From the Inside

Chapter 3

Joyride

*I own nothing and any similarities with any other works are purely coincidental.

Harumi stepped out onto the decrepit rooftop, breathing in the brisk morning air and scattered sky that gloomily greeted her. She slowly lifted her eyes up to find her superior, once again with his hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the barren city he now controlled. In a way, he looked both menacing and aloof, and, if she didn't know any better, she would have assumed that he hadn't moved once the entire night.

"You seem troubled, my Emperor." Garmadon turned his head slightly, acknowledging both the comment and her presence as a whole, but his gaze did not waver. His eyes remained fixed on the ruined, urban landscape that was his to lose.

"Last night, after you were dismissed, my Oni Titan crushed those pesky ninja trying to escape in their flying ship." He paused, flicking his eyes back at her with a curious expression; seemingly trying to gauge her reaction to the news before continuing. Harumi found herself blinking slightly and she involuntarily raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she quickly shook away the shock.

"I… I'm not sure I see the problem." she answered plainly, perhaps a little less confident than usual.

"Correct, it is not an issue on its own." he admitted. "However, the forces I sent have yet to unearth any bodies and the previous insertion of the remaining boy ninja further complicates matters. I sensed no obvious ill intent out of him, but then, perhaps aiding the search party might be an assignment that could show where his true loyalties lie?"

"Uh, yeah, perhaps…" Harumi nodded hesitantly. "Although I'm not sure it's wise to let him do field work so quickly." She felt Garmadon's eyes boring into her, flaring with rage and discontent.

"Explain." he seethed. Harumi gulped nervously, before awkwardly clearing her throat. She was trying her best to maintain an outwardly calm appearance, but internally, she couldn't seem to make up her mind. A tiny part of her was still a little surprised to hear that the ninja had been defeated, another part of her was miffed at Garmadon for sending out her troops without consulting her first, and yet another part of her felt concerned about the idea of letting Lloyd leave at all. Why do I care what he does, he's just another grunt to me now.

"Well, he hasn't even been here a day." she started. "You are right, of course, that informing him of this victory and making him search for his friend's bodies would be a good test of his loyalty, but I think it would be wise to hold off for now. At least for a couple days, I mean. I will admit, I find myself equally mystified with his decisions thus far and find it unlikely that he does not have some sort of ulterior motive, but I wish to have a bit more time to study his movements."

"Hmm." Garmadon furrowed his brow, peering at her quizzically with no less suspicion on his face. "You had better not be asking me to postpone my plans because of any sense of sentiment you feel towards this boy."

"No, of course not, my lord." Harumi answered quickly, shaking her head fervently. "If Lloyd weren't a willing initiate and an objectively capable fighter, I would have thrown him off a cliff by now. But if he really intends to join our cause, then it makes no difference when we tell him the fate of the other ninja. Thus, if for no other reason than having more time to observe his behavior, I think it is wiser to wait on sending him out on such an assignment."

He stared out at her quizzically, before finally softening his gaze and nodding curtly in agreement. "Fine, you may tell the boy nothing and continue to conduct your own assessments. I expect a report back, no later than one week from now, or your head be on it."

"Yes, thank you, my Emperor." Harumi nodded quickly, shielding her eyes from sight as the vague threat stung far more than she expected. She quickly shook away the fear from her mind, reminding herself that, of course, he was going to be a harsh and chillingly distant leader. Him being here, in the flesh, well, it was all still a little surreal for her. But then again, this was exactly what she had wanted, what she had been planning for for years. So why do I feel so anxious?

Harumi slowly lifted her head to find Garmadon still staring at her intently, with hints of nascent suspicion and lingering confusion crossing his otherwise emotionless face. He gave her a halfhearted wave, evidently to signal that she was dismissed, before turning back to the tarnished city landscape. She slinked away, hurrying back across the roof before descending back down to the top floor of Borg Tower. She walked with a fervent pace, but had a nonetheless defeated demeanor about her. At this point, she still wasn't able to fully unravel the events of the previous night, nor was she sure of what to think regarding the apparent demise of the ninja, but one thing was clear in her mind: she needed to keep an eye on Lloyd.

"Wake up!" Lloyd suddenly felt his face burning with pain and flicked his eyes open, blinking wearily to find an absolutely livid Harumi standing over him. She was looking at him with a mix of bated fury and utter incredulity. Her body was almost shaking with rage, clearly impatient as she waited there with her hands on her hips, but then her eyes were wide and her expression seemed more baffled than angry.

"Well, good morning to you too." Lloyd muttered, stretching back against the wall and yawning loudly. He slowly reached a hand up to feel his now reddening cheek, before quickly looking back at the rather unbalanced woman who had evidently given him the bruise. She was still glaring at him, simmering with fury that seemed, at least to him, completely misplaced.

"Why are you sleeping up here anyway?!" Lloyd paused, confused by the question before he looked around and remembered just where he was. He was now leaning up against one of many unfinished plaster walls on this floor and the scattered construction materials that surrounded them were similarly familiar. The stairs leading to the roof were just down the hall, and the jarred door was now blowing in a chilly breeze.

"I was tired and nobody bothered to give me any lodgings." He frowned, dusting himself off and shivering slightly as he rose to greet her. "What do you want?"

"You haven't been officially inducted as a member of the Sons of Garmadon yet." Harumi answered bitterly. "There is much to do, so you will come with me now, please." Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Lloyd by his wrist and began to drag him down the hall. He gasped, caught off guard by her both bluntness and the sheer forcefulness she was using to make her point.

"Uh… I really don't need you to hold my hand." Lloyd said awkwardly, blushing ever so slightly at her touch. Harumi ignored him, continuing to rush down the hall at a manic pace. She quickly let go of his arm when they reached the elevator, however, looking down at her own hand as if it had been in contact with some sort of germ-ridden, diseased specimen. Shaking her head and sighing quietly, she pushed the key for the elevator and waited.

"So what do you want me to do?" He quickly shuffled into the elevator as it opened and eyed the closing doors with a rather nervous expression. At first, Harumi offered no clear indication of just what was in store next, but, as they began to descend from the highest point in Ninjago City, she slowly looked over towards him. And a wicked grin curled up her face.

"Crash and burn, Lloyd."

The lift screeched to a halt as the doors opened up again. Lloyd, still feeling a bit unsettled and anxious, found himself suddenly yanked out of place. Harumi, still grinning ominously, grabbed his arm and started dragging him down an entirely different hallway. He was finding her rough and aggressively physical level of control to be rather uncomfortable, and his eyes narrowed with annoyance as they skidded across the linoleum flooring. But he didn't really get a chance to voice his frustrations, because, before he knew it, he was being shoved in front of a very large crowd. Harumi was now the least of his concerns, for, as far as Lloyd could tell, pretty much the entire Sons of Garmadon organization was now gathered in the lobby of Borg Tower.

"May I have your attention, please?" The second her voice rang out, all murmurs of conversation and gossip ceased, and they all turned to face their leader with rapt attention. Harumi's presence always gave off an air of quiet, subtle intimidation and demanded their immediate respect, but Lloyd's appearance garnered a far more muddled reaction. A mix of surprised and confused expressions crossed their faces, as all the grunts and underlings of the Sons of Garmadon fixed their eyes on the actual son of Garmadon.

"Sons of Garmadon, this is the son of Garmadon." Harumi crossed her arms, cocking her head towards him with a mix of impatient boredom on her face. She sounded slightly irked and annoyed with having to introduce him at all, and that mixed reception was similarly felt throughout the crowd. Lloyd smiled sheepishly, awkwardly waving at the group before quickly looking down at the floor.

"Now, despite his actions and the actions of his group of ninja, he is not our prisoner. Lloyd surrendered himself, along with our Emperor's brother Wu, and has accepted the prospect of joining our noble cause. I realize his appointment here may seem strange and disingenuous, but I expect him to be treated with the utmost respect. If not, you'll have to answer to me."

Harumi smirked, pulling out a knife and lazily twirling it around her fingers, backing up her verbal warning with a far more clear and cutthroat image. After a few moments of stunned silence, she quickly tucked away the weapon, still beaming devilishly.

"Of course, if Lloyd wants to be one of us, he has to ride with us. You all know the drill, no rules and no consequences, and let it be known that the dumb blond will not be given any special treatment. Should he fail to make it to The Teeth, well then… perhaps he would be better off joining his uncle in a cell."

The veiled threat brought a chorus of laughter and jeers from the gang. Harumi strolled off, diverting control of the coming race to Killow while she went to talk to Ultraviolet, probably about securing Lloyd a usable motorcycle. Lloyd, for that matter, felt incredibly nervous about undertaking their initiation race. He held a slight advantage over the average initiate since he had mapped out the general route through the Sea of Sand when Zane went undercover as Snake Jaguar, but his powers were still gone and he had a feeling the other members of the Sons of Garmadon were going to be extra motivated to take him out.

Everything felt like a blur. Before Lloyd knew it, everyone was leaving to get their riding gear, and Killow was shoving him along towards Borg Tower's garage. Inside, a host of mechanics were making adjustments to a motorcycle, evidently the one he would have to use. He recognized it as Ultraviolet's bike, and guessed that the technicians were probably trying to strip away or otherwise inhibit whatever enhancements she had made to the machine.

"Typical." he muttered, shaking his head and crossing his arms in annoyance. Before he could continue complaining or spew any insults at the mechanics, a dinged up motorcycle helmet was being thrust at him. Lloyd cocked his head around, glancing at Killow as his eyes narrowed once again, cutting like daggers.

"You know the rules already, don't you, boy?" The booming voice barely registered in Lloyd's mind, but he nodded curtly and snatched away the helmet from his grasp.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard, no rules, no consequences!" he snapped. "No one will give a shit if I run over another member of the Sons of Garmadon and no one will give a shit if I get turned into roadkill. Can we get this over with already?"

Killow blinked, seemingly caught off guard by the sheer anger and tenacity in Lloyd's response, but after a few seconds he erupted in laughter.

"Oh, and here I thought that nindroid was the feisty one!" Other nearby members of the Sons of Garmadon quickly followed up on the quip, all bursting out in laughter as well. Killow continued howling, slapping Lloyd on the back as he struggled to stay standing. Lloyd recoiled slightly, pushing against his extremely firm grip, but he accepted the appreciative reaction without further complaints. Once Killow managed to pull himself together, Lloyd awkwardly shoved away his arm and began strapping up his new bike helmet.

"I guess I'm just full of surprises." Lloyd revved up his bike, listened to the engine whirring with an irritable look on his face. He quickly fell in line with the other bikers, lining up at the exit of the garage and anxiously awaiting for the race to start.

"Bikers ready?" Ultraviolet slowly walked to the front of the crowd, pacing back and forth in front of the group as she undid her purple bandana. Taking it in her hand, she held out the piece of cloth at her side and stared out at the crowd. A smattering of sneers and smirks met her, as the Sons of Garmadon revved their engines and began eyeing Lloyd in particular with crazed, depraved looks.

"Ride! Or… die!" The bandana fell to the ground and the bikers were off, bursting free from the narrow confines of the garage with reckless abandon. After pausing for a moment, having been unsure of the starting signal, Lloyd sped out onto the streets of Ninjago City. He recognized the path almost immediately, having driven through his city on numerous occasions, but he was also beginning to suspect that his ride was going to be very different from the one Zane won in his ill-fated infiltration attempt.

As the bikes screeched against asphalt, crashing through abandoned, ruined streets, everything felt empty. The buildings they were hurtling past were dull and lifeless, and the morning air that brushed across Lloyd's face was as stinging as it was refreshing. There were no distractions, no people driving out to work. No police cars, pedestrians, or other bystanders dared to venture forth from their dwellings. There's nothing here. And nothing to here.

"You know, you're not gonna make it out alive, pretty boy!" Lloyd quickly shook himself, turning his attention back to the race and glancing over at his aggressor. To his left, a vaguely familiar biker with unkempt, spiky hair sticking out of his helmet was glaring at him. Lloyd furrowed his brow, confused about just who was talking to him, but his eyes lit up in recognition when he saw the stark white hair.

"Good morning, Cunningham. I would say I was sorry for getting you arrested, but I'm not." Lloyd smirked, turning his face away but keeping his eyes keenly open and aware. Luke seethed, whipping out a knife and throwing it towards the former ninja. Lloyd managed to snatch it out of the air, just a few centimeters in front of his face, but gasped out as the blade still nicked his cheek; sending a sharp, searing pain down his face. Grimacing slightly, he glared back at the Man in the White Mask, before silently pocketing the weapon and continuing to drive on.

As they ventured into the heart of Ninjago City, Lloyd found signs of lasting destruction and rubble piling up. While, under other circumstances, such a sight might be demoralizing or make him feel guilty about failing to save his city, the heightened stakes of this race were fueling a sense of blinding adrenaline. Instead, he just grinned wryly and brushed past another pair of bikers; this time, initiating the conflict himself and aggressively knocking them out of the way. Once they were behind him, Lloyd turned his motorcycle and skidded the wheels across the road, scuffing up the asphalt a bit as they came roaring after him.

"You're a dead man walking, Garmadon!" Lloyd ignored the threat, glancing back at the unknown grunt with a smirk on his face. That smile was quickly wiped away, as the biker on the left had a lighter in his hand and his partner had pulled out his own switchblade.

"I'm not walking, am I?" Lloyd glanced up at the next street they were turning on to, sizing up the conditions and checking for incoming obstacles, before looking back at the two bikers with a cheeky glint in his eyes. "Besides, I thought you were ordered to treat me with respect."

"Yes, but the princess isn't here to protect you, is she?" They both erupted in laughter, before the biker on the right tossed his blade at Lloyd's bike, just catching the left side of the vehicle and gashing open the fuel tank. Lloyd's eyes widened with horror, and, as a trickle of gasoline began to pour free onto the road, he sprung up, off the seat, and leapt out of the way. The other grunt tossed the lighter and Ultraviolet's bike, which Lloyd had just barely managed to free himself from, went up in flames.

Lloyd spun to the ground, landing hard against the sidewalk and immediately scratching up his arms upon impact. He slowly sat up and looked across the street, just in time to see the biker who had thrown the switchblade collide with a massive slew of building rubble. His gi was now ripped and frayed, and dirty blood was seeping through his sleeves, but he didn't care. The sight of the crash brought a bittersweet smile to his face.

Leaping to his feet, Lloyd glanced to his left to make sure no other bikers were about to come through, before jogging over to the crash scene. He shoved the unconscious biker out of the way and commandeered the vehicle, which was heavily damaged but still technically functional.

"I'll take this, thanks."

By the time Lloyd got on his newly-acquired bike and started driving again, the procession of chaotic motorcycles had completely left him behind. Still, he quickly spotted their tracks and put himself back on the right path, hurtling out of town with even more haste now that he had to make up for lost time. As he neared the outskirts of the city, the festering damage and already minuscule signs of life seemed to vanish entirely. Out here, on the edge of civilization where all the high-tech skyscrapers were swept away by ferocious winds and coarse sand, everything seemed empty. Even more than it had before.

Finally reaching the Sea of Sand seemed to be an anticlimax at best. As Lloyd took note of all the crashed motorcycles that were now piling up, those unfortunate casualties of the terrifyingly narrow and claustrophobic cliffs, he began to suspect that almost no one else had finished the race. Even with his limited knowledge of the course, this wasn't unprecedented. Zane's prior attempt had come down to the wire, with only him and Mr. E reaching the end, but what struck him the most was that, by virtue of almost being killed, he had been far enough behind to avoid whatever misfortune had befallen his peers.

Lloyd shook his head, trying to clear his mind and focus on the race, nothing else. He winced slightly, passing by another Sons of Garmadon biker who was caught in an absolutely horrific crash.

"I'm sorry." he muttered, quickly looking away and frowning worriedly. Up ahead, he could only make out a couple of bikers still going, although, since they were all riding towards the sun, visibility was somewhat impaired. Nonetheless, with his targets firmly in sight, Lloyd pushed the gas even harder and, breaking free of the rocky cliffs and jagged passes, drove headlong into the expansive desert that had already devoured so many of his peers.

Driving alone through a vast, deserted desert was a surprisingly mellow experience for Lloyd. The last time he had been out here was when he had gone to face his resurrected father at Kryptarium Prison, and, in that case, the destination was the sole focus of the drive. Now however, he felt adrift, weightless and free within the world. On the whole, he found driving to be far less enveloping and exhilarating than flying, but in the right circumstances, the separation it offered from external stressors was no less effective.

Nothing was tying him down anymore, and the only thing that stood between him and his current goal of acceptance within the Sons of Garmadon were the few remaining bikers who hadn't been ravaged by the jagged rock formations. They were clearly within sight now, marking the end of his solitary drive and the resumption of the heated race he was a part of. He pulled up next to one of the bikers, having finally completed his agonizing comeback and placed himself firmly in contention again.

"Oh, hello there." Lloyd called. "My name is Lloyd. Sorry, I'm new here, uh… yeah, I was just wondering, do you know where we're actually going?"

"Yeah, I know who you are, ninja." he grunted, briefly looking over at Lloyd with a somewhat bothered expression before shaking his head and turning his attention back to driving. "The name's Chopper, and, as you shoulda heard earlier, we're riding to The Teeth."

"Right, but what is The Teeth, exactly?"

"I don't know man, it's like this big rock thingy. The bosses always point it out when we get there. Well, if you get there. Hey, speaking of which, you seen my buddy Mohawk around?"

Lloyd furrowed his brow, thinking about it for a moment, before shaking his head. "Can't say that I have, sorry. I mean, it's hard to tell who's who when we're riding, and I only just got here, so I haven't really gotten to know anybody yet. Nice to meet you though, Chopper. All the other people I've talked to immediately tried to kill me, so you know."

"Oh, I'm not that stupid!" Chopper laughed. "Nah, I don't care if you are a ninja or not, I'm not gonna pick a fight with you unless they tell me too."

"Quit yapping you two!" Killow bellowed, turning back from the lead spot with a glare on his face. "We're coming up on The Teeth now, which means this is your final chance to crush some skulls. You want to take first place, come and get it!"

While none of the Sons of Garmadon had been under explicit orders to target Lloyd, he still felt just about everyone's eyes turn his way just as soon as Killow's message rang out. Similarly, he suspected that the entire point of the directive was for him to go after a first place finish, rather than coasting along with the pack like he was doing at the moment. He glanced over at Chopper, but he was already off, trying to back off to the side and avoid the scrum that was about to happen.

"Fine, I see how it is." Lloyd sighed, before whipping around and, in a grand flourish, tossing his stolen knife at the people behind him. The weapon slashed through a pair of bikers, leaving large gashes in their arms and legs, respectively, before grazing past a third person and spooking a fourth. Lloyd then sped off to the left, angling his bike and trajectory in order to pass the next people in front of him. He wasn't trying to directly outspeed them, at least not yet, but the move got their attention all the same.

"You think you're getting past us, huh?"

"Yes, I do." Just as Lloyd had hoped for, one of the injured bikers suddenly came flying in, wiping out the rest of the competition as he lost control of the wheel. They all fell like dominoes from there, and, when all was said and done, only Killow, Mr. E, and Chopper, by virtue of completely avoiding Lloyd, were still riding.

"Well, marvelous work! Maybe you do have Sons of Garmadon potential after all." Lloyd didn't really hear any of the praises Killow was singing, not that he would have cared if he had. His eyes were fixed on the filthy scene of carnage he was leaving behind, blinking rapidly and shell shocked at the sight. What had, moments prior, been a small group of tight-knit bikers who were perfectly content with Lloyd Garmadon riding their coattails, had quickly morphed into a united coalition vying to knock him out of their race. And then, in one fell swoop, he had set off a series of crashes with almost surgical precision.

Lloyd had made it to The Teeth, and the sheer depravity of his handiwork would likely earn him a far better reputation with the cutthroat, criminal gang he was now embroiled in.

But he wasn't himself.

I would say I'm sorry for not posting a new chapter in almost a year, but I'm not. For one thing, I was stuck writing a chapter for my Llorumi longfic that ended up being nearly twenty-thousand words, and, well, anyone who's read that should know why writing in general has been such a struggle for me lately. Everything's been a struggle lately.