Albion Village manufactory - night
"Ronin, your call," Nya sighed. "Either run now or stay and fight."
"Run," Dr. X questioned. "We can't run. They'll pursue us to the ends of the earth, and they never rest, unlike you."
"We stay," Ronin sighed. "It's not in my DNA to run anyway."
As they spoke, the Retributionists approached them, splitting off to surround them in a circle. Others stepped back, securing the perimeter round the entire facility.
"That's a lot of soldiers," Jay murmured.
"Not anything we can't handle," Ronin replied.
"Don't cower out now," Nya scolded Jay. "'Fear isn't a word where I come from', remember?"
"Very funny," Jay grumbled.
Once the Retributionists were in position, they stopped where they were. Then their commander, a red-painted Retributionist stepped forward, looking directly at Ronin and Dr. X.
"So, you're the fugitives that we've been ordered to find," the commander smiled.
"Maybe, maybe not," Ronin shrugged carelessly. "I mean, there's other fugitives in Ninjago you guys hunt down."
"Only one that set off prehistoric binary chips," the commander interrupted. "That blast wasn't exactly the quietest noise I've heard all night."
"Not the loudest noise you'll hear either," Ronin winked.
"Enough with this nonsense," the commander interrupted again. "I know who you are. You're Ronin, the rogue who allies himself occasionally with the ninja. None of your bluffing or tongue twisting lies will work against me."
"Rats," Ronin sighed. "I thought you wouldn't notice."
"Of course, I noticed," the commander laughed. "I didn't earn my rank by a lack of observation, did I?"
"More like you kissed Zytron's foot till he promoted you, Commander Solstice," Dr. X grumbled.
"I earned my promotion fair and square, Dr. X," Solstice shouted, jabbing his arm into Dr. X's shoulder. "Now you come with me, or you won't be the only one dead tonight."
"Solstice, I won't come with you," Dr. X replied. "I know what Zytron plans to do, and I will not stand by him and let him do as he pleases. I've lived too long under his shadow; now it's time I bring him out into the light of day."
"As you wish," Solstice sighed, stepping back. "Guards, you have permission to kill on sight."
"Get ready," Ronin whispered.
"Ready for what exactly," Dr. X asked.
"For the thunder and lightning," Ronin gestured, pointing to Jay.
"But there was no storm forecast for this region," Dr. X sighed.
"Just watch," Ronin hushed him.
They both looked toward Jay, who grunted as he started to summon with his arms a large bolt of lightning. Large surges of energy flowed from his arms, and his eyes began to glow with a haze of bright blue. Sizzling cracks of electricity zapped the ground, causing it to shake slightly around him.
"Solstice, look," a nindroid soldier cried out.
Before Solstice could turn his head, he, and the rest of his brigade, was blasted by huge bolts of lightning. He collapsed at once to the ground, dropping his weapon as he slumped forward. Then the circuitry within started to sizzle, and soon he was coated in a thick layer of bouncing lightning bolts.
Jay, as soon as he had fired off his salvo, collapsed upon a pile of rubble, nearly exhausted to the point of fainting. He watched as the nindroids collapsed, then smiled as almost all of them disintegrated from the intense electric blast.
"I told you you'd come through," Ronin whistled.
"Don't make me do that again," Jay gasped. "I…I almost fainted from the impact."
"You might have to," Nya gulped. "Solstice didn't disintegrate like the others."
To Jay's dismay, Solstice had merely absorbed the electrical energy, discharging it from his hands to propel himself up. He brushed himself off, then turned again to face the ninja and Dr. X.
"Foolish ninja," Solstice jested. "You think a little lightning show is going to deter me? I have lightning-proof armor, forged in the fires of the hottest mountains by the best blacksmiths. You are no match for me."
"Well, that was a waste," Jay grumbled.
"But we outnumber you, four to one," Ronin interrupted, ignoring Jay's remark.
"Three to one," Solstice chuckled. "The lightning ninja, after all, is too weary to fight. And I doubt an old man, a rusty droid, and a girl can beat a warrior like me."
"Then you don't know your old men very well," Ronin smirked.
Without warning, Ronin whipped out a large bolt blaster, firing it directly toward Solstice's armor. Both salvos of laser struck Solstice right in the chest, but merely reflected off his chest plate and sizzled away, leaving tiny puffs of smoke and an unharmed commander.
"Bolt blaster," Solstice snorted. "Is that the best you've got, Ronin? Because it sure sucked."
"Your armor isn't completely impenetrable," Ronin sighed.
"It is as far as you're concerned, oldie," Solstice laughed. "Nothing you built can pierce my thick plating."
"Any other tricks up your sleeve," Nya asked Ronin.
"I've got nothing," Ronin sighed. "Anything on your end, Dr. X?"
"You think I can wrestle with him," Dr. X gasped. "I'm no match for a super-soldier like Solstice."
"Then perhaps terms of surrender should be arranged," Solstice smiled, stepping toward Dr. X. "The doctor comes with me, but the rest of you can go."
"No can do," Nya said. "We swore to protect the doctor, and we're keeping our word. It's a ninja thing."
"Oh, I tremble inside and out," Solstice jested. "I must fear the wrath of a girl! Oh, my boys will have loved to hear this."
In a flash, Nya swooped straight at him, kicking him straight in the chest. Solstice tumbled backward and fell, landing with a loud thud on the debris behind him. His chest plate snapped off upon impact, exposing an intricate catacomb of wires and light, half-charred plating.
"Bingo," Nya smiled.
She sighed, then summoned a narrow, powerful jet of water that rocketed out of her hands into Solstice's chest. The water, however, did not penetrate the plating.
"A little water won't be enough, girl," Solstice coughed. "I am more powerful than any little girl ever can be."
"I'm no little girl," Nya narrowed her eyes. "I am Nya, master of water."
Nya then shoved her hand forward, forcing the water to intensity by twofold, then fourfold, and eventually, tenfold. With increasing pressure, the water jets shrank to the size of lasers, but struck the plating with the force of a roaring hurricane. At first, the plating resisted, and Solstice continued to mock Nya mercilessly. His mood, however, quickly shifted to one of anxiety, as he started to hear the plating crack under the pressure.
"You…you can't destroy me," Solstice gulped. "It's…it's not possible."
"Get used to possible," Nya quipped.
As soon as Nya spoke, the platting shattered, letting a flood of water rush unheeded into Solstice's main circuitry. Wires immediately started sizzling and smoking, and several snapped under the pressure. Solstice then swiped for Nya, but his arms lost power before they could graze her leg. Then he glanced up at Nya, and with his final words, pronounced a curse upon Nya's face.
As soon as Solstice's head fell back, Nya stopped the steams of water. Then she reached into the chest of Solstice and pulled out his memory core, snapping the wires attached off as she removed it.
"Here you go," Nya said, tossing it to Dr. X. "Figured that would help us out a bit."
"Indeed, it will," Dr. X smiled. "With this core, we can learn what Solstice has processed recently."
"Good work, Nya," Ronin smiled.
"No one calls me a little girl," Nya shrugged, whipping back her hair. "Those that do usually end up like him."
"Duly noted," Jay nodded. "Now, can someone help me up? We don't have much time to waste."
"Jay's right," Dr. X nodded. "It won't be long before the Retributionists notice Solstice's absence and send out squads to pinpoint his last location."
"And when they find him and his men fried, they'll start off after us," Ronin added. "I wouldn't be surprised if we'll be on their radar from now on."
"We best be moving along then," Nya said. "You said the intelligence depot was northeast of here, right?"
"Right," Dr. X said.
"That's where we're going next," Nya signaled. "And personally, I think our luck will be a bit better off there."