"Did you get everything?" Montgomery asked rather impatiently as Cap and Mina came back to the room where the time window was being repaired.
"Should." Mina replied as she handed over her bag to Montgomery. "We got a capacitor, a big red button, various sized Allen wrenches, three quarters by ten inch PVC piping, heavy duty electrical tape built specifically for untested and dangerous materials, a timey-whimey ball, four inch S-hooks, three pieces of malleable copper sheet metal, and a dim-lit florescent light bulb."
"And...?"
"And? Oh! And I managed to find some of your favorite candy- those dried biscuit cookie sticks dipped in chocolate."
"But you found the ones dipped in strawberry flavoring, right?"
"Of course. I know you're allergic to chocolate."
"He's WHAT?!" Jay and Cole hollered at the same time.
"It's actually the chemical process of which the cocoa bean is mixed with lactose." Nya told them both charmingly. "The compound the two create upsets Montgomery's stomach acid. Saying he's allergic to chocolate is actually a bit of an exaggeration- he can still eat it, but it does cause some problems with his digestive tract."
Ignoring the small interruption, Montgomery looked back at Mina.
"Did you find everything rather quickly although you had... a lack of help?" Montgomery then asked, giving Cap a rather nasty side glare.
"Your faith in me is so fantastically racist that I wake up with a smile every morning." Cap retorted with a snide smirk. "How do you manage to be so charming all the time?"
Montgomery did not answer, and instead rolled his eyes before giving his attention back to Mina.
"Did you find everything well enough?" Montgomery asked again. Mina nodded.
"Yeah. I think I missed something though." she admitted. "Something about putty. Like that kind used for art projects and stuff...?"
"Oh yes, that stuff. We don't need it right now; it was going to be a substitute for the electrical tape. Other than that, you did rather well. Thank you Minerva."
Mina gave Montgomery a small half smile that Lloyd happen to catch. For a moment, there was something different about her; like a mask, temporarily falling away for a brief glimpse of the true face underneath. He wasn't the only one that noticed either, even Montgomery seemed a bit surprised at the genuine emotion. But as soon as the sliver of true emotion saw through, it was gone.
"Thanks to Minerva, and Hyun," Montgomery then announced to the original generation and their future kin, "The preparations to repair the time window are completed, Mother, Mr Cyrus, and I will start the initial repairs needed. Zane, if you could, I would like for you to join us in the repairs as well."
"I would be-" Zane started to say, but Mina spoke up.
"I... want to talk to Zane first." she said. "Cap and I... we were talking a bit and we wanted Zane to hear what we had to say."
Zane raised an eyebrow and walked over to her. He inspected her then gave a trusting smile before turning to Montgomery.
"I will talk with Minerva and Cap, then I will assist you in repairing the time window." Zane informed Montgomery with certainty. The young genius looked at the Nindroid and gave a nod to show he understood. Zane looked back at Mina with a smile and together they left with Cap.
"What do we do while we wait?" Kai inquired.
"Whatever, I guess." Montgomery replied with a shrug. "It doesn't matter to me what you do as long as you don't leave this building."
"Video games!" Cole and Jay declared together.
"What about training?" Kass asked them, his eyes wide as if the idea mindless leisure could never happen.
"All training and no play makes for a dull ninja." Cole told his cousin playfully. "Come on, I'll let you play second controller if Jay doesn't steal it!"
"Oh! May I also join in on the digital destruction of artificial lifeforms in a fictional universe?" Alice pipped up in an ecstatic tone.
"Don't see why not." Cole agreed with a shrug. Alice let out a little squeal of enthusism as she, Cole, Jay, and a confused Kass went to the ninja's temporary quarters.
With them gone, Kai looked over at Lloyd. Kai made a gesture to allow Lloyd to go first while giving the Green Ninja a look that illustrated that where ever he was going, Kai planned on following. Lloyd gave a nod in return before the two left toward the library.
"Now then," Montgomery then said to Cyrus and Nya. "Let's get working."
. . .
"What are we going to look up first?" Kai asked Lloyd as he struggled to get the high tech computer on in the library.
"I don't know." Lloyd admitted as he ran a thumb across the spines of the books. "Maybe... maybe some court records or something. If you adopted her, I'm sure record of that exists somewhere- the governing bodies of Ninjago aren't that lazy... or stupid."
"If you wanted to do that, you might as well look up her birth certificate too." Kai told him. "Then you'll know who-"
"I don't want to know that." Lloyd informed Kai. "I can wait. But I want to know how she lived before all this. I want to know if she was still cared for although..."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Kai agreed with a handwave as the computer finally started to boot. "In any case, I know what I'm going to look up."
"What's that?" Lloyd asked from over his shoulder as he pulled out a book that apparently had Alice's blueprints inside.
"That Trial of the Golden whatever, how come we never heard of it before now?"
"Plot." Lloyd told his friend with an amused scoff.
"Other than that." Kai replied tonelessly. "There's got to be more to it than forcefully giving the golden power to whoever finds an unfindable temple and just seeing if they can handle it or not. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there has to be something more to that- don't you think? It's never the simple for us, ever!"
"Yeah..." Lloyd agreed dimly as he looked back through the bookshelf. "It's never that simple... is it? I wonder..."