Lloyd hadn't said a single word since they left the ally. Besides what was he suppose to say?

The smell of fish and salt water filled the air as the two of them approached the pier. Lloyd began to look around. It had been a long time since he had been to the pier and not that much had changed. Most of the pier consisted of warehouses, most of them owned by Cyrus Borg, Ninjago's most successful business entrepreneur. The rest of the pier consisted of docks that several people used for fishing.

The man in front of him stopped in front of a warehouse. It looked just like the other ones except on the side of the building there was a small hoop attached to the wall and a small rack of basketballs underneath it.

The man opened up the warehouse doors. "This is it." He said. Lloyd walked into the warehouse; the man following close behind.

To the left was the kitchen. The stove, fridge, and counters had been lined up across the wall and across from that was a dining table surrounded by six chairs.

To the right was the living room. There was a small tv pushed up against the wall with a coffee table sitting directly in front of it. On both sides of the coffee table were two matching armchairs, and in front of the coffee table was an old couch. Sitting on the couch was a girl with short black hair.

The man walked over to the couch and sat down. The girl, who was watching tv, turned her head. Lloyd walked closer, standing behind one of the armchairs.

"Where is everyone?" The man asked.

"Jay and Zane went grocery shopping and Kai has locked himself in the planning room again." The girl explained.

"Huh." The man paused, "Kai didn't say anything bad about me, did he?"

"He did." The girl leaned forward, "He came out of the planning room shortly after you left making this absurd claim about you being a traitor."

"Oh."

"Look, Cole, I've known you a long time and I know you wouldn't betray us."

"Thanks, Nya." Cole turned in his seat and gestured for Lloyd to come closer. Reluctantly, Lloyd shuffled closer. He was right next to Cole now and he didn't dare make eye contact. "This is..." Cole paused, "What's your name?"

"Lloyd" Lloyd whispered.

"What?"

"It's Lloyd." He repeated louder.

"Okay," Nya started leaning back, "Now that we have introductions out of the way. You mind telling me why you brought a kid to the hideout?" Before Cole could answer the door to the warehouse opened and two new people walked in, each one carrying several plastic bags.

The first one had shiny orange hair and sky blue eyes. He wore a white T-shirt with a blue jacket, jeans, black tennis shoes, and he was laughing at something the second person had said. The second person had combed light blonde hair and ice blue eyes. He wore a white long sleeve shirt, matching sweatpants, and white tennis shoes.

"So, how was shopping?" Nya asked turning her attention to the two newcomers.

"It was alright," the one in blue began setting his bags down, "didn't get mauled to death by Christmas shoppers, so that was a plus." Nya nodded before standing up to help the two. So far, neither of them had noticed Lloyd's presence.

"How'd you like shopping, Zane?" Cole asked standing up to help them as well. The one in white brought his head up, his eyes widening slightly. After a moment, he shrugged.

"The line at the register was long. Other than that instance, it was fine." By that time, Cole had reached the dining room table and begun to help put away the groceries.

It was also at that time that the guy in blue had spotted Lloyd. The man set down the food he had in his hands and walked over. Lloyd's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He tried to look for an escape, but it was too late, for the guy in blue had already reached him and his hand was reaching for a gun in a holster that Lloyd hadn't seen when he walked in.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? And what do you want?" Lloyd panicked and closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the bullet falling into the chamber. It wasn't the first time a gun was pointed at him and Lloyd doubted it would be the last.

"Jay, wait!" Nya yelled.

"He's a friend!" Cole shouted.

"How can you be sure?" Jay asked.

"If he was going to do something he would have already done it!" Nya explained.

"Jay, calm down!" Cole started, "I brought him inside! It's alright!" The room went silent and Lloyd opened his eyes. Nya was over at the dining room table, her arms crossed, Zane had frozen in the midst of putting away groceries, and Cole was standing behind an armchair.

Jay sighed moving his hand away from the holster. "Alright," He started pointing a finger at Cole, "but the second he tries anything, I will not hesitate."

"Got it," Cole replied. Jay turned around and stuck out his hand.

"Sorry about that. Never know when there's a spy hired to inform on you." Lloyd nodded and shook his hand. "I'm Jay, the guy over there is Zane, and you've already met Cole and Nya." The room's atmosphere changed into something lighter and Lloyd's tension eased slightly.

As the rest of the groceries were put away, Nya spoke, "Oh! Cole, you never did answer my question."

"Question?" Jay asked looking at the two of them.

"Why I brought Lloyd here," Cole answered.

"Well?"

"Well, it sorta kinda has to do with her."

"What do you mean sorta kinda?" Jay asked.

"One of her men were chasing him," Cole gestured to Lloyd with his hand as he spoke, "I don't know why"

"You know you're going to have to inform Kai on that," Zane stated.

Cole sighed, "Do I have to?" Everyone nodded. "Can't one of you guys do it? He still thinks I'm a traitor!"

"Well, what better way to prove you're not! Besides, that can't be a coincidence. First, the incident with the Scarlet Skulls, and now this."

Cole sighed in defeat, "fine." As he headed upstairs, Lloyd realized that it was finally quiet enough for him to say something.

"Who is this she person you keep talking about?" Everybody froze and avoided eye contact. Lloyd huffed, crossing his arms. He was in no position to make demands but everyone had been dancing around this mysterious she and Lloyd's curiosity had peaked.

Zane was the first to recover. "It's a complicated answer. Why don't I show you around?" As much as Lloyd wanted to disagree, he knew he wouldn't get an answer. He stood up with a mumbled "okay".

The two of them walked upstairs and the first room Lloyd was shown was one of the bedrooms. A desk sat in the corner of the room, a small computer sitting on top of it. To the left of the desk was a twin size bed. It was covered with a light blanket and pillow. To the left of the bed was a small nightstand with a pistol resting on top of it. Over by the door were two bookshelves, each one covered with books. To the right of one of the bookshelves was an armchair most likely used for reading.

"This is my room," Zane started, "if you need me, I'll most likely be in here reading." The net room Lloyd was shown was another bedroom.

It was about the same size as Zane's room but, the walls had been painted a dark blue. To the left of the door was a bookshelf, but instead of it holding books, it held various movies and video games. In front of the bookshelf sat a dresser with a tv, and an Xbox resting on top of it. Lloyd noticed that there was a single chair sitting in front of the dresser. To the left of the dresser were a twin sized bed and a small nightstand. The bed had a light blue blanket hanging halfway off the bed and Lloyd assumed whoever's room this was, didn't make their bed recently. Finally, in the corner of the room was small table covered in all sorts of mechanical parts. Before Lloyd could ask what they were for though, Zane had already moved to the next room.

Once again, Lloyd was shown another bedroom. This time the walls were painted a dark grey and a desk had been pushed up against the furthest wall. Sitting on the desk was a small radio. It wasn't playing any music, instead, it was playing static. To the left of the desk was a wall of small computer screens, each one showing a different scene. Most of them showed main roads and traffic intersections. Next to the computer screens was a twin sized bed and a nightstand.

The next bedroom was bare and had little to nothing in it. In the right corner of the room was a wardrobe. To the left of the wardrobe were a twin sized bed and a small nightstand. Lastly, in the center of the room was a small circular rug.

Before they left the room, Lloyd heard footsteps. He turned around only to see Cole passing the room looking upset. Lloyd didn't think much about it, and the two continued.

The door to the next room was closed and Lloyd went to open it when Zane spoke, "That's Kai's room. I don't think he'll appreciate us going in there." Lloyd retracted his hand as Zane passed the next room.

"Wait, what's this room?" Lloyd asked, pointing to the door.

"Uh...That's the...storage room."

"Storage room?" Lloyd asked opening the door. To Lloyd's surprise, the storage room did not contain anything that actually needed to be stored. Instead, the walls had been painted a beige color and a twin bed had been pushed against the furthest wall. To the right of the bed was a dresser, the top of it covered in various hair products and dust. And to the left of the dresser was a small closet. Lloyd shut the door, and when he asked Zane why it wasn't called the guest bedroom, Zane had avoided the question completely.

After that, Lloyd was shown two more rooms. The planning room and the weapon room. The planning room had a long oval table in the center of the room surrounded by executive chairs. As they were leaving though, Zane had asked something about Kai.

"What was that?" Lloyd asked.

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud." The weapon room would forever remain a mystery to Lloyd as Zane said that the name would give him a good explanation of what it looked like.

When the tour was over, Lloyd immediately noticed that Jay and Nya were gone, and Cole was sitting on the couch watching tv. "Where did everyone go?" Zane asked sitting down next to Cole.

"Went on a mission," Cole replied.

"A mission?"

"Yeah, Kai wanted to check the ally where I found Lloyd."

"Why?"

Cole shrugged, "Mentioned something about making sure my story checked out." As the two continued talking, something was bothering Lloyd. He had a feeling that these people weren't exactly telling him everything. And Lloyd was going to find out what they were hiding.

Quietly, Lloyd walked upstairs and headed towards the "storage room". He opened the door and begun looking around. The room had little to nothing in it, but the dust implied that nothing had been moved in a long time. Lloyd approached the dresser first. He opened each drawer looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. There was nothing. Lloyd moved over to the bed next. He lifted up the pillows, blankets, and he had even checked underneath the bed. Still nothing.

Lloyd sighed heading towards the door. Maybe he was just overthinking things. Right as Lloyd was about to leave, he spotted something on the wall. Walking over to it, he realized it was a tack with a small piece of paper hanging off it as if it had been ripped off. Something had been hanging there.

"Maybe there's a clue in the planning room," Lloyd started heading towards the door again, "I think I saw some tacks in there." Lloyd walked across the hall and into the planning room. He shut the door behind him as he spotted the tacks. Lloyd ran over to them only to trip and fall with an 'oof'. Looking back, he realized he had tripped on a piece of wood that was partially sticking out of the floor. Curious, Lloyd pulled the piece up and found that there was a small area underneath the wood.

He had tripped over a secret compartment. "Cool," He whispered.

Lloyd reached into the compartment feeling another more smooth piece of wood. He lifted it out of the compartment and set it on the floor in front of him. It was a small box filled with pictures of some girl with red hair. Were these the pictures that were once hanging in the "storage room"? Lloyd began looking through each individual picture.

In most of them, the girl was smiling as if she had just told a joke. One of the pictures was a selfie, most likely taken on a phone. The girl was still there, smiling at the camera, but this time, there was another person beside her. It was a guy with spiky brown hair and he too was smiling.

The more pictures Lloyd went through, there were more pictures that Lloyd would describe as odd. One of the odd pictures showed the same girl, alone this time, but instead of it being up close, it was further away. Almost as if the person taking the picture didn't want to be seen. In another picture, the same girl was walking into a Chinese restaurant but she was looking over her shoulder. Like she knew that the person taking the picture was there.

As Lloyd went through more and more pictures, a question struck him. Who hid these? And why?