---

 
 
Ninja Girl - Part 1
 
Night was falling, and it was time for dinner at Willow Springs Orphanage. Riley was sitting alone in the attic, eating some bread, cheese and cold meat stolen from the kitchen. Riley didn't like eating with the other boys, and he didn't want to watch TV or play video games with them afterwards either. In fact, he didn't like being with the other boys at all.

The other boys seemed to have the same kind of feelings towards him, too, so they generally just ignored each other happily. Thus, most of the time he spent at the orphanage he was there, in the attic, or in the fields surrounding it. Sometimes, even on the top of a tree.

He sometimes went to the nearest town and spent some time with some of the kids down there, or just sitting in the town's square or the local market, watching the people. Some of the grownups sometimes talked with him, or they gave him some small toy or something to eat, but they were so used to seeing him there that no one really gave him a second thought.

Riley was nine, slender and a bit short, lithe and flexible, but also strong and tough enough to be able to make the other boys at the orphanage leave him alone. He had long dark hair, but so unkempt and tangled that it didn't have any appeal at all. He himself was usually so dirty and ragged that sometimes he seemed more a beggar than one of the boys of the orphanage.

The orphanage was nice, and the carers were mostly okay, but Riley just didn't want to be there, he didn't feel like he belonged there, and he did all he could to make that clear. There had been a time when the carers forced him to behave, to be with the other boys, to follow the orphanage's timetable and its rules. Every time the kid had been forced to behave, he had retaliated angrily, always causing as many problems as he could. He had been punished in every possible way, but that didn't seem to discourage him at all. At last, they had almost given up on him. He was usually left on his own, and he didn't cause any problems to anyone anymore. It was a fair agreement.

Riley was used to moving freely, both inside and outside the building. He knew every hole and hideout, and could move extremely quietly, even climbing or crawling. The other boys said that he could get in and out of anywhere, without making a noise, he agreed with them.

He never had any parents, siblings or any kind of family. The police found him abandoned in a local waste dump, with no clues about his origins, and he had lived all his life in the orphanage. He would really have liked to meet his parents sometime, just to tell them to their face, how much he hated them. But that was probably never going to happen.

He was given the name Riley by the orphanage staff, and the judge had assigned the orphanage's name as his last name. He was, thus, Riley Willow.

He had never liked the clothes provided by the orphanage, they constantly reminded him that he didn't really belong anywhere. He hated everything related to the orphanage, to his parents and even to himself. He used to go to the town and get his own clothes, usually from charity, or hand-me-downs from some other children in town. He liked getting clothes for girls, they usually felt softer and nicer, but, on the other hand, the boy's clothes could usually withstand better the effects of rough play.
 
 
He finished his dinner, and then put on his hiking boots, a pair of old ragged jeans, a comfy t-shirt and a black and pink hoodie and decided to get out of the building. He didn't want to face anyone there. Even though there was no good reason for him to loathe all of them, he just did. He finally went out through a window in the attic, and then down using a drainpipe.

The sky was clear, and a nice crescent moon lit up the fields. He decided to go to the woods, then maybe to the town. He was used to improvising his route, not planning beforehand too much and usually just deciding on the fly where to go. He arrived at a clearing that he knew well and threw himself on the grass. The clearing was, in fact, an almost unused country road. It was a bit cold, but he didn't mind at all. He felt free.

He had almost fallen asleep, when he was woken up by the noise of some motor vehicle. He slid behind a tree and saw a big black van coming along the road. Its motor was unusually quiet, and it had no lights. It was obvious that whoever it was, didn't want to be seen. It wasn't moving very fast, probably to keep the noise low. He decided to follow the van; he could probably match its pace if he walked fast, as long as he used some shortcuts where the road had to take a longer path.

The van stopped near Redwood Manor, one of the most important buildings around, standing majestically on the top of a hill. They were probably closer than a mile from the building, still hidden by the trees.

The doors of the van opened, and several people came out of it. They were dressed in black, with their heads totally covered. He couldn't see them properly in the dark, but from the way they moved they seemed to be women. In no time, they took three motorbikes out of the van, climbed on them, started their engines, which were also unusually quiet, and off they went, without lights, same as the van.

Another woman stayed outside the van, as if waiting for something, or just looking around, while one more person stayed inside it, probably in case they had to get away quickly.

Riley would really have liked to get closer to the van, his curiosity was killing him, but there was no way to do it without being noticed. Unexpectedly, after some quarter of an hour, maybe twenty minutes, what seemed to be the driver started talking into a walkie-talkie, or something like that.

Riley couldn't hear anything from where he was, but he could sense that something seemed not to be going right. He still didn't know if the driver was a man or a woman, but as the rest of them were women, he expected her to be one too. She came out of the van, talked to the other woman outside, and then they took another motorbike and a small 4-wheeled vehicle out of the van, kind of a quad. They got on their vehicles and left, following the path the other women had taken.

It was Riley's chance. He ran towards the van, opened its back doors, and entered. There were quite a lot of tools all around, as well as electronic devices and what seemed to be different kinds of weapons. He definitely couldn't make out what most of the things were.

He was about to get out of the van to inspect the driving compartment, when he suddenly heard the noise of the engines coming back. He had to run or hide, no time for thinking.

He decided to hide.
 
 
There were some blankets in the deeper part of the van, behind the tools, and Riley was quite small. He was also used to being able to hide almost anywhere without being found. He ran there, hid himself in an impossibly small space, and got covered with the oldest and dirtiest blankets, as it was less likely that they would use them. In a moment, they were already back. They put the quad and the motorbikes inside the van, got inside themselves and closed the door, then the van started moving.

Even though they didn't turn on any lights, they didn't seem to have a problem managing there. They were probably wearing some device that allowed them to see in the dark or something. As Riley couldn't even risk leaving his hiding place to have a look, he just couldn't see anything at all.

They didn't talk very much, they seemed to be concerned about something, but never said exactly what. One of them had been apparently hurt, but it didn't seem to be too serious. Probably by a bullet, but Riley really wasn't sure about it, with all those monosyllables, whispers and unfinished sentences.

The trip was quite long, longer than he would have expected, probably over an hour. Of course, the van wasn't exactly moving at full speed, and they were going through country roads, so it might not have been too far away, after all.

At some point, the van stopped, the doors were open and the women got out. Riley waited. He didn't want to risk being discovered.

Before he even dared to start moving, he heard a voice, and his heart sank.
 
 
"Come on, kiddo, I know you're there. You can get out now."

Riley poked his head out from under the blanket, and looked through a little slit, he was still hidden behind some stuff.

"We don't have all day. Come on, get out. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen."

He finally got out from under the blanket and stood up. One of the women was there, at the door, looking at him. She was still totally covered in black. He tried a little smile, and noticed that she seemed to be smiling back. He got out of the van.

"How did you know I was here?", he dared to ask. "I didn't do anything that could be noticed."

"We're not beginners, you know?", she answered. "We knew you were there from the first moment."

"Come here, let me see you", she added.

Riley got closer to her. She took off her night vision glasses, and looked at him with bright green eyes.

"You don't take very much care of yourself, do you girl?", she asked. He just shook his head and shrugged. The woman seemed to have confused him for a girl. He didn't really mind.

"So, what do we do with you now? Where do you come from?", she asked again.

She seemed a nice woman, but he also knew she could be a dangerous one. He started to explain to her who he was and where he came from. Except that he was a boy. She seemed to think that Riley was a girl, and he thought it might be better not to correct her. As Riley was telling his story to her, she was just listening and nodding. She put a hand on his shoulder and took him away to keep talking. The rest of the women were taking care of the stuff that was still inside the van.

"What do you think we can do with you now, Riley?", she asked.

"Dunno", replied Riley. He really didn't know what options he had. Were they going to return him to the orphanage? Were they leaving him here? Were they taking him with them? Would they kill him? All those thoughts were inside his head, when she asked that question.

"Come on, sweetheart. Let's get inside the trailer."

He looked in front of him and saw an enormous truck. The other women were putting the motorbikes, the quad and all the rest inside it. The van was apparently going to be kept hidden inside a fake cabin in the woods. Riley got into the trailer, followed by the woman who had been questioning him. She led him to a small living area and sat him on a couch. He was so tired he almost fell asleep, straight away.

"You want to bring her with us?", asked another of the women. "Are you crazy?"

"At least until we know what to do with her. She's not going to be a problem", answered the first one. "She seems to be a nice girl", she added. "I don't expect her to give us problems. She might even be able to help us at some point."

"Well, she's your pet, you take care of her", replied the other woman, a bit annoyed. "I don't want to spend my time changing diapers."

"Yeah. I'll take care of her, don't worry."

At some point, Riley fell asleep.
 

---

 
 
End of Part 1
 
Thanks to Amrad, Sephrena and everyone that helped me fix most of the grammar and ortographic mistakes in the text, as well as improve its layout. The remaining mistakes are still my fault, and I apologize for them.
 

---

"Well, she's your pet, you take care of her", replied the other woman, a bit annoyed. "I don't want to spend my time changing diapers."

"Yeah. I'll take care of her, don't worry."

At some point, Riley fell asleep.

---

 
 
Ninja Girl - Part 2
 
Riley woke up as someone was gently shaking him.

“Come on, sweetie. Time to get out of here”, said the woman softly. She still had her face hidden behind her ski mask, or maybe she had put it on to wake him up, but he was only able to see her green eyes again. There seemed to be some tenderness in them, but also some forceful determination.

There were no windows looking out onto the exterior, so there was no way to even guess the time of the day. No more than a few hours could have passed since they entered the trailer, because Riley was still feeling tired.

Getting out of there didn’t really help much, as the trailer seemed to be parked in what apparently was a big garage. There were many other interesting vehicles and things around, probably about a dozen of them, including what looked like a helicopter in one of the corners. The garage was quite dark, though, and the woman, who was holding his hand, got them out of there so quickly that he could only give it a glance.

“Lets have something for breakfast and then you can sleep a bit more if you like”, said the woman while they were walking up some stairs. “I bet you’re starving”.

Riley simply nodded and kept following her.

“After that”, she continued, “I’ll get you a shower and some clothes. Sorry baby, you really stink, and those clothes are almost rags. When was the last time you washed your hair? Will that be okay for you, hun?”

“Yes ma’am”, replied Riley. “What will happen after that?”, he dared to ask.

“We don't know yet. You’ll probably have to stay some days with us, and later we’ll take you back to where you lived. Just behave, be a good girl, and do everything I tell you. Will you, sweetie?”

Riley nodded again.
 
 
The woman prepared some cereals with milk and a glass of orange juice for both of them, in a small kitchenette, but she just pulled her ski mask up to her mouth, instead of removing it completely. It was obvious that she was being careful that Riley wasn’t able to recognize her once they took him back.

Afterwards, she led him to a bathroom attached to a big bedroom, where she started to prepare a bath for the kid.

“Lets get you clean and pretty, okay, hun?”

The woman inspected his hair carefully. It was very long, it almost reached his waist, but as it was so dirty, tangled and full of knots, it really didn’t have much appeal.

“How did you manage to make this mess out of your hair, love? Did you ever clean or comb it?”, she asked rhetorically after carefully inspecting it. “I’m seriously considering cutting off part of it, I don’t think anyone would be able to untangle it all, and I believe it would be more manageable and pretty. What do you think, hun?”, she asked Riley.

He just shrugged.

“Now, take your bath, and clean yourself thoroughly”, she finished.

She lifted his chin with her hand, looked into his eyes, and asked again, “I really mean what I said about cleaning and cutting your hair, I bet you’d really look beautiful then. What do you think?”

“I’d like that”, he agreed.

“Ma’am?”, he managed to ask.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“What does “thorly” mean?”, he asked, coyly.

The woman chuckled and could hardly contain a smile. “It means that you have to clean yourself very carefully, rub yourself with the sponge and make sure that every single inch of your body is clean and neat. And don’t forget to clean behind your ears!”

He simply nodded.

“Now, off to your bath. I’ll try to find some clothes for you meanwhile, I don’t think we can save those", she said. “Stay in the bath until I come back, just don’t go running around, okay?”

Riley managed to clean himself very thoroughly, just as the woman had ordered. He was quite worried about her coming and finding out that he wasn’t really a girl, but there wasn’t much that he could do about it for the moment. He filled the bath with as many soap bubbles as he could, just in case.

The woman came back a bit later, offered to rub his back and washed his hair meticulously, until all traces of dirt were gone. She didn’t seem to notice anything strange with the girl, and Riley just played shy to avoid her seeing him totally in the nude.

She put some clothes onto a stool, and told Riley to get dressed and go to the bedroom, then she went out of the bathroom and closed the door. As he had expected, it was a whole set of girls’ clothes she had left for him. He dressed as quickly as he could and went out to the bedroom in his tights, denim skirt and hooded top.
 
 
There were two women there. Both of them were wearing their ski masks.

“I’m totally useless with the hair, honey, so I asked a friend of mine to help us make you pretty. Do you mind?”, said one of the women, the one that been looking after him the whole time.

“I’d be glad to help, sweetheart”, added the other woman. “Will you let me cut a bit of your hair and style it? I promise to make you really pretty!”, she added, cheerfully.

Riley simply nodded, but couldn’t help smile at them.

The other woman started working on his hair, cutting and untangling it carefully, and giving him some bangs in the process. Both women nodded in agreement and seemed to smile behind their masks.

“Come on, love, lets see how you like it”, said the other woman, bringing him in front of a mirror. It was indeed a lovely style. Riley smiled happily and thanked them. That earned him a pair of hugs.

“Now, we have some important stuff to do, baby”, said the first of the women. “Can I trust you to be a good girl and stay here until I can get back? It’ll only be a few hours”. “Listen baby”, she added, “you can sleep a bit if you want, you can watch TV, you can use my little gym here”, she added, pointing to an adjacent room with a few workout tools, gym mats and wooden wall bars.

“I know that you’re a very curious girl. I bet you’re dying to get out of here and have a look around. I expect you not to do it. I trust you to behave and not go out of here. I’m sure that you won’t disappoint me, am I right? I’m sure you know we’ll find out if you do”, she asked, looking at Riley with a serious look on her face, until he nodded in agreement. Once he did, the tenderness went back to her face; she lifted her ski mask a bit and kissed him in his forehead. “That’s my girl”, she added, smiling proudly.

Riley had a look around the room and the small gym. There was a window from where he could see the countryside. The sun was already in the sky. He didn’t dare to open the window, or to check if he could open the door. He didn’t hear the lock when the women left, but he didn’t even feel like checking. After almost an hour, he was bored enough to go to the bed and sleep a bit. It had been a long night.
 
 
It was already afternoon when the sound of the door being opened woke him up. He got up and looked at the woman who had just entered. He felt rested and relaxed.

”Whoever could think that there was such a cute girl hidden under all that dirt and rags? How did you sleep, baby?”, she said after entering the room.

He smiled at her. She smiled back, or so it seemed, behind her ski mask.

The following days happened in the same kind of fashion. The woman would make him breakfast, leave him alone in the room for most of the day, watching TV or playing in the small gym, she would bring him something for lunch and dinner and she would sleep for a few hours on a couch in the room. She managed to bring him more girls’ clothes, including some dresses, and had been very insistent on him having a daily bath, combing his hair, cleaning his teeth and generally taking care of his hygiene. The kid was starting to resemble a lovely girl, instead of the hobo they found in the van some days ago.
 

---

 
 
End of Part 2
 
Lots of thanks to Amrad for helping me fix most of the grammar and ortographic mistakes in the text! The remaining mistakes are still my fault, and I apologize for them.
 

---

The following days happened in the same kind of fashion. The woman would make him breakfast, leave him alone in the room for most of the day, watching TV or playing in the small gym, she would bring him something for lunch and dinner and she would sleep for a few hours on a couch in the room. She managed to bring him more girls’ clothes, including some dresses, and had been very insistent on him having a bath each day, combing his hair, cleaning his teeth and generally taking care of his hygiene. The kid was starting to resemble a lovely girl, instead of the hobo they found in the van some days ago.

---

 
 
Ninja Girl - Part 3
 
After some days living wherever they were, it was time to move out of there. One evening, after dinner, the woman told him that they’d have to pack his things and get ready for the departure.

“We’re leaving in a couple of hours, sweetie. Take your bath and get dressed while I prepare our baggage”, she said. “Put on your pajamas”, she clarified.

Soon they were down in the large garage, getting into the big trailer again. The woman led Riley through the small living area inside the trailer, into a room with bunk beds.

“I need you to go to sleep for a while, hun”, she told him in a soft sweet voice. “I’ll give you a little pill that’ll help you sleep while we’re on the road. Will that be all right, baby?”

“Will you still be there when I wake up?”, he asked with a concerned voice. “You’re not getting rid of me, are you?”

“No, babe. I’m not doing that. I promise you that I’ll still be here when you wake up”, she answered, then gave him a warm hug. He just nodded, took the pill and went to sleep.
 
 
It was already morning when Riley woke up. He was in a strange bed in an unknown room, probably a motel. The woman was sitting on the other bed in the room, and another woman was standing by a small kitchenette that was there, a mask also covered her head, looking silently at him.

“Morning, sleepyhead”, the woman said to him as he was getting up. “Did you sleep okay?”, she asked sweetly. Riley just nodded.

“Listen baby, I’m sorry but we can’t take you back home yet. You’re being such a good girl. It’ll be only a few more days and you’ll be home again. How does that sound?”, she asked, excited that he would be happy about it.

“I... I don’t want to go back there. That’s not my home. The orphanage is not my home. I don’t have no home”, answered Riley ashamed, his eyes fixed on the floor.

The woman nodded, then approached him and hugged him in silence for almost a minute, stroking his hair sweetly.

“Go to the bathroom, and we’ll prepare something for breakfast meanwhile, okay love?”, she finally asked him.

He got up, went into the bathroom, and took care of his needs. Both women turned to him as he came back into the room. They were both still wearing their boring black ski masks. Riley hoped that sometime they would trust him enough to let him see their faces, but he didn’t think he could do anything about it at the moment.

The woman seemed to be thinking deeply about something, then she started to talk to him again.

“Honey, listen", she said, looking Riley in the eyes. "We'll have to stay here for today, and we just can’t go out, okay? I know it’s probably going to be boring; we’ll just have to try to make the most of it. In the evening, we will have something to do, but, as we’re not coming back here again later, you’ll have to come with us”.

The woman paused for a moment, then continued.

“I need you to be the best girl you can be, behave as well as you have been doing, and do exactly what we tell you. Can you do that?”

Riley answered nodding. “Yes. Please take me with you. I will behave, I will do whatever you tell me, I will be the best girl in the world!”.

“That’s my girl!”, replied the woman again, hugging him again.
 
 
When the evening came, the two women picked up everything that they had brought in, and cleaned the room exhaustively. Riley was given some black leggings and a top, hiking boots, and one of those ski masks.

“Put these clothes on, baby. I’ll help you with the mask later”, said the woman.

When he had finished dressing in those dark clothes, the woman helped him put his hair in a ponytail, and hid it under his top. She then put some headphones onto his head, with a microphone attached over his mouth.

“Listen honey, I’m going to connect the intercoms. Once it is on, you can listen to whatever we say, and we will be able to listen to you. Don’t talk, don’t say anything until we tell you otherwise, okay?”, she asked, explaining things as clearly as she could.

“All of us have birds’ names. I’m Falcon, and she is Cassie", she added, signaling to the other woman, who nodded. “Cassie is short for cassowary, one of the most dangerous birds on earth.”

“You’re going to be Robin, so whenever we say Robin, we mean you. Are you following me, dear?”, she asked for confirmation.

“Yes, ma’am. You’re Falcon, she’s Cassie, and I am Robin, I won’t talk until you tell me to”, explained Riley back.

Falcon nodded in agreement, turned on the intercom, and put a mask onto his face carefully.

“One last thing, baby, whenever you say something, finish it with the word 'over', to let us all know that you have finished talking”, she added.

They put all their stuff in a SUV parked by the hotel, got into it and started driving. Riley didn’t dare say a word. He was so glad they let him stay with them, that he didn’t want to spoil it in any way.

They parked near a building complex that announced itself as a military hospital. “Now, listen Robin”, said Falcon, looking directly at his eyes and using his new nickname, “You stay here, in the car, and don’t move, whatever happens. We have to do something around here, and we’ll be back as soon as we can”, she explained as easily as she could. “if anything strange happens, if somebody comes or something like that, you tell us through the intercom. If things get weird, you run away and get the hell out of here, okay?”

Riley nodded, then said, “Yes, Falcon, I will do that”.

Everything was calm for a while, Riley was looking carefully everywhere from the car, while listening to incomprehensible cryptic messages being spoken by 5 or 6 different voices through the intercom. Apparently Falcon and Cassie had to get something before Rhea, Jay and some others, triggered something or another.

After a while, Rhea ordered her companions to start the fireworks, whatever that meant. Then, after about twenty minutes or so, Riley saw some shadows in the nearby streets, which he thought were probably cars.

“Falcon, I’m seeing some cars around here”, he said through the intercom for the first time. “I don’t know if it’s important but you asked me to tell you everything”. “Over”, he added, remembering Falcon’s instructions.

“Thanks Robin. Cassie, we’ll get the fuck out of here right now! Over!”, said Falcon via the intercom while Riley kept seeing cars being positioned in the nearby streets.

Falcon and Cassie came in just a few minutes with two big boxes filled with folders, papers and piles of documents. They put them in the SUV, and drove out of the area as soon as they could. Meanwhile, all hell was starting to break out around them, police cars and fire engines with their sirens wailing, were passing by towards somewhere unknown to Riley in a very big hurry, as well as some helicopters.

They drove away for a while, then moved on to a secondary road, passing through some smaller villages. After a time, they took a rural road, drove to an isolated house, and hid the car inside the garage, locking the door afterwards. There was another car already parked there, as well as two motorbikes.

The two women came out of the car; Falcon hugged Riley and took him out of it, removed his mask, then removed hers. Cassie also removed hers.

They both were younger than Riley had at first expected. Falcon was probably in her late twenties, had medium-length reddish brown hair and a lovely smile. Cassie was probably just a bit older, and had cute, spiky, blonde hair. She had an odd smirk on her face, as if she found the whole situation funny.

“Come on, baby. Let’s go upstairs and get changed”, said Falcon, picking up their clothes with one hand and holding his hand with the other. “We’ll make something for dinner while Cassie finishes some stuff here”.

“Get out of those clothes and put on something nice. At least we will be able to have a proper meal. We’ll probably be stuck here for some days”, she explained.

Riley looked through his clothes and finally decided on a green and white, embroidered dress.
“Will this be okay?”, he asked, holding it against his body.

“That will be perfect, princess”, answered the woman, with a smile.

He went into the bathroom, took care of his needs and dressed in the lovely dress. He was starting to like that. It made him feel pretty. He went back to the room where he found Falcon, who had already changed clothes, waiting for him. He just walked up to her and hugged her very tightly. She kissed his forehead.

“Come on, baby, we still have to make dinner”, and they went towards the kitchen holding hands.
 

---

 
 
End of Part 3
 
Lots of thanks to Amrad for helping me fix most of the grammar and ortographic mistakes in the text! The remaining mistakes are still my fault, and I apologize for them.
 

---

He went into the bathroom, took care of his needs and dressed in the lovely dress. He was starting to like that. It made him feel pretty. He went back to the room where he found Falcon, who had already changed clothes, waiting for him. He just walked up to her and hugged her very tightly. She kissed his forehead.

“Come on, baby, we still have to make dinner”, and they went towards the kitchen holding hands.

---

 
 
Ninja Girl - Part 4
 
Dinner was nice. Falcon and Riley had been working on it in the kitchen; while Cassie was going through the documents they acquired on their recent sortie. Falcon took the opportunity to teach him some basic stuff about cooking. She was initially surprised that he knew absolutely nothing about it, but considering what he had already told her about his previous life, it made complete sense.

They didn’t say anything about what had happened out there, or in the military hospital, or in Redwood Manor. Riley was just happy to be there, and whatever was happening between Falcon and himself, was far more important to him than any of that stuff.

“You know, honey”, started Falcon, “I was wondering why you didn’t get along with anyone at the orphanage, when you were living there. You are a lovely girl, well behaved, friendly, and you don’t seem to have problems being with people, at least, not with us”, she wondered.

“Well, I didn’t like them. They didn’t like me either, they were not family, they were not friends, it was just their job”, replied Riley.

“Oh, yes, it probably was, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t care for you and that they couldn't be friends, does it? And what about the other kids there?”, asked Falcon.

“Once, one of the carers told me, when I was very little - dunno, about 4 maybe? That it did not matter to him whatever happened to me, that I was just a job to him”, he answered.

“How could someone say something like that?”, replied Falcon, outraged.

“Well, I had done some bad things and he was very angry with me”, said Riley, a bit ashamed, “I thought about what he said, and, well, I guess he was right”.

“Is that why you didn’t want anything to do with any of them? Because of what he said to you?”, she asked again, still a bit upset with that carer.

“Uh huh”, nodded Riley. “I just needed to get away from them, I couldn’t stand them at all. I hate them. I kinda made friends with some kids in the town."

“At first the carers tried to force me to obey their rules and be one of their kids”, he continued, “but I made them leave me alone.”

Falcon simply nodded, and hugged him.
 
 
The three of them had dinner together: Falcon, Cassie and Riley. Cassie wasn’t a big talker, but you could tell that she was a great listener, and that she cared about things. Falcon and Riley, on the other hand, seemed to like chatting. All in all, they had a nice conversation about all and nothing, and about those very important things in life that you usually talk about when having dinner.

After dinner, Falcon said that she needed to have a very important conversation with Riley; it would have far reaching consequences for his future.

“Listen, honey, and listen carefully, because this is important”, started Falcon. “I like you, and after all we’ve discussed, I don’t think that you’d like to go back to the orphanage, am I right?”, she asked very seriously, looking him in the eyes. Riley just nodded, acknowledging the importance of the conversation.

“I’ve been thinking about it”, she continued, “and I thought that you might want to stay with me. It’s not gonna be easy for any of us. As you’ve seen, I’m involved in quite delicate matters, and it’s quite likely that sometime you will be too. You’ll have to be very obedient with whatever I ask of you, and at some point you’ll just have to trust me”. Riley’s face lit up when he heard that he could stay with her, and he started to smile happily.

“I need you to think about it”, she finished, signaling with her hand for him not to say a word. “I really mean it. Think about it tonight, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow, all right, baby?”

He just nodded again, then hugged her very tightly and let a couple of happy tears flow from his eyes. She kissed him on the forehead and finally sent him to bed.

When Riley woke the next morning, he washed, dressed and went down to the kitchen. Falcon was there, making breakfast, she smiled at him as soon as he entered.

“Good morning, sweetie”, she greeted him.

There was a small TV in a corner of the kitchen. The news was showing some accident that had happened the previous evening, involving a train, which ended up in flames. Apparently, the police suspected it hadn't really been an accident. Falcon turned it off, and served some breakfast for Riley and herself, and sat with him at the table.

“I want to stay with you”, said Riley, not even waiting for her to raise the issue.

“I thought you would”, she replied, smiling. “You’re my baby now, then?”, she asked, with a smile on her face. He just nodded in agreement.
 
 
After lunch, Falcon told Riley to go with Cassie and her to the woods. Falcon produced a gun, took all the bullets out of it, and gave it to Riley.

“This is a nine millimetre gun, honey. Play a bit with it to get familiar with its weight and shape”, explained Falcon. “Now, we’re going to teach you how to use it. We want you to learn, in case you eventually need it, but listen to me carefully”, Falcon looked Riley directly in the eye when she said this, “you’ll never ever take any gun unless I tell you to. Never. I’m very serious about it”. She continued, “Remember what I told you about a condition to stay with me, it is to behave?”, he nodded. “Well, I trust you to behave, so don’t disappoint me. Okay, love?”

“Yes”, answered Riley seriously. “I’ll never ever touch it unless you tell me to. “I promise”.

“Good girl!”, Falcon praised Riley. “Now, pay attention to what Lisa says”, she continued, pointing at Cassie.

“Her real name is Lisa and I’m Allie”, added Falcon, clarifying the names, “but whenever we’re talking through the intercoms you have to remember to use our bird names, not our real ones. You can do that, can't you, honey?” Riley replied with a nod.

“Lisa is the best with firearms”, continued Allie, alias Falcon, pointing to the gun. “She’s all yours, Lisa”, she added.

Lisa, or Cassie, briefly explained to him how the gun worked, then had Riley handle it without bullets, to get used to its weight and shape. She showed him how to shoot, aiming at different things in the woods, finally giving it to him so he could try it himself.

His first shot was awful, due to the gun's huge recoil, even though Lisa had alerted him to it, but he didn't lose his balance. He got better at it, even though he never came even close to any of the selected targets, after a while, he was able to fire it almost properly. Lisa and Allie seemed happy with his progress.

“Go up to your room and pretty yourself up, will you, honey?”, said Allie, after getting back to the house. “We’re having visitors for dinner”, she added. “Your room”, thought Riley. It sounded so nice. He smiled happily.

“Yes, mummy!”, he replied. Falcon looked with tender eyes at her new baby, as he was scooting up to his room. They seemed to be bonding faster than she had expected. It felt nice.

There weren’t many clothes from which to choose, but some were really cute, so he went through them, trying to decide what he fancied most. He initially went for a dress, but finally decided on a pleated skirt and a lovely printed top.

“Can you help me with my hair, please?”, he begged Allie, after coming back down.

“Of course, cutie. Let me brush it a bit. What about braids?”, she asked him.

“Yes! That would be great!”. She sat him down and started brushing his hair until it was fully untangled, then proceeded to make two braids and finally brushed his bangs.

“There you are! The cutest girl I’ve ever seen”, proclaimed Allie.

Riley just went to her and hugged her. “Thank you, mummy, for everything”.

“You’re so welcome, baby. Come on, we have a lot of things to do in the kitchen before our guests come!”, said Allie, taking Riley by the hand and bringing him along.

The dinner was almost ready when their guests arrived. Riley was getting more comfortable in the kitchen, and Allie had started to teach him some essentials of cooking. Lisa opened the door and let in a woman and a girl.

The woman was very athletic, with middle length blond hair. It was quite obvious that she was related to Lisa, maybe her sister or something. The girl, probably her daughter, was maybe about thirteen or fourteen years old and had her long blond hair in a high ponytail. She had a lovely smile.

“So this is the famous Robin”, said the woman when she first saw Riley. “She’s as lovely as you said, Allie”, complimenting him. Riley blushed with embarrassment.

“Honey”, said Allie, making the introductions. “This is Melanie, and her daughter Ariana. Mel, Ari, this is Riley. Just so you know, Mel is Piper on the intercom, and Ari is Hawk. They’re staying with us tonight; Ariana will sleep with you in your room, in the other bed. Will that be okay, baby?”

Riley just nodded, and greeted the guests with a “Hi!”

“Hi, Rye”, said Ariana, with a friendly smile and shortening his name.

End of Part 4
 
 
Lots of thanks to Amrad for helping me fix most of the mistakes in the text! Also thanks to and Cat Lochley. The remaining mistakes are still my fault, and I apologize for them.
 

---

“Honey”, said Allie, making the introductions. “This is Melanie, and her daughter Ariana. Mel, Ari, this is Riley. Just so you know, Mel is Piper on the intercom, and Ari is Hawk. They’re staying with us tonight; Ariana will sleep with you in your room, in the other bed. Will that be okay, baby?”

Riley just nodded, and greeted the guests with a “Hi!”

“Hi, Rye”, said Ariana, with a friendly smile and shortening his name.

---

 
 
Ninja Girl - Part 5
 
Ariana turned out to be a lovely girl, and, despite the age difference, she seemed to be getting on quite well with Riley.

Right after diner, the grownups were having such a serious conversation about something, that was boring Riley and Ariana to death.

“It’s gonna be nice to have another girl around, for a change”, commented Ari to Riley. “it will be like having a little sister”.

“You don’t have any sisters?”, asked Riley, wondering about Ari’s family.

“Nope. I have a brother, but he is with dad”, she answered.

“Oh”, replied Riley, “Where is your dad?”

“Well, they are in the men’s team, logically. You know, most of the people are usually transferred to the reserve when they have kids, but mum and dad wanted to keep active”, explained Ariana, “they wanted to continue serving their country. I bet your mum will also do that, even though she has adopted you”.

“Mummy adopted me?”, exclaimed Riley, happily surprised

“Well, of course, Rye!”, Answered Ari, “That’s why she’s your mummy now!”

Riley kept chatting with Ari, but his mind was somewhere else. At some point, without any particular reason, he got up and hugged Allie tightly. Surprised, she hugged him back.

“Wow!”, she exclaimed, seconds later, “One can get used to this! Are you okay, love?”

“I love you, mummy!”, was Riley’s only answer.

“I love you too, baby”, replied Allie, hugging him again.
 
 
Later in the night, when they both were in their beds, Riley asked Ariana, “Why is there a men’s team and a women’s team?”

“Well, it seems that having mixed teams was causing some trouble, so they decided to have separate teams. They work so well now, that no one’s really willing to make any change”, Answered Ari, shortly before they both fell asleep.
 
 
Next day was a really intensive one, Ariana woke up Riley very early to make him do their morning exercises with her.

“Come on, don’t be lazy, Rye. You have to stay in good shape and become a strong and agile girl to be able to help your mum when she needs you”, Ari encouraged him. Seeing that she had a point, Riley decided that she wanted to do that, and stay fit for Allie.

“Remember that maybe at some point, your mum’s life, and all of our lives, might depend on you being able to do whatever you’re told. And you will have to be ready to do it", she told him with an unusual seriousness on her face. Riley just nodded in agreement. He was realizing that this was indeed something important and didn’t want to disappoint either his mummy or Ariana.

“Good girl!”, said Ari, giving him a hug.

The small gym in the house was enough for them to start doing some exercises, after a light breakfast. A bit later, the others also came down to the gym. Allie was proud of how her new baby was making his best efforts to keep up with them.

Allie also wanted to find out if Riley was able to ride behind her on the motorbike, so they all went for a short ride after lunch.

Afterwards, in the afternoon, Lisa kept teaching him about guns, and later Ariana enjoyed herself styling Riley’s hair.

Riley was starting to get worried about not being a girl. He surely felt at home there, and had never before felt happier. He had a lovely mummy that loved him without reservation, and was doing the best he could to make her proud of him. But, when all was said and done, he was still a boy, and nothing he could do would change that. What would happen when they found out? Would they send him to the men’s team? He really didn’t want to go there, he wanted to be in this women’s team, with his mum and his new friends.

It was difficult for him to fall asleep that night.
 
 
A couple of days later, they gathered together all their belongings again. The five of them dressed in black leggings, tops, masks and boots, and went into a dark SUV. Later, they switched to a black van, quite similar to the first that Riley had seen. There were also some motorbikes stored inside. Two other women joined them, but no one talked very much.

The night had already fallen when they finally stopped.

“Baby, I need you to do whatever I ask of you. No questions, no doubts. Whatever you want to ask, I’ll tell you afterwards. Right now I need you to blindly obey me, no matter what. Will you be able to do that?”, asked Allie. He nodded, then added, “Yes mummy, I will do whatever you tell me, no questions. I love you”. She couldn’t help smiling at her baby and hugging him tightly.

“Remember to use the bird names on the radio, baby”, Allie reminded him, as she put the intercom on his head. “You’re Robin and I’m Falcon", she said, then continued, “they are Cassie”, she pointed to Lisa, “Piper and Hawk”, indicating Mel and Ari, “and Harrier and Kite”, she finished, pointing to the new women. “Kite, you already know, she cut and styled your hair the first day, do you remember her?”

Riley nodded and smiled at Kite. She smiled back.

Allie made Riley repeat all the code names twice, to make sure he got them, and then, they all finished getting ready. All of them, including Riley, put on some strange glasses that allowed them to see in the dark, even though everything seemed to be green. After checking that all their devices and tools worked perfectly, they brought four motorbikes down and got on them.

Harrier and Hawk (that is, one of the new women and Ariana), stayed in the van, while the rest got on the motorbikes. On one of the motorbikes, Riley sat behind Allie, hugging her.
 
 
Riley wasn’t exactly sure what was happening. Two of the motorbikes went one way, two another. They stopped near a big house that seemed to be very heavily guarded. Allie told him in no uncertain terms, using hand signals, that he had to stay there, hidden, until she told him otherwise. The sounds in the intercom were very few and no longer than a word or two.

Suddenly, all of the lights in the big house went off, including the area surrounding it. Some seconds later, some dim emergency lighting came on, but didn’t provide enough light to see clearly without the night vision glasses.

Riley saw how the half dozen guards in the area surrounding the building were deactivated by different means, and how the four women moved almost freely in the yard. Finally, two of them entered the building, another one stayed outside, watching out, and the other one told him to in with her, which he did.

Once inside the building, they kept moving fast, until they reached a big office where two of the women were holding a man. Riley was sure that they were Cassie and Piper: his new mum and her sister.

“Okay, big man”, said Piper to the captive, with a really cold bitchy tone, “we want the safe open in ten minutes, with or without your help. If you give us the key, we’ll finish earlier and you’ll be happily alive. Otherwise we’ll be delayed a bit, and then someone will have to pray for your soul”

The man seemed scared. It didn’t take much to get the key and the numbers to open the safe from him. Falcon gave Robin her gun.

“Take this, and make sure this man doesn’t make any strange moves. If he does, don’t hesitate, just shoot. To the body, if you want to kill him, to the legs if you don’t, it’s up to you”, said Falcon, his mummy.

“You wouldn’t do it”, said the man, looking Robin in the eye. Robin looked at Falcon and asked, “Does he deserve it?”

“He certainly does”, said Falcon, with a harsh tone.

“Then I’ll do it”, finished Robin, pointing the gun directly at him. His pale face showed that he knew that Robin would certainly do it if necessary. Cassie was looking at them, amused, from the other part of the room.

A little later, they got back to the van with a box they had obtained from the safe. It seemed to be very important to the women, and, apparently, it was very fragile, as they were treating it with the greatest care.

They got into the van and, after driving for a while, switched to the trailer that Riley knew so well. That was the last he remembered before falling asleep. He woke up some time later, when the trailer was entering the garage and Allie led him to their room, to change into his pajamas and go to sleep.
 
 
“Morning, honey”, Allie greeted him when he awoke. He smiled happily and hugged her. “Wow, my baby is happy today, isn’t she?”, she added. “Lets join the others for breakfast!”

Allie led him through the big house. It was in fact the first time that he was able to see it, because he had not been allowed to leave the room when he had been here before. Now it seemed that they trusted him enough, so those limits were apparently off.

The building was furnished and decorated in a simple but comfortable way, and there were lots of rooms and corridors, but they didn’t really stray too far from where they had slept. He could hear more people around in the building, so this might be some kind of headquarters. He didn’t mind whatever other people might be around, though, as he was with his mummy.

End of Part 5
 
 
Lots of thanks to Amrad for helping me fix most of the mistakes in the text! The remaining mistakes are still my fault, and I apologize for them.
 

---

Allie led him through the big house. It was in fact the first time that he was able to see it, because he had not been allowed to leave the room when he had been here before. Now it seemed that they trusted him enough, so those limits were apparently off.

The building was furnished and decorated in a simple but comfortable way, and there were lots of rooms and corridors, but they didn’t really stray too far from where they had slept. He could hear more people around in the building, so this might be some kind of headquarters. He didn’t mind whatever other people might be around, though, as he was with his mummy.

---

 
 
Ninja Girl - Part 6
 
As they approached the core of the building, they were finding more and more people around. Most of them didn't seem especially sporty, or fit, or anything. They probably were more like bureaucrats or administrative staff or something like that. There were males and females, and many were carrying papers, or folders.

Allie, his mum, was still holding his hand while leading him through the corridors. They eventually met Ari, Mel and Lisa, who were were already waiting for them.

"Ari, please, can you take Riley to the kid's lounge for a while?", asked Allie, "we're going to have quite a busy morning".

"You might even meet Kyle and Richie", added Lisa, "They will probably be there by now. We'll go and pick you all up later".

"Really?", exclaimed Ariana excited. "They are here?"

Lisa nodded. Riley looked at Ariana wondering who they might be.

"Kyle is my brother, and Richie is my cousin. You're gonna love them!", she answered, smiling at Riley. "Richie and Kyle are sometimes more like brothers though", she added, explaining to him in a soft voice that their parents had effectively somehow adopted him as their own after their parents died.

"Come on, lets go!". She hold Riley's hand and took him along.
 
 
It wasn't really that far: going along the main corridor for a while, a door to the right, another corridor, stairs down to the lower floor and a couple of turns.

"Here we are", exclaimed Ariana, as she opened the door. "The lounge!".

They entered a big room that held some couches and chairs, a big plasma TV on a wall, a couple of billiard tables and some game consoles on the other end. On one side there was also a bunch of shelves with many books, some tables and chairs, making some kind of library.

There were a dozen teenagers in the room, all of them older than Riley, who was still dumbfounded.

"They are there!", exclaimed Ariana. "Come on!", she commanded, taking his hand again, and leading him towards three boys who were playing some car racing game.

Two of the boys were playing with the machine, while the other one was just looking. One of the players was blond, slightly shorter and younger than Ariana, and had her same nose and eyes. He paused the game as soon as he heard her, went almost running and hugged her tightly.

"Sis!", he exclaimed, "Gosh! I'm so happy to see you!"

The boy who was watching the game seemed a bit older, maybe sixteen or seventeen, and was almost 6 feet tall. He came walking towards them, amused.

"Richie!", called Ariana, after greeting her brother happily, "Wow! You have grown up a lot!"

"So have you, cousin!"

Kyle, the younger of the boys, suddenly noticed Riley, he turned towards him and smiled.

"Is this Riley, sis?", he asked Ariana.

"Yup, she is", she nodded. "Rye, this scatterbrain is Kyle, my charming and lovely brother!"

He laughed. "Hey! Nice to meet you!", he told Riley.

Riley looked at Kyle timidly. He definitely was a younger male version of Ariana.

"She is shy", explained Ariana, shrugging.

"Hey! Come on! You're almost our cousin now! You can't be shy with me!", complained Kyle, grinning.

Riley giggled softly despite her intents to keep a serious face.

"Is she ticklish?", Kyle asked his sister.

"Probably", she answered. "Only one way to find out".

"Don't you dare!", was Riley's reply, not very effective.

Kyle was nice and funny, Riley had the feeling that he might eventually end up liking him as much as he did Ariana.
 
 
"Daddy!", exclaimed Ariana a while later, when she saw the grownups coming, accompanied by a man.

She run towards him and hugged him tightly. He embraced her.

Riley went to Allie and hugged her too.

"So, this is little Riley?", asked the man.

"Yes, Jake, this is her. Honey, this is Ariana and Kyle's dad, Jake"

"Cute as a button. Nice to meet you, honey!"

Even though Ariana has Allie and Lisa's eyes, her smile was definitely her father's.
 
 

"Baby, wait a second”, called Allie in a quiet voice while the others were a bit ahead. She hugged him, then looked into his eyes and then spoke to him in a soft, gentle and quiet voice. "I love you, you're my baby no matter what. You know that, right honey?”.

Riley just nodded, still looking at her in the eye, not really knowing what to say or what all that was that about.

She tenderly pulled a strand of hair out of Riley's face and added softly: "If you ever need to tell me anything, no matter what, I won't love you any less, and I will still be here for you. Okay, honey?”.

She kissed him on the forehead and hugged him again, then took his hand and added: "Come on, princess! Lets join the others!”
 
 
"How would you like to go away for some days, like on holidays?", asked Lisa while they were having lunch.

"On holidays, mum?", asked Ariana, happily surprised. Lisa nodded.

"We're waiting for final confirmation, and for some documents", clarified Allie, "but the business we've been involved in lately has moved onto others' hands for some time, and we thought that it might be a good idea to get out of the way for a while, and to and have a few weeks for ourselves. How does that sound?”

The kids shouted and exclaimed happily. As expected, they all loved the idea. Kyle and Richie high-fived each other. Ariana grabbed Riley's hand and squeezed it gently. Then the suggestions started, and the conversation quickly turned into a heated debate about where would be the best place to go, though they finally weren't able to reach a agreement.

Being almost on holidays didn't mean the grownups were finished for the day, and was certainly not excuse for the kids to neglect their duties. Kyle, Richie and Ariana were being homeschooled, and they had tasks to do. Riley was still kind of free of studies, but predictably not for too long.

Riley had never really been a good student, or even a student of any kind. While in the orphanage, the carers were happy enough with him not causing trouble and they generally left him alone, and the teachers hadn't expected much from him on the first place. That was meant to change, though. Neither Allie, his new mum, nor his cousin Ariana would allow him to be kept illiterate.
 
 
That night, after Lisa, Jake and their kids left, Riley found himself alone with Allie again.

Riley was worried. He had been thinking about Ally's words before lunch. He was sure that she knew. He didn't want to be a boy anymore, maybe he had never really been one.

He was curled up on the bed, hugging his legs, already in his nightie, when Allie came in. She came to him and kissed him on the forehead.

"Mummy", he started, avoiding looking her in the eye. "Would you still love me if I was a boy?". There it was. He had managed to say it openly at last.

Allie sat on the bed with him and hugged him tenderly.

"I'd love you just the same, baby", she said. "Are you a boy?"

Riley shook his head. "I don't think so".

"Do you want to talk about it, hun?".

He nodded, and opened his whole heart to his mum.
 
 
"Sweetie, now that's in the open, do you want to go back to being a boy?"

"No!", he exclaimed, impulsively. Regaining his composture, he softened his voice and added, "May I continue being a girl, mummy?"

"Of course you can, honey. You are my little girl!"
 
 
"Hmmm... did you already know about me?", he finally managed to ask. "I mean today, when you talked to me in the lounge".

"Yes honey. I knew this morning. I should have known earlier, our information department is very proficient, but I was too busy. It doesn't matter to me anyway, you are who you are, and I love you."

"Are you disappointed in me?"

"Not in the least. Don't ever think that. Okay, baby?". She kissed him in the forehead.

"Not even for lying?"

"Not even for that. I understand that you were afraid and that it was hard for you. You now know that you can trust me for everything, no need to lie anymore, about anything, ever. All right, honey?"

Riley nodded. "No lies anymore. Ever". He smiled happily and snuggled in Allies' arms.
 
 
"Mummy, do we have to tell everyone?"

"About what, hun?"

"About me being a boy?"

"Of course not, sweetie. You don't need to tell anyone you don't want to. It is no one's business but yours."

"You might eventually find out anyway", she added, "that keeping it secret might create a barrier of trust with those you dearly love. I'm sure that you'll eventually want at least to talk to Ariana about it. Whenever you feel that you're ready for that, just tell me, okay love?"

"I will, Mummy!"

End of Part 6