Aria is walking down the hall when she notices the princess's room open. She peeks in and sees Lloyd jump out the window.

"That sneaky little shit, he's sneaking out with the princess" Aria mutters

Aria runs down the hall till she sees Hutchins.

"Hutchins!" Aria calls out

"Princess Aria, is something the matter?" Hutchins asks

"I just saw the Princess sneak out her window with the green ninja" Aria tells him with fake concern "I'm not sure what they're doing, but it's dangerous out there at night"

Hutchins gasps "they snuck out together, I must find the Princess immediately!"

"I'll help" Aria offers

"Thank you your majesty" Hutchins says

"No problem" Aria smiles "after all I rule the night"

-

"Rumi, I should get you home" Lloyd says with a smile

"Yes. You should be home, your Highness"

They turn around and they gasp "Hutchins!"

Lloyd felt hands on his shoulders "Care to explain why you're out here with the Princess, Green Ninja?"

Lloyd turns his head looking annoyed "Aria.." he looks at Hutchins "Look Rumi and I were just going for a walk"

Hutchins frowned "Rumi? A walk?"

"Adressing a princess like that, how improper" Aria walks over and stands beside Hutchins

"It was my idea. Please don't be angry with Lloyd" Harumi pleads

"It's troubling to see you two are on a first name basis. The streets are not safe at night, your Highness. I must insist you return with me, at once" Hutchins insists and they start walking away

Aria smirks and follows them as Lloyd makes a sound of annoyance.

"You did that on purpose" Lloyd says catching up to her

"How could you accuse me of such a thing?" Aria asks with obviously fake offense "I simply saw the princess's room empty and told Hutchins out of concern, I had no idea you were out with her"

"Why are you doing this?" Lloyd asks "you broke up with me, not the other way around, are you jealous?"

"Of course not" Aria smirks "you seem to have forgotten who I am, I am the Dark Lord, your pain is my pleasure"

"You're sick" Lloyd says

Aria laughs "damn straight"

Aria walks away and Lloyd looks down.

"Damn it why did that make me more attracted to her" Lloyd blushes

-

The next day the Ninja are training.

Cole chuckles "Moonlit walks on the canal, sharing food. Sounds a lot like a date"

"It was not a date" Lloyd argues

"A date: a social or romantic engagement. Often involving a meal or an intimate setting" Zane explains

Jay laughs "Haha! You can't argue with a Nindroid!"

"Last night I was just being nice" Lloyd sighs "I have no romantic interest in Harumi"

"Mhm" Kai says in disbelief "or are you just still smitten for a certain dark lord"

"W-we broke up.." Lloyd looks down "that's it, we're enemies now and that's how she sees it"

-

Cole sees Hutchins enter a passageway. He follows and sees Blast Sap, he quickly grabs him communicator "Blast Sap. Guys, we've got a big problem. Blast Sap—There's Blast Sap—I saw a—"

Lloyd picked up his communicator "Cole, you're not coming in. You have a bad signal"

The Blast Sap starts to trigger, Cole panicks and starts running out "We gotta get everyone out of here. The whole palace is rigged to explode. It was Hutchins!"

"We have to get the Royal Family out of here!" Kai shouts

The palace explodes and they were approached by Sons of Garmadon. The Sons of Garmadon enter the palace.

Lloyd grabs Hutchins "You did this! You helped them!"

"I had nothing to do with this" Hutchins argues

"Cole said he saw you in the tunnels. With the explosives!" Lloyd shouts

"Whatever your friend saw, it wasn't me. I have served this house for the better part of my life, and have sworn to protect the Royal Family. Watch out!" Hutchins saves Lloyd from Ultra Violet's sai.

"You saved me" Lloyd says surprised

"Does anyone have eyes on the Princess?" Hutchins asks

Zane saw her and protected her "Come with me, Princess. We need to get you out of here"

Zane freezes Ultra Violet and the ninja group together

Lloyd sighs "good you're okay"

Harumi looks around "But what about the mask?

They see Mr. E. grab the mask of vengeance and he puts it on. He gained 4 arms.

Jay shrugged "Really? Four arms? Pfft. Like that's new"

The four fight against Mr. E, but with the Mask of Vengeance, he overpowers them and breaks the case holding the Mask of Deception. Before he can take it, Kai sends a fireball at the mask, which destroys it.

Nya ran in at that moment "Uh, I think my brother just destroyed the Mask of Deception"

Lloyd turned around "What?"

"That one was a fake. I procured the real one from the vaults below" Hutchins pulls out the real mask "Forgive me, your Highness, it is the Mask if Deception. I wasn't sure if I could trust the Ninja. But I do now" He reveals a passage under the throne "Take it. And get the Princess out of here!"

"But what about my parents?" Harumi asks

"I'll find them. I was wrong about you. Go!" Hutchins says before leaving

Lloyd eyes widens "Aria, Nya where's Aria"

"Don't worry about her, she's the Dark Lord she'll be fine, just get the princess out of here" Nya tells him

Lloyd and Harumi leave the Palace grounds on a motorcycle with the Mask of Deception, and Ultra Violet and several Sons of Garmadon goons chase after them. After a long chase, Ultra Violet takes the Mask of Deception from Lloyd and Harumi, then she and her goons chase them down to the docks. Lloyd takes Harumi onto a boat, then fires it up, revealing it to be the Destiny's Bounty, and they escape from Ultra Violet's grasp.

"Whoa. I've never seen the city from this high before" Harumi says

"Your highness, welcome aboard the Destiny's Bounty" Lloyd smiles

-

The roof of the palace collapsed in front of the door and was on fire.

"We can't get out!" Kai shouts

"All exits are blocked off" Nya says

"Stand back!"

The ninja's stepped back as a powerful blast of dark energy ripped through the piles of ruble. The ninjas turn around to see Aria.

"Aria!" The ninjas shout

"let's get out of here!" Aria runs past them

"right" they all follow her

As the sun rises, the other Ninja and Aria are climbing the highway, having escaped the destruction of the Royal Palace. Lloyd picks them up in the Destiny's Bounty.

"Come on Aria, get on" Cole says holding his hand out to her

"I'll be alright, my guards will pick me up" Aria tells him

Cole stares at her annoyed "Oh shut up and get your ass on here"

"OK damn" Aria giggles taking his hand

Cole pulls Aria up onto the ship with the rest of the ninja.

"Cole we can't bring her" Lloyd says "for all we know that explosion could've been her doing, you said you saw Hutchins going into that passageway but Hutchins said it wasn't him and he even saved my life. Aria admited to the Emperor and Empress that she can shapeshift"

"Oh look Greenie's learned the art of eavesdropping" Aria crosses her arms

Lloyd growls "You-"

"Aria's done a lot of things wrong in her life but she wouldn't have put her own family in danger" Cole defends "maybe she'd try to kill all of you, but she wouldn't try to kill me or her guards if they were in there"

Lloyd sighs and stands down.

Harumi steps up "The Emperor and Empress? Where is Hutchins? Did they—"

"I'm sorry, Princess. They didn't make it" Nya replies sadly

Kai lookes at Lloyd "What about the mask?" Lloyd shakes his head, Kai then turned to Harumi "I promise you, we'll find the people responsible for this."

Harumi frowns "Once again, I am alone"

"You're with us now. And we'll make sure to find out who is behind all this. They are not going to get away" Lloyd comforts her

As the other ninja's comforted Harumi, Cole stands beside Aria.

"I covered for you this time in return for the favor you did for me last time" Cole whispers to her "now we're even"

Aria smirks "Oh, we're far from even my dear cousin, I just saved you and your friends life from death, you owe me 5 more times"

"Aria come on" Cole looks at her "you're the one who almost caused our deaths"

"But I didn't have to save you, I could've let you all burn" Aria crosses her arms with a smug look "you still owe me"

"You just killed so many people" Cole argues "you know Lloyd's right, you shape-shifted into Hutchins and rigged that explosion.. that was your goal.. this entire time" he clenched his fists "that treaty was just a ploy to get into the palace"

"Well well well, you're quite the detective aren't you" Aria mocks "that's just the beginning, you haven't seen anything yet"