Adventures of Mindroid the Nindroid Part 3: Meeting of the Minds

Show Ninjago.

'Mindroid the Nindroid was loathed to admit it, but he needed help.'

'No, not help, information. Yes, that's it, he needs more information on how to find Pythor.'

'Thankfully, Mindroid knew exactly what event to go to get the information he sought. '

'It was a treacherous location, full of deception at every turn, and to get in, Mindroid would have to be in disguise.'

'But he would not let that stop him. He was Mindroid! Nothing would stand in his way to greatness!'

'And so, in preparation for the event, Mindroid searched until he was certain he found the perfect disguise, and when the time arrived he made his way to the entrance.'

'They would never suspect a thing.'

'In the courtyard of Steep Wisdom, the hostess of this meeting of malice looked up with a mouth dripping with venom as potent as her smile, and said-'

"Hey! You made it! Thanks so much for coming!" said Poisinthia the Fangpyre brightly from where she was dressed in a flowery bonnet and frilly dress and serving tea to a table full of the other reluctant Lil'Terrors.

Brad, wearing a way-too-big tuxedo jacket they'd stolen from Cole, leaned over and whispered to Gene, "Why are we doing this again? We just had a tea party last week."

"It was Poisinthia's turn to pick our activity again, and Nelson's mom jumped on us having these since it doesn't sound like an activity that would cause injuries," Gene muttered back as he tried to keep a large top hat from falling over his eyes.

Across the table from them, Nelson, who Poisinthia had somehow coaxed into wearing a flowery cardigan they'd found in Misako's room, fumbled with its too big sleeves and would have spilled the hot tea-kettle on himself if Rusty Echo hadn't snatched it quick enough.

Realizing he could have just gotten seriously burned, Nelson sent Rusty a sheepish but grateful grin. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Rusty. He then turned to face Mindroid. "I'm surprised you came."

Mindroid was just looking around as if paranoid someone would see him. Fair enough, Rusty wouldn't want to be seen in the oversized purple sequined jacket and large red hat pulled low over his face either. He looked like he belonged in that club of old ladies he'd see around town sometimes.

To be honest, with the exception of Rusty and Lil'Loyd (who had opted to re-wearing their suits from the wedding and therefore were the only ones in clothes that actually fit them) the rest of them didn't look much better. Tiny Echo was wearing a tacky blue suit jacket stolen from Nick Jay that was covered in cyan lightning bolts, and Posinthia had somehow convinced SJ to wear one of Red Nya's qipao.

While, admittedly, the activity wasn't as bad as the boys had thought it would be, and the snacks were really good, all of them were pretty bored at this point, and the tea party wasn't over yet. They could only gossip about their teenage friends and drink tea for so long.

Mindroid gave one last suspicious look around, before turning to look at them. "I come to this secret meeting seeking information on Pythor's whereabouts," he said.

That declaration gave everyone pause.

"SSSecret meeting?" asked SJ in confusion. "What sssecret meeting?"

Mindroid glanced around again as if searching for eavesdroppers, before leaning in and saying softly, "You don't fool me. I've seen you all. Coming in disguise and talking about all the important people of Ninjago. This is clearly a covert meeting to share information. I'm willing to peddle what I know in return for information on how to find Pythor."

The others all stared at him, then exchanged glances. Well, that was what technically they were doing, but a covert meeting of information marketing sounded a lot cooler to them than sharing gossip.

Suddenly this tea party was a lot more interesting.

Poisinthia, without missing a beat, grinned and passed Mindroid a cup of tea. "Congratulationsss. You've passssed the initiation. What information do you have to sssell?" she asked like this was always her intention for the day.

Mindroid's eyes lit up in hearing he was right before they narrowed again. "I can offer intel on what locations would be safe from Pythor," he offered enticingly. "Something I'm sure would be of interest to you, Green Ninja, given Pythor's desire for revenge against you."

Lloyd's eyes widened hearing that. "Got me there," he agreed. "Not having to worry about that creep trying something would be a load off my back."

Mindroid puffed up his chest, clearly pleased to know his information had value.

Tiny Echo looked around the table. "Does anyone know anything about how to find that jerk?" he asked curiously. "All I know is that the one who kidnapped both SJ and Lil'Loyd hasn't been seen since he also tried to kidnap Kai."

"He kidnapped Luh-Loyd!" Lloyd insisted.

"We jussst went along to sssave him," agreed SJ, and the two traded fist-bumps.

Mindroid assumed Tiny's odd phrasing was a means of keeping his information vague so eavesdropping intruders wouldn't know who he was referring to. Still, clearly, he had come to the right place for information. He hadn't even been aware Pythor had made an attempt on the Red Ninja's life.

"I've moved in with Tiny and haven't been around recently, so I don't know anything about where he could be," said Rusty, looking troubled and not wanting to expand on that. He then glanced at the two snake kids at the table. They all knew the two had snuck into the local Serpentine tunnels out of curiosity about how their people's counterparts lived. "What about you two? Do you know anything on the Serpentine side of things?"

"The SSSerpentine of all tribesss have been on the lookout for him sssince his betrayal," said Poisinthia, knowing it was true for both of their worlds. "If he ever triesss to come crawling back to usss he will be arresssted and entombed."

SJ nodded in agreement. "It would be the trial of the century," he said. "Everyone would hear about it, but ssso far no one hasss."

While Mindroid felt that was exactly what the treacherous snake deserved, he hoped he was able to catch Pythor before the Serpentine did. The Nindroids deserved their chance for revenge too, but maybe their tribes could give him to the Serpentine afterward.

"Well, he hasn't tried to kidnap me recently," said Lloyd thoughtfully. "But then, he hasn't really gotten the chance. I've been spending a lot of time over in Luh-Loyd, Tiny, and Rusty's city recently."

"I have ssseen you come to visssit usss more too," said SJ.

Lil'Loyd sighed. "Yeah, the Ninja here have all been kinda busy lately with hero stuff and the tea shop, so I go over there to hang out. And since I'm not around Pythor hasn't tried anything."

Feeling it was their turn, Brad and Gene shared a smug look, and Gene pulled out a tablet. "After our last encounter, I took it upon myself to track all possible sightings of Pythor on the internet. I have the record of it here."

"Hey!" squawked Brad indignantly at him for taking all the credit.

"Brad helped and brought snacks," Gene added.

Brad calmed down and looked satisfied.

Mindroid looked very interested in that tablet, but it wasn't a concrete lead. He'd learned the hard way that sightings on the internet could be a hoax or simply lead him to the wrong Serpentine. Not every average Ninjago civilian knew the difference between a bleached Anacondrai and a white Fangpyre.

Nelson had been frowning into his teacup like he was trying to remember something, before suddenly sitting up straight and fumbling to take off his cardigan and reach his phone in his pocket.

"What's up, Nelson?" asked Lil'Loyd, wondering what was wrong.

"I think I- Give me a sec, I need to ask my mom something," said Nelson, finally getting out his phone. Dialing his mother, he waited for her to pick up.

"Yes, what is it, Sweetie?" asked his mother when she answered. "Is the party over already? I thought you'd be playing for another hour."

"No, mom, we're still, uh, playing," said Nelson, despite this no longer exactly being the activity his mother thought he'd be doing. "I just wanted to ask, um, do you remember my doctor appointment the other day?"

"The one after you got hit on the head, or the one after you broke your thumb?" asked his mother.

"The one after I hit my head," said Nelson, grateful Luh-Loyd's super-strong healing teas had patched him up after those injuries. "I was really dizzy as we were leaving, but I could have sworn I saw something big and white crossing the road when we were driving back to the city. What was it?"

Mindroid sat up with interest. A possible sighting, and recent too. He focused all his attention on that and tried not to be distracted by the apparent serious injuries his frie-INFORMANT had sustained getting it.

"Oh, that thing, you saw it too?" said Nelson's Mom. "I was starting to think I hallucinated it. Yes, there was a big Serpentine in the road, I nearly hit him with the car. I think it might have been Fangpyre, but it was the oddest thing. When I looked back to see if he was okay I could swear I saw him disappear before my very eyes. I thought your little Fangpyre friend said she could turn other things into snakes, not vanishing without a trace."

Mindroid's optic's widened and Nelson put his hand over the phone's microphone to whisper to the Nindroid, "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!" agreed Mindroid. "Tell me the location of the sighting and I will tell you what I know."

Nelson grinned at him, then took his hand off the phone. "Yeah, that's so weird, Mom," he said to his mother. "Where was that exactly? I'll tell SJ and Poisinthia and they can get their parents to help him out."

"That's nice of you, Sweetie," said Nelson's mother, and she rattled off the location she'd seen the vanishing Serpentine. After exchanging a few more pleasantries with his mother, Nelson hung up.

Mindroid was trying to keep a straight face, but he was visibly vibrating with excitement to rush off to follow up on this new lead, but before he could bolt, Gene held up a hand to stop him.

"Well," said Gene, adjusting the brim of his tophat up to look suave, "we kept our end of the bargain. What do you know about places that are safe from Pythor?"

"Yeah," agreed Brad. "With his invisibility powers, is any place really safe from Pythor? For all you know, he could sneak in anywhere."

"No, not anywhere," said Mindroid, feeling impatient, but knowing he had to keep up his end of the deal or else lose his informants. Even if he caught Pythor after this, he still may have use for them in the future. "It seems he's learned the hard way that no matter how invisible the coward makes himself, he is not safe anywhere in Ninjago City."

The other Lil'Terrors exchanged glances hearing that.

"All of Ninjago City?" asked Tiny curiously. "Why? What do you mean? How do you know about that?"

"It seems Cyrus Borg has not forgotten or forgiven his abduction by that wretched snake," said Mindroid, resolutely ignoring his part in that abduction (he was under programming, the blame fell only on the one giving orders, not the droids carrying them out). "Last month he created and sold a new security system to the public at a very low price. By this point, the entire city is now rigged with infrared security cameras that both protect the dwelling they're installed in, and are programmed to recognize Pythor and alert Borg and the authorities, and us Nindroids if that Anacondrai comes within twenty feet of any of them. I almost caught him the last few times he tried to enter the city, but he has gotten wise to it by now. As it stands, I only get hits from it if he wanders by a facility outside the city with that security system."

The Lil'Terrors all looked very interested to hear this. "I didn't know Borg did that," said Rusty. "Zane never said-" but he cut himself off with a frown at the mention of this brother and muttered something about not talking to him in a while.

"It doesssn't catch the other SSSerpentine, doesss it?" asked SJ, worried for his people's counterparts.

"No," said Mindroid. "Borg made sure it only would alert everyone if it detected an Anacondrai, and given Pythor is the last, any alerts are sure to be him."

"Why do you get alertsss from it?" asked Poisinthia curiously.

"All Nindroids were built by Borg Industries," said Mindroid. "Though we have since been shut out of the company's systems, the connection hasn't been severed completely. Borg knows our desire for revenge, and is aiding us accordingly."

"Huh, didn't expect that from him, but it sounds like it's been effective," said Gene thoughtfully.

Seeing how antsy and ready to go Mindroid was getting, Lloyd had mercy on him. "This information pleases me," he said. "You consider your end of the deal paid."

That was all Mindroid needed to hear, as he stood up, tossed aside his disguise, snatched up a handful of cookies for the road, and bolted in the direction of Nelson's intel.

The Lil'Terror's watched him go.

"Think he'll catch Pythor this time?" asked Nelson.

"Maybe," said Rusty. "I hope so."

"Hope he at least kicks butt even if he doesn't," said Lloyd ruefully.

"Here, here," agreed SJ. It may not be the same Pythor who kidnapped him, but from the sound of things, he was just as bad.

They lapsed into silence before they all exchanged a look.

"So, all in favor of tea parties being out, and super-secret information networks being in, say aye?" asked Gene with a smirk.

"Aye!" was the unanimous reply, everyone already thinking about how they could gather more information to share with each other. Given all of their wildly different backgrounds and homes, there was sure to be plenty they could pool together.

But then Brad looked down at the remaining cookies and tea mournfully. The food had been the best part of the tea parties. "But we can still keep the snacks, right?" he asked hopefully.

The others snickered at the question. "Of course we are," said Lloyd, picking up a cookie and munching on it. "Can't be a spy network on an empty stomach."

Thus the Lil'Terrors got a new hobby.

And no secret in any Ninjago was safe.

A/N Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I really like writing this funky little robot. He's so full of himself, it's great. He's got good friends even if he refuses to acknowledge them as such. And now, thanks to him, the Lil'Terrors are now into information gathering and peddling. Mostly amongst each other, and will likely mostly go for funny blackmail pictures, but the skills they pick up are sure to come in handy in the future. I can see Gene especially excelling at this, but with their wide variety of backgrounds and different places they live, there's sure to be a wealth of information only they can get. Also, I need to draw the tea party/informant get-together, but I've been swamped lately and haven't had time to draw or write as much as I've wanted. It should lighten up after the holidays... I hope.

Thanks again to Kay Hay for beta reading this chapter and helping with the planning for it. The idea of Mindroid mistaking Poisinthia making them have a tea party as a secret meeting came from our talks, and I think it was her idea initially.

If you want to see scenes from my fic, check out my Tumblr.

Next Time: What? You tell Luh-Loyd he can use his powers to heal, and not expect him to use them? Ninjago's hospital gets a new volunteer.(Still being written, so it might be late)