I unpacked my bag, putting toiletries in the small bathroom, folding clothes into the shelves and putting other things such as my laptop and phone on the bed. I had a couple of documents and that related to the Sons of Garmadon on my laptop, but I put them onto a hard drive and quickly put it back at the base so the ninja couldn't find it.
They were talking about something when Jay and I got back, asking Jay to join them while I unpacked my things.
Well I was done so I decided to go back onto the deck. Once I was I saw the group had moved to the bridge, still talking I guess.
I climbed up hearing the conversation they were having.
"I know, but the Emperor and Empress specifically asked for all six of us, I'm sure she'll be fine if we left her here." I heard Lloyd say.
"Yeah, but something bad might happen to her if she's left alone." I heard Jay reply.
"Excuse me," I interrupted, "what's going on here?"
"Oh (Y/n), sorry, we were talking about a new mission we have, but we're a little concerned about your safety when left alone here." Zane explained to me as I walked closer.
'Hmm, if I'm left alone, I could do some snooping.' I thought to myself.
"If it is alright with you, I can look after (Y/n) while you're on your mission." A female robotic voice spoke from out of nowhere.
I looked around, searching for the voice before my eyes landed on a large computer, it's screen flashing brighter as it spoke.
"If that is alright with you?" It said.
The ninja looked at each other before slowly nodding.
"That sounds like a good idea, we trust you, Pixal." Lloyd said to the computer.
'Welp, there goes my snooping plans.' I thought.
"Are you alright with that (Y/n)?" I heard Jay ask.
I looked to see the group looking at me and I nodded.
"Yeah, sounds good, I don't want to keep you guys behind." I said with a soft smile.
They nodded before finishing off anything else with their new mission.
Apparently the Emperor of Ninjago was doing a speech on something and hired the ninja to be their guards for awhile with the looming threats of Ninjago.
"Okay, we're going to go, if you need us, get Pixal to alert one of us." Zane said, looking at the monitor briefly.
"I'm sure she's in safe hands." Pixal replied, Zane nodding.
"Bye then." I called as they left, getting a few goodbyes in return.
Then it was me and Pixal left.
———
I sighed, placing my phone on the table.
I had been hanging out in the bridge ever since the ninja left as it had good service and a wifi signal, just watching vine compilations or anything else of interest.
The sun was starting to set over the city and the ninja still hadn't returned...maybe it was an overnight mission.
"Hey Pixal, do you know when the ninja will be back?" I asked.
"I am not sure, they have been at the palace 10 minutes after they left the bounty." She replied.
"Oh, okay." I said.
I heard my phone vibrate and picked it up, seeing that Ultra Violet had messaged me, but I wasn't stupid enough to answer the text right there.
I faked a yawn and stood up.
"I'm gonna find something to eat then maybe have a nap." I announced to Pixal.
"Very well, the kitchen is down the hall and the last entrance to the right. I'm sure you'll find something there. I'm going offline for awhile, so I won't be able to answer anything, but the ninja will be back soon hopefully." Pixal explained.
'That's perfect then.'
"Alright, thank you." I said, climbing out of the bridge and going under the deck.
I pulled out my phone to open the text, walking to my room.
Message conversation
UV- Yo! We need u down at the base pronto
UV- I'll explain everything once ur here
Me- Alright, be there in a second
End conversation
I walked into my room and stuffed the pillows under the quilt to make it look like I was sleeping in case if the ninja came back.
I then waited a few minutes to check if Pixal went offline before stepping into the shadows and finding myself at the base.
I quickly changed into my usual appearance I donned here as I looked around.
People were bustling around while I went to look for UV.
I found her talking to Killow and E as I walked up to her, Killow catching the sight of me and scowling, lumbering off somewhere else.
"Hey." I asked, resting my chin on her shoulder with a smug grin. "Why'd you need me here?"
"Well, boss hasn't heard from ya so we're going ahead with her plan." She said, shrugging my head off her.
I facepalmed. "Fuck, I forgot I had to update her with my plan!"
"Well, too bad so sad." She replied. "Anyway, soon we'll be heading out to the palace and attacking it for the Mask of Deception."
"The royal family has it?" I asked, tilting my head. "How did you find that out?"
"I'm not sure, boss knew, whatever." UV replied. "Are you gonna help us or not?"
"You bet your ass I am." I replied with a smirk.
"Okay, first we need to get a look of the perimeter for guards and things like that, you're the best we have at stealth. So you go ahead, there's apparently a guard that you could take the appearance off if you knock him out or something." UV explained, showing me a picture of him. "Then come back and we'll attack."
"Righto." I replied. "See ya in a bit."
———
I found myself inside the palace, seemed pretty luxurious and legit, almost anything there seemed more expensive than an entire house combined.
I stood in the shadows, knowing no one will be able to see me unless I stepped out of it.
I found the guard I was looking for with his unmissable moustache and eyepatch, showing the ninja around.
I perked up at the mention of the 'Oni mask of Deception' and went to Jay's shadow to get a glimpse of it.
I stared at the mask but frowned, something was wrong. It was there, in front of my eyes, but I couldn't sense the presence of any Oni coming from it.
Wait.
It's a fake.
I looked away, why would boss send us here if the mask that they claimed to be here was fake?
Once the guard showed the ninja the mask he walked out of the room, obviously going to attend to his duties of being a guard and all that, so I followed him in his shadow without his knowledge.
We walked down the corridor before I saw an empty room with the door slightly open, giving me an idea. Once he was in line with the door I pushed him inside, pulling up my mask so he couldn't recognise me.
"What the-" he started before he saw me. "Who are you?"
He unsheathed his sword but I sent a blast towards it, knocking it out of his grip far enough so he couldn't get it.
He went to attack me, but I avoided his attacks until I got him into a chokehold, feeling his hands clawing at my arms.
"Shhhhhh..." I said softly, watching the door intently in case if anyone found me, until he went limp in my arms.
I put him on the ground and removed his armour, checking his pulse, okay he's alive, before altering my appearance to look like him.
I put on his armour and walked out, closing the door behind me, before looking for a way outside.
Once I did I started walking away from the palace to get a better look of the perimeter, but saw two ninja watching me intently from their perch on the rooftops.
I abruptly turned around, knowing it would look suspicious, the ninja are smarter than that.
I realised something and resisted the urge to facepalm myself. I'm an Oni of all things, I could just use my shadow camouflage to look at the perimeter.
I went back into the room and put the armour back onto the guard who was still knocked out before using my camouflage to look at the perimeter.
'Okay, five ninja on the rooftops so another must be inside.' I thought. 'So I gotta remember that.'
I found myself back at base and saw UV sitting on a couch.
I made a beeline over to her and sat down, leaning against her like a pillow.
"I'm back."
"Took you long enough, well, how'd it go?" She asked, not making an effort to get me off.
"Five ninja are on the rooftops but the sixth must be inside or something." I recounted before tilting my head slightly and looked up to her. "Also the mask there was a fake, why are you going there?"
"Fake really? Boss said it was there, but had a fake counterpart while the real one is hidden. So you must've found that." She said with a smirk.
"Ah, right." I replied. "How did she know that though?"
"Don't ask me, ask her yourself." She retorted.
"Fine."
"We're waiting for the signal to start heading there from boss so we're playing the waiting game." She said.
"Great, I can make myself more comfortable." I replied, making myself more comfortable against her.
She said nothing but looped an arm around me as we sat there in silence.
"Y'know, I prefer you where you're here, not putting on an act." She said out of the blue.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking up to her.
"Here you're funny, assertive, flirty and can stand up for yourself while you're with those ninja you act like you can't defend yourself." She explained.
"It's all part of the act sweetie." I replied with a smirk before booping her on the nose and getting promptly shoved off the couch.
A goon ran up to UV and spoke to her as I picked myself up off the ground with a chuckle.
"Alright guys!" UV announced, gaining everybody's attention. "The signal was done so get your asses out into the city!"
Everyone nodded and all ran to their bikes, engines revving and leaving the base.
I grabbed my helmet and jacket from my room before running to my bike to join UV and E, noticing E was taking the mask of Vengeance with him.
I hopped on and put my helmet on before revving the engine and hearing UV's voice in my headset.
"Let's kick some ninja ass."
Word count 1805 words