Ninjago: Negative

13 - Ceremony Stalemate

"LLOYD! LLOYD!" A child's voice cried amongst the crowd. The green ninja was stood by a marble pillar enjoying a complimentary cupcake along with Zane and Jupiter when he turned abruptly to locate the voice. 

Immediately a young boy in a slightly ruffled suit appeared in front of them with a gleaming smile. 

"N-nelson?" Lloyd mumbled with a chunk of strawberry cupcake in his mouth.

"I just knew you'd be here! Oh- I'm sorry if I interrupted you guys! I just really REALLY wanted to say hello!" He could barely contain himself. 

"Hello Nelson - it is good to see you again - this time, without the casts," Zane greeted with a smile. 

"OH! And the lilac ninja!" Nelson directed his excitement towards Jupiter, who was politely stood by the rest of them. "It's great knowing that now there's ANOTHER shade of purple ninja!"

Jupiter smiled and tilted her head. "Another shade of purple?" 

"Nelson's the purple ninja." Lloyd whispered to her, elbowing her arm. 

"Oh! Right! Well, it's great to meet you, Nelson." She offered the boy a swift fist-bump. "Do you know what you're here to win?" 

Nelson nodded confidently. "Yep. Antonia and I were nominated for the Media-Service award, since we're paperboys...and girl. Although, we may be up against Gayle Gossip and Vinny too..." 

"Then we wish you good-luck, Nelson," Zane consoled. The purple ninja thanked them and scurried away through the crowd. 

"He seems like a nice kid." Jupiter said, helping herself to another delicacy from the snack table. 

At that moment, Cole, Kai and Hector rushed towards them. 

"Where did you three go?" The titanium nindroid questioned. 

"We managed to catch Cyrus before he went talking to somebody else and told him about the orb in the trophy." Kai started. 

"Turns out he doesn't know who's winning it though - the winner for the Orion award is in an envelope that he can't open until he announces the award." Cole continued. 

"But the good news is, he's rescheduling the announcing so that we can find out who's winning the award as soon as we can." Hector said. 

As the hall continued to be filled with chatter and movement, the team gathered together again and spent some time exploring the eye-catching building, admiring the various statues and paintings that were exclusively brought in when the City Hall was refurbished for the event. Modern candelabras lighted up the hallways; they strolled through the long velvet-carpeted corridors when Cole noticed something. 

"Guys - check this out-" He said in a serious tone. The others stopped in their tracks and grouped around what he was pointing at. One of the large spotless windows that overlooked a grassy courtyard garden was open widely and slightly cracked.

"Maybe they just didn't fix it in properly when they were refurbishing the building...?" Kai suggested, stiffening his shoulders in uncertainty. 

Nya scanned the scene. She bent down momentarily and picked up a piece of evidence. 

"I don't think maintenance people have...feathers..." She held up the grey feather into the moonlight casting through the fractured window. 

Jay gasped and quickly formed a vengeful fist with his hand. "Fugidove."

"That must mean he's somewhere in the building." Lloyd said, looking at the rest of the group. "Wow, and to think we thought he was a bottom-tier criminal." Nya kept hold of the fake feather as they all slowly walked back to the main hall. As they did so, they discussed what their next steps were. 

It's highly likely that Fugidove was being used, since Ultraviolet and Killow had such tainted criminal records, any new offence would have them throwed in a cell again. The team all agreed to keep an eye out for the flying felon, which shouldn't be so hard given that they were at a rather formal event. Anyone in a bird costume was bound to stand out. 

Guests had all settled down at their tables again once the team had walked back into the hall and sat back down. The meal service employees waltzed in from the double doors by the side of the hall, pushing delicately clothed carts. They had started setting out plates on each of the tables and prepared to serve the starters for the meals. 

Cyrus Borg was back onstage and spoke confidently into the microphone. 

"Ah! The food is starting to arrive! Now, I suppose you are all anticipating the announcement of the winners for all these wondrous awards," he said, gesturing towards the rows of certificates and trophies on the table behind him. 

"And as requested, I will have the honour of revealing the first awards-" The official-looking woman beside him handed him the first trophy (not the Orion Award yet) for him to give out. 

Borg cleared his throat as they whole audience quietened to silence. 

"I am pleased to announce that the winner of this first award, the-- uh 'Persistence Award', is... The Police Commisioner and his police force!" 

Cheering and applause erupted in the hall - the Commisioner stood proudly from his seat, not far from the ninjas' table. He brushed his extravagant moustache momentarily and briskly made his way to the stage, with a few of his team following close behind. The clapping and whooping continued; a photographer captured the moment as the Commisioner took the golden trophy from Borg's hands. 

"Well would you look at that-" The Commisioner proudly spoke into the microphone. The other police stood by his side contently, hands behind their backs as the Commisioner proclaimed his gratefulness briefly. "Thank you all! None of this would've been possible without the hard-working team we have here on the front lines and back at Ninjago Police Sta--" 

A jarring CREAK suddenly echoed through the entire hall. Then the sound of impact on glass. 

People looked around, confused, startled. 

The ninja were all alert, examining the entire room. What was that!? 

And without warning, one of the bright chandeliers from the high ceiling collapsed straight onto the audience.