Prompt: "Dangerous Choices." (Requested by neon-oreo4)
Safety: n. The condition of being safe; freedom from danger, risk, or injury.
If you were to read that definition to Jay Imperial Walker, he would laugh at you. What else was he supposed to do? Life was never safe for him, even if he wasn't a ninja. Safety was boring.
Now, risk… risk was fun. Risk was jumping headfirst into battle. Risk was testing a glider yourself, instead of with a crash test dummy. Risk was making dangerous choices, and if that wasn't fun, then Jay would eat his hat. (Not that he had a hat. Hats weren't his style.)
Jay shook himself from his thoughts. He stood on the edge of an apartment building's roof, looking down at his intended flight path to the next roof over. He'd built a glider, years ago, but it had broken when he crashed through a billboard. Before he could even think about repairing it, Master Wu had recruited him, and that was that. Now he was trying again, with better materials and inadvised faith in his engineering skills. What could go wrong?
...As it turned out, many things could go wrong.
The leap off the edge of the building was easy. His canvas wings caught the air, giving lift and carrying him. The mechanical frame didn't creak or snap, despite only being made of steel.
Jay cried out in joy as he closed the hundred yard distance. The first test was going to be a success! He just had to pull up before he crashed into the roof...
Ten seconds later, Jay fell onto the roof of the shorter building feet-first, barely skidding to a stop as he fell face-forward onto the concrete surface, slamming his hands into it.
"...Ow…"
Okay, maybe he should've made a soft landing pad first.
After a minute of recovery, he sat up, groaning. He checked the wings– they were undamaged, and he cheered. "YES! Test one is a success!"
Maybe Jay's choices were dangerous… but maybe that was the point.