I felt like you all were a little cheated when I gave you the extremely short introduction, so I decided I'd break my Sunday update rule once and give you something a little bit longer. I am, like, four chapters ahead anyway. Enjoy! : )

Chapter 1

The Heist

The air became cold and unwelcoming as the sun slipped below the horizon. The wind picked up, turning the peaceful grassy field into a wild sea. Dark clouds began to blanket the night sky. A rumble, then a flash, and the storm began. Rain poured down from the sky, and lightning lit up the night, revealing a small boy in a black raincoat fighting his way through the fury. He was clutching a briefcase to his chest like his life depended on it.

The sky growled and lit up again, and the dark shape of a tower appeared. The figure sped up. As he drew closer, the structure became clearer. He stopped in front of it to admire the fantastic building. It had a futuristic look to it, with a long, thin neck leading up to a huge, disk-shaped top floor. A spire on the roof stretched to the heavens. This was the power station. Here, they converted lightning to electrical power for the whole world. Shame, the figure thought. Such a spectacular system deserved better than to be hacked.

He ran toward the door and pushed it open. When he had closed it behind him, he surveyed his surroundings. He was in a small, circular room, dimly lit, but just light enough that he could make out an elevator and plenty of cardboard boxes. He knew there would be guards at the top of the tower, so he'd have to take care of that before he did anything else. He set down his briefcase and began to hunt around the space for any spare walkie-talkies. When he found one (in a cardboard box labeled "tape recorders", for some reason), he pressed the button and said, "Emergency! There's an out-of-control fire in the base of the tower. Evacuate using alternate exit!" Then he waited, holding his breath. That had better work, he thought nervously.

Then a voice began to crackle through on the other end. "Copy that. I'll open up the alternate exit."

"I'm already out. Radio me as soon as the tower is clear."

"Roger that. See you outside." There was a crackle, then silence. The traveler took off the coat. He wasn't that tall, only about four feet, and he was quite lean. He wore all black from head to toe. He rustled his reddish-brown hair dry (it was soaked from the rain) and wiped his thick, rectangular glasses on his shirt. His name was Ted, but his friend Drew called him Tech because he was a computer genius. He was twelve, but he could have taught a college Computer Science class if he wanted to. Unfortunately, Ted and his team couldn't have normal roles in society, because Ted, his team, and the people they worked for were wanted by just about every law enforcement establishment in the known world.

Ted sat down with the walkie-talkie and absentmindedly began to turn it over in his hands. He ran over phase one of the mission in his head. He would hack the powerstation's system and gain control of the security network. Then he would contact the rest of his group, and the real heist would begin.

Suddenly the walkie-talkie crackled on again. "The premises is cleared, repeat, the premises is cleared."

"Good work," Ted answered. He waited to see if his "friend" would say anything else, but nothing more came. With that, Ted turned the device over, removed the batteries, and tossed it into a random box. Now he could move forward. He picked up the briefcase, pressed the up button for the elevator, and stepped in. After what seemed like eternity, the doors opened, and he was in the control room.

Ted looked around. He admired the beauty of the room. It was completely round, filled with devices and technology that were just begging to be played with. In the center was a huge, cylindrical glass case that enclosed a glowing mass of blue electricity. It was obvious his plan had worked beautifully, because the room showed all signs of immediate evacuation. Computers were still running, screens were still on, security cameras were still rolling. He plopped himself down in the chair at the main computer and opened his briefcase. Inside was a laptop, a number of computer cords, a flashdrive, a headset, and a candy bar. He took out the cords and used them to plug the laptop into the computer. Then he drew a stool toward him and put his laptop on it. Taking the flashdrive, he inserted it into the main computer.

Immediately, the giant screen (up until now showing the status of the power station's systems) turned blue. Words began appearing, line by line, on the screen.

Error. Press any key to restart.

Restart failed. Scanning for source of problem.

No source found. Searching for cleaner.

Cleaner found. Shut down for cleaning?

Ted smiled. That was no cleaner the computer had found. It was the hack that had been downloaded onto the computer from the flashdrive. He pressed the enter key on the giant keyboard. The screen went black, then came on again. It showed a red screen with a symbol in the center: a black dragon curled into a spiral, holding in its claws a sword and a scepter. It was the symbol of the Black Dragons, the criminal agency Ted and his team worked for. The dragon sign symbolized their mission perfectly: to establish their rule over Ninjago - using whatever means necessary to do so. Ted pressed a few keys, and a map of Ninjago City appeared. He put on the headset, took a bite of delicious chocolate and nuts from the candy bar, and spoke into the mic. "Hacker to Rebel, do you copy?"

A teen boy's voice answered. "Yeah, I copy. Jeez, Tech, what took you so long? Do you have any idea how awful it is hiding in this garbage can for two hours?!" Ted rolled his eyes, both annoyed and amused.

"I'm sure it was unpleasant," he said. Drew was a good friend, but he was very complicated: you could always count on the fifteen-year-old to laugh at a joke, and he was for the most part nice and sociable to his friends, but he hated the agency, and had never explained why. Drew wasn't quick to trust others, and always seemed to know something that he wouldn't tell his friends. Personal matters were never mentioned in conversation with him. "Stand by while I check in with the others."

"Fine, but I'm not standing by in this thing." There was a crashing sound.

"Dude, don't wake up the city," Ted joked, snorting with his mouth still full of chocolate.

"Shut up," Drew shot back, but Ted could hear him chuckling too. "Hey, are you eating something?"

"Maybe. Seriously, though, make sure you haven't drawn any attention. Hacker out." He pressed a few keys, and spoke into the mic again. "Hacker to Weapons, do you copy?"

This time, a sassy girl's voice answered. "I copy. You can't see anything in this fog! It's awful!"

"Can you move to your next position?"

"I can't see two feet in front of me! What do you think?"

Ted sighed. Gretta was his least favorite on the team. The sixteen-year-old girl was absolutely nasty. He had to admit, though, she was good with any weapon you handed her. She had an eagle's eye and was a perfect shot, giving her a huge advantage over enemies. Anybody who knew her knew she was not a person you wanted to mess with.

"Use your atmospheric deconcentrating goggles. Those will help."

"They'd better."

"They will," Ted told her firmly. "And remember, you can't boss me around this time. I'm the one who's in charge of this mission. Weapons aren't going to help us break into Borg Tower. It's not how that place works."

"I know that, dweeb. I read the mission descript-"

Ted cut her off by switching lines again. This time, he called out two codenames. "Hacker to Drill and Numbers, do you copy?"

"Sure do. Dang, it's foggy out here!" It was Mark answering. Ted smirked. He could tell from the way that his friend had pronounced "dang" (slowly with strange intonation) that Mark was about to say something else, probably some curse word or something.

"Guess who already told me that?"

"Gretta."

"Bingo."

"That girl has issues. Though you have to admit, she isn't afraid to take drastic measures to get a job done." Mark was a strong advocate of duty and following all orders, no matter what the circumstances. It made him a good agent, but sometimes it would go too far; he'd end up following a cause blindly.

"Do you have Lex with you?"

"Yeah, and miraculously, he hasn't started drawing on a wall yet," Mark answered. Lex was a distant boy of eight, always deep in thought or writing mathematical equations on the walls. But the strangest behavior that he exhibited was his silence. Even after seven years of knowing the odd little boy, Ted had never heard Lex say a single word.

"Okay, switching to multi-line mode," Ted announced. He pressed a button, and the laptop showed a map of the capital city, downloaded from the computer. Four dots flashing on the screen each represented a member of Ted's team. Ted took a bite out of the candy bar. "All agents may proceed."

I hate this job.

Drew slipped through the shadows, brooding silently. He hated his job, he hated his bosses, he hated the agency, and he hated its goal. Conquering the world was not a cause he wanted to work for. He'd run away if he could. The problem was that if they caught you sneaking away, you'd be shot. The Black Dragons were not forgiving.

"Hacking the city's security grid," came Ted's voice through Drew's earpiece. "Hold on, Drew, I think something's coming your way!"

"Can you tell what it is?" Drew whispered. Had his trash can woken something up?

"It looks like a bird of some sort. It doesn't look dangerous. Never mind, no need to worry."

But Drew leapt into an ally anyway. He quickly put on his nightgoggles, and searched the skies. At first, he saw nothing. Then-

There.

Perched on a window ledge was a silver falcon, its piercing gaze focused right on him. He knew this bird. And like thunder always comes after lightning, something else always came after the appearance of this falcon. Drew pressed a button on his earpiece. "Drew here. You'll all need to carry on the mission without me. Enemies are not far away from me."

"Enemies?!" Ted blurted. "We just started the mission!"

"Trust me. These guys are that quick," Drew told his friend. "Just get on with the mission! These people are trying to prevent our success. I'm going to stall them." It wasn't the mission he was worried about. It was the safety of his friends.

"...Okay. If you say so. Alright, everyone, change of plans. We've got unfriendlies on the south side..." Drew turned the volume down on his earpiece so he could focus better. The falcon had left. That meant they were close. Very close. He waited in the shadows, ready for them to spring out of nowhere.

There was a shout, and they were there. Seven of them, all wearing colored gis and bearing weapons that could easily knock Drew out. Fortunately, he had learned all their moves in his training. He pulled his mask up over his nose and mouth, so as to keep himself more unrecognizable. "Wow, guys," he snarked as the ninjas surrounded him. "Your outfits are so colorful. I can't help but wonder why your enemies never see you in those bright costumes of yours. You say you travel in shadows, but how do you stay hidden?" The insult did the trick. All seven ninjas ran at him at once. He waited until they were almost upon him, then leapt up and caught the lowest rung of a ladder on the side of a brick building. He watched as they rammed into eachother. Clearly, these were just students that were probably sent on a late night mission. They'd never fall for that trick if they'd been fully trained. Drew shook his head; this would be easier than he'd thought.

Mark groaned. Every mission, Drew would end up doing something really stupid, like rushing through a hallway and realizing too late that it was full of security lasers, or opening a door out of curiosity and finding a room full of police, or even trying to take on a bunch of enemies on his own!

"Ted, are you sure we shouldn't call him back and tell him he needs to get back here RIGHT NOW?"

"Don't worry. Drew's told me before that he knows the ninja like the back of his hand. He's never told me how, but I trust him," Ted assured him.

Mark wasn't so sure. He'd always suspected that there was something up with Drew. Like he knew something that he wasn't telling them. Sometimes, it even seemed like he thought he'd said too much in a conversation. One instance was on one of their missions a while ago. Mark had used a sleeping smoke bomb, a measure Drew called "unfair". That was when Drew had said something very strange.

"You didn't always fight like that. I remember-" Then Drew had stopped.

"You remember what?" Mark had shot back.

"...Never mind."

Mark never found out what that meant. After Mark told his boss about it, Drew wasn't seen for three days. When his team finally saw him limping down a hallway back at the Black Dragon Headquarters, they ran over, asking him where he'd been. Drew didn't answer anyone. He just rubbed his back as if it were in pain and stared at Mark with a raging fire in his amber eyes. Mark would never forget that look.

"Alright, Mark, you and Lex can go ahead and move forward."

"Roger that," Mark answered, and he tapped Lex on the shoulder. "Time to move," he whispered. Lex stood up, and followed Mark as he led the way down the street. Suddenly, the dark shape of Borg Tower loomed into view. One hundred floors high, the place was an architectural giant. Mark pressed the button on his ear piece. "I have the tower in my sights. Now what? I see at least forty guards."

"Do you see Gretta on the other side of the street?"

Mark squinted into the fog. "No, I - wait, I think I do!" A figure was waving in the darkness. Mark waved back.

"Good. Gretta, use the fog as concealment. Blast something down the street."

Gretta's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Ooh, goody! What should I aim at?"

"Anything."

There was a deafening blast on the next block, and a shop exploded. Immediately, almost all the guards ran towards the commotion. Only two remained. Mark saw Gretta racing across the street towards them. The fog was so thick that the guards didn't know what had hit them; the agent had knocked them out before they could even see her. Mark turned to Lex. "Your turn," he said. Lex rushed over to the keypad that would unlock the doors, and with only a quick glance at it, typed in the code, and they were in.

The first thing they saw were the security nindroids.

Every one of them turned its beady red eye to the intruders. They looked ready to fire on them with their laser blasts any second. Mark let out a dirty word. "We'll never get out of this mess!" he moaned. "Ted, how did you not see this on the security cameras?!"

"I forgot that this was one of the things Drew was supposed to take care of!"

"Well, now that he can't take care of it, who's going to-"

"What makes you think I can't take care of it?" Mark, Gretta and Lex all looked up to see Drew standing in a window frame, holding a remote control. A press of a button, and all the nindroids fell to the ground. He hopped down. "An invisible radiation field trap. Harmless to humans, but it fries the circuits of robots."

"Wait, how did you get here?" Mark asked suspiciously. "I thought you were-"

"Turns out the guys I faced were a bunch of ametures," Drew answered with a shrug. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

Just then they could hear shouts outside. "Sounds like our friends have come back to play," Gretta remarked sarcastically. The team raced to the stairs, and began the climb to the ninety-sixth floor.

Ted was frantic. All three lines had gone dead. There was nothing but static. The last time he'd heard from his teammates, three had been facing a hundred nindroids, and one had been fighting seven ninja alone.

"Can anyone hear me?!" he shouted into his microphone. Please don't let them be dead, he prayed. He had no idea what had happened. One minute, he'd been on the giant computer, watching his team through the security cameras in Borg Tower, the next, he was staring at a screen full of static. He'd checked the communication lines. Dead too.

Ted was miles away in a power station in the middle of a stormy field. His friends could be dead, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I'm not getting anything."

Gretta only heard static in her ear. She'd been trying to contact Ted, but he hadn't answered. Mark and Drew had had no greater success. And Lex was once again being unhelpful and drawing on the walls. This was so frustrating, she wanted to shoot something.

"Let's not get carried away by worrying about this." Gretta could tell Mark was trying to keep his voice level. "We have to keep moving. Gretta, you've got the best memory. Do you remember what we need to do next?"

Gretta replied in a mocking voice. "Sure. We just need to hack into the computer. Of course, you can't ask me how to do it since I'm not the computer geek!"

"But you are a mechanic! You know how stuff works!" Drew suddenly blurted. Immediately he looked like he'd thought he'd said something he shouldn't have. Gretta raised an eyebrow.

"Since when have I been a mechanic?" she asked, thoroughly puzzled. She was a weapons expert, and always had been. "If you want someone who knows how stuff works, ask Mr. Physics over there." She jerked her head in Lex's direction.

Drew crossed his arms and scowled at her. "He won't answer any questions."

Gretta's smirk faded. "It was a joke, Red Head."

"Not a funny one." Drew shot back. He always defended Lex. For some reason, he seemed to think he was responsible for the little weirdo.

"Guys, stop," Mark demanded. "We don't have much time. We need to-" Suddenly there was a crackling from the earpieces.

"-hear me?! I repeat, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Ted!" all three shouted at once.

"PRAISE THE LORD! I've been trying to reach you; what happened?!"

"Drew here used some zapping thing to take out the nindroids, and in the process it also took out all the other devices around it, including the earpieces," Gretta stated, glaring at the little rebel. Drew made a face at her.

"Wait, how did Drew get from- oh, never mind that question, how did you guys get the line back on?"

"Uh, good question. How did we get it back on?"

Suddenly there was a clang behind them, and they turned around to see Lex closing the little door to an electric box. They stared as he simply walked back over to the wall and started scribbling on it again.

"Oookaaay," Gretta said slowly.

"What?" Ted asked, probably thinking they were talking to him.

"...Nothing," Drew stated after a moment. "Just tell us what's next. We're already on floor 96."

"Good. Find the main computer."

The main computer wasn't hard to find. It was huge, about the size of a billboard. "Now what?" Gretta asked.

"Now open up the confidential files. I can do the rest." Mark found the folder labeled TOP SECRET and clicked on it. Only a second had passed before the screen flashed red and in all caps read SECURITY BREACH. Alarms wailed throughout the building.

Mark swore. "Ted, what did I do?!" he demanded.

"You didn't do that; I did," Ted explained calmly. "When you opened the file, it became vulnerable. I hacked it, and that's what made the alarm go off. Mission accomplished. What are you waiting for? Get out of there!"

"FREEZE!"

Mark, Gretta, Lex, and Drew all turned around to see the guards from outside pointing guns at them. "How'd they catch up so quickly?" Drew yelped.

"I can't believe the break-in was caused by a bunch of kids!" one of them scoffed to his friends. "Where are your parents? You're in a lot of trouble!"

"Not if we can help it!" Mark shouted. "Gretta, get us out of here!"

Gretta smiled. "Finally, I get to relieve this killer itch in my trigger finger!" She swung her tiny, tazer-sized gun over her shoulder.

Gretta's Black Dragon uniform served two purposes. It was not only fashionable, but it also had a built in mechanism that would quickly change the parts and mechanics of her gun, making it possible for her to carry only one weapon and efficiently change its function in seconds. The gun clicked into place inside the construction chamber on her back, and five seconds later it emitted a beep that indicated it was ready. Gretta pulled the weapon out, now five times as long, loaded with toxic liquid ammunition, sporting flashing lights and three barrels, the insides of which began to glow hot pink. She pointed it at the guards. They all backed away. She was about to pull the trigger when Drew grabbed her arm. He had a burning glare in his eyes.

"Not necessary. Just get us out," he said warningly. Gretta made an ugly face at him, but still changed her target from the guards to the wall on the left. The gun hummed louder and louder until finally...

BLAM!

Broken glass and computer parts flew through the air, leaving the guards ducking for cover. The blast from the gun had blown a massive hole in the glass wall, melting it with its corrosive chemical solution. The team ran towards their escape route, and took out their grappling guns. They fired them at the roof of the tower, and when it caught the ledge, they jumped out. When they reached the concrete, Drew pressed the button on his earpiece. "Alright, Ted," he said. "Tell headquarters that our stupid mission is accomplished."

A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you to the people who gave me such awesome feedback! Keep it coming! If you're wondering what the heck is up with Drew, just wait. It gets more and more suspicious as the story goes on. If you're dying to know, just look up The Fold's song, "Neverender," which Part 1 is named after. It describes Drew perfectly. Just don't spoil it for everyone else if you figure it out! There's also a teensy tiny hint about his past woven into this chapter. Again, if you find it, please do not spoil it for others!

Now for some Q/A:

Q: Will the Ninja be in this?

A: Yes, but you won't see them until chapter 3. I thought it might be cool if I didn't mention them at first, then all of a sudden the agents are there, among the characters we all know and love. It also gives you time to see the agents as our protagonists and get to know them before they come in contact with the characters we've always thought of as the good guys. In this story, there is an emphasis on the fact that protagonists are not always good, antagonists are not always bad, and there will always be a gray area between the two. The protagonist is defined as the leading character, and the antagonist is the person who opposes the protagonist. This way, I can create a question in the reader: who is the good guy?

Q: Is it me, or is Nightprowler gonna epically fail? Are the AU ninja going to take their place?

A: Not quite sure what you mean by this, but the answer to "are they going to fail" will be pretty infuriating to you all. My answer is: yes and no. I can say no more. :) As for the "AU Ninja", I honestly have no idea what that means, apart from the abbreviation "AU". This review was made in response to the Introduction, so I think you are referring to the fact that there are five agents and five original ninja, but remember from the description that this takes place twenty years after the ghost season. The original ninja are all grown ups. Plus the Black Dragon Agency is a sinister secret organization intent on creating as much fear in Ninjago as possible so I don't know why you would think that the Ninja are going to be replacing them. Unless I'm interpreting the question wrong...?

That's all for now! See you Sunday! : )