Objective: Fire

Chapter 27

The whole room was filled with tension as both parts stood ready. No one moved, but if anything were to happen... this wasn't going to end well. They all stood ready, prepared to draw their weapons if it would be necessary. Everyone except Brine.
" so you're my successor... the one who were given the title of Renegade after I left." Brine speaks as he stares at Lloyd before him, who stared back. Lloyd didn't know how to reply. He wasn't even sure why he couldn't bring himself to talk to this guy... it was almost like being in the presence of someone holly or dangerous...
So this was Brine... the first Renegade... the original Renegade...
What happened to him? According to him... he had left... but to the rumors, he had been told he had died. But then again... he didn't know there had been a renegade before him. Not until 47 had told him all of this.
" yes... that's me..." Lloyd finally managed to say after a while. He couldn't explain what was going on with him... but for some strange reason... he felt fearful being around him... like he had touched something that didn't belong to him... that he had taken something from him that war rightfully his...
Was he mad at him for taking over his role as the chosen one? That he became renegade instead?
" how did you find us" 47 narrows her eyes at them.
" we followed you" this time, a new voice appeared from behind them, but this time, this voice belongs to someone they knew...
" Morro..." Lloyd angrily mumbles as he slowly turns to face his former teammate.
" hello Lloyd... How's your arm" Morro replies, grinning at the green ninja.
" none of your concern" Lloyd replies angrily. He truly wanted to attack Morro, to make him hurt for what he had done to 47, what he had done to all of them, but if he did this now, then they wouldn't stand a chance as they were to many..
" true... and I honestly don't care. But thank you for leading the way, I don't think we would have found this place without your help." Morro replies and grins at them.
" when did you guys find us..?" This question has been badgering her for a while now as he was ashamed to admit that she had not noticed anything. Neither had Lloyd or Wu.
" we saw your ship land near the forest. We were already suspecting this place to be a possible spot for a tomb to lay, and our suspicions were confirmed as we saw you guys" Morro tells her.
There was no point in hiding the truth. They had no chance of doing anything to stop them at the moment.
" where's Kai..." Lloyd finally asked.
Morro turns his attention back to Lloyd and hesitates for a moment.
" you mean the fire ninja? Well as you can see, he's not here with us. For some time, he had joined forces with us. I honestly thought you guys would have recognized him back at the library, but I guess you guys are stupider than I thought." Morro replies.
" and I guess it's no use in calling him the elemental master of fire anymore, because his powers are no longer with him" with that, Morro holds up a large sized crystal for them to see.
" what's that?! And what do you mean by Kai not having his powers!? It's impossible to take away a persons power!" Lloyd tells him.
" well we thought so too, but this crystal proves us all wrong, allow me to demonstrate" with a grin Morro holds the crystal out towards Wu who was standing to Lloyd's left.
Wu's eyes were wide as he recognized this object... it had been years since he had seen it, but back in the days when he was a child, he remembered his father having some problems with other elemental masters or people with power who shouldn't have.. and he had used this crystal to remove their powers... it was a terrible thing... but used for the greater good, but now... in the wrong hands of the enemy.. it was being used for a selfish and dark purpose.
" Morro..." Wu calmly spoke as he watched the crystal being pointed at him.
" listen child...you don't have to do this.. you don't have to fight for the wrong side.." Wu tries to reason with him.
" like you know what's right or wrong" Morro snaps back at Wu.
" listen... I know your past has been hard... and I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to change that... but it's never to late to do the right thing.."
Morro slowly shook his head at his words.
" to late...? It's always to late Wu" he replies and holds the crystal towards him. Without another word, the crystal starts glowing and Wu felt a rush of pain go through his body. It felt like every cell in his body was being ripped apart and reunited. It was a horrible sensation, but he knew what had just happened... and before he could do anything about it, the crystal was also pointed towards 47 who just stood there watching them, worried about Wu who suddenly had gone all weak. She didn't understand what was going on and what the crystal had done to him, but now she felt he same burning sensation in her body.
" aghhh! What is happening to me!" She screamed out in pain as she fell to her knees, clutching her arms in pain.
" sensei! ( your/name)!"!Lloyd called out as he watched them suddenly fall to their knees.what had happened!? What had Morro done to them?! He let go of his own sword and rushed over to 47 who was the closest one to him. He gently grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her close to him, ready to do anything to defend her.
" what have you done to them!?" Lloyd yells angrily, staring Morro straight into his eyes in anger.
" oh she's going to be fine. Just like Kai. He also survived loosing his powers" Morro evil grins as he tells him.
Lloyd couldn't believe his words... how could this even be possible? He had never heard of people losing their powers before, but for some reason... he knew Morro wasn't lying.
" now it's your turn, green ninja" Morro grins and is just about to reach out the crystal towards Lloyd when someone suddenly grabs hold of his hand and prevents him from doing anything.
" no. We actually need him." Brine tells him and let go of Morro's arm. Lloyd watched them both in fear as he didn't know what was going on. But as he sat there, with a shaking 47 in his arms, it was then he noticed it... on both of their wrists were the bracelet of Solomon... the same evil brackets that had been used on him earlier... So Brine was the victim to this curse this time...
" what do you mean we need him!? We don't need him at all!" Morro replies angrily as he didn't like to be commanded to stop.
" honestly, do you ever think before you act?" Brine narrows his eyes at Morro. He couldn't believe he was being held under a curse by this kid.
" you used the crystal to remove Kai's powers. Witch means he no longer is the elemental master of fire." Brine tells him.
" so?" Morro replies confused.
Brine quietly rolls with his eyes in disappointment and continues: " we can't use him to activate the tomb of fire. Since there's only one more person in this world that can use fire, why not use that person?" Brine looks at Morro, expecting him to put the pieces together.
" his father? But I thought he wasn't alive. I thought he was just a fake trick to lure Kai into working with us." Morro replies. Brine finally gives up and walks away from him without giving him the answer. Instead, Brine heads towards Lloyd. If Morro was going to play dumb then fine, but he surly wasn't going to waste any more of his time. Without a word, Brine grabs hold of Lloyd's arm and forcefully pulls him up to his feet. There was only one person in this world that had the ability to use his elemental powers of fire, and that was the green ninja himself.
" no!" Wu weakly calls out as he watches Lloyd being lead towards the center of the room where a large stone table laid. He wanted to raise up and run after them to stop them, but he was too weak to move... and his powers were all gone.
" Lloyd! Don't touch him!" 47 angrily calls out as she herself wasn't able to do anything.

Lloyd nervously tries to pull himself away from the older boy, but Brines grip on him was too strong.
" please... don't.. don't do this to me... don't bring him back" Lloyd quietly whispered. He wanted to look Brine in the eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to...
" this must be done.. I'm sorry.." it was spoken like a whisper. It wasn't intended for the others to hear, only him... he was apologizing for what he was going to do...
" you're going to put more lives in danger! You're going to destroy families! Children will be taken away from their families and people will live in fear! For what cause!? This isn't worth it!" Lloyd bursts out angry. He didn't want to give up this easily. He wanted to persuade him into doing the right thing, to stop the dark lord from returning...
" this is selfish! You can't do this just because you want more power!" Lloyd yells the last part. This triggers Brine to get angry and his hold on Lloyd gets more painful.
" selfish!? I'm doing anything to bring her back!" Brine angrily replies and with that they both reach the table and Brine slams Lloyd down onto the ground.
47 tries to stand up to run over to them, but a guard grabs her and holds her down. Two other guards makes sure Wu wouldn't be able to do anything, forcing him to watch the whole incident without being able to do anything.

Lloyd slowly lowers his head in defeat. No... this couldn't be happening... why was this happening...? Couldn't he do anything..? Say anything?
" you know... life is hard, but that doesn't mean you have to be as well" Lloyd mumbles as he looks up at Brine. He knew he wasn't a bad person... he couldn't be... he was forced into this.. forced to become a villain... and whoever this 'she' was... it was someone dare to him, someone he was willing to do anything for.
" is she... alive?" Lloyd whispers, and this short sentence makes Brine freeze. He hadn't told him anything, how was he able to put all the pieces together..?
Brine doesn't reply and that's enough for Lloyd to understand. She wasn't...
" did they tell you that the dark lord could bring her back...?" Lloyd whispers again, loud enough for only Brine to hear.
" she's none of your business" Brine angrily replies.
" true.... but you helping them bring back the dark lord is my business..." Lloyd continues. Brine slowly shakes his head.
" it doesn't matter, I'm trapped on one side for all eternity...I'm meant to destroy you, to destroy this world." Brines eyes grows darker as he speaks. It didn't matter where he was or where he was hiding... he had been raised to be evil, he had been raised to take lives, it was the only thing he knew how to do... and it was all his fault that Piper died that night.. she should have left alone...left him behind... found her father on her own and lived a beautiful and peaceful life... something he couldn't give her.
" no.. no you're not. No one is born evil.." Lloyd knew this was true. He knew no one could possibly be evil, but evil exists in the world, lurking around like a poisonous snake.
Brine slowly shakes his head and grabs Lloyd's hair, forcing his head up so he was facing the stone table in from of them.
" this isn't personal..." Brine tells him, grabbing a hold of a knife.
Lloyd's hear starts to beat faster as he eyes the knife. He couldn't believe this was it... this was ... going to be the end of him...?