The loud hum of the engine and the violent whip of wind was the only noise to fill their ears. The small group opted to remain silent throughout their journey. What was there to talk about, anyways?

Sand skid lightly under the tires of the large vehicle. The vast distance of grainy sand reflected the light into his eyes. He squinted.

His palms began to sting as he clutches the spokes, veering gently away from hazards every now and again. Cacti, boulders, sometimes rabbits. He'd even passed a small sinkhole.

It takes him nearly ten minutes before he begins to soil under the deafening silence. He can't help it, he's a talkative person. The quiet was never really something he flourished in.

So he started a conversation.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" He yells over the whipping wind, his voice carried back to his two passengers.

"I thought you knew?" The nindroid yells back. His voice can hardly be heard, so he lifts his foot to slow the speed of the dragon raider. The wind quiets.

"I do, just... remind me just in case."

Zane sighs, reluctant but willing. "Cole believes that if the thief is not Clutch, then it is at least someone he knows, so we're heading to the explorers club for questioning."

"What?!" he exclaims. His shoulders slouch, a groan escapes his throat. "If I'd have known we were going there I would have gone with the others."

PIXAL, who had been utterly silent for the majority of the trip, finally speaks up with a question. "Why did you volunteer to come with us in the first place, Kai?"

The latter huffs a little.

He'd had a good reason for volunteering, sure, however, he was starting to regret his actions. He hates the people at the explorers club, and he says this wholeheartedly as hate is a strong word. Not to mention he was acting as a third wheel for the two nindroids. It felt a bit intrusive.

But as he said, he had a good reason.

He finds his words to respond.

Zane beats him to it, reading him like an open book. "It's because of Lloyd and Master Wu, correct?"

Kai simply huffs. "It's just so awkward between them!" He rants. "Plus, I don't wanna be there when Lloyd yells at Master Wu again. You should have heard him the first time, he was all "You caused this, Wu!" It was kind of scary." He carefully removes one of his hands from a spoke, rubbing the beading sweat off on his pant leg. He does the same with his other hand after a moment.

The nindroid behind him sighs loudly, and Kai can practically see his face: eyes closed, hand itching to pinch the bridge of his nose. He's incredibly expressive for a tin can.

"I can't believe you listened in on them." Zane slaps his shoulder playfully, but Kai can hear the subtle disappointment in his tone. It almost makes him feel liable.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea!" He denies responsibility. Although he's lying, Kai will let Zane believe it was Jay's idea.

PIXAL yells from behind them both, voice booming impressively through the wind. "If anything Kai, you should have stayed with Lloyd for that exact reason. You two are close, he needs you."

His nose crinkles at the sweetness of the statement. He needs you, Kai repeated in his mind. It was a kind sentiment. Lloyd was a brother to him, more so than the rest of the team. He had practically been raising him since the fire temple errupted, way back at the beginning of it all.

Now that Lloyd is going through a tough patch, and Kai willingly left him to deal with it alone, he begins to feel guilty.

But Lloyd is tough, Kai reminds himself. Whatever is happening to him, whether it be with Harumi or Master Wu, he can get through it.

Zane reads him once more, seeming to sense his inner turmoil. He pats his shoulder, light yet firm, relaying to him that Lloyd is tough.

The noise seems to simmer out as they stop talking, opting to silence themselves once more. Wind whips through his hair once more as he speeds up again, desperate to get out of the compact, sweaty compartment that is the dragon raider. Ever since he'd crashed it during the fight with the crystal army, he just hasn't been the same with small spaces. Especially since just days before he'd been trapped in a collapsed subway tunnel.

Long story short, Kai kind of hates small spaces.

Eventually, the shady silhouettes of buildings rose on the horizon, and eventually, they were traversing the familiar streets of the city. It had been rebuilt once more, some buildings brand new, some refurbished, some completely demolished.

He followed the streets he knew by heart, winding around corners and zipping down highways, to the quaint building he despisedmso much.

It was small and old-fashioned, exposed red brick differentiating the club from the rest of the city. Paned windows lined the front of the building, really adding to the old-fashioned yet comforting feel of it.

Kai does not feel comforted in the slightest.

In fact, the mere sight of the explorers club infuriated him, simply because of the people who ran it. Those up-tight explorers were so endlessly frustrating, Kai would do anything to avoid any form of an altercation with them.

The dragon raider comes to a sputtering stop as Kai yanks the hand brake.

"We're here." He mutters bitterly.

Zane is the first to exit the raider. Hurriedly, he leaps down, metallic feet thudding against the concrete with a noise that reverberates through Kai's ears. A second thud follows as PIXAL jumps out after. Kai hangs his head, prying his hands from the spokes and throwing himself out after them.

PIXAL pries the metal gate open, gesturing for Zane and Kai to walk through with a look that says "Ladies first". Zane gives her a quick little smirk.

While walking ahead, he looks back to the other two. "Let's start the investigation quickly so we have more time."

PIXAL frowns. "I wouldn't be so sure." She glances at the door of the club, and as Kai looks closer he sees what she's looking at: A note, bright pink and plastered against the door.

Zane stops walking to look at it, and the fire ninja charges ahead.

The condescending note rustles as he yanks it off the door, a string of blu-tack sagging between the paper and the door.

He scans through the note, reading it aloud for his friends to hear.

"'Closed for repairs, please contact Cecil Putnam for more information, working hours only'... What?"

Zane clenches his jaw, turning his head away with what could only be called a huff.

"It seems we'll have to wait."

"What?" Kai arches an eyebrow. He feels his plaster pull on his skin. "Why? Let's just call Cecil and get him and the other explorers to do the investigation."

As much as he loves the idea of not doing the investigation, he doesn't exactly love the idea of going back empty-handed. Failure doesn't look good on him.

The nindroid faces him again, shaking his head gently as he speaks. "No, that will not work." He jabs a finger at the note in the other's hands. "It says here to contact him during working hours. We'll have to wait until 9 am."

Kai quietly huffs. "That's not that bad. What time is it now?"

Zane cringes away from him. "7 am."

His eyes practically bulge from his head as he does the math. "Two hours?! We have to wait two hours? Are you kidding me?"

PIXAL grabs the pink note from his hands, sticking it back against the door. "If it makes you feel better, Kai, it's 7:13, so it's only an hour and forty-seven minutes." She smiles at him wryly.

The three of them stroll back to the gate, Zane holding it open while the other two wait beside the raider.

"Shall we return to the monastery to wait or should we do something in the city?" Zane suggests.

Kai's stomach rumbles as an idea forms in his mind. Desperate to distract himself from the annoying situation, he makes a suggestion. "We could get breakfast?"

His proposition is answered with silence. The nindroids gaze at him incredulously for a moment.

Then he realizes.

"Oh yeah."

They're nindroids, dummy, they don't eat! He mentally slaps himself in the face.

And so the three heroes of the city, two ninjas and a samurai, wander aimlessly for nearly two hours. They did wind up stopping at Chen's Noodles, partially because Kai was hungry, primarily because he wanted to see a certain someone. She wasn't there that day, however, Dareth was there, chowing down on a plate of puffy potstickers.

They also decided to stop at the grocery store to buy some cereal.

Other than those two things, they had simply strolled around, talking about whatever came to mind. Kai thinks he asked for the time nearly a hundred times.

So finally, when he asks the time and Zane announces that it was 9 am, they hurriedly call the number on the pink note.

The small phone rings for a moment in Zane's hand, speaker mode already selected.

A flat beep, and a tired yet curt voice mumbles from the other side.

"Hello?"

The three sigh in relief at the quick answer, not willing to wait for a second longer.

"Hello, Cecil Putnam, my name is Zane."

"Oh dear, one of the ninja, I presume?"

"Yes, that would be me." He nods his head as he answers. Kai huffs at how thorough the nindroid is; nodding even when Cecil couldn't see him.

"What do you want?" A yawn, and the sound of liquid pouring crackle over the speaker. Kai hopes for all of them that it's just tea and not a morning whizz.

Zane ignores the sound, cutting straight to the point. "We were wondering if we could speak to the members of the explorers club regarding the theft of a spear in a distant village." His impatience reminds Kai of himself.

Cecil goes silent for a moment, considering his words.

He speaks up with a questioning tone. "A spear? A gold one?"

Zane nods again. "Yes, the spear of concern-"

"The name doesn't matter, boy." A pause. "If I allow you to investigate my fellow members and I, will you be able to assist us?"

Electronic eyes meet his, and he shrugs his shoulders in response. Zane returns his gaze to the phone. "We can try." Depending on what it is, it's a lie.

Cecil huffs again. Kai wonders why so many people had been huffing today, including himself.

"Alrighty, then, I shall gather my fellow members at our distinguished club building shortly. You may proceed with your investigation there."

Kai cheers silently, raising his fist to the sky and shaking it. PIXAL smiles at Zane, patting his shoulder. He smiles back.

"Thank you, Cecil Putnam."

With a quick beep, the call is ended. Finally, Kai thought, we can get a move on!

However, as much as he wishes to hurry onto the raider and return to the quaint building, something odd struck him.

Why was he so willing to work with us? His eyebrows furrow and a frown melts its way onto his face.

He voices his concerns. "That was weird."

Glancing at his companions, he can immediately see that they shared their worries.

Zane pockets his phone, a similar look plastered across his face as he nods his head in agreement. "Yes. Usually, he would refuse to work with us, tell us it's members only, or rant about the honors of the explorers club. This time..."

"...He was way too cooperative." Kai finishes his sentence, opting to scratch his jaw a little. "It was kinda suspicious..."

"We can confirm our suspicions at the club." PIXAL directs the trio back to the raider, eager to get a move on.

One by one, they clamber back into the vehicle. Kai clutches the spokes once more and swerves back onto the main road.

Without a second thought, he's drifting across the city, turning corners a bit too hastily for a public road, and taking too many chances at orange lights. He doesn't need to hurry so much, he's well aware, but he just can't seem to simmer in his thoughts of "Could this be a trap? Are the explorers setting us up?"

A left turn, and the familiar building spikes into view for the second time that day. He presses his foot against the brakes and skids to a stop directly in front of the building.

He yanks that hand break.

"We're here!" He swivels in his seat to welcome his passengers, only to be met with two nindroids clutching the emergency handles for dear life and looking dizzier than he'd think a nindroid could get.

They quickly fix themselves up, thanking him for the ride like one would a taxi driver, although they didn't pay him. Makes him wonder how they'd treat a real taxi driver.

A small crowd of explorers, maybe five or six, is already gathered in front of the building, shielded behind the protective metal gate. He notices two security guards amongst the group.

The explorers quickly notice them, ushering them inside the door, which Cecil unlocks with a comically large metal key.

When they enter the club, Kai is surprised by what he see's.

Based on the sign on the door, stating that the club had been closed for repairs, he'd assumed the building would be... well, under repairs. Perhaps broken and in ruin. But as he stepped into the building, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The reception was nice and orderly, paintings were fixed straight against the wall, and chairs were still adorned with decorative pillows.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the thin layer of dust that covered the room, but that was to be expected. No one had been in here for a while.

As per usual, Zane seems to share his confusion. He glances around before looking at Cecil, the head member.

"Your sign said the explorers club was undergoing repairs, but the club does not seem to require them."

The head member shuffles smoothly towards the stairs, elegantly situated at the end of the room.

"If you would follow me this way, you will see why our dearest club needs repairing." He folds his hands behind his back before stepping up the stairs.

The other members look at them, waiting for them to move first so they can follow. The three do just that, not before sending each other an incredulous glance.

The stairs creak eerily under their weight, clicking with the taps of their armored boots.

An odd part of him feels guilty that he left his shoes on. Maybe he should have taken them off at the door. But those thoughts quickly leave him as he notes the rest of the explorers were also wearing shoes.

Wait... the rest of the explorers.

From who he remembered, he could see Cecil, Percy, and Underhill, as well as an intern who he'd never seen before. The two security guards had left them at the door, acting as sentries.

But from the original members, he could only see three of the four.

Not all of them were there.

Where was the other one? What was his name... Smith? Smeet? That doesn't matter.

It must be a trap. Kai prepares himself.

As they pass the second floor, he nearly flinches as he waits to be ambushed, but alas nothing happened.

Next floor, then.

But again, nothing happened.

No fourth explorer leaped out at him as he passed the third story, and eventually, they were on the fourth floor- or more appropriately, the attic.

Instantly, a warm breeze wracked his body as he entered the room, yet the room had no windows.

With a quick glance to the side, Kai realizes that his hunch was wrong. The club definitely needed repairs.

A gaping hole presented itself in the slanted wall to the right of the stairs, allowing the hot air from outside to gush its way in. Small streams of caution tape dangled helplessly at the edges of the hole, waving at Kai with something he could only describe as torment.

Even aside from the hole, the room still required some small repairs.

The room looked disorganised and broken, as if a mighty beast had charged in through the wall and ran around this room only.

Paper littered the floors, covered by decaying leaves and dust. A broken filing cabinet lay untouched in the corner of the room, a large dent in the wall above it. A broken glass table, a shattered projector, teacups and saucers, many different items layed strewn across the room, smashed and dusty.

It was such unruly chaos, Kai could hardly recognise what used to be the explorers club. All he could do was utter a single, shell-shocked word:

"Woah."

PIXAL enters the room after him, she takes in the sight with a grimace.

"What happened here? If you don't mind me asking." The end of her sentence is an ad-lib, as if she forgot to be polite.

The explorers jump to share the story with a proud yet dejected look.

Cecil waltzed across to room to stand honorably in front of the broken wall, careful to avoid the scattered shrapnel surrounding the scene of the supposed crime.

"It was awful, dare I say." Cecil begins something of a monologue, gesturing his hands as if in theatre. "A thief, shielded by a dark cloak, broke through this here wall, and ransacked our beautiful club in search of... something!"

His graying hair stays oddly stiff as he whips to continue his tail, facing the group with a dramatic flair. "We of course fought him valiantly, as a true explorer would! However, our good chum Smythe was held at blades point by the unruly thief."

Kai flicks to attention at the mention of the fourth missing member. Not Smith, not Smeet, but Smythe!

An old voice, Kai isn't sure whose, chimes up poshly behind him.

"A shameful technique."

Cecil nods again. "Yes, shameful." With a nudge of his glasses, he continues. "The terrible thief demanded that we give him access to our most prized, and most dangerous artifacts, however, he was too late, as we had not a single artifact left."

Kai furrows his eyebrows. He must admit, however much the aged explorers annoyed him, they really knew how to tell a good story. He was on the edge of his metaphorical seat.

"What happened to your artifacts?" A metallic voice interrupts: Zane.

"Oh, confiscated by the mayor, right on." Percy strokes his mustache. "He claimed they were too dangerous to be kept in an exposed building such as ours, and despite our best efforts sent them away."

Cecil nods again as his companion speaks. He gestures to him with a flat hand. "This we told the thief, however, this information enraged him. He lashed out at our poor old chum. Out of pure terror, which is thoroughly against the code of the explorer, but will be excused due to his unique situation, Smythe delivered the thief information about an ancient relic we had been planning to... obtain."

"The spear of concentration," PIXAL hummed thoughtfully.

Cecil nodded again, a noticeable habit. "Oh yes, that is the one."

Kai ponders the information. So the thief came here for a weapon, and left with information about the spear? The facts begin to line up.

Zane seems to connect the dots at the same time as him. "What happened after Smythe gave the thief that information?"

"Oh, it was positively horrible." Percy lurks forward from behind the three, hat off and pressed against his chest.

"Yes, horrible." Cecil nods again. He turns away from the trio once more, returning to his dramatic stance against the gentle breeze. "After the old chum gave the thief a photograph of the spear, that dastardly scum took Smythe away, claiming that if he was lying he would kill him, however, if he was telling the truth he would bring him home on his own return." Cecil sighs quietly, composed. "We have not seen our fellow explorer since."

Percy places his hat back on his head. "If he does not return soon, we will be forced to revoke his membership."

Underhill nods. "Right so."

With a pinch of his nose, Kai processes the information.

That photo, the one of the statue holding the spear... It came from here? It made sense to Kai. It explained why the men in the photograph looked so familiar, they were the explorers when they were younger!

But the good news of course came with bad news.

So the reason Smythe isn't here is because he was kidnapped? Kai will admit, he found that annoying. It must be what Cecil meant when he asked for our "assistance".

He confirms his thoughts. "Is that what you need help with? Getting Smythe back?"

The grey-haired man turns to face him for a final time, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He barks a laugh. "Oh, no, of course not! Smythe is well capable of helping himself!"

Kai feels his eyebrow twitch involuntarily."Then what did you need help with?"

"We need your help to convince the mayor to return our precious artifacts!"

The fire ninja finds himself unable to respond. So, the samurai responds for him, with a mighty and well-spoken "Oh..."

"We will try." Zane, not bothering to argue with their logic, lies through his teeth. No, they will decidedly not try. That Mayor is possibly more annoying than every member of the explorers club combined. There was no way they'd go throught the trouble of getting him to return those artifacts.

The nindroid fixes his posture with a quick shuffle, preparing to depart. "Is there anything else we should know before we leave?"

Underhill walks beside them, looking as if he wants to speak, but Cecil beats him to it.

"The thief bore a mask." He circled his face with an index finger, as if telling them what a mask was. "It resembled the masks we have in our kabuki collection. Other than that, I believe that is all I am able to inform you of."

Ever in a hurry, the trio bid their farewell and thanked the explorers for their time.

The rush down the stairs shortly after, a race of not only speed, but balance, as Kai nearly tripped down the stairs on multiple occasions.

He's in last place by the time they reach the reception again. Zane is already near the gate, PIXAL close behind him.

Eager to leave the premise of the club, Kai doesn't notice the figure stumbling to follow them.

A wrinkled hand grabs his forearm, slowing his race to the raider.

Before he can angrily retaliate, the posh voice quickly interrupts him.

"I know something." It's Underhill.

Kai, as usual, is confused. "Huh?"

Underhill continues, releasing Kai's hand from its grip. "The thief. As he fled through the hole in the wall, I saw something that may be of use to your investigation."

Kai's heart quickens at the implications. He saw something? Something could be anything, but anything could help us.

He proceeds carefully, desperate to know.

"What did you see?"

"White hair."

And Kai's heart plummets to his stomach.

His mouth goes dry.

No, no. There are plenty of people with white hair, he reassures himself, but it's in vain. The idea is planted, and the dots connect. Oh lord.

And then the information they had gathered across the day all comes rushing back to him in one fell swoop.

Smythe hadn't been returned yet. The thief hasn't come back to Ninjago City.

The photograph. The village sent the photograph with their distress call. How did they get their hands on it?

There was only one possibility.

The thief sent the message, along with the photograph.

She sent the message.

Without so much as a thanks, Kai rushes out the door, not bothering to close it.

He slams the gate open, jumping his companions who glance at him with arched eyebrows.

They quickly furrow.

Zane's cool hand lands firmly on his shoulder. He feels grounded, if only for a moment. His panic does not cease.

"Kai, what's wrong? What did Underhill tell you?"

Kai slaps his hand away, fumbling to the raider, opening the hood with shaking hands.

"We need to get a message to the others!" He exclaims. His voice shakes. It's a new reaction from him.

PIXAL tugs him away from the raider, placing both her hands on either shoulder, caging him.

"Kai, what did he tell you?"

"Harumi is the thief, and she's still in that town!" He cried out. "We sent them into a trap!"

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