Written by: miamidnightt

Not once turning back to look if the Ninja were following them, Mia ran as fast as she could with Scarlett behind her. She heard their shouts to the two of them, but she simply ignored them and kept her feet moving forward. It wasn't until the Ninja were out of sight, that Scarlett yanked Mia's arm back, stopping her from going any further.

The redhead turned to the other teen, demented, until she looked at her worried expression, "Hey, what's wrong? Are you worried that those Ninja are gonna find us?"

"No, it's not that." The dark-haired girl shook her head, pacing back-and-forth. "I just realized that I ran out here to help you, completely ignoring the fact that I was in the middle of a job. Now it's getting late and my boss isn't going to be happy with me. I mean, I had asked if I could work overtime so that I could get a little extra money, and I completely screwed it up!"

Mia grabbed her by the shoulders, "Hey, hey... It's gonna be fine. I'm sure he'll understand if you explain things to him."

"I doubt that," Scarlett sighed, rubbing her temples. "Sorry, but I have to take care of this problem on my own. Uh, it was nice meeting you, even if it was to save you from the Ninja. Just don't run into them again."

"Oh, I don't think they'll be able to catch me." Mia chuckled under her breath, waving as Scarlett left out of sight. Not waiting another second, the teen girl ran down the streets and headed back to her apartment building, she was lucky to have been able to get it when she thirteen, "Guess I'm back home."

Taking the elevator up to the third floor, she walked into her room, punching in the numbers for the password lock on her door. When she heard the click, the door opened and she slid inside, shutting the door before she walked into the bathroom, stripping down and jumping into the shower. The heated water felt nice against her tense muscles and made her relax, and she stepped out of the shower after turning the water off.

Dressing lightly, she wore her black leggings and silver t-shirt with the words 'messy hair' on the front. She undid the ponytail from her hair and brushed her teeth, before going off to sleep in her room. She knew that she wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight.

* * *

Waking up to the light entering her room and the alarm clock ringing in her ears, Mia groaned, hiding her face in her pillow before sluggishly getting up from the bed. Slamming the alarm off and walking into the kitchen to make breakfast, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, right," Mia muttered under her breath, opening the fridge. "I'm supposed to work..." Taking out her phone, she glanced at the time on the screen, "...What? In twenty minutes...!?"

Instead of cooking breakfast like she had intended to, she shut the fridge and plopped a granola bar in her mouth, quickly running back into her room and dressing into her green hoodie and skinny jeans. She got on her green sneakers as she rushed out the door, grabbing her bag off the counter.

But as she shut the door behind her, she heard a familiar voice a few doors down, "Mia...? I didn't know we lived in the same apartment building."

"Wait, Scarlett?" Mia turned her head behind her, spotting the same girl from yesterday, who walked over to her. "Wow, I didn't expect to see you here. Have we been living in the same apartment building all this time without knowing?"

Scarlett put a finger to her chin, "Possibly. We might have ran into each other a couple times but never bothered to say anything." She crossed her arms behind her head and smiled, "So, where are you headed off to?"

"Work." Mia replied, holding the strap of her bag around her shoulder. "I work as a journalist in the mornings. But what about you? Last night you said you had a problem with work?"

Scarlett sighed, keeping her gaze on the ground, before nodding, "Yeah... I happened to pass by the mechanic shop last night and my boss left me a note on the door. He's gonna have a talk with me this afternoon, which I am not looking forward to."

"Oh, that bad, huh?" Mia asked her, feeling concern for her.

"You have no idea."

Mia took out her phone and glanced at the time, her eyes widening, "Damn it! I've only got ten minutes to get down to work. Uh, nice seeing you again, Scarlett, but I gotta head out." Not waiting for an answer from her, the redhead dashed out the apartment building and into the streets of Ninjago City.

Pulling her hood up before walking out, she raced down the streets, not wanting to think of what could happen if she turned up late to her job. They'll probably skin me alive if that happened, Mia thought, finally arriving at the building and running inside, not noticing the two Ninja watching her as she entered.

"Wow, I guess Zane was right about her working here." Cole huffed, turning to look to the Green Ninja. "Should we go in and get her?"

Lloyd shook his head in disagreement, "No, there's probably too many people inside. It'd be best if we wait for her to come out. Don't want to cause a scene or anything, right?"

"Right." Cole agreed.

By the time Mia finally came out, both Ninja were waiting near the entrance of the building, watching as she walked out with a small stack of papers and a few books. She didn't notice them following close behind her until Cole spoke up.

"Nice seeing you again." He crossed his arms, giving her a smug look from behind.

"AHHHH!" Mia screamed, dropping everything that she was holding, whipping her head around and glaring at the two boys. "What the hell...?!"

"Long time no see," Lloyd smirked, stepping closer to her. "Or was it? I forget."

Mia groaned, throwing her hands up above her head in frustration, bending down to pick up the papers and books, placing them in her bag instead. Oh my god, can't these damn Ninja just leave me alone for once, she thought, cursing at them in her head.

She stood up, angrily scowling at the Green Ninja, "What? So now you're becoming my stalkers? God, give me a break, can't you go find someone else to kidnap?"

"Sorry, can't do that, sweetheart." Cole strode over, an amused look on his face. "Not until you come with us. And we are not kidnapping you. Now what do you say, are you going to cooperate with us?"

"What if I said no?" Mia snapped, turning on her heel and promptly walking away from the two, "I've already had enough of you Ninja. I'm leaving...!"

But before she could run off, Lloyd seized her by the arm tightly, making sure that he didn't let her go,  "You're running off again? Come on, you know we've all had enough of that. Please, just hear us out."

"Fine...! But you better make it quick." Mia gritted her teeth, throwing her head back and running her free hand to her hood, making sure it wasn't falling off.

Lloyd tilted his head, "Hey, why do you always keep that hood on?"

"None of your business!" Mia hissed, giving him a hard look. "Now, you better start explaining things, before I take drastic measures. You know, I could report you to the police!"

Cole sighed, shaking his head at her, "You know, that wouldn't do much of anything. You'd be wasting your time by even doing something like that."

"You wanna know why we want you to come with us?" Lloyd questioned, hoping she'd stay quiet and listen to him. "It's because we were told that both you and Scarlett Dragonfire are destined to become Ninja like us. We--"

But Mia didn't let him finish, she broke out in a fit of laughter, finding the whole thing ridiculous, "Wow, you guys must have the wrong person. I mean, I can't be a Ninja. I'm too clumsy for that sort of thing, so you should go look for someone else."

"Wait, but--" Lloyd started but she interjected him, yet again.

"No, I think you need to let me go!" Mia shouted, grabbing her bag off her shoulder and swinging it right at the Green Ninja, he loosened his grip on her arm, allowing her to shove his hand away and run.

Lloyd cursed, "Damn, she got away....! Now what?"

"Well, Kai was going after Scarlett. If he doesn't come back with good news either, we'll have to think of a plan to get them. Even if that means by force." Cole explained to him.

Lloyd nodded, both him and Cole running through Ninjago City in search of the Fire Ninja, hopefully he would have some good news for them. If not, then they were going to have to go with Plan B, whatever that was.