From the Inside
Chapter 1
Loss
*I own nothing and any similarities with any other works are purely coincidental.
Lloyd silently stared out at the sprawling metropolis, his eyes darting from building to building as he frantically searched for the safest path. His task was not particularly difficult; it was relatively easy to scout out ahead since the dazzling city was brightly illuminated by glowing billboards and flashing signs. It was like an explosion of colors, one so drastic and enthralling that it threatened to overload his senses. There were lights surrounding him from every side, and yet, as he stood upon that abandoned apartment rooftop, Lloyd had never felt more in the dark.
Harumi's betrayal had hurt him like nothing else, shattering his heart and leaving him lost in a sea of hopeless inequity. Being manipulated in such a way was a harrowing experience, and it was one that would likely haunt him for the rest of his life. Out of necessity he was trying to simply push the misery from his mind, effectively numbing himself to the pain so that he could focus on fighting the Sons of Garmadon. He was forced to act with such stoic resolve in the face of utter ruin; rooted in a grim reality that he had partially brought upon himself.
Instead of actually giving himself time to heal he had recklessly chosen to run away from his only friends and angrily confront the bastardized version of Lord Garmadon. His father had not been the one waiting for him at Kryptarium Prison; instead, Lloyd had encountered something new. He had still tried his best to get through to him but there was simply nothing left to save. Their newly crowned Emperor was merely a shade of the man he had been before, lacking the complexity and nuance that was intrinsic to human nature. He was a demented entity, and one that was seemingly devoid of all emotions besides unbridled rage.
Of course Lloyd had presently managed to compartmentalize all of those conflicting emotions because there was a giant stone titan looming in the distance. He quickly turned away from the edge of the roof and doubled back, running in the opposite direction as his fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. But before he could make it to the other side Harumi leapt out from the shadows, blocking his path and immediately stopping him in his tracks.
"Running will do you no good." she said gleefully, smiling with delight as he visibly recoiled. "Give us the child." Lloyd reacted in utter contradiction, his expression warped by differing emotions and feelings that made him look extremely flustered. Ultimately he didn't really want to fight her and having no path forward, he began slowly backing away.
"Is this what you want?" Lloyd asked incredulously, fervently glancing around at their increasingly unstable surroundings. "To destroy the city, create more victims? Just think how many people will be made like you, this isn't what you want." In his mind it was a very valid point, but she appeared to be completely oblivious to the dire consequences. So shockingly enough, his relatively reasonable argument was entirely ineffective.
"Oh, no." Harumi answered sweetly, her voice purring slightly with condescending joy. "This is just the beginning." She pulled out the Mask of Hatred, proudly holding up the twisted relic that would effectively guarantee her victory in combat. A shiver ran down Lloyd's spine as he laid his eyes upon the remarkably intricate design and he wisely took it as his cue to leave. He grabbed the baby version of Master Wu and leapt off the roof, beginning to literally run for his life. Harumi chose to offer him a generous head start before donning the mask and giving chase.
Lloyd had no clear destination mapped out; essentially, anything was fine as long as he could get away from his crazy ex-girlfriend. But the ill-fated escape route was abruptly halted when he reached the roof of an adjacent building; trying to run had indeed been an exercise in futility. Seeing the demonized version of Harumi waiting for him, Lloyd instinctively fired off an energy beam. Or, at least he tried to.
"Where are your powers Lloyd, as your city falls?" she gloated, rather amused by his feeble hand waving. He awkwardly bit his lip, backing away quietly with an almost abashed look on his face. As she neared closer he turned tail again, darting away and still refusing to admit that he was overmatched. Harumi let him go, smirking as she watched the supposedly noble ninja fleeing like a coward.
Lloyd stumbled upon a collapsed tower that was conveniently leaning up against the next closest building; offering a direct but unstable path away from his adversary. It didn't look structurally sound, and he almost shuddered at the thought of crossing it. But all he had to do was look back to gain a newfound sense of determination, as he was not going to allow himself to be captured today, or any day for that matter.
"Hold on." he mumbled, nervously trying to reassure Wu before making the leap. Once again Harumi watched him go with a wide smile forming under the mask, for she knew full well that there was nowhere left for him to run. Climbing up the tower left him stranded atop a sort of metal catwalk, and he grimaced with anger when the distant skyline came into view. He had managed to make it this far, avoiding his pursuer and finally arriving at a spot where the Destiny's Bounty could easily fly. Unfortunately for Lloyd, his friends weren't around and he wasn't hearing anything from his communicator. He kept the line open, hoping beyond belief that they'd show up but they were nowhere in sight.
"The Sons of Garmadon could always use one more." Harumi offered, sauntering down the walkway with a slight spring in her step. "Join us." She knew the idea was preposterous and he was never going to side with them in a million years. In reality the request was little more than a formality, a halfhearted and ultimately doomed attempt to resolve matters peacefully. Lloyd hesitantly looked over the railing, his brow furrowing as he tried to quickly size up the danger in falling off the edge. Interestingly he had actually spotted a monorail car passing by and surviving might be possible if he timed the jump perfectly. Wait, hold on a second…
"Hey, you know what?" Lloyd said daringly, turning to face her with an impish glint in his glowing eyes. "I think I'll take you up on that offer." It truly went against every fiber in his being to do so, but joining their ranks was actually a phenomenal idea. Right now the ninja had gone radio silent and he had to think about this choice logically.
She had just given him an open invitation to join the Sons of Garmadon, and, seeing that getting close to the new Emperor was his end goal anyway, it made all the sense in the world to graciously accept. The tentative plan had been to regroup with the team before launching what would effectively be a militant campaign against the criminal organization, but now he had the chance to go in under peaceful pretenses. Of course proving his loyalty to the group would be extremely difficult and in all likelihood his every move would be heavily scrutinized, but Lloyd still liked his chances on the inside.
"Wait, what?" Harumi mumbled, absolutely flabbergasted by the unexpected response. Her largely overconfident stance was instantly replaced by genuine surprise and amazement, and for the briefest of moments her metaphorical mask slipped away. It was the first time since her turn that she had seemed to lack complete control over a situation, with her ability to intimidate Lloyd having been noticeably hindered by his bold decision making. Naturally after the initial shock wore off she adopted a very skeptical view of the situation, but he was already prepared to provide her with a compelling display of loyalty.
"Yeah, I think I am going to jump." Lloyd answered angrily, his harsh tone seeming very out of place as he winked at her. "I'll never join you!" He waited for a few moments before deliberately taking out his earpiece and holding it out in clear view. Just as soon as he had removed the communicator a chorus of very confused and understandably worried voices rang out, all clamoring for him to reconsider the horrific choice that they thought he was making. Even though they were fashionably late to the party, his friends had inadvertently managed to give him a final parting gift.
Lloyd let out a bloodcurdling scream before whipping his head around and throwing the trinket as far away as he could manage. He made sure his face was out of view as he watched the tiny bit of metal sail off into the distance, not letting Harumi see his somewhat dejected expression. If the stunt had worked then the ninja would all probably assume that he had just committed suicide, which was clearly not a level of grief that he had wanted to burden them with. From an objective standpoint he actually found it kinda funny, but this went far further than a cruel prank. No, Lloyd had just decided, on a whim, to completely cut himself off from the only family he had left in the world.
Such brazen impulsivity seemed very out of place, especially considering how he had absolutely no experience working undercover. The only thing that was even remotely comparable was his brief and tumultuous stint as a mute pirate, and that disaster didn't even happen technically. This sort of covert operation was way out of his comfort zone and it was even more puzzling because Lloyd was usually a pretty bad liar. He had never really needed to act disingenuous before, and as such it was not a skill that came naturally to him.
But what Lloyd lacked in natural acting talent he more than made up for in determination and emotional detachment. Over the years he had arguably endured far more consistent trauma than any of his peers, but it just never seemed to get to him. At the end of the day he was always able to shove all of his personal feelings aside and do what was necessary to get the job done. The way in which he immediately jumped back into the fray after the haunting experience that was Morro's possession was simply remarkable; that same sort of stubborn resolve was the only thing stopping him from breaking down and openly weeping in front of her. Just days earlier he had been perfectly happy with his life, very content with sharing his true feelings and emotions with the woman he loved. In the wake of the sudden devastation he had vowed to never make that mistake again, and considering the rather dangerous task he was now choosing to undertake, it almost seemed like he was just doomed for a lonely life full of constant distrust and paranoia.
Lloyd sighed, crossing his arms and quickly burying the sadness behind a veil of anger. He finally turned away from the distant buildings, and when he did he was somewhat taken aback by the pleasant sight that greeted him. An appreciative smile had snaked its way across her now maskless face, reflecting genuine satisfaction and showing no signs of superiority or overconfidence. For the first time since their falling out Harumi wasn't gloating or jeering at him, and there was no hint of malice in her eyes.
"That was quite the performance." she muttered commendably, somewhat marveled as she considered the gravity of what he had just done. Her voice was shaky and uncertain; her senses were almost overwhelmed by this sudden turn of events. She really didn't know what to think about all this, as, although she was still suspicious of his larger motives, the rather grandiose display had been extremely convincing.
That communication device was the last link he had to the ninja, who were effectively his only friends and family. If Lloyd had simply wanted to run surveillance on the group like Zane had done before then maintaining that semblance of contact would have been crucial. And frankly, Lloyd hadn't even needed to throw it away, as Harumi hadn't visibly noticed the earpiece and it had essentially been a nonfactor in their conflict up to that point. But by destroying it in such a tactical manner he had effortlessly endeared himself to the Sons of Garmadon. There was no turning back now, he had just faked his own death and shown no outward signs of remorse for it.
Obviously it was still an inevitability that his impending arrival would be met with heavy skepticism because, frankly, they had every reason to doubt his motivations. But fortunately Harumi was the highest ranking general in the organization, second only to Garmadon himself. If she could vouch for his loyalty then it would certainly be enough to get him through the door. From there it would be up to Lloyd to keep up the act and gain the respect of their criminal biker gang.
"Alright, let's go princess." he announced suddenly, tossing the child towards her with no warning whatsoever. Harumi was startled by his brashness, but she reacted quickly enough to catch Wu before he collided with the cold metal beneath them. She looked up at Lloyd with a dazed look on her face, finding his suddenly carefree disposition to be extremely puzzling. What stuck out to her the most was how offhandedly he had addressed her, as if she was some lowly grunt worker. On his part it had been a purposefully spiteful act, to defiantly call her by her former title and nothing more. It came off as strangely objectifying, which was definitely out of character for him. Lloyd said nothing more, ignoring her completely as he started walking away.
"Not so fast." Harumi snapped, her icy tone instantly freezing him in his tracks. He slowly turned his head around, meeting her gaze with genuine confusion. A tiny trickle of worry broke through the feigned indifference, but he was more so just generally unsure of what she wanted. Just as quickly as they had appeared he dispelled those fears, hiding them from view and leaning into this over-the-top persona.
"Oh, what is it my highness requires?" Lloyd asked sarcastically, bowing over-dramatically and throwing his hand out with a flurry of poignant mockery. Previously he had managed to block out his lingering feelings for her by falling back on anger, but now he was expanding the scope with humor as well. It was little more than a tongue and cheek distractor; a method quickly devised to try and keep her on her toes. Deep down he could not find the strength to truly hate or dislike her, but considering the circumstances he certainly thought that she deserved to be toyed with a bit.
"What the hell is this?" she asked bluntly, completely vexed by his rather abrupt personality change. "Lloyd, I know you, and you can't act for shit. Where exactly is this coming from?" He gave no visible reaction, there was no obvious sign of worry or telltale marker that exposed his true intentions. This was a very tense situation, but by treating it like a joke he was somehow managing to not flub the mission.
"Well, as people we adapt to survive." Lloyd responded plainly, his tone flat and measured in a way that showed none of his pressing anxieties. "So that means I'm making the smart choice and joining you guys." He flashed her a wry grin before starting to walk off again. Halfway down the path he stopped, quickly glancing back at her with a almost embarrassed look on his face.
"Uh… I don't know where we're going so you should probably be the one leading." he admitted quietly, nodding his head awkwardly and fidgeting apprehensively. Harumi stared at him curiously, tilting her head to the side as she continued to ponder his larger ambitions and tried to judge his character. After a while she relented, quietly strolling down the catwalk and motioning for Lloyd to follow.
Her mind was adrift, uneasy and consumed by anxiety as she headed back to their new base. Harumi was very worried about letting him join, but technically speaking this was a way for her to fulfill her task. Her instructions had been to bring in Lloyd and Wu, and she had now done so. This entire situation was very bizarre and while she had some very warranted doubts about his motivations, the somewhat satirical facade was working so far. Small semblances of respect and admiration were clouding her judgement; his demeanor had changed so drastically that she could no longer find any reason to mock or ridicule the hapless ninja. Whether or not he would be able to keep this up remained to be seen, but Harumi was beginning to like the idea of having Lloyd around.
I've actually had this idea floating around in my head for several months now and since I was having some serious writer's block on my main Ninjago fanfic I finally decided to try it out in writing. Any future updates are likely to be very sporadic and it's entirely possible that at some point I could put this on indefinite hold like i did with An Ill Wind, so just temper your expectations I guess. Returning readers may see some similarities in the way that I write the characters but in this case I'm not planning to feature romance as much.
Also I do have a little clarification in regards to that earpiece: as far as I know there is no definitive explanation for how the ninja communicate in this episode. However, Lloyd is seen reaching up near his hair and, judging from how he was still able to talk to the other ninja when he was stuck on the monorail, one can only assume that he must have been using some sort of electronic communicator. I don't think anyone was going to make a fuss about that minute detail but whatever, I felt like explaining it anyway.