A Second Chance

Part 87 - Snakes again

I woke up the next morning.

I had a quick breakfast and decided on how to spend the day today. 

Something caught up to my mind as a thing to be done early: the stressful incident at the noodle house proved that walking around the surface was getting way too risky for my cover. 

I needed a secure backup route to move around Ninjago City just in case my civilian disguise fails completely. The absolute safest place to travel without being spotted by the Ninja or Viper drones was definitely underground, and hey, if Deathstroke figured out I wasn't at the desert, this was a good nuclear option. 

I packed a heavy flashlight, grabbed some basic survival supplies, and headed straight for the old sewer maintenance access near the industrial district. 

The heavy iron cover shrieked loudly as I dragged it across the cracked concrete pavement. 

I climbed down the rusty metal ladder into the damp darkness and clicked my flashlight on to illuminate the gloom. The smell was absolutely terrible and made my eyes water, but it was a small price to pay for total secrecy. Besides, I was kind of used to this my days as a ninja. 

I navigated the twisting maze of concrete pipes until I reached a deep section where the walls turned into natural cave rock. This was the hidden entrance to the ancient Serpentine tunnel system that stretched across the entire continent like a massive web. 

I walked for about an hour deeper into the earth while keeping a very close eye on the moving shadows. I knew the Serpentine security patrols were incredibly stealthy these days, and I did not want to startle them.

"You should not be down here, s-s-s-surface dweller," a raspy voice echoed suddenly from the darkness ahead of me. 

Three heavily armed Hypnobrai warriors dropped seamlessly from the ceiling and surrounded me with their sharp spears raised. 

"Oh, it's so good to see you guys again! I'm not looking for any trouble today, guys," I said calmly while keeping my hands perfectly still in the air. "I just need to speak with Skales, because I'm a very old friend of his."

The lead warrior hissed loudly and pushed the cold tip of his spear much closer to my chest. "Our glorious leader doesn't take unannounced visitors, especially humans hiding their faces in the dark," the snake hissed aggressively. 

I slowly reached up and took off my heavy coat they could see my face clearly in the bright flashlight beam. The warriors gasped in perfect unison and immediately lowered their sharp weapons toward the ground.

"The Blue Ninja is actually alive after all this time?!" the leader asked with his red eyes wide in pure shock. 

"It's a really long and complicated story, but I'm definitely still breathing," I replied with a tired but genuine smile. "Can you guys escort me to Skales so we can have a proper conversation about a mutual problem?" 

They nodded quickly, clearly still stunned, and led me through a massive stone archway into the glowing underground city of Ouroboros.

The subterranean city looked absolutely incredible with bright crystal lanterns lighting up the massive, sprawling cavern. There were like cars, and some three story buildings! Damn, even this place modernized a bit as well. 

Serpentine families were trading happily at busy market stalls and young snakes were playing energetic games in the open public squares. 

They really built a beautiful and peaceful society down here after all the crazy wars we fought on the surface. We walked up a large flight of carved stone steps toward the main leadership hall overlooking the city.