The Silent Man's Whisper [ninjago]

08 | confused

The next day arrived sooner rather than later. It was uncomfortably quiet around the dining table, everyone being engulfed by their own thoughts and sorrows.

"What will we do next?" Pixal asked, breaking the silence. She was not eating anything since her body didn't require any nutrients to survive but she was still sitting with her family out of respect and the feeling of being a part of them.

Wu chewed the pasta in his mouth as he thought about a good response. "We need to focus on finding Aspheera."

"What about the mysterious vengestone load?" Nya asked him. "We can't just pretend we didn't see it."

"I know," he nodded, stabbing a few pieces of food with his fork, "but we have to concentrate on what's more acute. And that is finding Aspheera's whereabouts."

Nya nodded, though she was still feeling uneasy about all the vengestone she was finding recently. But she trusted her master, and if he said it was more important to find Aspheera, she would try everything in her power to do just that.

"And how do we do that?" Pixal asked him.

Wu sighed. "I don't know."

"You don't know," Nya repeated. She didn't intend to sound accusatory but her tone suggested otherwise.

"We could rewatch every security camera footage inside the museum as well as ask around about her, but I don't think any-"

A loud ding cut Wu's sentence short, causing the three to look at each other questioningly.

"Oh, that's my phone," Nya said, pulling it out of her pocket and tapping on the screen. "It's a news broadcast by Gayle. Wonder what she has to report now," Nya mumbled. She quickly entered the live broadcast and held the phone out for all three of them to see.

Gayle Gossip was holding her microphone directly in front of her. She was wearing her signature baby pink clothes, a professional look on her face.

"This is Gayle Gossip from NGTV News, live from the crime scene," she began, her voice just as professional as her expression. "Earlier today, the Mechanic has been seen robbing a coal factory. One of his captured henchmen state it was 'part of a bigger initiative.' That is all the information we have for now, but once we find out more about this so called 'initiative,' I will make sure to let you know."

"The Mechanic?" Wu wondered. "Robbing a...coal factory?"

Another ding erupted from Nya's phone. "Why is the news so fast to report everything?" she mumbled as she clicked on the latest news broadcast.

"This is Gayle Gossip from NGTV News. Regarding the coal-robbing-bigger-initiative case, I am happy to report that our new ninja have taken it upon themselves to investigate the scene!"

Gayle then walked backwards to three of the six new ninja and held the microphone up to the fuchsia one. "What can you say about this case?" she asked, her voice eager for a good response.

"We don't know much about it yet; we've just arrived, Gayle," the person said smoothly. "But we can assure you and all of you," they turned to the camera, "that we will do everything in our power to catch him and make Ninjago a safe place again. We-"

Nya turned her phone off, too sick and tired of hearing the wannabe ninja's slick voice. It angered her how the person behind the cheap pink mask sounded like he knew everything about what it was like fighting crime in Ninjago, a realm in which crime-fighting was a full-time job for Nya and her family.

"'Make Ninjago a safe place again,'" she repeated with a hint of spite in her voice. "When has Ninjago ever been a safe place to begin with?"

Wu smiled, amused by Nya's obvious short temper. "We need to find out what is going on."

Pixal nodded, already creating a small to-do list in her system to collect every open lead they needed to take care of. "So we have the Mechanic robbing a coal factory. Aspheera still on the loose with the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu. The mysterious vengestone load in the underground train tracks. Anything else?"

"That purple crystal I found in the museum," Nya said. Pixal added that bullet point to her mental list.

"It has escaped my memory that Aspheera still has possession of the scroll," Wu mumbled to himself. His eyes were cast down to the table and his barely touched food, his hands balled to fists.

Nya and Pixal looked at him before turning back to each other.

"Bigger initiative," Nya repeated. "What could that be?"

"I don't know," her nindroid friend answered, equally curious and frightened as Nya.

"We will need to find out soon though," Nya told her sternly. "It might be something dangerous."

"But what can we do?"

"We should keep an eye on the new ninjas' findings," Wu suggested. He himself wasn't very fond of those people.

Nya shot him a disgusted look. "Do we really have to do that? 'Cause I'd like to keep my distance from those filthy clones."

Wu looked at his student for a few seconds. Although she would have never admitted to it, what she just said was something her brother would've said in a situation like theirs. Wu almost smiled at the similarities she had between her brother and her boyfriend. She was probably doing it subconsciously too.

"It is the best thing to do as of now," Pixal said, supporting Wu's decision. "We can't go to the factory and investigate it ourselves. We would not really be wanted there."

"Because our family has turned from crime-fighting to committing crimes. Got it."

"Nya," Wu said in a scolding tone.

"What?" she exclaimed, looking at him incredulously. "Am I lying?"

The old man slightly narrowed his eyes at her. He couldn't deny the truth but still found it unnecessary to bash her own family in such a way.

He opened his mouth to offer a few words of wisdom but got cut off by Nya's phone once again.

When Nya looked down at it, she expected to see yet another news report, but instead of that it was an incoming phone call from a suppressed number.

She shot Wu and Pixal a weird look before answering the call and putting it on speaker. She didn't say a word, waiting for whoever was on the other side to speak first.

"Hello?" a familiar distraught voice came through.

Nya blinked repeatedly before responding. "Vania?"

"Hello? Nya? Is that you?"

"Uh. Yeah, yeah, it's me, Nya," she said. "Vania, what's wrong?"

It was the first time after literal years that Nya heard from the now Queen Vania again.

"Oh, thank the gods, it's you!" Vania let out an audible sigh. "I tried to call the other ninja but you were the only one who picked up."

Nya and Wu looked at each other bewilderedly. So she was not aware of the fact that the others were imprisoned?

"Um." Nya's voice rasped a little. "Yeah, it's a...long story. So, what's up?"

"I'm afraid it's a long story on my end as well, but to cut it short; my father escaped."

"Say what now?"

"Nya." Vania's tone was urgent and on high alert. "My father, former King Vangelis, remember him? He escaped. He's gone. And no one can find him here in Shintaro. Nya, I don't know what to do."