Updating this instead of Movie Mode because I really like this. Don't worry though, Movie Mode hasn't been forgotten!

Review Replies:

DragonWhisperer762: I'm glad you like it so much!

Erio99: I went and checked it out, and they're pretty good! I especially like A Gorey Demise.

TheAmberShadow: I'm glad you liked the sayings, as well as the poem! They're some of my favorites. Also, ding ding ding! It be Clouse! And no, they aren't gonna reprogram him. YET.

Chapter Seven:

Screams

This time, there was no sack shoved over Echo's head, nor where his wrists and ankles chained together. Instead, the ghost kept a death grip on his elbow, so tight he was certain the metal was now dented. The two guards didn't even draw their flimsy, blunt weapons, just followed them from behind like bodyguards.

Echo wasn't sure how to feel about the lack of restraints. On one hand, it'll make it easier to escape. On the other, they're well aware that it would still be difficult for him to do so.

To make matters worse, they'd broken his leg earlier. Echo had done his best to repair it with nothing but his hands and a small rock, and while it was functioning, it was still painful to walk on, and left him with an incredibly obvious limp. Not only that, but it also lowered his chances of escaping on his own.

He was dragged around corner after corner, twist after twist and turn after turn. Perhaps Zane would have been able to memorize the path from his cell to where ever they were going, but Echo quickly found his mind being jumbled and confused, and soon lost any idea of the bases layout.

It was like a maze, a rather difficult one too, and even the ghostly man would sometimes hesitate when they came to a crossroad, if only for a moment. When this happened, neither guard moved to help, simply remaining silent, which was so very different from the two that had brought Echo in.

The hallways all looked alike, with their rocky walls and pothole covered floors. Every footstep bounced off the walls, every tick of his clockwork, recreating the sounds in a series of echoes. The place smelled of salty water and damp wood, the air so cold that their breaths appeared in puffs of white, and quite a few of the potholes were filled with small puddles, which the ghost was extremely careful to avoid.

Eventually, they reached a set of metal doors, their surfaces dented and scratched as though a large animal had tried to tear them down. The two guards stepped forward and pulled them open, allowing the ghostly man to pull Echo through before they closed the doors behind them, not entering the room themselves. There was the click of a lock turning.

Echo looked around the new room, his heart ticking faster and his stomach growing cold. The room was as rocky and wet as his cell, only bigger, and with lit candles scattered about seemingly at random. Workbenches, books, and half finished projects filled the room, tools lying about the mess and blueprints sitting in a large stack on a small desk. In the middle of the room was a metal table, looking as though it had been dragged there from its previous spot up against the wall.

The seven fingered man with red hair from before sat at the workbench, what appeared to be parts of an engine in front of him. If Echo had been human, his blood would have gone cold. His hands and clothes were still stained red.

"We met in the foster home." he said, not looking up from his work, "We were bullied both there and at school for our intellect, for our genius, and so since no one would befriend us, we decided to befriend each other."

The ghost shifted, an annoyed look crossing his face. His grip on Echoes arm tightened, making the bot wince. The man picked up a wrench and continued.

"Together, we did amazing things. We were practically brothers by the time we left university-"

The ghost cleared his throat, making the man come to a stop. After a moment, the ghost spoke.

"As much as your origin story is fascinating, sir," he said, "I do believe it's high time this heart of mine started beating again."

Silence followed the statement. Then the man laughed. A cold, humorless laugh that made Echo stiffen in fright, ticking filling the air.

"I have told you this once, Clouse," the man near purred, "And I will tell you it again. Get me what I want, and I'll give you what you want."

"But- But I did!" Clouse exclaimed, tugging Echo forwards, "I got you-"

"No." the man cut him off, "My children got me that one. Besides, he's not even the one I wanted."

"If your so called 'children,'" spat Clouse, "Can't capture one of the Ninja, do you honestly think-"

"If the Ninja are too difficult for you," said the man, "You could always fetch me something else."

Confusion flashed across Clouse's face, then suspicion, his eyes narrowing on the red haired man's back. "Like what?"

Finally, the man spun around in his chair to face him, grabbing an oil stained cloth and wiping his hands on it, although it did little to get rid of the blood. His ocean colored eyes darted to Echo, and then back to Clouse. "Later."

Clouse's mouth twisted downwards in displeasure, and he shoved Echo forwards, making the bot fall to his knees, before spinning on his heel and phasing through the door. Not a moment later, the two guards opened them and entered, closing the doors behind them.

The man stood up, tossing his cloth- now both red and black- onto the workbench, lazily gesturing to Echo. "Get him on the table, please."

Immediately, the two guards grabbed Echo by the arms, forcing the struggling bot to his feet and then onto the metal table with frightening ease, the ticking of his clockwork heart becoming louder. It seemed to be doing that quite often, lately.

Leather straps were buckled around his wrists, and then his ankles, before the two guards stepped away. Echo twisted and wiggled, his leg burning as he jostled it, but no matter how hard he struggled, the straps wouldn't give. So much for not being restrained.

"We built the original together." the man muttered, more to himself than Echo, an odd look in his eyes as he watched the bot wiggle about like a fish out of water. "But he was a fool. He didn't realize it's potential, the power it could hold..."

Shaking his head slowly, he turned to his stoic guards, one of which was now holding a video camera. Pulling a green and silver snake-like mask over his face, he gave them a nod, and a blinking red light appeared just above the camera lens.

"You didn't follow our instructions." the man said, his voice muffled but still understandable, picking up something out of Echo's line of sight, "So perhaps this will make you think twice."

Ticking filled his ears. "W-Wait, what are-"

The sentence was never finished, cut off by the whir of a drill and screams of pain.

Echo sat near the door, watching curiously as Zane, Kim (was it Kim? It might have been Kyle), Cole, Jay and Lukas (he was pretty sure that's his name) had a rather competitive game on the console.

It was a pretty violent competition as well. Jay had been shoved off the couch and smacked his head on the coffee table after elbowing Cole in the ribs and making him 'die.' Unfazed, Jay had simply grabbed his controller and proceeded to shove Leo (Liam? He really needed to learn their names) without taking his eyes off the screen, who returned the gesture with just as much ferocity.

The only one who wasn't violently pushing and shoving was Zane, although he did shove Kai's controller out if his hands when he'd kicked him. From the annoyed exclamations coming from all five boys, a certain smirking water ninja was winning.

Having only been living on the Destiny's Bounty with them for a few days, Echo was still unused to the constant noise of his new found family. It was comforting, some what, to know someone besides Gizmo was just in the other room, but it was also frightening. Quite a few times already, a fight between the Ninja had broke out, mostly between Jay and Cole, sometimes Kai or Lloyd (Klo and Luke?), and Echo would quickly leave the room when this happened, most of the time unnoticed. The few times that he had been noticed leaving, the ones that had been fighting would be forced to apologize to him by either Sensei Wu, Misako or Zane. What they were apologizing for, however, he hadn't a clue.

When they weren't training, saving the world or doing their own thing, more often then not they could be found in the living area shouting at the television as they digitally battled their way through baddies as themselves. Nya had been most pleased upon finding her own character in the newest version of this game, which was what they were currently playing, and had taken the lead in highest scoring almost immediately, much to the dismay of the others.

When Zane had first spotted him watching about two or three days ago, he'd called him over and proceeded to show him how to work the controller. It had been simple enough, move one analog stick to look around, move the other to walk, press the top back button on the right to attack. He'd clumsily made his way through barely a quarter of the level before accidentally pushing Kal (Kath?) over the edge for the sixth time, causing the fiery Ninja to snap and yell at him.

Echo wasn't one to hold grudges, and had long since forgiven him, but he'd been positive at the time that they were going to send him back to the lighthouse. So, like any other rational person, he'd dropped the controller and sprinted off to hide in one of the emptier kitchen cupboards, the one right above the fridge, squeezing himself in between the pots and saucers that hadn't been able to fit in the other cupboard.

With his 'sticky feet' (the unofficial name of his climbing abilities, curtsy of Jay), he'd gotten up into the cupboard with ease. The hard part had been getting inside it, and he'd ended up banging his head on the top more than once. He'd spent ages in there, just sitting, listening to the others running about. He must have fallen asleep at some point, because when he came out, it was the middle of the night.

Silently, he'd crept into the bedroom, not surprised to discover the Ninja fast asleep in their beds, and had crawled under the blankets and curled up next to Zane. Almost immediately, his brother had jolted in surprise, and then Echo had found himself being squished against Zane's chest. They'd fallen to sleep like that, and the next morning, Kyle had apologized for snapping at him. According to Cole, they'd been up for hours searching for him.

Despite having accepted the apology, Echo denied playing video games with them, content to simply watch either by the door or next to them. Usually the former, since these gaming sessions could get incredibly violent, such as this one.

Gizmo bleeped, pulling Echo from his thoughts, and the bot looked down at his little friend as he pushed a blue ball covered in white pokadots towards him, about the size of Echo's hand. Smiling, he picked it up, and Gizmo zipped over to a little ways away, closer to the other wall but not the violent game taking place on the couch.

Echo tossed the ball towards Gizmo, who backed up a little and successfully caught it. Giving a victorious beep, he threw it back, the blue ball hitting Echo on the forehead before falling into his hands. A mechanic giggle rose from his throat, and he tossed it back to the smaller robot, who started to beep angrily when he missed, and went to fetch it from the corner.

This went on for a little while, simply tossing the blue and white ball back and forth, the both of them having to get up on more than one occasion to fetch it. Echo glanced over at the Ninja as Jay gave a yell of dismay, only for the ball to hit him on the side of the head and bounce over to the couch. Blinking in surprise, he looked over at Gizmo, who gave a sheepish bleep and gestured for him to go get it.

Sending him a playful glare, Echo climbed to his feet and made his way over to the side of the couch, bending down and scooping up the ball. As he straightened, however, Cole exclaimed something unintelligible and threw the hand holding his controller out to the side, the object smacking Echo right in the eye.

With a pained gasp, the crack of breaking glass in his ears, Echo fell flat on his bum, dropping the ball and covering his eye with both hands. With his good eye, he saw Cole looking down at him in horror, and the others scrambling to look over the catch to see what was wrong, the video game forgotten. Behind him, Gizmo zoomed his way over, beeping at the Earth Ninja angrily and flaying his stout arms about.

Pain spiked in his broken eye, forcing a sob passed Echo's lips, breaking the shocked silence that had descended upon the Ninja. Controller clattering to the floor, Zane leaped over the back of the couch, kneeling beside his younger brother and trying to pry his hands away from his shattered eye, speaking to him gently and trying to encourage him.

Cole stumbled over to them, almost tripping over a still angrily beeping Gizmo, who seemed to be in a sort of rant, and fell to his knees next to Zane, speaking so fast that Echo had a hard time keeping up with him.

"Oh god, Ech, I'm so sorry-"

"-Let me see it, Echo, I can fix it-"

Shaking his head frantically, Echo pulled himself out of Zane's grasp and scrambled to his feet, one hand still covering his eye, and raced blindly to the door. Before he could reach it, a hand grabbed his upper arm and pulled him back, two arms wrapping around his middle as he thrashed wildly, still sobbing.

"-No, no, no, no, please, bud, not again-"

-Hands, groping at his insides, ripping him apart, someone screaming and screaming and screaming, if only they would stop-

Echo abruptly found his face buried into Zane's neck, shoulders still shaking with sobs, his feet off the ground as he was carried out of the living room. They came to a stop, and Zane tried to pry the younger bot off him to sit him down, but Echo's sobs only increased at the attempted action, his arms tightening around his brother's neck.

"Lemme see him."

Zane sat down, Echo curled up in his lap, and gently pried his head away from his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles on his back. Echo blinked rapidly, half his vision with a large series of cracks in it, as though he were wearing glasses with a cracked lens.

Jay cupped his face, tilting his head back to get a better look at the broken eye. He turned to his toolbox and pulled some things out, Zane holding him close as the Lightning Ninja got to work. In a matter of moments, Jay was smiling at him and packing his tools away. "All done."

Sniffing, Echo blinked his newly repaired eye, Zane nuzzling his head against his own. Something small and round was shoved under his face, and the young bot looked down at it in surprise, before following the arm holding it up to Cole's face.

"Here." he said, holding the treat closer, "As an apology."

"What is it?" asked Echo, hesitantly taking the round treat. Cole's mouth popped open, face morphing into a look of disbelief, leaving Echo to blink at him in surprise.

"You've never seen cookie before?!"

Echo opened his mouth to ask what a 'cookie' was, exactly, but he then Cole was pushing the treat closer to his mouth quite persistently. Hesitant, Echo glanced at Zane, realizing at the back of his mind that he was still sitting in his lap, but he simply gave him a smile and a nod.

Still a bit weary, he eyed the 'cookie' for a moment, before taking a bite out of it. His fogged yellow eyes lit up, mouth exploding with the sweet flavor, and a second later there was no cookie left to eat.

-He was being dragged, rearranged metal scraping against rocky ground, splashing in the small puddle filled potholes, crying and screaming and sobbing in agony, because it hurt, it hurt so much more than a broken eye-

Nya chuckled. "Was that good?"

Echo nodded, face covered in cookie crumbs, a large smile on his face. He looked at Cole hopefully, wanting more, but the Ninja shook his head.

"Sorry, pal, that was the last one."

"Maybe we can make some more." Zane suggested, Echo's smile returning at the prospect.

"When?" asked Lloyd, "Now?"

Zane shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Alrighty, then!" Jay said, clapping his hands together and jumping to his feet. Then, jabbing a finger at the door, "To the grocery store!"

"Are you sure we should all go out to the same place at once?" asked Kyle (It had got to be Kyle, right?), "You know, I love the girls and all, but I'm not really in the mood for a run."

"We'll just do what we always do." Lloyd shrugged, "Besides, I wanna get some M&M's."

He'd counted the tiles on the floor six times, and the patterns on the seats four. He'd watched the clock's hands slowly tick the minutes away, and then eventually hours, counting the seconds in his head. He'd get up, walk around the room in a large circle, reach his seat again, sit back down, and then do it again. The others would sometimes glance at him, but had long ago stopped watching him repeat the cycle.

Zane sat in the seat across from his own, the faraway look in his electric eyes meaning he was either in deep thought or mentally conversing with PIXAL, perhaps both. Jay was sitting on the colorful jigsaw puzzle themed kiddie mat, Nya cuddled up next to him with her hand clutching his, and sometimes one of them, usually Jay, would reach out and move one of the balls on the bead runner in front of them.

Cole was curled up in his seat, ghostly knees pulled up to his chest, his chin resting on top of them. He was the one that watched Lloyd doing his cycle the most, his brow furrowed ever so slightly. When he wasn't watching Lloyd, he was watching the few others in the waiting room, or staring at the empty seat across from him. Seamus had returned to his temporary apartment an hour after they arrived at the hospital.

A chilly breeze fluttered in through the open window, the night sky clear and sprinkled with stars. A passing nurse pushed it shut and closed the curtains.

Eventually, Lloyd's cycle broke, and he instead just walked in a large circle without sitting down, hands in his pockets and eyes on his feet, counting every step he took. The slow, deep ticks and tocks of the wall clock was as loud as the explosion that still rang in his ears, louder then the startled and pained screams of his family, louder then the scream that had tore from his throat as he watched Kai get blasted to the other side of the field.

The Fire Ninja hadn't been the only one to be injured, although he had been the worst off. Jay's shoulder was wrapped in bandages and his arm was in a sling to avoid tearing his stitches. Cole was, of course, unharmed, since the only thing that could hurt him now was water. Nya had obtained minor burns on her forearm, which had been bandaged and applied cream, having only just been inside Lloyd's barrier. Any damage Zane had obtained during the fight had long since been repaired, and Lloyd had suffered from burned hands, having torn off the parts of Kai's clothes that had been on fire. Just like Nya, they were bandaged and applied ointment.

Out of all of them, Kai and Nya were the only ones that had any experience in siblings. Zane and Echo never had the chance to grow up together, unlike the Smiths, so they couldn't really be counted. So it wasn't very surprising that Kai had unconsciously taken on the role of eldest, mostly towards Lloyd, since he had only been eight years old when they started training him to be the Green Ninja. Even after he 'aged up,' Kai, as well as the other Ninja, had still treated him like a younger sibling, just not as young as before.

Lloyd hated that it was only now that he realized just how much he looked up to Kai, more so then any of the others. He'd been the one to save him from the volcano, had chosen him over the Fang Blade, and had even comforted him when he had nightmares, some of which had been about the volcano, most of which had been about his father.

And Lloyd knew how much Kai cared for the other Ninja as well. He'd seen the way he'd hugged Jay when he was upset about losing Nya. He'd seen the way he'd comforted Nya when she was upset about Jay avoiding her. He'd seen the way he'd left a small chocolate cake outside Cole's door when he was still depressed about being turned into a ghost. He'd heard him crying in his room after Zane had died, he'd seen how he'd pulled the newly improved nindroid into a gear crushing hug when they were reunited, he'd seen the way he'd give Echo kind, encouraging smiles when he discovered something new and became scared.

He'd seen the concerned looks he'd give him when he'd go real quiet when he remembered his deceased father. He'd seen the golden eyes peeking over the edge of one of the top bunks to look down at him in the middle of the night. He'd seen the encouraging smiles shot his way when he would get frustrated with learning a new fighting technique. He'd seen the proud spark that had lingered in his eyes when he had got it right. He'd seen the red sleeves on the arms that had wrapped around him the night he'd lost the rest of his childhood, and then again when he'd lost his father.

Scowling at the tears stinging his eyes, Lloyd plopped back down in his seat, leaning back and crossing his arms. He felt Cole's eyes boring into the side of his skull, but he didn't look up from the ground. Down on the kiddie mat, Jay moved another bead.

Lloyd hated how it was only now, when Kai could be dead long before sunrise, that he realized just how much he needed him.

The door opened, revealing a doctor with greying black hair and tired grey eyes, a clipboard tucked under his armpit and a pen clipped onto his white coat pocket. Immediately, Lloyd, Zane, Cole, Nya and Jay launched to their feet, and the doctor abruptly found five very concerned Ninja standing before him, questions flying from their mouths so fast it was hard to figure who was asking what.

"Wait, please, please, let- let me speak!" The doctor snapped, his tiredness getting the better of him. The Ninja fell silent, shifting impatiently, holding their breaths without even realizing it. The doctor sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his forehead.

"Your friend is fine."

As soon as the words left his mouth, they burst into noise again, asking if they could see him and when he could come home. Nya gave a relieved sob and buried her face into Jay's chest, who, for the first time in his life, was too overwhelmed to say anything, so instead just beamed and tried not to cry. Cole reached out and ruffled Lloyd's hair, which was already messy and dirty from the days earlier events.

"Your friend is fine." the doctor repeated, more firmly this time, obviously telling them to be quiet so he could continue, "But he's got severe burns all over his body that'll take a few months to heal properly, and could possibly leave scarring. He might need physical therapy as well, although it's certainly not the worst case I've ever seen." the doctor shook his head, as though in astonishment, "He's a toughie, I'll give 'em that."

"Could we see him, please?" asked Zane, after a short beat of silence. The doctor hesitated, looking about at them, before shaking his head sadly.

"Afraid not. Family only."

Silence descended upon the room. The five Ninja shared a look, and then, faces setting, they turned back to the doctor, Lloyd crossing his arms.

"Then there shouldn't be a problem."