Brother of Wind {Book 8: the Sons of Garmadon}

chapter 9

"Are you the Quiet One? Are you the Quiet One?" Zwne shouted, fighting against Mr. E. He desperately wanted an answer. But his opponent wouldn't give him a response.

"WHO IS IN CHARGE?!" Zane drew back an arrow, putting his element around the tip. It hit E's chest. More bronze colour underneath. But his chest, a power source? Possibly. But the design looked just like Zane's. The Nindroid lowered his hands. He stared at his opponent, his mind was filled with question.

But the only response that Zane got was a kick to the chest that sent him crashing down a cliff. The damage was enough that Zane was almost out of commission. E walked up to the fallen Zane and shut hin down. Zane's eyes went dull and E planted something in Zane's chest.

. . .

"Down here!" Morro called. The wind blew the smaller pebbles away as he reached the ground. The Bounty flew over Morro. The Ninja kneeled down to a fallen Zane. Night approached but the lights on deck kept it easy to see. The anchor dropped down and the others swung along it.

"Zane! Zane, can you hear me?" Lloyd shouted.
"What did they do to him?" Nya asked, kneeling down.
"Say something, Zane. Can you hear us? Zane?" Jay asked. No response.

"Pixal, lower the gurney. Zane's in bad shape. Hang on, buddy. Hang on." Lloyd bit his lip. A strecher cam down and Zane was placed onto it.
"Okay. Winch him up, Pix." Nya said, tugging on the rope.

. . .

"How bad is it?" Lloyd asked, staring up at the computers that surrounded Zane.

"He has extensive damage to all systems. His neural net and cognitive cores suffered severe failures." Pixal said.

"Can you save him?" Nya asked.

"I've diverted power to critical life functions, but Zane will have to do most of the work. He must reconfigure his system and reboot himself." Pixal informed.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Harumi asked.
"We have to keep moving or the Sons of Garmadon will find us." Lloyd placed a hand on Rumi's shoulder.
"They'll do anything to get their hands on the child." He said.

"Which reminds me." Morro turned his attention to Cole.
"A child." He tapped his finger as he crossed his arms.
"Um. Yeah." Cole ruffled his hair.
"They called him the key to the third mask." He shook his hand.
"If Cole's right, we need to disappear. Get as far away from Ninjago City as we can." Lloyd snapped his fingers.

"Hmm. Doesn't seem right. Abandoning Ninjago City." Jay said.
"We're not abandoning." Lloyd exclaimed.
"There are others who will protect her."

"Like who?" Kai asked.
"There's always Samurai X. Whoever that is." Nya said.

"But they can't handle everywhere at once. That's why there's seven of us." Morro said.
"Whoever it is, Samurai X is going to have to cover for us until we get a handle on things." Lloyd said.
"Pixal, set a new course. Anywhere but here."

. . .

"Maybe he's thirsty. Give him some milk!" Lloyd exclaimed as the child Cole had saved was crying. They had cutrently stationed him in the Ninja's quaters.
"I tried. He doesn't like milk!" Cole said, passing the baby to Kai.
"What else do babies drink?" Jay asked.
"Don't ask me. Ask him." Kai passed the child to Jay.

"He's a baby! He hasn't learned how to talk yet." Cole pointed.
"Oh! Maybe he needs a diaper change." Jay passed him to Cole.
"Oh my gosh. Do we even have diapers?" Cole asked.
"Why would we have diapers? We're ninja!" Lloyd exclaimed.