Chapter Text
Kai watches as a few kids run past him back into what's left of Ninjago city.
He scowls
“You'd think that the parents would keep a better eye on their kids after Garmadon”
Jay who's a bit behind him shrugs
“I guess they're just busy”
He kicks a piece of rubble out of his way trying to focus on the patrol and not the overwhelming anxiety
“You know a lot of people are trying to rebuild buildings and salvaging stuff from their homes”
“And maybe the kids are trying to ignore what's going on”
Kai huffs
“That doesn't excuse the fact that they're letting the kids play in an area full of landmines”
Jay freezes and slowly turns to look at Kai properly
“What?”
Kai looks surprised at Jay's reaction
“Weren't you there when Wu warned us?”
Jay shrugs
“Which time? He warned us about a lot of things”
Kai tilts his head before talking again
“Before Cole and Lloyd went on patrol yesterday“
Jay steps forward slowly
“No, I was helping Nya fix the bounty”
“Because you know Garmadon had basically tried to destroy it”
Kai nods “makes sense”
“So yeah, Garmadon had someone plant landmines around this area which is why the police were delayed when he was here”
Jay opens his mouth before closing it and opening it again
“How are you so casual about this?!”
Jay's voice has risen and Kai steps forward
“Hey listen, it's ok”
“There's an extremely low chance that we'll find a landmine there's only one or two around here”
A lie Kai has no idea how many landmines are in this area
He gestures at the street where concrete has been uprooted causing a cloud of dust to float in the air.
Jay hesitates but nods
“Fine….“
Kai smiles a slightly lopsided smile his face still a bit sore from the stitches on his left cheek
“There we go, now come on help me get these kids back into the city”
Jay nods again following Kai as he walks towards a group of four kids around seven years old
———————————————————
Jay tries to count each child individually unfortunately for him they won't stay still
“Ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen”
“That's it I think”
Kai looks around at the group then at the parents each looking for their own kids
“You sure?“
Jay nods “there's fourteen of them”
Kai opens his mouth before someone taps his shoulder
He jumps before turning around swiftly ready to defend himself
He relaxes when he realises that it's a tired looking woman holding a baby about a month old
“is everything ok—”
Before Kai can finish his sentence the woman interrupts him
“Where's my son?”
Her voice is tight with worry
Jay walks over and glances at Kai who doesn't seem to have processed the words yet
“He should be somewhere with the group of other kids, no?”
The woman shakes her head a flash of panic taking over her features
“No he's not, I've checked!”
Kai finally speaks
“Ok first of all don't panic”
“Can you tell us what your son looks like?“
The woman nods frantically her long light brown hair falling over her face
“He's six years old, has brown hair, he was playing with a toy car when he left to play with the other kids”
Her breath is slightly faster than before
Kai nods and turns to Jay
“Call Cole to come here to keep an eye on the kids and civilians, me and you go to find this boy”
Jay nods before taking out his two way radio to contact Cole
Kai turns back to the woman
“What's his name?”
The woman cradles the baby to her chest
“Ryan”
Kai smiles a reassuring smile
“Don't worry ma'am we'll find your son”
He walks back to Jay who had just finished his conversation with Kai either guesses Zane or Pixal
“Cole's gonna be here in five minutes, Pixal told us to go and look for the boy because he's halfway here”
———————————————————
Kai kicks at the dirt making a cloud of dust rise into the air
“Where the hell is this kid?”
Him and Jay have searched through the ruins of Ninjago already and the only place where they haven't looked yet is the very edge of Ninjago which leads out to the desert
Jay glances at Kai
“You don't think he went to the desert”
Kai gives Jay a look
“If we can't find him here he definitely went out to the desert”
Jay frowns but doesn't say anything
———————————————————
They've finally found the kid - Ryan
He's sitting on the floor playing with his toy car completely oblivious to the fact that two ninja and his mother are looking for him
Jay is about to step forward but Kai puts his hand out staring at the floor
Jay frowns
“What?”
Kai hesitates his brain recalling Jay's reaction to Kai telling him about the landmines but decides to just do it anyway
“There are landmines here”
He points at the ground where there's a few dead plants and the floor is dug up
Jay's eyes widen slightly
“Your joking”
“And the kid somehow avoided all of them”
Kai nods slowly before speaking again
“Maybe some of the landmines have been deactivated”
“We shouldn't risk it though”
Jays voice sounds panicked
“So how are we supposed to get him back?!”
Kai glances at the kid “we can try and walk around the landmines”
Jay lets out a strangled noise
“We're going to get our legs blown off”
Kai looks back at Jay “Hey, calm down sparky”
“I promise you won't get your legs blown off”
Jay gives Kai a sceptical look but nods. He follows after Kai's footsteps as he steps over small sections of the ground
Kai crouches down in front of Ryan
“Hey kid, we're going to bring you back to Ninjago ok?”
Ryan looks up at Kai with wide eyes before slowly nodding
Kai picks up the kid making sure to avoid the landmines occasionally glancing at Jay to make sure he's still there.