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All four of them were tightly packed into the back of the police cruiser. One good thing about being de-aged to about 10 years old was that they were all able to fit. Of course, Cole was slightly older and they had no clue how old Zane was supposed to be. Zane shouldn’t have even been able to become a child but with the Mega Weapon, Lord Garmadon is able to rewrite reality.
Kai was happy he at least got a window seat, even though Cole was squishing him. One cop was driving and the other was on his phone. Kai discreetly watched them, not trusting that they wouldn’t be too harsh on his brothers. He knew from experience that not every cop is looking out for your best interest. Especially if you get caught on the wrong side.
He hated how some people were able to see everything as black and white. If you broke the law, in any way, you were a terrible, irredeemable person and any harsh treatment is justified.
“Cool it, Smokestack,” Cole angrily whispered at Kai. Cole had leaned far into Jay’s space trying to stop pressing against Kai. “You’re gonna light us on fire if you don’t watch it.”
Even if the ninja couldn’t use their elemental abilities, there was still a small part of them that was their element. Cole was still slightly stronger than he should be and Jay seemed to know where the electric currents wanted to go in his projects. Kai and Zane mostly retained their respective body temperatures.
“Hey, hey! Don’t squish me! Zane’s cold!” Jay piped up in protest. Zane made a face while Jay was pressing him into the door.
"I find this situation most unpleasant," Zane told Jay. Each of their statements was growing in volume.
“Sorry that I’m the only one upset at this situation!” Kai angrily directed at them. Both Cole and Jay raised their voices louder to argue Kai’s point. Before Zane could attempt to calm the situation, the cop in the passenger seat yelled over all of them.
“Enough! Stop your temper tantrums before I put handcuffs on the lot of y’all,” the officer had turned his body around, bracing his forearm on the driverside headrest. With his booming voice and towering presence, the ninja were reminded of how much smaller they were.
The officer was commanding respect and obedience. “I do not have the patience to deal with delinquents. You all are already in a heap of trouble and if I were you I would zip it!”
Jay sunk further back into Zane and Cole, hoping he could melt into the upholstery. Zane had not been yelled at like that before so he also felt unsure and frightened. Cole and Kai wouldn’t let this man intimidate them but both wisely settled down.
The officer looked each of them in the eye with a scowl before turning back around to face the road. It was only then that Kai let out a breath and murmured a quiet, “Sorry,” to Cole. Cole eyed him and with a slight nod, they were silent until the car rolled to a stop at the side entrance of one of Ninjago City’s police departments.
Both cops left the vehicle before the back passenger side opened. Zane barely caught himself from face planting into the parking lot. The cop from before roughly grabbed Zane’s arm to the point that he was sure he would have bruises if his skin wasn’t metal. Luckily the man didn’t notice and quickly moved to pull Jay from the car.
“Easy, Tong. They’re just kids.” The driver spoke up as he helped herd Cole and Kai out. The officer, Tong, let out a huff of breath and led the way. The bright lights in the hallway made Kai’s eyes burn. The florescent hum chiseled his eardrums. But he made sure to keep his focus to mark all the people and exits. Unfortunately, there were quite a few cops on duty this late at night.
“Hey, Tong. Got some new things for me?” The officer behind a desk with a glass screen cheerily asked Officer Tong.
“Got some young defenders who need their toys taken away,” Tong responded. He turned to look at the four ninja. “Go ahead and take off those shoulder pads and other extra stuff you put on your pajamas. You can get them back when we visit the museum tomorrow. Belts, too. Chop, chop.”
The four looked at each other before divesting of their armor until they were in plain gis. “They definitely look like pajamas, now,” Jay said miserably. Tong let out a laugh before directing his attention to the cop that was driving, “I’ll head home for the night and help you take the Fantastic Four to the museum tomorrow.” Moving his attention to the children in front of him, “Officer Oliver can take you four to processing. You break the law, this is what you get.” He said the last part with one final glare to the ninja before walking away.
“We’re gonna need some information, okay?” Officer Oliver asked kindly. “You kids don’t have any ID on you so we’re just gonna need some names. Let's start with you.”
“Cole Brookestone.”
“Zane Julien.”
“Jay Walker.”
“John Doe,” Kai responded with a straight face, but the officer could see humor behind his eyes. The other three were surprised at this answer and all gave him various incredulous looks. They all looked between Kai and the cop warily.
The officer sighed before calling out, “Hey, Tong. I think you shouldn’t leave tonight.”
Jay huddled behind Cole when he heard Officer Tong move over. “You’re gonna need to get his prints before we can get a mug shot. No ID and he’s not saying his name,” Oliver told him. Oliver’s face went from being kindly reassuring to sadly resigned. “I bet you a coffee he’s in the system. If not, we’ll process him as John Doe.”
Kai scowled while he listened to the conversation.
“Oh, a wise guy isn’t he?” Tong sneered before maneuvering Kai over to another section.
“Come along, kids,” Officer Oliver herd Zane, Jay, and Cole towards another section that had a camera. He fiddled with something on a table that they couldn’t see before handing each of them a rectangular plate with their names and a series of letters and numbers.
“Hold this up while we get your pictures,” he said. Cole kept his face straight for his mugshot, fuming at the recklessness and short-sided action Kai took in regards to the officers. His dad always warned him to never lie to a police officer. First, they let Garmadon and the Serpentine escape. Then, they get turned into children. Then, they get wrongly accused and arrested for stealing. This day was not going well.
Jay was holding back tears during the entire process. He always feels things more strongly than the others and being arrested was so not cool. His cheeks were splotchy and he felt like vibrating out of his skin. Officer Oliver was really kind to him, though. So that was a silver lining. Oh, how his mom and dad would be disappointed if they ever saw him, looking this young, being arrested.
Zane was mostly confused about the whole process. They never did anything wrong and yet they were treating them like common criminals. He was worried about how they were supposed to spend the whole night here and then apologize for something they didn’t do. No matter how many times he tries to explain this, he isn’t believed or is silenced. Maybe there are a few benefits to not having been a technical child before now.
Finally, they had their fingerprints put into the system and were led to the back where the holding cells are. “You guys get your own cell so that’s nice! Sometimes the people we put in here can be really mean,” Oliver said reassuringly. “I need to go check up on your friend and Officer Tong but I will be back soon, okay?”
The ninja just watched him warily before he sighed and walked away. As the officer approached the computers he heard shouting.
“Let me go! You have no proof!”
Officer Oliver picked up the pace and turned the corner to see “John Doe” on his belly with Officer Tong putting him in handcuffs. “What happened?” he asked.
Tong clicked the cuffs into place before hauling the small boy up to his feet. He made sure to keep a strong grip on the boy’s shoulder.
“Oliver, meet Kai Smith. I owe you a coffee,” Tong said. “I found his name in the system and he tried to make a run for it. He even knocked over Simon’s stack of case files when he tried going over the desk.” Kai huffed and glared at the mess around them.
Tong continued, “Kid’s got a list of misdemeanors as long as my arm. Petty theft and trespassing, mainly. He’s got some pretty sticky fingers.”
Kai let out a growl and tried to kick Tong. “Also some simple assaults from all his breakouts which adds to resisting arrest.”
Oliver let out a whistle. “Damn, I was hoping I was wrong.”
“You’ve got great instincts for finding the bad apple,” Tong laughed. “I’m going to finish booking him and then stick him in with gen pop for an hour or so. Maybe that will scare him straight. If you ask me, the cops in those small towns were taking it too easy on him.”
“Okay, I’m going to talk to the other kids. They seem like a good bunch who’s been making some bad choices,” Oliver responded. He looked down at Kai who was fuming. Oliver crouched down in front of him.
“I get that you’re angry. No kid does the things you have without a reason. Give some thought about the person you want to be, but don’t drag your friends into your mess,” he said. Kai refused to look him in the eye, choosing instead to try and burn a hole into the ground. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that at the moment and was instead led to the back.
Kai was marched through the hallway passed Cole, Zane, and Jay. Kai didn’t want to look at them and kept his eyes resolutely ahead until he was put into another cell where others had been processed. All the spaces on the benches by the walls were taken by people either glaring or laying across them.
Kai took a seat on one of the benches in the middle of the room. He didn’t understand how anyone could be sleeping in this cramped, cold, and bright space. He didn’t even have any weapons to defend himself. The only bright side was that at least no one else should have weapons either.
"Damn, they didn't even remove the cuffs, what the fuck did you do, kid?" A gruff voice spoke up across the cell. Kai huffed and ignored the man.
"That's fucked up," another person chimed in.
"No sense of decency," someone else said.
"Hey, kid," yet another person began, "whatever you did, you don't deserve to be treated like trash. You're a person. Keep that. Whatever you did, you are still a person."
Kai squeezed his eyes shut and hunched his shoulders in. The cell became quiet again.
Back at the first cell, the other three were worried. “Why wasn’t Kai put in here with us? Why didn’t he look at us? Did he look okay to you?” Jay’s nerves were starting to make him ramble.
“Jay, it’s probably fine. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. As far as they know, we’re just normal kids pretending to be ninja to steal from the museum,” Cole reassured.
“But we did not steal from the museum,” Zane responded.
“I know that and you know that but they do not know that!” Cole yelled in exasperation.
“We’re gonna go to prison for the rest of our lives!” Jay yelled and dramatically laid down on the floor.
“Don’t worry, kids, none of you are going to prison,” Officer Oliver was back. He opened the door, closed it behind him, and sat on one of the benches facing them. Jay scrambled to stand up and moved away next to Zane. Cole stood slightly in front of them both, providing a subtle barrier between the cop and his friends.
“Listen, how much do you know about your friend?” Oliver began gently.
“What does this have to do with anything?” Cole questioned, defensively. Oliver sighed and began to explain.
“Your friend has a history of stealing and going into places he shouldn’t. I have a feeling that he’s just going to get into more trouble and I don’t want to see you three dragged into it.”
The three looked shocked at his words. Granted, they had only been working together for a few months, but they thought they knew their red ninja better than this. “You must have incorrect information! Kai would never do such things,” Zane spoke up in protest first. Cole and Jay nodded with determination at his words.
“Okay, you don’t have to believe me but I can tell you the facts I know. When we ran his prints, we got his rap sheet. It’s full of petty theft, shoplifting, trespassing, minor assault, and things like that. We’re hoping he gets on the straight and narrow before he does anything like this when he’s older,” Oliver explained.
Cole looked back at Jay and Zane wearily. There’s no way the computer system is lying if they ran Kai’s prints and found all that information. What else do they not know about Kai?
“I want each of you to think about this. Please stay away from him. Even if you never commit another crime, hanging out with someone like that will make you guilty by association. I bet it was even his idea to steal from the museum. I can tell you all are good kids and I don’t want to see you throw your lives away for someone else's mistakes,” Oliver continued.
The officer got up and left the cell. When he was finished relocking it, he left a parting remark, “it’s not too late to turn things around.”
They watched him go before turning back to each other. None of them knew what to think.
Jay was startled awake from his prone position on the bench. He was using Cole’s thigh as a pillow while Cole was in a light doze, head tilted back to the painted concrete wall behind them. Zane was sitting by Jay’s feet, deep in thought.
Jay looked up to see Tong shoving Kai into their cell. Kai’s body felt uncoordinated in its smaller shape and his wrists were numb from the handcuffs. Bastard never took them off even when he was in the general holding cell. Kai stood up, rubbing his wrists with a growl thrown over to Tong’s retreating back.
“Kai!” Jay exclaimed and rushed over towards him. Cole and Zane quickly followed.
“Are you alright?” and “Where were you?” overlapped as Zane and Jay tried speaking at the same time. Cole gently pushed Jay over so he could use his slight height advantage at this age to tower over Kai.
Cole glared and asked, “What did that cop mean when he told us you’re a thief?”
Kai’s body froze up and he went very quiet. “He told you?” Kai asked faintly. The fight drained from his tired, sore, child-sized body. He moved passed the group to sit on the bench with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.
Zane and Cole shared a look while Jay moved over to sit next to him. Zane and Cole moved close as well, each taking up a spot around him in support. Whatever was happening right now, Kai needed them to listen and not jump to conclusions. Any more than they already had.
They sat in silence for a moment, Kai taking some deep breaths and finding comfort in the family around him.
“You know how it had always been just Nya and me,” Kai began. “Well, I needed to take care of her. But it was really really hard when you were five, six, seven fucking years old and couldn’t get a stupid job.” His voice was low, the hurt in it something he has lived with since his parents left them.
“Y’know sometimes it was fine. Neighbors would share and farmers wouldn’t notice you taking a few vegetables when you walked by the field. If someone was busy enough, they never even noticed bread disappearing from their stands.” Kai paused and took a deep breath. He refused to look at them.
“But then it would get cold.” Kai felt Zane stiffen next to him. Ice and snow, winter, was Zane’s favorite season. He felt connected to it. Logically, he knows that plants die and winter is dangerous. But, to hear how his element can hurt those he loves is an unpleasant reminder of the dangers of ice. Of course, they must all feel the same way about their elements. Zane places a comforting hand on Kai’s back while he continued.
“And then there were no crops. There were no extra helpings of food the neighbors could bring by. So, I needed to find canned shit. From grocery or convenience stores. I had to hitch rides to bigger towns because there weren’t any in Ignacia.
“Turns out bigger towns mean more security. They watch pretty closely and some of those places could even fucking afford cameras. Also, if you look like a homeless ass kid, they watch your every move as soon as you walk through the bullshit glass door. Those first few times my ass was cuffed before I could even walk down the first few aisles.”
Jay was jarred hearing cuss words come out of Kai’s mouth mostly because of how young he was at the moment. Typically, they all try to watch their language around Lloyd and Master Wu.
“Eventually, I got good at it. I took some hair ties I got for Nya and would tie them around the cuffs of my jeans. You can fit a ton of crap down a pair of baggy jeans. If I had some money I would go to the bathroom and stuff more expensive shit into a cheaper boxed item. Sold them at pawn shops for a third of their price but enough to make a profit.
“You get good, y’know? And you stop thinking about how it’s fucking wrong and can only think about Nya’s crying from her stomach being so fucking empty. About how she kept growing out of all the clothes you could scrounge up and how she really needed new shoes.
“So, I’m not sorry. I know that we’re ninja, now and we need to be better and set examples. But I’m not sorry that I kept us alive.”
Kai finally, finally looked up at them. His eyes were bloodshot but his face was dry. He was done crying about his life.
Suddenly, Jay tackled Kai into a fierce hug. Kai’s red shirt was absorbing tears from Jay’s wet face. Zane moved in and joined the hug from Kai’s other side. Zane squeezed tightly, not wanting to let go.
Cole moved in front of him, crouching to his level. It looked ridiculous in his eleven-year-old body but it made Kai feel better. Cole grabbed both of Kai’s hands in his.
“We understand. No one should have to do what you did but I’m not mad. None of us are mad at you. You did the only thing you could. But we’re here, now. You’re not alone anymore,” Cole told him gently, the wise words coming out with a childish tone did not diminish their value.
Kai was surprised to see his vision blur as the tears were finally released. He just couldn't hide the hurt anymore and being a younger version of himself made all the hurt rise to the surface. He thought he was done crying about the things he lived through, but it's like his brain caught up on the fact that he was safe. Despite being in a jail cell, he was safe.
Cole joined the group hug and eventually, everyone’s small bodies couldn’t take the stress any longer.
Cole stayed on the ground, leaning his head against Kai’s knee. Zane and Kai leaned their heads against each other while Jay wrapped his arms around Kai’s middle and spread out across the bench.
The police officers found the puppy pile in the morning. Even if the kids ignored the officer’s advice to cut ties with Kai, maybe they can be the ones to make sure he grows up alright. Officer Oliver took a picture before moving to wake them all up. After all, they still need to apologize to the museum.