What is your Mission?
Mission (as defined in the 1937 Webster English Dictionary): (5.) The business of an agent, messenger or ambassador. (7.) Extra religious services for stimulating faith and zeal.
Mission (as defined in Urban Dictionary): a method of describing a journey or task of great difficulty, boredom, or length.
I feel this falls in line with those definitions.
I meet the Man in the hotel lobby. Only him and I know he isn't actually a man. His kind are supposed to protect us, advise us, and encourage us - but they do nothing. It isn't until the Big Man tells them to, and we all know he isn't really a man either. As soon as our eyes meet, he swiftly walks towards me (or perhaps glides) and firmly states his purpose: "HE has a mission for you." His hand reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a rolled up napkin. As he unravels it, a small glowing light emerges from his palm. I look down and notice small trinkets: a charm, necklace, watch face, and a pocket knife.
With a sudden gasp, the Man looks up behind me. He disappears, but not before shoving the trinkets into my hands. I turn around to see the reason for his sudden goodbye and see the Evil Man. And guess what - we all know he isn't a man either. He comes right for me, his eyes never leaving my hands. But the gap between us is suddenly filled with a big tourist group visiting for the holidays and I make my escape.
I run out of the hotel, feel like I'm in the clear, and am starstruck by running into Danny DeVito. But he starts jumping up and down yelling, "She's here! She's here!" I glare down at Danny, but then he makes a funny and I forget he was a snitch. I run past him and make a sharp turn into an alley way. I slow down trying to catch my breath and feel my pocket, making sure I have all my trinkets still. Mid-way in the alley I notice a staircase, leading down. I look down the stairwell and see a huge steel door at the bottom of it. I go down and push open the heavy, cold door.
It takes awhile for my eyes to adjust in the darkness, but when they do, I see a gang tied up back-to-back, each one gagged with a colored bandana. I take a step closer, but then immediately stop when I realize who they are... they are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In shock, it took me a moment to come to my senses and see that they were motioning me to run away. But it was too late, black figures were falling out of the ceiling, climbing down ropes, and appearing from the shadows. Foot Ninjas surrounded me.
Foot Ninja (as defined in TurtlePedia) are a band of Ninjutsu-trained thugs that are , often under the command of The Shredder or Karai.
I'm determined to Kill Bill these ninjas and although I don't have a sword, I reach into my pocket full of trinkets. I pull out the pocket knife and as it glows in the dimly lit room, I see it transform into the Subtle Knife. No definition here - you will have to catch up Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials". So for those of you who do know what weapon I held in my hand, you'll understand my following actions. I fought off these Foot Ninjas with my superb Karate skills and my not so superb knife wielding ones. All while constantly reminding myself to always keep the knife at arm's length, as this is the one knife you would never want to be cut with. It proceeded to be an extremely awkward fight and who knows what the Ninja Turtles were thinking.
No matter - I proceeded to risk my life as I had an undisclosed mission to accomplish! Does it matter that I had no understanding of what I was fighting for? Does it matter that I was only doing what someone "higher up" told me to do? Or does it matter that I was persuaded by shiny pretty things? In hindsight, I should have hung back with Danny DeVito and laughed about it all.