Scarlett continued following the figure through the city. Both her earlier run with Jay and the mini fight against the pirates helped boost her adrenaline.

The person was fast, but she was faster. Though she was a little confused when they kept on running without making a single turn; a brick building was about a yard away.

They suddenly disappeared. Her eyes widened. "What?"

She couldn't hit the brakes in time. Her entire body slammed right into the concrete.

She almost fell back. Almost. She did have to take a second to recover, though.

The teen rubbed her face first. "Ow... I hope I didn't break my nose..."

Luckily, she had gone in chest first. It would be fine.

Scarlett whipped her entire body around to try and find the figure. They were gone.

"Come on, you sick son of a bitch!" she unintentionally shouted. Her irritation still remained. "I know you're here. And I'm not crazy! Don't be a pussy, show yourself."

Hearing her vulgar yells, the ninjas were able to easily trace her. The five stood behind a car, each peeking their heads up.

"What the fuck is she yelling about?" Jay asked.

"Wait, Sc—" Lloyd tried calling out to her before a hand flew to his mouth. He glanced up at the culprit.

Zane first looked down at him before the others. "Nobody make a sound. Look..."

Behind the teen was a dark figure. On guard, the ninjas stayed hidden while preparing to attack.

But instead of harming her, they revealed themself. They came out into the light, wearing a wine-colored fitted, long sleeve shirt. The form was clearly of a man, with black cargos held up by a black belt. They were tucked in leather boots of the same color.

Scarlett heard the footsteps. She slowly did a 180. Once her eyes landed on the tall man, she suddenly flinched. And she still couldn't see his face due to the hood of his black cloak over his head.

She took a step back, defensively releasing flames in the palms of her hands. "Who the fuck are you?"

The man yanked his hood down in a rush. His dark brown eyes, like hers, were widened in shock.

"When the fuck did you start doing that?"

The ninjas froze. Scarlett herself froze. Even the fire in her hands disappeared.

The attractive man a few yards away from her had a very lean and muscular build with olive-colored skin. His most notable feature was the curly-fade ombré style of his hair, with the curls atop his head red and dimming down into black.

It wasn't obvious at first, but their stunned expressions were nearly identical. That bothered the ninjas on the side a little bit.

The silence was painfully loud.

Finally, Scarlett opened her mouth again. "Is it actually you?" She appeared more apathetic now.

The man only smiled at her words. "You seem to be doing well."

She walked toward him until they were about an inch apart. He blinked down at her.

Even the others watched in anticipation.

Her gaze then dropped. "You..."

He didn't know what to expect. But it definitely wasn't a sucker punch to the center of his face.

"You piece of shit!"

He actually stumbled from her hit. The remaining five ninjas let out screams from the sudden shock.

That was their cue to intervene. Uttering nonsense, they hurried over to the two.

Cole instinctively grabbed her shoulder to push her away. "Scarlett, you can't just punch people out of nowhere!"

Jay instead went over to the stranger. "Hey man, you alright?"

He placed a hand on his cheek, but wasn't actually that fazed. "Yes, I'm... alright. Just a little stunned, is all."

Kai turned to the teen. "What happened?"

But she didn't even look his way. Her extreme glare was glued to the victim of her fist. "Fuck you."

It was all fun and games until they noticed the tears in her eyes. She did a great job of keeping them from falling down her cheeks. Her hand was clenched so tight her knuckles were already turning white.

"You're an asshole." Her voice cracked. "How... how could you?"

The man tensed up. He released a silent sigh through his nose.

The others paused. It was serious, now.

He faced her again. There was a sort of pleading in his eyes.

"I know it may not fix anything... but will you allow me to explain? It's the least I could do."

Scarlett didn't want to hear another word from him. There were many emotions buried away that suddenly began to resurface: anger, disappointment, curiosity... and even a bit of relief.

The tension was truly killing the others. They hated being in the dark.

So Zane was the one who finally asked the question on their minds. "Who... who are you?"

The stranger kept his eyes on her, wondering if she wanted to speak. Everyone else turned the same way too.

Scarlett remained frustrated, though opened her mouth. "Everyone, this is Red... my pussy ass brother."

"Brother!?" was all that rang through the streets.

Said family grimaced at her vulgarity. "I get it. You don't have to keep going."

¤ ¤

Considering it was only about six at night, many restaurants were still open. Also considering an emotional bomb was just dropped on them, the male ninjas decided it was time for an outing.

Red sat on one end of the booth. Scarlett purposefully distanced herself, sitting on the opposite diagonal end. She also refused to look at him.

Jay, who was next to their new company, glanced at the model. "You know, this little turn of the tables has really shown me that we don't know jack shit about you, Casper."

"It's true," Zane agreed with a nod of his head. He was next to the ninja in blue. "Personality... we know well. But when it comes to your past, there is nothing to tell."

"Well, you guys never asked," she bluntly replied. Her arms were crossed.

"Fair point. So let us ask now... what the hell happened between you two?" Kai asked. "If I were away from my family for however long, I'd be happy to see them again."

Scarlett remained frustrated. "He ditched me. Dipped without a single warning!"

Red leaned over to see her better. "Did you ever wonder if I was kidnapped and held against my will, maybe?"

"Well were you kidnapped and held against your will?"

"... sort of?"

The waitress then walked over to the team. "Hello, everyone, how are we doing tonight?"

Having some courtesy, everyone replied in unison, "Good."

"Can I get you guys started on anything?"

"Umm, can I have the double cheeseburger with fries please?" Lloyd sweetly asked as he stared at the menu.

Cole glared at him from his spot on the other end of the booth. "Can you focus?"

"What? We came to a restaurant. We can multitask."

"He's right. Um, I'll just have a glass of milk for now," the teen answered the waitress. Something then caught her attention. "Ooh, these bacon cheese fries sound super good actually..."

"Just those for now," Jay cut in with a nervous chuckle. "We're in the middle of something super important. Could you come back in a few minutes?"

Awkwardly, the waitress smiled and walked off.

Scarlett kept her eyes glued to the menu. "So, you gonna explain or what?"

Red knew she was speaking to him. He silently sighed through his nose. "That day, I—"

"No, no." Cole held a hand up in front of him. "We're not doing all that." He turned to his left to stare at the occupied teen. "Jay's right. At the end of the day, we don't know much about you. It's time we change that."

Her expression softened into a frown. "Yeah, whatever."

She twisted her body to properly face everyone. "Okay. My name is Scarlett Dragonfire, as you all know. I turned seventeen not too long ago, about a few months. I'm from Mikyla Village. Super super small, like on the edge of Ninjago. I lived there for as long as I can remember with my dad and... that asshole."

Said asshole dropped his head into his hand.

"What about your mother?" Zane asked.

"Oh, I don't remember my mom at all. She died when I was like, a baby-baby I think," Scarlett answered rather bluntly. It didn't seem to affect her too much.

"She fell ill," Red added. "Though very few, I do have some memories of her."

"Him and my dad were enough for me," she continued without paying him any mind. "They never made me feel like I needed anyone else."

"So then... what happened?" Lloyd questioned. "You seem like you wanna rip him in half."

"What he means is," Kai snapped, sending the child a forced smile, "how did you get here? The both of you, honestly."

"Our father told us he needed to come to Ninjago for a business trip," the older sibling answered. "To us, it was strange. He did all his work within the village, and it was such a remote place. Having a calling to the largest city in the continent didn't make much sense."

"So once he left, we followed him," Scarlett added. "Kinda crazy, but we built a little bike together. Well, I built it. He did all the heavy stuff like lifting and holding things in place."

A smile creeped up Red's face. "Remember all the looks we got from the neighbors as we drove away?"

She couldn't help the giggle that left her lips after recalling the memory. "Yeah, they were so confused. And ready to snitch, too. At least he wasn't there to deal with that."

As quickly as she laughed, however, she stopped. "Wait, no. I'm still mad at you. Don't fucking talk to me."

The waitress returned with a bunch of waters and a glass of milk. She appeared a bit rushed.

"I don't mean to bother you, but I have your drinks. Give your burger a minute, hun."

Lloyd smiled. "Okay! Thanks."

When she walked away, Zane turned to the siblings. "Please, continue... I'm quite intrigued."

"Yeah. It's like the story is so bland but you wanna know what happens next," Jay blurted. Kai kicked him in the shin.

Scarlett didn't pay the comment any attention. "Well, we made it to the city. We were still young and stupid, so we thought we could just search around without any problems... turns out without a roof over your head you're completely screwed."

"So I got a job. She was better with all the technology, so I left the searching to her. Being a waiter helped keep a roof over our heads," Red continued. "There are some bad days, but you actually get paid pretty well most of the time in that sort of area."

"Oh, I see. So you took what you had and dipped," the teen remarked in a very petty tone.

He genuinely looked confused. "... I always made sure to leave some money in a safe at the end of the night. It should have built up over time."

"Wow. This is worse than when me and Nya were kids," Kai whispered.

"Maybe it is nice to be an only child," Lloyd added in the same volume level.

"But that's not the point. Things were good, for a bit. Maybe a year or so. When I come home one day, Scarlett was not there. Running errands, perhaps. Instead, there was a strange man standing there, waiting for me."

Even she looked at him now. This she wasn't aware about. The others were quiet.

Red went on. "Suddenly, I try fighting off this man with abilities I never even knew I had. I could throw devastating punches, kick like a true martial artist... my defenses were high, and I was in shock. And with that came the lowering of my guard. I was injected with something that knocked me unconscious immediately. And then I never saw my sister again."

Scarlett didn't snap back. A small frown was on her face. "How long were you kidnapped for? How did you escape?"

With everyone interested, he began to recall it all.

¤ ¤

A tall man with bleach blonde hair and clear, square framed glasses in a white lab coat stared at something on his right. "Still nothing yet?"

About four feet behind him sat another researcher. He was a bit darker in skin tone with neat, light brown curls all over his head. His face was dug into the multiple computers in front of him, one set of fingers hovering over the keyboard and the other clicking a mouse.

"No, nothing yet," the latter replied. "I can't trace anything at all. It's as if there was never anything in the first place."

The two were referring to Red, who lay unconscious on a rectangular, metal plate. His arms were at his sides, legs together. He wore only a pair of black shorts, the rest of his body bare as multiple electrodes were pasted everywhere from his chest, collarbone, and even as low as his torso. They all connected to a machine, where it then transferred the information to the computers.

There was also an IV in his left forearm. He was getting fluids from a bag hung not too far away.

The former researcher paced the room in irritation. "We've been going at this for weeks, and not a single appearance! How are we supposed to do anything for him if they won't reveal themselves? If only Dr. Julien were still around, he... god, where could he be?"

The latter, whose coat read, Bautista, in blue cursive, released a small sigh through his nose. "Perhaps... perhaps if I try a shock wave?"

The former whipped his head around, eyes wide in fear. "No. That could harm him."

"Remember the time his powers first surfaced. Was he in any perceived danger? If so, that may be the key this time."

He took a moment to think about it. His partner was right.

"Do it. But not too strong. Let's hope his body is able to quickly react."

And so researcher Bautista paused for a moment before clicking the screen twice. In seconds, Red shook as electricity coursed through his entire body. The blonde scientist flinched as if he had never seen such a thing.

It didn't last very long. He turned to his partner.

"Well? Anything?"

Bautista frowned at the emptiness on his screens. "No. Perhaps if I try again—"

That was it. Red's heart rate suddenly increased as the waves in his body seemed to change on the monitor.

"Hey... something's happening."

That's when a purple whip-like substance rose from his body and knocked the standing researcher to his feet. The previously unconscious man sat up in a cold sweat, eyes nearly bursting out of his head.

Bautista rose from his chair. "Hey, man, you okay?"

Red looked left and right to try and process where he was and what had happened. Looking down at himself, he found the electrodes and began to rip them all off by the wires.

The blonde glanced up from the floor. "It worked..."

"Who are you? What the hell have you been doing to me?" the younger man demanded, jumping out of the plate and onto the floor. He wore nothing on his feet.

He harshly ripped the IV out of his arm. The sting was blocked by the high adrenaline in his body as blood spilled from the puncture wound.

Seeing Bautista a few feet away, his eyes narrowed in anger. "You brought me here. Tell me!"

The purple that previously rose from his body disappeared and now released from his fingertips. He hadn't even noticed.

Before researcher Bautista could do or say anything, his partner held his hands out to both of them while standing. "Red, please... calm yourself. I apologize for the miscommunication."

When the curly-haired scientist looked more offended than calm, he continued. "Look at your hands and allow me to explain why you're here. I can answer all of the questions you have."

That's when Red lowered his head. Finding the mist in his hands, he froze. This was something he had never seen before.

He faced the researchers once again. Bautista looked a little afraid, but the former was confident.

So Red stood straight, silently breathing through his nose as he managed to relax a little. "Alright. I need to know everything... especially if my sister is involved."