Chapter 20

"Randy? Randy, you in there?" Randy kept his eyes shut, not responding to the voice speaking to him. His head was fuzzy and he was aching, making the voice bother him slightly. "Cunningham, I know you can hear me." Randy sighed, opening one eye, only to close it again at the brightness of the room. Trying again, Randy saw that he was in his room with Howard and Nomicon seated next to him. Sitting up, Randy was hit with a wave of pain and hissed.

"I would recommend laying down. You were hurt as badly as I was." Nomi said gently. Randy raised the sheets, still sitting up, and saw his torso wrapped in bandages along with his arm and hand.

"What happened?" Nomicon stayed silent and Howard looked at the floor. "Guys, what happened?" Randy repeated, sounding firmer this time.

"Well, seeing as you want to know…Howard will explain." Nomicon stated.

"Why me?" Howard questioned.

"Because it would pain me more if I did."

"Fine." Howard sighed, looking at Randy, who was confused but a bit scared at the news he would be told. "After you were knocked unconscious, I found you behind a bunch of ruble and desks when I was looking for Nomi. You were both pretty beat up and I had to take off the mask before dragging you out. You two got fixed up and it took a while until we realized…"

"Realized what, Howard?"

"…they got Lex." That's when the memory came flooding back. He'd been fighting that robot with Lex when he was knocked down and it took her away. His heart ached as much as the rest of his body just at the thought of Lex being hurt in any way. 'I could've saved her…' Randy thought miserably.

"It's all my fault…" He mumbled.

"Randy, it's not your fault. We all know you and Nomi were knocked out. Neither of you could've done anything." Howard said sternly. "Don't argue with me, either. I had to explain the same thing to Nomi over here."

"Fine. How long have I been knocked out?"

"A day and a few hours."

"A day?!"

"And a few hours!"

"And what have you been doing?"

"Making sure you were alright and lying to anyone who asks what happened." Nomi said quietly.

"And that's it?!" Randy growled, standing up and pushing Nomi away. He picked him up by the front of his shirt, making Nomicon wince.

"You were busy doing that when you could've been saving Lex and making sure she was alright! What's the matter with you?! Do you care about her at all?!" Randy practically shouted, shaking lightly as he held himself back from crying tears of rage. Nomi seemed hurt by the last statement but covered it up quickly, looking emotionless except for the anger in his eyes.

"Don't you DARE question if I care about her. I care for her with all my heart, the same as you do. In addition, as an answer to what is wrong with me, nothing is the matter with me. I was getting the whole 'ninja vs robot' situation out of people's minds and such. Trust me when I say I wanted to save Lex as desperately you do now. I knew I couldn't. Not at the moment. Randy, this hurts me as much as it does you! Don't you dare and argue that I do not!" Randy glared at Nomi, though with less ferocity than before, and released him with an agitated grumble.

"Don't start fighting, okay? You two are messed up enough." Howard said, breaking the tense silence that had enveloped the room.

"He has a point. Besides, we have to plan how to rescue Lex." Nomi sighed, sitting back in the chair he'd brought into the room.

"Shouldn't we think of something more…important?" Howard flinched at Randy and Nomicon's fatal scowls. "I mean inform her dad where his daughter went! Didn't you guys think of how Mr. Rivera would react to his kid vanishing?"

"Howard! Oh my juice, I didn't think of that! He's probably WAY more beat up about this than we are, and we actually know what happened to her!" Randy's eyes widened as he spoke worriedly.

"He's gotta be worried terribly! But think logically Howard. How would we explain to him that his daughter has been abducted by a robot of McFist's while trying to destroy it?" Nomi said, stating the information as if it was obvious. (because it is…)

"Good point there. Looks like he won't know–"

"No. We're going to tell him." Randy said.

"Randy, are you serious?!"

"The most serious I've ever been."

"You would be giving away the identities of two ninjas! You do realize the consequences if you do that, don't you?" Nomi asked.

"Think about it; he's her father and has the right to know. If you need another reason, he works at McFist Industries and knows the place, unlike us. He would be helping us and we'd be helping him."

"I don't know about this…"

"Trust me when I say I know what I'm doing."

*Meanwhile…*

Lex awoke with a groan of great discomfort. Opening her eyes, she noticed she was in a dark room with dim green lighting here and there. Instantly becoming quite wary, Lex started to move backwards. Lex became confused when she felt a set of metal bars behind her and her eyes widened when she heard a door open.

"Good morning, Kasumi!" She heard a booming voice call out as the lights flicked on. In walked a rather large man with blond hair and beard in a brown suit, as well as one arm replaced with a robotic one that held a brain inside. Next to him was a lanky man in all purple with matching glasses and brown hair and beard. McFist and Viceroy. Lex narrowed her eyes, but still stayed at the back of the cage that was suspended in the air by a chain attached to the ceiling.

"So this is the one Sorcerer's had his rags all in a bunch over? She doesn't seem so bad." McFist said, the cage lowering when Viceroy pulled a large switch. Lex growled, grabbing and throwing a shruiken as fast as lightning at McFist. He yelped and ducked just in time as the throwing star lodged itself into a computer screen.

"Hey! You know you'll have to pay for that!"

"Calm down, McFist. Besides, I'm almost positive that you have enough money to buy at LEAST thirty of those." Lex said with a smirk that grew as his face grew red.

"You are so lucky we don't need you for anything TOO important!"

"Uh, actually we do, sir." Viceroy pointed out, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"We do?"

"Yes. We need her to tell us about the Ninja, who he is, who she is, and then anything else that may prove useful."

"Oh, yeah! Right! Now where's the Ninj–!" McFist backed up when Lex took out a pair of katanas and pointed them at his face.

"How do you have so many weapons?! Viceroy, get rid of them!"

"If I must. Now, Miss Kasumi, if you want to try doing this the easy way, can you please remove all weapons you have and throw them out of your little cage?"

"Let me think about that one. Never in a million years." Lex answered.

"Very well." Viceroy pressed a button and and burning/electric sensation came from the cage and Lex cried out. It stopped almost immediately and Lex shook.

"How about now?" "Not a chance." He twisted the button and pressed it again, the painful feeling being emitted from the cage harming Lex even more. She yelled louder and jumped around the cage, trying to avoid the unseen force causing her suffering. It stopped once more and Lex fell, panting.

"Kasumi?"

"Dream…on." Viceroy's actions were repeated and Lex couldn't stand, even when it stopped again. She sat there, shaking, as McFist looked at her expectantly.

"Weapons?" Lex growled, throwing her ninja rings at them.

"All of them!" McFist demanded, hiding behind a computer. Lex rolled her eyes, but her eyes widened as Viceroy's hand hovered over the button again. She took out a set of ninja balls, (glowing, fetching, bee, cold, fire, etc.) more shruiken, ninja spikes, her favorite weapon (I hope we remember it from Ch. 16!), and so on and so forth.

"How do you hold all of this?" Viceroy asked in astonishment as he stared at the pile of weapons on the floor at the base of the cage.

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you." Lex muttered.

"Ah well. No use asking a useless question. Oh, and sorry for the rude persuasion. You kinda left us no choice."

"Sorry? Doubt it…" "Okay, now who and where's the Ninja?!" McFist questioned.

"Like I'd ever tell you."

"Okay, different question. Who are YOU?" Lex smirked at that question and got closer to the bars at the front of her prison.

"Now that is something you DEFINITELY won't find out. Now, anymore questions?"

"One more time before I use drastic measures…again! Who are you, who is the Ninja, and where is he?!"

"My lips are sealed." McFist nodded to Viceroy, who pressed the button again.

"I have to do everything myself!" McFist reached inside the cage and grabbed part of Lex's mask, ready to yank it off and reveal her identity. 'No no no no no no no!' Lex thought as her eyes widened in fear. Mysteriously, the mask began to glow, the indigo markings becoming brighter just as McFist pulled on the mask. It didn't move. "What?" McFist seemed greatly confused and tried to take off the ninja mask again, only to fail. At this point, Lex was just as surprised as McFist and Viceroy when McFist STILL attempted to remove the dimming mask. Even when the mysterious glow faded, the mask refused to budge.

"Ugh! Why won't it move?!" McFist asked impatiently.

"Don't ask me! This is completely new to me too!"

"Are you sure you didn't do anything to it?" Viceroy inquired.

"I'm positive!"

"Lies! You're lucky I don't have time for this right now! A meeting and all. Viceroy! Turn on the security measures!" McFist ordered, walking out after Viceroy turned on a set of security beams. Lex sat there quietly and put her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry Randy…I'm sorry all of you…" Lex mumbled as the main lights faded off in the room.