Ninjago: The Wishing Arc (6)

Chapter 100: Once A Thief, Forever A Crook

The Commissioner stormed back into the police station, the doors slamming shut behind him with a loud thud that echoed through the dimly lit hall. His frustration was palpable as he took a deep breath and turned to face the man sitting casually in a chair, legs crossed and arms folded as if he owned the place. The man's nonchalant demeanor only served to irritate the Commissioner further.

"Looks like you don't have an eye for this sort of work," the man said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "You're never gonna catch them, Commish. If you wanna catch a ninja, you have to know a ninja."

The Commissioner's brow furrowed deeply, his glare fixed on the man who sat before him

Ronin. 

"You're no better than the crooks you catch," the Commissioner snapped back, trying to maintain his authority despite the situation. "I'll find them. I've already got that bookworm, Misako, in custody."

Ronin raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed by the Commissioner's bluster. "But what about the Sensei?" he asked, his voice calm and collected, almost as if he was enjoying the Commissioner's discomfort.

The Commissioner's scowl deepened. "Wu? He was last seen entering the Library of Domu, but no one saw him come out," he muttered, the frustration in his voice clear. "Those—those ninja. They get all that power and then use it to do what? Rob the only place that loved them. Spoiled brats!" His voice grew louder as he vented his anger, but then he paused, his tone becoming more measured as he asked, "So, uh, you sure you can bring them to justice?"

Ronin uncrossed his legs and stood up from the chair, a confident smirk playing on his lips. He walked slowly toward the Commissioner, his footsteps echoing in the quiet room. "All I need in return is a clean slate," Ronin uttered, his smirk widening as he continued, "so I can pile all that fresh money you're gonna give me onto it."

The Commissioner, seeing a potential solution to his problem, nodded in agreement. "Catch all six of them, Mr. Ronin, and you can have anything you want," he said, his voice firm as he extended the offer.

Ronin's smirk faltered slightly as he corrected the Commissioner. "It's eight. There's eight of them now. And he'll probably be the toughest one to catch," Ronin said, his tone growing more serious.

The Commissioner, taken aback, asked, "Who?"

"Morro,"

-

Outside, Lloyd and Zane sit down on a beach, as Lloyd secretly watches the Library.

"You have a nice evening. I hope you found all you needed," The Guard at was at the front door said to a middle aged woman, who nodded "Oh, I did,"

As she walks away, the guard goes back in the library, and locks the front door, 

"That was the last person," Zane notifined Lloyd, through their earpiece. Zane was inside the library, hiding behind a bookshelf, so soon as the guard walked pass the shelf, Zane hit him with a heavy book. He caught the guard before his body dropped to the ground and carried him to the storage, tying him up and taking his kegs.

Zane unlocked the door and Lloyd slipped in, "The book he was reading is still here," He said, walking over to a table that had a opened book on it, Lloyd raised his gaze "That camera took the footage of Sensei,"

"Since we don't want to be spotted, I hacked into the library's central computers and disabled all cameras," Zane said

Lloyd sat down and flipped through the pages "Good, hm....The Teapot of Tyrahn..uh, it's written in a foreign language," He said as he stared down at the text

"Let me translate," Zane said, "The Teapot of Tyrahn, an ancient relic from the enchanted realm with a magical seal that can trap mere mortals, powerful creatures, and even entities,"

"Mere mortals? That may explain why people are suddenly disappearing," Lloyd muttered, thoughtfully.

"And here's something more. Once a subject is freed from imprisonment, the only way to destroy it is by—" Zane stopped reading when a warning sign showed on his screen "Warning. An unknown presence is hacking into our system," Said Pixal

"Can you isolate the source?" Zane asked, though Lloyd couldn't hear it

"It's coming from inside the building," Pixal responded.

Then, all of a sudden, Zane could hear Ronin's vocie  "Look at that, Tin Can. I'm in your head. Sorry, didn't wanna to have to come to this, but a job's a job, right, buddy?"

Lloyd immediately got up from the chair as Zane shuts down, his eyes going into a dark pale blue and his head looking down. "What's wrong? Why did you stop reading? Zane?"

Lloyd jerked his head up as the camera turn on and so does a siren, but before he could say anything Ronin's voice came in through an intercom. "I took the liberty to close off the wing, Lloyd. Been meaning to say, love the TV spot. What was it you guys said? "Reading is the first step to every adventure?"

Lloyd cluched his fist "Come on, Zane we've got to get of here," Lloyd tried to get Zane's body to move, until he finally just carried him and ran towards the door.

Lloyd's green eyes widen as metal bars covers the doors and windows and Ronin spoke through the intercom again, "Yeah, they installed those to keep the bad guys out. Or was it the good guys in? I don't remember for the life of me. Which are you, Lloyd? A good guy or bad guy?"

Lloyd put Zane's body down as he glared around his surrounding "We were framed. You know us, Ronin. We would never do any of that stuff,"

Ronin, through the intercom responded with "You also know me, and I'm getting paid an awful lot to bring you guys in," 

Lloyd spins on one foot, slips a throwing star out of his belt and threw it at a dark corner.

Footsteps were heard, as Ronin was out with Lloyd's throwing star in his hand, "How's Nya? Boy, I missed her,"  

Lloyd summons his green energy and in a flash, lunges towards Ronin, who dodges his attack "Let's make this easy. I'll take you back to the station, you can answer their questions and clear your name," Ronin uttered, through the various attacks Lloyd was throwing at him. 

Lloyd kicked him to a bookshelf "Not until we stop the threat. And you're gonna pay for what you did to Zane.... But not today,"

He looks at a free window that wasn't yet guarded with metal bars but before he could jump towards it, Ronin lunched a rope at him. Lloyd tried to break it but it electrocuted him and made him passed out.

Ronin smirks as he says "Looks like I didn't miss you, Lloyd. Two down, six to go,"