Argh, sorry for the wait, I had to go back to school and the drive to write stuff has been failing me :( But I'm glad you liked the last chapter :)
CHEESEPUFF fg: Indeed :)
RandomDragon2.0: It wasn't originally planned, but I quite like the idea now. Well, yeah, they do, but they could start getting better at some point. Thanks :)
MasterofCupcakes: Thanks, it was an idea I was unsure about, but I'm glad some people liked it :) You'll find out this chapter...
Cerenda: Well since they have a more of a deep friendship in this story, I felt the need to make it special for them. Well Jay just went a little mad with fear there, but him doing that was rather important to the story, as you'll see later on :) Well... sort of. You'll find out.
Hehe, you guys are in for a shock!
The four boys gaped, well three of them did, Kai just looked a bit confused.
Eventually, the silence was broken.
"Skylor!" Coe gasped. "You're with THEM!"
"That's not my name!" The girl snapped. "But yes, yes I am." She smiled smugly.
"But, but we SAVED you from these guys! I mean, come on, that's not very grateful!" Jay said, scowling.
Garmadon laughed. "Saved her? I think you mean, took a spy into your headquarters."
"But if this were not the real Skylor Chen," Zane said with a frown that no one could see because of the dark. "Then wouldn't one of the older members of Elemental Force noticed, and put a stop to this scheme?"
"Idiot." Skylor, or rather, Harumi scoffed. "I AM the real Skylor Chen, or used to be. Until I joined the Skulkins age eleven to get my revenge on Elemental Force."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Kai, having caught up on the situation, exclaimed. "Revenge? Elemental Force freaking saved your life back at the Chen event! These dweebs," He pointed at Garmadon with his head. "Were going to kill you."
A hard, cold laugh came. But it wasn't from Harumi.
Garmadon laughed, shaking his head. "Is that SERIOUSLY what my brother told you? That we were the ones that kidnapped her and were going to kill her?"
An awkward pause his the prisoners.
"Well, yeah." Jay said after a while. Harumi scoffed angrily.
"I was THERE! I know what happened better than anyone! And I can tell you with certainty that Elemental Force lied!"
...
"No sign." Wu said with a sigh, placing down the binoculars. "Not that we can make a proper search, what with just three injured bodies."
"Yeah, if only we still had Ronin." Griffin sighed, drumming his hands anxiously against the arm of his chair. But Ronin had disappeared about a week ago, decided to run rather than fight for his apartment.
"Well I think this settles it." Dareth stood, looking incredibly serious for once.
"What?"
"We have to leave this place, now. If there really is a traitor in our midst, then the Skulkin, or the police, will be on our tails. We need to get out of here, before we too are captured."
"At least we have some leverage on them." Griffin muttered. "Unlike last time they invaded our apartment headquarters."
The three of them looked sincerely at each other, then went around grabbing supplies. In just under two minutes, they were ready to go.
"Out the back way." Dareth muttered in a low tone, taking the lead. He went over to the window that lead to the fire escape and carefully drew it open, sticking his head out. He withdrew quickly.
"There are Skulkin by the stairs, just arriving. They know we're here. They'll be coming after us from the stairs in a second."
Wu swore, then frowned in thought.
"The bathroom window. It doesn't lead to the direction of either of the building's exits. If we can get rope, we can make our way down through there."
"Sounds risky." Griffin muttered.
"What choice do we have?"
"Point taken." Griffin removed a coil of rope from his bag. "Will this be enough?"
"It'll have to be." Dareth said, going into the bathroom and opening the window. "And besides, we're only on the third floor." He took the rope and, after a moment's thought, tied it tightly around the knob on the door.
There came a knock at the apartment's main door.
"POLICE! OPEN UP!"
Griffin darted to the bathroom door and locked it quietly. He then turned to Dareth, who motioned that he should go first. Griffin motioned that, with his bad leg, he's just be too slow. Dareth motioned that he was younger than the rest of them and would be more agile. Griffin began to motion an argument, when Wu butted in and motioned that the Skulkin had just broken down the door and that they should all get an effing move on. Griffin sighed and climbed out of the window. Before he began to abseil down the building, however, Dareth took his hand and shook it. At first, Griffin didn't get it, but then he realised.
Dareth wasn't sure if they would all make it.
Griffin gave him a confident look that did not at all reflect how he felt, and jumped.
After what seemed like an eternity, his feet hit the ground in a mucky little alleyway that was down the side of the building. He froze at the noise he made and the pain it had caused his leg, but then recovered and looked for the others.
Wu saw that Griffin had made it, and then made a gesture that clearly meant, after you.
Dareth shook his head.
The Skulkins banged on the door.
"OPEN UP, we know you're in there!"
"Go!" Dareth snapped. "I'll hold them off."
"You're hurt!"
"So are you!"
"Yes, but, you're the leader!" Wu put a hand on his shoulder. "It's important you make it."
"Yes I am the leader. I make the decisions. And it is also my responsibility to make sure that my comrades and FRIENDS make it to safety!"
The lock rattled and the wood around the door splintered.
"We're running out of time!" Wu snapped. "Just GO!"
The door was forced open. The rope was wrenched out of reach.
"Or a better idea." Dareth took a pistol out of his bag and Wu grabbed a knife from his belt. "We go down together, as friends."
"I like that plan." Wu said with a grin, as young muscular Skulkin advanced upon the two older men.
...
"Lied?!" Zane exclaimed. "What do you mean, lied?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Harumi snarled. "Sometimes you guys forget that Elemental Force are still criminals. THEY were the ones that kidnapped me as a child and held me for ransom. THEY were the ones who decided I had to go! And The SKULKIN were the ones to burst in and save me. Of course, after the battle, they kidnapped me too, but my membership was all it took to earn my freedom. All the while my father pretended that I was home safe for the next decade. Elemental Force were the ones who were going to kill me! They are the bad guys and they are the ones I hate. I changed my name, changed myself so they would never find me. And when the opportunity came for me to pretend to be working for them to gain information, well, I just jumped at the chance."
She smiled smugly at the four stupefied boys in front of her. The four of them were just paralysed in shock, trying to figure out if Harumi was lying of if...
If Elemental Force had been.
"No." The single word came from the mouth of Kai Smith, breaking the silence.
"Yes." Harumi said with a scowl. "Elemental Force-"
"I don't care!" Kai snapped. "But the Skulkins are villains too! They kidnapped my sister, AND my parents, I've seen them! You stole a life of happiness from me, and left me with a life in ruins! So don't pretend that you guys are above this all, because you AREN'T! YOU MURDERERS!" He thrashed violently against his restraints, gnashing his teeth angrily.
"But Kai... Wu LIED!" Jay said in a small voice. "He made us think that they were the victims, making us feel sorry for them! But they were going to do that to a girl-"
"It's a criminal gang, Jay, you idiot!" Kai snapped. "Of COURSE they do bad things! You think the enemies of the people who killed your sister would be on your side, but there are no sides! There's just a whole bunch of people doing bad stuff!"
"Yeah, but what about us? Aren't we on your side?"
"Guys!" Cole snapped, breaking up the argument. "There's no need to fight about this. It won't make anything better." He turned to Garmadon. "I assume you have plans for us? You didn't just bring us here to gloat?"
"Oh I have plans alright." Garmadon said with a grin. "But right now, I think we'll leave you to prepare yourselves. Just remember though..." He went right up to Cole's face. "Whatever you imagine your death to be, I will make sure it is ten times as horrible for the trouble you four have caused."
And with one last gloating smile from the pair of them, the two Skulkins disappeared.
...
Wu wiped his bloody hands on his trousers and kicked the dead Skulkin in the head. It had been a fair and furious fight, but there was now only one winner. The bathroom was destroyed and the enemy was dead. Dareth and his opponent had moved off to a different area of the house, Wu could hear the crashes from a different room. Although he was exhausted, he grabbed the dead man's gun, checked for bullets, saw that there were none and dropped it again, and ran off to help.
Dareth was pinned to the wall by his opponent, who was slowly choking him. Reaching out desperately, he grabbed a small painting with a wooden and glass frame from the wall and smashed it over his opponent's head. The man stumbled back, and Dareth was dropped to the ground. Rubbing his neck, he stood.
"OK, now you've made me mad." He snapped, and leapt onto the bed, jumping towards the man, kicking him in the face from above and landing next to him. He ducked a punch, grabbed the guy's arm, twisted it, tripped him up with his left foot and felt the arm crack and break in his grasp.
"You bastard!" The guy snapped, hitting the floor hard. Dareth let his arm go and searched the room with his eyes for a weapon. His gaze fell upon a metal tray next to the bed, and darted around his fallen opponent, grabbing the tray. As the man stood up, Dareth brought it down onto his head, smashing it over his skull. The guy fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Well done." Wu said, entering the room. "I was just coming to assist."
Dareth laughed. "As if I need assistance." He looked out of the window. The Skulkin's guarding the fire escape had all run off, probably coming up to the apartment to help.
"Shall we?" Wu said. "Leader?"
"I think we shall." The pair climbed out of the window and started to edge their way down the stairs. When they had reached the second floor down, however, Dareth put his hand out to stop Wu.
"Listen." He whispered. Wu listened. There were muffled whispers coming from the floor below them. Of course! Those sneaky Skulkin had laid a trap for them!
"You go down the steps and surprise them, distract them." Dareth whispered in his ear. Wu nodded.
"And you?"
"I'll climb round the side." Wu nodded, and ran down the last few steps, going in yelling. The Skulkins were so surprised that they couldn't lay a finger on him. Dareth leapt off the upper balcony and slid down the pole connecting the fire escape's many floors. He landed behind the Skulkin and took one down immediately with his feet. In thirty seconds, he and Wu had destroyed the enemy and continued down the fire escape.
"Where did Griffin get to?" Wu wondered aloud as the pair entered the alley below the bathroom window. Before Dareth could answer, they heard someone clear their throat from behind them. It was Griffin, leaning out of a small doorway in the opposite building.
"Psst, in here!"
"About time!" Wu muttered, and the pair darted inside.
