Chapter Text
Zane gasped for air to calm himself as he ducked into a dark alleyway. Hoping to throw his pursuer of his trail.
He jumped behind a dumpster as he heard the footsteps getting closer, and was very glad to have the ability to turn off his sense of smell for the moment.
The droid crouched in still silence as the footsteps slowed, coming to a halt at the entrance of the alley. He heard movement, they must be looking for him.
It felt like forever before he heard a womans voice growl in annoyance, and the footsteps resumed, lucky running away from him this time.
Zane waited a moment before peaking out from his hiding place. Scanning the area around him for any lingering danger.
This was not how his walk home was supposed to go.
He hoped his father wasn't worrying about him. And that Echo had made it home on his own alright. He should have been home an hour ago, he's normally so punctual, he should be making dinner right now.
The elemental shook his head to refocus himself. He would check on his family later, right now he had to regroup with his teammates.
He pulled up their map in his head. Nya had built trackers into all their comms, and it had been proven to be very useful. Most of his friends were still moving, likely being pursued like he was. He didn't want to risk talking into his comm, it could be dangerous to distract them.
He flicked around the map. Jay and Nya were together, as usual, running west through the downtown area. Kai seemed to be on a rooftop on the northern side of the city, hopefully not drawing to much attention to himself. Cole had made his way back to base, Zane prayed to the First Master he hadn't been followed. Ah, Lloyd was nearby and stationary, good.
Zane pulled his mask up over his face again as he minimized the map, setting route to the Green Ninja's location.
He quickly climbed up onto a nearby rooftop, hoping to avoid interactions with civilians. Making his way twords Lloyd with light footsteps.
He listened to the sounds of the city as he ran, jumping between buildings when necessary. The traffic seemed particularly bad today. And he could hear faint music coming from an open window somewhere in the distance.
Then he heard a faint thump. So soft it was barely audible over the sound of the cars below.
Zane froze and listened, trying to pinpoint the sorce of the odd sound.
"I told you I had one of 'em cornered!" A sharp voice broke his concentration and he whipped around just in time to dodge a sword swung at the back of his head.
He staggered backwards. Zane entered his settings quickly, disguising his voice before speaking.
"I do not wish to fight! But will defend myself if necessary!" He assumed a defensive stance, feet planted and arms raised, ready to use his element if necessary.
He examined the two figures with him on the rooftop. They were both dressed in black, with ripped up jackets adorned with various patches and symbols. They both had a horned mask obscuring their entire face, in red and purple respectively.
The purple one seemed to be the one who had spoken, she was further away. Standing with her hands at her hips. The wicked smile on her mask made it hard for Zane to decipher her emotions, though admittedly he wasn't the best that doing that with non-masked people either.
The red one was also in a battle stance, sword in hand. Seemingly waiting for Zane to make the next move. He had a second sword laying across his back. And his mask was contorted into an angry grimace, which Zane thought fit him very well, considering all he knew about the stranger was that he had just swung his sword at Zane's head.
He glanced down, trying to get information from the patches on the strangers jackets. Mostly symbols, a couple different disconnected letters, lots of studs. Oh, they both shared an acronym.
S.o.G.
Before Zane could think about what that could stand for and red stranger took another swipe at him. His swordsmanship seemed shaky, Zane guessed he hadn't been practicing for very long. Zane dodged the attack easily.
"I repeat: I do not wish to-"
Before he could finish he was forced to jump backwards again. This time by the purple stranger. She had lunged forward, swiping at him violently with clawed brass knuckes. The metal looked brand new, and seemed lightly used.
"Oh shut it ninja!" The purple stranger snapped, taking another swing at Zane, who quickly dodged and ran twords the edge of the roof. He didn't want to hurt them, but he also really didn't want to lie to father again about why he needs repairs.
The red stranger caught up to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him backwards. Zane quickly responded by kicking the back of his knee. Hard enough to knock him over but hopefully not cause any notible damage.
"Oh shit-" The purple stranger stopped chasing him, quickly turning on her heels to help the fallen figure.
By the time they turned back around Zane was gone. Leaving the two strangers alone on the rooftop.
He pulled up his map again. Lloyd had moved slightly, but was still within walking distance.
He caught up to his friend quickly, finding him examining the back wall for a building.
"Hello friend." Zane greeted softly as he walked up to Lloyd, changing his voice back to normal and removing his mask.
Lloyd seemed startled by his presence.
"Oh- Zane! Hi! Sorry, didn't see you there." He chuckled, also removing his mask as the droid approached him.
"You seem uneasy. Is everything alright?" Zane tilted his head to one side with the question. Lloyd had become a lot less anxious after befriending his father, this behavior was no longer normal for him.
"Oh, well- its just-" Lloyd stumbled over his words, his tufted tail curling tightly around one of his legs.
Zane waited patiently, it was rude to interrupt or assume. He decided to give Lloyd time to find his words.
Lloyd sighed.
"It's just... I was chasing one of those guys who jumped us. And I lost them back here, but as I was going to leave I... I found this." He gestured twords the wall.
Zane moved closer to examine it. There was a sigil messily spraypainted on the wall. It depicted an oni face, with a banner wrapped around it.
S.o.G.
"Curious, the same acronym was on the jackets of the strangers I encountered. That can not be a coincidence."
Lloyd nodded.
"I think this is a message, those guys wanted us to see this."
Zane hummed slightly as he scanned the graffiti. That would be a logical conclusion, but it wouldn't help them much if he couldn't decipher the sigil.
"We should make our way back to base, we need to share this with the others." Zane spoke as he finished his scan, turing to his teammate.
Lloyd nodded, pulling up his mask again. Which Zane thought was unnecessary for him, the whole city knew his identity already after all. But he followed his friends lead and pulled up his own mask as they walked back twords the street.
○
"Well have you checked the fridge?"
"Fireball, if you haven't seen him can you just say so."
Zane and Lloyd shared an amused glance before opening the door to the ninja's base.
"On second thought I have seen him actually! He's right there." Kai gestured at Zane as he walked through the door, grinning mischievously.
Cole huffed in annoyance and ruffled Kai's hair as he walked past, earning him a dramatic gasp from the fire elemental.
"There you are Frosty! I was worried about you!" Cole called as he walked twords the two entering ninjas.
"I am quite alright Cole. Just had to make sure we weren't followed on our way back."
"None of you were followed right?" Lloyd asked, glancing around the room at his teammates.
"Nope"
"Nuh uh"
"The bastards couldn't track me if they tried."
Cole just shook his head to awnser the question. Reaching down to gently hold Zane's hand.
Lloyd sighed, seeming to relax slightly.
"Alright, good."
Kai stood up from his spot on their couch, making his way twords the rest of the group.
"So what was all that? Who were those weirdos?"
The room went quiet, no one being quite sure how to awnser.
"The S.o.G., presumably." Zane was the one to speak up.
"S.o.G.? Sog?" Nya questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Zane held one of his hands out, projecting a hologram of the sigil Lloyd had found.
"Concidering that acronym is on their symbol, and the jackets of at least two of their members, it is logical to think that it would be their name."
Jay's eyebrows raised at the sigil.
"Woah that's hella creepy!" He shuttered backwards slightly, ducking behind Nya.
The room went quiet again. The air felt tense.
"Ok I can't be the only one who thinks..." Nya began before trailing off.
"That that looks like Garmadon? Yeah it definitely does." Kai finished for her.
"But Garmadon's chill now right? I though Lloyd had gotten through to him." Cole questioned, glancing twords the Green Ninja.
Lloyd looked uncomfortable, he fidgeted with his hands slightly.
"He is... I don't know, maybe it's just a coincidence." The blonde muttered, avoiding looking at his friends.
Kai sighed heavily.
"Guess this means vacation's over huh?"
Zane raised an eyebrow at him.
"We are not on vacation Kai, there has simply been a less immediate threats due to Garmadon no longer attacking. We still need to go on regular patrols and-"
"Yeah yeah yeah, thanks Snowball but that was rhetorical."
Zane huffed slightly at Kai's interruption. That was very rude, he would have to scold him for that later.
Cole chuckled, squeezing Zane's hand tighter.
Lloyd sighed shakily.
"Let's just... deal with this tomorrow alright? I'll visit my father soon and ask if he knows anything. Until then we can just keep a better eye out on patrols, so we don't repeat today."
The group nodded and muttered in agreement. It had been a long day, and everyone wanted to go home.
Zane quickly broke from the group, kissing Cole on the forehead before running to go change out of his gi. He should have been home hours ago.
As the droid grabbed his backpack and started walking down the street twords his home and couldn't stop thinking about the sigil, and the strangers who had attacked him.
They didn't seem like much of a threat compared to what the ninja were used to, but he knew the longer they were left unchecked the more likely that was to change.
S.o.G.
What could that stand for?
What was the deal with the masks?
He sighed as he rounded a corner. He was to tired for this, he needed to recharge before he thought about this to hard.
Besides, he had promised his family he would make dumplings tonight. And that would have to take priority for the time being.