“Try to blend in as nuns. That’s what we’re doing.”
Micah’s statement resulted in a small laugh from Yuri.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s what you should be doing, blending in. I thought you already knew that?”
Micah was glad he was wearing a helmet, because he was certainly blushing by this point. “Yeah, I mean, I’m just reminding you. Anyway, we’ll see you there. Keep me up-to-date. How are the others?”
“They’re fine, you can ask them.”
“I know, I was just hoping they would chime in.”
“You are distracting me,” Soraya said. “I’m almost to the station! Shut up and blend in!”
“And Bunni?”
“I stopped by this seedy-looking place for a massage, but I’ll be at the station soon. Kidding, my cute, sexy, funny, sweet hubby. I’m behind Soraya. She is so easy to follow with that perky little butt of hers.”
“Stop talking about my butt!”
Liza spotted a pair of monks up ahead, and quickly turned toward a passing pedestrian. She began quizzing the woman.
“Have you seen anyone suspicious around here? Perhaps moving in that direction?” Liza asked, pointing the opposite way in which they were heading.
“I have to go,” Micah quickly told Yuri over the headset. “Good luck.” He turned his focus to the female pedestrian that Liza was quizzing as cover.
“I haven’t seen anyone,” the woman said.
“We’re looking for two individuals. They are armed and dangerous,” Micah said, keenly aware that two monks were passing behind them, just over his shoulder. They couldn’t be more than ten feet away.
“What happened?” the masked woman asked.
“That is none of your concern,” said Liza. “If you do see anyone suspicious…” She looked at the two monks and saw that they were now well past her, no longer a threat. “Good luck with the rest of your day,” she promptly told the woman.
It wasn’t long before Micah and Liza came to the station. There were monks and nuns here as well, but they simply blended in, and weren’t discovered as they reached the transport sling that dropped down to Thunderhama, where they would transfer to another that would rise into the sky again to bring them to the floating district of Uyanga.
They weren’t quite clear yet, but Micah felt like they were closer than ever.
Everything seemed to be going to plan, and it wasn’t long before they reached Thunderhama, Micah ignoring a hint of nostalgia, where they transferred to a different transport sling, one heading back up into the sky. They were going to make it, and they’d be able to regroup with the ninjas once they arrived in the floating district.
But then Micah spotted something that troubled him to no end. A swarm of drones were heading in their direction, more than he’d ever seen before. To make matters worse, they all had energy weapons aimed at their transport sling.
It wasn’t unusual for there to be drones in Neo-Hokkaido. Oftentimes, they provided lighting and advertising. They were also useful during pandemics, the Society of Monks using them to publicize information. But Micah had never seen them actually attack people before, and he didn’t know it was even a possibility. But it made sense now, especially as energy weapons began firing on the transport sling that they were currently riding in.
There was no time to question how the monks would later cover this up, or what would happen to the innocent bystanders if Micah and Liza didn’t do something. Now was the time for action. The craft shook as one of the energy beams shattered the window, another sparking off its side.
“You have to do something,” Micah told Liza as he got in front of the people that were also on the transport sling, women and children all huddled together now, men as well as the elderly. It wasn’t quite full, but there were a good twenty people inside, and they were high enough that a fall from their current altitude of two hundred feet would spell instant death.
Liza stepped toward the shattered window, just as the three drones grew nearer to the rising transport sling. She lowered her head slightly and latched onto one of them as if it were a brick being hurtled by Youseg.
The middle drone collided with the one right beside it, which threw its attack off balance, and sent its lime green blast passing just beside the transport sling. Lurching forward, the transport sling continued its rise into the sky, the conductor also huddled with the group behind Micah. There was no telling what the masked citizens thought. Perhaps they would later say that the drones had malfunctioned, that they’d actually been protected by the Society of Monks.
Liza flew backward when one of the blasts struck her directly in the chest, Micah returning fire but missing. The front of her robes were blackened now, but the armor beneath them had held strong, protecting her from much of the attack.
The drones, now humming in unison, got in position to fire again.
Liza thrust a single hand to the air, and clenched it into a fist. One of the drones sparked and exploded, pieces of it hitting its two counterparts and throwing them off their trajectory, one of them actually firing upon its counterpart. The explosion that followed would have caused a rush of smoke to fill the cabin of the transport sling, but by this point it had already moved further up into the air.
Micah reached her and quickly helped Liza stand, momentarily ignoring the murmuring and the crying of children behind him.
“Are you all right?” Bobi asked in Micah’s bucket.
“They’re sending freaking drones?” came Choro’s voice.
“We’ll make it,” Micah said as he checked Liza for any damage.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“I was going to heal you…”
“You’re sweet, and I can heal myself,” she reminded him.
“It’s sort of my specialty.”
“You’re too sweet.”
“I try.”
“Yes, you really do. Let me see what I can do here.” Liza turned to the innocent bystanders and cleared her throat. “The attack you just witnessed was from the Society of Monks. It was not a malfunction.”
“Why would they attack their own kind?” a burly man asked as a troubled look took shape on his face.
“That’s something that will probably come to light over the next few days,” she said as the transport sling neared its docking station in the floating district of Uganda. “Please be safe going forward, and I would suggest sheltering in place until everything passes over, if you can. Once you reach the station, which,” Liza looked out the broken window, “should be any moment now, we will head out first. All of you should remain in the transport sling until the Society of Monks comes to clear the area.”
“How do we know they won’t try to kill us?” the same man asked. “For what we have witnessed?”
Liza and Micah exchange glances.
“You may be right,” she finally said. “The strategy then should be to overwhelm the exit terminal once we are docked. Everyone move onto the platform at once and cause as much of a disruption as you can. While I wouldn’t put it past them to destroy a single transport sling…” This statement caused a masked woman holding an infant girl to gasp. “We do have strength in numbers. And we need to remember that. Here we go.”
The transport sling docked, and after a few seconds of uncertainty, the doors opened.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Micah said, both Liza and him gesturing the crowd out the open doorway. The people all moved out at once akin to cattle, Micah and Liza with them, and as they reached the platform, he noticed a rapid-fire weapon with a shield in front of it, two monks standing behind it.
His reaction was instinctual. Micah lit into the stationary weapon with his prosthetic gatling gun as soon as he could, which caused more panic and confusion as Liza used the object’s industria to lift it into the air and throw it to the side, a series of explosions following.
“Move!” Micah called to the crowd as one of the monks drew an energy blade. “Move!” H
e ran toward their assailants, Liza meeting a monk armed with an energy saber just as he reached the crowd. She repelled the strike with her blades, the nun pressing her arms forward, her own swords now crossed as he tried to strike her again.
One shot from Micah and the monk went down, Liza sending her sword to the side of his neck. As she withdrew it, blood spraying of the air, the crowd of people swelling around them began to scream.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” she said.
“I’ll handle this,” Choro said, his voice appearing in both of their headsets. “I have the schematics of the station now, and I will be able to guide you out.”
“I can help too!” Bobi chimed in.
A reticle appeared on the inside of Micah’s helmet, and he followed it off to the right, rather than heading in the same direction as they transport sling passengers. It blinked once Liza and him came to a door made of metal. It wasn’t easy to open, but they eventually were able to slip inside, the two finding themselves in an underground passage. How many of these were there in the stations of Neo-Hokkaido? It seemed like so much of Micah’s country had been simply built on top of what was there before.
The reticle shifted upward, and Micah spotted a blue ladder made of metal.
He took it to the top, and soon, Liza and him entered into a new part of the station, one that had recently been refurbished. It was the exact opposite of the dark tunnel they had just gone through, everything well-lit, people that worked on the station on high alert. Their disguises aided them to an insane degree, Micah and Liza able to actually slip around a pair of nuns who would set up a guard station at the entrance to the staff facility.
“You’re almost there,” Choro said. The reticle appeared again, this time leading them down a hallway on the right, and from there to a fire exit.
They had made it. They were finally outside, on the floating district of Uyanga no less, Micah wishing he could take his helmet off and take a breath of fresh air. He only realized then how fast his heart had been thumping in his chest. It was making him feel lightheaded.
“I need a second,” Micah said as he bent forward, his hands on his knees. “That was… intense.”
Liza placed a hand on his shoulder. “It really was. But we’re not out of the red yet.”
“Can you guide us to Ahmey’s shrine?” Micah asked aloud.
“On it,” said Bobi.
“Make sure the others are guided as well. Speaking of which… Update me, Yuri.”
“No trouble at the station, but the three of us have taken separate transport slings to Uyanga,” Yuri replied. “I’m almost there, Bunni’s on the next one, and Soraya is waiting for the last one. I think we’re in the clear.”
Liza shook her head. “Let’s not jinx ourselves. We’re only in the clear once we reach the shrine, and are safely underground again.”
A reticle appeared on the inside of Micah’s visor, and flashed again. “All right, let’s do this.”
Neither Micah nor Liza were very ninja-minded, meaning that it wasn’t instinctual for them to keep to the shadows, or take to the various rooftops and reachable balconies as they progressed toward the shrine, which was surrounded by diplomatic buildings, the ancient compound completely comfortable in their shadows.
As Micah remembered, Ahmey’s shrine wasn’t very large, a single building surrounded by a fence, prayer flags attached from the pagoda to the four points of the fence line, a tiny footprint indeed. Small nun statues were scattered in the courtyard and there was a single fountain that had recently been refurbished, nothing too glamorous, and nothing to indicate the complex underground structure that connected to a nearby transport sling, all of it running beneath the surrounding buildings, hidden from everyday Neo-Hokkaidans.
While Micah wasn’t exactly excited to spend the next few days of his life underground, he preferred this over being constantly hunted, and it would give them time to train and sort things out with the Hermetics. Maybe even a little time to rest. He hoped that Soraya wouldn’t make a big deal about it; if any of them was going to complicate matters, it would be her.
And there was still Ahmey.
Micah was unaware of how the young nun would respond to what they had conceived. There was still the chance that she would reject their plan altogether, that she had her own ideas, perhaps a less extreme way to take power. There really was no telling…
Once they were in the clear, Micah and Liza moved past the gate. As they did, Yuri stepped out from behind one of the statues. Bunni did the same, but from behind the fountain. Of course the two had been there all along, and predictably, neither Micah nor Liza had spotted them.
“And Soraya?” Micah asked, a smile taking shape on his face as he saw his two wives. After what they had just been through, it felt really good to see that the two of them were safe.
“She should be here any moment.”
Micah turned back to the entrance of the shrine and began scanning some of the balconies of the surrounding buildings. Sure enough, he saw a flash of movement, Soraya nimble enough to actually take a few ghost steps on a power line and leap from it to a spot just in front of Micah and Liza.
“Sorry it took me so long,” she said, barely able to hide the confidence in her voice.
Bunni snorted. “Show off.”
“Am not.”
“Are so.”
“Whatever.”
The Plains Dweller placed her hands on her helmet, itching to get it off. “We should probably get inside.”
“Good idea,” said Micah as they came to the front steps of the shrine, which had recently been swept, tea candles placed in copper bowls arranged along the main pathway.
A gentleman as always, Micah slid the door open and waited for the ladies to enter before going inside himself, where he found Ahmey deep in meditation, the nun sitting before a painting of a deity, candles lit around her. Her head was freshly shaven, and she didn’t immediately respond once they entered the inner sanctum of the shrine, Ahmey continuing to mumble a mantra, deep in her practice.
It registered immediately on the HUD of Micah’s helmet, taking him off guard. There was a glow of industria radiating around the teenager, and as a gauge appeared, Micah noticed something that he had already assumed.
Ahmey was truly powerful.
Rather than interrupt her, Liza and the three Royal Star Ninjas got onto their knees and sat behind the nun, respectfully waiting for her to finish her practice. Micah did the same, not really knowing the protocol for an event like this. Still, it wasn’t hard to figure out, which was something he hadn’t gone through before.
After a five-minute pause of silence, Ahmey finally bowed her head forward, the flames of the candles flickering brightly as she did so. “You have returned,” she said, still bowed forward. “Welcome back.”
As he had before, Micah found it odd to witness such a devout teenager, one whose voice had a hidden wisdom behind it. She was unlike any teenager he had ever met, a poise about her that didn’t match her age, an air of authority. He was a skeptic when it came to claims of lineage and things of that nature, but he certainly noticed that there was something unique about the young nun, something amplified by her industria halo. Even more impressive was that she had recognized all of them, including Yuri and Bunni, whom she had never met before, in a matter of seconds. And she had done so without turning around to properly greet them.
“We were in Heian,” Yuri said after she went through the process of removing her bucket helmet. Bunni waited for Yuri to finish and removed her helmet as well, Soraya quickly doing the same. Ahmey had a bucket as well, seated next to her on a silk pillow, Micah noticing that it was the same sleek design that the elite monks and nuns wore, something a bit more chiseled about its features, upgraded compared to the helmets of the lower ranks.
Ahmey finally turned to them, a pensive smile on her face. “Heian is certainly a place I would like to visit. What did you learn there?”
“This.”
Ahmey nodded, impressed. “I’ve heard of this power. May I ask who taught it to you?”
“Youseg,” said Bunni. “Also, we should probably introduce ourselves officially. I’m Bunni, and this is Yuri.”
Ahmey slowly lowered her chin toward them. “At last, the leader of the Royal Star Ninjas and her second-in-command. I’m glad to see you safely made it out of the black site. I had faith that you would, but faith and reality rarely align, or so the old saying goes.”
“We did,” Yuri said. “And thank you for your assistance in that regard.”
“It was my pleasure. And I see now that you have made it back to Neo-Hokkaido. What is it that you intend to do here?”
“For one, we’re being hunted,” Bunni said, “so we should probably throw that out there. We need to hide out in a safe place for a while. But I’m guessing you already knew that…”
“I have heard chatter through the channels, yes, and rest assured that this is a safe place,” Ahmey said. “It is the last place they would look, considering my ranking.”
Micah continued to stare deeply at Ahmey. He knew that she had a familial line to Neojuku, the ancient nun that grew the power of the Society of Monks, but he didn’t have a solid idea of where she ranked within the organization, nor did he quite understand the power structure of the often spoken about, but little understood, upper echelon.
“Then I suppose the discussion should shift to why we are here,” Yuri said. “As the old saying goes, while we talk, the cows have left the pasture.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that one,” Ahmey said.
“Micah, will you catch her up?”
“Um, sure,” he said, glad that his helmet was hiding the tight smile that had taken shape on his face after she volunteered him. While he had no problem speaking for the group, Micah had assumed Yuri would do most of the talking. He didn’t mind taking the ball from her, but it had thrown him off guard just a hair. “So, as previously mentioned, we met with Youseg in Heian, and if you didn’t know, he actually laid out some of the prophecy for what has already happened in the famous comic series he wrote years ago.”
My Ninja Girl 4 Page 14
