nya

"You look pretty," Pixal commented with a smile. Nya laughed, giving her friend a spin of her dress. "Annabella has done a wonderful job."

"She has," Nya echoed, taking a quick glance at herself in the mirror, almost feeling vain until she was stunned by her own reflection. "I think the last time I properly wore a dress was when I was like, five."

Blue had always been her favourite colour. Kai got red, Nya got blue, and now with their powers it felt more symbolic than she'd realised before. Bells really had outdone herself with the ball gown, a different one to the sleek, tight fitting outfit she'd used before. Black actually didn't look too bad on Nya with dark hair and tanned skin, although she would have felt more comfortable in something blue, the dress code was black and white with the Emperor's colours - gold and red.

"Have you seen what they're wearing tonight?" Annabella had fussed, a ruler between her teeth as she'd made more adjustments at yesterday's final fitting. "No way is some cocktail dress going to pass. Lucky for you, someone knows about dress transformations."

"You, I'm guessing?" Nya had grinned, twisting around to peer at the zipper down her back.

"Me," Annabella had agreed amicably. "Just you wait. If you need a quick change of clothes, undo the zipper and you know the pleat on your under dress? Undo that, and you'll be set."

"Okay." Nya had frowned down at her dress somewhat skeptically. How could a ball gown become something else? She could barely run in it. But Nya trusted Annabella, and Pixal did too. They both had these back up dresses under their massive ball gowns.

"I do feel like they might cumber us during fighting, though," Pixal admitted, shaking Nya out of the memory. "Ball gowns are so..."

"Big! I feel like I'm swimming in fabric constantly."

"But they're pretty," Pixal smiled at her own gown, twirling to give the wide skirts a flutter effect. Nya clapped grandly and joined Pixal in ditzy spinning, laughing as they stumbled into each other like kids on a little too much Kool Aid.

"Dresses away!" commanded Annabella, striding into the dorm. "The boys have their tuxes all packed after pretending to be penguins for an hour straight, and they better not be rumpled tomorrow. We still have hair and makeup, final mission briefs and—"

"Ciaga, take a deep breath. You've done a great job on these dresses, I think I've got about twenty hidden knife pockets inside and out. We've been preparing for ages, and the only thing that could potentially kill me are these heels." Nya held up a pair of elegant, black strappy heels, glancing at her sneakered feet underneath her ballgown. No way would she be wearing trainers to the freaking Emperor's Ball, but she also would probably snap her ankles in high heels.

"Alright, fine. Get some rest, you've got to get up nice and early for the first recon mission." Bells admitted with a sigh, looking more relaxed. Nya and Pixal drew their curtains, carefully taking off the ball gowns to hang up on the racks at the end of the dorm. Rema poked her head into the door with a smile, her own black dress swishing as she walked on six-inch high heels flawlessly.

"How?" Nya's jaw dropped in amazement. "Teach me your ways."

o o o

"Delivery guy approaching Roiya and Lotus."

Nya kept her back flat against the brick wall, slouching a little as she raised the rim of the orange juice bottle to her lips and drank slowly. Her part of surveillance was nearly over, a relief since she'd been up since five-thirty that morning and she really wanted a proper break and a good shower. The last preparations for the Emperor's Ball were being carted and carried inside the back entrance of the palace - the commercial side. Brushing down her Master's Supermarket employee jacket, Nya headed for her next spot, heaving a semi-full box of red ribbons into her arms for a prop.

"Oni Squad has just taken off in the Nightwing." Troya informed the Dragons calmly. Nya prayed inside to the First Master that everything would be okay, and that Kai wouldn't somehow meet Harumi on his way to the Scythe of Earth. She had her own plans for Wu's other right hand. Plans different to her brother's. His hatred for Harumi was something else, a blinded mess of rage and revenge. Nya's was more calculated. You didn't mess with the Smiths and get away with it like it was nothing.

Their father was still weak, but nearly completely healed like Kai was. He only dribbled blood occasionally when he rolled around in his wheelchair. Nya continued her mapped path, weaving through other workers, real ones, with her noodle spice box blocking the small metal cylinder strapped to her waist. Her collapsible trident, aside from her powers, were the only things she was going in with if she was attacked.

"Raven, your shift is over. Lato is coming in to relieve you. Leave your cover at the ribbon tent and then make your way to the shuttle bus for Master's employees on loan." Valley instructed Nya, her microphone picking up the clacking of her keys. "Do not talk to anyone, under any conditions."

Nya was reminded once again that this wasn't training, this wasn't a round in the Sim where they could mess up and restart, this was real. And if she messed up, she'd be dead. She kept walking to one of the pop-up canopy tents, the big sign hanging out front reading 'Ribbons'. Depositing the box on the camping table, she followed Valley's instructions and headed for the shuttle bus that was full of other SOG agents undercover, also changing shifts.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Zane walking towards the ribbon tent, except he looked nothing like Zane. He and Pixal had been experimenting with their appearances. Normally, at HQ, they tended to stay in what was called their 'original' forms, what they had both looked like previously. Now, they were tweaking smaller features like eye and hair colour, the shape of their nose, eyes and mouth, subtle differences to help their cover. Nya, Rema, Jay had to make do with AI masks - similar illusionary tech to the Sim, but they were very fragile and temperamental.

His blonde hair was slicked back now and changed to a light brown, blue eyes switched to muddy green, and he looked a bit shorter than his normal 6'0 height. Nya let herself relax for a moment, releasing the tension in her shoulders and the cramping in her legs. Unknowingly, her control over her powers slipped as well and someone's water bottle exploded in the backseat. She didn't have to look back to know that the water was rising from the wet puddle on the bus floor and into the remainder of the water bottle.

"Thanks Raven." said a voice she didn't recognise. Nya glanced back and smiled in the general direction apologetically.

It took half an hour through heavy traffic to get to the closest Master's supermarket. The 'employees' pooled out and immediately split off to their new tasks. Notia had sent out their new assignments when the bus parked, so some agents put on aprons and got behind the counters on weary feet, some started restocking shelves, but the majority went the same way as Nya did into the backroom and down single-person elevators which took a while.

As soon as she was free from the crowd, Nya ran for her dorm. She flipped the switch for the water heater and possibly had the best shower of her life. Working for seven hours straight with no breaks (Wu really needed better employee policies) was not fun and hot water went beyond relaxing for her and was like a massage. Feeling ten times more refreshed and awake, Nya dried her hair and then settled down in her desk chair, opening her SOG laptop to type out her mission report for that day.

At some point a sandwich had been delivered to their dorm door (Astra would have hurled it across the room), and it was dry but filling to eat. Once she finished her report, Nya stretched and submitted it with a sigh. That was when the dorm door burst open, and Rema, Annabella and Pixal arrived in a flurry of makeup brushes and hair products.

o o o

"Ta-da!" Bells sang proudly, spinning Nya around in her chair. "Like it?"

Nya tried to find the words, reaching up to touch the eyeshadow around her eye. Annabella swatted her hand away and stepped back to admire her handiwork.

"I love it," Nya stood with a beam, dressed in track pants and a sweatshirt. "How do you—" she mimed putting on makeup with a laugh, "How do you do it so well?"

"Practice," Bells answered simply. "Now go get changed, I still have to do Rema's and Pixal's makeup."

"I can fend for myself." Pixal suggested. It was shot down almost immediately.

"No! It's all about the experience, gosh, now hurry up! You need to leave in two hours." Bells pushed Nya towards the rack of dresses and made Rema sit down, screwing up her face to examine the blonde. "Silver."

Two hours later, Annabella had indeed delivered. Three girls dressed up like they were going to prom instead of a recon mission risking their lives stood in an enormous underground cavern by five separate cars. Nya pushed down the urge to touch her face, knowing ruining her makeup wouldn't be as bad as messing up the FaceSims currently stuck to their faces.

Pixal was the first to get into a car. The hem of her black ball gown swept dramatically as she slid into the backseat of the Rolls. Her blonde - now brown - hair was pulled back into a loose side braid threaded with golden string. Nothing too special. A face you'd see and lose in the crowd of all the other partiers. Annabella has somehow captured that and managed to make them look subtly beautiful and just as hidden in a crowd.

Rema's car trundled forwards next. Her dress was black as well, a sleek cut that billowed out ever so slightly as she walked. Her hair was left as it was - elegant waves cascading down the open cut back of her dress. Nya sucked in a hesitant breath and then bowed her head as she arranged her skirts in the backseat so they didn't crumple. The fabric was black like the others, but webbed with a deep red that made the waist-down part of the dress look like a red and black spiderweb.

The cars arrived in twenty minute intervals.

Pixal at eight.

Zane at eight twenty.

Rema at eight forty.

Jay at nine.

Nya at nine twenty.

But Jay was still there at nine twenty when Nya got out of the Range Rover.

Curly hair smoothed down and brushed like he was a different person, Jay looked entirely comfortable in a tight fitted tux as he talked to a stranger. The Face Sim had gotten rid of his freckles and his dimples that she loved when he grinned all big. His eyes weren't lightning blue, a dull brown like soup that made everything about him seem off. Well, that was the point of the technology anyways, but it was still unsettling.

It felt so wrong to just ignore him and keep walking, but she knew better. She'd been trained for every situation possible, they'd said, and they better be right, because she was voluntarily jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Two guards bowed as she continued a slightly less wobbly walk than normal into the grand foyer, a sparkling chandelier dangling from above. A red carpet ran along the corridors going left and right of the entrance.

Nya's stomach lurched as she handed over her invitation. She remembered this. The first few seconds of the camera feed had been jerky and fuzzy as Morro ran, but this corridor, and the light falling from the chandelier - she knew this. So many people had died that day and Wu was organising a ball, a celebration in the very same palace.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you alright?" pressed a very concerned butler. Nya nodded and sniffed at the air delicately, taking the flute of champagne with a shaky hand.

Immediately, she had to force down the urge to search for the rest of Dragon Squad, look for Rema's blonde hair, Zane and Pixal's disguised heads, and Jay's darkened locks. Instead, Nya gazed at the crowd and picked out faces she knew. An old guy who was known for his love of tradition and support for Wu's old ways, Cornellius Haggard, was trying to woo girls about twenty years younger than him.

She was glad to see the girls walk away, relaxing the hold on her glass and her purse containing her trident. Other more influential people swept across the ballroom in dresses and suits as equally fancy as theirs, shadowed eyes and painted lips, tailcoats and ties, it looked like something out of a fantasy daydream.

But this was very much reality.

Nya didn't dare continue staring, so instead, she began mindless loitering like a lot of the lower class guests were doing - holding wine glasses and shuffling around the edges of the ballroom. She wondered where Wu had scrounged up these ancient snobby nobles who looked as if they would crumble to dust or pass out any second now. They were also incredibly rude to everyone around, especially the waiters and helpers.

"Wu should be arriving in an hour. For now, keep mingling and do your best to keep undercover. Don't mess up your FaceSims." Cassie suddenly said. Nya nearly dropped her glass and shivered nervously, following their leader's instructions.

Through half an hour of mingling, Nya had casually spotted Pixal and Jay in between introducing herself as Lavea Hartright to a few other people who didn't quite seem comfortable here. More waiters were making their way through the crowd with platters of horderves served hot and cold to all the guests. It seemed like nothing special was happening apart from dancing.

There weren't any suspicious groups splitting off, there weren't politicians or nobles conspiring, there wasn't anything Nya could see that was out of the ordinary at a ball. The band started a new song, slow and sweet, a melody that drew some of the minglers onto the dance floor with their partners. Nya watched on wistfully, head swaying with the music as the couples span like spinning tops.

"Care for a dance?" a voice butted in on her lonely thoughts. A guy about her age in an impeccable black suit was stretching a hand out to her. Her. Why?

"I, uh—"

"Wonderful." He tugged her towards the floor because she could protest (which was really rude) and somehow timed it perfectly so they spun right into the middle of the ballroom. Skirts fluttering, Nya kept her gaze away from the stranger's alluring eyes in a desperate attempt to find her way out of this. Eventually, it became borderline rude on her part not to meet his eyes for the next section of the traditional Ninjagen dance.

Stranger bowed, letting Nya spin around him, twirling her shirts until she was behind him. Then, in one smooth maneuver, he turned, picked Nya up and lifted her off the ground in an airborne arc. For a second, she felt like she was flying, and then he set her gently down on the marble floor again as she had to bear the pressure of his hand on her waist.

"Name?"

"Hartright. Lavea Hartright."

"Luke. Pleased to meet you, Lavea."

The name rang a bell.

Nya reluctantly replied. "Yeah, pleased to meet you too."

"You don't sound pleased, Lav." 'Luke' snorted, spinning her out and back in without skipping a beat.

"Don't call me Lav," Nya pulled a face in disgust, readying the fib to carry on the conversation. "My brother calls me Lav and it's the most annoying thing ever."

"Say, would you prefer, Nya?" Luke smirked.

She didn't hesitate for a second, masking her face with calm as she pulled out a tiny dagger from her waist pocket with that dance move and held it to his neck as they performed the Ninjagen Waltz to sombre, dramatic music.

"Ask him how he knows." Maya demanded. "Now, before he tries to get away. I'll contact Lato and Lotus for backup."

"If my name was that, how would you know?" Nya let a cunning smile slid onto her face, mirroring the all-knowing one on his. "Reggie Fuvanes. Son of Ash Fuvanes, Master of Smoke."

The smirk disappeared from his face.

"I'm not stupid," Nya tried not to worry about being yelled at for revealing too much information - was this too much? But she'd recognised her target shortly after his strange, sudden appearance. The power of Smoke allowed for teleportation. "How do you know, Reggie?"

"I've been trying to contact the Sons of Garmadon for days," he shrugged, apparently now back on a path he liked. Where it was an even playing field, except Nya had a knife to the throat and he knew her true identity. "I do my own research, Lavea."

Nya harrumphed softly and let him spin her under his arched arm, returning in front of him with a furious expression. "What do you want?"

"You can tell your friends to back off for starters," Reggie ignored her question adamantly, "And I'll tell you my request after."

"After what?"

The music stopped, and he titled his head behind her, to where a grand staircase with a thin balcony jutting out above the stairs.

"After Wu finishes his speech."

—

A/N: iva don't kill me for reggie i swear i had it before dude. Anyways, am watching ranboo sob over a full canon death, feeling good :) so uh, master of smoke anyone? Will this book be me introducing kids of the og masters? Who knows. Im so sorry this was updated so late school threw em off a balcony and hit me with a bat.

This chapter's song is 'toxic' but the version by 2wei cause it slaps

This chapter's Q is: nya vs reggie fight, who would win (equal training, different powers)

My A: mmmmm i actually dunno cause nya could like 'trap' the smoke out but reggie is pretty fast so like bruv

-dommie out