"What can you see?"
"Not now Nya, I thought we were keeping these lines free?" Kai replied in a hushed voice.
The floor was covered in sand, making it difficult to get a good grip or to make a fast escape, to make matters worse, there were thick cables and drag marks on the sand. To Both ninja, their first thoughts were elongated desert snakes, not quite serpentine but deadly still the same.
"What happened to using our call signs?" She said in response. "We're Beta remember? No names!"
Kai couldn't tell if she was being serious or not, her tone sounded slightly serious. "Okay, Beta….I'll" He paused as Cole shone his torchlight around the room. "Get back to you on that."
Nya somehow noted her brothers change in voice. "Is everything okay? Do you need assistance?"
Kai just stared at the cables laying around, wondering what they must have been attached to, to warrant the use of such heavy gauge insulation. "Everything is fine unless you hear otherwise and no, we don't need assistance. Not yet anyway."
"Cole what is this stuff?" He asked as he joined his side.
"I'm not an electrician, Kai. But I'm fairly sure it is a power cable of some sort, heavy duty at that." Cole was standing in front of a cage, it had been knocked onto its side during the initial rush to get everything out of here.
Upon closer inspection, it proved to be insulated cable. Although Kai thought it looked more like a hose pipe. "It is a superconductor, a phenomena of no resistance," Zane stated quite clearly over his communication device.
"It is a purpose made underground cable that was meant for transferring the power from one central device to others."
"Thanks, Alpha, the only problem is these cables are the only thing in here, other than a weird looking contraption over there."
"Take a photo of it for me, if you can."
"Sure thing tinman, on it." He positioned his torch pointing directly at the fallen cage and proceeded to take some quick photos. "Not sure about the quality though, photos don't come out particularly good when it's otherwise pitch black."
"Cole, remember last time?" Kai asked as he held his torch, looking around keeping a watchful eye on the multitude of tunnels he could see.
The master of earth simply nodded.
"Well when we were underground, I guess they took us through one of these tunnels."
"Yeah and?"
"My signal gets weaker the closer I move to these." He pointed to the tunnels but stood far enough away to avoid being grabbed. "When we were taken, the signal from the communicator's were muffled, distorted."
"Why though? I mean, unless there is unmined vengestone down here or some other ore that disturbs the radio waves, we should have a perfect reception."
Kai's face looked solemn, it wasn't a memory he wanted either but yet there it was right in front of him. "Maybe it was something to do with his element, I mean we could still communicate fine until we got into that main cavern."
He had walked back across to the machine that lay on its side and took a look inside. He shuddered when he saw the leather restraints. "This was what they used huh? T-to take his element."
Cole nodded his dipped head, "Sick right?"
"Totally! So we'd be safer if we stay together?" Kai added as he stood back up again. "Heh, I'm guessing Jay would say we'd be pretty much hooped if we split up."
"We can't split up because it's too risky. I wasn't going to recommend that anyway, that'd be suicide unless you reckon we can take on the entire serpentine army by ourselves?" Cole replied with grin.
"Yeah, As tempting as it is, I'm gonna go for 'no' because I value my life as is. Plus I'm guessing here, but we'd need back up and only because this place was swarming with Serpentine not that long ago."
"Yeah, I for one don't wanna be their next plaything." Cole had moved on to the table he had stumbled into and he watched Kai from the corner of his eye.
The master of fire was peering down into some of the darkened tunnels. "Hey, you know we can't be long right?" He looked nervous as he shone the torchlight in favour of his own element. "These guys are crafty, they probably know we're here already."
Cole cleared the majority of useless dusty jars from the table top and shone his torch down onto some laminated sheets. He had no idea if these sheets were of any use but he rolled them up and secured them in his gi.
"I miss him, ya know. It's been so long Cole."
He bit his lip. "I miss him too, more than he knows," Cole said, trailing off at the end. "But he's some place better and right now that's all that matters. At the moment, Lloyd says that Jay is the weak link, the one that's easier to pick off and ultimately, the one that would weaken the entire mission."
"That's why Wu was so eager to have him stay away for so long?" Kai asked as he scoured the sandy floor for any other clues. He had a feeling that this was a complete wasted endeavour, that had so far produced a grand total of nothing, except for a multitude of tunnels that neither master wanted to explore without adequate backup.
Cole looked across to Kai, shining his torch in the fire master's general direction. "It was decided as being the best choice for his R&R. Who am I to argue with Wu?"
"Let me guess, did he do the whole spiel of 'with age comes wisdom, with time, comes patience and with solitude comes reflection and understanding?'" Kai asked.
Cole couldn't see his brothers' expression, it was too dark but he knew Kai was smiling as he spoke, largely in sympathy and understanding.
"Yeah, that was pretty much what he'd said before he decided, he didn't say it this time though." He had finished securing the laminated scrolls before looking into Kai's burning amber eyes. "I did question him and his reasoning, thought it would have been better if we all stayed together."
"Lloyd and Wu have a point though," Kai mumbled soothingly. "He can't fight in his current state."
"Yeah, I know that, it's just….." He paused and retrieved his device, he frowned as he heard Zane's voice barking orders at him. "Come again?" He frowned and pinched his nose as he listened in to Zane's orders.
"Delta team, two hostiles coming to your location. Two, I repeat two IC-9's."
"Gahh, speak English Zane, uhm Alpha, what the heck is that new code?" He hissed, shooting a nervous glance at the elevator doors.
"I apologise…it means 'unknown ethnicity'. You have roughly seven minutes and 43 seconds to make a swift departure before your position will be compromised…Alpha team out."
"Come on Kai, time to go. Alpha, we're leaving now. Beta, keep your eyes peeled." He replied quietly.
Kai didn't need any further cues, he bolted straight for the open lift doors. "What were you going to say, Cole?" He said whilst pulling the old lift doors across when Cole had climbed into the rickety old elevator.
"Wu said that we should've never be separated. He virtually, rammed it down our throats when Jay was hurt the first time."
"Yeah, he did didn't he?" He pressed the dial up to G as the elevator began to tremble again. "I wonder what changed his course of thinking then?"
"Your guess is as good as mine Kai, just another one of his quirks I guess, plus I doubt we'll get a straight answer from him. He's kinda cryptic and vague at the best of times."
Both Ninja sighed a breath of relief when a natural light came back to their now straining eyes. The air was less stuffy up here, cooler too.
Kai noticed that his brother was holding something of importance, yet trying to get a purchase on what he was holding was proving a difficult task. "You're being really secretive Cole, what did you find? I know you got something." He tried to grab for them as the lift continued its slow ascent to the ground floor from the basement.
Cole didn't remove the scrolls, they were still securely rolled in his belt and he tightened his grip on them, effectively preventing Kai's hands from grabbing at them. "Quit it, Kai!"
"Well show me then!" He hissed petulantly.
"Later when we're out of here." He looked to Kai's fake pouting lips.
"Look, it's just something that could come in useful. I don't really know what they are or what they signify but I didn't want to leave empty handed." He smirked at Kai who literally had nothing.
"Case in point!" He pointed at Kai's bare hands and then cringed as the lift scratched up against the bare stone walls. The elevator wobbled and groaned again with the added momentum.
"I know we came here to find any clues, it was a big ask really. It's like all the clues have dried up and left no trail at all. And what's worse is that these past few weeks haven't brought up anything either, until now…." His smile was as clear as the sun in the blue sky.
Kai looked at him in confusion, realisation suddenly dawning on him. "You did find something didn't you?"
Cole nodded, the grin still remained plastered onto his face. "I did, but you'll have to wait until we're safely away from here."
"Alpha team, Beta…status report?"
"All clear from Alpha. IC-9's have gone into a nearby food joint for refreshments. Misako is still keeping tabs on them."
"I swear to God, Alpha, stop with the coding, it's not helping at all, Zane!"
"Hey Cole lay off. We suggested that he use his humour switch today. Besides I think it's funny, Jay would've agreed with me."
"That's debatable…." He said wryly, Kai remained silent as he opened the same fire doors they had entered through.
"What was that Cole?" Nya mumbled sarcastically.
"I mean yeah, sure Jay would have laughed…..Beta!" He shook his head, she was right of course, Jay would have laughed and likely given away their position in a matter of seconds. "Delta out…literally."
"Next time…" Cole said sounding gruff. "We're being team Alpha, being that we're doing all the damned work."
Kai nodded in agreement and both of them closed the doors behind them, placing a dumpster in front of the now unsecured access doors. "Whose idea was it?"
"Lloyd's idea!" Cole smiled. "Who else still has a supply of comics under his bed?"
Kai had no answer to that, he shrugged in response.
Cole tapped his device. "Mission was a success guys, meet you back at rendezvous point X in t-minus 10. We got some good news for a change."