Happy Friday! I was up really late last night writing this chapter because I continued to erase paragraphs and write new ones, erase those ones and write new ones. No one likes a late night, but I did enjoy writing this chapter more and more as the night went on. Of course, that could have been from lack of sleep. Please enjoy. :)
Chapter Eighteen: To the Rescue
It is a widely known stereotype that women are fairly good with directions. In addition to this, when a woman is unsure of where she is going, she generally stops and asks directions. Unfortunately, Laurie fit neither of these stereotypes. A strong wind whipped down the street that the orange ninja was currently traversing, ruffling the skirt of her dress around wildly. Sighing, Laurie pulled down on the dress, worried that it would flip up in the gusts. Why had she not changed back in the apartment while she had the chance? Laurie shook her head, causing more strands of hair to tumble loose from her up-do. Wearing a dress was the least of her worries right now. Two kids were in trouble.
Sticking to the street lights that lined the pavement, the orange ninja quickly made her way through Ninjago City, pausing only a moment or two to get her bearings before continuing. While she had never actually been to Twenty-First and Union, Laurie was fairly certain she knew where it was. When there was only a little bit of Ninjago City that you had not explored, it was safe to assume that a place you had not visited before was located there. A light bulb in the fixture above her flickered and Laurie leapt forward, away from the sudden onset of darkness. Breathing slightly more labored now, Laurie took the next right turn up ahead.
Another strong gust of wind pushed against her, this time from the front. "Are you trying to tell me something?" she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. The wind never seemed to act like this for no apparent reason. Waiting for an answer was stressful as the seconds slowly turned into minutes. Nothing, but the sound of the occasional car engine answered her. Rubbing her temples, the girl carried on, her flats pounding hard against the concrete sidewalk. She was not sure what time it was, but Laurie felt as if there should be more people out at this time of night. It could not be too late, right?
"Abandoned warehouse," Laurie whispered under her breath, feeling more anxious with every step. "Get to the warehouse, get Lloyd and Rhea, and get out." Her own voice was shaking slightly, making Laurie feel even more nervous. "You can do this," the orange ninja continued, stopping for a second to gather her surrounds. "Get in, get out, easy stuff." Confidence was definitely the key. If she thought that everything was going to fall apart, then it would. Laurie just needed to focus and try to keep herself on track.
The sudden whistling of the wind caught her attention, drifting down an alleyway on her left. "Why don't you just tell me whatever it is you're trying to tell me?" Laurie huffed, anger steadily rising. "I know you can talk with me, you've done it before." Something just felt off about the entire situation and Laurie, ignoring the gusts that seemed to mean nothing, continued down the path she had originally chosen.
Metal scraping against asphalt filled the air and Laurie stopped. A chorus of whispers suddenly made itself present, but there was one voice that Laurie recognized immediately. Fire blazing in her ice blue eyes, the orange ninja walked towards the sound quickly. This was absolutely crazy. "Skales!" Laurie growled, following the sound of the voices. Everything stopped, but Laurie continued on. "Where are you, coward?" She had never felt so angry, the blood literally feeling as if it were boiling beneath her skin.
"A coward?" laughed Skales, his voice startling Laurie. She spun around, nearly bumping into the serpent before taking a few steps backwards. "Let's not jump to conclusions, girl. We weren't trying to hide from you in the slightest." He watched as Laurie narrowed her eyes and he took in her attire. "It seems like you were on your way to something important, so don't let us stop you." His smile widened as the other generals formed a half circle around the girl.
Laurie could feel herself blushing, regretting yet again that she had not changed while she had the chance. "Where's Lloyd?" the red head asked forcefully, ignoring everything Skales had previously said. She turned around, trying to distribute her focus equally among the snakes that virtually surrounded her. Skales' face visibly fell and Laurie noticed the other generals looking puzzled, their gazes resting solely on the Hypnobrai. Skalidor opened his mouth to say something, but Skales shot him a dirty look, quickly silencing him. "Don't play dumb with me!" Laurie shouted, becoming frustrated. "I know you have him and Rhea, the little girl. I was on my way to the warehouse like you asked. Why are you here and is my brother okay?"
Once more, Skalidor tried to say something, but this time Fangtom elbowed him in the side. Laurie heard the Constrictai suck in a large breath before asking Fangtom what is was that he had done wrong. "The young Garmadon is safe…for now," Skales hissed, slithering forward. Laurie raised an eyebrow, but stood her ground. "You were wise to come alone. We wouldn't want to risk his safety further now, would we?" The orange ninja could feel her heart beating wildly against her ribs. So Lloyd was alright, or so the snakes said. She was not sure if she could believe them or not. Time was ticking away and Laurie felt as if the Serpentine were closing in around her. "If you come quietly, then we can guarantee everything will be alright."
Part of Laurie was just content with complying. If she went back with the Serpentine, managed to free Lloyd and Rhea, but ended up having to stay behind to make sure they could get away, that would not be too much of a defeat. At least her brother would be safe. No, there was no point in trying to bargain with them. Her original plan was going to work; Laurie just needed to remember that. If she could stop the snakes here, then she would have more than enough time to get the kids, and herself, safely back to the apartment.
The orange ninja stayed silent, refusing to answer the generals and she could tell Skales was growing impatient. Feeling adrenaline course through her veins at the very thought of fighting back by herself, Laurie held her hands out in front of her and concentrated. She imagined the wind rushing past her like a freight train, barreling into the serpents and sending them scattering around the asphalt. Involuntarily, Laurie closed her eyes, focusing more on the feeling of manipulating the wind to her will. Any minute now, the generals would be crying out in shock as they were thrown through the air.
Nothing happened.
"Are you serious?" Skales laughed, turning to Acidicus who flanked his right. All of the Serpentine broke out into fits of laughter as Laurie stood in the middle. What was wrong? She closed her eyes again, trying to feel any small breeze to grab on to and intensify, but there was nothing. There was a hand on her shoulder and Laurie opened her eyes, meeting Skales. His tail was rattling wildly back and forth. Laurie turned around, avoiding his hypnotic gaze and trying her hardest to collect herself. Why was it not working, her powers? "We gave you a chance to give up, but you leave us no choice," the Hypnobrai continued. "Get her."
Skalidor spun around, lashing his tail out at the orange ninja. She saw the attack from her peripheral vision and jumped backwards, barely avoiding what would have been a tight squeeze. Strong hands gripped Laurie's bare shoulders and she wildly thrust her right elbow backwards. Acidicus cried out, releasing her and Laurie stumbled forward, the adrenaline still pumping through her body. She could still do this; she could still fight her way out of here. Backing up, the orange ninja almost tripped over her own feet as she held her hands out again. "Just work," Laurie begged, trying to force something to happen. "Come on!"
"Leaving so soon?" teased Fangtom, both heads grinning wickedly. His thin fangs were gleaming in the low light. Laurie bit her bottom lip, imagining those fangs piercing her flesh. This drudged up an unpleasant memory; Lloyd lying unconscious on the blistering sand of the desert, his skin sickly green. Fangtom had done that to her brother and Laurie was not about to allow the same thing to happen to her. She stopped and lunged forward, landing a hard kick to the Fangpyre's chest. He stumbled into Skales who growled and pushed him aside.
This was so stupid! Why did she ever think that she could actually pull this off? What good was she going to be to Lloyd and Rhea if she was caught too? Skales grabbed for Laurie, but she side-stepped away. Everything was looking desperate and Laurie could only see one last resort. "Ninja-Go!" she yelled, attempting to actually perform Spinjitzu. Instead of the dusty looking tornado that had engulfed her only a handful of times before, Laurie only saw the red skirt of her dress fan out as she spun around quickly before stopping. Disoriented from her failure and spinning, Laurie stopped and tried to get her bearings on the generals. Her vision was swimming and swaying, but when everything finally came back into focus one thing was painfully obvious; Laurie was not out of the woods.
Acidicus laughed and opened his mouth. Before Laurie even realized what was happening she was staggering backwards, rubbing her eyes wildly. This was worse than just seeing slightly double. Everything around her was moving and twisting as if she were underwater. Groaning, she managed to find an opening between the serpents and took off running. Street lights flew by as Laurie sprinted down the nearest street which was empty. As she attempted to make her way up onto the curb of the sidewalk, she tripped.
Palms and knees made contact with the hard ground and Laurie clenched her teeth to the stinging sensations. With her heart beating erratically, Laurie tried to blink away the venom that she knew was settling into her eyes. She glanced up at the moon which seemed to disappear behind a black veil, cutting out some of the light. A street lamp across the road flickered before going out completely. One by one, each source of light around her dimmed before fading to black. The encroaching darkness terrified the orange ninja. She unsteadily got to her feet and backed into a building behind her.
Movement sounded somewhere in front of her, but Laurie could not see what was happening. Everything was too dark. "I-it's just in your head," she tried to tell herself, voice shaking as she used the wall behind her to lean against. As much as she knew what was happening was all an illusion, Laurie was honestly too scared to even pull herself together. The sound of someone approaching was getting louder, coming from off to her left. Using the wall, Laurie trailed her right hand along it as she moved forward, away from the noises.
It was hard to breathe now. Her body was literally becoming paralyzed with fear. Laurie could not get enough air into her lungs and she fell to her knees, coughing as her bones shuddered against the hard ground. Everything around her was still black. All the neon in the city had gone out. Every light that lined the street was gone. Blind and distraught, Laurie tried to crawl forward, but could not even tell if she was going anywhere. Her throat was tight with panic and sobs. "It's not…real…" she managed to choke out one last time before she was embraced by the sweet relief that was unconsciousness.
Skalidor unwrapped his tail from around the girl's neck and watched as she fell over lifelessly on to the concrete. "You idiot!" Skales yelled, making his way down the street with both Acidicus and Fangtom in tow. The Hypnobrai shoved Skalidor aside as he slithered over to where Laurie lay. Her skin was practically white and it did not look like she was breathing. "What were you thinking? She's of no use to us if she's dead!"
"She's not dead, boss. She's just knocked out is all," Skalidor stammered, trying to prove his worth to the group. "We couldn't let her get away and steal her brother back from us." He glanced around at his fellow generals and felt as if they all doubted him. Skales looked angry and willing to lash out at any second. "Check her pulse if you want to! I'm telling you, she's not dead."
Feeling very concerned about the situation at hand, Skales placed a hand on Laurie's neck and felt the pounding of her pulse. Her chest rose and fell in a shallow rhythm which put his mind at ease. So Skalidor had not messed up after all. That could have been disastrous. "She wouldn't have found Lloyd or that other person she was looking for with us anyways," the Hypnobrai sighed, slithering away from the orange ninja. "We don't have them."
"We don't?" Skalidor questioned, sounding shocked by this statement. "I thought for sure we did! She said we had Lloyd so I thought you guys managed to get him somehow." Acidicus rolled his four eyes and Fangtom looked to Skales for an answer. "Wait…so we really don't have the people she was looking for?" This was truly disconcerting. The Constrictai felt as if he had been lied to by his fellow Serpentine.
Acidicus was the one to speak. "No, stupid, we don't have them. Skales wanted us to play along." Skalidor still seemed to be confused by what the Venomari was saying. The quizzical look on his black and orange face made Acidicus inhale deeply before continuing. "Skales wants both of them: the boy and the girl. If she thought we had Lloyd then why would we not use that to our advantage?" There was no possible way that Skalidor could be this dense. He crossed his arms over his chest, still looking lost to the concept. "We don't have Lloyd! We don't have him now and we never did!"
"Oh," the Constrictai lamented, nodding his head in approval. "I get it now. Why did she think we had him then?"
The Fangpyre made his way over to Laurie and slung her over his right shoulder. "Who cares?" he laughed, his Romanian accent sounding odd in the silence of the night. "We have the girl and now we can use her as a way to get Lloyd. It will be much easier now. He's small and does not have his grey protector to help him." The group started to make its way down the street, back towards the sewer where they had emerged from.
Skales scoffed and pushed his way to the front of the pack, feeling like the natural leader. "Yes, that cousin of his has been gone for some time now." Involuntarily, he scanned the street ahead with his red eyes almost as if he expected someone to jump out and attack them. "Let's just hope that it stays that way." Skales felt uneasy and quickly gestured for the others to start descending in to the damp underground that they called home. "I'll take her, Fangtom," the Hypnobrai offered, extending his arms to hold Laurie as his friend was swallowed up in to darkness. He stared thoughtfully at Laurie's unconscious form and chuckled. "You're no different than he is," Skales smirked. "Neither of you can protect Lloyd now though. You couldn't even protect yourself, girl."
As he finished gloating and prepared to lower both himself and Laurie in to the sewer, a dark shadow casts itself across Skales. He stopped where he was, glancing around nervously. "Taking things that do not belong to you is rude," came a stern voice. The Hypnobrai turned around to see a very unfamiliar figure standing over him. Never in his life had the serpent ever seen something quite like this. The stranger grabbed the teenager from off of Skales' shoulder and pushed him backwards. Startled, the snake slipped down into the sewer, landing awkwardly on his companions below.
"What's wrong, Skales?" Fangtom asked, one head looking angered while the other appeared concerned. The blue snake got up, brushed himself off and let out an enraged cry. "What happened, Skales?" the Fangpyre tried again. "Where's the girl?"
Taking things that do not belong to you is rude. The words stung terribly and Skales' mouth fell into an ugly scowl. It seemed to make sense now. Whoever that person had been was expecting to find the girl somewhere. Meanwhile, she was searching for her brother and another person who were missing. Both of the Garmadon siblings were out of his reach now, in the hands of this stranger. "Laurie is gone," Skales spat, ignoring the looks from his fellow Serpentine. "It's time to move back to the planning phase."
As always thank you, yes you, for reading. I say it all the time, I continue to say it all the time, but I really wouldn't be accomplishing any of this if it wasn't for you: the reader. So thank you for all of the support in its various forms.
Plus, thanks to Packerfan95 specifically for making parts of this story possible with his permission. Thanks, bro! :D