The street ahead was dark. Robin questioned why he even bothered to take the back roads anyway. He was no longer near the dojo, and he was sure no one had followed him. The way he was going made him feel paranoid. He tried to shake off the feeling, but it bothered him to no end. It was too quiet there, and the sounds that he heard occasionally made him jumpy. The city lights were on, but the darkness seemed to swallow Robin whole. It was uncomfortable more than anything else. The city was beautiful at night though, especially when it was raining. He wondered for a moment if it was really the darkness making him uncomfortable or the rain. His mind started to drift as he thought about what he had done to his brother. Instead of remorse, Robin felt as though he had to hurry before Zachery wakes up and tells Nya. He started to walk faster. Robin had to beat Shou Shi by himself. He was going to prove himself to his father. The sound of someone bumping into a trash can stirred him out of his thoughts. "Who's there?" he yelled.

"Meow." he heard as a stray cat walked out of the trash can.

Robin sighed in relief. "Shoo!" he yelled trying to scare the cat off. The cat stared at him and hissed making him jump back. "Ok ok. You don't have to leave," He said backing away slowly. The cat turned the other way and started hissing again. "Gee, what do you want me to do? Apologize?" Robin asked that cat as if he would get a response. Then Robin heard something behind the trash can move. "What one of your little cat friends get stuck in the trash?" The cat hissed louder and started pawing at the trash can. "Geez... I'm sorry. Gosh. If I help you get your cat friend out will you stop making that noise? I mean, you sound like you're dying." The cat looked at him and hissed again. "Fine, I'll leave." He walked away from the demented cat and out of the alley. So close to the warehouse now he thought to himself. Suddenly there was a scream and the sound of footsteps. Robin looked behind him and found Blake running out of the alley.

Robin jumped in surprise. "Dude….. What the heck are you doing here?"

"I saw you leave, and I was wondering what you were doing. That's all." Blake said catching up to him. "That was one vicious kitty. It scratched my face."

"Oh, so you were the cat that got stuck in the trash?"

"Wait, what?" Blake asked confused. "I wasn't a cat, and I didn't get stuck. I was hiding behind the trash can."

"So, wait... you were behind the trash?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't have had enough time to climb in." Blake confirmed.

Robin slammed his fist into his hand. "That explains why the cat was hissing. I thought another cat got stuck in there."

"There was one in there before?"

"What? No. The cat was... wait... there was one in the trash." Robin said remembering the cat came out of the trash.

"So, there was or there wasn't?" Blake asked.

"There was."

"Anyway, this cut burns." Blake rubbed his throbbing cheek. "Got a band-aid on ya?"

"Nope." Robin paused for a moment and then bust out laughing. "You could get rabies."

Blake stepped back and gasped. "That thing had rabies?"

"Dude, that thing was psycho. It probably did."

"I'm too young to die from rabies," Blake said panicking.

"I was just kidding. Cooldown hot head." Robin laughed

"I think that's the wrong-"

"It doesn't matter." Robin quickly interrupted him.

"O...k. Anyway, don't scare me like that." Blake shuddered at the thought of rabies.

"Sorry. After all, we need to test you so we can know for sure." Robin said seriously.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Robin said.

Blake fell to his knees. "I'm gonna die. On my grave, it's gonna say 'this ninja died of rabies.'" he half screamed. "Of all the ways to go. I was pretty much taken by a cat. Go ahead Robin, leave me here to die." he lied on the floor over dramatically.

"Could you kids be quiet!" In the apartment building to their left, a woman was sticking her head out of a building waving a knife that had something dripping from it.

"Sorry, lady!" Robin yelled back. "C'mon Blake, that lady has a knife and I don't wanna know what's on it," he whispered.

"I'm gonna die anyway, what does it matter if that lady kills me," Blake whined not getting any quieter.

"I asked you to be quiet!" The woman yelled again.

"Sorry again!" Robin yelled. "Blake come on."

"Come and kill me, lady!" Blake yelled.

"You wanna die? Fine!" The woman moved away from the window and out of their site.

"Blake! What did ya have to do that for?" Robin screamed. "I'm not gonna die!"

"You can leave," Blake whined.

"Fine! I will." Robin turned and started running.

"Wait!" Blake yelled.

"What?" Robin yelled back fearing for his life.

"I don't wanna die alone." Blake cried.

"Then get up!" Robin said running back to him.

"You boys are still out here talking." the woman said coming out of the apartment building.

"Get up and run!" Robin yelled yanking Blake off of the ground.

"Ok, ok," Blake said. They both ran past the woman through the now pouring streets of Ninjago They finally managed to get a good distance away from the apartment building and stopped to brake.

"Go home, Blake." Robin panted.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because of what you just did."

"You don't understand what it's like to be on the brink of death," Blake said.

"I do. I just was!" Robin yelled.

"What're you doin' out here anyway?"

"I have a secret mission." Robin accidentally blurted out.

"Really?" Blake asked excitedly.

Robin sighed. "Yes. It has something to do with Shou Shi."

"What are you guys doing?" Jay asked coming from behind them.

Blake and Robin both jumped surprised. "Uncle Jay," Blake said alarmed. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you both leave. Robin, why are you dressed like that?" Jay asked.

"Ummm….."

Before Robin could actually form a sentence, Blake said "He has a secret mission."

"What?" Jay asked confused.

"Well…."

Robin tried again, but Blake interrupted once more and said. "He said it had something to do with Shou Shi."

"What?" Jay said asked again. "What are you talking about?"

"I can explain," Robin said quickly. "It's Cole. Shou Shi told me privately that Cole was gonna die in another 10 minutes, and the only way to save him is for me to come to the warehouse alone."

"When did he tell you this, Robin?" Jay questioned.

"When we were at the bar. He pulled me to the side and told me 'The Ninja Cole is going to die' around now and 'if you meet me then you can save him.'" Robin lied.

"Why didn't you tell us immediately?" Jay asked upset.

"Uhhhh….. he told me to come alone and not to tell anyone." Robin lied again.

"Then we need to hurry," Jay said picking up the pace.

"Wait!" Robin chased. "We don't even have a plan."

"What was yours?" Blake asked.

"Uhhh... take them head-on," Robin stated simply as they entered another alley.

"That's a horrible plan," Blake said.

"We'll come up with a new plan later. First, we have to get there." Jay said.

Robin scowled "Why is it that you're just freely changing my plans. I'm the one who planned this mission."

"Planned this mission?" Jay questioned. "Doesn't really sound like you had a plan at all. If you rush in, you'll get yourself killed."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Robin said crossing his arms.

"Well, I've got something that's even better than your half nothing." Jay smiled brilliantly. "I'll brief you guys once we find a place to hide near the building."

"Whatever," Robin said giving up on the idea of shaking the two of them off. My half nothing, he thought to himself. Who does Jay think he is? He suddenly bumped into Jay not noticing he had come to a stop. "Why'd you stop old man?"

"If we walk any further, we might be seen," Jay said quietly.

"Let's stay back then," Blake suggested.

Robin peaked outside of the alleyway at the warehouse. "No one's even out."

Jay quickly pulled his head back in. "He could have spies anywhere. Shou Shi's just that type."

"So, what plan were you talking about earlier?" Blake asked.

"My plan is, we sit and discuss a rational plan," Jay said smartly.

"Really?" Robin and Blake said in unison.

"What?" Jay shrugged. "It's not like you guys have anything better."

"My plan was 100% better." Robin disagreed.

"No." Blake shook his head slowly. "No, it wasn't."

"Whatever," Robin said aggravated. "What do you guys suggest?"

"We probably should split up," Jay said. "You guys should go find Cole, and I'll find Shou Shi."

"What if we run into Shou Shi?" Blake asked.

"Then run and scream," Jay said. "Got it?"

Robin ran his hands through his hair frustrated. "That's a horrible plan. Then what if we end up caught anyway? Then we lose."

"Look, we don't have a lot of options here. Unfortunately, sometimes a part of the mission is taking a risk. Even if we had a solid plan, nothing is guaranteed. Yes, it would be a lot better if we had a solid 100% thought out plan, but we don't so we just go with the best we can come up with." Jay said. "So, what do you guys say?"

"I'm all in!" Blake said as if he didn't understand how detrimental the mission was.

"Fine." Robin rolled his eyes.

"Good! Then let's go." Jay said. "We rendezvous here. If you guys get here first, don't wait just run back to the dojo. Got it?"

"Whatever," Robin said crossing his arms and rolling his eyes again. Blake nodded and gave an affirmative thumbs up, understanding the detriment of the situation enough not to argue. After a while of looking for an entrance to the warehouse, and trying to stay out of site, Blake found a gap in the back of the warehouse that they could crawl in undetected.
"It's empty," Robin said not nearly as impressed as he thought he would be. Blake crawled in after coming up looking disappointed as well.

"I thought it would be like a tv show villains lair," Blake said disappointed.

"Yeah. Me too." Jay said equally as disappointed. The warehouse looked exactly like what it was, an abandoned warehouse. There was broken molded wood everywhere, and it looked like the ceiling would collapse any second, but other than that nothing really notable.

"So, what do we do now?" Robin asked kicking a wooden plank.

"There's got to be an entrance somewhere," Jay said examining his surroundings. "It's always like that. I think it is anyway."

"Super-secret underground bad guy lair? Sweet!" Blake said excitedly looking around for an entrance.

"Good thinking Blake, it's gotta be underground," Jay said moving to help with the search.

"Why underground?" Robin asked kicking another wood plank.

"I just figured that since the warehouse isn't all that big, it couldn't be anywhere else. Unless he gave us the wrong place." Blake said.

"Yeah, I knew that," Robin said starting to pat down the walls.

"Then why are you patting the walls?" Blake asked.

"Stairs, doors, etc," Robin said trying to lean on the wall. Instead, he slipped on a rotted plank and hit the wall with a heavy thud pushing it in a little. "Ow!" he whined holding his head.

Blake was the first to notice the odd indentation. "Should that be like that?" he asked wondering why Robin falling on it would have any huge impact on the wall. Jay and Robin both turned their attention to the wall. "I mean how do you get such a long and deep crack just from falling on a door."

"Unless... Robin tried to push it in more." Jay instructed. Robin, for the first time in his life, did exactly what he was told without talking back. He pushed the wall with as much force as he possibly could and it started to move in more.

"A door?" Blake asked moving to help him.

"Of course, you idiot," Robin grunted. Jay came to help the two push. Together they pushed with all their strength. There was a crack and the door slammed into the wall behind it, and Jay and Blake fell into the wall behind. Robin fell into a pole that went straight down the middle of what looked like an elevator.

"Ugh!" Robin moaned. "Why me?"

"Uhhhh... I'm not sure it was supposed to open that way." Blake said noticing that the door broke from what should've been its hinges.

"Oh, it was a sliding door!" Jay said.

"What the heck is this rope down the middle for? And why is it tied to this dumb pole?" Robin asked while untying the knot.

"Robin that may not be a go-" Blake was unable to finish before the air was knocked out of his lungs.