Holy FSM... Sorry Lloyd, but under the conditions, that was totally called for.
Cole let out a breath. His dad... had done the unthinkable. And in a way, that made things complicated for all of them. It could have been the dagger currently threatening to sever his Captain's carotid, but then again, did Lou really have it in him?
Cole wasn't stupid. The grief driven by losing a child could frenzy the tamest of parents, and Cole's father had always harbored a fiery temperament beneath his sophisticated facade. And now, it was unbridled. After dawning the Yang mask, Lou had dismissed his patience and class, making him an unpredictable element.
Could he dredge up some conviction powerful enough to drive him into killing Lloyd? Cole would reluctantly admit that he didn't know any more.
The burning passion in Lou's eyes quite frankly scared the younger.
"Now let's talk." Lou demanded, jostling Lloyd ever so slightly. The blonde was staring daggers at Cole, silently asking the question begging to be answered.
Do you know this guy?
Cole shrugged slightly, getting the gist of the wordless question.
"What's there to talk about?" Jay cried. "We just got outta the pit! We don't know who you're looking for!"
Cole snapped a weary look at his comrade, willing him to just shut up. Of course this was Jay, the mouthy wonder.
The earth master did notice a slight shift in two of the agents behind Lou. And their shift was noticed by yet another agent, a woman more decked out in tech than Cole used to be.
A small grin lit up the earth master's face as he spotted a Borg issued transmission jammer tacked to her utility belt, the wavy blue lines on the screen showing active signals being jammed. If Borg's tech was still up to par with his old stuff -which Cole presumed it only could be-, then he knew that even the signals weren't just being blocked but permanently scrambled... Even the vocal ones.
What the resistance had undoubtedly planned to be crippling, had actually been a blessing to the floundering recruits.
It was a bold move, stepping forward; and Lou took a matching stride back, dragging Lloyd with him. Beads of blood dribbled from where the razor sharp knife contacted Lloyd's neck. At least Lou had honored the Yang tradition of using wickedly sharp knives.
"Don't move!" The father growled, eyes narrowing. "Or I'll do it!"
Lloyd pierced Cole with an irritated glare. "Yeah... Captain...Don't do me any favors."
"Look." With two hands Raised, Cole attempted to reveal his desire of peace. "I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding."
Lou scoffed, not recognizing his son's voice. "And what might that be?"
Cole moved his hand up, noting every muscle that went taut on the retired dancer's frame, the way his stance shifted ever so slightly as he pressed the knife just a little harder against Lloyd's neck.
"Don't-"
"Relax." Cole tugged his hood free, watching the expression on Lou's face morph from resolute into one of shock.
"Cole?" It was barely a whisper.
The boy nodded, keeping his hand up. "Yeah... We're all friends here... so please don't skewer the kid destined to destroy Lord Garmadon."
Lou felt his eyebrow quirk of its own accord, the realization dawning on him. Everything solidified when his fellow new agents practically jumped for joy. Julian, agent Invento, was already jogging over to a young blonde haired kid.
"Zane! It's really you!" The old scientist ripped his helmet off and threw it aside, letting it clunk on the crumbling cement.
"Father!"
Lou pursed his lips as Gizmo and Baker, the walkers, charged at a brunette kid.
"Ma, Pa! Is it good to see you... Man I never thought I'd say that..." He tacked on in after thought.
Lou knew Maya and Ray's kids were present as well, but the two agents made no move forward.
That left Lloyd and Cole. Situation finally assessed -as Maya had instructed- he lowered the knife and stepped back.
"Sorry." Lou apologized curtly, nodding at the sixteen year old.
"Don't sweat it."
"Dad-"
The old man raised a hand to stop his startled son, striding until they were barely arm's length apart. Silently, he reached out and placed a hand on his son's chin, turning the kid's face from side to side. The faint hue of mottled purple bruises painted his cheek bone, danced around his eye, and skidded along his jawline.
It made Lou's blood boil to know his son had taken this kind of abuse.
"I'm fine." Cole finally declared, voice coming out in a whisper. It broke Lou's concentration, the dam of anger bursting open as scarlet red tinted his cheeks, eyes shining dangerously.
The glossy look in his eyes scared Cole.
"Dad!" The boy suddenly grabbed his father's forearms and jerked him into a hug. "I'm fine. I'm alright."
His father, after what felt like an eternity, reciprocated the hug. Cole was reminded briefly of just how strong the Yang suit was. Designed to enhance strength, the mechanisms of the suit made it possible to punch through a brick wall at maximum power.
"Ow... can't breathe." Cole gasped out, feeling his ribs bend under the pressure.
Lou pulled away, smiling faintly. "Sorry."
"Eh, maybe that's justice for all the ribs I've snapped." Lou watched his son rub the back of his head and chuckle. "But man, that suit looks good on you... Agent dad"
"Not as good as it does on you, agent son." The retired dancer shot back, folding his hands behind his back. "Does make walking easier since Doctor Borg was kind enough to build a knee brace into it."
"Well even Borg knew agent Yang couldn't hobble around with a cane." Lloyd commented from the side.
"I feel like I'm filling a five star general's shoes."
"Try one star captain." Cole pointed at his rank, trying to make light of the situation to his obviously tired father.
The reunion would turn out to be short lived, as agent Maya stepped forward, hands clasped tightly behind her back.
"The falcon just set eyes on Garmadon and His associates. We should be clearing out."
"Wait." Lloyd put his hands up. "Our mission is to find you-"
"We hadn't guessed."
"No need to be sarcastic." Lloyd grumbled dryly. His eyes shut as he made a mental calculation. "I want you guys to go." He turned to Zane, Cole, Kai, Nya, and Jay. "You all need to get as far away as possible. You'll be fugitives, wanted by the empress... but you'll be free."
"What about you?"
Zane's question hit home, and Lloyd sighed tiredly. An agent's work is never done. " My only family has a record of screwing people's lives up... and it's my job to make it right. I spent years evading destiny, but now I know I have to do this... Alone if need be."
Yang's gaze met his son's. There was a stubborn streak Lou knew all to well, a passionate fury that welled up only when Cole spoke of his ties to the resistance.
Lou felt like he had a better connection to his son now that wore the suit, lived the life Cole had once boasted of.
He knew his son had to do it.
It was the faintest of nods as Lou squeezed Cole's shoulder. It was a silent promised that he had the kid's back.
"You're not alone." Cole announced, cracking his knuckles. "I once thought I could escape my destiny in the resistance... fat chance right? I was born for this. I'm with ya to the end, brother."
"Aw what the heck." Kai sighed. "What exactly are we going back to? Just look at this place. No parents, and you're our only friends... Nya I think you should-"
"I'm staying."
Kai shrugged "But-."
"I'm staying."
"Fine."
"I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves." Zane added, moving to Stan slightly behind the green Ninja in silent show of support.
"Perhaps my best chance to do so is by remaining with you."
"Ma, pa?"
"Do what you gotta do, Son." Ed smiled, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"I'll keep the candle lit, Jay."
"Thanks, Ma. I uh... I didn't say it much... but I love you both."
"Aw, we love ya too." Edna assured, wrapping her arms around her son's neck.
"Then it's settled. We may not get another chance to talk on friendly terms, so take these."
Maya passed out round disks that were about the size of thumb tacks.
"Attach these to the underside of your bracelets. They'll loop the vocal signals whenever you need to talk and scheme. Just make sure you're silent thirty seconds before activating them."
"Thanks Agent-" Lloyd trailed off, realizing he had no idea who this was.
"You last knew me as Agent Indigo."
"Ah-" Lloyd quirked an eyebrow. "Well welcome to the defector club. It seems all of us left Wu for some reason or another."
That made Maya pause. Finally a name worth considering. She mulled it over momentarily before nodding.
"Defectors... huh... I like it. I think it works."
Time to leave. The agent reminded herself snidely. She was getting distracted.
The falcon sent an alert to the senior agent's HUD. Grainy video feed popped into the lower right hand corner of her screen, Garmadon and his click of elites en-route.
"We need to book." She declared verbally, watching as her agents gave their kids one last goodbye. It was painful to know their mission had changed so drastically in the course of ten measly minutes, but perhaps it was for the best. With a huff, she turned to leave... until a hand snagged her wrist.
"Agent Indigo. We... we need to explain this somehow." He gestured vaguely to the massive hole blasted into the roof, eyes briefly flicking upward.
"Oh... minor detail. Who wants to be shot in the leg?"
"What?" Jay yelped.
"Ah forget it." Maya ripped her gun from it's holster, aimed, and fired off two shots. Lloyd grunted, one and flying to his knee and the other to his shoulder as he collapsed into Zane's arms.
"Lloyd!" Jay cried as Maya glanced pointedly at Lou. The dancer shook his head as he realized what the woman was asking of him.
"Make it look convincing, Dad." Cole demanded.
"No!" Lou yelped, waving his hands parallel to the floor. "I'm not gonna-"
"Yes!" Cole hissed, grabbing his father's shoulders and shaking him. "You are! I can handle it, trust me- Oww!" Cole spun around clutching his nose. "The nwose... you hawd to go fooh the nwose."
"You said to make it convincing." Lou replied. "Good luck son."
The guilt on Yang's face was masked by the literal techno mask, but Cole could hear it in his voice. Turning to leave, Yang cast one look back at his son before exiting through the hole in the roof.
"What do you mean, they left?!" Garmadon snarled. "Your job was to capture them! Not let them walk all over you!"
Lloyd groaned in both frustration and pain as Zane prodded the wound in his leg. He was propped up against the wall with two bullet holes in him. Thank heavens Maya was a good shot. Both bullets had gone through, but hit nothing major on the way.
Cole busied himself 'unburying' Kai and Ya from the rubble he had originally helped pile on top of them. The story was that those two had been trapped during the fight. He himself was sporting a broken nose, and Zane's arm was spasming periodically from the deep sparking gash.
Maya had done her job of masking things well. When Garmadon returned, he had been livid at the destruction of his base of operations.
"This is unacceptable!"
"Hey!" Jay mouthed off. "We couldn't exactly do anything. They had a knife to your son's throat!"
He rubbed his knee, still swollen and sore. It had been 'trapped' under a beam.
Garmadon whirled to face him, but whatever argument he had been about to present died away. Was victory worth his son's life? He opened his mouth to speak again, but Skylor put a hand on his shoulder.
"Master, perhaps let this one go. We knew they were ill prepared for this. Let them tend to their injured while Karloff and I scout the area for traces of them."
Sighing, Garmadon nodded. Of course. He had taken them two weeks out of basics. This was on him, as much as he hated to admit. Oh they would pay, as his MO dictated; but it wasn't their fault realistically.
"Very well." He cast a glance at his pale and shaking son, then his wounded comrades. With a sigh, he relayed his orders. "Split up... and see if you can't find us a new place to set up base camp in the process."
"Yes sir."
The hallway floor was hardly the most comfortable place Lou had ever been, back pressed to the rough wall, aching knee stretched out to block the path. The air was somber, laden with grim reality and burdened with the daunting taste ahead.
No parent liked to wound their child; yet for the sake of their children, each had to strike a blow with intention to hurt. It felt counter-productive in the grand scheme of the original plan.
That plan had been to bust out their children, and then get the heck away from Ninjago... at least that was Lou's. He knew it could never had been that simple and easy. Now he had been dragged by the lapel into a war he had fought so hard to avoid.
Well that's what he got for wearing the mask.
Already, it had been established that all future confrontation with their children should be offensive to keep up appearances, a fact that hardly sat well with anyone. Lou dreaded the next encounter with his son. Could he fight the boy he'd fought so hard to raise?
Well looking at it from an outsider's point of view, Lou knew failing to do so could get his son killed. Other elites had died for far less. Tonight in and of itself had been risky. Garmadon was still bound to be suspicious.
With a sigh, Lou let his head rest against the wall.
Yes. He would fight his son. He would fight this war... only if it meant he was protecting the only family he had left.
Okay. So I'm sorry this took so Long. I had a major case of Writer's Block, and must have written the opening to this chapter four different times. Now I can move forward with ease. I hope you all enjoyed the read! Until next time.
PS. My last chapter was riddled with errors that somehow I missed. It's really embarrassing. Hopefully this one was better.
Steampunk Wilson: Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope the reunion lived up to standards. It was fun to write.
Northern Goshawk: Yup. Gizmo's Jay's dad. (Kinda obvious by now XD). I love it when people Don't see my twists coming.
PS. I'm glad you liked chapter 30. That one was a blast to write.
LouTheStarSpeaker: I'm super happy you liked my flash back chapter! That one was fun to write, because I could give Cole a little depth... and since he's your favorite, I can kinda understand why you enjoyed that chapter. Lou's twist was kind of last minute, but I figured it would sit well with the story. I'm enjoying fleshing out his character a little. I wish he'd appear more on the show. Hope you enjoyed the reunion!
Bookkeeper2004: Has it already been a month? Huh... lost track. I guess the answer to that is hard work and perseverance?
I.D.'s Fantasy: Thanks! Emotional drama is my favorite of all dramas... usually
Hiiiiii (Guest): Yup, Lou is Yang. I loved throwing that last minute twist in there. By the way, I hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks for the kind words!
Nuppa Nuppa: Now you don't' have to imagine it ;)
RealtreeGal: OOF... That, my friend... is a perfect way to describe the chaos.
