Happy Friday! I was really tired when I wrote this, so if you find any glaring grammar mistakes, please feel free to notify me. Also, I consider this more of a filler chapter. Sorry.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Signals
Street lights shone down, lining the streets that the two siblings ran down. Lloyd had caught up with his sister, keeping pace with her as she led the way through the roads of Ninjago City. It had to have been sometime in the early morning now. Most of the buildings and little shops were closed now, the neon signs doused for the remainder of the night. The young boy looked up, seeing the unmistakable form of the building they had decided upon as their destination loom closer. Lights from the roof shone upwards, slightly illuminating the sky above it. The Ninjago City Tower was extremely tall. He only hopped that whatever Laurie was planning was going to work. If the ninja did not come to help them then they would be trapped on the top, most likely surrounded by Rhea and the others.
The green ninja turned his gaze back over his shoulder, looking to see if they were being followed. As far as he could tell, both he and Laurie were in the clear, for now. Almost tripping over an unexpected curb, Lloyd stumbled forward slightly, grabbing on to Laurie's shoulder to stabilize himself. His sister turned around, slowing her pace slightly. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice slightly winded. He nodded to her in reply and released her shoulder. "Okay then, but if you need to stop, just say something. I'm sure I could hide you somewhere and lead them away from you. It's me they're after. You shouldn't have gotten dragged in to this."
"No," the young boy replied curtly. "I'm staying with you." A previous conversation with Rhea came back to him. He had told her that it was not smart to wander around alone when enemies were around. Lloyd was not about to let his sister go on alone, especially if Rhea was one of the individuals they were trying to avoid. The girl could fight and he knew that. There was something inside of him that still struggled with the idea of Rhea being deceptive. She had seemed surprised when the stone man broke in to the apartment. Her expression had been one of shock and disbelief. His emerald eyes drifted up to see the tower growing much closer. They were probably only a block or so away now. "I just hope you know what you're doing," Lloyd finished, dragging his mind back to reality.
Laurie swallowed hard, having mixed feelings about Lloyd's decision to stay with her. She was honestly happy to have him with her. He was a great fighter and just his presence made her feel stronger and more confident. On the other hand, she knew that he was putting himself in harm's way: something she did not necessarily approve of. Lloyd was stubborn though and she knew that no amount of persuasion would change his mind. She was stuck with her brother; a very bitter-sweet victory. "Yeah, I hope I know what I'm doing too," she whispered under her breath. The building was right in front of them now and the siblings came to an abrupt halt. "Last chance to change your mind," Laurie prompted, attempting to psyche herself up as doubts clouded her brain.
"After you," Lloyd smiled, moving to open one of the heavy, frosted-glass doors. Laurie sighed and nodded to her brother, moving inside of the building. A large, rustic looking clock sat on the wall behind the lobby desk. The aged, metal hands pointed out the time. It was a little past two o'clock in the morning. The orange ninja stifled a chuckle as her ice blue eyes landed upon a security guard, fast asleep with his head lying down on the desk. His right arm was strewn over a clipboard and pen, no doubt for guests to sign in before the entered various areas of the building. Unfortunately, the elevator near the desk appeared to have a keypad situated to the left of it. They did not know the pass code.
"How are we going to get up to the top?" Laurie huffed, feeling slightly panicky. The longer they stayed in one place, the quicker Rhea would catch up to them. She scanned the room, noticing another doorway that also had a locking mechanism on it. Perhaps it was the entrance to a staircase. Of course, the red head did not want to have to walk up over thirty flights of stairs. Lloyd was waltzing right over to the elevator, rubbing his hands together furiously. "What are you doing?" his sister whispered loudly. "Don't wake the guy up, okay?"
Lloyd gestured for Laurie to relax before turning back to the closed, metal doors. He inhaled deeply, waiting to hear the objections that his sister was about to give, but she would just have to understand. They were running out of time after all. Rolling up the long sleeves of his green sweatshirt past his elbows, the boy concentrated on trying to harness the few sparks he had managed to back in the warehouse. Once more, tiny blue bursts of electricity danced across his fingertips. Placing his right hands on the numbered key pad, Lloyd felt the device give a shudder before it shorted out. A small smile plastered itself on his face as the machine seemingly greeted him.
Access Granted. Welcome.
"What are you doing?" Laurie protested, quickly covering the distance between herself and Lloyd. The doors to the elevator slid open, revealing the interior. Lloyd entered, leaning back against the mirror at the back of the small lift. Laurie followed suit, pushing the highest number she could find. Hopefully they would be able to get the ninja's attention before all of the Underworld broke loose. As the doors to the elevator closed, Laurie leaned back against the dark, wooden siding that snaked up the walls and tried not to think about what it would be like to be stuck in an elevator in the dark. "If that guard had woken up, we would have been in so much trouble," Laurie chastised, attempting to make conversation.
Lloyd just rolled his eyes. "Sis, we wouldn't have gotten in trouble. We're ninja. He would have understood." When he looked over at Laurie she just raised an eyebrow and gestured to herself before tugging on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. So they did not look like ninja right now. "So we don't look exactly like heroes right now, but he would have still understood." Besides, he was the green ninja. There was no way he would not have been able to talk his way out of trouble. As the elevator slowed, Lloyd noticed his sister tensing up. She rubbed her bare arms furiously as if she were cold and he just sighed. "Laurie, relax," the boy said, watching as the doors slid open. "Everything is going to be fine."
The girl nodded and led the way out of the elevator. A large, sprawling hallway greeted them, covered in faded grey tile. A small door sat down on the left side of the path and Laurie approached it cautiously. "Roof access," she breathed, pushing down on the door handle. It swung outwards, allowing the chilled night air to come flooding in to building. Inhaling deeply, the orange ninja climbed up the few stairs that trailed up to the roof, hearing Lloyd follow closely behind. The two closed the door behind them, Lloyd managing to freeze the outer handle of the door, giving them an extra line of defense.
"Well, what do we do now?" the boy asked, pulling down the sleeves of his sweatshirt. It was easier to see the stars from up here, away from the lights of the city. If there was not an entity bent on death and destruction currently traversing the streets, it would have been a nice night for just stargazing. "Laurie, what are we going to do now?" he said again, expecting an answer.
"We make a signal."
"They have to be around here somewhere," Jay whined, splashing through the shallow liquid that trailed down through the sewers. He kept his hazel gaze ahead to avoid looking down. Staring at the back of Cole's head was more glamorous than attempting to distinguish what they were currently walking through. "I mean, we found the Serpentine down in the sewers before. I don't know why they would change their location like that. Snakes like damp and dreary places. They were locked in the tombs so long, I couldn't think of a better place for them to hide out.
Zane was ahead of the others, his heightened vision allowing him to safely lead his friends through the tunnels. "I agree with you. The probability of us running in to the Serpentine is relatively high," he replied. Some indistinguishable form moved in front of the nindroid and he held up a single hand, gesturing for the group to stop. His other hand moved to his side, gripping a shuriken tightly. As the creature moved once more, the white ninja realized that it was only a rat. Breathing a sigh of relief, he relinquished the hold on his weapon and started walking once more.
"This is taking too long," Kai complained, his voice echoing off of the corrugated metal. Both hands were wrapped around the hilt of his sword, the grip unyielding. Skales and the others would pay dearly for taking Lloyd. He felt his eyebrows furrow in anger as his pace quickened. Nya held an arm out to her side, gesturing for him to stay behind her. The tunnel was not very wide and Kai was seething with impatience. "Can we move a little faster?" he called out, glancing from side to side. "Who knows what they're doing to Lloyd right now. We're taking too long."
Cole was growing more frustrated with Kai's impatience. "Would you like us to get caught or do you want us to actually help Lloyd?" he answered, trying his hardest to reserve all contempt. With a loud and huffy breath, he heard Kai concede defeat. The black ninja shook his head slightly, attempting to relieve the onset of what would surely be a headache later. Voices were growing louder and Cole felt as if he too were beginning to lose his patience. "Just stop talking, Kai, please," he whispered.
"It's not me," Kai rebutted, suddenly pushing past his sister and Jay. The two expressed their annoyance with a chorus of low chatter, but the red ninja ignored it, continuing onwards. He ducked under the scythe that Cole held out to stop his path and zipped right by Zane. Those snakes were around here somewhere. Not only had he heard them, but Cole had too. Kai took a left down a fork in the path, listening for the soft sound of voices. Ignoring the growing shouts from his brothers, the red ninja pushed on, positive that he was heading in the right direction.
After what felt like hours of sprinting through the darkness, Kai emerged in to a larger area where the ground was dry. Five heads turned to greet their unexpected guest and Kai immediately lunged for the Hypnobrai. Startled, the other snakes backed away as the Ninja of Fire held his blade against their leader's throat. "Where's Lloyd?" he asked between gritted teeth. Without even waiting for an answer, Kai threw a punch that hit the Hypnobrai square in the jaw. As the other generals came to their senses and began to surround him, the red ninja heard the others enter the room.
"Why does everyone think we have the boy?" Skales sighed, watching as the ninja spread out, taking up stances against his comrades. "I hate to disappoint you, ninja, but we don't have the young Garmadon." He turned his gaze upon Skalidor who seemed to be trying to convince them that they did indeed have Lloyd. No doubt playing off of the trick they had used on Laurie earlier. "Don't listen to him," the Hypnobrai hissed tiredly, much to the shock of the others. "We don't have Lloyd so maybe we can actually spend the remainder of our night in peace."
Kai lowered his sword, light brown eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by 'why does everyone think we have the boy'?" he inquired, taking a step backwards. This had to be a trick. The Serpentine had to be hiding him somewhere. Where else could Lloyd possibly be?
"You did not know that his sister came looking for him as well?" Skales asked honestly. "We don't have her either in case you were wondering," he finished bitterly, remembering the figure who had interrupted his perfect plan. "She was going on about a warehouse or something too. Maybe you should check there." The snake noticed Kai eyeing him warily and he sucked in a deep breath. "I'm only being helpful this once. If anything happens to the boy than my plans are ruined. I'd rather him be in our clutches than someone else's." With that final statement, he gestured for his fellow generals to follow him and they disappeared down another branching tunnel.
Stunned, Kai looked over at Jay who just shrugged. Cole approached Kai and he could tell that his brother was still trying to take in the information Skales had given him. "Stop running off like that," the black ninja sighed. "One of these days, Kai, when you go off by yourself something bad is going to happen." It was still odd that the Serpentine had been helpful. Maybe they were lying. "Do you think we should go check out this warehouse that Skales was talking about?"
"They saw Laurie," Kai breathed, sheathing the sword on his back. "She's out looking for Lloyd too, by herself." His head was spinning wildly, his heart fluttering against his ribs. "We have to go look where Laurie thought Lloyd would be. She obviously had more of a lead than we do." Out of the corner of his eye, Kai saw Nya walking towards what appeared to be a ladder. An ominous looking manhole cover decorated a corner of the ceiling. Not wasting another moment, the red ninja ran towards his sister, scaling the ladder quickly. With one hand, he lifted the manhole cover and haphazardly tossed it to the side. As it scrapped against the asphalt he shuddered slightly and the night air hit his clammy skin.
Where would this warehouse be though? He started visualizing the streets of Ninjago City, trying to pinpoint exactly where he could have seen a warehouse before. With the streets empty, Kai took a seat on a nearby curb and closed his eyes. Something else that Skales had said was bugging him. I'd rather him be in our clutches than someone else's. What had he meant by that? "Duh, someone else obviously has Lloyd," Kai whispered to himself, rubbing his temples. The only person that came to his mind was Rhea. That girl was nothing but trouble and he had known it since the beginning. Having Lloyd gave her the perfect opportunity to blackmail Laurie in to traveling by herself. A lump rose in Kai's throat the more he thought about everything. He needed to locate this warehouse and fast.
"What's that up there?" Nya inquired, squinting her eyes slightly. Kai got to his feet and went to join the others who were huddled in the middle of the street, all staring to where Nya was pointing. It was a strange phenomenon: green light was rising in to the night sky from a central location. That had to be one extreme light show. "I've never seen anything like that," Nya whispered, almost breathless. "What do you guys think it is?"
The light combined in to a larger sphere, spreading out wide before dissipating. After a few seconds of darkness, a steady stream of flames rose from the same location. What was going on? The fire wavered and flickered as if a strong wind was attempting to blow it out. Little by little, the flames grew higher, twirling in a spiral pattern before vanishing. The green lights started once more and Kai felt a wave of realization wash over him. "I think it's Lloyd," the red ninja stated. He had seen the boy conjure a light like that back on the Bounty when they had fought Garmadon's pirates. It was his own special "element". "We need to go see where it's coming from."
With a smile on his face, the Ninja of Fire tore down the street, heading towards the center of the city, still ignoring Cole's protests as the others followed.
I wanted to address a review given by "anonymous" last week since I can't PM them. Thank you so much for your review and I'm honestly glad you enjoy this series that much. Having feedback like that was really amazing because it was everything I ever wanted someone else to take away from my stories: the feeling of truly reading something worth reading. So thank you very, very much for your review.
Thank you for reading and just sticking with me through everything, guys. Alright, I'm getting ready to head off to a nearby Convention so I can go cosplay. See you next Friday. Adios~