by Caleb Karger
“I spend a random night or two here, but really, it’s just for training,” she said and got out. It took a minute for me to move. I couldn’t stop staring.
The front door was at least eight feet high, and two people could pass through it standing side by side. We entered a cavernous space going all the way to the back of the house. The ceiling was two stories above me. In the center of the room was a giant cylindrical fish tank. A staircase leading down to the lower floor wrapped around the tank. Dozens of exotic fish swam happily between the two floors. I couldn’t name half of them. Above the tank was an arched bridge connecting the upper floors of the left wing and the right wing of the house.
Past the aquarium and bridge was a living room. It had a white couch, two chairs, brass lamps that looked like telescopes, and the wall on the left side had a stone fireplace. Petrified branches hung on either side like antlers. All of the furniture was gigantic; I guess to fill up space. The back of the house had to be ninety percent glass, giving a striking view of the outside.
I moved closer to the windows. There was no fence to mark the backyard. It seemed like the entire mountain range was the yard. I could see a massive pool, the kind they had at waterparks and further away was an enormous extreme obstacle course.
“This is where all the ninja train?” I asked.
I heard a refrigerator open. I turned to my right and saw the kitchen. Three wide steps and a rail were all that separated the rooms. Half of Katherine’s body was in one of the shiny steel fridges; there were two altogether. The cabinets were chocolate colored, and the counters were granite. Dried spices hung from the ceiling along with pots and pans. The kitchen was large enough to fit a small army.
“Oh, we’d never fit that many people here,” she said and emerged from the fridge with an apple. “I’m supposed to take you guys to train at the base, but it’s miserable there.”
“Why is it miserable?”
“You’ll find out soon enough, trust me.” She walked towards a hallway leading into the left wing of the house. I followed her.
“Why are you supposed to take us there?”
“It’s the only place the humans won’t accidentally see us,” she said. We walked past a staircase leading to the second floor and some doors. I don’t know how I was supposed to find my way around. Without her, the house was a maze.
“You make it sound like you aren’t one.”
“Well, not exactly. I can live for a thousand years. They’re lucky if they see eighty,” she said.
My jaw dropped. “Wait, you can live a thousand years?”
“Yeah,” she said and paused by a door. “I mean in the right conditions, it could be possible for one of us to live…oh, I dunno…forever.” I looked at her from head to toe. I still couldn’t tell her real age.
“So…how old are you?”
She grinned. “A woman never reveals her age.”
“My mom says that…” I said. She began to turn the doorknob. “Come on. You can’t be that old, right?” She shrugged her shoulders like she had no idea what I was talking about. “You’ve got to be like eighteen?”
“Nope.”
“You can’t be more than twenty,” I said.
“I’m not going to tell you. You might as well give up.”
“Don’t tell me you’re like a hundred?”
She laughed. “Alright, I’m not that old.”
I sighed with relief. I’d feel very awkward around her if she was older than my grandmother. I had to settle for that answer because she wasn’t going to give me more. Still, the question wiggled around at the back of my mind like a worm.
She finally opened the door and led me into the room. It was a replica of my bedroom at home. Everything was accounted for, right down to my collectible lunch boxes. The only real difference was the quality of the furniture and that everything seemed color coordinated. It was the version of my room if I had a wealthy mother. How in the world did she find all of this stuff?
“You’ll be staying in this room,” she said. “I tried to make it as homey as possible.”
“Yeah, I’d say you did pretty well.”
I opened the closet. The clothes were different because they were sizes that would fit me now. The socks and underwear were all lovingly folded in the drawers. Had she given this amount of attention to the other team members’ rooms as well?
She beckoned me out of the room. “I’ll show you the rest of the house.” We went further down the hall. “There’s the bathroom through that door…that door is Wolf’s room…and the room next to you belongs to Hot Stuff.”
“Wolf and Hot Stuff? What kind of names are those?”
“Code names. Everyone keeps their true identity a secret. Only I know everyone’s real name,” she said then held up a finger. “Speaking of which, you’ll need to come up with a name. When the team gets back, you’ll have to wear a mask, too.”
“Why?”
“If any one of you is kidnapped and tortured, you won’t be able to give the enemy any names or identify faces,” she said.
“Oh.” My throat constricted. “Does that happen a lot?”
“Fortunately, no.” She smiled and went towards the direction of the living room. I glanced back. There were a set of double doors at the end of the hall she hadn’t said anything about.
“What’s through there?” I asked.
When she saw what I was looking at, her body locked up. “Nothing—it’s just my room.” She spun around and walked away at a faster pace. I stayed put.
“Can I see it?”
She squeaked. “No!”
“You’ve seen my room—”
“A girl’s room is different!” Her cheeks flushed. She tucked her hair behind her ear and tried to calm down. “It’s private.”
“Hey! A guy’s room is private, too! I could’ve had my underwear on the floor when you snuck in there or something,” I said. She rolled her eyes, resisted laughing, and kept moving.
We took the stairs winding around the fish tank to the basement level and ended up in a second living room. This one had squishy carpet, a semi-circular black couch, a large TV, and a minibar. Glossy wood paneled the walls. The lights were shaped like lanterns and set to dim. It was a walk-out basement so I could see a patio with a fire pit snuggled up to the back of the house.
“There are a theater and game room on that side, but you’ll be spending most of your time over here,” she said and went to the left.
We made our way down a hall and through dark a gray door into a full-sized gym. It wasn’t like any gym I’d seen before, though. The treadmills went up to speeds like two hundred miles-per-hour. The smallest dumbbell weighed seventy pounds. Beside them were giant blocks that looked like they belonged on a pyramid.
“These bad babies weigh one to three tons,” she said as she patted one of the blocks. I pointed to the big pots filled with sand, rocks, and cement bricks.
“What are those for?”
“To toughen the fists,” she said and demonstrated by punching into the bricks. They busted, and a plume of dust rose from the pot. I expected her knuckles to be bloody or broken, but they were fine.
“You’re insane!”
“I never said this would be easy.”
She approached a cabinet in the corner. I could see all sorts of knives, throwing stars, and practice swords inside it. She opened an antique chest covered in symbols and pulled out a black cloth.
“You’ll be needing this,” she said as she came over to me.
I took it and turned the flimsy material over. It had a gold band across the top and a gold symbol on one side, similar to Japanese, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. It had no straps or strings to tie it to my head.
Curious, I pressed it to my face. The mask molded to my features and held on comfortably, hiding everything below my eyes. Breathing was a little difficult, but nothing I couldn’t get used to. I felt a creeping sensation running down my neck like a million bugs were crawling over
me. I looked down to see the fibers of the mask were stretching outward and morphing into a ninja uniform.
When the material settled, I had on a black long-sleeved shirt with a white one underneath. They were folded over like a karate uniform. A black cloth belt hung around my waist, and black pants clung to my legs. Wrapped around my shins like a mummy was white cloth. My shoes had changed into ninja slippers. The soles were cushy, and it felt like a Jell-O hug all around my feet. The black gloves on my hands had thousands of rubbery grippers on the palm and fingertips
“How’d it do that?!” I said.
“It’s made out of some fancy nanite fabric that the Science Division invented. It’s thin enough to be lightweight, strong enough to resist tearing, it breathes in the heat, and thickens in the cold. It also absorbs perspiration. The best feature, though, is that it doesn’t need dry-cleaning.”
“How do I take it off? Do you just…?” I peeled the mask off, and the uniform got sucked back into the mask. I stared at the cloth. “Crazy.” I stuffed it into my pocket.
“Do not lose it. Treat it like your life depends on it,” she said. I nodded. “I mean it. Without your mask, you’re useless.”
I held my hands up. “I got it. I won’t lose it.”
Then I heard the front door burst open. Boisterous shouting echoed around the house. Footsteps thundered across the floor. We both looked up at the ceiling. Did we just get invaded by the zoo?
“The others are here.” She pointed to my pocket. “Put that back on.”
Chapter 7
Squad 112
I ran a hand over my uniform as we went up the stairs. The laughter and shouting grew louder the closer we got to the top. By the sounds of it, my teammates couldn’t be much older than I was. I wondered what they were going to be like. Would they be friendly? Would they be intimidating?
Waiting at the top of the stairs, leaning against the banister was a girl with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and teal eyes. Her uniform was the same as mine except her sleeves were rolled up, and her midriff was showing. She had an impressive looking abdomen. A triangular silver badge hung from her shoulder that read: SQUAD 112 CAPTAIN.
“I brought the wild things,” the girl said with an Australian accent. She must’ve been the one on the phone. She put her hands on her hips then looked me up and down. “Nice to finally meet the guy I wrecked my Jeep for.”
“Yeah, this is…” Katherine looked at me. I gathered she was waiting for me to give her my code name. My mind rushed to think of something.
“Um, Kaine?”
“Kaine.” She nodded with approval. “Kaine, this is Hot Stuff. She’s my second in command.”
Hot Stuff offered her hand, and I shook it. “No worries, I’ll take it easy on you. It’s the commander you have to worry about,” Hot Stuff said, throwing a playful glance at Katherine. “You never know when she’ll decide to throw you off a building.”
“Have you done that to everyone?” I asked.
“Only the ones I like.” Katherine smiled and punched Hot Stuff’s shoulder as she went upstairs.
Hot Stuff leaned closer to me and whispered, “She means the ones she’s bent on sending home.” She winked. “But stick with me, mate, and we’ll prove her wrong.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said.
Hot Stuff put her hand on my back. “I’ll introduce you to the kids,” she said and steered me into the upstairs living room.
Sure enough, I’d been right. A group of teenagers was the source of the noise. They all wore the ninja uniform, exposing only the tops of their head. Their lively conversations cut off once they saw us.
“Hello, gang. This is our newest member, Kaine,” Hot Stuff said. “Why don’t we go around the room and get acquainted?”
A girl no older than eighteen stood up to shake my hand. She had kind, brown eyes, toffee skin, and a mane of black curly hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I’m Lily, welcome to the team,” she said.
“Don’t expect me to get up,” said a guy with short black hair and stormy gray eyes. His arms were folded, and he was sitting on the couch’s armrest.
“Don’t mind Wolf, he’s still pouting about not being captain,” Hot Stuff said.
“Everyone knows I can best you,” Wolf said.
“Like I said, name the time and place,” Hot Stuff replied.
A tall guy who had been sitting on a chair strolled towards me. He was just over six foot. He could’ve walked into a bodybuilding competition and won the first prize without having to flex. He had wavy black hair, slicked back with gel. His hands gathered into fists as his eyes bore into me.
He crushed my hand more than he shook it and spoke quietly into my ear. “You’ll be dead in the first hour,” he said. The color drained out of my face. I didn’t know how to respond. Then, all seriousness disappeared from his eyes. He laughed and slapped my shoulder. “Don’t be so gullible. I’m Castile, welcome.”
I nodded as best as I could. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was glad when Castile took his seat again. The next person to introduce themselves was a boy who looked like an Indian prince. Instead of shaking my hand, he did a quick wave.
“Kavi.” He mumbled, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said.
“Now that only leaves one more,” Hot Stuff said as she searched the room. “Where’s the little devil?”
Lily pointed behind us. I turned around and cried out in shock. Standing there was an exact copy of me.
“Hi!” my twin said.
“Cut it out, Spaz!” Hot Stuff shoved my twin. My double snickered before exploding into a cloud of gold dust. The dust gathered and took the form of a boy with spiky hair. “He’s always changing into us. Be careful, if you see the commander giving strange orders—it’s probably him.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
“Great, do we all know each other now?” Katherine said as she went past us pushing a whiteboard on wheels. She centered it so everyone could see. “Gather round, take a seat, whatever you like.”
Lily offered me the open space beside her on the couch. Once everyone settled, Katherine started to write something on the whiteboard. We fell silent as the words came into view.
“I have left the world behind to become one with the shadows, to be the invisible hand that stays chaos from consuming the world, and I will fight to my last breath or until justice reigns.” –Grand Master Enki
“The way of the ninja is simple: be selfless, judge wisely, and ensure peace,” Katherine said. “Understanding our core principles will be a lifelong journey. Every path will be different, but the destination is the same. When I’m done with you, you will embody these very words.” She underlined the quote. “We aren’t here to just save people; our mission is to reshape and transform the world for the better. To do that, it will take everything you have.” She paced back and forth. “If you came here because you wanted to be wealthy or learn how to control your abilities to do as you please, then you’re in the wrong place because we’re not here for you.
“We’re here for the mother whose child has gone missing, for the man who was unjustly beaten by police officers, and for the children living in crime-ridden neighborhoods because that’s all their parents can afford. We are here to be a force stronger than greed, hatred, and brutality.
“The ninja operate on all corners of the globe from the ocean floor to every sleepy suburb, and all that’s in between. The world may not see us, but they feel our efforts every day, and it’s been that way for centuries. During the Cold War, we were the ones who kept the nuclear bombs from flying. We helped tear down the Berlin Wall. The very idea of equality was implanted in human minds by us.”
“So, everything we know…” I said.
“Is only a small portion of the truth,” she replied.
How much of history was missing? How much had been a cover-up? I looked around the room, none of the others seemed too surprised by this fact. Why was I the only one bothered by it?
“I’m asking all of you to give up everything you’ve known, everything you’ve wanted, for this cause. The only reward you’ll receive for your sacrifice is one less tragedy on the news. No one will ever know your name, or that you even existed.” Katherine capped her marker; the sound was like a brick falling in such a quiet room. “That being said, does anyone here want to change their mind?”
No one raised their voice. I didn’t think any of us were even breathing. Castile held his shoulders high, ready to take on whatever was coming. Kavi was doing his best to hide his trembling. I kept my teeth locked together; there was no way I was leaving now.
“Alright then, if you think you’re ready, we can begin…” Katherine gestured to Hot Stuff.
Hot Stuff’s eyes glinted with a sick pleasure. She put on a pair of sunglasses. “Outside trainees!” she said, but no one moved. “That’s an order! Move your bums! GO!” She swatted at the air, and a powerful gust nearly knocked us over.
Everyone scrambled to the back door. We ran down the balcony steps and out to a field. The grass was thick and impossibly free of little stones and hills; it could make a groundskeeper cry. Hot Stuff and Katherine were already waiting for us.
“Form a line!” Hot Stuff said. We tried to organize ourselves. We were a wavy looking line. Hot Stuff shook her head. “You call this a line?! You are not looking promising trainees.” We tightened the line as best as we could.
Katherine held her hands behind her back as she scanned over us. “Some of you have been with me for a while, and some of you haven’t. It’s been all fun and games up to this point. The hard work begins today. We’re going to start with your most basic and most vital tool; running.”
My heart began to drum against my ribs. Why did we have to start with running? She knew that was my weakness.
“Everyone behind me,” Hot Stuff said and took off at a leisurely jog. We trotted in a line behind her. I found it was easier to run without having to carry all of my extra fat. My legs felt light and not every stride was a fight. “Not too fast, we’re still warming up. The number one killer in a fight is pulling a muscle because someone didn’t warm up. Don’t make that mistake.”