The Dark Heirs: Ninjago

Hostage

Wu frowned as his spirit smoke showed him Garmadon creating the Mega Weapon out of the Golden Weapons, and then using it twice to grant his own wishes.

Zane brought the elderly-looking master his teapot, asking why he looked upset.

"How many children does my brother have?" The Master of Creation asked his student

The nindroid looked confused, "Two, sensei, twins to be precise; Harumi and Lloyd. Why do you ask?"

"Because yesterday he only had one, Lloyd." Wu replied, standing up

"I do not understand, my memory systems provide information on both children with and without Garmadon." The Master of Ice said

"Garmadon has used the Golden Weapons to alter reality, it seems it is taking longer for it to affect me since I am older and thus have more memories than you four and the people of Ninjago." Wu said, "We must find him before he can cause true damage."

***

Lloyd lay on the carpet in the captain's quarters, rereading a Starfarer comic alone, his dad and sister had gone into town for a supply run with most of the army, leaving only a few to protect him.

He was completely absorbed in his comic book that he did not hear someone enter the room.

"Hello, little boy." The Hypnobrai General greeted, though his knife gave away his true intentions

Lloyd's mismatched eyes widened fearfully, screaming out, "Help, me!

The blond rushed to the bed, pulling a staff -that most likely had once been his uncle's- from underneath it, holding it defensively, asking, "What do you want with me?"

"You seem to be the only thing your father cares about. But with you as my hostage, he'll have no other choice but to let me lead the Serpentine!" The serpentine answered, lunging out to grab him

The ten-year-old screamed, trying to fight back but having never been trained he was mostly just flailing about trying to wiggle out of the snake's hold.

***

Lord Garmadon walked up the steps back onto the Black Bounty, holding his daughter's hand with one of his lower arms and the Mega Weapon with one of his upper ones, his free hands holding a grocery bag of treats for Lloyd -mostly candy but he had also picked up one of those books that looked like the one he had seen his son reading earlier.

He was laughing slightly, having told Harumi a corny joke in typical father fashion, but that joyful mood disappeared when he heard a scream.

The Dark Lord dropped everything he had been holding, running towards the source.

He threw open the door to his quarters, seeing the Hypnobrai General he had taken his army from holding his son by his hoodie's hood, choking the boy, reminding Garmadon of how he had found his son hanging from a sign after he had been freed from the Underworld.

Garmadon saw the string of bruises forming around Lloyd's neck and the knife being held to his fragile throat -a slight move on the snake's part would spell his son's death.

"He is hurting your treasure." The venom hissed in his mind

Garmadon's eyes were crimson, but he truly saw red as the situation processed in his mind.

"I have your son!" Skales smirked, stating the obvious, "I will consider letting him go if-"

The general did not get to finish his sentence, getting thrown to the ground by the Dark Lord.

Lloyd quickly scrambled away from the fighting men, going to his older twin who covered his eyes with her hands, not looking away from the fight herself.

She watched in relative glee as Garmadon pulled the knife from the Hypnobrai's hands and stabbed him with it, easily piercing the scaled flesh and ripping into his enemy over and over.

By the time the venom and paternal protectiveness fueled rage subsided, Skales was little more than a mushy pile of scales and innards.

He then stood up, tossing the weapon onto the 'corpse' and picking up his kids, looking at the Serpentine that had been watching in shock and horror from the open door, "Let that be an example for you all, no one touches my children. This mess better be clean by the time I get back."

With that, he left towards the kitchen, the crowd parting like the sea to let him through.

Garmadon set Harumi onto her feet, trying to set Lloyd down as well but his son refused to let go.

"I need you to let go, blossom, I need to check you for injuries." The Master of Destruction softly said

Lloyd shook his head, "I'm not hurt, you saved me, dad, I knew you would."

"That's good, but if you let me check just to be extra sure you can stay in my arms for the rest of the day if you want to." Garmadon bartered

The ten-year-old boy agreed to those terms, letting go long enough to let his dad check his neck before reattaching to him like a sloth to a tree because there was not a safer place in the world than in his dad's arms.

The Dark Lord kissed his son's head, rubbing his back soothingly, "I love you so much, blossom."

"I know, I love you too." The blond boy said, "That's why that snake tried to hurt me, he said he could get his army back if he took me hostage."

The quarter-oni said nothing to that, he had suspected that much but it angered him all the same.

"Can you make me dragon milk, dad?" Lloyd asked after a few minutes of silence, his head hiding in the crook of the warlord's neck

Garmadon nodded, asking Harumi if she wanted any as he pulled a saucepan from the cabinet; he poured two glasses worth of milk into the saucepot, added four healthy squeezes of honey, a few dashes of cinnamon, a sprinkle of nutmeg, and a spoonful of vanilla extract.

Once the milk was warmed up, he poured it into two mugs and offered them to his children.

It was only a placebo, but it made Lloyd feel better emotionally whenever he had a nightmare or got a cut or bruise.

***

Lloyd spent the rest of the day in his father's lower arms as promised, noticing how tense the Serpentine were now that they had seen how protective the Dark Lord was of his children.

Garmadon was trying to move on with his plans as if nothing happened, still determined to take over Ninjago because his children -and the venom, but that was beside the point- wanted him to.

"Okay, so let's brainstorm on how to use my to destroy the ninja. Remember, the weapon can only create, never destroy. And I can only use it once a day, as it drains all of my strength." Garmadon said, standing on the balcony above the deck with his army below him, "So, no such thing as a bad idea. Anyone?"

"What if you recreated the Devourer?" A Venomari asked

Garmadon frowned, ordering, "Over the side!

"No, no. I-I was kidding. Wait!" The soldier cried out as he was tossed off the ship into the ocean below

"Anyone else? Don't be shy. No bad ideas." The Master of Destruction asked

Garmadon sighed when no one said anything, "Instead of things that have already failed to destroy the ninja, how about something new?"

"I have an idea." A voice behind him said

All eyes turned towards the source, seeing Harumi Garmadon stepping out of the room behind him.

"The people of Ninjago already like you since you killed the monster, you could use the Mega Weapon to ruin the Ninja's reputation." The platinum blonde offered

Garmadon was going to ask how, but an idea came to him as he saw his reflection in the weapon he held.

Yes, this would work...