It takes two
Chapter 14
How much was a lie?
PrincePacman47: Aw, thanks! Glad to get this chapter out too. And yes, the fallout of that particular chapter will be incredible. So stick around for the good stuff!
AuroraRain18: I'm unreasonably proud of that particular scene. Glad you thought it was funny.
So just a little reminder, the A/N at the bottom of chapter 13 is important to better understand Liv and Lloyd's power connection, and another FYI, The plot of this fic will stray from the events of S8 and S9. But which events I cannot say :)
Little P.S, so the ninja didn't run into that little crab thing the Liv and Harumi ran into. They actually have the bounty. But sadly, the bounty is still a little banged up, so the SoG makes it to the city faster than the ninja because they've got a bunch of motorcycles. And Liv does have her elemental dragon. A little headcanon of mine is that the ninja lost the ability to form their elemental dragons after Morro possessed Lloyd. I don't really know why that's just my headcanon...and it's plot convenience, so yeah.
Disclaimerrrrr: I don't own Ninjago or it's characters. Just Liv. My OC.
Attacking the punching bag like he was, Nya would've thought that Jay had swapped with Kai. He's usually the one you'd find on the destiny's bounty beating the life out of training equipment and having a full blown meltdown.
But Nya should never judge a book by its cover. That's gotten her and her family into a lot of unnecessary trouble - but she's going to put a sock in that train of thought, because the more she thinks about Tempest and The Quiet One, the more likely she is to either one) Pitch herself off the bounty and track them down, or two) Nya's going to strangle someone. And she's really, really trying to be the somewhat calm one here.
Nya pauses in the doorway of the training room. Watching Jay attack the poor training dummies that really don't deserve his uncharacteristic rage. The elemental of lightning turned his brief stumble into a roll, coming out of the barrel roll Jay sent out three blasts of crackling lightning at the three different training dummies across the room. The first two hit the dummies right in the center while the last bolt went slightly astray, just barely missing the dummies left side. Jay glares at the small scorch mark made on the wall by his awry lightning bolt, Nya sighed, finally stepping into the room.
The blue ninja doesn't even acknowledge her, just continuing to stare at the wall, and the water ninja was even more thrown off by his change of personality. Jay's the only ninja who just can't do the whole 'brood-in-silence' thing. Because he's more likely to just sigh, very heavily, and very loudly every ten minutes until someone notices him and inevitably says either "Jay if you don't stop that, I swear i'll actually light Mr. CuddlyWomp on fire." Or, "Jay, Seriously? Stop that and just tell me what's wrong."
Which is one of the many reasons why she admires the lightning ninja. He talks about his feelings instead of bottling them up, or he has a breakdown and then tells you. But either way he still talks to her about his issues before they evolve into something way worse.
Unlike some people she knows.
So when Nya finds Jay beating up poor training dummies, ignoring her, not sighing so loudly every ten minutes she tracks him down and cracks him like a walnut, Nya is ready to go full on investigator mode on him. And she's the best sheriff in town so you better watch out, lightning ninja, because once Nya decides to interrogate you, she will not let up until she's got her answers and you've fully talked out all your issues.
"Thought Kai was the one to beat the heck outta the training equipment. What's up." Nya says, bluntly, coming over and placing a comforting hand on Jay's shoulder. The blue ninja let out an odd grunt that Nya will take as a stifled snort.
"Nothing." Jay breaths, averting his eyes and turning back to the training equipment. Nya grabs his arm, stopping Jay's retreat. He looks back at the water ninja with uncharacteristic hollow eyes. Nya breaths out a sad sigh. It's the same reason Kai's currently shut up in the bunk room. It's the same reason Zane and Pixal have been trying to think up a plan for the last hour. It's the same reason Cole hasn't left little sensei Wu's side. And it's the same reason Lloyd's gone.
"Listen, Jay. I'm angry too. And when I see her I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. But now's not the time to pull a Kai or Lloyd on me and train until you pass out. That's not going to help us stop her."
Jay's silence is worse than anything Nya can think of at the moment. Well. Maybe not the worst thing she can think of. Currently the worst thing she can think of is whether or not Lloyd is shut up in cage no. 50. But Nya has - very, very little - faith that after all Liv's done, her caring about Lloyd's overall well being wasn't all a lie. But Nya is also repressing the fact that she really doesn't know Liv like she used to. And under the light of recent events, Nya isn't putting too much hope in Liv's morals.
"Jay… Come on, you've gotta say something!" Nya pushes, shaking his arm a bit.
"It's nothing, Nya! It's not like she betrayed me or anything! It's not like she openly announced her alliance with the sons of freaking Garmadon!" Jay rants, throwing his hands up in exasperation. And Nya is briefly pleased that she's managed to spark Jay's rant. At least he's not brooding in silence like the others.
"-And we trusted her! We trusted her for so long, and I get that she hates her powers and that she hates not knowing what she can do and I know that she hates herself - but - but-" Jay sighs, running a hand through his curls. Nya huffs, pulling him into a tight embrace. She knows exactly how Jay's feeling right now. Having been the first person on the team to really talk with Lloyd when he first arrived on the bounty, she knows what Jay's feeling. Watching Liv side with the Sons of Garmadon. She felt the same way when Morro possessed Lloyd and forced him to fight against his family. But - there's a pristine distinction between being forced and choosing.
Liv chose to fight against them.
Everyone knows that Jay and Liv had… A connection. Kinda like Kai and Lloyd. Jay and Liv just seemed to - to click with each other. "Kai can't adopt all the stray, homeless kids they manage to snatch off the streets of ninjago." Jay had told her. So, Jay decided to stick with Liv. It was never a dull moment with those two. They were either talking non stop or eating ice cream long into the night.
(Even though Jay will be forever miffed that Liv sided with team chocolate ice cream).
"I know you two were close. But we've gotta stick together now so we can catch her. Okay? Now's not the time to go and distance yourself, Jay. That's the last thing we need right now." Nya says, letting go of Jay and opting for shaking his shoulders again. Jay nods slightly, but there's a determined spark in his eyes. Nya smiles.
"Good. Now let's go round up the others." Nya continues, pecking Jay on the cheek and striding out of the training room.
When Lloyd wakes up, he's somewhat pleased to find that his hands haven't been tied up. Lloyd slowly tests his legs, and is further pleased to see that they're not tied up, either. And then his heart does this little jump thing when he sees that he's alone.
Absolutely nobody guarding him whatsoever.
So - after dubbing this his new record for escaping a kidnapping - Lloyd decides to make a break for it. He shoots up like that coca-cola and mentos rocket him and the guys made that one time and took off through the jungle.
He hears her before he sees her. And being the trained ninja that he is, Lloyd turns and delivers a swift back kick on his twin. Liv let out an "oof" before neatly front flipping over Lloyd. The two stare at each other for what seems like an eternity before Liv finally speaks.
"C'mon. That hurt." She says, bluntly.
"Pay back for that gut kick on the dragons." Lloyd scoffs, squaring his shoulders. Liv winces at the mention, and Lloyd takes pride in her brief displeasure. He fires a ball of green energy at her before breaking into a sprint.
Sadly, Lloyd runs into a purple wall moments later, falling hard on his bottom with the beginnings of a headache forming. Liv is standing over him, a sad smile on her face. With a wave of her hand, the two were enclosed in a purple square. The violet walls crackling with dark energy. Lloyd blinks blearily up at Liv, then locks his legs around her and forces her to the ground. Using this to his advantage, Lloyd springs to his feet, launching himself at Liv, but she rolls out of the way and charges up a sphere of dark energy. Lloyd forms an orb of green energy in turn, vaguely aware of the faint gold hues. The twins slowly circle each other, both wearily eyeing the purple barriers around them.
"Please stop now, Lloyd. Before you do something you'll regret." Liv warns.
"Yeah, you see? No. Trusting liars like you got me into this situation. Now i'm getting myself out of it!" Lloyd yells, running at Liv and chucking the two orbs at her, Liv sends her own orbs to counter Lloyds, but he sweeps her legs out from under her and she falls again.
Something flashes in Livs eyes as she stands, raising her hand and shooting a violent beam of dark energy at Lloyd, on instinct, he shoots his own beam, and the two jets of energy collide like the crack of thunder. Liv keeps her beam steady and strong, slowly stepping towards Lloyd as she does. Lloyd's stream of energy dwindles only for a second before he's walking too. The two twins are dangerously close now, and Liv can see the exhaustion in Lloyd's determined expression. So she reaches into her gi's pocket ever so slowly, and-
Lloyd's beam abruptly cuts off as Liv slaps the vengestone band on his left arm, then faster than Lloyd thought possible, she kicks him to the ground as her beam of energy slams into the barrier behind him. The beam destroys the wall on contact, taking the rest of the walls with it. The barrier goes down in a sparkling mist, and Lloyd tears his gaze away before he finds the display beautiful.
Liv says nothing as she - far more careful than Lloyd would've thought - grabs his right arm and drags him to his feet.
"vengstone, huh? Low blow." He taunts, rubbing at the band on his arm.
His twin doesn't reply for a while, and they're just about at the sons of garmadon's little camp before she finally does. But the answer is so soft Lloyd barely catches it.
"There were other ways I could've re-captured you. I chose the one that would hurt less." The sentence gives him pause for a beat, but then they are surrounded by jeering SoGs and Lloyd's face burns despite himself. Some of the gangsters throw stones or sticks at him as he passes, and - to Lloyd's surprise - Liv takes her hands from Lloyds arms and forms a wide shield on either side of them as they walk, shooting dangerous glares at the bikers.
She led them towards a small little tent, and, without hesitation, Liv pushes the flap open and barges in like she owns the place. It only takes Lloyd a second to find out why. Inside the tent were The Quiet One, Mr. E., UltraViolet, and Killow. UltraViolet cackled, pointing her sai at him, Liv eyes the deranged woman wearily before turning towards The Quiet One.
"Took you long enough." Harumi says, she waves Tempest over, gesturing at a map spread out on the table. "So, now that we're all here, here's the plan." The room dissolves into chatter about The SoGs plans to resurrect Garmadon, ironing out all the lumps. And Lloyd is infuriated by the fact that they've planned this out so thoroughly. Liv keeps side eyeing him throughout the whole thing, which is starting to grate Lloyds nerves. He doesn't want to even look at her.
He, instead, decides to let his emerald eyes search the tent. He can see tons of loose scrolls and pens scattered about. Cantines of water and small crates of food. Lloyd searches the tent harder, desperately scanning with his eyes.
Finally, finally, like, a ridiculously long time later, Lloyd spots a tattered sack stashed away in the back of the tent. He slowly inches towards the sack, eyes trained on the group of people in front of him, he slowly slides around the back walls. Lloyd, however, does feel slightly anxious. If he does reach the sack, he can't really just snatch it and bolt like he wants to.
He cant blast his way out, either. Or fly out on his totally kick ass energy dragon like he wants too.
Thanks to somebody.
And Lloyds fingertips just barely scrach the fabric of the bag when a small, silver dagger with a dark blue leather hilt was thrown at him. Lloyd flinches back, painfully aware of all the eyes in the room on him. The Quiet One lowers her hand on the end of a throw, her sea green eyes slowly turning towards him.
"Did you really think it'd be that easy?" Harumi laughs, looking at Lloyd like he's some lost puppy. Lloyd stays silent, refusing to give Harumi the satisfaction of a response. Harumi just rolls her eyes and turns to Liv.
"Hey, can you go tell rest of the gang to pack up? We're heading out in five."
Liv nods, eyeing the group wearily. Harumi flashes her a reassuring smile, Liv grins back before she disappears through the tent's flap. Once she's gone, Harumi's expression morphs into one of disgust as she stares down on Lloyd.
"The only reason you're not knocked out somewhere or chained to a tree right now is because of her." Harumi says, deathly calm as she gestures towards the exit of the tent. "However, my friendship with your sister will not stop me from achieving my goals and bringing you ninja to your knees. If it were up to me or anyone else here - you'd already be dead. So I suggest that you stop pushing your luck." Then Harumi turns on her heel and strides from the tent, the rest of her high ranking thugs follow The Quiet One out the tent, but not before Killow scopes up the sack that contained the three Oni masks.
How did he ever fall for her?
So once Nya manages to drag Kai from the bunk room and Jay's done destroying the training equipment, she calls a meeting on the bridge so they can think up an actual plan besides "just-blow-up-the-sons-of- garmadons-camp-and-knife-Harumi." Because sadly everyone is on board with that particular plan and Nya is trying to convince herself that she's not - definitely not - like, that plan has never crossed her mind even once in the past couple of hours - on board with that plan once so ever.
So after a long while of silent thinking and discussion, the ninja come up with a somewhat thorough plan.
"Okay, Zane. You're sure that the bounty will hold up at this speed?" Nya asks, holding up the small white board in her hands with the details of their game plan.
"Yes. Pixal checked the systems and the bounty should be able to maintain high speeds." Zane says, typing in the final commands.
"So? What are we waiting for? Let's go already!" Kai says, sharply. Nya sighs, rubbing her temples and patting Zane's shoulder, giving him a thumbs up. The nindroid nods to Pixal, who powers up the thrusters and sets the coordinates for the Ninjago city police department.
The bounty gives a start, starting off slow then speeding up, soon they were speeding through the skies, instead of sticking with his friends on the bridge, Kai decides to head back to the bunk room. Plopping down on his bunk and staring up at the ceiling above him.
One, very dramatic sigh later, Kai reaches an arm up and traces the little groves in the wood above him. Trying desperately to keep his mind off of certain people when Jay strides in. Kai popes his head over the edge of his bed and peers down on Jay with tired eyes.
"Hey, Jay." Kai says, propping his head up in his hands.
"Hi, Kai." Jay breathes, awkward silence falls on the two like a wet blanket. Both trying to think of a way to break it. "How long do you think it'll take to get back to the city?" Jay asks after a bit. Kai moves into a sitting position, back against the wall.
"I dunno. Soon?" Kai says, kicking his feet over his bed. He looks at Jay, taking in his dull eyes. Kai's not really one for sappy, heartfelt talks - sue him. He's got a reputation to keep - but seeing Jay's hollow eyes is really starting to irk him. He knows exactly why Jay's so out of it. It's the same reason they all are.
"You know we're gonna stop them, right?" Kai sighs, that's as sappy as he's gonna get.
Jay laughs, almost breathlessly as he swings his feet so they're up against the ceiling. It's almost enough to lighten Kai's mood. Seeing Jay lying flat on his back on his top bunk with his feet pressed up against the ceiling.
"Pff - I know we're going to catch her. I'm more worried about what will happen when we do catch her." Jay replies, on a sorta defeated huff, which is a little too much emotion for Kai, but he nods in understanding nonetheless.
He's about to say something when Pixal comes in, a small half grin on her face. "We are almost at the police station, get ready." Jay and Kai shoot from their bed and all but stumble into the bridge, Pixal follows after them, shaking her head in amusement.
The ninja gathers in the bridge one last time, going over the plan before filing out of the bridge, decked out in full ninja gear. Pixal lands the bounty above the police station before joining the ninja on the deck. The ninja look at each other, flashing cocky smirks and reassuring grins all around as they leap from the flying ship.
Now, the police commissioner likes to think he's a patient guy. After all, it takes an extreme amount of patience to paint his large wooden model of a fisherman's boat. The commissioner takes a lot of pride in his work. Each stroke of the brush brings him closer to his finished product. Most of his officers see his project as a waste of time, but the commissioner couldn't care less. He can't fret over his city 24/7. That's the ninjas job. The police just help with low level crime and show up when the ninja need them.
Why waste their time and men trying to fend off the overlord or giant snakes or ghosts when you've got your own team of ninja to take care of all that stuff for you?
The commissioner dips his paintbrush into the small cup of water sitting on his desk, he then pulls the brush from the water and brushes it on the rims of the cup before tapping the paintbrush into the turquoise paint. The commissioner then places the brush on his boat and slowly drags the paintbrush across the boat's side, just a few more strokes in turquoise, the he can move onto then royale blues and then he'll be-
"We need the commissioner!"
His focus falters, and the smooth, straight line that he'd been painting onto his fisherman's boat was ruined, his fingers slipping - thank the FSM he pulls his hand away so he didn't blend the turquoise paint into the white of the little window.
"He's not taking any visitors." Says his secretary, somewhat calmly. The commissioner looks up from his extremely important work, scowling at his closed door.
"But this is important!" Argues a firm, but worried voice.
"All of his work is important!" Counters his secretary, exasperated.
"Don't make me zap you!" Threatens a squeaky voiced person, and the commissioner hears his secretary stutter and fall, he takes a wild guess of who has deemed it time to pay him a visit.
A large group of color coded ninja, silver haired samurai, and - a baby? That's a new one. Storm into the commissioner's office, a sort of panicked tension leaking off of the ninja as they began to bombard the poor commissioner with demands and safety measures for whatever new crisis Ninjago city is about to face.
"Commissioner!"
"Good to see you."
"There's no time to lose."
"Sorry to barge in but it's really urgent."
"We have to vacate the city!"
"We need weapons, lots and lots of weapons!"
The commissioner blinked at the group, trying to make sense of everything they'd just told him. He shakes his head emphatically, waving his hands around. "Whoa whoa whoa. One at a time. Just shoot it to me straight." The commissioner says, standing from his desk. "What's gonna do me in?"
The silver haired samurai steps into view, confusion clear in her expression. "Pardon? Do you in?" She asks.
The commissioner sighs, walking over to his wall of past police commissioners. "Every time something bad happens to the city, the first thing they do is can the police commissioner. So what is it this time?" The commissioner turns to face the ninja. "Subterranean mutant insects? Indomitable flesh-eating zombies? A Pirate genie?"
The last suggestion feels a bit odd. But he shrugs off the feeling. The ninja look on in confusion, curious eyes skirting around the group. The name felt oddly familiar to them, too.
"Yes, why not? Anything can happen in this crazy town." Explains the commissioner. All though that fact is slightly annoying. And - not for the first time - the commissioner wonders what leading a police station in a normal town would be like.
Jay and Nya share a knowing glance overlooked by the others. Aware that indeed, anything, and they mean absolutely anything, can happen in their crazy city. They're honestly not surprised anymore. But a crazy biker gang is definitely on their list of the unexpected. An ever growing list, sadly.
"Don't be ridiculous, it's the Sons of Garmadon." Jay says, slightly amused. Ridiculous is a word he would use to describe his run in with a pirate genie. Along with terrible and literally unspeakable and intense and crummy and-
"They have Lloyd." Cole speaks up, deathly serious, they also have someone else. Someone that is very important to the ninja. But they don't know if that was a good or bad thing. The ninja didn't know if they really wanted her back.
"And the three Oni masks!" Zane adds, popping out from behind Kai.
"The Quiet One and Tempest-" The fire ninja starts.
"Who are Harumi and Liv!" Nya interrupts, unable to keep that secret in. She knows full well that she's probably just exposed Liv, but she can't bring herself to care anymore.
"Are going to resurrect the evil spirit of Lord Garmadon, and-!" Kai states, slightly annoyed that Nya cut him off. And angry at the mention of Tempest.
The commissioner once again cuts off the ninjas rambling, waving his hand to silence them. "Just stop! The princess is behind all of this?" He asks with raised eyebrows. The ninja have never been anything but truthful, but what they're telling him now can't possibly be right…
Right?
"And Liv!" The lightning ninja says, a flicker of sadness crosses his expression, but it's steeled into determination. The commissioner doesn't know who, exactly, 'Liv' is. But he guesses he'll find out sooner or later.
"Which is why we need you behind us." Cole says, shifting the child on his hips.
"Along with everyone on your force." Nya adds, leaning over Cole.
The police commissioner sighs, before placing his hands on his hips. "I'm not ready to lose my city just yet." He steps over to his telephone, picking up the receiver and dialing the mayor's office. "Person on the other end of this phone! Get me the mayor." The commissioner demands. After a beat, his confidence dwindles. "Yes, I'll hold."
Jay almost laughs, if the circumstances were different. He would have laughed if so much wasn't on the line. He would've laughed if the price of failure wasn't so high. He can't laugh right now. Because they have to stay strong. Jay can't let his emotions get the better of him, no matter how hard the lightning strikes inside him. No matter how loud the thunder booms within him. He's not going to just stop Tempest.
He's going to save her.
They arrive in Ninjago city's outskirts not long after they left the jungle. Harumi jumps off the elemental dragon without hesitation. Complaining about how she can see the destiny's bounty in the distance and how behind schedule they are.
Liv says a few comforts about how it doesn't matter and how they've still got the upper hand. And Lloyd slowly inches off the back of her dragon. He debates the wisdom in making a run for it while they're distracted, but a few more SoGs show up on they're loud Motorcycles, along with Ultra Violet, Killow, and Mr. E, and Lloyd thinks better of it.
Lloyd slips off the dragon, wincing as spikes of pain shoot through his ankle. Liv seems to sense his discomfort, and turns back towards him. Lloyd tries to hide the grimace as Liv's emerald eyes scan him, she gives him a quizzical look before turning back to face Harumi. Her elemental dragon dissipates in a flurry of violet sparks.
The two girls talk and chuckle a bit as they sneak swiftly into the city. Soon Lloyd's joining them as a few bikers roughly push him forward. With a whistle, a dozen bikers emerge from an alley, all on motorcycles. The new bikers slip off of their bikes, allowing Harumi to slip onto one and Liv on another. The bikeless bikers hop onto other gangsters' motorcycles, while Lloyd is forced onto Liv's bike. He struggles a bit on the bike, but one flash of Tempest's eyes keeps him still.
Engines revving, the Sons of Garmadon set off towards the destroyed jade palace. The ride there was silent. Partially because no conversation could make it past the rushing winds, partially because neither Lloyd nor Liv knows what to say to each other.
Correction. Lloyd has thousands of words he wants to scream at his twin, but for some reason, the words couldn't make it past his lips. Liv's blond hair flows neatly in the wind, and Lloyd leans out of it's path. He briefly wonders when Liv learned to ride a motorcycle, but then he realizes that she's shaking like a leaf, gripping the handles with white knuckles and her body is extremely tense. Lloyd thinks that Liv's tenseness probably isn't a good thing while riding a motorcycle.
Oh well.
He leans further out from behind Liv, just testing to see what she'd do. Her head swivels from the road to look behind her, but the bike wobbles precariously and she quickly turns her focus back on the roads she's zooming down. Lloyd's hair blows in the wind, and he stupidly moves a hand from where it's wrapped around Liv's waist to swipe the hair from his eyes.
But the bike takes a hard left and Lloyd loses his balance on the motorcycle. With a yelp, he slips from the bike, Liv gives a strangled shriek and takes a hand off the handles to grab him. Sadly Liv isn't skilled like the other bikers she's hanging around, and Harumi stifles a curse as Livs bike goes down.
Lloyd hopes that the crash will attract some sort of attention from the citizens walking around the city, maybe he can sneak away in the confusion. But at the last second, Liv encases him in a small little ball of dark energy, and he bounces in the ball as it rolls to a stop. His hopes of escape were thrown to the wind. Harumi diverts the other bikers away from the crash, and Lloyd doesn't know if he should be grateful or upset that they're aren't any cars on the road they're on. And the people that were walking around quickly fled the scene, yelling in panic.
At least the citizens are safe, Lloyd thinks, somewhat bitterly.
Liv throws another ball of dark energy at the motorcycle, trapping it just like Lloyd. And the part of Lloyd that's the responsible ninja leader he is, is impressed at her awareness of damage control. Liv skids across the asphalt before she creates a small, round sled like thing underneath her. Stopping her fall.
Lloyd tells himself he's not impressed by Livs control and knowledge of how to use her powers.
Harumi get's off her bike and runs towards Liv, who's shakily getting up. Lloyd's too far to hear them, but he see's Harumi help dust Liv off and help her to her feet. Liv's not as banged up as Lloyd had thought. Not that he cares. Aside from the scrapes that run across her right cheek and the small one over her right eye that Harumi is fussing over. The one on her eyes looks vaguely like a smaller version of Kai's, but Lloyd dismisses the familiarity almost desperately.
Tempest and The Quiet One walk over to Lloyd, who's sitting cross legged in his little ball. With a wave of her hand, the ball of dark energy vanishes, and there's a soft thud of the motorcycle hitting the ground and the shuffle of thugs who ran to put it upright.
Harumi glares at Lloyd, and he glares back. Liv looks into the sun for a full minute before just huffing in slight annoyance. "You're riding with Harumi this time around." Liv states, caressing the scrape on her eye and walking away. Harumi looks after her for a beat before turning on Lloyd. Any traces of her sweet princess face gone as she stares down on Lloyd with hatred.
"You're on very thin ice." Is all Harumi says as she hauls Lloyd to his feet. Walking over to her bike. She and Liv hop back onto their bikes, Livs slightly tattered. The other SoG ride behind them as the Jade palace comes into view.
"Commissioner, there's been a motorcycle crash near third and north. Should we send help?" Asks the commissioner's secretary, standing in the doorway of his bosses office. The occupants of the room turn towards the secretary.
"Ah, um, how many?" Asks the commissioner, rubbing his temples. One thing after another…
"Only one bike crashed, but there was a large group, sir."
The commissioner thought for a moment, the ninja were silent. Patiently waiting to continue their plans to stop the Sons of Garmadon. He could send a few men to scope out the crash. But if only one bike crashed does he really need to send out his men?
"How long ago was the crash? Was there a call?" The commissioner says.
"Fifteen minutes ago, and no. There was no call. We picked it up on the monitors, sir."
"Ah, well. Let's check the tapes before we send in our men." The commissioner says. They'll assess the damage from the cameras and see if the police are needed, he can't really afford to waste the time if the crash was minor. He could send in an ambulance, if they're needed.
The secretary nods, still standing in the doorway. He eyes the group off to the side, eyes widening at the sight of the ninja and samurai X. The secretary gave a sheepish wave, hoping that at least one of the ninja would return it. The ice ninja smiles softly at him, waving back at the secretary before turning back to the quiet conversation he was having with the earth ninja.
The commissioner stares at the security tape on his screen incredulously. Rewinding it over and over. He clears his throat, drawing the attention back onto him. "Ninja, you might want to see this." He says. The protectors of the city shuffled over towards the monitor curiously. The commissioner rewinds the tapes one last time for the Ninja and Samurai X.
The screen has no color and the image is a little grainy, but it still shows a large group of bikers zooming through the streets, the camera was always changing to keep up with the bikers. Out of nowhere, one of the bikes went down, and the ninja were starting to question why, exactly, this involved them when suddenly, a ball of some sorts was shot from one of the bikers that went down in the crash. The ball enveloped the other person that was on the bike, protecting them before they hit the ground. The person then sent another ball at the bike, no shield was formed for the person themselves, instead they tumbled a bit before coming to a stop.
A third person ran from their bike and towards the fallen biker, helping them up. The two then walked over to the person in a ball, the ninja assumed that words were exchanged between the three before the person who'd shot the orbs walks away and the third person reaches for the second on the ground, hauling them up and briskly walking towards the rest of the biker gang. The group then set off again, and the camera view switched one last time to show the group heading towards the jade palace.
The monitor stops, leaving the ninja in stunned silence. The commissioner looks towards the ninja. "Can any of you explain that?" He asks, gesturing towards the screen. The ninja and samurai look at one another, a silent conversation in their eyes.
"May I?" Zane asks, moving towards the monitor. The commissioner nods, stepping aside for the nindroid. Zane types away on the monitor, and soon enough, he's pulled up one identification profile on the screen. The ninja crowded even closer to see the picture, the commissioner gasps at the photo while the ninja glare at the photo of the Jade princess. Harumi.
"If that's Harumi, then that group of bikers must've been the Sons of Garmadon!" Cole exclaims, his team nods in agreement.
"The person on the motorcycle, the one that made those protection shields or whatever must've been Lloyd!" Kai says, a scowl on his face. Why would he save Liv? She must've been the one in the ball, right?
Jay shook his head at Kai. "Zane, can you pull up a clearer version of the tape?" The nindroid nods, once again in front of the monitor. The commissioner stood back, letting the ninja take over. He walks over to his secretary, who's still waiting in the doorway.
"...I don't think we'll need to send any help." He says, the secretary nods, saluting the commissioner before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. The ninja watch the monitor again, this time without the grainy image.
"See? Look, the person who ran off towards the person who crashed is obviously Harumi!" Nya says, pointing at the small chopsticks in Harumi's bun. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would Harumi help Lloyd up?"
"That's because that's Liv! Look, the person Harumi's helping up is Liv. So that means Lloyd is the person in the ball." Cole says, pointing at Liv's long blond hair on the monitor.
"At least she's not as heartless as we thought." Jay says somewhat pleased. Nya smiles to herself. Maybe not everything Liv told them was a lie…
"Yeah, well, she's still our enemy. So we still gotta bring her in." Kai breathes. The team nods. Getting back on track.
"Well, at least we know where the Sons of Garmadon are heading." Pixal steps out from behind Zane, she presses a few buttons on the monitor, pulling the security tape backup and playing the part that shows the SoG heading towards the Jade palace.
"Commissioner, we're going to need your forces to meet us at the Jade Palace of Ninjago."
So yeah. Liv does still care for Lloyd and is going to try not to treat him like some random prisoner. Other people...not so much. In case anyone was wondering, the "bunk room" is just the ninjas room. I got tired of calling it "the ninjas room" lol.
A lot went down in this chapter and I wanted to make sure I milked this chapter for all it was worth. I wanted to make sure I wrote the ninjas reaction to Liv right. Since Jay knows Liv best, I thought it was good to give him a deeper reaction. Next chapter will be an even longer one as I attempt to try and get Garmadons resurrection into one chapter. Wish me luck.
Next time: The ninja have a plan to stop the Sons of Garmadon, save Lloyd, and put the Quiet One where she belongs. All while the ties between Livs powers and her Oni blood make themselves known...
