AN: Another long chapter ahead! Beta credits go to Sunny Lighter. EMPFangirl02 wrote the action parts. I don't own Ninjago.
When Harumi heard that Lord Garmadon thought the Ninja had kidnapped and brainwashed his son, she really wondered what was wrong with him. How could he think such a thing and why was he in so much denial? So far, things were not going how she had expected at all. He kept talking about strange things that she had never heard of. She really thought his memories must have been affected. Maybe she did something wrong during the ceremony? She needed to be alone to do some thinking. She would not let all her hard work come to nothing.
"Don't let anyone bother me," she told Killow and Ultra Violet, who nodded as she made a retreat to a quiet room at the base. At least they had a place to go after the prison burned down. The good thing about Krypartium was that at least the police wouldn't be able to send anyone there for awhile, so that gave them some time before being found and captured.
Harumi thought through her options. If she could draw the ninja out, she could still make her plans work. If Lord Garmadon saw that his son betrayed him by becoming the Green Ninja, then he would surely turn against him and she could finally get things moving. If they attacked a local village or something, that would do the trick. She smirked.
Harumi left her room and went in search of Garmadon.
"Ah, Ayumi," Garmadon said when he saw his fan club president.
"Uh, it's Harumi, my lord," she corrected.
"Whatever. Check this out," he said. "I found some parts lying around and I built this!"
"A cannon, my lord?" Harumi asked, looking at the contraption.
"Yep. It will have to do until I get back to my volcano and I can start firing people again."
Harumi took a step back. "When you say fire people do you mean—"
"I literally fire them out the top of my volcano," Garmadon explained, "as my reputation precedes. But this will work too. Watch." He pointed to one of the Sons of Garmadon who was close by for a demonstration. "You. In here."
He hesitated, but came over and climbed into the cannon. Garmadon pulled the string and watched gleefully as the man shot out of it through the open window and out of sight.
Harumi swallowed hard. She certainly didn't want that fate. She would have to be careful. She needed to endear herself to Garmadon and make him see her as non-expendable.
"Isn't it great?" he asked excitedly.
"It's quite...interesting my lord. But I'd like to talk to you about something important," Harumi started.
"What's more important than firing people?" Garmadon wondered.
"I know how to get your son back," she said.
"How?"
"All we need to do is stage an attack of some kind. It will bring the Ninja, along with your son."
"Yes! Great idea! Then we can capture him. I need to set him straight and show him the error of his ways." Garmadon grinned, rubbing his upper two hands together in anticipation.
"Yes, my lord. I have just the idea in mind."
A few hours later…
"Okay, so you know what you need to do?" Harumi asked a SoG member, a particularly young woman, even younger than Harumi.
"Yep. Those guys will attack me and I call for help," she said.
"Right. And when the Ninja come with Lloyd, we'll grab him from behind and put the vengestone cuffs on him." She nodded.
All Harumi had to do now was to was wait and watch the fun.
"We just got a report that there some thugs are causing trouble in a village just outside of Ninjago," Zane announced to the group, as he was reading the report on the big screen.
"We should go check it out," Lloyd said.
"But what about your father? He might be involved," Kai pointed out.
"We have to help," the blonde answered. "Anyway, there's safety in numbers."
"All right, let's go. We'll need to be on our guard." And I can't let Lloyd out of my sight, Kai thought.
The Ninja arrived at the village, which was now in flames with people running and screaming trying to evacuate and escape the thugs who were still terrorizing the remaining citizens.
"We'll have to split up," Lloyd told the others as he drew his hood over his head.
"What? No!" Kai snapped. "It could be a trap!"
"But there's too many of them," Lloyd replied. "We can't save everybody if we all stick together."
"I'm not letting you go alone," Kai said firmly, leaving no room for argument. The others nodded in agreement. They didn't want their little brother falling into another trap.
Lloyd sighed. "Fine. We'll go in pairs. Cole, Jay, you take the east side, Nya and Zane, you take the west. Kai and I will get people to safety. Ninja… Go!" he shouted.
The others nodded, Jay looking slightly disappointed he wasn't paired with Nya, but still followed Cole to the east, while Nya and Zane took off to their assigned side.
Kai stuck close by Lloyd as they began pulling people out of the flames.
"You had to pick the most dangerous area, didn't you?" Kai grumbled as beam nearly collapsed on top of him.
Lloyd frowned. "I can take care of myself, you know. Just because of Harumi—"
"This has nothing to do with her!" Kai insisted, even though that was exactly what this was about. "I just want to make sure you're safe! You're my brother! And I don't want you getting hurt again!"
Lloyd opened his mouth to respond when a shrill cry split the air.
"Help me!" a girl cried. "Someone! Please!"
Lloyd spun around to spot a young, teenaged girl surrounded by five huge, muscled thugs.
Kai growled when he saw her too. How dare they gang up on an innocent girl like that?
"Let's go!" Lloyd said, already breaking into a run, as Kai nodded, right behind his brother. Lloyd kicked one in the back of the head, while Kai blasted another with fire, before the others managed to figure out what was going on and scatter out of range.
The remaining thugs pulled out their weapons and began to push back against the two ninjas. Kai and Lloyd were put on the defensive, jumping over a spiked chain and just ducking under the other's katana.
While the two ninjas were pushed further away, the one Lloyd kicked groaned. The boy struck hard, but not hard enough to knock him out that long. He pushed himself to his feet, and then slowly made his way toward the girl, who was still cowering against crumbled remains of a wall. He raised his knife to strike...
Lloyd heard the terrified girl shriek. He turned towards the sound and saw the thug with the knife. "Oh no you don't!" Powering up, Lloyd fired off his green power, knocking the thug against the wall. He crumpled, out cold for good this time. Certain that the thug wouldn't get up again, Lloyd came up to the poor, terrified girl.
"Are you okay?" Lloyd asked.
"I think I am now, thanks to you," she said, shaking Lloyd's hand vigorously.
"You're welcome." But the girl wouldn't let go of the blonde's hand.
"Look out," she cried, pulling Lloyd into an alley as a thug threw a knife their way.
"Thanks," Lloyd said breathlessly. "Now I have to go help Kai—"
"No!" she said, tightening her grip on Lloyd's arm. "Don't leave me alone!"
"O-okay," Lloyd answered, not sure quite what was going on, but hopefully Kai would be okay for a few more minutes...
Kai began to freak out the minute the girl yanked Lloyd down an alleyway. He didn't want to leave his brother alone with any strange girls if he could help it. "Hey, wait!" he yelled.
But one of the thugs swung his chain at the ninja's head, and he ducked just in time. "Get out of my way!" he shouted. Lloyd had a terrible knack for getting kidnapped and they had just gotten out of a dangerous situation. He didn't want to lose his brother twice.
"You're not going anywhere, Ninja," the big guy said.
"Watch me!" Kai snapped, getting a fire blast ready.
Lloyd watched in horror as a giant chain nearly hit his brother in the head. He glanced down at the girl and noticed she was still clinging to him.
"Uh look," he began awkwardly, "I really need to get back out there. Kai needs help. You'll be fine by yourself for a few minutes, right?"
The girl just looked past Lloyd, probably at the battle, then suddenly smirked. "You're the one who is going to need help, Green Ninja," she sneered.
"What?" Before Lloyd could even react, Harumi came up behind him and slapped the vengestone cuffs on him. He looked down at his wrists in shock then back up at the girl, who'd betrayed him—stupid Lloyd, falling for the same trick again—then gasped as his kidnapper stepped out of the shadows. "Harumi? What are you doing?"
She gave him a wicked smile. "Someone wants to have a word with you."
"He-!" Lloyd was gagged and was led away, still struggling.
The ninja finally took care of all the thugs and tied them all up, waiting for the police to arrive, while Nya put out the rest of the flames with her water.
"Lloyd! Lloyd?" Kai shouted. He checked the alley where he'd seen Lloyd last, but he wasn't there. Where could he have gone?
"Kai?" Nya asked as she caught up with him. "What's wrong?"
"Lloyd's gone! Someone was taking him away. I think it was all a trick to capture him."
"Let's ask these guys then," she said, pointing to where the group was tied up.
They re-joined the others and started questioning the group. After a few minutes, and some threats from Kai and Cole, they found out that they were working with the SoG, along with the girl they'd been 'attacking'. One of the thugs had slipped away to contact Harumi, who had wanted to kidnap Lloyd personally.
"Where's Lloyd?" Kai demanded, flames dancing on his hands, close to the face of the man they were questioning.
The thug panicked. "Harumi took him to Lord Garmadon."
"Oh that's just great," Jay complained.
Kai looked ready to turn them all into ashes as he demanded, "Where. Are. They?"
Lloyd was led blindfolded and still bound to where Garmadon was playing with his cannon some more, having fired more SoG members out of it. It wasn't as satisfying as his volcano, but it was better than being bored to tears waiting for his club president.
"My lord," Harumi announced her presence. "We have him."
Garmadon looked up as saw his son, still dressed the weird Green Ninja outfit, which allowed the opportunity for the current terrified man to get away from the cannon before he was fired out of it.
"Well done, Ayumi. I can take it from here," he told fan club girl, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.
Harumi's eyebrow twitched, but bowed with a 'yes, my lord.'
Garmadon walked up to Lloyd and ripped off his blindfold. "Hello, again, Luh-loyd."
AN: FFN is still not receiving PM's through email, so please check your account on FFN for my replies. Poor Lloyd just can't resist a damsel in distress. Harumi knows his weaknesses too well. Sunny Lighter gave me the idea for Garmadon to use the cannon to fire people. Thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites!