Second to last chapter! I'm very excited, and I hope you are too. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines I took from the episode the Mask of Deception.
Chapter XXVI: The Mask of Vengeance
Only a couple more hours before getting the first mask, and Harumi had to go over a few things before Mr. E led the heist. Sadly, Lloyd had apparently heard about the heist. He even sent the Master of Amber to the palace to warn the Emperor and Empress about possible theft in the palace, so Harumi gave her thugs specific instructions not to fight him. Just get the mask and run.
"You now what to do, right?" Harumi asked Mr. E.
Mr. E nodded in response.
"And if you encounter the Green Ninja?" Harumi asked.
Mr. E took a parade mask off of a nearby table and pointed across the room to let her know that he would run.
"Excellent," Harumi praised him.
"Uh, Quiet One?" she heard Killow ask from behind her.
"Do you have the glassap ready?" Harumi asked in annoyance.
"Well, yes, but how are we going to move them to the right position without them exploding while we hold them?" Killow asked.
"All we have to do is cause an explosion in the palace. It doesn't matter when as long as you don't hurt the Temple!" Harumi yelled.
Harumi sighed as she went down a dark, narrow, case of stairs. She walked down until she came to a door directly in front of the end of the stairs. The door led right into her closet, and after getting ready, she went back to the Dining Hall to have dinner with her parents.
"Princess? Where have you been?" Hutchins asked as she entered the Dining Hall. "You aren't usually so late to dinner."
"I-I guess I lost track of time. You know how I like to read so much," Harumi replied with the nicest voice she could come up with.
"Since when have you been reading?" the Empress asked her daughter.
"Since I was twelve years old, Mother," Harumi replied as she sat down, trying to hold back her tears.
The family sat in silence for a few moments before the Emperor finally said, "This newfound gang in the city is getting very concerning. I want double the guards than usual protecting our palace walls. You know how many relics we have. Especially tonight. The Green Ninja heard about someone trying to steal a oni mask tonight.
"Of course, your highness," Hutchins replied before walking away.
"What is this talk about a gang in the city?" Harumi asked. She sounded like she had never heard about it before.
"Oh, it's none of your concern, Harumi," the Emperor replied.
"I see," Harumi looked down at her plate of food. "Is it serious?" Harumi persisted to know how much her parents knew on the matter.
The Emperor just sighed before looking at his wife.
"Well, if you must know. Yes, it is pretty serious," the Emperor replied.
"Will the ninja have to take care of it?"
"I believe the police is more than capable of taking out a few worthless thugs."
"But what if they aren't worthless? What if they come here?" Harumi asked as she stood up from her seat.
"Harumi. Sit down," the Empress scolded.
"But what if they do come here? We should have someone to protect us. And I don't mean our royal guards. I mean people who have the capability of protecting this entire city. They are my hero's after all," Harumi suggested.
"The ninja?" the Emperor asked.
"They do such a good job at protecting the city, we should be a piece of cake," Harumi replied.
The Emperor looked like he wanted to say yes, but if someone suggested having the ninja come over to their house because their neighbor looked at them the wrong way, they would say yes too.
"Your father, and I will think about it," the Empress assured.
"Thank you," Harumi said as she bowed to them.
In the streets of Ninjago City, people were celebrating the coming of the New Year. Lanterns were hung, masks were bought, and people were cheering and celebrating all throughout the city. One particular person in a green mask from the festival came off of one of the parade floats suddenly and ran into a nearby ally with his friend in a red mask. They ran through the city until they made it to their other four friends. One's with white, blue, black, and teal masks.
The six looked above them to see Borg Tower. They climbed up a building close to the tower before the green masked man jumped up and grabbed a neon sign, and grabbed his friends one by one to boost them up. All six of them used their skills to climb up the sign before sliding down a clothing line and landing on a line for a tram. They then, climbed down into the street and the black masked man gave the green one a grapeling hook. He used that and shot very close to the top of Borg Tower. They then climbed up the line and landed right outside of a window.
The green masked man took out one of his red katanas and used it to slice a hole right into the window so they could get in. They looked inside and found many precious artifacts inside. Masks, statues, the First Spinjitzu Master's staff. Suddenly, the green masked man saw something. He walked up to a portrait of Cyrus Borg and cut it with his sword to reveal an ugly, red mask. The man in the white mask tried to grab it, but Green held his arm back and threw powder in the direction of the mask to reveal lasers. Green then took out his katanas and put them in at a perfect degree to avoid disrupting the lasers and make it safe to grab the mask.
As Green showed the mask to his friends, White took his katanas away from the lasers the wrong way, setting off the alarm. The group narrowly made it out of the room as the entire building was about to go into shutdown, but they managed to get outside. As they started to walk away, Blue could hear something above him. Suddenly, he was knocked over by a tornado of green spinjitzu.
"Nice masks," Lloyd told them once he came out of it. "You could almost pass as ninja."
As Green ran away with the grappeling hook, Lloyd had to fight off the other five. After using his spinjitzu, they ran over to the line from the hook, Lloyd right behind. As soon as Green got off of the line, he took out his sword and cut it, despite the fact that White was still on. Lloyd used the line like a vine from the jungle and grabbed the man before he could fall to the ground and returned him safely to the police.
"Aw, man," White whispered to himself as he put his hands in the air.
Once Green was in the streets, he ran over to his motorcycle, took off his green mask, and drove away as fast as possible. He was Mr. E!
"Pixal, I need my car," Lloyd said through the intercom.
"Your coordinance, Master Lloyd?" Pixal asked.
"Somewhere over- You know how to find me," Lloyd replied as he let go of the line.
After a few seconds of falling, Pixal caught him in his car and landed an the other side of the road.
"Ha, ha! I could kiss you, Pix," Lloyd cheered.
"I don't think Zane would approve," Pixal replied.
"Who am I chasing?" Lloyd asked as he chased Mr. E through the city.
"He or she is not in our database," Pixal replied.
"Whoever they are, they're good. I need backup."
"All of the others are on active missions throughout Ninjago. You are on your own."
Lloyd chased Mr. E through the city until Mr. E stopped and Lloyd turned around to face him. They started driving towards each other like complete maniacs as Mr. E put sharp weapons in front of his bike. Right before getting hit by Lloyd, he used the weapon to flip his car over the ninja, jumped off of his bike, and parachuted down to a boat in the fishing village below them.
"Master Lloyd, are you alright?" Pixal asked as he watched his new enemy leave. "Are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Lloyd replied. "It's time to get the team back."
"You could've jeapordized everything!" Harumi yelled at the five remaining members from the heist. "I've been working for years to get this plan perfectly right, and you could've ruined it all! You know what, I don't want Luke back. Not after everything he did to this simple heist, but the rest of you. Fighting a ninja?! This is supposed to be simple!"
"Uh but Quiet One," a man named Chopper Maroon, who was wearing the blue mask said.
"What?!"
"We got the mask anyway. It doesn't matter when the ninja get here as long as we have one of the masks," he replied.
Harumi seemed intriqued by this.
"Can I see it?" she asked.
Mr. E took the mask they stole and gave it to her.
"The Mask of Vengeance," she said as she took the mask from him. She then gave it back to him, and said, "Don't disappoint me. I believe we're ready to put the plan into action."
Just one more to go! I hoped you enjoyed this one. Please tell me what you think and review!