"No! No you can't take them!"
"Step aside Ma'am. We don't want to hurt you, but fuether resistance will be met with force."
The soldier held his gun out in front of him, parallel to the floor like a buffer as he pressed it longways into the woman's shoulders and drove her back.
"Please! Please!" She wailed, clawing at the gun as her husband tried to restrain her. "Don't take them!"
"Maya." The man whispered in her ear, holding her against his chest to both restrain and comfort.
"Please." She begged. "Not my babies."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Smith. On order of Empress Harumi, all children with elemental powers are to be drafted into the imperial fighting forces."
Maya burst into tears as Ray glared the heavily armored enforcer down.
A high pitched squeal made Maya whimper as a black haired six year old tore out of the kitchen.
"Get back here you-" A female enforcer grabbed her from behind, easily hoisting the screaming six year old off the floor, pinned to her chest. "Ronin, help me!" The female called to the one keeping Maya and Ray in line.
The slight shift of his head indicated a long suffering eye roll as he took two careful steps back, keeping his gun trained on the parents.
He reached for a syringe and turned his head. That was all Maya needed. Ripping a small aspect of her powers that had long lay dormant, she drove her fists directly in front of her.
Water surged from the faucets, water cooler, and drinking glasses, forming into spears which sailed into the two enforcers. It clipped Ronin across the cheek, sliding with no resistance into his metal mask and cutting his face deeply.
The woman got one right to the shoulder, eliciting a scream as she dropped Nya. Ray finished the deed with a knife as Maya scooped Nya up and rushed into the next room.
The window was open, curtains billowing inward with the wind. Maya set Nya in the fire escape outside the window and grabbed her cheeks.
"Nya, do you remember the plan?" She whispered. The six year old with eyes wider than saucer plates nodded brokenly.
Maya had but one thing to say... "Good. Run."
[Ten Years Later]
{Date: June 4, 2022}{Time: 4:37 PM}
Kai hefted a bag of scrap across his shoulder as he studied the sad little shack that he and Nya sold scrap in.
It was sustinence survival, the siblings barely being able to etch out a living in the slums. It was safe though, well. Kai would take that back.
It wasn't safe. There were gangs, thieves, murderers, mercenaries, and troublemakers... But a distinct lack of enforcers.
Word was that Empress Harumi had tried years ago to reign the slums in, but eventually built a wall around the area and instructed the 'higher classes' to steer clear.
Getting into the slums was easy... Getting out was a whole other ball game.
Kai and Nya had escaped the elemental draft a decade ago, and while Harumi wasn't intently looking anymore, new elementals were always drafted ar first sight.
This made Kai wary, much to Nya's displeasure. He didn't like their lives as they were, but the draft was as good as death.
That's why he had taken so many precautions, covered every set of tracks, buried every clue of their past lives.
For all the good it did.
As Kai would find out, Empress Harumi didn't look so hard for the Smith children anymore... But Ronin did.
As Kai opened the shop door, he came face to face with a sight so traumatizing, the bag slipped from his fingers, sending metal arts skidding across the tile floor.
Ronin was leaning against Nya's newest acquisition, a hover car (probably stolen by the guy who asked for Nya to fix it), with a few dings and a rusted out engine. The old piece of scrap was suspended four feet in the air, and Nya was tied and gagged on her knees in front of it.
"Kai Smith." Ronin greeted loudly. "Or should I say... Dareth Brown?" He asked, rifling through a file in his hand. "You managed to fly under the radar for an impressive amount of time... But something that I learned early on was that asking the right people, can get you just about anything."
Kai scowled, pointing at Nya angrilly. "Let her go!"
"Why?" Ronin tossed the file aside and stood up, placing a hand on the holster of his pistol. Kai shifted back a bit as Ronin placed his hand on Nya's shoulder. "Why give it up my advantage after working... So... Darn hard for it?"
"What do you want?" Kai seethed as Nya angled her face towards to the floor in defeat.
"Well you see. We got most of the elementals ten years ago..." he paused"Well aside from a select few." With a shrug, he continued. "Today, the second biggest elemental sting in the history of Ninjago went down. Today the last elementals have all been reigned in... That means me and my lucky squad of mercs get a pretty gigantic pay day from the Empress."
"So we're just merchandise?" Kai hissed, balling his fists up tightly.
"Bingo." Ronin reached down and hauled Nya up by a fist of her now shoulder length hair. Even with the gag, Kai heard the agonized scream.
"Hey don't touch her!"
"Or what?" Ronin asked. He nodded briefly at something... No... Someone, and Kai was jumped. Several heavy bodied sent him sprawling to the floor, hands on his shoulders and knees, someone grabbing the back of his head and driving his the right side of his face into the tile.
He growled as hands snapped anti-E cuffs on his wrists.
As three enforcers and Ronin shoved Kai and Nya outside into the sunlight, he saw old clients scurrying away. The one thing about the slums, was that no one stood up for you.
Ronin made a show of marching them through congested streets towards the slum walls. The main gate, towering forty feet high and reinforced with vengestone was guarded by forces on the turrets and top walks.
Ronin shoved Kai towards the small side gate, opened only from the outside. A sliding plate was pulled aside, Ronin given a once over before the door was unlocked.
Kai heard no less than ten deadbolts, along with the chirp of a keypad, and the hum of an eye scanner. If he wasn't mulling over the fact that they'd been captured, he'd find it histeracle. In all honesty, no one wanted out of the slums.
They only wanted in.
The door creaked open and Ronin went ahead with Nya, Kai being shoved through afterwards by one of Ronin's associates.
Kai had forgotten what Ninjago City looked like from street level. He and Nya had been smuggled into the slums when he was too little to appreciate the beauty of it all. Unlike the trash littered scums, Ninjago City was in pristine condition. Not a spec of dust or trash could he seen anywhere; the windows of every building were shiny and black tinted.
Neither sibling could remember ever being somewhere so clean.
People were well fed, clean and milling about their business. No one paid Kai or Nya any heed as they were manhandled towards an alley way.
People had decided to turn a blind uncaring eye towards the Empress's cruelty rather than do the right yet painful thing to confront it.
A white van was stashed in the alley way closest to the slum wall. Two enforcer commanders or En-coms watched Ronin approach carefully.
"Commander Ronin." She thumped her chest and inclined her head.
"Commander Chen." Ronin greeted the woman. "I trust you successfully apprehended Walker."
"Yes sir." She backhanded the rear doors of the truck to indicate this Walker guy was on board. "The old couple put up a fight... I was forced to nonlethally subdue them."
"Good." Ronin nodded. He frowned behind the visor as he studied his two captures. With an audible grin, he turned to the woman standing guard. "We get a payday, Sky."
The metal clad woman didn't reply, yanking open the back of the van. Kai was shoved none too gently towards the opening which spelled the end of his freedom, only to balk in surprise.
"The others dropped off their apprehensions earlier, meaning The gang's all here in ine little package." Skylor explained to Ronin, ushering Kai on board without much of a second glance.
Kai and Nya stopped dead in their tracks, Kai in the bed of a the van and Nya outside. Three other teens were chained up onboard, looking utterly miserable.
The cold metal barrel of a gun was pressed into the small of Kai's back, jamming into his spine. "Sit." Ronin snapped.
The brunnette glared at his hands, staggering forward and sitting next to a blond haired teen on a cold metal bench. Nya sat across from him next to another kid with freckles and muddy brown hair.
Ronin grabbed a chain from the floor. One end was welded to a small loop in the floor, and the other end clipped onto Kai's cuffs, effectively bolting him to the floor.
He spat on Ronin's boot, earning a huff of laughter.
"Would'ya look at that? Kid thinks he's tough!"
The van doors slamming shut made Kai wince, the ringing making it nearly impossible to hear Ronin chuckling through the thin walls outside.
Kai studied his unfortunate comrads in chains. Near the back of the van was a black haired kid in a sleeveless blue vest and brown jeans. He was buff as far as muscles with noticeable fleks of sawdust in his hair. Kai figured he did some sort of wood work.
The only thing seperating the black haired kid from Kai was a blond sitting on the same bench. He had a buzz cut and electric blue eyes. His white suit with the Ninjago Academy of Higher Learning logo indicated the blond was a school student. A small patch on his arm said 'Zane.'
On the other bench was Nya and the Brown haired kid with freckles. His head was ducked, fingers rapping the metal bench. He had a blue tee shirt and black loose pants. A brown grease stained apron completed the look.
"And here I thought we'd be a trio." The black haired boy remarked dryly. "You know, three muskateers, three blind mice?"
"Is this a joke to you?" Freckle boy sniped, his eyes wide with unbridled terror.
"Let's see, just got taken away from an awesome job and my family. I'm just dying in a fit of hysterics.'
He was deadpan, no emotion in his voice, but a sadness in his eyes. Freckles frowned and looked away almost guiltily.
"Perhaps we should not argue." The blond, possibly named Zane, spoke up sternly. Nya let out a mumble through the gag no one had bothered to remove. "It would seem we are in this together." He added.
"If that's the case, then I guess some names might be helpful. I mean I can call you freckles, buff kid and blondie... But it might not be too apreciated.
That remark recieved mixed reactions, but the black haired kid snorted and spoke first. "I'm Cole Bucket."
Freckles snickered quietly. "What, that a nickname?"
That made Cole scowl deeply. "I had a mother with a sense of humor actually."
Freckles froze. "Oh man... I am so sorry. Like really sorry! Like really really re-"
The look melted from Cole's eyes as he shook his head. "Don't sweat it. Just tell me your name."
"Jay Walker." Freckles replied.
"Zane Julian."
"I'm Kai and this is my sister Nya."
"A pleasure to meet all of you." Kai learned that Zane had an award winning smile as the blind spoke, not letting the circumstances get him down.
"Despite the circumstances."
"Indeed." Zane ruefully remarked.
"Hey, guys... Listen..." Cole whispered, turning his ear up. The engine was rumbling, van moving, but they could still hear Ronin's obnoxious pitch through the thin metal walls.
"What do you mean he got away?"
"Sorry Commander Ronin." Skylor apologized quickly. "Seems Grav let the Garmadon kid slip through the cracks. We'll find him."
"How am I supposed to claim that I caught all of them if a few are missing? Explain that, Chen!"
"It's not my fault you choose morons for your squad!"
"Grr... Tell Grav that he'd better get his butt in gear and bring me Lloyd Garmadon... Now!"
"Garmadon?" Kai whispered. "As in... The... Garmadons?"
"The gang... Yeah. They have a pretty bad rap with Harumi supporters." Jay whispered. "My pa's a family friend of Wu Garmadon. He's actually pretty awesome."
"Then there's Garmadon."
Cole shook his head. "I can't believe he sided with the Empress. I bet that's a sore spot for his kid."
"Can't believe someone had a kid with that four armed freak." Kai muttered. "If it weren't for Garmadon, Harumi would mever have captured the elemental children for her armies."
"I know that when Garmadon joined Harumi, it drove a stake in the family and caused an internal civil war. Then they all went underground, working as an active resistance against the Harumi regime." Zane added. Kai was beginning to realize Zane knew far more than just an average high schooler.
He filed that away and stared at the manicals chaffing his wrists.
"So should we be worried that they're hunting down his son?"
"I'm not entirely sure..." Zane shook his head.
They lapsed into silence.
By the end of the trip, Kai knew that Cole operated the saw at a lumber mill, Zane was just your typical high schooler, and Jay was a Mechanic.
Kai had explained briefly about their capture in the slums, but despite the circumstances, he would choose to reserve his trust. He knew Harumi could have easily planted any one of them as a spy. All he needed was Nya. That was enough.
The van came to a stop about an hour after it took it off. Whatever became of Ronin's elemental escapee was unknown, and not even their concern as they were unchained and forced off the van.
They were walked through a massive internal hanger bay. Enforcers were everywhere, on crates, catwalks, trucks, nooks and crannies, and even high beams far above. They were outmatched, and should anyone try anything, outnumbered ten to one.
Harumi was well stocked in terms of equipment, no end in sight to the boxes litering the hanger bay floor.
The six prisoners were marched to a door in the back wall. The base quickly turned into a complex webwork of hallways; and despite his best attempts, Kai lost track of where they were going.
Soon though, they came to an airlock of sorts, or rather a two door chamber which granted access to the pit.
The pit was a deep cylander with smooth metal walls and a glass dome. A staircase lined the walls, all the way to the fifty foot down bottom.
"Welcome to the pit." Ronin spoke up. "Your home for the next few months. Here you'll learn everything you need to in order to serve Empress Harumi."
Jay gulped as the first door opened and they were all forced in the chamber. As soon as the door behind them hissed shut, but the one in front remained steadfastly shut.
It was a tight fit.
"Hey, who's hand is that?" Nya, now deprived of her gag, yelped
"Ehehe... Sorry." Jay whispered.
"Ow, Zane buddy... That's my foot. What are you made of, lead?"
"Titanium actually."
"Beg your pardon?" Kai asked, pushing Jay away from his sister... Not that freckle face could go far.
"I was... Joking." Zane replied.
"Well we need to work on your humor, friend."
A screen blinked to life; speakers screeched; and groans of pain filled the tight little chamber.
"Hello, elementals." A cold and somewhat edgy voice filled the room. Their attentions quickly fixated on the screen at the red eyed obsidion faced villain staring back at them.
"I am your commander, Lord Garmadon."
Okay, so where to start? This is going to borrow a lot of elements from the TV series obviously, but with my own unique spin on it. You'll see old faces with new roles, twists on former stories, and much more. I have some pretty big plans for this story, so please remember to follow along as this (hopefully) epic tale begins.