October 2, 2025

I t was a rainy day in Albany, New York. I was sneaking through an alley trying to find a criminal who was trying to kill a store worker for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. My goal is to catch him and bring him to the spy school for questioning. I sneak up on the red-haired frail boy, who turns around and tries to shoot me. I dodge just ever so slightly and give him a roundhouse kick. He falls on his face with a loud crack. I try to tie him up, but he gets up and I struggle to keep him down. CRACK!!!! I hear. Then suddenly he passes out.

“What on earth??” I wonder. Then I see him, my partner, always trying to take my spotlight.

“What are you doing here, Levi?” I say, annoyed at him for taking the man out.

“Be lucky that I had a vision that you were bleeding,” he says, flipping off the building. “Also, Boss needs you for something, better hope you’re not in trouble because if you are…” he trails off like time has stopped.

“What’s wrong, Levi? Just realized that I’m better than you at everything?” I say sarcastically. But it does not look like he is in the mood to joke.

“It’s nothing, it’s just t-t-t-that we should get going.” It seems like he is changing the subject.

“Are you sure?” I ask, concerned.

“I said I’m fine!!!” Levi says in a harsh tone.

“Ok–ok calm down.”

We walked down the street; the rain made my hair stick to my bruised face. I tried to break the awkward silence between me and Levi by bringing up The Boss, but I was dumbfounded. We get to headquarters, and I instantly report to The Boss’s office. His office looks like Hades threw up all over the walls and the floor. I kneel, showing my respect for him. He nods, giving back  the gesture.

“So, what is the problem sir?” I ask, confused as to why he had called me to his office.

“I have called you here to tell you about a mission,” he says in his icy-cold voice.

“But I just finished one,” I say in a small voice.

“Well, I could not find anyone else capable of completing it,” he continues. The mission is to defeat Mr. X and bring him to headquarters for questioning. I am sending your partner Levi first so he can figure out some information.”

“But didn’t you just say I’m the only one capable of completing the mission?” I say in an annoyed tone.

“Well, you cannot go alone, then you will never get your wish granted,” he says in a booming voice. I realize what he is talking about. After I am dismissed, I slam the door to my room and start to cry hysterically because of what happened. I look at the picture of my parents then I fall asleep hugging them thinking about when I am going to see them again. I miss them so much ever since they died in that fire.

The next morning I was more energetic than normal. I tried to look for Levi, but he was not in his room. “Oh yeah, he is on the mission,” I say to myself. He should be back by now. Some of the searchers are gone. Then, I hear from one of my peers that Levi has gone missing. I wince thinking about what might have happened to him. “What if he got captured? If he is being tortured? What if….” I do not think about it. I get dressed in my usual outfit and head out the school to start my mission.

I walk through the rotting neighborhood my grandparents used to live in before they died. Then I see a faint orange light. My curiosity takes over and I walk in the direction of the strange glow. Going completely off course, I walk one more step until I see it—the source of the strange glow—it’s a house fire. It reminds me of so much. I stop in my tracks trying to keep from crying then I have a flashback.

It’s the day of my family’s Thanksgiving party. I’m four years old. I’m running around with my siblings, playing with Nerf guns. Suddenly I stop. I take jagged steps toward a drawer and grab a box of matches. I try to stop myself, but it is impossible. I cannot control it. Then I walk to the front porch.

My parents run over to me as I’m setting the house on fire. The house goes ablaze in just a few seconds. It looks like the fiery core of the earth. I run away while my siblings and parents perish in the fire. I go to a friend’s house and spend the night.

I wake up from my trance, muffled screaming coming from many directions. I try to stop the tears, but I cannot stop them. They dash out like a first-place winner of a marathon.

A firefighter comes up to me and in a booming voice asks, “Are you okay kid? Do you need to get in the ambulance? Were you hurt?”

I stop to pull myself together so I can look confident in front of the firefighter. “I’m fine, I was just taking my daily walk through this old neighborhood,” my voice trembles a little. I hope he does not notice this.

“Well, if you need anything we’ll be over there.” He points in the direction of the now smokey house. All burnt and dark like my broken heart. I run in the opposite direction of the house. I cry like I never had before. I let it all out instead of holding it in like I did so many times before. I reach a corner store and go inside. I gather up all the stuff that I can muster and pay for it. I always do this when I am done running. I sit on the steps leading up to the door and eat, thinking about how I am going to find the place where Mr. X is hiding. I take a couple of deep breaths and hop up off the steps. I hear static in my earpiece. It sounds like screaming in the background, then it goes quiet instead of the left over static.

I wandered near a hotel. My eyes are heavy with sleep. I do not have any more money, I wasted it all on my snacks. I go to the front desk and ask for a room. The clerk looks like sunshine itself, with a huge smile on her face like nothing matters in the world to her. She is frail with silvery hair resting on her shoulders; her eyes are a rare burgundy. It is like she is not … human. Her steps are ragged like she hasn’t walked in a while. The inside of my room looks like the President’s room. There are shiny marble counters and a sofa that looks like it is worth millions of dollars. The king-sized bed engulfs me when I lay down. I fall asleep in seconds like I have never slept before. I dream of me and my family in our big old house, playing and laughing like good families do.

After what seems like hours, I get up and go to the warehouse where Mr. X is at. I sneak inside and I am slammed on the wall by a mysterious force.

“What are you doing here?” a very deep voice asks.

“Who are you?” I ask in surprise.

“I am the person that you have been looking for,” the voice replies in a harsh tone. Then I realize it…. It is Mr. X in the flesh. I try to say something, but it is like I am choking. I break free using my super speed. I rush toward Mr. X, but he stops me right in my track and says, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Then he shows me Levi all tied up and bruised up.

“LEVI!!!” I shout out to him, but I know it is useless, just like I am. I rush toward Mr. X, but I am stumbling in the process. Then I give him a tight smack on his face, and he goes flying across the room. He picks me up with his mind powers and throws me across the room, into a wall. The wind gets knocked out of me and I pass out.

After what seems like minutes, I wake up tied to a wooden chair that gives me splinters every time I struggle to get out. I’m sitting
right next to Levi. We communicate with our eyes and decide what we are going to do to get out of here. Levi hands me a knife he has in his side pocket and I see that he already cut his ropes. He passes it to me and I start to cut. When I finally get free, I pass Levi the knife and get up out of the chair to lunge toward Mr. X and punch him in the gut. He stumbles back and falls with a loud thud. I lunge toward him again, punch him, and his eyes close. But I did not know he was faking! He gets up, punches me, and kicks me, and now it is like combat training at spy school. I rush toward him with my knife ready to end this, then one of his guards tries to stop me but I hit him with a 360 crescent kick.

“ARGGGGGG!!!” he yells in pain.

I jump over him and shout, “I’m coming for you, Mr. X!”

Mr. X falls to the ground. As I look at him, the light that was once in his eyes fades away, but as he goes he whispers, “I always come back.”

I limp towards Levi who is standing with his hand on his stomach and bent over like his back is hurting. He falls to the ground, and I rush over to see what is wrong. He is bleeding super bad in his stomach, but it does not look like it touched anything important. But if he keeps bleeding he is going to die. I call for help on my earpiece and seconds later a search team and nurses arrive at the scene.

When I wake up in the morning, The Boss tells me that Levi and I have been asleep for days. I told him what happened. He says I am not going on any more missions any time soon. Then I notice some unrecognizable people in the room. They have brown eyes, curly hair, and caramel colored skin. The woman looks like me and the man looks like my siblings. Then I realize that it is my parents. I burst into tears and tell them how much I missed them. They are crying too.

“How did you get here?” I ask.

Then The Boss says, “I have a power that will grant any wish desired.”

“But why?”

“Because you deserve it,” The Boss says in a light tone.

When I finally got better, I moved into a house with my parents. They do not remember my siblings but that is okay. I promised them I would not be a spy anymore, but when duty calls, I must go. I am Maria Greenwood and this is the story of an ultimate warrior.