The Silent Man's Whisper [ninjago]

16 | invited

"When you said you had an idea, I wasn't expecting it to involve kidnapping and stealing someone's identity, Jay," Lloyd said as he rearranged his fake mustache. When it began to slip down again, he sighed and took it off to reapply some more glue on it.

"This isn't someone, Lloyd," Jay reiterated. "It's the Mechanic."

"Still a crime though."

"It's not like we haven't committed any of those," Jay waved him off. He turned around from looking at Lloyd and instead darted his eyes over to Cole, who was sitting in the driver's seat and looking at the convex mirror of one of Chen's noodle trucks they had borrowed.

"Seen anything yet?" Kai asked, also from the back. He was sitting next to Lloyd and trying to help him out with his mustache problem, taking things into his own hands.

The two let out groans of frustration when the black fake hair fell right back to the floor after sticking it onto Lloyd's face.

"Nope," Cole answered.

"He should arrive in approximately two minutes," Zane informed them, "according to the speed he's walking in and the lack of distractions in this area."

Zane was sitting in the passenger seat and looking down at the tablet he brought with them to keep track of the Mechanic. He was last seen around four blocks away, which was enough time for Lloyd to get into his disguise and for the others to prepare for their "epic plan," as Jay called it.

The noodle truck was parked around the block near the old arcade. Zane had suggested they'd park it there since it was most likely that the Mechanic would walk right next to them to get to his lair.

"Do you guys think we could eat some celebratory spicy ramen once this is over?"

Cole and Zane, who were sitting to Jay's left and right, slowly looked at their friend. Jay was sitting there, with his palms underneath his thighs, and swaying from side to side, unable to sit still.

They chose not to respond and went back to being on the lookout.

Kai let out a victorious laugh, causing the three at the front to glance over to the back.

There were several unopened boxes surrounding Lloyd and Kai as they were standing in the middle.

"Guys, look!" the Fire Ninja told them, grabbing Lloyd's shoulders and turning him to the others to have a look. "I did it!"

Lloyd gave them a half smile, not knowing what to say. His mustache was finally secured on his face, which was why Kai was so happy.

"Lookin' good, Lloyd," Cole said, taking in his friend's new look. "Maybe that'll give you some motivation to grow some of your own," he joked.

"Ha ha," was Lloyd's response. "You're very funny, Cole. I'm literally shaking in my boots."

"You're not wearing any boots."

"It was a joke!" Lloyd hissed bitterly.

"My friends," Zane said sternly, "please cut it out. We will have to focus on this mission, and joking around is very unprofessional. Please-" He stopped talking when he detected the Mechanic on his tablet. "Oh, shucks, he's almost here!"

When he darted his alarmed gaze toward Cole and Jay, he was met with slow-blinking and unamused faces.

"I do not want to hear it," he told them. Then he turned around to Kai and Lloyd, seeing them give him the same looks. "Get into your positions," he warned them. He did not want to repeat himself, and the others seemed to get that since they dropped their act and got ready for action.