Birthday Present

Nina Williams raised her eyes to see beyond what lied with her along the shore. It was a great change of scene, from red to blue. The open blue sky looked down upon her and the sunlight gleamed upon her face. It was Nina’s day off from work, not that she needed a vacation, but it was always nice to have one, especially on her birthday. She got up off of her beach chair and put her feet onto the warm sand.1

As she began to walk away from her belongings towards the ocean, her cell phone began to ring from within her bag. Nina groaned and walked back to get it. Not very many people usually called her so it was most likely to be important.2

“Good afternoon, Williams,” called the voice from the other end before she even had the pleasure of saying hello.3

“Alan,” Nina said, “What have you got for me today?”4

“Sorry to bother you on your day off, Williams, but I have a mission for you to do today. There is a man named Kazuya Mishima. He is the owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu. I need you to take him down. I’ll wire you more details later, but for now, you have a flight to Japan leaving in an hour. Go home and get packed. Your weapons will be secure from x-rays in the suitcase on your bed. Good day, Williams.” And with that, Alan hung up. Alan Smithee was an M16 agent in charge of directing and working with Nina Williams on her missions. Nina was an assassin by trade.5

Nina brushed her blonde hair back away from her face as she gathered up her stuff, throwing on a shirt and a pair of pants over top of her black bathing suit.6

She looked around at all the people sitting around her on the bus. Nina cringed as she saw rugged bums and poor single mothers with three kids. Nina refused to sit down. She felt so out of place. But luckily, she didn’t live far.7

She turned on the light in her apartment, leaving her things by the door. She walked slowly into her bedroom, to find, just as Alan had said, a suitcase lying on top of her bed. She walked to her closest, shed off her clothes and replacing them with something more comfortable to work in. Nina wore a one piece purple outfit.8

Then she dug into the back of her closet, pulling out quite a few silver boxes, laying them all out on her bed. She opened the one closest to her and pulled out its contents. Inside each box was a different kind of gun. She checked the ammunition in each one before putting them each back in their cases, piling the boxes into the suitcase. Just as she was filling the rest of the suitcase with clothes, her cell phone beeped.9

She picked it up to find a message: “Nina, meet me at the airport in fifteen minutes. –Alan.” Nina smiled, picking up her suitcase and leaving the apartment, her heels clicking against the pavement.10

Nina shuffled into the airport, noticing her partner quickly. Alan handed her the ticket and they boarded the plane. And while inside, he briefed her on the mission. “There will be body guards,” Alan stated.11

“Aren’t there always?”12

“Well, yes, of course. And there are cameras. And Williams, these men are not stupid. They won’t fall for sex appeal.” Nina looked down at her outfit. She didn’t see how she could try that stunt anyhow. But she remembered when she had first met Alan on a mission between M16 and the CIA; she had been wearing a shirt dress that barely covered her behind. Perhaps he was judging, then, from previous experience. “Nina, we’re counting on you. Mishima will not be taken down easily.”13

“Yes,” she said. “I am aware. Kazuya’s father Heihachi hosts a fighting tournament that I have entered since it began. And Heihachi has trained his son well.”14

Alan showed her a layout of the building. Nina made a note of the entrances and the exits, as well as which corridors had security cameras and which rooms were the most important.15

When they had landed, they checked into a hotel and Nina geared for the mission. Alan would drop her off within close range of the Mishima Zaibatsu headquarters by helicopter. He would keep in touch by earpiece from there and pick her up when the mission was through. They had the run-down of the situation and Nina thought it would be a piece of cake, but of course, things aren’t always what they seem.16

The building was surrounded by flood lights, but Nina found her way in by creeping along in the shadows. Just inside the door there was a body guard, but he faced the other way. Nina crept up behind him, and ceasing the opportunity, she snapped his neck, laying him gently to the floor. She slowly made her way through the corridor, towards the heart of the Zaibatsu.17

Nina came upon a door and put her ear next to it, listening to the activity inside. Hearing nothing, she turned the handle, looking once more behind her before she pulled open the door and slid inside. In the vacant room, she found a few more weapons to add to her collection, including a few swords. She left the room just as she’d come, but this time there were guards outside and they had seen her emerge from the room. She quickly pulled a pistol and shot at them before they could attack her.18

The pistol had little ammunition from the start, but now it was completely empty. She dropped it down on the floor and kept moving. She pulled another gun from her stash and swiftly turned down the next corridor, shooting out the camera before she was within its range.19

But more guards came. ‘These guards aren’t so intelligent, Alan,’ Nina thought as she shot them dead one by one. She turned into the next room only to find more of them. She put the gun away and pulled out a stun baton, beating them harshly with it. When she got a hold on each of them, she snapped their necks so as not to waste bullets. But there was nothing in that room for her.20

And things went on like that for a while as she travelled through, shooting or beating the bodyguards, shooting out security cameras, and finding weapons and ammunition in different rooms. But that all began to change the closer she got to the heart of the building. She entered a room and came face-to-face with a sumo wrestler she knew from the King of Iron Fist Tournament by the name of Ganryu.21

Nina put away her ammunition as he advanced towards her. He slammed his open palm into her face and when he pulled that one back, he thrust the other one at her. But she dodged the second and swooped her leg behind his ankle, knocking him backwards. While he was on the floor, she dug the heel of her shoe into his groin, listening to him squeal in pain. Nina allowed Ganryu to rise to his feet and when he did, he grabbed her, lifting her over his shoulder and dropping her body behind him. From the floor, Nina kicked at his ankles as she rose and then sent an array of kicks all over his body before thrusting a critical hit to his skull. Ganryu began to lose his sight and fell to the floor. “Sleep tight,” Nina said as she left the room only to face another guard. 22

She grabbed a hold on his arm and pushed it back, snapping it. Nina lifted her leg and kicked sideways to attack a guard who was quickly approaching her. She pulled a gun and shot them both. Walking down another corridor, she came across more bodyguards, but these guards were different than the first. The guards carried swords and when Nina tried to grab them, they dodged her and tripped her down. Pretty soon she got fed up with them, having been cut by the swords. Nina reached for her own katana and stabbed them both before they had the chance to obliterate her. And from that point forward, all of the guards were just like them.23

But before she reached the room where Kazuya Mishima resided, she met up with another one of the combatants from the tournament. Bruce Irvin, the African American kick boxer, stood before her. He advanced, kicking her sword from her grasp before his knee made contact with her stomach.24

Nina was taken aback slightly by the blow. But it didn’t take her long to get back on her feet. Nina kicked Bruce’s side and blocked a punch he threw at her. She jumped up at snaked her legs about his body, forcing him down on the ground. She pulled his leg until a satisfying pop rang in her ears. Then, giving him a blow to the ribs, she had a thought of stabbing him with the dotanuki he had kicked from her. But she thought less of the idea, instead carving her name into his bare chest before walking out of the room, satisfied.25

She came in contact with quite a few more guards, stabbing them in the stomach and leaving them to die or just breaking their necks to start with, and of course the cameras became more prevalent with each step she took.26

Nina heard a voice whisper in her ear. “Williams, is it clear?”27

“Yes, Alan,” she said back, pushing the talk button on her earpiece. “We can talk now. I haven’t made it to Mishima yet, but I feel that I’m close.”28

“All right, then,” her partner said. “Let me know when you’re ready.”29

Faced with silence, she pushed on into the next hallway, where a few more guards awaited her. Nina grabbed them, breaking arms or legs, anything she could reach, before her hands found their way to the neck.30

Nina found her way to an elevator and brought herself to the top floor where only one room existed in the hallway. Nina shoved open the purple door to find a man sitting in a big black leather chair behind his desk with a very calm expression on his face. “So you’ve come,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.31

“Indeed I have,” Nina said.32

Kazuya arose from his chair and walked towards her. He threw a punch when he came close enough, aiming for her face. But Nina ducked out of the way, grabbing onto his leg, twisting it from underneath him. But Kazuya did not fall. “Silly little girl,” he said, his voice sounding nearly inhuman. “She wants to play rough.” Blue sparks engulfed him and Nina stood back, afraid. And when the sparks faded, she noted the Devil that stood before her. Horns had grown from his head. His skin and become purple and his body wore no clothes for there was nothing to cover but a tail. The scar that was previously across Kazuya’s chest was turned a crimson hue.33

Devil looked at Nina and the blue sparks that had engulfed him sprang from his eyes in her direction, grazing her arm. Nina grew fearful, but brought out the courage to strike him. She drew her sword and attempted to pierce his body, using all her force, she left not a scratch, but the dotanuki, stronger than a katana, broke in half. So Nina drew out the strongest one she had, a manji sword, the sword that Yoshimitsu, a ninja, used in the tournament. But even with that one, she had no luck. And bullets didn’t faze him. Scared, Nina placed a bomb down, keeping the detonator with her and fled for her life. The woman who had no fears was more terrified than ever.34

But she didn’t get out so easily. As she reached the bottom of the stairwell, she heard a familiar voice behind her. “Going somewhere, sis? I haven’t even had a chance to give you your present yet.”35

“Hello, Anna,” Nina cussed under her breath as she turned to face her twin sister.36

Anna threw a kick in Nina’s direction. The two had a rivalry going ever since their father had died. Nina backhanded her sister.37

She heard Alan’s voice in her ear. “Williams, where are you?”38

She pushed Anna off of her, sending her flying into a wall. “I had some complications, get ready; I’ll be out there soon.”39

Anna rose to her feet. “Oh, don’t think you’ll be going anywhere any time soon.” She reached over and before her sister had the chance to strike back, Anna grabbed her arm and snapped it.40

Nina groaned and pulled out a pistol n her left hand. Her aim was terrible without her right hand there to help guide it, but broken limbs are of no use. Her first few shots only hit the wall, missing Anna’s head on both sides. Anna only snickered.41

Nina dropped her gun, out of bullets. She stared into her sister’s blue eyes, identical to hers, their hatred flaring. Nina dropped a stun grenade and ran for the exit. But when she had turned down that last narrow stretch of hallway, Nina found herself face-flat on the floor, her sister’s hand holding her face down.42

Anna leaned down so that out of the corner of her eye, Nina could see a short strand of brown hair. Using all her inner strength, Nina shifted her weight, tipping over the two girls, Anna now the captive. Nina bashed her sister’s skull into the floor. But before she fled, she gave Anna another blow to the stomach.43

When Nina reached the helicopter, she pushed the detonator, causing the Mishima Zaibatsu to go up in flames. “Mission complete,” Alan said from beside her. “You’ve made us proud, Williams, in a round-about way, of course.” He gave her a wink and Nina was finally able to relax.