A/N: Hey, everyone! sorry that I'm not posting too often, I've fallen deep into the Rise of the TMNT rabbit hole. Anywhizzle, enjoy this chapter!

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renklix: I'm glad you're enjoying this! Please, partake of this next chapter I recently finished.

ScarlettParker15: Honestly, I've never thought of Wu as paranoid in this fic- don't get me wrong, he totally is, but… I always saw Lloyd as the paranoid one. I even call this fic's Lloyd 'para-Lloyd' just because of how easily freaked out this version is. But I can see Wu's actions as paranoid as well.

He had to get out of there.

Releasing a breath, he turned on his side as quickly as possible, barely slipping out from under the sandal with only minor damage to his shirt and chest. He rolled onto his feet (just like he'd practiced) and sprinted for the door. He only made it a foot before Wu's hand had grabbed his shirt again. He knew he should've worked on his short sprint more.

Wu grabbed his left wrist with an iron-like grip, letting go of his shirt and reaching over to take the paper from a very confused Cole.

Lloyd tried to yank himself out of Wu's grip, turning a desperate look to Nya. The shocked, torn look on her face told him he was alone here (He should've expected this. Why hadn't he? Why did it hurt?)

He winced at the gasps as Wu drew the paper closer to his hand, causing the golden circle to emit a bright green light. Much to his dismay, the grip didn't weaken in the slightest.

"I suspected as much." Wu tossed the paper towards Cole, who barely caught it.

Lloyd felt his breath coming fast, they knew. They knew now. The only question now was what they would do. Sure, the prophecy looked legit, but that didn't mean it was. And even if it was, this guy didn't seem to be part of it.

"So, I'm guessing you promised him you wouldn't tell anyone?"

"Yes." Nya mumbled.

"Good work, bringing him here." Even though Lloyd's gaze had fallen to the ground, he could still feel Wu's eyes flick back to him. The way Wu's voice suddenly shifted to something softer, sweeter, sent shivers down Lloyd's spine. "We should find a room for you, yeah?"

Lloyd just whimpered, feeling tears well up. Of course they weren't going to let him leave. He'd be disappearing today, just not in the way he'd planned.

"What's his real name? Somehow I doubt it's Nathaniel."

"He's Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon." Nya's traitorous voice supplied.

"Ah, my nephew. How fitting."

"You have a nephew?!"

Lloyd doubted it. The claim was likely made to make him trust this guy more. Wu was clearly foolish, thinking a few words would make a regular kid - much less the green ninja - trust him after having pinned them to the ground and interrogated them.

"Yes. My brother is Lord Garmadon, CEO of Darnagom Enterprises and leader of one of the most famous, biggest resistances in all of Ninjago."

A load of crap, in Lloyd's opinion.

Wu's gaze once again landed on his 'nephew', his voice turning soft, sweet, and fake once again. "It's so nice to see you again."

Lloyd couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped his lips, nor did he bother trying. "You really expect me to believe you? I'm eight, not an idiot." He took a breath, lifting his head to make eye contact as he once again tried (and failed) to pull his hand out of Wu's grip. "You were literally talking about killing me just a minute ago."

Wu frowned. "We don't want to hurt you."

"No, you guys just want me to do what you guys want me to. And, if I had to guess, will hurt me if I step out of that line." With the way Wu was acting, Lloyd was pretty certain that was how things would go.

Wu didn't reply to that.

"WU!" The four all stared at the old man, aghast.

After another failed attempt at yanking his wrist from the grip, he allowed his head to hang back down. Maybe, maybe, he could play to the sympathies of the four bystanders.

"He's not going to listen, might as well let him believe what he wants." Wu shrugged. "He'll learn eventually. For now, we just keep him in a room that can lock."

"Wu, you can't just lock up a kid!" Cole exclaimed, and the other three nodded.

"And what do you propose? We leave him on his own? Let him go back to wherever he was running away from?"

Lloyd's head snapped up. "How-"

"No one brings a bag of canned foods to school."

Lloyd tensed, both his bags had been left in his hiding place outside the monastery, how had Wu had time to look in either of them?

"I- '' The blond man ran a hand through his hair. "I could take him in. Pixal's been dying to adopt a kid for awhile."

Wu raised an eyebrow. "I suppose we'll let him choose." He glanced back down at Lloyd. "Well?"

"Not you." He didn't know the other man's name, but at least he didn't remind Lloyd of a predator with his prey like this guy did.

After giving him a firm frown, Wu finally let go of his wrist. Lloyd eagerly raced away from him, tucking himself behind the one person he actually knew. After spending a minute trying to calm his racing heart, he peeked at Mr. Blond Guy, making sure that Wu remained in the corner of his eye.

"Hi." The man gave him the most awkward smile he'd ever seen. "This is... probably one of the worst ways to meet. Uh, I'm Zane. Zane Julian." He held out his hand, as if Lloyd was actually gonna shake it.

"You should know I'm only picking you because you're the lesser of two evils."

"Hey! That's not very nice!" Jay exclaimed.

"It's okay, Jay." Zane said, before turning back to Lloyd. "Can I at least ask that you don't introduce yourself to my wife like that?"

"Maybe. Depends on how she introduces herself."

Zane nodded. He glanced between his fellow color-coordinated compatriots and Wu. "I'm... guessing our planning will have to be postponed until tomorrow?"

Wu nodded. "This, by far, takes priority."

Sighing softly, Zane walked up to Lloyd and knelt in front of him so the two would be at eye-level. "You ready?"

Lloyd glanced at Nya, who gave him an encouraging smile. Of course she would. "Let me grab my bags, first."

"Oh, right, of course."

Keeping an eye over his shoulder, Lloyd walked toward the door. Zane hesitantly followed at a distance. No one moved to stop him from leaving, not even when he reached the door - although he did end up waiting until Wu came over with the key. He made sure he was well out of the easy grabbing distance of the old man. When he finally got outside and into the open air he let out a soft sigh of relief while Zane said goodbyes to his teammates(?) and Wu.

Keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, he followed Zane a little ways, hating how often Zane glanced back at him. Right after what had to be the fifth time the man checked to make sure he was still following, Lloyd prepared to make a sharp turn to his left. To his dismay, Zane decided that was the time to start talking to him.

"So, um, is there anything you'd like to know about me? Or my wife?"

"Not really." Lloyd muttered. "No matter how much I know about you, it won't change the situation." He didn't mention that anything Zane said could easily be a lie, it's usually best to not antagonize the person you're going to be living with, especially if you want to get away from them sooner rather than later. "Besides, I'm used to moving in with total strangers."

Zane stopped, giving him a surprised, concerned look. "Please tell me you're joking."

After a second spent examining Zane's face, looking for the other emotions that had to be there, (He couldn't find them, obviously he was slipping. There had to be some form of greed, or anger, or something. He was the green ninja -people didn't actually care about him once they found out, just what he could do for them,) He stated, "Nope. I'm part of Vinnie's Foster System, perhaps you've heard of it?"

Zane nodded slowly. "One of my students mentioned it once, but she never explained much." His face had broken out in a thoughtful, worried frown, even as he began walking again.

"Yeah, he couldn't take care of a bunch of kids by himself, so he created the system so that he could make sure people got taken care of." Lloyd smiled, though it was mostly bitter. "He's really nice, but... sometimes the kids disappear. And he drives himself crazy trying to figure out what's causing it and how to find them, he worries a lot. Which is understandable, since he's trying to take care of at least a dozen kids right now. Not to mention the increase from kids that will sometimes run away from the cities and show up in our town, to be honest I think word has spread." Lloyd wanted to say more, (when had he last actually talked to someone so openly? Conversations with Nya were the closest he ever got, and even then...) but he forced himself to stop. He shouldn't give any information about himself, give them anything to use against him.

"You said- I wonder-" Zane shook his head. "Nevermind."

Lloyd frowned. Well now he was curious, and this probably wasn't something that would hurt to know about, something that would force him to reveal something about himself. "What?"

"It's not something you should be concerned with."

"Well, I want to know. You guys want me to trust you, right? Answering my questions is a good way to gain that trust." Not that it would actually work with him, he knew to keep that trust pinned tightly against his chest no matter how much it squirmed. "Plus, I want to be concerned with it."

Zane looked at him for a while. "You're... awfully young for-"

"I'm awfully young to be in this kind of situation, yet here we are."

"Well, it's just..." He looked uncomfortable just talking about it. "Some other resistances, the higher up members will move out to small towns - like ours - and take in kids to use as scapegoats when they get found out, so that they can run away and kill the kid somewhere along the way. The Peacemakers will then be looking for people with a kid - or kids, even - so it helps them stay hidden longer. I was just... wondering if that was what happened to those kids that disappeared."

Lloyd froze. Huh, maybe the Treisons weren't peacemakers or anything that had found him out, it would explain... a little too much.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you that." Zane shuffled, glancing at the ground and fiddling with his hands.

"No, it's fine. I'm just..." He thought about this. Zane seemed nice (it was probably a facade, in fact it had to be) but... well, one of the best ways to test someone's real reactions was to throw an unexpected truth at them and see if you can crack their act. So, might as well tell the truth. "Just thinking that it's probably a really good thing I ran when I did." He allowed a sad grin to overtake his face as he added "Or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. I mean, I definitely would have a lot less to worry about."

Zane looked horrified. The man hadn't even missed a beat, Lloyd was genuinely impressed with how well Zane was keeping his act together. If Zane wasn't a threat he'd ask him for acting lessons.

"That's- we're gonna have to deal with that in pieces. First, what makes you so certain the people you were-"

"They asked me to go on a trip with them, were being super vague about the details, and it was a very sudden trip. Plus they were acting super weird, and even a little guilty, which is why I decided to run away." Lloyd shrugged. It was simple, people act really weird and potentially dangerously, you get away from them. Especially if you're being hunted down. It should be common sense.

Zane went quiet.

"So, how you planning on telling your wife about me?"

"I'll tell her the truth."

This guy... actually trusted his wife with that? She didn't seem to be a part of the resistance, yet...

This guy had to be like- a robot or something. Yeah, that would explain how weird this guy was, and his acting skills. Although that did take any potential acting lessons completely off the table.

Not like Mr. Julian here would ever be trustworthy enough to ask in the first place, but it was a nice sentiment.

Well, there's that everyone. How ya'll feeling?