the good, the bad, and the dirty | jay, kai, and lloyd

23 - breakthrough

"the ninja went to visit the guy we switched you out with," alastair laughed, but once he saw the pure fury on wadley's face, he ceased it immediately. he realized what he had done. "i-i mean—"

"oh, really?" tusk chuckled, shaking his head as he pointed at wadley. his gruff voice scratched terribly against his throat. "when are you gonna learn to back off, pipsqueak? as much as you try, you will never be one of us. master will choose everyone before he gets to you."

"not true!" wadley snapped, crossing his arms together. "master has required my services more than anyone here!"

"yes, but that is because i wasn't here," tusk countered, taking a couple of steps forward. the room trembled under his thunderous, heavy steps. "but now i am. master needed me and the rest of the boys, so he sent you two to get us out. and now, master will be very angry when i tell him the ninja know i am not there."

"whatever!" wadley scoffed bitterly.

"i'm telling you, pipsqueak," tusk mumbled with a chuckle in between. "you'll never be one of us. even alastair and alanis have more fight than you. you will always be master's burden. come to think, i don't understand why you haven't died already. you should've been the first to have sacrificed himself."

"stop it!"

"come on tusk, leave the guy alone."

"what? i'm just saying the truth, alastair! he's tagged along to every suicide mission but master always requests for him to return safely with me. i do not understand why. he's useless!"

"stop!!!" wadley roared, running up to tusk at full speed. he threw an anemic punch at his humongous stomach, the fat jiggling mockingly at the force. it made tusk burst into malicious laughter.

"you're pathetic," he seized the collar of wadley's shirt and hoisted him upwards, to meet his face. "never forget that, pipsqueak."

tusk then released his grip on the smaller man. he landed with a thud, flopping about before he had the strength to stand. wadley glared up at the big man, who was finding amusement in his suffering.

"screw you, tusk!"

just then, their master waltzed in the room. his radiant smile beamed brightly, as he took a sip from his wine. "i heard bickering in here. what's going on, boys?"

"tusk is messing with wadley, sire," alastair replied, bowing his head.

"now tusk," the master cooed, walking towards him. "what did i say about picking on wadley?"

"your plan failed, master," tusk changed the subject with an accusation. "the ninja are aware that i am not in kryptarium."

"what?!" he fumed, pacing to the accused. the wine in his glass twirled about, threatening to spill. "you had one task, wadley! and that was to find a man that fit tusk's description perfectly!"

"we did that, sire," alastair replied for wadley, who was cowering beside him in fear. "but i am afraid good ol' wadley here did not press the right button to conceal the man's face."

"you little piece of—" the master began to explode, but then his face paused in an abrupt thought. "wait a second. the ninja cannot possibly prove that that man is not tusk, right?"

"actually—" alastair was cut off by wadley, who pinched him in the arm.

"right, sire! we went ahead and poisoned him if he spoke of anything. and now he's dead."

"good, then. it'll be enough scraps to send those freaks on a wild goose chase, for now..." he took a couple steps away from all three men, as slow as a tortoise. "my plan to take over ninjago is almost complete. i need to do these finishing revisions, before i start handling the matter of the gray ninja."