Chapter 46
Gone Girl... and a Ninja
The teleporter spit me out, not into the safe and familiar coffee shop decour, but on the sidewalk outside the building.
“Hey, watch it!” Someone shouted and shoved me.
I lost my balance and fell out onto the street. Laughter erupted. I darted back up, about to throw hands, but my eyes caught up with what I was seeing. The reason I wasn’t teleported inside the Nook was because it was busting at the seams with patrons. A long ass line had formed outside, drifting out down the sidewalk an ungodly amount. I’d only seen a crowd gathered outside a building like this in movies.
Sam fought in my grip, bringing me back to reality. I walked away from the bustling crowd, having to go the complete other side of the street to escape them. I brought out a pair of scissors from my inventory and clipped Sam’s bindings. I saved the mouth gag for last.
“Sam, I need you to be a little quiet, okay? I know we just went through a big scary thing but we are in public. You got it?”
He ignored me completely, ripped off the gag himself and screamed, “RUN, MISS, RUN!”
Out of nowhere, a hand materialized, rushing straight at Sam. It took me completely unawares so I did nothing. Sam, luckily, was on it. He jumped from my hands, over the enemy’s pair, and then dived inside the fishbowl. The force of his dive knocked the helmet out of my hands and it went rolling down the street.
But he bought me enough time to react. I put my intent to hurt in my right fist and pounded it into the ninja’s shadowy face. It didn’t do a ton of damage or anything, but it was enough to knock him away a little. I then dashed after the fishbowl. To my horror, it was spinning and rolling like crazy, and heading toward a storm drain. What the absolute hell was a sewer system doing in a fake digital city?? I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that the helmet was in danger of sliding into it, it’s bulbus size might have been too big for it. But it was too hard to tell at this distance so I focused on running.
“Miss! Help me!” Sam said as he spun all around. I couldn’t help but realize just how much shit the poor little dude had been through since meeting me.
And, as I ran, in the back of my mind I couldn't get over another nagging thought: how the fuck did the ninja follow me? And, no more calling him a ninja, that was too cool for him. He was a burglar and attempted kidnapper. Who somehow knew where Sam was—not to mention wanted him, for who knew what reason—and then followed me here? As far as I knew there was no way to know where someone was going unless they invited you, you were in a Party, or they touched you and were pulled along with you. None of which applied to the burglar.
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Behind me, I heard him giving chase after me. The mystery would have to wait. The fishbowl bounced once more and was in a free fall straight for the drain. I jumped into a dive, stretching out to catch the helmet. It hit the drain, turned out to be too big for it after all, and bounced off it, sailing past my head. I just watched as Sam went by, screaming his head off.
I landed and pushed backward but it was too late, the bowl had already flown too far back, right into the hands of the enemy.
I went to equip a weapon.
[ You are in a Social Area! No weapons allowed! ]
Fuck!
The kidnapper stopped to relish in his victory, holding the helmet above his head, I could almost hear some Zelda item get music playing. Then he turned to run away. Like I was letting him off the hook that easy. With no weapons there was just one option left.
I reached out with my mind, grabbed hold of the helmet, and yanked. The man was jerked around, his retreat totally halted.
But I wasn't gaining much on him. He locked his legs and somehow was able to stay mostly in the same spot. I yanked harder and he still barely budged. We were at an impasse.
A few people in the crowd noticed us and started recording.
I gestured to them. "You're gonna be all over the Interverse by tomorrow morning, dude. How about you just slink away back wherever you came from?"
His shoulders relaxed and for a moment I thought he was actually going to let go and take my suggestion. Instead, he brought the bowl down and kicked it up over my head. By complete reflex, my gaze followed it as I kept the mental hold and tried to direct it back to me.
But by doing that I fell into the man's trap. He dashed forward and pounded his palms into my stomach. I went flying across the street and slammed into the side of a dumpster in the alley. We REALLY drew the crowd's attention then, almost everyone in the back half of the line were now watching intently.
The man ran forward and jumped, catching the fishbowl like it was a basketball. He knocked it in the nook of his arm, ensuring that Sam couldn't escape through the hole. His shadowy face just stared at me, not looking any different, but I knew under it all he was gloating, the annoying piece of shit.
He gave me a salute and a bad feeling lodged in my throat. He was going to teleport away. If he did, Sam would be gone and I would have no way of ever knowing what happened to him. I would not let that happen.
I knew I couldn't run there in time, so instead I tried something crazy, something I'd flirted with the idea before but never put into complete motion: I envisioned picking up myself, my entire body, and throwing me forward. I closed my eyes, replaying it over and over and putting all the intention I could muster into it... and then released.
I shot out of the alley like a bullet flying straight for the man. He was quick though and was able to react, leaping out of the way. But not fast enough. I grabbed the fishbowl and pulled it close to me. I thought for sure my speed would pull it right out of the man's hands but instead he kept his grip and was pulled off his feet with me.
All the while his teleportation was still going. To the onlookers we flew over to the wall across the street... and vanished into thin air. No more ninja, no more girl.