So, we hit a nice even ten! Man the time flies. Just wanna say an extra thank you for all the reviews; you guys have been awesome! Thanks for the time, effort, and kind words. ^_^

This might also be a good time to reaffirm that I don't own Ninjago, and that I am not, in fact, reaping any gold from this endeavor. So LEGO, don't sue me. And the Sky Pirates rummaging through my yard with shovels can go home already.

Guest: Thanks for the review! Aww, toy amoeba-octopuses for the win.

Wow, that makes three of us then! I did not realize there were so many people out there who worried about mind readers; I thought it was just me. Which proves that I'm not a mind-reader myself, I guess. XD

Argh, not sure how to feel about 60; it was epic all right, but it was seriously painful to watch too. Skybound's been . . . ehh. It started really well, but then it fizzled.

luv it: Haha, coffee highs are a little different, I think. You don't get hyper, you just get jittery and very . . . very . . . unreasonably happy. Just, everything-is-awesome-and-hilarious happy. It's bizarre. XD

Sept 5

7:54 PM

Patrol circuit: Zane and Lloyd

Status conditions: Lloyd MIA

They reached the industrial district of New Ninjago City on their dragons, then walk-jogged the last half-mile to Snow Dragon Ice Cream. The building was dark and silent, seemingly closed for the night. Zane studied the structure.

"The heavy machinery for making the ice cream is probably in the basement," he said. "They must store the ice cream in large freezers before it is shipped; that would probably be the first floor, where the goods can easily be taken to a loading dock. The second and third floors, judging by their closely-spaced windows, must be office space."

"Okay. First floor," said Cole. "Then we can split up."

They jimmied open the personnel door on the loading dock. Just as Cole was about to push it open, Zane laid a hand on his arm.

"Be careful of security cameras," he whispered. "They are probably trained upon the door."

"Well what do we do then?" asked Cole. Zane looked around, then pointed upwards at a tiny ventilation window above the door.

"We're not gonna fit," said Kai. Zane shook his head and waved to his falcon, which was perched on a telephone wire nearby. A flutter of wings, some murmured instructions, and the falcon disappeared through the tiny window. Moments later it returned, its beak full of wires.

"Heh. Not bad," said Cole.

"Good to have you back, my feathered friend," murmured Zane, ruffling the falcon's crest. The falcon chirped and returned to its telephone wire, reluctant to rattle about indoors.

Pushing open the door, they found that the first floor was one vast room, crammed—as Zane had predicted—with row upon row of giant walk-in freezers, all humming steadily. The air was chilly, scented faintly of sugar and vanilla and chemical fruity smells.

"Aha! I can disable the security system first!" whispered Jay, darting towards a door labeled "SECURITY." A few minutes later he poked his head out again, looking puzzled.

"The security system's already off!" he whispered loudly.

"You sure?" asked Cole.

"Positive! All the camera feeds are dead, the console is powered down, everything."

Kai clicked his tongue in grim satisfaction. A non-functioning security system definitely pointed to some fishy business going on in here.

Meanwhile Cole powered up his communicator. If Lloyd was here, he should be well in-range by now.

"Lloyd," he whispered. "Come in, Lloyd!"

For a long time there was only the buzz of a dead line. Then there was a sudden rustle as someone answered.

"Hello? . . . "

"Lloyd!"

"Yeah, it's me."

Lloyd offered no further information, so Cole spoke up again.

"Where are you?"

"Noooo idea." There was an odd shuffling, scraping sound, and something thumped faintly.

"Lloyd, are you okay?"

"Mmhmm."

He didn't sound okay. He sounded weird.

"We're here at Snow Dragon Ice Cream," said Cole, exchanging grim looks with the others. "Is there somewhere we can meet you?"

"Ehhhh, I dunno. Head upstairs or something, I guess? . . . Feels sort've upstairs, anyway." There was the distinctive sound of yawning. "Huh. I'm in a dead-end."

"Lloyd? Where are you? What are you doing?"

The connection shut off. Everyone looked at everyone else.

"Okay then." Cole took a deep breath. "Upstairs."

Silently they set out. They'd only gone about ten paces, though, before the sound of a door slamming froze them in their tracks. Three or four gruff voices mingled together with approaching footsteps. Judging from the sound of it, the group of people was traveling past all the rows of freezers—and they would soon be passing the one where the ninja stood.

Cole swung his hands out in a "scatter, scatter!" motion. He and Kai both skidded to the end of the freezer rows to hide. Jay turned around and around in place, panicked, until Zane grabbed him by the arm and yanked him straight into one of the freezers.

Barely had Zane pulled the door shut than the group walked by that very aisle. They were discussing a recent sports game, innocent enough stuff, but the fact that they were clomping around in a supposedly-closed factory meant nothing good. One of the voices was much too sibilant—a Serpentine. The others sounded human.

Kai and Cole held their breaths. The little group passed uneventfully by, heading for the opposite side of the room.

And then they stopped. Evidently once they got upstairs they would have to get down to business, and they were reluctant to end their conversation just yet. They stood around by the door to the stairwell and casually debated the merits of various ThunderBlades teams, oblivious to the two ninja trading desperate looks nearby. Were Jay and Zane going to be okay in that freezer, not knowing when it was safe to come out? . . .

At long last, somebody grumbled, "Eh, we're late," and the door slammed. Kai and Cole didn't even wait to check if everyone really was gone; they bolted down the aisle.

"Which one was it?!" demanded Kai, looking up and down the long row of freezers. He and Cole dashed down the aisle throwing them open, sending the interior lights blinking on one by one.

"Aha!" Cole gave a muffled yelp and caught himself just before reflexively throwing the freezer shut again. "You guys! Coast is clear!"

Jay had already bolted outside, his teeth chattering. Tendrils of icy mist swirled from the glowing inside of the freezer—and Jay's breath.

"Are you okay?" asked Kai as the blue ninja seemed to bundle into himself, his arms wrapped tightly around his shivering body.

"Freaking—m-minus—twenty—degrees," Jay managed, shaking tiny icicles from his hair. "They were—c-c-considerate enough—to put a therm-m-mometer in there. And all the while this dude—" he pointed accusingly at Zane "—is just chillin' in there. Literally!"

"My apologies," said Zane meekly. "I forgot you are more sensitive to cold than I am."

"Ya think," mumbled Jay, blowing into his fists. Cole and Kai exchanged glances, then shrugged and wrapped their arms around him to help him warm up faster.

"G-geez," stammered Jay, but absorbed the warmth gratefully. Zane tilted his head, puzzled. He was still trying to piece together the methodology of hugs, and this one was destroying all his heuristics.

They got moving again. After listening at the door the Technicians had gone through, they carefully swung it open and scampered up the stairs. A stairwell was a terrible place to be caught.

Reaching the second floor, they again listened at the door. No voices in the immediate vicinity. Holding his breath, Cole pushed the door slightly open and peeked through. Nobody there. But he heard voices off in the distance, in a cubicle or office somewhere. Lots of them.

The others piled in from behind. Wary of approaching too close to the Technicians meeting that must be underway, they slipped off in the opposite direction.

"We need some kind of logical plan!" hissed Jay, not daring to raise his voice above breathing volume. "We can't just go looking through offices willy-nilly!"

The others looked around, trying to pick a pattern out of the blocks of offices built around the edges of the level and the maze of cubicles built into the center.

"Okay," whispered Cole. "Kai, Zane, you take the cubicles. Jay and I will—"

He never finished. A shaft of light suddenly burst from an office a few doors down.

"Yeah, yeah, keep yourssssssselves in one piece," someone shouted from within. "I'm gonna get the ssssssucker activated."

"Oh snap!" gritted Jay. The Serpentine's voice was coming in their direction.

"Change of plans! Hide!" ordered Cole.

The nearest available place was another office. Zane threw open the door, and everyone whisked through—except Kai, who seemed to be rooted on the spot, staring towards the approaching voice.

"Kai!" yelped Cole softly. "What gives?!"

Kai shook himself as if waking from a trance and bolted after the others. They shut the door and leaned against it, listening to the sound of footsteps passing by outside.

"Why are we hiding?!" whispered Jay impatiently. "We could take this one guy, geez!"

"We can't afford to let them know we're here," Cole whispered back. "Not until we find Lloyd. Preferably not at all. If they know we've been snooping around, they're going to start holding their meetings somewhere else! As it is, we can come back here to spy on them whenever we want."

Jay rolled his eyes grudgingly and turned to Kai for backup. Then he stopped. Kai was slouched back, glaring over his shoulder as if he'd suddenly developed a deep and personal hatred of the wall—although more likely his beef was with the Serpentine on the other side.

"Kai?" asked Jay, puzzled. "Do you—"

Suddenly there was a howl of rage, bone-chillingly close. Everyone froze—it must have been in the adjacent office.

"The prisoner has essscaped!" roared the Serpentine, thundering past their door again. "Lock everything down! Find him!"

A muffled commotion started up outside the office as the other Technicians spilled out of their meeting room. The ninja looked at each other wide-eyed. Prisoner. Lloyd.

Then there was a metallic crash right by their ears. Everyone jumped.

"The door!" Cole reached out to rattle the knob. "It's locked!"

"They must have locked down the entire facility," said Zane. "Every single door in this building has probably been electronically barred now."

Silence. Grim looks. The babble outside continued, now more diffuse and purposeful. The Technicians were searching the building—room by leisurely room, battering down the locked doors—and they would eventually get to the office where the ninja were hiding. Or worse, the one where Lloyd must be hiding. There was no way for them to get out of the room without breaking down the door themselves, which would make enough noise to alert the entire posse. Even if they did somehow batter it down and make a break for it, they would be slowed every step of the way by more and more locked, bolted, barred, or metal-grated doors.

This did not look good.