!”

He ran over to her, sliding the last few inches on his knees. Her eyes fluttered open to look at him. “You… did it Nick,” she said, and then coughed up some more blood. “You won.”

“No, no, we did it. We did it, Anya. Your dagger, that’s what really stopped him.”

She shook her head. “I die, you live. Good… karma.”

“No! No that is not happening. You are not going to die. I am not going to let you die!”

“It’s… okay. We did it. It’s over.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s over. Now comes the rest of our lives, Anya. Now we get to live. You can’t die now. You can’t.” He picked her up and hugged her close. “Please don’t die. Please, please don’t die.”

“I’m… sorry,” she whispered.

Nick could feel her go limp in his arms.

“No! Anya! Anya?” He pulled away from her and shook her gently. Her eyes were closed. She gave no response to the shake.

“ANYA!”