Ninja Girl
Chapter Twenty Eight

“You’re sure this is the right building?” Anya asked. She was kneeling down, shading her eyes from the midday sun while peering across from her rooftop perch to the only office building in the area.

Nick found it somewhat remarkable how each location that they had found belonging to Ryerson had been so markedly different. The Teller Communications building had been, at least from the outside, a rather unremarkable building in a rather unremarkable part of town. The lab had been a warehouse out by its lonesome on the bay. The building where Anya had been held had been a veritable skyscraper in the middle of one of the nicest parts of the city, and now this building, a plain, foreboding office building that was almost in the suburbs it was so outside of everything.

Anya and Nick were on the roof of one of the only buildings in the entire area: a squat, two-story strip mall in a part of town marked by little else other than trees and roads. Nick had never even been on this side of town before.

He motioned with his hands at the area around them. “It’s not exactly like there’s a lot of chances to get it wrong.”

Anya shot him a look. “You’re not still mad at me about the cat remark, are you?”

Nick scoffed. “What? No.”

Anya frowned doubtfully, but said nothing and turned back to the building.

“I just… something feels wrong. I guess I shouldn’t be expecting armed guards to be marching up and down in front of the building. Obviously they want to hide exactly what kind of company they really are, but it just seems… I don’t know…”

“Too easy?” Nick offered.

“Yes.”

“That’s because they’ve been trying to capture us the whole time. Well, you. I mean, part of it is probably maintaining appearances as a legitimate business, but part of it is probably because they wanted to make it seem easy. That way you would let your guard down, and then: wham! Trap sprung. It’s clear they’ve been hunting for us the whole time. They were ready way too quickly for us at the Teller building. They were probably holed up at the eighty-third street building waiting for us to try and infiltrate somewhere. Then they were expecting you when you went to that building yesterday. Now, just another trap. But this time is different. This time we have something they don’t know about. This time, we have a secret weapon.”

“You mean, my teleportation?”

“Exactly,” Nick agreed.

“So really, I have a secret weapon.”

“Yeah, you have the secret, I’m with you, thus, we have it. We’re together on this.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be.”

Now it was Nick’s turn to roll his eyes. “We’re not really gonna go through this again, are we?”

“I’m just saying, I appreciate the help getting out of their lab, but this is too dangerous for you.”

“I’ve lasted this long.”

“Yes, you have, but only because I’ve been there to protect you. But I won’t always be. I can’t always be. This place is dangerous for me when I’m just worrying about myself. Having you there, too? That’s too much. I really think you should stay behind.”

“Yeah, not a chance in hell.”

“I just… I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Yeah, well, that makes two of us.”

“Good, then we’re agreed.”

Nick shook his head. “No. I mean, I don’t want anything to happen to you, either. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you walk in there by yourself and then I never see you again. There’s no way that’s happening. I care about what happens to you, and not because I think of you as some kind of pet.”

“So, you are still mad about that.”

“Yeah, okay, maybe a little. But it doesn’t change the fact that I care about what happens to you.”

Anya was silent for a moment. “I mean,” she said, “really, you could not possibly think of me as the pet. I think we can both agree that if one of us was a pet it would be you.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“I’m saying, if you think about it, it would have to be you.”

“If you’re saying this just to get me to want you to go in there by yourself, it’s working.”

“I mean it. Objectively, I am the capable adult here, and you are… my… moral support.”

Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. He tried to keep reminding himself that she probably was not actually trying to be mean. “So you’re saying I’m like the Watson to your Holmes?”

“Exactly.”

Nick stared at her in surprise. “Wait, that’s a reference you get?”

“Of course. Who doesn’t know Sherlock Holmes?”

Nick just continued staring at her in shock. Shaking his head in wonderment, he finally added, “Well, the thing you’ll note about Watson, is that he was always with Holmes. Every adventure, together. That’s us now. I’m the Watson to you Holmes, the Costello to you Abbot, the Tango to your Cash, the… the… um…”

“The Luis Martinez to my Mario Martinez?” Anya offered.

“Boom. Exactly! Man, you are just full of surprises today.”

Anya narrowed her eyes, looking a little hurt. “Why did you call me a man?”

“What? I didn’t! I… it’s just an expression. Look, forget that. My point is, we are a team now, you and me, and we are doing this together, come what may. AND,” Nick added loudly, holding up a hand to stop Anya from speaking, “if it actually comes down to it, if we end up in another situation where you winning means me dying, you have to let me go.”

“Nick no I…”

“I’m serious Anya. I’m expendable. You’re not.”

“I don’t feel like you’re expendable. You have just as much right to live as I do. Maybe more.”

“Anya, remember what I was doing when you appeared in my room?”

“Playing video games,” she answered immediately, matter-of-factly. “You really like video games.”

“Right. I…. you don’t have to say it like that, but yes, I do really like video games. I was playing a game. I was playing a game because that’s what I’ve done with my life. I went to school, got through the day, came home and played video games. When I no longer went to school I went to work, got through the day, played video games. Okay? My work isn’t even important. I’m a menial paper pusher at a pharmaceuticals company. And I’m probably never gonna be anything else because I dropped out of college to go to work there full time.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because, Anya, the greatest thing I ever did with my life was help you. Okay? Before that I was nothing. I was no one. I did… nothing. I don’t want to die. Just the thought of dying alone scares me half to death. But if my dying is the best way to help you, then, dammit, that is what needs to happen. That’s why I have to go in there with you. That’s why I have to see this through, to bitter end if need be, or else the one worthwhile thing I have done with my entire life will mean nothing at all.”

For some reason, Nick’s words seemed to depress Anya, which was the opposite effect he was hoping for them to have.

“What?” He prompted. “What is it?”

Anya shook her head and turned to look back at the office building. “It’s not important,” she said. “Let’s just focus on getting Ryoichi out of there.”

Nick sniffed in annoyance but decided not to press the point. He knelt down next to her and followed her gaze out to the far away building. “All right, boss. What’s the plan?”

“Boss?”

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to be Sherlock Mario. That puts you in charge.”

“Well… I do have one plan, but you’re not going to like it.”

Nick stared at her from the corner of his eyes, a worried expression knitting his eyebrows. “Why?”

She motioned to the building with her head, and swallowed hard. “My plan is… to surrender.”

Nick’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“Just… hear me out. I’ll go up to the building and tell them that you died jumping out of the other building. I’ll tell them that I’m tired of running and fighting. I’ll promise to surrender easily if they guarantee Ryoichi’s safety. Meanwhile,” she held up a hand signaling Nick to stay quiet, as he had already opened his mouth to argue. She continued, “Meanwhile, you go in the back, sneak inside, and see if you can figure out where they are keeping Ryoichi.”

Nick was nodding his head like everything made complete sense. “Right, yeah. Okay.” He turned and faced Anya. “You’re right. I hate it.”

Anya sighed in frustration. “Well you asked me for my plan. That’s my plan.”

“You really want me doing the sneaky infiltration stuff? What makes you think I could do the sneaky stuff? I mean, I can’t even do the fighty stuff, and that’s after like three or four days of you training me to do the fighty stuff.”

“Figh-ty?” Anya echoed slowly, confused.

“Yeah, fighty,” Nick said, raising his fists and moving them in a circular motion as though he were about to box. “Fighting. Fight. Fighty. Right?”

“Oh. I don’t think the translator covers for made up words.”

“Right. Sorry. Anyway, you trained me, and still, first fight I get in what happens? I get a gun to the face. Literally.” Nick lifted up part of his hair to show the red welt on his head from where he had been hit by the mercenary’s gun. “See? Battle scars. Again, that’s with your training. I’ve had no sneaky stuff training. How bad do you think I’ll be at that?”

“Okay, so you can’t fight and you can’t sneak. So are you now trying to convince me that I really should leave you behind?”

“No!” Nick spat, indignant. His own words began to sink in one him and he turned his head away in embarrassment. “At least, not intentionally.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

“Uh, I guess that… well…” Nick thought about it for a long moment. “Well, I don’t think either of us should be fighting. Me because I can’t and you because of the beating you took.”

“I’m fine.”

“Look, I know you’re all mega macho ninja lady and all, but come on. I saw you coughing up blood. And the way you were screaming when Holly used that device and all that smoke stuff was rising out of you? There’s no way you feel fine.”

“I do though. Nick, I swear.”

“Well, all the same, I’d rather not have to test it. So we don’t want either of us to have to fight, and I absolutely should not be doing any sneaking. Now, if we were to go with your plan, it would probably be better for me to surrender and you to be the one sneaking in the back.”

Anya was shaking her head in disapproval. “No, I don’t like it. They have reason to keep me alive. They don’t really have reason to keep you alive. What’s stopping them from just killing you outright? Even if, even if I were to accept that as an option, it wouldn’t provide me with much of a window for sneaking around.”

Nick nodded thoughtfully. “Good point.” He rubbed his chin and considered this. “If all you need is a good distraction, I think I can provide that for you.” Nick turned and smiled at Anya, but there was a sadness in his eyes. “I have an idea,” he said.

Anya frowned. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

Nick’s smile widened.