Isabella camovic: ... Look, I'm really happy you're enjoying this story, but can you stop demanding updates? I've already asked you this previously, but you've either ignored my request or just didn't read/see it. I'm really, really glad you like my story and my writing, it means a lot, but asking for updates doesn't magically make us want to write the next chapter quicker. If anything, it puts us off. As for the Zane tickling Echo idea, I really like the sound of it and I'll see if I can put it in somewhere.

Ninjagorulz: Haha, thanks! And I'm obsessed with Marvel too, it's fantastic. Can't wait for the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie, I'm so excited! Anyway, it's okay you haven't been reviewing, although getting one every now and again just to know you're still with us is nice. I'm glad you like the story so much! I truly believe my writing has gone a long way since I first started.

StoriesAreMagic: Oooo, I love it when I get like that. Although I don't clap my hands, I just get up from the computer and walk in a circle around the room with this really big smile on my face while imagining the scene over and over again.

Ariza Luca: Yaaaaay, they aaaaare! And I'll be working on Movie Mode next!

TheAmberShadow: I'm settling in fine, thanks! I watched episode 69, despite there being no audio. I'm checking YouTube at least once a day to see if the next episode or the full audio is there yet. And yeah, haha, Misako has grown quite used to them by now. Zane's worries for Echo has got to be one of my best 'show don't tell' pieces of all time. As for PIXAL 'holding' Zane's hand, that's just a little thing a made up. I've got no idea if she can actually do anything like that in canon. No problem! As though I was actually going to kill everyone's favourite smol bean. Hell, I'd probably be hunted down and killed myself. Carrot's perspective isn't shown in this chapter, but I promise you, he makes an appearance...

Chapter Eleven:

Blackout

Kaze tentatively stuck his head through the open doorway, his long hair falling into his face. Echo couldn't see outside from where he knelt, heart ticking in his ears, as Kaze's head turned left and right. Taking in the hall beyond.

Slowly, he pulled his head back into the cell, eyes the size of dinner plates. "It's clear." he muttered, more to himself than Echo, "No one's there."

"H-How's the door opened?" Echo whispered, even though he told himself that there was no need to. He fidgeted, wincing as he sat down on the rocky floor, legs tingling slightly from his previous position. "Has it always been open?"

Kaze shook his head, staring at the open doorway. "It... it couldn't have been... could it?"

Echo glanced around the barren cell. Water dripped from the ceiling, trailing down the uneven walls, forming tiny little puddles on the floor. There were no windows, no way to tell if it were night or day. The barred one that separated this cell from its neighbour- the one he'd been in previously- was rusty and wet. It was dark, too. So dark that he had to squint to make out Kaze's face. The only light came from the open doorway.

The nindroid swallowed. He turned back to Kaze, who's eyes were to the floor. In the light from the corridor, he looked even paler than before. Like a ghost. "What do we do?"

This seemed to snap the other out of his trance. Kaze shook his head, looking from Echo to the open door. His face was a look of struggle, as though he were mentally berating himself on what to do. His eyes locked with Echo's, uncertain.

Then, slowly, .he shook his head and sighed. Climbing onto shaky legs, Kaze reached out, helping Echo to his feet and wrapping the bots metallic arm around his shoulders.

Echo winced, biting back a hiss of pain. He forced himself not to put all of his weight on Kaze. He was weak too, and had been here for far longer than Echo had, with only the water on the walls to keep his alive.

Kaze didn't look at him. Stared at the open door. Closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

Weak, limping, unable to stand up straight, they left the cell behind and made their way into the twists and turns of the labyrinth.

Cole closed the door behind him. He turned to Zane, who was looking around the room, bustling with officers. The nindroid must have felt his gaze, for he turned to him. Cole smiled. After a second, Zane smiled back.

They walked over to where the others were, in front of the two-way mirror. For the first time, Cole got a good look at the women on the other side, sitting at the interrogation table.

She was... well, she was pretty, he'd give her that. She was small too, smaller than even Echo, he'd imagine. Her pale skin was vibrant against the black and grey design of the room, and her hair was such a light blond that it almost matched her skin tone. Her long fingers tapped against the tabletop in an unconscious, random rhythm. At first glance, she appeared to be spaced out. But the longer Cole looked, he realised that she was actually taking in her surroundings. She wore rags, worn and faded, wrapped around her body solely for concealment rather than warmth. Her eyes were a startling violet.

"Oh, there you two are."

Cole turned away from the two-way mirror, plastering a smile on his face when he came face to face with the Commissioner. The man brushed his white moustache, sending a glare in the captured women's direction. "Now we can begin."

"Who is she?" Zane asked. The Commissioner shrugged.

"Hell if I know. Say's her name's Violet." he fixed his hat, bushy brow furrowing, "We can't find anything of her. No records, won't give us a surname. She said she doesn't have one."

"Do you think she's lying?" asked Nya. The Commissioner scoffed.

"Of course she is! Who doesn't have a surname?"

"Morro."

Startled, they turned to Lloyd, the one who'd spoken. Sensing their eyes, he blinked, seemingly startled that he'd spoken aloud. Jay frowned at him, his eyes briefly flashing in concern.

"What about Morro?"

Lloyd shook his head, sending them a sheepish sort of smile, rubbing the back of his head. "I, uh, Morro didn't have a surname, I mean. You know, 'cause he... 'cause he grew up on the streets."

The Commissioner gave a thoughtful hum. "That's a good point, I suppose. Another thing to consider." he looked back at Violet, who was watching the two-way mirror. Perhaps it was just Cole, but he felt as though she were staring right at them. "But without proof."

"Can we go talk to her?" Zane asked. The Commissioner turned to him, hesitant. After a moment, he nodded, slowly.

"Alright. I've already sent Simon and Tommy in to talk to her, but she won't say anything useful. Maybe you'll have more luck."

Cole gave the Commissioner a nod, before turning to Lloyd. The Green Ninja stared at the pale women for a long moment, before nodding as well, although it was more to himself than the Commissioner.

"Let's go in."

Ronin watched from the other side of the two-way glass as the Ninja approached the women. His eyes were narrowed, and he'd scarcely looked away since arriving. There was something about her, something tugging at the back of his mind. He wasn't sure what it was, but it made him uneasy.

This woman could not be trusted. If only he could remember why.

Lloyd sat down in the only other chair in the interrogation room, right across from the women. The others hovered behind him, arms crossed and faces hard. They looked, Ronin thought, a little bit like bodyguards.

No. Older siblings.

"Who are you?" Lloyd asked, his voice coming out in a small burst of static from the speaker. One of the detectives adjusted it.

The women actually seemed a little disappointed. She'd probably been asked this question multiple times by now.

"I told you," she said, "I'm Violet. And you are?"

Ronin straightened. He wasn't sure why, but her voice sent shivers wracking his spine. He didn't like this.

Something was wrong.

For a moment, Lloyd appeared to consider ignoring the question. Then he decided against it. "Lloyd. We heard you're with Basilisk."

Violet smiled. "You heard true."

"I don't like this," Ronin muttered. Dareth turned to him, startled.

"What?"

"I don't like this." the mercenary repeated. "Something's... not right."

The self-proclaimed Brown Ninja frowned, glancing around the room in a new found paranoia. He leant closer to Ronin, lowering his voice. "You sure? What's wrong?"

Ronin shook his head, slowly. "I'm not sure. Just... keep your eyes peeled."

Dareth stared at him for a moment, before nodding, turning back to the two-way mirror. While Ronin didn't exactly think highly of Dareth, he had to admit that the man wasn't entirely stupid.

He wasn't planning on saying it aloud anytime soon, though.

"Your... group." said Lloyd, "They took a friend of ours."

"I know."

Silence descended upon the room. Lloyd looked around at his friends, although it was as though he were searching for someone specific. He must have realised they weren't there, for his eyes briefly flashed with something Ronin couldn't place, before he turned to Cole.

The Earth Ninja frowned, seeming as lost for a response as Lloyd was. Zane was, unsurprisingly, the one to speak.

"Why?"

Violet stared at him for a moment. Then she smiled. "They thought he was you."

Zane's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. His spine went ramrod straight, and he became as still as the statue of him in the park. He stared at Violet with a look that sent shivers running up Ronin's spine. One of the detectives turned to the Commissioner.

"Sir? Should we bring the nindroid back in?"

The Commissioner looked between Zane and Violet, obviously- at least to Ronin- unsure. "Let's see where this goes."

Finally, after a long period of tense silence, Cole stepped forwards and stood in front of Zane, as though shielding him. He put his hand behind his back and linked his fingers with the nindroid's, squeezing his hand. Ronin wasn't sure if it was in comfort or in warning.

"Why is Basilisk after Zane?"

"They weren't after him specifically," said Violet, as though commenting on the weather. She swung back on her chair, balancing on the back legs. For the first time, Ronin noticed that her hands were handcuffed in her lap. "They would've taken any of you. More than one, if they could."

"Tommy," said the Commissioner, his eyes glued to the scene before him, "Are you getting this?"

One of the detectives- Tommy- was typing away rapidly at a computer. Upon closer inspection, it appeared he was taking notes. "Yes, sir."

"But why?" asked Nya. Violet shrugged, not speaking. Nya's eyes narrowed, her jaw clenching in annoyance.

"Who is Basilisk?" Lloyd asked, "What is it that they want with us?"

The front legs of Violet's chair slammed back to the floor. She leant forwards, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on both fists, her wrists linked together. She regarded them curiously, a taunting smirk dancing on her lips. Almost unconsciously, Ronin's hand strayed towards the gun strapped to his hip.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones," Violet whispered, her voice so low that Ronin had to lean closer to the speaker to hear her properly, "But I'll never tell a secret."

The lights went out.

Nelson lay in his bed, a comic book open on his pillow. His newly mended legs swung in the air, and the hood of the purple gi that the Green Ninja had given him was wrapped around his neck like a scarf.

Outside his window, the sun was setting over the towering buildings of New Ninjago City. His bedroom walls were littered with posters, mostly of the Ninja, and the rest of his purple gi were hanging on his door's hook. Toys and colouring pencils were scattered across the floor, and his purple laptop sat open on his chest of drawers, it's screen blaring a news clip of when Echo-Zane had first been seen.

"Nelson!"

The young boy jumped, quickly shoving his comic book under his pillow. He sat up and turned around so that he faced the maths homework at the end of his bed, grabbing his pencil as soon as the bedroom door opened.

His mum stood in the doorway, her eyebrows raised. Nelson schooled his expression into a natural look.

"Yes, mum?"

"Shouldn't you have finished your homework by now?" she asked, leaning against the door. Nelson shrugged.

"I'm almost done."

His mum hummed, glancing around the room. After a long moment, she turned back to Nelson. "Alright, then. Dinner's almost ready, so remember to wash up once you're done."

That said, she left, leaving the door wide open. Nelson waited for a few moments, before climbing off his bed to shut the door himself. Once it was closed, he let out a breath of relief, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

He was going to make an awesome Ninja.

Nelson returned to his bed, taking his laptop with him and just googling the answers to his homework, which he had long since been forbidden to do. Finished within moments, Nelson closed his laptop and sat it on the floor, cheerfully shoving his maths homework off his bed.

Jumping off his bed, Nelson made his way into the hall, heading towards the bathroom. He lived in an apartment complex on the seventh floor, and there wasn't an upstairs. The front door led directly into the living room, and a hallway branched off from it, which was where the three bedrooms and the bathroom were. Through an archway behind the couch in the living room was the kitchen, which had the dinner table in the centre.

After doing his business in the toilet, Nelson turned to the sink, stepping up onto his stool and twisting the handle, squirting a glob of soap onto his hands. He must have been halfway through scrubbing his hands clean when all the lights went out.

Nelson was almost certain that his heart stopped. In the kitchen, his mum gave a startled yell. For a long moment, Nelson just stood there, staring into his own wide eyes in the mirror, warm water still gushing over his hands.

"Muuum?" he called.

"It's alright, Nelson," said his mum, her footsteps loud against the abrupt silence of the house, "It's just a power cut. Come and sit in the living room."

Swallowing, Nelson hurriedly switched off the tap and practically ran towards the door, leaving it wide open as he sprinted down the hall. He slowed down to a jog as he came to the living room, his panic reducing slightly now that he was out of the bathroom and closer to his mum, who was kneeling in front of an open panel in the wall, fiddling with the switches in an attempt to reconnect the power.

"Why'd the power cut?" Nelson asked, climbing up onto the couch and pulling a blanket around his shoulders. His mum leant away from the panel, a frown gracing her forehead.

"I'm not sure." she looked to the front door, then back to Nelson, "I'm going to go see if the whole building's out. You'll be okay here, right?"

"Of course I'll be okay!" said Nelson, puffing out his chest. "I'm the Purple Ninja!"

His mum smiled, walking over to the couch, "Well, the Purple Ninja better have done all his homework." She leant down and kissed his forehead, before taking her keys off their hook and opening the door. There was no light in the hall.

"I'm going to go make sure Miss Baker is alright. If something's wrong, go over to Mx Quinn's, okay?"

Nelson nodded, and his mum closed the door behind her. Almost immediately, Nelson's bravery vanished like water down a drain. Looking around the dark room, he swallowed, huddling closer to the couch cushions.

He sat there for a long time, imaging monsters creeping from the shadows, too scared to go out into the hall to get to Mx Quinn's, despite their apartment being directly across from his own. After a while, he began imagining footsteps, large and heavy, thumping up a and down the hall outside.

Nelson trembled, pulling the blanket over his head and staring at the door. In his mind, the footsteps came to a stop, right outside.

Scowling, Nelson gave himself a shake. He was the Purple Ninja, and Ninja were never afraid!

That thought in mind, Nelson straightened, although he kept himself wrapped tight in the blanket. Then the door handle turned, and Nelson's heart jumped into his throat.

"Mum!" he gasped, as the door creaked open loudly, "You startle-"

His blood ran as cold as an icy river, goosebumps popping up on his skin. The blood drained from his face.

It wasn't his mum standing in the doorway. Instead, it was a woman in blood stained white rags.

"Conner!" snapped the Commissioner, "What's happened?"

"I-I'm not sure, sir," Conner stuttered, frantically typing away at his keyboard, "We've lost all power."

"But what about the backup generator?" asked Simon. A different officer shook his head.

"It's not coming on, detective. Everything's down."

"Well, get it back up again!" yelled Ronin, a glare masking his fear. The officers flinched, quickly returning to their computers.

The Commissioner sent Ronin a glare. "Now, listen here-"

The door to the interrogation room opened, Jay poking his head out. "Hey, what's going on? What's wrong with the lights?"

"Sir," Conner spoke up. They turned to look at him, but the rookie's eyes were glued to the two-way mirror. He raised his arm, pointing his index finger towards the glass. "She's smiling."

Almost in perfect unison, the room's occupants turned to look at the women on the other side of the mirror. Her eyes were gleaming mischievously, and a wide smile tugged at the corners of her lips, a smile that sent a shiver wracking up Ronin's spine.

"Oh god..."

Startled, Ronin turned to Seamus, who he'd completely forgotten was there. The ex-slave's face was pale and clammy in the darkness of the officer, and his eyes were wider than saucers, his fingers trembling at his sides.

"Dewer?" said Ronin. Seamus looked at him, then to Violet, slowly backing away from the window, shaking his head frantically. Ronin shared a look with Dareth.

"Seamus, what's wrong?" asked Jay. Inside the interrogation room, Nya called over to him, and Jay said something back. Ronin's eyes scanned the room, watching the officers running about in a panic, trying to get the power back on and find out how it went out in the first place.

"It was her," he muttered. Then, louder, "She put out the power."

"What?" said Tommy, sending him a look of disbelief, "How could she have done that?"

"No, wait, that make's sense!" Jay said, closing the door behind him, "Why else would she let herself get captured?"

"She didn't let herself get captured!" snapped an officer Ronin didn't know the name of.

"Ronin," Dareth hissed loudly in his ear, causing the mercenary to jump, "What if there's more of 'em here?"

For a brief moment, Ronin stared at him. The whole world must be turning upside down if Dareth was growing proper brains. "I... what?"

"Basilisk!" said Dareth, "What if there's more here?"

"What?" said the Commissioner, his head snapping towards them and his moustache bristling, "What do you mean there's more here?"

"Dareth here thinks that there might be more Basilisk about," said Ronin, "They could have been the ones to cut the power."

"This isn't the only building without power," Nya stated, leading the boys out of the interrogation room, a phone-like device in her hands. She raised her head to look at them, holding up the device and showing them the screen. It was a digital map of Ninjago, and a little more than half of it- including where Ninjago City was located- was flashing red. "It's half of Ninjago."

"You mean they've cut out the power of half of the entire continent?" gasped Simon. Tommy shook his head, frowning.

"That's impossible!"

Nya glared at him, "Well, apparently not!"

"But why?" asked Zane, a titanium brow furrowed, "What could they possibly achieve from cutting off the power?"

"Kidnappings."

It was said in such a low voice that Ronin almost didn't catch it. Seamus stared at the ground, his eyes even wider than before, unseeing and glazed. He raised his head slowly, looking about at the people who were now staring at him.

"Kidnappings," he repeated, louder this time. "They... they're kidnapping people." Seamus took a deep, shaky breath, trembling even worse then before. He looked from the Ninja to the others, his face a look of pure terror.

"Right now."

I stated this in a review response at the top, but I'll say it again here. While we don't see from Carrot's perspective in this chapter, he does make an appearance. They just don't know it. Any clue who he is?

Alright, guys, so in my old school (in Italy), we didn't have a library. I never went to a single school in Italy that had a library. In fact, there wasn't even a library anywhere close to where I lived.

I've been living in England for a little over three months now, and there's actually a library in walking distance of my house. Signing up for it must have been one of the very first things I did when I got here.

Anyway, so there's also a library in my school, and it just so happens to be directly down the home from my form room. So every morning, I've taken to going there and spending twenty or so minutes on the computers writing before the bell rings. I think it might be the time limit or something, or the fact I don't really want to go browsing the web on a school computer, but for whatever reason, it's helping actually getting back into writing more regularly.

So here we are. New chapter.

Just thought I'd share.