Ninja Girl
Chapter Twenty One

Nick counted to ten, hesitated, second guessed himself, and then counted to ten a second time. Finally satisfied that he had given Anya a sufficient head start, he followed her path up to the window. Only two days before he had been unable to pull himself up to the window. Now he surprised himself with the progress he had managed to make in such short a time. It still took a great force of will, but slowly he pulled himself up onto the ledge and was able to perch there in the open window while he caught his breath. A moment later he was hanging from the window outside. He reached up and slapped the window shut with one hand while simultaneously letting go with his other hand. He saw the window swing shut as he fell, and let out a quiet cheer of victory.

Then he hit the ground. Hard.

Nick crumpled. His legs simply gave out beneath him and he landed down flat on his back. He remained there for a time, gritting his teeth through the pain and trying to keep from cursing.

Finally, he was able to rise again. He started off at a fast limp, which soon became a brisk walk and then a light jog. The jog quickly fell back to a brisk walk, which then proceeded to waver in speed like a drunken snail. Nick was in a hurry, but without Anya there to motivate him, it proved difficult for him to replace the drive to keep up his pace.

It also did not help that he really was hungry. He had not lied to Anya about that. He really had not lied to Anya at all, though he had failed to mention that the main reason he wanted her running across town was to give him a chance to check out the warehouse. Her reticence in regards to discussing the events of that day made him reluctant to suggest bringing her back here. It was not so much that he felt she could not handle it, but more that he simply could not bring himself to ask it of her.

Once he rounded that last corner and came in sight of the warehouse, he realized there was little point in having bothered in the first place.

The building was in absolute ruins. It wasn’t just shattered and falling apart. It was completely demolished. The explosions must have been designed with that specific goal in mind. Whatever Anya had done, she had set off a failsafe to destroy any evidence of the kinds of research that had been going on here. It was entirely possible that if they had not come when they did, if they had waited another day or so before following up on their lead, that this was the exact sight that would have greeted them to begin with. Anya’s brashness may have been dangerous, but it also gave them some insight into what Ryerson was doing that they might not have been able to get otherwise.

Nick climbed up a mound of rubble and dropped down to what was once the building’s interior. Now it was hardly distinguishable from anything else. He halfheartedly dug through various bits of rubble, but overall there simply did not seem to be any point.

He sighed and kicked at a small piece of rock. He listened as it clattered off into the darkness. He couldn’t say what he had been hoping to replace once he got here, but Anya had been digging through the stolen files for two days without coming up with anything useable. Nick had a growing concern in his belly that it was not that she wasn’t replaceing anything, but rather that she didn’t want to replace anything. After Kokatsu had shown up, her world had been shattered. Now Nick was worried that all she would want to do would be go home, and to hell with the consequences.

Nick turned to leave, but then paused. He had the eerie sensation that he was being watched. He cast a quick glance around, but there was no one around. At least, no one he could see.

He called out to the darkness, “Hello?” He waited for an answer, but none came beyond the echo of his own voice. Nick knelt down, pretending to dig through some rubble, and came up with a sharp chunk of debris in his hand.

Doing his best to look casual, he began walking back out the way he had come. Some debris shifted off to his right and he spun in that direction, swinging his makeshift weapon in wild abandon.

He only hit air.

Another noise came from behind him while he was still attacking, and before he could turn around something slammed into him from behind. The force of the blow was great enough to lift Nick off of his feet and carry him a short distance until it slapped him up into a wall.

Behind him, a figure pressed in, holding him in place. His captor leaned in close and whispered, “Where is she?”

Nick croaked, “Who?”

“You know who. The woman who destroyed this building.” The voice had a distinct accent to it that Nick placed as Japanese. This man sounded very similar to Anya, but with somewhat less confident English.

“A man destroyed this building.”

“Liar!” The man pushed harder on Nick’s back, and a moment later Nick could feel the biting cold of a metal blade against the back of his neck.

“No, it’s true! A man named… um… Karuba.”

Nick felt the pressure on his back diminish slightly, but he didn’t dare move. “Kuroba?” The stranger asked.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Nick said, nodding his head as much as he was able to in his confinement. “Kuroba. Kuroba Kokatsu.”

The pressure intensified. “Kuroba Kokatsu is dead!”

“Yeah, I know. That’s the crazy part.”

Finally his attacker backed off, letting Nick come away from the wall. Nick turned around to see the man standing out of arms reach, a long katana held up and pointing directly at Nick. The man was dressed in what looked to Nick like standard issue dark grey ninja garb. The man could have just stepped off the set of a Hollywood movie.

“Explain yourself,” the man said.

“That’s what Ryerson was doing here. Look, don’t ask me how, but somehow they found a way to reanimate the dead through technology. This, all around us, this destruction, was done by him and Ryerson, to cover up their tracks and hide their sick experiments.”

“How do I know you’re not Ryerson?”

“How do I know you’re not?”

The other man’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Do you know where Anya is?”

Nick huffed in frustration, but felt there was no point in denying it any longer. “Yes,” he admitted.

“Take me to her.”

“Why should I?” Nick crossed his arms in front of himself defiantly.

The man waved his sword in a small circle. “Because if you don’t, I will kill you.”

Nick shrugged. “So? If you kill me I can’t tell you where Anya is, and you’ll never replace her on your own.”

“I got this far, didn’t I?”

Nick mulled that over. “Okay, fair point. Fine, maybe you will replace her on your own, but it will be easier on everyone if I show you to where she is. So convince me I can trust you. Show me your patch.”

The stranger’s face crinkled in confusion, and then realization seemed to dawn on him and his eyes went wide. “How do you know about that?”

“How do you think?”

For a long time, the man did not move. Finally, he reached into his outfit and pulled out the patch. He held it up into the light for Nick to see. As expected, it had the same dragon star design that was on Anya’s patch.

“The ryo hoshi,” Nick said.

“Ryuhoshi,” the man correct.

“Whatever! Fine, so you both have the same merit badge. But you could be Ryerson and still have it. Tell me this: how do you know her?”

“I am her friend.”

“She has friends?” Nick asked, honestly surprised. Somehow, it had never occurred to him that she might.

“I am her only friend,” the man rephrased.

Nick nodded. Somehow, this made more sense, though it made him sad to feel that way.

“All right, one more question. What’s her favorite color?”

“Purple,” the stranger answered with no hesitation.

Nick’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What? Really? Man, that’s convenient.”

The ninja lowered his blade, a frustrated look crossing what features were visible under his masked face. “You didn’t know? Why did you ask then?”

Nick shrugged. “I just wanted to see what you would say. If you were pretending, you probably would have taken a second to make up a color. The quickness of your answer bodes well for you.”

The man sliced the air before Nick threateningly. “Are you going to take me to her or not?”

“Fine! I suppose if you let me live you would probably just follow me back to her anyway. Okay, yes. I’ll take you to her. On one condition. Give me your sword.”

The man’s features turned incredulous. “What?” he said flatly. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

“I still don’t know if I can trust you or not. So I’m asking for some trust. Give me your sword. I would be useless with it, but I’m betting you won’t be too impeded by its loss. So give it to me and I’ll take you to Anya. I think that’s an entirely fair request.

The stranger seemed to consider that for a long moment. Then he briskly sheathed the sword, untied it from his belt, and tossed it down at Nick’s feet.

“Thanks!” Nick said, kneeling to pick it up. He rose, sword in hand. “Okay then. Let’s go.”