I hum to the tune of Pumped Up Kicks, much to the Overlord's annoyance.

"Enough!" He shouts.

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I am the powerful Overlord! Once I am free, I will rule what is rightfully mine!"

"How is Ninjago rightfully yours?"

"I...because it is! You mortals need someone to rule over you, and I will do just that."

"We seem to be doing fine on our own."

"I will kill your friends and family one by one!"

"And I will unplug your screen."

Most conversations I attempt to make with the Overlord happen along those lines. I'm not sure how long I've been here, since there are no windows or clocks, but I do know I haven't really slept. Pythor has left three times, and my wound keeps reopening.

My hands are slowly reawakening again. I can bend my fingers and weakly wrap them around the rope that tied my hands together. Blood still slowly seeped out of my wounded leg. Even if I did manage to escape, I would bleed to death in a matter of days. I need to free my hands so I could attempt to close it, or at least stop the bleeding.

After what seems like forever, Pythor finally returns.

"So how has your day been?"

Pythor scowls. "You're worse than Lloyd."

"About that, you said you wanted to use me as bait? Well I'm afraid I'm going to die soon if I don't tend to my leg. If you could just-"

"No."

"I can't be bait if I'm dead."

"How long till that?"

"I'm not sure how long I've been here but I'd give myself 36 more hours before I bleed to death."

Pythor considers this for a moment. Finally, he sighs, coming towards me with a knife in his hands. "Fine. But if you try anything I'm killing you on spot."

"I can't walk, remember?"

He grins. "I suppose you're right." He throws me onto my stomach and cuts the rope. It takes a second for the knife to cut the thick rope but eventually it breaks through.

"Thanks," I say. Pythor grumbles in response.

I look down at my hands. My wrists are raw from my previous attempts of breaking the rope and my palms are dry and calloused, as if the staff sucked the life out of them.

I look around for a thin wire or something. Maybe if I found something thin and sharp enough I could stitch the skin back together?

Or duh, the rope.

I tie the rope in a knot around my upper thigh then place a metal rod on top of the knot. I then tie another knot on top of the rod, securing it. I twist the rod, applying pressure to my thigh to stop the blood flow to the wound directly below it.

"I'll give you credit, you know what you are doing," Pythor says, silently watching me from across the room.

"Thanks," I say, gritting my teeth. He doesn't respond. Instead, he turns to leave. "Where are you going?" I ask.

He pauses and grins. "To go pay your boyfriend a visit."

Great, I better hurry up then. I also need to hurry because if I leave this on too long, I'm going to go numb.

After a while, I begin to slowly loosen the pressure. After a longer while, I untie the rope

from my leg, the wound no longer bleeding. I grin in satisfaction. Sometimes I forget that not that long ago I was studying to be a nurse.

Suddenly, Pythor barges back into the room.

"That was quick," I mutter. He scowls and roughly grabs my shoulder, lifting me to my feet. "I promised you'd see Lloyd, didn't I?" He whispers harshly.

He drags me out of the room and uses his shoulder to push open another door. My eyes fly shut, since I'm not used to the bright sunlight. Pythor throws me and I groan, landing on my shoulder. He closes the door and I hear a loud noise, almost as if I was on a helicopter.

"El? You're okay!"

I squint, looking up to the person that called my name.

I gasp. "Lloyd? Is that a snake?"

He looks down. A large purple snake is wrapped around his body, restricting him from using his arms or legs.

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal. My father and I got a message from the others a few days ago saying Sensei Wu was evil and that he had harmed you pretty badly and that someone had taken you."

"Pythor," I say distastefully.

"Yeah, we reconnected a few seconds ago," Lloyd says bitterly, gesturing to the snake wrapped around his body. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Lloyd cocks his eyebrow.

"Oh, well technically if I move around too much my wound will reopen and I may bleed to death but I stopped the bleeding for now. I just need stitches and I'll be fine."

"Technically," Lloyd mutters. I smile sheepishly.

"I missed you," he says. I smile. "I missed you too."

"Where's your father?" I ask. Lloyd frowns, looking at the floor.

"Pythor threw him into the ocean," he says quietly.

"It's not your fault, Lloyd. The important thing is that you're alive and I'm sure he is too. We'll find him again."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just tired of being forcefully separated from the ones I love."

"Once we get out of here, we won't have to deal with that anymore."

Lloyd raises an eyebrow. "You do realize that we're flying high in the air over the ocean, right?"

"You can use your power though. And then-"

"El, the Overlord has my power."

"Well shit."

Just then, a nindroid enters the room, lunging for Lloyd but he quickly reacts, trying to hit the nindroid with his shoulders. It was a funny sight, watching someone fight without using their arms and legs. I would laughed, except this is all real and either of us could die any second.

Suddenly, Pythor's scaley arms wrap around my neck, pressing a knife against my throat. Lloyd stops.

"Get in the room, or El dies." I scoff, I feel like I've heard that line before.

I shake my head at Lloyd as he begins to walk towards the room he was forced to be in. I kick Pythor with my good leg, an attempt to escape, but he just hits my bad leg instead. I grunt, falling to the ground.

He grabs me and holds me to his face, my face twisting in disgust as his sour breath hits my skin. Pythor snarls, forcing me to look at him. He then says three words I swore to myself I'd never hear.

"Mine her memory."

I gasp. "No!" I shout, kicking with my good leg and thrashing with my arms.

Pythor chuckles menacingly. "A girl who runs from her past, hmm? The more you fight, the longer you'll be there."

I slowly stop trying to resist him, it's not like I can do anything about it now. I can barely walk, I'm hundreds of feet above the ground, and I'm now being tied to a chair. Besides, it's better than me than any of my friends. I decided that a long time ago.

The nindroid throws Lloyd in a large, glass cage located across from me. He presses his palms and forehead on the glass, trying to get a good look of me. Worry was etched across his features, and for the first time in a while I felt truly scared.

I didn't have a chance to react because the next thing I knew, a needle was pushed against my head, prodding into my skin.

"Right now, you and I are streaming a video to your friends. I wanted to show them what will happen if they refuse to give up the techno blades," Pythor grins. "Don't you have anything to say?"

"No," I grumble. "Do you?"

He scowls. "I just did!"

"Sorry, I can't hear when your hand is clamped over my ear."

Pythor hisses. "Shut up! Since you ninja refuse to give me your blades, this is the consequence."

The needle goes into my head and I scream.

"Guys?" Nya says, glancing at the window.

Kai groans. "What is it, Nya?"

"I think that's El, on the screen."

The four boys jump up from their previous spots, running to the window. Sure enough, the billboard across from where they were standing projected El, and she didn't look good.

Her long dark hair was knotted and greasy from sweat and dirt, her skin had dirt and dried blood smudged all over it, and she seemed pale, sickly almost.

Garmadon, Misako, and Wu burst through the doors of the room.

"El is on-"

"We know."

"She seems to be on every screen," Pixal states as the screens in the room turn on, picturing El in her damaged state.

"She needs to watch her tongue," Garmadon mutters. "Before she gets herself killed."

"Oh dear, she doesn't look too good," Wu says, his voice filled with guilt.

Misako places a hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Wu. You weren't you."

The room silenced as they listen to El's painful screams, unable to tear their eyes away from the screen. Nya gasps, turning towards Kai for comfort. He gladly hugs her back, as he needed the comfort too. They all did.

Knock knock knock.

"What's that?" I ask Tobi.

He glances at the door, worry and question etched across his face.

The pounding becomes faster and harder. Percy grabs a knife from the kitchen and hides it behind his back. I jump up from where I was sitting and watch as he gingerly opens the door.

I gasp.

The man from years ago had barged through my front door, pressing a gun to Percy's chest. Percy sticks the knife in the waistband of his jeans and raises his hands up.

The man grins, the scar I gave him when I was fifteen creasing ever so slightly.

"Let him go," I say as calmly as I could. I take slow steps towards the man, my hands in front of me as I carefully approach him.

"Step back, Ellie," the man taunts.

"El," Tobi warns.

"Shut it, boy!" The man yells, pressing the barrel into Tobi's chest.

I nod at Tobi and he nods back, preparing our escape. But before we could do anything, the man chuckles.

"I know that look," he says.

The gun clicks and he pulls the trigger. I scream as Tobi's body falls to the ground.

The man runs out the door before I could realize he had left. I look up and see the door was left swung open, the man gone in a flash.

I cry as I hold Tobi's head in my hands, his lifeless body unaware to the tears hitting his skin.

"You were the only family I had left."

I board the bus heading to Ninjago City, the place Tobi and I swore we'd go to together. I take the picture of young Tobi and I out of my back pocket. I guess, in a way, we did come here together.

"Shit," I mumble to myself. I bang on the window in frustration.

"Everything alright?" Someone says from behind me.

I sigh. "Yeah, it's fine. My car just refuses to unlock sometimes. I just have to twist it a lot."

"I know someone who can fix it for you. I can give you their contact information, if you'd like," he says.

"Oh, it's alright. Thank you though."

He raises his eyebrow, then pulls out a pen and gum wrapper from his pocket. He scribbles something down then sheepishly hands it to me.

I laugh at the wrapper. "Minty," I comment.

He chuckles. "I figure that's better than nothing. I'm sorry that doesn't fix your problem right now."

"It's alright, it'll work eventually."

"I can drive you, if you'd like."

"That would be great, thanks. I'm El, by the way."

He grins, "I'm Cole, nice to meet you."

I grip my fists tightly as Mistaké scolds me for the third time that day.

"I am trying!" I say, frustrated.

"Maybe you're just not cut out to be a ninja," she says, walking away.

I shout angrily and a gust of wind knocks down tea from the many shelves. Glass teapots and cups fall with a crash, shattering as they hit the floor.

My fists slowly uncurl and my breathing slows. Mistaké grins. "Maybe I was mistaken."

"I don't have a mother," Lloyd says as he kicks his feet, the water splashing.

I place my hands on the wooden dock and turn towards Lloyd. "What happened?"

"She left when I was very young. I don't really remember her."

"Oh."

"Yeah. And you already know about my dad."

I laugh. "If it makes you feel better, I had no idea who he was before I moved here."

"You said your mom was sick?"

I nod. "I don't know really why or how she became sick. She died when I was ten."

"I'm sorry."

I shrug. "It's okay."

"Oh my god," Nya says quietly.

"I can't believe he'd do that," Cole says angrily, clenching his fists.

"The guy who killed her brother or Pythor?" Jay says bitterly, still in shock.

"Well, both. But those are her private memories! They're for her, not for anyone else to see."

"Cole's right," Kai says. "We need to find Pythor. We could teach him a thing or two," he says darkly.

"They could be anywhere, we can't pinpoint their location," Wu says.

"Sensei Wu is right. I cannot seem to track where the signal is coming from," Pixal says.

"Guys, what's happening with El?" Jay asks.

Suddenly she was up, her leg seemingly fine. In fact, it seemed to be glowing.

"She's reached her true potential."