It ain't much, but it's progress!


"Ugh." Jay moans for the umpteenth time, sprawled prone on the roof of a building overlooking the school. He and Zane are there, still in their school clothes, waiting for Lloyd to exit campus down below. "What's taking him so long?" Jay whines.

"Kai told us he got detention in math. I would imagine that's what's keeping him." Zane responds apathetically. Jay leans up and tries to swat him, but the ice ninja sits too far out of reach.

"I know Zane," he hisses. "Just let me have my moment!"

"I am sorry," Zane apologizes genuinely and turns to Jay. "What moment have you been having?"

"Ugh!" Jay groans again, smacking his forehead. "I'll explain later," he moans. Zane simply hums a response, training his eyes on the school again. From here they can see the entire campus, and the streets surrounding. No matter what direction Lloyd leaves from, they'll see him.

Unfortunately, they haven't seen him for what feels like forever to Jay. The lightning ninja rolls onto his back, cutting out the blue sky with one arm and closing his eyes. The concrete is rough and warm under his hand, being exposed to the sun all day. He's like that for a few minutes, listening to the wind and sirens and distant ocean. Slowly, the world fades, and Jay starts to doze off.

"Target in sight," Zane's voice breaks Jay from his pleasant, half-asleep stupor. With a hiss, he opens his eyes, screwing them as they adjust. Jaw flips back over onto his stomach, propping himself on his elbows as he peers over the edge of the roof.

"Typical Garmadon timing," Jay grumbles, snatching the binoculars from Zane and holding them to his eyes. "Give you one guess where he gets it from."

Zane responds, but Jay doesn't hear it as he twists the dial on the binoculars, zooming in. Lloyd came out the front door of the school today, and Jay frowns. That's unusual. From the few days they've spent watching mini-Garmadon, the ninja have learned he doesn't like to take the direct route. Jay squints as another figure follows Lloyd out close behind. The son of Garmadon turns back, seemingly chatting with them, and Jay recognizes Mrs. Laudita. Definitely unusual.

"Strange," Zane says, catching on to what Jay noticed almost immediately. "I did not know Lloyd and Mrs. Laudita were on good terms."

"Some people say he heads toward her room after school," Jay mutters. "Maybe it's why no one likes her."

"That is more likely due to her strict teaching method." Zane comments, sidling over to Jay so he can get a better angle as the two people down below separate. Lloyd heads downtown, toward the docks.

"Let's go," Jay says, pushing himself to his feet. He drops carefully onto the fire escape and starts sprinting down, blending in with the crowd on the street while Zane tracks them both from above.

The sunlight is dying toward the coast, but the streets of Ninjago City are unaffected as brand new lights (thanks, Garmadon,) flicker on overhead. Jay weaves expertly through the crush of people, his eyes never leaving the flash of green that is Lloyd's jacket drawing ahead.

"So," he says casually to no one, "any plans for tonight?"

"I presume Lloyd is headed toward the library," Zane's voice comes through his earbuds.

"Well, it has been a couple days," Jay muses casually as he slips sideways between a hot dog vendor and the crowd of people behind them. Scanning the streets, Jay catches sight of a head of short black hair. The man is tall, rising above the crowd, and seems to be moving intently. Jay traces his gaze to the library doors, where Lloyd has just slipped through. "How's two o'clock sound?" He asks Zane.

"Scanning…" says the nindroid's voice. "I see a tall man with black hair, wearing a suit commonly seen on downtown office workers. He is entering the library, but I can not see a bag for books or technology."

"Yeah, that's it," Jay says. He glances around quickly before darting across the street, landing nimbly on the sidewalk just as a cab flashes past. "Jaywalker!" Somebody yells.

"Yes, that's my name, don't wear it out!" Jay shouts back. Putting his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders, he splits from the crowed at the library doors. "I'm heading inside," he says to Zane.

"I will watch for unusual activity on the perimeter," the ice ninja replies. Jay nods, though the gesture is useless, and slips between the giant doors.

The library Jay follows Lloyd into is one of those towering, ornate ones that looks like it was there before the city itself. A rare and special thing, in a place constantly at war with Garmadon and his shark army. The carpet is new, colored dull and unassuming brown tones; but the columns holding up the ceiling and the sculpted dragons wrapped around them are certainly not.

When Jay enters he passes the front desk, and makes eye contact with some old lady whose scowl quickly sends him scurrying the other way, shivering. Ducking behind a stand of magazines for cover, Jay looks up and realizes the library has two floors. White railings guard a gap in the floor of the second level, where an abstract wire sculpture hangs under a skylight. Hopefully, Jay won't have to search both floors. Trying to look casual, he begins a methodic sweep of the main level, looking left and right while passing between isles of tall bookshelves.

Jay's just reaching those intimidating, towering shelves at the back that only scientists and desperate college students go to, when he hears the voices down one isle. He slips down the next corridor over, peering over the rims of books thicker than his hand is long. On the other side of the shelves the shoulder of a green jacket shifts.

"…a man enjoy some history like anyone else?" An adult's voice is saying. Another voice Jay thinks is Lloyd's, it's somewhat familiar, responds.

"Look, this is the third time I've found you here." Lloyd's voice filters through the rows of books. "What do you want?"

Jay pulls his phone from his pocket, turns on 'do not disturb,' and hits record.

"I'm only a researcher; I study Ninjagan mythology dating around the First Age."

"Liar," Lloyd retorts. "Every time I find you here, you're reading something about serpentine. Every time I show up, you stick around. People don't come near me unless they want something." Jay blinks in shock at the hard, bitter tone in Lloyd's last sentence. Studiously pretending to read on his phone, he watches his feet through the camera.

"I understand why you feel that way, but I am simply trying to get some work-" Lloyd doesn't give the man a chance to finish. Jay can practically see him tensing to spring, imagining the red eyes behind the growl coming into Lloyd's voice.

"What do you want?" Lloyd snaps. The voices quiet, and Jay leans toward the shelves, his mind buzzing with the oppressive silence of the library. The man doesn't speak for a few minutes.

"I want to help you, Lloyd." The man relents finally, and didn't that get Jay's eyes to fly wide open. "Not everyone in this city hates you, you know. There are people you can work with, who can help you get what you want-"

"You don't know what I want!" Lloyd seethes, and Jay can hear his heavy breathing. He watches the sliver of green visible through the shelves turn and move away, listens to the heavy footsteps on the carpet.

He waits one more moment, but the man says nothing else, and Jay stops the recording and stuffs his phone away. Sidling in the opposite direction Lloyd went, light as a feather, Jay disappears between the shelves before anyone can spot him.

"Zane, anything going on out there?" Jay asks once he's safe in the comics section, protected by walls of Starfarer stories.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Zane reports.

"Keep an eye out," Jay says, "we'll be leaving shortly."