Assassin's Joy

'Alek Richman' the computer read when it was finished with the cross-referencing.

"Alek Richman," Zane repeated. "Who is this?"

He clicked the link that the computer gave him that gave him information on Alek.

There was a picture of him (pic at top) with basic information. What Zane found however is that it said he was employed as some place referred to as AJ, but there was no place that Zane could think of that was named that.

"Pixal, could you pull up all references you have on AJ?" Zane asked as he stood up. "I have a feeling they're vital to what is freaking Cole out so much."

"Of course."

Zane walked out and walked to the kitchen. He started making dinner, mulling over his options.

Part of him knew the others should know about this, but the other part was worried whoever this Alek was, he would hurt either them or Cole or both options.

He decided, after he gets all the info from Pixal about AJ, he would only tell Jay. Jay was Cole's best friend and the man he had fallen in love with. Jay would know how to help Cole feel safe. 

"Zane, I have gathered information on AJ. Would you like me to send it to you?"

"If you could. Thank you."

"Of course."

Zane's BorgPhone lit up as Pixal sent all of what she learned to him. He clicked on the first file and read through it. 

'AJ is a criminal organization that is hard to prove that is real. They are believed to be the cause of many things, from a stolen pencil to the deaths of the last six mayors. There is reason to believe that AJ stands for Assassin's Joy.

Assassin's Joy was founded by a man by the name of Randall Hyde, or as he and his 'employees' refer to him, the Big Man. His right hand man is a man named Alek Richman.

Hardly any of the members of Assassin's Joy join because they want to lead a life of crime. AJ preys on the scared and vulnerable. Their top assassin (name is unknown) was only 7 when he was brought into the organization.'

'AJ; what is their goal?

It is impossible to know as it is speculated if this organization is even real in the first place. 

The Independent Federal Democratic Alliance (IFDA) believes that Randall Hyde (the Big Man) founded Assassin's Joy (AJ) in order to rule over Ninjago from the shadows. The IFDA denies any and all claims that such a man exists, but there is too much evidence to disprove that claim.

Almost every crime can tie back to them. Even Master Chen's organization (which was taken down by our beloved Ninja) has ties to AJ. People believe that AJ has helped fuel Chen's empire for decades and covered their connections to him once he was shown to be evil.

AJ is even in our government. 

They send spies into organizations and groups they see as a threat to them. It is believe that any one of the four ninja could be a spy that was sent by AJ to take them down.

It's impossible to prove that they are real, however. People speculate that members are bugged. If they try to speak of the horrors of AJ, they are given a nasty shock. They are commanded not to give away information. If they do, they could very well be murdered themselves.'

'Assassin's Joy is something that we (the IFDA) has spent years trying to take down. We have reason to believe we have found out who their top assassin is, but we have no proof. 

There is reason for us to believe that it is the master of Earth; Cole Brookstone.

We haven't charged him or confronted him as he hasn't been active in over a year and we know that he never chose to join Assassin's Joy.

According to his father, Lou Brookstone, Lou had left his son in the Ninjago City Central Park shortly after his wife died. Lou never came back for Brookstone, claiming that he couldn't handle being a father now that the love of his life had died. 

Brookstone spent the next two years on the streets, avoiding the police. Unfortunately, the NCPD is not forgiving on the homeless and Brookstone knew this. We may never know where he hid away for those two years.

When he was seven, Alek Richman, the Big Man's right hand man, found him in the very park Brookstone had been left in. Brookstone was naïve and desperate for attention and love, so he went with Richman. 

There it is believed that Brookstone was tortured into submission, manipulated into being an emotionless assassin. This contradicts the ninja's claims that Brookstone is the one who feels the strongest about things.

We believe that the reason why Brookstone shows emotion around the ninja and now the public is because he feels safer. He is a man who, his whole life, was told not to let others know how he's feeling or not to feel things in the first place. 

The plan is to speak to him as soon as we can so we can confirm our believes. The problem we face is that Brookstone was sworn to silence. We fear that if we poke the sleeping bear, we would get mauled. We could say the wrong thing and a switch would flip in his brain and he would attack his interrogators. We also fear that if Assassin's Joy learns that he is in the government's custody, they would either hurt him or kill him.'

Zane shut off his phone and stood up. He walked quickly to Jay's room, knocking once he arrived. 

Jay opened the door, his eyes red and puffy. "Zane?"

"Jay, I am aware that this is bad timing, but I need to speak with you about something."