Chapter 15: Putting Two and Two Together
A sigh escaped from a green haired man as he held a hand-held mirror to reflect onto his face. Along his face he could detect the small scar like scratches from both Ivy and Catwoman who used their nails across his face. As if it was a target or scratching post for them. He couldn't help but trace a finger along one of the marks to wince as it felt tender still to him. The things he was doing before those scars happen. To that, he had to sigh again to set the mirror.
"Oh don't be such a wimp to those things," Ivy said as she walked into the main of her plant fortress where Oak was. Oak had to jump a bit to her arrival to huff toward her. "In fairness, you did deserve those from when you were doing things behind my back and attacked me."
All he did was still keep his eyes glued to the green skinned girl. He was still mad at her for she nailing digging into his face as such. "At least I wasn't one being held at gun point to scratch someone on this." he retorted to scoff while rolling his eyes. He looked at her glare to notice she wasn't glaring at him; more like mad about something. Even when she was now pacing. "And yet something tells me that you're not in the happiest mood right now. Something wrong."
Ivy stopped to hold out the rare lily flower that Oak obtained for her last night to throw it across the table to have in front of him. He looked at the lily to see what was wrong with it to inspect it carefully to blink as he realized the petals were fake and fabric and plant itself was plastic. "Of course the opera house would use fake flowers for show," grumbled Ivy as she walked out of the room. Oak quickly jumped from his seat to follow after her. "And since that flower is rare, they wouldn't find it."
"Still doesn't explain why I was used to fetch it for you if you can't grow it yourself." Oak exclaimed to rush ahead of her and stood in front of her. He blocked her way to hear her grumble. The poisonious bulb plant that was on her right arm grew to hiss at him. But he remained still. "So what's the point of the flower you wanted. If you want, I can go and get it for you like I did for that thing."
Ivy gently pulled back her plant friend to gently stroke the bulb plant. She smiled at it nuzzled on her arm. "No need for that." she said. "We can still make the stuff without it. I'm almost complete with it. And that matters to me. And I think our new friend will be helpful as well. I wonder where she's at though."
A sigh escaped from the raven haired girl as she stared at the spiderweb of pictures and theories she tacked onto a cork board in her wardrobe. Red string was all connected to each theory and they were all connected to Ivy in the center of the board. Her eyes kept darting back and forth to the picture of her partner, to the perfume bottles, the venomous bulb plant she has as a pet, and even to the rare lily flower she gotten for them last night. Puzzle pieces ran through her mind as she couldn't seem to put them together. Her theory of Ivy being up to no good was the main priority to her and she can't think straight with it. What was she up to?
There was a small knock on the door to have the samurai jump a little to the surprised knock in thw quietness of the Bounty. Who was knocking? "Nya, are you there?" a familiar voice asked.
Nya felt her heart slowly relax to the voice as she knew who it was now. It was Jay's. "Uh... Just a second." she called out. She looked down to feel her heart accelerate again as her Catwoman outfit was on the floor to quickly grab it with her mask and threw it in the wardrobe to hide from the blue ninja and closed it to also hide the cork board. Once stowed away, she turned on her heels to straighten herself a bit and walked over to her door. She was greeted by the lightning ninja's smile. She had to return one back to him. "What's up, Jay?" she asked.
"Mm... Nothing really, other than the sky." he chirped a little laugh with the oldest pun. Nya had to giggle a little to it. "Laurie is visiting, Cole is having lunch with his dad, Zane is doing errands, and Lucas and Lloyd are hanging out; probably a movie or something." He leaned his arms onto the doorframe to ponder on what to say. "Since Sensei Wu has given us the day off, I was curious to know if you wanted to do anything with me today. I heard there was a fair outside of the city today and wanted to know you wanted to tagged along. Would you like to be my date?"
Her smile remained on her face to the offer. A day at the fair sounded like would be fun. Even if it's with the blue ninja who can make any day laugh. "Sure, sounds like fun." she replied to grab her light fall jacket and threw it over her red blouse. "Let's get going before it gets busier." Jay had to smile as she accepted his offer to offer her his arm which she gladly took and lead the way.
Soft pop music could be heard all around the grounds outside of the city. Chirps of laughter from the patrons that attended to the day at the fair echoed all over the area. The smell of homemade fair food could have anyone come over to the many stands or tents that lined in rows; only to those that were hungry though. Carnival rides and even game stands were all around the fair grounds to have many people come in lines for the fun. Today was a good day at the fair.
Nya's eyes kept darting back and forth to see the many many stands and rides that surrounded her and Jay. A smile grew on her face to the sight of a ferris wheel as she loved them. She couldn't help but feel gitty as a child to the sights around her. She was practically dragging Jay everywhere they walked. She loved fairs, the last time she remembered going to one was when she was a child with her brother in their village.
She stopped to the sounds of glass jars clattering on the ground from an thrown object to turn her head to the sound to smile at a stand. It was the one with the stacked milk jugs and baseballs. Her smile grew wide to the stand to turn to Jay who had a smile challenging hers. "Betcha I be quicker than you to knock down those jugs." she challenged him.
"Bring it." he said to her and lead the way to the tent. Once he paid for their fare of the game, each were given three baseballs for the three stacks. "Ladies first." he offered. Nya had to give him a sarcastic smile and took the offer. She eyed onto the middle stack and drew her arm back to throw the ball at the jugs to knock them off from one throw. Jay stood a bit shocked to that throw; not realizing what her strength was like. "So I'm a little curious to ask, where were you last night?"
Nya had to look at him for a second and turned back to grab the second baseball and knocked down the second stack of jugs. "I was out." she replied. "Was visitng Kai so he wasn't bored that night, with him being cooped up for his cast. Just wonder how much longer till he can come home. Why?"
"Nothing really," the blue ninja said. "I was curious to know since we were out last night as well. We had to deal with the person who we think was the one who stole that jewelry the other night." He paused for a moment to think of a name for the one who he fought last night as Nya was about to throw the final ball. "What do you know about... Catwoman?"
This caused the girl to throw the ball out of her aim to hit the vendor. Nya felt her heart racing a bit to throw her hand over mouth to feel bad for that. That question did catch her off. "I'm so sorry." she apologized to the vendor. She felt relieved when he accepted her apology and was given back the baseball. "So what do I know? Nothing really? Why? Did you know if it was her who stole that jewelry."
"Well it was a clear picture from the description we were given the other day," Jay stated and watched her throw the last ball to knock down the last stack. The jugs were restacked and it was his turn. He eyed the first one to pitch the ball and knocked down the stack, but only a couple remained standing. He scoffed. "She was thin, wore a black unitard outfit with a black cat mask. Armed with only a whip and claws."
"Sounds like a Catwoman for sure, must've been complicated for you guys to catch her." she observed, even though she knew it was her.
"You don't know half of it." he smirked. He threw the second ball to knock down the entire second stack. "She evaded us a lot and even took down Cole to scare him a little. I even went one on one with her above the stage at the opera house and she even did something I was shocked with." Nya had to look at him, knowing what this was. "She kissed me."
"Really now?" she smirked. "Did you tell her you were already taken?"
"I did, she didn't listen still." He eyed the last stack to throw the last ball, but only one jug remained standing to sigh as she won. The vendor congradulated her and gave Nya a small stuffed bear. "But she escaped and that's the story of how she got away."
"Sounds like you got some trouble to catch her." Nya teased. She took his hand and lead the way to see more around the grounds. "And I think I got competition to keep you." She looked up to see the ferris wheel towering over them to smile widely. "Can we do the ferris wheel? They're my favorite."
A smile grew on the Ninja of Lightning's face to nod. "Sure, they're my favorite too." The two walked over to the small line to each feel excited as they got closer to the ride. Once they finally reach the end of the line, and into a cart, the two felt themselves moving to enjoy the ride and view. They enjoyed the relaxation and each other's company to feel the ride stopped aburptly to feel their cart rock, but only shrugged as they were on the top. "What a great view." said Jay to have Nya closer to him.
She had to take a deep breath to lean her head onto his shoulder to enjoy the view. It felt peaceful to the samurai. The sun was warm on her face and the gentle breeze didn't cause her to shiver to the autumn weather. "Mm... I can see why you love this." she murmurred. "Being in the air, almost flying off the ground. It must feel great."
"If I still had my golden nunchucks or Wisp alone, I'd take you out for a ride." he said. "But you got your mech suit still, I bet it gives you the freedom of flight."
"True." They enjoyed each other's company on the ride, but stopped to notice something felt odd. They were remained on the top and weren't moving. "Uh... Shouldn't we be moving?"
They suddenly heard a loud bang and felt the ferris wheel rock and sway. Nya couldn't help but yelp a little while Jay threw his arms around her to protect her. The ride slowly stopped its rocking to look over the edge to watch the people below the ride gather around the electrical box of the ride as the operator was trying to fix the ride. But a large spark of electricity sprouted out to have the operator retreat a little, causing the ride to rock again. Jay saw what he had to do. "Nya, stay right there, I got to stop this before people get hurt." he said to squirm free from the cart to jump off and spun in his spinjitzu tornado to land safely and rushed to the box. He looked at the wires and turning gears to ponder on how to stop it.
The wheel gave out a violent rock to have the samurai's heart racing to this. But her ears perked to the sound of a child screaming to look over the front of her seat to see a little kid on the ferris wheel a few carts below her. To make her gasp was that the kid was hanging on the railing after he somehow slipped out of his cart. The caused her to panic if he slipped and got hurt, or worse.
Nya looked around her surroundings to climb out of her seat and grabbed the rides sides to slide down carefully. She felt her eyes enhanced on her surroundings as she felt her cat abilities take hold to carefully scale through the jungle of iron. And once she got closer to the kid, she could see his grip was loosing to rush much quicker to him. She finally reached the kid and saw his grip was gone to reach out and caught him and pulled him back up and into her arms.
Jay, below her, grabbed a metal bar to jam it into the gears until they finally stopped. He heard a loud applause to smile to himself as he saved people, but noticed they weren't looking at him. They were looking upward to have him turn his head in that direction to blink as he saw Nya standing in a cart with a boy in her arms. He had to wonder what happened to have her there than the top cart, but he smiled to her heroism. Nya couldn't help smile at the blue ninja and watched as the fire department now arrived to begin to let everyone down.
Night has fallen within the city. All was quiet and peaceful without the hint cars driving in the streets. Jay snorted himself awake to tiredly yawn as he figured he must've passed out when watching a movie with Nya in the Bounty. The ship's living room was dark except from the only light coming from the television to have him squint to the bright light and grabbed the remote to turn it off. He yawned tiredly, but turned his head to the sound of silent snores to smile softly as Nya was resting comfortly against him. He tried waking her softly and she remained asleep to have him smile softly. "Come on," he whispered and stood up to carefully lift her up in his arms. "Let's get you to bed."
The lightning ninja softly padded through the quiet ship as he knew everyone else would be asleep and quietly pushed open the door. It squeaked silently to have him worried a bit it might wake Laurie up. But the orange ninja only stirred in her sleep in the room to have Jay sigh softly and walked over to Nya's bed and softly laid her down on the blankets and turned to head for the door.
"Ah..." he yelped quietly to what he stepped on to look down and picked something up. He looked at the small sharp nail to have him raise a brow as it looked familiar to him somehow to quietly peer under the bed to see something dazzling in the moonlight to pull it out to blink as it was an expensive looking necklace. He pondered if it was Nya's that she obtained a long time ago as he never seen this kind of necklace before to shrug and walked over to her wardrobe as he figured her jewelry box was there. As he opened the door, he heard something falling out to step back and only quietly gasp to what fell out.
He gazed at the black cat mask and uniform to turn his head over to the samurai incase she woke up. But she didn't stir to turn back to the outfit that laid on the floor and looked at the jewelry in his hand to put the pieces together. Nya was Catwoman and she was one who stole that jewelry from the store. He could feel his hand shaking to taking the information all in to feel his heart torn apart. The girl he was in love with, betrayed him and was taking a life of crime. And he didn't know if he had to let the team know, but he didn't want her to get away with anything.
He turned to Nya one last time and walked out, feeling betrayed.
"I've done it. . ." Ivy gasped. "I've finally created it and it will make us happy together." The green skinned woman gazed to the green vial in her hands to have a smirk form on her lips. The time it took her to create this vial, finally ready for her use. She gazed at the newspaper next to her to have her smirk remain in place.
Oak gazed over her shoulder to smirk silently to himself to the familiar green liquid inside the vial. He was right to himself that Ivy was up to something than her perfume production. Reaching out, he softly took the vial from her hands to lift it to the light from the translucent plants to chuckle a little. "I don't know how, but you've done it, Ivy." he praised her. "I thought you were different and now I see the real you when you're this."
Ivy had to give him a small glare to the comment, but made it vanish to have her smile return and took her vial back from her partner. "A girl has to keep her secrets after all." she said and stored the vial away. "If she wishes to keep them a secret, she keeps them. Even from you." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her. "I should thank you, you opened my eyes and I can see what you see. To make this world better. Even with my abilities."
The green haired man glazed into her bright green eyes to smile softly as she felt affection toward him. Even when he first met her, he had feeling toward her. And regretting for killing her. "Well. . . I'm glad to open your eyes." he said and leaned his face closer to hers and pressed his lips against hers. Her lips felt warm and soft against his and he closed his eyes to enjoy the blissful feeling. He finally pulled away to have a red mark left on his lips. But he choked on a breath to suddenly feel awful and fall to his knees.
Ivy smirked as she glimmered to the kneeling man as he was coughing and trying to breathe. She knelt to the ground as he tried to grasp onto her or anything around her. But she simply pushed his hand away. "You know, Oak, there was something I forgot to mention when you first met me as this." she spoke softly. "My blood was replaced with chlorophyll, I can produce pheromones to make any man quiver to my control. My lips however. . . well as you can see now. . . are poisonous." This made her laugh lightly to his reaction. "I'm no longer Ivy to you. . . I'm Poison Ivy. . ."
The man struggled to breathe and move to snarl and glare at the girl and tried to grab her. But he couldn't so much move anymore. To think he was helping her for her things, but instead he finally put the pieces together. She betrayed him like when he betrayed her. "You. . . bi. . . bi. . ." he struggled to say his words.
"What's that?" she mused. "I can't understand you." She gently pushed him back to have him lie back on the ground. She walked away from him. "You know Oak, like you told me when you betrayed me. You don't have anymore use to me. Enjoy being with your plants you wanted to save. I'll continue your work." She waved her hand over his body to have grass plants sprout underneath his body and slowly wrapped around his body.
All Oak could do was glare at the girl that betrayed him and felt the plants finally encase his body and felt himself slowly being pulled into the ground to growl. But it couldn't help him as he was dying from her poisonous kiss. He felt tired now, even though he wanted to get away from everything. But he couldn't as he felt half of his body in the ground now. He glared at the meta-human one last time before he closed his eyes to the darkness before he finally disappeared forever.
Ivy smirked to finally be alone without him and glanced at the newspaper she saw earlier to turn to her vial of toxin. She could feel her plans forming all together and turned the paper's page to see a picture of the Ninja of Ninjago to wonder. The males has her slaves to her pheromones and wonder about the reward Lord Garmadon told to Oak before about the orange and green ninja. She couldn't help but laugh to herself as she could see the world to herself now.
Ninjago will rise to what you use to be.