(A/N) First, an apology. So, last chapter, stuff got dark. I'm sorry. I hope I didn't lose any viewers. But this is an adventure/mystery, and Agent I is pure evil, so this fic is going to get dark. I think it's going to be the darkest of the three parts, but I can promise you that Part 3 will have a happy ending. Please bear with me! Sorry this chapter is so short. I wanted to provide a break from all the action, so I decided to make a chapter that was somewhat even on the rising action slope. Fun fact: I actually collaborated with my AP Chemistry teacher on the science behind this chapter, so this is REAL SCIENCE here, people!

Okay, now that that's over with, on with the show!

Chapter 4

Captives

Emma watched helplessly as the door slid open to reveal a person who looked exactly like the chess player in her first vision. Brown trenchcoat, black fedora, all of it. She had put up a good fight, that was for sure. If only she had a weapon on her, she might have won. But she didn't. Agent I ultimately won by turning her own shadow against her, causing it to pick her up and hold her tightly in its grasp.

"I'll scream!" Emma warned.

"It won't matter. We'll both be gone by the time help comes." Agent I responded flatly.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Emma awoke with a start. In the darkness, she could make out a figure standing over her. She could see that the person had wavy blonde hair. "Lex?!" she gasped. The figure nodded. She sat up and looked around. They were in a dark, circular room with only one light bulb above them to dimly light up the place. In the small amount of light they had, she could make out several machines. She got up and began to explore more. It looked like the machines were used for blending and grinding things. In other places there were multiple shelving units holding hundreds of jars. Some were empty, and some were filled with dried, shredded leaves. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs. The walls extended upward and formed a domed roof, at the top of which was the dim light. She knocked on the walls. They were solid metal plates with bolts holding them together.

"Interesting," Emma mused. "These are all things you might find in a tea shop. But it certainly doesn't look like a teashop." She hadn't been in many teashops, but the ones she had been in certainly weren't made of metal. They also weren't filled with chemicals, and this place had tables with plenty of substances in flasks and beakers. She looked at a few of the glass containers. One held a blue liquid and was labeled, "COPPER SULFATE". Another had a light pink powder in it and was labeled, "MANGANESE (II) CHLORIDE TETRAHYDRATE", and yet another contained a yellow powder and was labeled, "LEAD (II) IODIDE".

"This might be a laboratory for the formation and testing of teas," said a soft voice behind her. Emma whirled around. The only people in the room were herself and Lex. Her mouth dropped open. That meant...

"You talked!" Emma gasped in disbelief. "I've never heard you talk before!"

"I was always able to," the boy in green said quietly, looking at his shoes and shuffling them. "I just didn't like to."

"I thought you had Selective Mutism," Emma breathed. She leaned against the wall; her head was spinning from this new development.

"I do," he said. "But therapy with my dad has been helping. I'll talk when I really need to. When the situation is dire enough."

Emma didn't know what to think. She was feeling relief, since she had someone to actually talk to for however long they were going to be stuck here, and frustration, since Lex hadn't told anyone before now.

She took a deep breath. "Alright then," she said, trying to put aside her shock, "Let's concentrate on finding a way out of here."

"Actually, I was already working on that," Lex said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I've been studying the door, and I think I know how to open it."

"How?"

"Well, the walls and door are made of steel," he told her. "If we can find some strong acid and a Q-tip, I think we might be able to get out of here."

"Strong acid and a Q-tip? How are we gonna get out of here with those? I may not be evil now, but I still like big bangs. I say we blow the door down."

"I'm pretty sure our captor thought of you trying to create a bomb to get out of here. No doubt he would have put up extra measures to make sure that didn't happen. And besides, a bomb would compromise our safety. We want to get out of here in one piece."

"All right then," Emma huffed, "what do you suggest we do?"

Lex appeared to think hard. "We should get a strong acid. Hydrochloric acid will do. We'll have to use a Q-tip to paint a hole outline in the door. We'll keep applying coats of acid to our outline every once in a while, and slowly it will eat away at the door."

"Wait. How long will this take?"

"A couple of days or so."

"We don't have that time! I'm gonna make a bomb."

"No. That will compromise our safety."

"UGH! You're impossible!"

Lex shrugged. "Fine. I'll do it."

"You? You're too young to mess around with chemicals! And I thought you were a physicist, not a chemist!"

Lex shrugged again. "I read. You don't. You know less about it than I do."

Emma put her hands on her hips. "Okay then, genius. What do we do?"

"First, we find our acid."

Agent I watched through the hidden camera he'd planted in the old laboratory. So they were trying to escape using the lab equipment, were they? Well, the way they were going about it would take days. Besides, even if they did get out, they wouldn't get past him. Oh well. At least watching their attempts would be entertaining for a while.

Vladomir was expecting him to test some of their latest weaponry on whomever Agent I managed to take, but Agent I wasn't going to do that. He had other plans. It wasn't a coincidence that the people he had kidnapped were Lex and Emma. The pieces he had captured on the chessboard had been chosen logically, even strategically. Lex was the smartest one. Left on the island, he'd eventually be able to figure out who Agent I was and exploit him. He couldn't have that. And Emma, she had sixth sense. Although her visions could be cryptic, they'd eventually point to him. Zane had sixth sense too, and a much more developed one, but he was a sensei, and even Agent I couldn't take him on without revealing his identity. And that was saying something.

No, from here on out, Agent I would be working on his own. He'd been sending false texts to Vladomir lately, and soon it would be time for stage three of Agent I's plan. He'd already left the Ninja the note telling them his location. The cottage in the woods where Heather and her mother made special teas had once been Lloyd's hiding place when he had been on the run from destiny. The house had been burned down, but the warehouse was still intact.

Now, it's my hideout, Agent I thought smugly. The warehouse was perfect for his uses. The laboratory served as the prison, there was a nearly endless supply of magical teas and potions for his use, and there were plenty of shadows to feed his power.

Agent I then left the surveillance room and entered the chessboard room. He sat down at the lone chair like always. He stared at the little pieces on the black and white squares. Like the chessmen, the people they represented were so small and insignificant when compared to his huge plan. In a way, they were all pawns in his game of chess. Emma, Lex, Drew, Reed, Nick, Violet, Lloyd, Jay, Cole, Zane, Kai, Skylor, Nya, all of them were pawns. Some pawns were simply more powerful, important, or harder to manipulate than others.

And now, he had successfully forced them to bend to his will. All the pieces were in place for him to win. They would have to come for their friends, and when they did, he would be waiting for them, ready to capture them one by one. Once they were all in his grasp, he would give them his little parting gift...

Suddenly a loud beeping came from the surveillance room. Agent I left the chessboard and returned to his desk, where his laptop was informing him of an incoming video conversation from Vladomir. Agent I sat down at his swivel chair and clicked on it, and his client's face filled the screen. He seemed to be seated at the desk in his office at Black Dragon Tower. He had a scowl on his slightly wrinkled face, and his steely grey eyes bored through the screen at the double agent.

"Agent I, you're in trouble," the dictator growled.

"Vladomir. What's the problem?" Agent I asked, leaning back in his chair and feigning cluelessness.

"Problem is you haven't contacted me for two weeks. And you also aren't hiding out where you said you'd be."

"Where did I say I'd be?"

"In the old Fire Temple. When a squad came to check on your progress, you were nowhere to be found. Instead, they happened upon two fire wolves. Only one of the five agents I sent came back. Said it was a trap and that all the others had been bitten to death, then dragged into the lava. Why would you do that?"

"I never put fire wolves in there," Agent I lied. "Fire wolves are native to that area. They must have taken up residence in there. It's your squad's fault they're dead, not mine."

"Yet the account that the agent gave says that the wolves were too organized to be acting of their own accord."

Agent I knew he could easily argue his way out of this one. He masked his smugness with a you-can't-be-serious expression. "How the hell was he able to tell?" he asked. "A bigger question, why was he taking the time to observe whether they were organized or not? Why wasn't he running away? If he'd really been there long enough to tell whether they were organized or not, he wouldn't have gotten away. What probably happened was that the agent ran away, but fearing that he'd get in trouble for both abandoning his squad and coming back with no results, he reported that the wolves were organized. That way, the blame would fall off his shoulders and onto someone else's."

Vladomir appeared thoughtful for a moment. "True, probably true, didn't think of that," Vladomir admitted, "but that still doesn't explain why you weren't there when you said you would be. You lied, Agent I. Nothing you say will change that. Where are you really? Tell me the truth, or I'll put a handsome price on your head!"

Agent I laughed at that. "Good bluffing, but I know you wouldn't do that. I'm too important to you. I can't tell you where I am, but I can tell you that the Ninja are almost in my grasp. I've already set up a trap for them. And I have bait they can't refuse."

Vladomir's eyebrows rose. "Really? Then we've almost won?"

"Yes. My job is almost done. Does that make you feel better?"

"Very. I suppose you're off the hook. But answer me this: after this job is done, what do you plan on doing? I could place you in a high rank in the Black Dragon Agency. It would pay nicely, and you'd have a great amount of power."

Agent I grinned. "Don't you think it'd be a little dangerous to put me in your agency? Be honest with yourself, Vladomir. Do you really trust me that much? Because I don't think you should. No, that would be very, very risky, Vladomir, even riskier than our current deal. For your sake, I suggest you and I part ways after this."

Vladomir just stared at the double agent with a suspicious look on his face. "What do you mean? Can't I trust you?"

Agent I just leaned forward in his chair with a devious smirk on his face. "That, my powerful friend, is entirely up to you. Can you trust me?" With that, Agent I ended the call, leaving the dictator of Ninjago to chew on his question. The double agent chuckled. He didn't need to worry. No matter what Agent I did, that old man wouldn't stop trusting him. He'd even bought the lie that Agent I hadn't put those wolves in the Fire Temple (Agent I had thought it would be interesting to see if Vladomir would still trust him after that, and apparently he did). Ninjago's dictator was such an ignorant fool. And so predictable, too. It was almost Shakespearean: Vladomir was Othello, the gullible superior, while Agent I was Iago, the clever mastermind. Vladomir, the black king on his chessboard, was about to become another fallen piece. It was almost sad how poor his moves across the black and white squares had been. Ah, well. He'd had plenty of time to see him coming. Now it was too late. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, that could stop Agent I now.

(A/N) Well well well. Agent I may not be as loyal to Vladomir as he claims he is. So, what do you think? Will Emma and Lex get out? Or will Agent I stop them? What's this parting gift that Agent I has for the Nightprowlers? And what exactly does Agent I have in store for Vladomir? Tell me what you think in the reviews!

Next chapter is another breather, but we get to see the rest of the submitted OCs. Also, someone is going to join the Nightprowlers as the sixth member! We'll also see the game plan for the rescue mission, and finally see if Emma and Lex's plan will work! There will also be a little bit of fluff, even though I'm not quite sure how good I am at that yet... It's all going to be the sunshine before the storm clouds roll in.

In other news, I found out that my cousin, who is not too much younger than I am, likes Ninjago! That was a good day.

Thanks to SnowflakeShard, The Mayor of Ninjago City, Kairocksrainbow, JayFan67, and ebony umbreon for your reviews last chapter! Congratulations to SnowflakeShard and the Mayor of Ninjago City for correctly guessing Agent I's location! Some of you are studying up! :D

Review please! They keep me fueled!