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"Simple mission, ninja; we sneak in, take out two each." Lloyd explained, whispering into his comms. Jay hid behind a pillar in the warehouse, the others hiding behind shelves, on the ceiling, and various other hiding places.
Their mission was a kidnapping plot, twelve kidnappers has taken a wealthy woman's daughter and had her up for a high ramson. A desperate, and not very organised plot, but with twelve of them, the police needed the ninja, they didn't know what weapons they could have had, and with a young girl inside, the risk was too great, so stealth was the only option.
"'Kay, don't get caught." Lloyd finished, Jay hummed and silenced his comms again.
He peaked around the pillar, around him were two kidnappers, would be easy to deal with, but it depended on the weapons they had. He squinted, it didn't look like they had any guns, only bats, with a few of them having swords and knives. The comms suddenly turned on again, Jay hid behind the pillar, "Okay, looks like they only have basic weapons, so we get them on three, everyone ready?" Lloyd talked, then each of them hummed in agreement and he counted down.
"Right; one, two, three!" They jumped for the closest crook and took them out swiftly. Jay kicked his into a shelf, the equipment on top tumbled down and fell all over him. Right, so that should be half of them taken out, now just some simple battle.
The ninja quickly made their way to the middle of the room, where the girl was tied up, she was completely silent, but trying to kick out the ropes with her petrified blank face. Meanwhile, the six remaining criminals were closing in on them, though unorganised, any of them could easily slip out any second, cornering a bunch of elemental masters, even numbers, means they could easily blast their powers any second.
Jay was the first to do so, he launched a blast at one holding a bat, and the others, in a panic, rushed around to reach the daughter.
Nya looked back at her with a smile, "We'll get you of of here soon, don't worry." she winked, and the girl calmed and smiled back. With the ninja here, it was clear who would win, it wasn't much of a fight at all, especially with their low grade weapons.
"Get him! And get the girl, we need to—" one ordered, this one held a knife, so the ninja made sure to have their swords at arms length to keep him away, they didn't want any slip-ups. Cole wacked that guy with a hammer, and Kai knocked another down with a kick, just three more criminals and they can get the girl to safety, this was too easy, the big ordeal with the police outside seemed unnecessary now.
Lloyd burst his power at another one, and the remaining two were panicking, they scrambled to the girl, trying to untie the ropes to get her anywhere else, but the runaway trucks at the back of the warehouse were already apprehended by the police, so it was futile.
Still, he should probably stop them. Jay jumped forward with his nun-chucks and went to whack him on the head with Nya running to do the same, but suddenly…
The other one grabbed him, he'd scurried out of Kai's clutches to stop him. He didn't stop Lloyd from taking down the other guy, but he kept his hold either way. For a few seconds, he tried kicking his legs back, and even thought of just blasting the two of them with his power, it would be a little less controllable with the hold, but he didn't like this guys sweaty hands on him.
But the others…were completely still. He didn't understand why until something pressed into his temple.
"Jay!" Nya froze with the other criminal in a head-lock, the guy gurgled and chocked, but everything else was silent, and he went completely still. There was a gun to his head.
"There is a gun to my head." was all his mind could think about, as if thinking hard about anything else would be some movement that would pull the trigger. All he had to do was pull the trigger, that was it, and he would be…
The others stared wide-eyed, their weapons frozen right where they were when they noticed where Jay was. Immediately, the silence from the others was overtaken by his heart beating out of his ears, the groan that would escape him every few seconds with trying to stand in such an awkward way, his knees bent and head up, choking with the man's arms wrapped around him.
He tried not to make noises, his body wouldn't dare even move a finger. But despite that, it didn't feel like true fear had kicked in yet, his brain just felt the gun at his temple, and said yep, thats a gun. Thankfully his body worked itself to freeze him in place.
He'd like for the others to help, but they were frozen too, and who knows if the gun was really loaded, if he actually had the guts to do it.
Suddenly, the man dragged him back, lifting his head and shoving the gun further into his head, his breath hitched for a moment, but it returned to silence quickly. He couldn't make a move, he just needed to…wait, and see if he would get out of this. But he would get out of this, right? The ninja would do…something.
Any idea he had could quickly be disproved, he really didn't like his brain washing relief over him after coming up with a solution, only to immediately disprove itself. Why do that now? Stick to one!
"I'll do it! Just let us keep the girl, and I won't do it." he stated, no stammer, no hesitation, he was confident, he would do it.
Sweat clung to him, mostly right where the tip of the gun pressed into his head, centimetres from his brain. He wouldn't like to go out this way, but…that was an obvious statement, it was just terrifying that this was something he actually had to think about; if he would risk it, shoot his lightning at him or wait it out, trust his friends.
The ninja could deal with it, they would give them the girl, tricking them, they'd believe they came to a compromise, only for the police to storm in that moment. He just hoped they hadn't caught on that there were police outside. "And let my buddy go." he finished, moving the gun as he stepped back again, he could hear the clicking of gears, the weight of the gun, it was definitely real.
Nya dropped him without question, her chest rose rapidly, she couldn't take her eyes off him, the petrified face of her Yang.
In any second, he could be dead, and like…dead dead, and he wouldn't even know it. Whether that be in the middle of his thoughts, during a shaky breath, or just when he thinks the guy will release him, it could be at any moment.
Worst of all, he wouldn't fade out of life, wouldn't stumble for a few seconds and grasp for his final breaths, he would just be gone.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, because right now, everything was risky: most of all, he knew the ninja would save him. Zane was smart, he could figure something out, Lloyd was tactical, Cole could sneak to the back and knock him out, or…
But every one of those things took time, way longer than it would take for this man to simply move his finger a centimetre or two and blast his brains out.
The fear kicked in, but all he could do was stare at Nya, he pried his eyes open to do so, just to get one look, just in case… All around, the team was still still, but Nya had already dropped the criminal, and he was still in a deadly lock. "And tie the girl up again!" he shouted more agrressively, Jay shuddered that time, a loud breath escaping him when he tried to be silent.
Lloyd did so, and Nya sent a soft glare to the girl, saying that they will get her out of this. And hopefully get him out of this, he would love to not have a gun pointed to his head, bracing for sudden death.
The man sighed, but gripped him harder when the ninja tensed up again.
Finally, one of the ninja spoke, Kai came forward, "Right, we did what you said, we'll let you go." he dropped his swords, "Now let him go." he urged with his hands in the air, but eyebrows furrowed. He talked slowly and deliberately.
Zane was…off to the side now? He had moved over time, and Jay couldn't see where he was. It gave him a little hope.
But he heard another click of the gun, the stretch of the trigger being…pressed on, the others had given him what he wanted, so why—
Suddenly, a chill wave danced around Jay, and then, the constriction around his neck released, the sharp precise pressure from his temple fell. With his knees shakily keeping himself half stood up that whole time, he immediately toppled to the floor, and so did the man.
Then there was so much noise, the garage door cranked open, police rushed inside, Nya knocked down the criminal she'd had in a chokehold, then rushed straight to Jay. Beside him, the gun fell to the ground, sliding across the small circle of ice Zane had made underneath the…completely frozen criminal, the one ready to shoot him.
Nya dragged Jay up, he took her hand silently, his eyes blood-shot, wide, unmoving. Most of his body was still besides however way Nya dragged him away from the chaos.
"Oh my gosh…" Kai relieved, putting a hand to his chest and falling to his knees. Lloyd did the same, but quickly stood back up to guide the police to each of the guys they took down, Zane was also untying the girl, and handing her over to some officers who scurried her away.
Sirens cusped the walls, the night sky versus the fluorescent lights of the warehouse made everything stranger when Nya led Jay outside, still completely silent.
He couldn't even have those panicked breaths from before, couldn't will his eyes to look at anything, all he could do was stare at the hand that led him through the crowd, then the arms that grabbed his shoulders to prop him onto a seat. Those hands weren't Nya's. they grabbed him softly, but like strangers tapping your shoulder to grab your attention, not comfort.
The other ninja were rushing over, he believed, but everything was fuzzy. His neck hurt from the man's hold, his legs did too, his arms floppy, and the gun had pressed so hard to his head that he could swear it was still there, the feeling wouldn't leave. Nya grabbed his hand, that was the only thing he was ever certain of.
With the police lights still flashing, he could hear distant shouts from the few conscious criminals being shoved into police cars and vans, but even the closer noises, like the ninja's words, were hard to make out. But he was alive, he got out of it, but…why was it hitting him so hard? Harder than any one of these little missions he's ever done? It wasn't a villain, it was a crook, some low-lives willing to kidnap a girl for some money.
He gripped the sides of his head, but his hands were loose, he couldn't support his limbs at all, he had to be glad he was sat down. All he could muster up was a light grip on Nya's hand. "Jay?" she cautioned, but he didn't answer, so she sighed and looked back around the area, then to the others huddling around where he sat.
The lights were too much, but so much duller than they were supposed to be, right? There were polices, maybe ambulances, probably for whatever mess the ninja left the criminals in. He wanted to understand, to feel something, but he didn't at all, all that ran through his mind was that gun, the hold, how he froze so suddenly, the world going silent because the others knew how easily it could go wrong, how quickly they could have lost him.
—
An EMT led Jay to the edge of the ambulance and sat him down. He was…shaking, so Nya kept a hold of him. In all their time together, she had never seen him so silent, and so still.
The shaking wasn't very still, but that was really all his body did, every limb that moved was directed by her, guiding him through each step out of the warehouse and to the EMT, who waved them down, because clearly, there was something wrong with him, just not physical.
Grabbing a light, he flashed them into Jay's eyes, he flinched a little, but returned to the empty state right after. He'd got the idea that he wouldn't respond quickly, so talked to the others when checking him over. "Pupils are fine," another one came to them, that one had been checking out the girl, she was fine physically, but she was a little worked up, except very differently to Jay, "Was he injured?"
The other one had popped out the ambulance after grabbing a bag, then pulled out a pulse oximeter and attached it to his finger, she explained what she was doing softly, while the previous one grabbed a thermal blanket. They didn't seem to be working so quickly to warrant panic, so Nya relaxed her shoulders slightly, but kept a hand on him. Jay's head moved to watch the blanket go over his shoulders, and his fingers laced into the foil, but there wasn't much else.
Beside her, the others were already here, sending concerned looks her way, then focused on Jay. "No, no, well- he could have been choked a bit." she swallowed, remembering.
While he was at gunpoint, his breath stumbling with the tight hold, she could barely focus on that, she kept a tight look at his face, eyes wider than she's ever seen, a face that looked like he was about to burst into tears, but just couldn't.
"Oxygen saturation is at 94 percent." she looked up from her watch after checking the other thing, "And respiratory rate is at 26, a little high, I'll get him a nose cannula." she got up and ducked inside the ambulance again.
Kai ducked beside her and put a hand over her shoulder, she leaned into it. "You okay?" he directed the question at her when Jay was the one suffering.
She rubbed her face, she didn't realise the tear falling down her cheek, she was scared too, not as shell-shocked and close to death as Jay had been but…she was looking him in the eye, as they often did, but with a gun just an inch away. Behind her, he heard officers speaking, the commissioner was there, an assistant brought over a clear bag, that gun was inside.
"It was fully loaded, Commissioner, we removed the bullets." an officer explained, then put it inside a police-van.
It was loaded.
She grabbed his hand even harder that time, and it seemed the others noticed what he said too, just hopefully not Jay. Though, she wasn't sure if he was hearing anything right now, because through the man's explanations on what he was doing to him, like taking his blood pressure, patting his neck, asking if it hurt, he never gave him any answer.
The woman came back outside with the little tube to help him breathe, Nya sighed and finally paid more attention to his breathing, it was quick, trembling through each one, but still, awareness slipping away. His body was reacting on his own, but his mind had no part. "This is gonna help you breathe, okay? We're going to keep you here and wait for it to get a little better." she explained softly, her voice even calming the others.
Wrapping it around him and into his nose, she gradually saw his breathing slowing, the finger cuff was still attached, his blanket wrapped around him, he suddenly pulled it in a little closer, closing his body in until it covered his rosy cheeks. It was a cold night, but the sweat on his forehead didn't seem to be keeping him very warm.
The female EMT stayed by his side, while the other went back inside the ambulance, and they waited.
"That was…" Kai breathed out, his arm still rested on Nya's shoulder, "It was close…" he trailed off, the others turned their heads away.
"I should have checked more carefully what weapons they had, then that wouldn't have- I'm sorry." Lloyd exclaimed, everyone turned to each-other while they waited, only taking occasional glances at Jay, seeing his unchanging, petrified face was hard.
"No, Lloyd, it was all of us, we were too disorganised, we expected it to be easy, thought too highly of ourselves. If- if we weren't lucky, Jay could have been-" Cole stopped, he'd put a hand to Lloyd's shoulder and gripped it harder when he thought of what could have happened, the thing that could have easily happened.
If that man had pressed the trigger, took a second of his time to commit, then Jay wouldn't even be sat by this ambulance, shaking and scared. Nya felt like she could be sick.
"Do not worry about what we could have done differently." Zane added, the others muttered whispers to themselves.
"Thanks, Zane, you got us out of that." Cole looked up to him, he bowed slightly and smiled, but then looked back down to Jay with his hand son his hips, his foot tapping profusely.
"Could you tell me what happened?" the woman asked suddenly. They looked down to her, then switched between staring at Jay and his blanket, then the EMT's calming demeanour.
"One of the men…they choked him, put a gun to his- his head." Lloyd explained.
She hummed, "Looks like he's in shock."
Finally, he groaned, and took a deep breath, then finally looked up. Still blank, but he moved at least. He turned his head to face the EMT talking, "Hey, I'm looking after you, okay? Could you tell me your name?" she asked, recognising his tiny increase in awareness.
Jay looked to the ground and pulled the blanket closer, Nya got up and helped him, "It's…Jay." he replied listlessly.
"Great, Jay, how old are you?" he replied, then she smiled softly, "Are you in any pain?" He shook his head, and glanced to Nya for a moment. She sent him a nod and smile. The EMT looked at the oxygen measures again, then took off the clip, "Would you like us to take you to the hospital to get checked out?"
He turned away and shook his head, "No…" Nya frowned and grabbed his hand tighter, then put her other arm around his back, he didn't protest, so she leaned his side onto her. "Just wanna go home…" She nodded and stood up, noticed the blanket sliding off his right shoulder and pulled it back up.
"Okay, your vitals are good, get some rest." she removed the cannula and the clip, then let him linger for a moment. Groggily, he stood up, still huddling in the blanket, then Nya and Kai took to his side right away, she thanked those who helped him as she walked away, then let all she felt now be Jay holding onto her.
—
"You with us, buddy?" Kai asked once they'd got Jay onto the Bounty, Zane called for Pixal to pick them up, but after they turned a corner away from the police. The sirens and lights were too much for them all, it was best to get away.
There were no injuries on any of them, luckily, but that didn't stop Jay's mind from turning his body into a quivering mess, Kai and Nya supported him as he walked. He leaned mainly on Nya's shoulder, his arms still wrapping the blanket tightly over him, and Kai held onto his chest in-case his legs crunched into jelly when his mind eventually shut down from the shock.
No one expected him to respond, but he did, quiet, but more emotion than before, back at the scene, "It…was loaded." he shook and stopped in his tracks.
Half way to his room, they were planning to get him to bed, maybe stay by his side, gauge how many people he wanted around, if any at all. After that, how could he not be in so much shock?
None of them have ever been closer to dying such a…simple death.
It wasn't some sacrificial act, some injury that may kill them if they didn't get to a hospital or magical healing elixir in time, not a rumoured death. It was just…so simple, and it would have ended with him coming out completely unscathed (physically), or dead, brains splattered on the floor.
Everyone needed time to process it.
Being a ninja suddenly became so much more serious, and it took some petty kidnappers to figure that out. They'd done so much, dealt with Overlords, Oni, ghosts, Serpentine desperate for revenge, but this was what got them.
Everyone stood in the hallway, Zane turned on the light. Immediately, Jay gasped and looked up and down, to his shoes, his legs. still shaking, the long, shiny blanket keeping him warm, and all the ninja huddled beside him. "I could have-" he choked, and the blanket fell to the floor when his hands slapped over his mouth.
Finally, emotions, but they weren't good, Jay wouldn't be good for a while. Who would want to continue a profession where they get a gun to the head?
A click of the light-switch, like the click of a bullet that could have…was so close to being pulled before Zane stepped in. His chest rose, and he toppled to the floor while the others let him, but guided him down slowly instead of plopping down with a bang.
And he cried, tears came all at once, he couldn't cry when he had the gun to his head, he couldn't move at all back there, nor could he cry at the ambulance; it was too recent to have processed in his mind. He could have died.
Not died, been killed.
Right in front of his friends.
He pulled his GI from his neck, too much like the man's arms grasping it, grabbing him tighter the more time the ninja couldn't get him free. Nya crawled in front of him and knew what she had to do, she pulled his hood off, then the top of his GI to let him breathe.
"You didn't, we got that guy, he's with the police now." she urged and grabbed his hands, she pulled them to the middle and looked into his eyes, but they shut quickly, more tears flowed.
The tears combined into a mix of sweat, wet coughs as his entire body trembled, his crying turned into occasional hiccups as he tried to catch deeper breaths. Zane was down on the floor, rubbing his back, then right after, everyone else, all sitting in the hallway, trying to get the blanket over him again.
"I- but- it—" he stuttered as one hand escaped hers to rub his tears away, "it could have gone wrong, just one- one second and I-" he hicuped.
Kai crawled around next and put a hand to his shoulder, "We won't let that happen again, we're gonna be more prepared." he urged, then, when Jay opened his eyes and whipped out another sob, he pulled him into a hug. "Let's get you to bed."
"Yeah…" Jay replied and hugged back. Kai waited until the others had sunk into the hug before helping him stand. He would let them appreciate their hold for a moment, Jay, and all of them, needed it.
—
Jay got half-way into asking to have some privacy while he changed into his pyjamas until he burst into tears again, and threw his clothes to Nya. She sighed deeply, scurried the boys out, for a little more quiet, then got him changed. She let the silent exist for a minute as she did, letting him sniffle, and told him to not hold back any crying.
Nya tried taking the thermal blanket the EMTs had given him, but strangely, he held onto it, and even after he was tucked under the regular blanket, he still huddled closer to that one. It was strange, but she accepted it.
Almost immediately, Jay was asleep, still with tears in his eyes.
The boys huddled outside the room, Nya left, then leaned onto the wall, sinking into a deep sigh, "Guess we're sleeping in the Bounty tonight. He's already out." she whispered.
"And he's going to need time to…process all that." Lloyd added as they walked away from the cabin. Nya hummed in agreement, and wiped away a tear.
They were all too close to losing one of them.
And she held onto this moment, while still terrified, knowing how different it could have gone. She kept thinking that this was the best ending for the night, afraid that if she didn't appreciate it enough, she'd suddenly wake up to an alternate universe where things went…the other direction.
"Time off training would be for the best." Zane said when they reached the living room. They jumped onto the couch and sunk their heads into the softest places, everyone sighed deeply, the lights turned off.
"For all of us, let's take tomorrow off." Nya replied, hugging the pillow, then waited for the others to fall asleep before she joined Jay in the cabin again. From now on, they would really appreciate being alive.