I quickly run into the lobby of the hotel, to get out of the rain. I first notice the hideous paint on the walls, it is a pale yellow that is cracked and peeling. The second thing I notice is the total lack of decoration in the room, as I pay for my room. I give the clerk the warmest smile I can muster, because people do not remember the nice guys, only the mean. The third thing I notice is the smell of the man's breath. It wraps itself around me, surrounding me with the stench of garbage. Desperate to escape, I have run to the stairs hoping that he does not pay attention to the metal clanging in my bag.

Once in the room I throw my bag on the dingy bed, which elicits a groan and a puff of dust. I finger a shuriken, as I walk through the small room. The walls are identical to the lobby, even sharing the lack of decoration. My attention being taken from my hand by the filthy room, I cut myself on the sharp star. This brings back memories of my companion, who was taken my Dr. Remington. My companion and I had studied martial arts, and the way of the ninja together for many years. Now she was gone, and I needed to get her back. She has been in the grasp of that man for nearly a week, and I am more desperate than ever. Doctor Remington is supposed to be at a social gathering, at the Wilson Mansion later tonight. From there I am going to track him back to what is mine.

Since it is only noon, I still have hours before my plan is to take place. I think back to Caroline and I’s usual missions. We would enter a warehouse that was housing illegal materials, dispose of the people there, then take the hard drive that was always hidden in the wall of the upstairs office. All of the warehouses were run by Doctor Remington, and he had very predictable behavior. All of the men he hired were incompetent and single minded, easy to control but terrible at making a rational decision for themselves, which made it easy to dispose of them. Then the hard drive that was hidden in the same spot at every location, held the information for all deliveries and transactions; proof that he was guilty of illegal smuggling. To our knowledge he did not know that it was us working against him, until our last mission.
Everything had been going to plan. We had secured the area and taken the hard drive, then gone to our apartment. We watched a movie together, and then crashed in our own respective beds. I had been woken by the scream of Caroline. I quickly rubbed the heavy sleep from my eyes to find Doctor Remington next to three huge men, one of whom was holding Caroline by the hair. “Weren’t you expecting me,” Remington asked. He had a massive grin on his face, which only made me feel more worried. He then reached into his jacket and produced a shuriken, Caroline’s shuriken. “Did you not think I would find you eventually,” he said with a quick lick of the lips. “You have been attacking my business for months, now you are as bold as to leave your weapons lying around!” With that he threw the star at my head. I quickly rolled out of the bed to dodge the missile, but two of his men were converging on me. Prepared, I grabbed the dagger sitting on my night stand, and swiftly ended them. I looked up from my now bloody hands to find that Doctor Remington and Caroline were gone.

Brought out of my memories by the sound of my alarm going off, I gathered my stars, daggers, and sword, and walked out of the apartment. I hail a taxi to the edge of the forest. The mansion is built a ways into the woods, but it is still short enough to job there. Once there I crouch in the dark yard, shielded by two bushes. I wait for him to leave the building so that I could bug his car, but it took him nearly two hours to emerge. He is accompanied by a young man who is completely wasted, and is relying heavily on the help of his chauffeur to walk. Doctor Remington parts from the man, after spitting in disgust at the drunkard. He then walks over to a sleek black limo, and gets inside.

Ready for action, I crawl closer to the now moving vehicle. As it begins to pull out of the massive driveway, I threw a metal hunk at the bumper. It lands underneath the vehicle, but bounces up and sticks to the under side. I then begin the trek through the woods to his abode, following the GPS reading from the tracker I put on his limo. It takes me nearly an hour to find his home, but what I find is very much unlike Doctor Remington. Usually his homes are mansions that are adorned with the most beautiful yardwork and everything is prestin, but now all I see is a cheap two story house with leaves all over the yard.

Regardless of the unusualness, I creep up to the front door, try the knob, and to my surprise find it unlocked. I slink inside the door and listen for a sound, but only hear heavy breathing coming from the basement. Hoping for the best I descend the stairs, to find Caroline bound to a copper pipe protruding from the cement walls. I grab my sword, and hack through the thick rope binds. Once free she takes out her gag, and hug me for nearly a minute. I have missed her so much, but we need to get out before something bad happens. I did not want to lose my love again. I have to carry her up the stairs, because she is very weak from a week of malnutrition. At the top of the stairs, I notice that there is a shadow in the front porch. Not wanting to be seen, I quickly dash to the stairs going up. With Caroline in hand, I enter the master bedroom, and find a window that exits onto the roof. I grab her, and step out on the hot black surface. As soon as both my feet connect with the roof, the house explodes.

I land on top of the plastic house, and Caroline on top of me. I cry out in pain, because I scraped my leg. She quickly gets off of me, I and get off the house. The little toy house we were standing on broke, and we fell on top of it. My mom, hearing my earlier cry, came outside in a hurry. When she saw the yard, she became quite upset. There were foam sword, and paper shuriken all over the place. Realizing that Caroline, George Remington, and I had been playing ninja again she told my friends to go home and come back tomorrow. At this I yelled that they had to stay, but secretly I just wanted Caroline to stay. My mother refused and I had to give in, but that did not stop me from coming up with a plan to get Caroline back.