astra

She let another arrow fly, and watched silently as it pierced through the lower area of the human paper target. Without looking, her hands nimbly switched the normal bow over to a crossbow and then loaded it in its new form. The twang of release was strangely calming, and her muscles yelled in protest as she cocked the bow again, lining up the shot instinctively and following through.

"It's three in the morning, Rea." Cassie said gently from behind her. Ignoring it, Astra packed away her long range equipment and got out the training dummy and a practice katana. "Sleep seems like a good idea."

"I can't sleep." she finally said, slashing across the chest of the dummy.

"Maybe some warm milk and cookies?" her sister suggested, half teasingly.

"No, like I can't sleep." Astra paused to look at Cassie. "At all, like I'm an insomniac or something."

Cassie stared at her strangely, sighed, and then said "Follow me. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

So that was how Astra followed her sister through the maze of corridors to another shop-like room, the counter out front with barstools jutting out from the wall, and a small gate that led behind the counter and to the back room. A girl lounging on a high chair behind the counter quickly fumbled to sit properly, flashing the sisters bright smiles.

"Cass! And...Astra, right?"

"How do you know my name?"

Cassie hit her on the shoulder. "This is Maya, my girlfriend."

Her eyebrows rose a little. "You're queer?"

"I'm bi," Cassie clarified.

Astra nodded. "Not surprised, to be honest."

Cassie opened her mouth at that, but Maya interrupted the silent spluttering with a question of her own. Astra's gaze left the cuffed ends of Cassie's pants and her boots and back to the conversation.

"So you're looking for a comm?"

"A what now?"

Maya laughed lightly and pressed a button behind the counter, popping open the release mechanism for the side gate. "Follow me."

Astra obeyed and walked into the back room, surprised as the drab outer facing had nothing on the inside. The room was stuffed chock full of technology of every kind. One of the walls was completely covered with huge computer screens, a floating desk running along the length of the wall with keyboard and mouses. The other two walls held cabinets, one with glass see through cabinets, the others secured with locks and metal. Maya stepped forward to the sleek black metal cabinets, searching the little labels and unlocked one of cubbies with the name 'Reaper' pressed over the rung in silver.

Maya tugged it open and pulled out a black device mirror to the ones clipped onto Troya and her belts. Then one of the monitors, on the half which wasn't a live map of Ninjago City, lit up. She worked quickly at the keyboard, and Cassie stood behind her, whispering hurriedly. Maya laughed and pushed Cassie away. After a few minutes, Maya had it hooked up to a series of systems and then handed the device to Astra, gesturing the uniform utility belt strapped to her waist.

"Your comm will be essential in battle. It's untraceable, can hook onto your ear or be connected to your bike amongst a ton of other things. I've been working at the tech department here for almost two years and everything you need is here."

Astra's brain registered all of this but focused on one enticing part. "My...bike?"

Cassie groaned. "You spoiled it Mays."

Maya rolled her eyes and pushed them towards the door. "I'm sorry about Riptide, by the way. He was a good guy, even though he never remembered to return any tech gear."

"Yeah." Astra said quietly. "I'm sorry too."

They said goodbye, and Astra followed Cassie along their silent walk, pensive thinking keeping her occupied. They took an elevator down with a press of an unmarked button, and Cassie yawned loudly, sneaking a terribly concealed look at Astra for an assassin. It was strange. She hadn't realised how big of an impact Riptide had had on her life, in four weeks, he'd been a better family than any of her relatives. But instead of that agonising heart wrenching she'd felt initially, Astra just...didn't feel it anymore. Like her emotions, and ability to sleep, had abandoned her.

Her sister stepped out of the elevator first as Astra stared at the gigantic cavern in front of her, the curved dome housing hundreds of vehicles, mostly motorcycles, but still hundreds. To her right was a gigantic circle, which was being operated at that moment. An SOG scout wheeled their bike over to the circle in the ground and fiddled with their comm for a second before the circle pushed up and out of the ground, a tunnel opening above it as the cylinder disappeared above.

Cassie stopped her gawking as they walked over to the neat ranks of bikes, and right in the back row, stood alone was a bike. It was exactly like the others - nothing special, not at all, but Cassie gestured to it vaguely.

"Use your comm to unlock it."

Astra looked at her. "How?"

Cassie sighed and took out her own comm, waved it in the direction of another bike, presumably Troya's. It beeped as the bike's lights flashed. Astra copied the movement and waved her comm at her bike and grinned as it came to life.

"How do you guys have this much money? Wait, do you rob banks on the daily? Because there's no way you could afford this otherwise."

Cassie laughed and Astra turned the bike off. She vaguely knew how to ride one, so lessons weren't needed unless Troya decreed it so.

"You know the supermarket chain, Masters? That's us."

Her brow furrowed. "That's...weird, but okay."

They took the elevator back up to the main floor, and Astra offered to braid Cassie's hair because she really had no idea what to do. She couldn't sleep, and she was sick of training. Surprisingly, her sister accepted and they went back to Cassie's private dorm. Since she was a high ranked member of the SOG, and not a lowly apprentice like hers truly, she got her own room.

Astra volunteered to pop some butter popcorn, promising not to eat until she'd finished her sister's hair. Cassie was terrible at cooking - at least, she had been before she'd disappeared. It also had to do with her fear of fire - of any size, Cassie hated even just looking at a flame. She didn't explain why, but she made a strong point to keep away from it.

One of the few times her parents had shouted at Cassie and not Astra when they were younger was when Astra was too short to monitor the pot bubbling on the stove. Cass had refused to so much as stir the pot, her eyes fixated on the flames in fear and they'd never spoken on it after that. The TV in her room had been switched to Netflix, and Cassie was running through a list of shows before pausing on Gilmore Girls.

"You know, we never got to finish watching it." her sister said somewhat sheepishly as Astra set the bowl down on the coffee table. "Might as well start from the very beginning."

The pilot episode started playing, and Astra quickly combed through her sister's thin hair, parting it and gathering it into two white halves. It felt strange doing something so siblingish. At home, it was usually chores or homework, managing the house or filling in extra slots at her part-time job. Her fingers moving nimbly, criss-crossing the pieces expertly to match the hairstyle hers were in. About a quarter of a way through the first episode, she finished doing her sister's hair and looked proudly at the neat rows of looping and crossed hair.

"Why'd you dye your hair white? Aside from the new identity thing?" Astra crammed in a mouthful of popcorn and flopped against the pillows.

"I always wanted to dye my hair. But Sandy said that I couldn't do it for my violin and piano performances, so the moment I got out of there I went to a hair salon. I guess it was the first mini rebellion against them, for me."

Astra 'hmmmed' and cringed at the screen at Rory and Dean's first interaction. "I can't believe the first guy that Rory met was Dean. I swear he's too perfect for anyone. Kinda creeps me out."

"Who's Kade?"

"What?"

"The kid that helped you out of school, Kade? I read his file—"

"Oh my god, what the hell is up with you people and your files? I'm going to go hang out with Duckman if you keep asking me these questions."

"Duck...man?"

"Titanium? The guy in the walls that makes animatronics?"

"Oh, him. You know you should talk to him more. The guy's a little awkward since he doesn't really hang out with other apprentices, yet he's spent practically his whole life at HQ. People here are still wary of elemental powers, even with him and Garmadon here."

Astra narrowly avoided choking. "He's an elemental master?"

"Yeah. The Master of Metal?" Cassie looked at her, and then stole the bowl back. "He got his powers from his grandfather, Karlof, who used to help us out sometimes. But there was this civil war in Metalonia, and his family came here. Thank god he doesn't speak in third person like Karlof, that guy gave me constant headaches."

"I've never heard of Metalonia."

"Thorn will cover it in one of your GA sessions. We like to keep tabs on other regions." Cassie caught a kernel in her mouth and crunched down on it. "I heard he was cooking something up with Garmadon, designed to do something to elemental masters. He'd appreciate some company and insight to the whole elemental training and machine building."

"Sounds cool."

"Do you have anything else you need to talk to me about? I have to head out soon, I'm sorry, so now is a good time."

Astra made a note to speak (interrogate) Titanium and picked at her fingernails. "Kade's voice dropped."

"Oh?"

"And he plays football now," she said, a little grumpier. "He also has muscles."

"So does everyone."

"That's what he said." Astra groaned, and then buried her face into the throw blankets. "It's not fair." her muffled voice complained.

"How is it not fair?" her sister laughed.

"I dunno. Everything's changed."

"No it hasn't. Annabella Han is still insisting that you try a vegan diet, Zander Loughty is literally the most talented art kid I've seen, and by the way, tell him I say hi to Simon, and Kade just found himself a little confidence. Really, you're the one whose changed the most."

Astra stared at her. "I'm not going to ask why you've been keeping tabs on my friends, but thanks, I guess."

"Anything for my little sister—"

"Get your stinky hands out of my hair."

"Fine, fine. Wait—here comes Kirk! And Sookie!"

nya

"So he is dead." she murmured, scrolling through the rest of the article. She looked to Pixal, who was curled up in the chair opposite her in the library. "I can't believe Dareth was telling the truth."

"He does have a tendency to over-exaggerate." Pixal agreed. "It is strange they'd make us come back with only Monday off, through. I suppose they cleared it up over the weekend, but the media got the spill. It doesn't look good for the school that Wu's away either."

Nya nodded. "Thanks for coming to the library with me. The boys are in my house, probably destroying it since Kai doesn't care and there's so much chest and fist bumping. Did you know we went through two boxes of Monster energy drinks last time? One day, I swear, one day..." Nya trailed off, clicking her pen rapidly.

Pixal frowned deeply as they both continued reading the same article. "Listen to this extract, Nya. 'According to an inside source in the Ninjago Police Department, they found traces of DNA from Astra Harlow, a student at Ninjago High, and Kade Gorski. They did not find anything else except from a single card with an insignia stamped it. It is believed to be associated with the Sons of Garmadon. But that's not all, the crime scene investigators also found a green scale that suggests as link to the Serpentine gang."

Although Nya was intrigued with this, she was cautious enough to say, "Pixal, we really shouldn't get involved with this."

"Tea?" her friend offered a thermos out to her which she accepted readily. "I understand. It is just frustrating, especially since Master Wu told me to trust him. And now he's dead."

"Wu told you to trust our dead history teacher?"

Pixal inclined her head. "I...also have something else to confess."

Nya cocked her head and tightened her grip on the thermos.

Pixal took in a heavy breath, and calmly said "I am an android."

"You're an android?" Blinking slowly, Nya fixed Pixal with a hard glare. "You're joking, right?"

Then Pixal drew up the left sleeve of her sweater, tapped on the inside of her forearm twice and a panel opened up. Nya gulped down her tea before it could shoot out of her nose and looked closer. Inside were switches, metal parts and wires, twisting mazes and...Pixal was telling the truth. She fell back into her chair and blew her fringe out of her eyes and then glanced at her phone.

"I have to go walk Ryu now, before he goes stir crazy inside the house. But this conversation is not finished. Girl, you do not just drop a bomb like that on me." Nya hurried out of the library, her head spinning as she picked up a call from her brother.

"What is it this time Kai?"

"Are you coming to pick up Ryu or not, cause I'm thinking of holding a party here pretty soon and—"

"I'm on my way already. And this is the third party you've had since we got back! Misako is bound to notice that you've got an abnormal amount of late nights."

"Nah, I'm too good at hiding my baggy eyes. Want me to teach you?"

"Excuse me? Just—ugh, I'll be home in ten minutes."

Ending the call with a sigh of disappointment, Nya sped up her pace a little, walking through a relatively safe neighbourhood, which, still she wouldn't have attempted at night. Even then, an evening chill was beginning to creep over and she increased her pace even more when she turned a corner and noticed a black car slowly coming down the street. Shrugging it off, she made her journey a couple minutes quicker by turning her walk into a jog.

Tossing a glance over her shoulder, her body tensed as the car was still following her at a healthy, but suspicious distance. Luckily she was on her street and she quickly unlocked the door, shutting it behind her with a relieved sigh. Yipping and a slight weight on her toes, as well as pawing at her shoes let her know that Ryu was very much ready for his walk. She squatted to say hello, and then tossed her study materials into the stylish built-in cupboard in the wall that was hers to organise here.

"It's going to be a short walk, buddy." Nya whispered to Ryu, clipping on his lead and gripping her key and hesitating over the pepper spray on the counter. She took one look outside where she could see the car loitering and transferred Ryu's lead to her left hand, and the spray to her right. "Change of plans, Ryu. Let's go to our beach, huh?"

Ryu barked sharply, and Nya walked to the backyard, passing the gaming room where Cole, Kai, Lloyd, Zane and Jay were yelling over each other. I didn't know Jay was going to be here. She checked her appearance in the mirror, brushing flyaway strands of hair to the side and patting at her cold-flushed cheeks. Then, with a long gaze at the back of Jay's head which really should not have happened at all, Nya led Ryu out to the stretch of their private beach.

The river air was crisp and chilling, and Ryu barked loudly as he ran up and down the beach, Nya running after him with a laugh. He paused every so often to sniff at a washed stick or rock, prancing happily with innocent nature. Nya, although she knew there was no way whoever was driving the car could be following her on private land, she was wary and the hairs on the back of her neck were not standing up because of the cold.

With the experience of a sister knowing when a brother's watchful eyes were spying on you, Nya dropped Ryu's leash to retie her sneakers and immediately regretted it as Ryu dashed off with a happy yip towards the public garden of the community. Nya swore, palmed the spray and ran off after him. Although Ryu was a small puppy for his breed, the dog was making an abnormal amount of noise for a puppy as tiny as him. Nya found him in no time and was admonishing him with hard eyes and a hushed whisper when a branch from the tree above snapped.

She let out a scream as she dived to the side, cradling Ryu in her arms. Silence followed, only punctuated by her heavy breaths. Nya scrambled to her feet, and froze momentarily at the figure in the tree above her. She was wearing all black, a hood and mask, the only unique feature was her hair, which was done in two braids and dyed white that slipped out of the hood. The girl's eyes flicked to hers, and then she melded with the tree and darkening sky, and she was gone.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Nya tugged on the lead. "Holy...crap. C'mon Ryu, let's go home. This was not the Sunday night I predicted."

Ryu, still completely unaware of the previous danger they'd been in, happily obliged in the walk back. Nya was pensively silent as she locked the gate to the beach, and the door to their backyard. She went through the house and made sure everything was locked before sliding into the kitchen and began making herself a hot cup of coffee. She'd suffer the after-effects later, because it was worth the warmth and bitterness that cut through her fear-frozen thoughts.

"Turn the news on, now!" shouted Jay from the other room. The boys loudly clamoured against it, but there was scuffling and thumps, and somehow Jay ended up victorious with the remote, changing it to the news just as Nya walked in.

Gayle Gossip, a well known reporter was standing outside the mayor's house, staring at the camera, her mouth slightly agape. She flinched and then looked at the camera with a pasted smile.

"Hi everyone, I'm Gayle Gossip from NGTV, bringing you, our loyal citizens and faithful watchers, up to speed with everything Ninjago!" The pink clad reporter glanced back to the shadowed frame of the Mayor's house. "But tonight, I'm deeply saddened to say the news I'm bringing you is not as light mooded as our usual reports. At seven-thirty four this evening, eight minutes ago, it was released to media companies that the Mayor of Ninjago City, and his wife, were found dead in their living room."

The room shut up real quick.

Gossip took in a slow breath, and looked back at the camera. "Their daughter, Harumi Brassard discovered their bodies when she came back home after a night out with her friends. Harumi, I'm so sorry you had to experience something so traumatising, and everyone at NGTV is sending you our deepest condolences."

Nya slowly sat down on one of the couches and threw her legs over Zane's, her grip tightening on the coffee as Gayle continued. Lloyd was searching for his phone, muttering under his breath like a madman.

"The information the police have is minimal right now, but it certainly is interesting that the elections were due to take place in a few weeks. Additionally, the death of highschool teacher Vance Spirdon at Ninjago High is putting everyone on the fence. Citizens, I urge you to stay safe and keep watching NGTV for hourly updates along with our articles releases. That's all for now, and I hope your day is as good as ours!" Gayle's harried expression clearly contradicted that last statement.

Nya's hand crossed to her mouth, and someone took her coffee from her.

"What...the fuck?" Kai whispered, as an ad came on.

"I told you we should have done something!" Cole snapped, his eyes going to Jay's. "Wu specifically told us that Garmadon was probably going to attack people who are higher up in society, and gosh darn, the Mayor seems pretty powerful!"

"What could we have done to stop it? Give me one good solution to this. One way we could have prevented this."

"I—" Cole clenched his jaw and pointed to the TV where kids were playing with sand happily. "That doesn't change the fact that our powers aren't working. At all."

Nya felt this was a good time to step in. "Look, Cole, Jay's point was the most logical decision. Did you want us to become ninja or something and help out? I know it's frustrating that our powers aren't working, believe me, at least you had better signs that they were there in the first place. With Wu gone, there's nothing we can do. Nothing."

Everyone fell silent.

"Garmadon's probably neutralising us, right?" Lloyd said softly. "My dad has elemental powers, which means he probably knows I have them too. And it's safe to assume he knows you lot have them too. The Sons of Garmadon have a bigger reach than anyone thinks, and any tiny detail won't go unnoticed. I don't know how, but you guys—" he pointed to the other guys, "Are losing track of your power."

"Wu said that it was because—"

"Well, Wu was wrong. I can't do anything, not even stick my finger in a fire." Kai ran his hands through his hair. "Maybe he's got a machine nullifying us? Or someone...I don't know."

"Vengestone." Zane said quietly. Nya looked to him, as she recalled that conversation in the monastery weeks ago. "The power to nullify any elemental's gift."

"How?" Jay spluttered. "There are a million ways he could be doing it."

Zane shrugged, his ice blue eyes looking faraway through the window at the dark sky. "I think we should all stay the night at Kai and Nya's house. I will message Pixal to see if she can come over, because tonight, I do not think any of us are safe."

His chilling gaze swept around the room.

"Not anymore."

A/N: damn zane, keep it coming with those dramatic lines. Right! That's another (well, double) murder down! Finally we got things r o l l i n g. I am dying inside at the crazy amount of plot trouble i put myself into because I have to solve these ridiculous situations i put them in and its hurting my head. Fuck. uh, don't really have much to say? Just get ready for more gore and yeah :)

-dommie out