the good, the bad, and the dirty | jay, kai, and lloyd

19 - risky road to recovery

the ninja had managed to seize all of the suspects involved in the library. there were no bombs found on them or on the site, to their great fortune. the men simply invaded the location to threaten the police with the civilians; the only thing they had were firearms. after police officers escorted all fifteen of the criminals out, the four ninja who were not witnesses to the personal attack on y/n rushed over to the historical fiction section.

they were greeted by the view of y/n, unconscious on the floor, covered in blood, as kai's hands were dripped in it, as a result of carrying her head upwards. just like the other three ninja there, they momentarily pulled their hoods back. everyone's eyes widened simultaneously, and fell to y/n's aid at once.

except lloyd.

he stood there, paralyzed in fear for a minute. aside from the two other ninja who were very fond of her, lloyd felt his heart fall into the pits of his stomach. his left eye twitched, unable to process the way y/n looked. he swallowed hesitantly before he resumed into the present.

nya communicated with sensei wu about the situation. he ordered them back at once, making them put their hoods back on, and y/n's since jay had taken it off. cole volunteered to carry her back, gently placing her over his shoulder. the ninja raced back to the bounty, where sensei wu and misako were waiting for them.

cole placed y/n down on the bed they had in the infirmary. misako was quick to tend to her, urging the ninja to leave the rather small room, and allow her to look over y/n's injury to see if she could be of any help. sensei wu chipped in, too.

no one wanted to stay at her side more than jay, kai, and lloyd.

and as much as it pained them to leave her, they knew they had to for the moment. besides, she was under misako's care; so she would hopefully turn out okay.

the six original ninja assembled in the control room, glum and disheartened faces alike. a momentarily silence swarmed the air, until one of them snapped it in two.

"so what happened to her, exactly?" it was nya, a quiver hinted in her usual confident voice.

"she was hearing this sound," kai responded, staring down at his sister's feet across from him. "it was coming from this weird device one of the men had. he had it pointing straight down on us, but it was only hurting y/n somehow. it became too much for her to handle and she started to lose it completely."

"if i may ask, what kind of device was it?" zane questioned right after. "did you happen to get ahold of it, by any possible chance?"

"it looked like combination of a megaphone and gun. jay fried it up so i don't think it's of any use. but yes, here."

kai walked over to a desk where he had placed the said device. he proceeded to hand it to zane, who began to observe it quietly. the gears and wires of zane's mind worked efficiently to search for an answer.

"who was the perp, anyway?" cole asked, his thick eyebrows knitted together.

more silence, because the only person who knew of this man remained quiet for once. he was swimming in his own bubble of guilt, before he felt a pair of fiery red eyes gaze over at him.

"he, um..." jay's eyes appeared watery, but he was doing his mighty best to blink away all of the tears just waiting to take a dive. "he was one of the suspects in the technology center's attack. he got away and i-i couldn't get to him, just like i couldn't this t-time." he gulped down the impending break in his voice he sensed. jay hesitantly glanced up, but mostly everyone had their gaze focused on the device.

"it's okay, jay," kai reassured his friend, a gloomy cloud present in his eyes. "i know you tried your best. we're gonna find the guy who did this, i promise you that."