After dinner Ryaan finds himself alone in his room, going over everything he’ll need on Saturday. Most of the gear he ordered has shown up the last couple days. The throwing knives are perfect, he already took them down to the basement and practiced throwing them into a wooden beam. Time hasn’t dulled his skills. Once he’s out on the streets, lives may depend on putting these right where he needs to. His own life included.

He can’t help but worry about the test. Not having access to his knives will be a huge handicap. He’s solid up close and personal with his staff, but his skill with a knife is a big part of what he brings to the table. They set everything else up and let him get close enough to use the staff. Even when he doesn’t want to skewer someone, they work great as a distraction. He can’t imagine dull ninja stars will fill the void in his arsenal.

Maybe he should take the gun that fires rubber bullets. The thought makes him sweat. He’s never even held a gun. It’s probably not a great idea in a potentially life or death situation to be learning a completely new skill. The stars suck but at least he’s still throwing them.

If he can manage to get close he should be able to handle himself. His bow staff arrived yesterday and the thing is fantastic. It expands and retracts so it can be small enough to fit in his backpack for easy portability. It expands until it’s bigger than he is, so he doesn’t have to get that close to use it. If he gets desperate for a projectile he can even throw it, but that’s probably a bad idea. It’s not a boomerang bow staff. The staff’s a brilliant green color and it looks really solid. He slammed it repeatedly against a tree behind the house and it held up. The last thing he needs is to smash someone over the head and have it break off in his hand.

As confident as he is in his weapons he’s equally nervous about his costume. He wanted body armor but leftover money from his summer job only goes so far. You can’t exactly go to the mall and pick out bullet proof vests anyway. The suit he’s made looks a lot like something you’d wear to do karate. It’s tight but fairly elastic so he should be able to move flexibly and fast.

He’s added a bunch of compartments he can slip knives into. He should be able to get one at a moment’s notice and he can carry enough that he won’t worry if he has to throw a few before he can retrieve them. All of these pockets are well lined with thick leather so a knife shouldn’t end up in his gut when he gets thrown against a wall. The goal is definitely not to turn himself into a shish kabob.

The pants are white and just what he could find laying around. They’re loose where they need to be and tight where they can be. They were in a box of his parents old clothes from when they moved to the US and they fit so they’ll work. He’s pretty sure they won’t be missed since that box probably hasn’t been opened since he was born. After his parents immigrated to the US, they decided they were going to be American and nothing else. They wore these until they could get other clothing but as soon as they could afford to replace them they never looked back. Ryaan’s pretty sure the only reason they’re still in the basement is that his dad’s a major pack rat.

He added a few knife pockets to the pants as well. He wants to be able to get his hand on a knife no matter what position he finds himself in. He cheaped out on the pants but couldn’t do so on everything. He ordered a nice leather pouch to wear over his shoulder. It works great as storage for his staff so he can quickly get his hands on it. He thought about trying to adapt something but while he’s not incompetent with a needle and thread, his skills don’t extend to leather work. He can handle taking the arms off something or shortening some pants. Trying to make something from scratch is a whole other ball game.

Rounding out the outfit, he found a Mexican wrestling mask in a similar color to his shirt and went with it. He doesn’t want to look like a wrestler but he needs to hide his face. He put some bandages and minor first aid items in the bottom of the pouch in case of emergency and called it good. He can wrap a wound if he has to; it won’t do him a ton of good if he ends up shot but it could help in the short term for a minor injury. He also bought a nice pair of leather boots which should keep his feet protected. They’re metal tipped so if he has to kick somebody, they’ll feel it.

Ryaan considers trying to find somebody with a gun so he can practice and possibly use the loaner Saturday. He can’t think of anybody he knows with a gun though. Certainly nobody who will let him take the thing and learn to shoot it.

There’s no choice, he has to go with the terrible ninja stars. They’re probably junk but at least he’ll know what he’s doing with them. With everything he’s going to need together in one place, he stuffs it in a bag and stuffs the bag under his bed. He can’t leave the house in a costume without his dad figuring things out and he isn’t ready to run around in public wearing the thing. He’ll just have to change at the facility.

Wanting to be as prepared as possible, Ryaan searches online for any information he can find about the test. There isn’t much. All he finds are a few threads on Twitter where people talk about taking it. A few of them passed, a few others failed, but none of them go into detail. The facility has a web site but it’s as vague as the Twitter threads. The only pictures are of the entrance and it basically just says this is where you go to take the test.

The overhead view online makes the place look big. It’s out in the suburbs which makes sense. There’s no way you find room for something like that in the city. It’s going to mean another Uber since he can’t ask his dad for a ride. A check of his remaining funds shows he has enough for the round trip. He can manage this time but costs are starting to add up. He needs to start thinking about ways to make some cash. He’s getting low and this isn’t the last time being a vigilante’s going to cost him.