Archive of Our Own

Jay felt like he did a lot with the last villain. He would't brag about how he never got cubed, made it to the final level, then fought Unagami on his own, then convinced him to end his reign of terror, but… it was still a lot, and he could see how he was more exhausted than anyone.

It still felt strange to bring it up when the others were taking a rest day too.

Then Wu had messaged him to pick up his perscription from the pharmacy, and even though he felt utterly done for, he agreed. Wu never messaged, he was too olf fashioned for that, but Jay was already in the city getting food for dinner.

Jay parked on the side of the street, the map he followed was completely wrong, there was no pharmacy here.

Honestly, Wu was an over thousand year old, part Dragon, part Oni son of the First Spinjitzu Master, shouldn't his body be past the need for some measly medication? He groaned, and went on his way anyway. He didn't like doing anyone's chores, but doing this the day after he escaped, and helped liberate others from a high-tech video game, was going to be thing that takes him out - especially considering how far away this pharmacy was…

Currently, he was the only one awake. Really, it was the afternoon, but everyone was sleeping in the living room, their sleep schedules for the next week probably ruined. The only reason he was awake in the first place was because he was the first one, when returning home yesterday, to flop into his room and fall asleep, so he was up already.

Just not ready for the next day, he was still exhausted.

And they had no food in, no snacks, and he really needed something sugary after that mission, so he opted to be selfless for once and get the week's groceries.

"There's no pharmacy here at all, it's—" he grumbled, then paused when he noticed how creepy the building was. The place he stopped by was desolate, only a few ran down buildings scattered around, no people anywhere.

Except, he heard a noise, glass cracking on the floor, someone stepping over the small shards. He froze, immediately, the place was giving him the creeps, so he put his fists out defensively for whatever may come.

If this was some ancient evil, he didn't think he would be able to fight it with how tired he still was. Maybe a common thug would be all he could handle.

Banging, it got louder, metal scraped against a wall, shooting an echo from inside… the building in front of him. He whipped around and got his lightning charging between his fingertrips, but not too big, it could still be an innocent civilian, maybe some kids exploring abandoned buildings.

That was probably it. "Hey, if you're just some kids playing around, can you just—"

Suddenly, large hands, claws? latched around him, immediately, they were so tight, his breath was taken away. "Agh!" he groaned, the claws around him constricted his airway, so when he yelled, it launched him into a coughing fit, forcing his eyes closed, his chest to burn, then, everything stopped for a moment when those claws slammed him into a wall.

It was an unstable, deterioating brick wall; so when he was launched into it, the bricks tumbled down with him, when finally, the claws let him go.

No time to shoot his lightning before it grabbed him, no time as he coughed, restricted in the claws, and now, he was piled under heavy, old bricks, that when they fell, blasted dust and grime into the air. Right before his eyes was a thick layer of that dust, and he couldn't see a thing, so he still couldn't use his powers, he didn't know where to shoot!

On top of that, the dust wasn't the only thing halting his vision, it was the swaying, the black edges as if he was already slipping out of consciousness, he definitely knew what that felt like, so he knew he had to fight it.

Throat scratching, it sent his back lurching forward, like he would throw up.

Wait. It did feel like he would throw up. That wasn't a good sign, nor the ringing in his ears, the…

He could barely think, let alone stand up with those bricks on top of him, but with his floppy arms, he stretched his head up just far enough so that he wasn't in the densest part of the dust cloud. There was…a figure, definitely a person, a man, probably, tall build, a kind of…similar build?

Piece it together, Jay. He squinted so that the figure went from a blob of colour to more distinguishable features. He looked closer, there was… definitely an arm, but also another one, bulkier, like a machine, the hands like some big claw, some bionic man.

His arms shuddered when he got himself a little higher, then immediately failed, his body couldn't do a single thing was mind was screaming at him to do.

Maybe it had to do with being thrown into a brick wall.

Yeah, something to do with that, maybe a concussion. At least falling forward got him out of that dust cloud, but now, when he rushed to look where that man was again, he wasn't there, so he had to stand up, fight the man or get away before he got trapped in those claws again.

He was too late, because they latched onto him again, even tighter this time, they grabbed him straight from above - close by too, so close he could hear the cranking of the gears. There was… that man right above him, his feet by his face still smushed against the ground.

Black shoes, a red jacket that was way too long, the bionic arm clutching his body so tight that all the air was drifting out. "Mech-mechanic…" he choked, his voice trailing away.

With the events of yesterday still fresh in his mind, he had somehow forgotten all about him, he escaped when Unagami blasted through the portal, off to his secret lare somewhere. With the last one in the arcade incarcerated, it looks like he'd found a new one. Not as cool as the last one, Jay could admit, now he was hiding out in this ran-down, isolated part of town in the shabbiest building he'd ever seen.

"Looks like my trick message worked," He laughed and squeezed him even harder, the claws dug into his side, he hoped he wouldn't go any deeper, then, they clawed harder around his neck, "I brought you here…for a bit of payback."

"P-payback?" he gagged when the claws wrapped closer, how the Mechanic had managed to make a much deadlier bionic arm since yesterday, he didn't know, but my, was it deadlier!

He tried to focus on his face, but the haziness grew, everything blurred, the light of the sun brighter, hurting his head.

"When you thwarted my plans with Unagami!" He growled, the arm shook him, his body hanging limply, all he could do to stop the choking was put his arms around his own neeck, hope it would stop him from clutching at him too hard. "It was a great plan, it was going exactly my way!"

There weren't a lot of interesting things to focus on to keep himself awake, he had no idea what the Mechanic could do to him if he fell unconscious. Kill him? That seemed like a lot, even for him.

Well, maybe he could focus on his golden teeth as he rambled angrily, the cracks in the building in front, the infinite desert ahead, matching the desolate look of the run-down streets. The most clear thing he could make out was his voice, even through the ringing, the haziness of all noises, but his vision was too blurry now to even make out his face.

"But you had to ruin it, you turned the villain into some- some little kid! Now he's free, but me…" he lifted him higher, his arm stretching high up, his arm like a tentacle: more than the blurring, his vision was getting dark. "I still have to be on the run, hiding out in this shabby house!" his teeth gritted, maybe? He couldn't make out a thing now.

But he couldn't sleep.

Don't sleep…

Arms fell to his side, he couldn't breathe, the Mechanic was free to choke him, and he felt it when he did, the burning, the sharpness at the back of his throat, the beating in his head.

His eyes closed, but he wasn't unconscious yet, he could still fight it and—

"Consider this revenge, Jay Walker." he squeezed again, and he couldn't even think anymore. The last thing he felt wasn't pain, it was an empty buzz all over his body as he fell unconscious.

—

Dark. It was completely dark when he woke up, almost pitch-black, he thought his eyes were just closed until he saw the smallest twinkle in the sky, there were stars, it was night.

He'd… been somewhere, left the Monastery for…something?

So where was he now?

For a few seconds, as he woke up, he didn't feel anything, so he thought it must be a dream, because he didn't remember getting there, but suddenly, the pain hit him all at once. Sharp, intense, it grabbed every limb and immbolised him, chucking him back to the ground with a groan.

But that groan brought him into a coughing fit, which just made the pain worse, and made him want to scream through the pain more than groan. Head rested on hard, rocky ground, he grabbed his arm, the slightest twitch of his right sent shockwaves up his body, so he tried to keep it still.

"Where-" he heaved, speaking was difficult, but he wanted to feel more real, so he continued speaking to himself as he looked around the place. His eyes squeezed shut at the twitch of a finger, then at his chest falling as he spoke.

Every single inch of his body hurt.

All of it was fresh too.

"Where am I?" he mumbled, then with one free arm, he tried dragging himself up, he used a… brick wall, he wasn't completely sure what it was, but it was something broken, full of dust, grime, and made everything feel worse.

Not stabalising his arm that moment as he dragged himself up let his right arm dangle, he realised he couldn't move it, but he still felt every part of it. The large cut on his bicep, the way the bones didn't feel like they were where they're meant to be?

He grabbed his arm again, best to keep it still, and leaned his against the brick wall.

"Right- I'm-" he tried, but launched into a violent cough again. He noticed, as he moved around more, the specific way each part of him hurt.

As he spoke, his throat burned, his lungs too, and they tried spitting out every bit of oxyegn in the air, and selecting only to inhale the sand in the desert in front of him, or the dust from this disgusting place he woke up in. Then, his head throbbed as he tried looking where he was, forming any thoughts, trying to find any reason why he woke up here!

Shaking it gently, he ompted to not put much thoughts into why he ended up here, instead, just to get back home.

Something he did know was that yesterday they had escaped Prime Empire, and they were having a relaxing rest day in the Monastery - no fighting, no patrol, no training, just rest.

That's what he should be doing, but he was here, he looked around again and it clicked in his brain that he drove here, but after that… there wasn't much else. First, he didn't know why he was alone, what could have got him so beat up, and why it was the middle of the night.

Speaking of that, he wondered what time he was; he rummaged in his pockets for his phone, using his left hand to reach for his right, his other arm incapable of anything at the moment. Immediately, the brightness of his phone slammed into him like a shockwave - not good for the headache, "Probably more than a headache." he said aloud.

With how many points of pain his body had, he wondered if he should be feeling more, and if some shock or adrenaline was stopping that.

"No more thinking, Jay, just-" his voice screeched, he grabbed his chest, letting his other arm dangle as the parts of his body competed at who could make him suffer the most. "Just figure out how to get- get home."

He turned the brightness of his phone down, much better for his head. It was 9:34.

"Right, not… great." he forced himself to stand for real this time, and the pain in his back hunched him over like an old person, and then, he realised he couldn't put an ounce of pressure on his left foot.

"If I drove here, can't I just…" he took a step, immediately fogetting his foot situation. This time, he actually screamed in pain, but caught himself with another unstable brick wall: the scream did well pushing out all the breath left in his body, so he worked through the problem inside his head for a moment, even though, in this desolate place, he would really like to hear something besides his staggered breathing and the occasional brick that crumbled to the ground.

'If i drove here, I would have took my bike, so it should be-' he puzzled, but stopped when his eyes locked to the place he remembered leaving his bike, now, completely empty.

Just like the rest of this place!

"It- it's fine, I can just-" he chuckled, and grabbed his phone, "just call the ninja and they'll pick me up, I'm sure they're already out looking for me!" He wasn't so sure about that, he didn't know what time of day he came here, what if he was mind controlled by a new villain to wander here in the middle of the night, and the ninja had no idea or he was gone, or what if all the others were hurt too?

"Calm down." he reminded himself, then took a deep breath and scrolled to contacts, and noticed the no service.

Well, if he just walked for a minute or two and found just a drop of service, then he could call them and-

His phone died.

"No, no, no, no, no, no- not now, why-" he hit the phone, tried conjuring his lightning to zap it to life, but it failed, no lightning came out. "Why now powers?" he trembled, his breath racing. He jumped off the wall again, and opted to hop around, occasionaly putting his foot to the ground for a second to give himself a boost, but not without tremendous pain.

Getting out of the half-collapsed building was hard, and he knew that when he was greeted to other buildings looking just as worse outside, that he was very far away from the Monastery, but…"still in Ninjago City, so I can- I can find a way back, a payphone, a- a bar, they'd still be open right?" he hopped forward, clutching his arm again, "And- what else is there?"

All he could do right now was walk, and hope that someone would find him, hopefully just not the person or thing that landed him here.

—

The team stared at the screen in the secret base. They were all tired, exhausted even, but they couldn't sleep.

Spending a lot of the day resting, a lot of it asleep, they hadn't noticed Jay leave. Much of the team hung out in the kitchen around 5, checked the fridge to make something light, and noticed no food in there, so they came to the conclusion that Jay was out buying groceries, since they hadn't heard a peak from him. It was a little late for grocery shopping, but they didn't think anything of it.

But then 5 turned into 6, then half an hour later, they were already worried. Some were quick to excuse it, saying he must be distracted by a comic store, or maybe on a date with Nya.

But she came into the kitchen next, so that was out of the possibilities, then Lloyd spoke up, "The comic store we go to closes at 5 on Sundays, it's already shut."

Kai chuckled and raised his hands, "Guys, calm down," he looked at their already panicked faces, "Let's just call him." he whipped out his phone and pressed his contact, then,

waited,

and waited,

until it went to voicemail.

Cole leaned on the counter, he knew him well, he was prone to not answering phone calls, either because he accidently left it on silent, or he was immersed in something else and had all his other senses blocked. "Zane, you can track his phone, right?" he nodded and closed his eyes, putting his hand to his temple.

He looked up after a few seconds with a frown, "It is… not traceable, that's strange."

Kai clapped his hands and leaned on the counter with him, he could suspect everyone would soon start thinking the worst, they were prone to worry like that. "Guys, it's Jay, come on, I know I call him stupid a lot, but- but he's really not, he's probably on his way home." Kai chuckled, wiping his face, "And if something did happen to him, like some crook testing his luck, Jay could easily beat him!"

That didn't convince him, or anyone, so they rushed for the base. Zane sighed, "I will check the security cameras and run a stronger trace program."

—

Cole had called Jay over and over, he hadn't answered, and now, it was dark outside - 7 in the evening. "Maybe we should just go out and look for him, this is-"

Zane finally came back online, he had been peforming a stronger trace program using the more precise and weaker signals from Jay's phone, "I have traced down his last location, but…" he closed his eyes and twisted his chair back to the screen, "his location was last traceable at 3pm, four hours ago, it is as if something, or someone has interfered with his signal."

Nya gripped the back of his chair, where Cole already leaned his chin on, and lookedto the large area where Jay could possibly be, he heard her take a quiet, trembling breath. "So where do we look?"

So much wracked through his mind, they'd all been tired today after escaping Prime Empire, and he knew most of all, Jay should be the tiredest. At least he got cubed, it felt weird, and dying in the speedway was painful, but he didn't have to go through watching everyone else get cubed, Jay did!

"…in the northern quater of the city, I will continue trying to narrow down the search area here." he zoned back into the conversation, then nodded with the others as they raced for their vehicles.

Jay will be fine, it can't be that serious! He reminded himself, he knew everything when it came to his friend, but right now… he didn't know a thing, he didn't know if he would be okay.

—

Up in Northern Ninjago City, it was a lot less advanced, and the more he rushed through the city on his bike, the older the buildings look.

They'd been searching for two hours, and they still hadn't found him. Nya declared angrily that if he doesn't show up in the next half an hour, they would need to get the police involved - not to find Jay, but to flood the home of whoever had took him. Except, they didn't know if he had been taken yet, any clue what had happened to him, nor had the trace got any smaller, so luck had to be on their side to find him as soon as Nya said.

It was nearly 10pm, when they checked the security cameras of the Monastery, they found out Jay left the house at 1pm.

So he had been out for nine hours, and who knew that if something did happen to him, when it happened? What if he got hurt while they were sleeping away in the Monastery? While he relaxed instead of helping with whatever trouble he had ran into.

Cole couldn't lose him, he couldn't let him be hurt.

This was so much different than an injury on a mission, whether that was fighting a great evil or a common thug, it was…normal, and he would be there to help him when it happened. Today, he hadn't been there, he had been oblivious for too long.

His engine burned, but he didn't care about the excessive smoke coming from his bike for now, he focused more on the important sounds - a footstep, hopefully he could turn around and it would be Jay.

But it never was; it was always some person walking home drunk out of their mind, this place had a lot of bars, Dareth's kareoke club was around here, so if Jay got into trouble, the closest place he'd get himself to was there. Dareth was a mess, but he was… helpful in his own way… when he needed to be.

Sweating, he gripped the handles, revving the engine, his lights on full-beam, there were way too many things to concentrate on.

Spotting Jay; through windows, alleyways, or on the street, laying on the floor or running around, hopefully…moving. He looked for suspicious people, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

Then he paid attention to his comms, he waited for someone to yell in a laughing tone that they'd found Jay, maybe he'd locked himself in a comic-book store, or had found a really good noodle place or-

In front was a vast sea of sand, he'd been driving in a straight line for a few minutes, now coming up to the edge of the city with buildings much more run down than the ones behind him. All of them were abandoned, either cracked or smashed windows, tore down to the first floor, or in the process of crumbling.

He gripped the handle tighter, something felt off about this place.

The lights illuminated the buildings, graffiti, traces of fighting, probably left by some gang, thugs, teenagers, or-

"Anyone there?" he yelled into the abyss and jumped off his bike. A fight, maybe Jay really did run into some trouble. He looked to his left, his bike left in the middle of the road, and pointed to the building that entranced him.

Very ran down, bricks tossed onto the ground, the whole thing unstable. The light revealed the inside as he walked closer, his hammer already drawn. The brick wall, painted over with cement, had cracks in it, that when he walked still shook with the movement, it looked new. He stepped inside and gripped his weapon tighter.

But he still hoped he wouldn't find Jay in here, so far away, so isolated, where he would have been… so alone.

Something crinkled when he took the next step, he took his phone out with the flash, the larger wall in front of him now blocking a lot of light. He lifted his foot, it was… a piece of paper, he picked it up, saw the pen through the other side.

"A note?" he flipped it around, then immediately processed the words, and his body froze.

Roughed him up for you, good luck fixing him up.

(Just some payback)

— Sincerely, the Mechanic.

A drawing of himself at the bottom, all cheery and cartoon-like, then a drawing of Jay just like that too, his eyes two Xs, his tongue poked out. Was he taking the…

Jay wasn't here, and if the Mechanic was, he surely would have ambushed him by now, that was the guy's style. He didn't want this, he didn't want to assume the worst. It could still be a prank, a terrible prank by Jay, or maybe the Mechanic roleplaying his deepest desires, not actually real—

"The Mechanic-" he choked, then turned around, his flash picking up on a trickle of something that shone every few seconds with the shake of his hands, "J- Jay!"

Blood. There was blood on the floor.

Wasting no time, he ran, shoving the note into his shirt, and jumped onto his bike.

Finally, he noticed the blood on the sidewalk, the same new trickles of it that sparkled when his lights got close enough to it. He could be sick, what could have happened to him? He closed his eyes for less than a second, he couldn't lose focus for any longer than that, he had to keep looking, so he followed the trails of blood, Jay's blood.

"Everyone, I- I found something!" he screamed into his comm link.

By the pace of his voice, it sounded like everyone was already assuming the worst, but they couldn't be as scared as he was, he'd seen the note, the blood, his breath raced.

"What?" everyone screamed back.

"Get my co-ordinates, I think he's close, I found- there was a note, the Mechanic did this!" his eyes darted around, hoping to spot him stumbling through the street, still conscious, please, let him be awake, let him laugh in relief when he shows up on his bike. Everyone's engines buzzed straight away, coming to him, "I saw- there's blood, I think- I think-" he couldn't speak with how fast his breathing ran, the smoke from the exhaust irritating his lungs, and mostly, the horrific thoughts running through his mind.

"We're coming!" Lloyd exclaimed. He silenced his comm again, he had to concentrate.

Keep following that trail of blood, way too much blood. It got thinner and thinner, but that meant there would be nothing to track him with, and that just made it worse with the note he found.

Thirty seconds went by, and there were still a few dots, but… still no Jay, and with how fast he was going, he wondered how he could have walked that far while injured, he must be running, or-

A figure appeared under a streetlamp, it was… he squinted, he couldn't see much with the tears in his eyes. When did he let himself get so emotional? He wiped them away, and then realised it was leaning against it, then slowly falling down, until it flopped to the floor, his head smashing to the ground.

"No, no, no-" He screamed, it was Jay, he found him.

Before his bike had fully stopped, he leaped off, and it smashed into a building on the opposite side of the street. He couldn't care about that right now, he pressed his comm link, his hands a shaking mess. "I found him, how close are-"

"We're close, thirty seconds away!" Nya yelled back, Cole kept his comms on that time, then fell down to Jay.

"Buddy, you- you awake?" he shook his shoulder, then stopped, he didn't know what to do, the panic was overtaking any rational thoughts he could ever have, any first-aid training he could possibly give. He gripped his chest, and tapped his shoulder, and thank the FSM, his eyes opened.

"C- Cole?" he quivered, one arm moving an inch, his mouth slow and shaky, his eyes almost emotionless.

"It's me, buddy." he kneeled down further, looking into his face, and shivered. His face was littered with cuts and bruises, his arm too, the sleeve ripped, revealing a large, deep cut, blood actively pooling out (probably the reason for that trail.) He ripped his hood off and tied it around his arm, which was met with a trembling groan from below.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Wh…what?" he mumbled, his voice even slower, so much duller. The street lamp illuminated the cuts on his face, the small pool of blood below his ar, just like how his lights did on the way.

Behind him, finally, lights were getting closer, and before he had time to count them, the other four ninja showed up, Zane too, he got here from the Monastery quickly.

"Cole?" Lloyd jumped out of his car, Zane scanned around the area, then locked in on Jay on the ground. Everyone kneeled around him, his eyes stil half-open, unmoving despite all the painful inflictions on his body.

"Jay, what- what happened?" Lloyd trembled, looking his body up and down, Jay's mouth opened for a second, but with a shaking breath, his head rose to only fall back down straight away, then it fell to the side, his eyes closed. "No, no- Jay!" he woke up again, he couldn't hold onto any state of consciousness for long.

"Where we taking him, Zane? What do we do?" Cole panicked, and kept his hand pressed against his bleeding arm. From that position, he looked down to the rest of his body, the ankle that looked to be at too high of an angle to the front of his leg, his stomach rising hard with each breath, and most importantly, he wasn't speaking. He just needed to hear him speak.

Cole turned to Zane who was scanning him, when he finished, he slowly got Jay leaned onto the street lamp he had before sunk down to the floor leaning on.

"To the Monastery? Hospital?" Nya rushed, taking his hand.

"The hospital is closer." Zane answered and picked up Jay, with little, weak groans, he dug into his chest, eyes gripping tight for a moment. "We must get him there quickly."

Cole hurried forward and stopped him, "There's room for three people on my bike, I'll drive, you carry Jay in the back." Zane nodded, and got him on, the others starting up their vehicles too.

—

"Hold on, buddy." Cole concentrated on the road, but often put his hand to Jay, who was being sat up with Zane in the back. His head would flop over, eyes close tight, or lay limply half-open, and so would the rest of his body.

The streets were getting denser now, less run-down, but not as modern as rest of the city, but close enough to a hospital.

He gripped the handles harder, his palms sweat, his head had a layer of sweat and tears, and it felt like his body would collapse in on itself with how fast his heart pounded. The way… Jay looked when he found him, he had been targeted, with so much hatred, and worst of all, they didn't know this was happening nor how long he'd been out here suffering.

"He was targeted by the Mechanic, I- I can't believe he would-" he grabbed the note from his shirt, scrunched up from the panic before, but now, he wanted to rip it to pieces from anger.

"For defeating Unagami yesterday, probably?" Lloyd added, he raced down the streets behind them.

Behind, he heard a stronger whimper from Jay, Zane grabbed him harder and added to the topic, then, to his panic, "From the look of this wound, I think it should be from around five hours ago—"

"So he's been out here for that long?" he interrupted, looking back at them for a second before twisting back to the road, tears stinging his eyes, "And we were just- just… sleeping in the Monastery, while he was—" he trembled, then shook his head. 'Just concentrate, for Jay. Cry about this when it's all behind us.'

Zane grabbed the note from him, hummed, then shoved it into his own pocket. He put his hands more firmly around him, and now, noticed the cold sweat swarming his body. "We musn't panic now, the hospital is close, and I'm certain he'll recover."

—

He couldn't handle the waiting, none of them could. They hung in the waiting room, and even Nya wasn't allowed inside with Jay since they needed space, and a lot of doctors, to work on him. That terrified them.

When they stormed into the hospital, Jay might as well have been unconscious - he was still awake, occasional squirms, but his eyes were closed, they only knew he was awake from his delusioned mumbles. He'd call out their names, ask where he was, ask why he was in so much pain, then next ask why he felt so fuzzy.

Most concerningly, his breaths were uneven,ragged, fast and then slow, weak overall.

Rushed to a gurney, he was hauled away with the ninja staring on and Nya being denied access. There was a rush to get him back, like how they got a mask over his face right away, how nurses put more pressure on the gaping wound. Then as they stared, a nurse came up to them, taking their details, asking what happened.

But they didn't know what happened!

At home, relaxing, they had no clue what Jay went through while he was out, they only saw the extent of what it came to.

"I feel awful." Kai exclaimed quietly, his arms crossed as he leaned far back into the chair of the quiet waiting room. No one was in there except for them, it was a quiet hospital in this smaller part of the city. Heads turned to him, they all thought the same thing, "How'd we take so long to find him? How long was he—" he shot up, hands gripping the armrests, then stopped, a tremble in his voice.

"We can't blame ourselves." Lloyd urged, he stood up and faced the team. There he was, trying to put on a brave demeanour for the team like always. He had his hands in a fist, but they fell to his side when the team didn't look up at him, "Come on, guys, Jay's gonna be okay."

Cole gripped his arms, hugging himself, "Yeah…but-" he bit his lips and looked to Lloyd, "but what if he thinks we- we left him behind, forgot about him?"

"Come on, Jay wouldn't think that!" he chuckled and wiped his face, "If Jay ever blames anyone, it's… himself, and we- we can't let him do that." Lloyd put his hands in a fist and tried getting the others to look up, but they never did, not even Zane, who gripped his own hands and stared down at them, just like the others.

Lloyd's arms flopped to his side and he sighed, his head fell forward and he looked to the ground, Cole did the same. A carpet room, the receptionist was off her post right now, so they were free to ramble about whatever worries and blame they had.

Deep down, he knew there was only one person to blame. Zane had passed him the note back once they entered the waiting room, which now, was over two hours ago, and the others had reacted to it. Kai and Nya sent insults, Lloyd bursted into a panic, but Cole kept silent, gripping it hard, even now.

He couldn't believe someone could hate Jay this much, to target him so personally. They were ninja, elemental masters, but sometimes forget how easy it is to lose everything when you're taken off guard or tricked, they were still human.

Finally, he shoved the note into his pocket, he knew he had to keep ahold of it, but he really didn't.

All he could do was hope that Jay would be okay.

—

The last few hours had been a blur. He remembered… walking, or dragging himself through the streets to find a phone, or any place he can call the ninja, with his phone having died, and his powers not working to charge it up either. He wondered why that was the case, but he wouldn't like to figure that out right now, he was exhausted.

After what felt like hours of dragging himself through the streets - but it could have easily been so much less - someone finally found him, but the lights of their vehicle were so bright, he couldn't make it out at all.

Then, he was put on that vehicle, held up by someone's cold hands, he didn't remember anything after that until he woke up in the hospital. All he remembered was what he felt on that ride, the cold sweat, the blood, the ache.

Waking up in a hospital wasn't as peaceful as some people would think, you may think he woke up relaxed on pain-meds, a soft bed beneath him, but he woke up on a not so-comfortable, raised too high in the air to feel safe, and a lot of people above him.

A man told him to breathe, mask over his face, someone else grabbed his hand, let him squeeze it, as another grabbed his arm, the one that was limp and bloody. There was only pain, he could argue that this was the worst he'd ever felt in his life, and it was all because of the Mechanic, nowhere near the scale of other villains.

But he'd been taken off guard, it was as simple as that, and it reminded him how easily things could go south.

And it was because he was a ninja, it was some petty revenge, he remembered, as he fought consciousness again. A doctor grabbed his shoulder, as gentle as he could be, but enough to drag him out of the darkness, he knew how similar the feeling was, how he tried so hard to get ouf of the Mechanic's grasp, but had failed.

Then he woke up hours later, and didn't even realise he had let it take over.

"Try to stay awake, could you tell me your name?" he asked. Jay groaned and his head turned, the lights above were too bright, just like those streetlamps, the light that found him, that for a moment he thought it was the gates of the afterlife.

"Head hurts." he ignored the man's questions.

It was a doctor, he's in the hospital. He had to keep reminding himself that some kind people brought him there. He would thank them, if he managed to stay awake, but more than anything, he wanted his friends. "My friends?" he shook, then gripped his eyes tight and gripped his hand even harder when more pressure was applied to the wound on his arm, and with the slightest movement of his leg.

"Your friends?" he asked, contemplated for a moment, which gave Jay a second to look around with his half-coherent thoughts.

Someone cut off his shirt. 'Hey, that was my favourite—' he thought, then doubled back down to the bed, but this bed cold and uncomfortable. Something poked his skin, then another, and now above him were thin, transparent tubes. Annoying.

He wasn't that hurt, right? But his voice was begging for his friends like he'd never see them again, so he turned back to the man already answering. "Yes, they brought you in here, found you on the street, you're lucky they found you when they did, but now we're helping you, okay?" he nodded, but pulled his head back in pain again, "We're getting you something for the pain." he explained, which Jay only half heard.

'My friends brought me in, was that… Cole?'

Some stupid mask had been tight over his face since he got there, he didn't remember much of that, only fragments of being found, a ride here, and now, waking up surrounded by so many doctors and nurses. Now, that bulky mask was replaced with one that wrapped around his head with string, pumping relieving oxygen into his body itself, and not done by the nurse squeezing it over and over herself.

They shouted medical jargon, he didn't understand a thing, none of it was in first-aid training, he knew that at least. It was almost boring, like Wu's lessons, so maybe he could…

"Jay? Can you squeeze my hand again?" that woke him up, so he did what he said, but he wasn't pleased about it.

He really wanted to be asleep right now, he was glad that after the beating he got, he got some rest while unconscious before waking up at night. With how much pain he was in now, he was glad he didn't experience it for those hours that had passed, so long it turned from the bright afternoon to the creep of night in that dodgy side of town.

"We need more blood, he's slipping, BP dropping." now that she mentioned it, it was harder to breathe, even with the mask. People rushed out the room, he tried to hold on, his head bopped up and down, everything in him trying to pull him into the dark, but the smallest side of himself growing strong to resist that.

"You're doing great, Jay." the doctor beside him assured, he was getting confused which side he stayed at as he held his hand. With another on the other side holding pressure on the wound, and now, stitching it up, he wondered what else could possibly be wrong with him to warrant such urgency? And now that he thought about it, how'd he know his name?

'You're a famous ninja, Jay, everyone knows your name, that's the reason you're here in the first place, remember?'

The doctor nodded, or he could be a nurse? He didn't know what in the world was going on, the sounds getting blurier. "Yeah, you're a ninja, master of lightning, correct? My son's a big fan of you." Had he been speaking aloud?

He couldn't see much anymore, with that nurse (he couldn't be bothered to decide what his role was anymore) closest to him, it was the clearest face there, along with the fractured memories of being saved. 'Was it Cole that found him?'

"Yes, he likes Cole a lot too, but I think you're his favourite, best brag about that to him after this." he laughed, and Jay laughed too, but he didn't really know what he was laughing at, the guy's voice was so dull now, so…

There was too much blood on the bed now, spilling from his arm, and now, the new wounds found on his chest once they got his shirt off.

More commands, more rushing, more urgency, and more touching, but Jay couldn't grip the man's hand back anymore.

His ears rang, like the beeping of the monitor, he wasn't sure what the sound was, actually. His head hurt, and he really wanted a more comfortable place to sleep, since he was drifting off and he couldn't fight it anymore.

Most of all, he wanted his friends.

—

"His heart stopped." the doctor explained, looking plainly to his tablet. Those three words were all any of them could focus on.

Despite how he explained how Jay was awake, he was stable, they'd fixed his leg, stitched up his wound, and he would be okay, they couldn't concentrate on any of it. Every part of them froze when they heard those words.

This happened because they weren't there, and maybe if they began searching for him as soon as they noticed he was gone, or if Cole noticed him on the street the first time he drove by, instead of on the way back after seeing the blood, and that dreadful, disgusting note.

It was still crumpled in his pocket, he didn't know why.

Maybe Jay would see that note when he's all better and laugh at how the Mechanic couldn't finish him off, maybe rub it in his face the next time he's in a jail cell.

It had been nearly 3 hours since they arrived with Jay, it was past midnight now. Everyone would normally be tired, but they weren't one bit, their eyes bloodshot with how they wouldn't even blink, too trapped in their thoughts, or too distracted trying to get away from them, focusing hard on the dust in the air, the typing of a keyboard in the receptionist's booth, or each step outside that they hoped would be someone updating them on Jay.

Kai's foot tapped, Lloyd had his hands on his chin, Zane on his waist, and Nya was leaning on a chair, breath rushing, but trying to keep quiet, finally, Cole stared anwards, completely still.

"He has a concussion, recieved multiple lacerations on his chest, arms and shoulders, and the largest on his bicep, the blood loss was largely linked to the latter." he explained, just with the smallest hint of sympathy in his voice, "He broke his foot, surgical intervention wasn't needed at the moment, but its best we monitor."

Lloyd stepped forward, holding his hands out, "His…his heart- stopped?" he trembled.

Cole turned his way, his eyes wide, how could they let this happen? What if he hadn't seen the note and known Jay was in the area, would that mean he would have bled out on those streets? He could have drove right past him, and he wouldn't have even known.

The doctor put a hand on his shoulder, and Lloyd's hands fell to his side, "Yes, for a very short time, we got more blood in him, CPR, and he was back in thirty seconds. He just needed more blood, we got it to him in time, and you got him here just in time too."

Was that meant to keep any of them calm?

It still happened, it still could have gone so wrong.

"You can visit him, he should be awake, a nurse is in his room right now."

They wracked their heads up, wobbly and weak, and nodded. No one could speak right now, not until they saw Jay.

—

"Your breathing is good right now, but you'll need to keep the mask on for a while." the nurse had a stethescope to his back, then finished and pulled his gown back down.

He just felt… stupid. He wasn't in excruiting pain anymore, but at least that distracted from how weak he had been out there, not able to even fight off the Mechanic, he'd battled so much worse in his life.

This whole thing, the hospital, how his heart stopped in that room earlier - something he didn't even remember, just told by the people that, if they weren't there, he would have died. And now, needing to be coddled by these people. It was his stupid mistake. Now that he was awake, he knew the whole thing was a trick, the Mechanic somehow hacked his way into his phone, lured him there with the fake story of picking up Wu's perscription, and now he was paying the consequences.

It just felt so stupid, he almost didn't want to see his friends right now, because of this humiliation. He was sure they wouldn't want to see him, he disturbed their rest, and—

"Jay!" someone shouted from his side, at the doorway was Nya, then he noticed everyone else right away, all trying to squeeze in at the same time. She might be mad, what if they all thought this was the final straw? He shouldn't be a ninja if he gets tricked by such a simple thing—

He never got to finish any moping, because Nya was running, right behind him was Lloyd, then all the others rushed his way too. His breath stumbled at the sight, all of them with wide eyes, panting, and launching for his bed like wild animals, then, they leaped, and he was dragged into a hug with three of them - the impact nearly violent.

"Oh my gosh, Jay, we were- we were so…" Lloyd weeped, he was already crying, he gripped his gown, but Jay hadn't processed the moment enough to hug back. With one big breath, he was hugged even tighter, his green, dirty GI mushing with his sterile hospital gown, there wasn't much thought to their actions. "I was so worried."

In the hug was him, Lloyd (currently sobbing), Cole, and Nya, all competing to see who could hug him the tightest.

The other two didn't say anything, just sat there and hugged, he remembered, before he blacked out earlier, that the last thing he wanted was his friends, so maybe… they felt the same.

But the nurse already inside had her hands up defensively, taken back and frozen, so the doctor walked in and spoke clearly, "Don't be too rough, please." he urged, and the ninja slowly pulled away, still competing, this time which of them could keep ahold of his body, constricting his already troubled breathing, the most.

Groaning, Jay grabbed his arm, this one had bandages wrapped around, just like his foot, very broken right now. The doctor stepped out the room when the ninja backed away, and the nurse took over, "Are you feeling pain in your arm?"

Immediately, scattered breaths came from the group, Nya and Cole were first to grab the only chairs in the room, and claimed their spots, she leaned close. "No, no, I-" he tried to let go, but his hand rushed right back to grip, he could still barely move the other, "yeah, it hurts."

He didn't want to be hurt, to dump something like this on the team as soon as they just finished with another villain.

"I will order more pain meds," she assured, then reached for a cabinet, in it, she took out a sling, "for now, I think you should keep it still," she turned to the others and pointed sternly, "which means light hugs." Their faces turned from concern to soft, but probably forced smiles, as they nodded.

The nurse grabbed his arm, he winced as it was guided into the sling, but he relieved when it settled down, the pain was still there, but he thinks he could move his fingers without debilitating pain.

"How long will I be here for?" he asked, looking down at himself. IV in his arm, giving medicine, the one before that gave him life-saving blood no longer there; the white sheets and white walls, then the ninja to his side. He wanted to stand, he was convinced that he could walk out of this building right now, no one would have to support him, he could prove he wouldn't be more of a burden than he already was.

"I think at least two days, we need to keep track of your concussion in case anything goes south, and you need to be monitored after the blood transfusion, but you should feel better soon, after some sleep." she stood up and walked to the head of the bed, Jay looked to his side and frowned. "Your friends and family are free to visit whenever they want, for as long as they want, if that makes you feel any better."

Nya leaned forward and put a hand on his back, Cole then travelled to the other side, dragging his chair with him, and did the same. "We can stay with you, buddy."

"Yeah, we'll keep you company." Kai added.

Zane smiled, "We will bring you entertainment, whatever you need."

Most of all, Lloyd was still crying, much smaller whimpers, but obviously surpressing it. He felt awful that he'd inflicted this on him, made his friends worry so much on a day of rest.

After the nurse tracked down his last vitals, she left, and advised the team to keep the noise down. At that, Lloyd surpressed the cries more, they turned into sniffles, then, there was silence, all eyes on him.

With one arm down, he didn't have much to entertain himself with, such as twirling his fingers around each-other or tapping his hands to a beat, so he just stared - the only way to avoid their faces was to look down.

Staring at the IV, he ignored the weird feeling, the sting on his other arm, the total exhuastion, and probably how his friends felt the same. He had them racing around Ninjago City late at night, they probably didn't eat since he went out to buy groceries. He must have ruined their plans, then worried them to death for no reason, because now he was alive, useless and alive, and the worry should have only been there if he was dead.

But he had died, well, his heart stopped, that was close enough.

He gripped the sheet, then Cole spoke up, his voice so much less firm and steady than it usually was, "You okay?"

Blankly, he kept staring at the crunched up sheet, below it was his useless leg, and now, he noticed his useless eyes drifting closed, he was really tired, "Yeah, I'm okay." he responded listlessly.

The room was dull, lights dimmed, and probably private because of his concussion too, he couldn't handle many noises right now, his heart monitor was really starting to get on his nerves by now.

Most of all, it was himself. The concussion, the pain meds that made him slightly loopy given to him because he got grabbed by some mechanical tentacle arms that shoved him to the ground, the stitches up his arm from the sharp claws of it.

All because of some payback, some silly, childish revenge. He escaped the game, got through each level, then convinced Unagami to stop his madness, and everything was fine. For once, he was proud at what he'd done, he stopped a villain by himself through his words, which was what eventually convinced him to listen to Dyer.

Life had a really good way of making all his good emotions topple over as soon as they reached him, only for him to stay muddled in the negative ones for too long.

"You don't have to stay here, go home." he turned to Cole, but just looked at his GI, not his face.

But his GI was stained with drops of blood, and from his pocket, a yellow thing sticking out, for now, he ignored it as he spoke back immediately. "Do you want us here? Or do you need time alone?"

Lloyd wiped his eyes, "Yeah, you look tired, you should sleep, you probably don't want us watching so we can-"

Jay reached out his hand to Lloyd looking at the door, "No, I don't—" he trembled, then fell back into the bed with a groan, everything still hurt despite the meds, he hated everything right now. Everyone turned to him, so he swallowed the breaths trying to throw out a coughing fit, and spoke again, "I don't… want you to go."

'Was that selfish?' he thought, he remembered wanting them here as he blacked out because his heart was beating too fast, everything in pain, yet his whole brain numb and woozy. That wasn't the him able to consider their feelings.

"If you want to go, you can- you can go home, it's okay, I'll be fine." he rubbed his temple, leaned furhter into the pillows, now a comfortable bed, and waited for them to leave.

But they didn't. Of course they didn't leave.

Why would they leave when they just leaped into his arms and nearly blew the wind out of him?

"We won't leave, we do not want to." Zane explained, dragging three more chairs into the room, he had got them so quick he hadn't seen him leave.

He couldn't move much with the medical equipment tracking the stupid, irregular rhythms of his body, so he sighed, and gripped the sheets again, it's all he could do constrained to this rectangular white cushion of prison disguised as comfort. "I- I- okay." he failed, and looked to the other side, the blinds drawn, but he could see a peak of the city at the bottom. "I'm sorry for this."

"Sorry for what?" Cole asked straight away.

Jay whipped his head to the others, and backed away from any touch from the ninja.

"I was so stupid!" He yelled, then flinched at the pain, so he quietened, but he wanted to yell, scream at his past self that fell for something so stupid. "I… got tricked… by the Mechanic." He took out the phone, cracked from the ordeal and showed the others.

"He somehow hacked his way in, pretended to be Wu and told me to pick up his prescription," He sighed and dropped his head to the pillow, "which is so stupid, how could I fall for it? Wu doesn't need a prescription for anything, he's the son of the First Spinjitzu for crying out loud—"

Cole grabbed his shoulder, Jay knew to look at him, but he was scared of the shame, faces that looked at him with pity because he knew it was so stupid of him. "We know… we- we found a note, it was planned, he caught you off guard, and honestly, with the whole Unagami thing we forgot that the Mechanic was technically behind it all." He reached for his pocket, paused, then got what was inside anyway.

With his hands shaking, he took it, then looked; the Mechanic's rough and scratchy handwriting, the drawing, a ridiculously cartoony drawing.

Roughed him up for you! Good luck fixing him up. He read the mighty words, and in the past, he would have described them as overly confident. But with how easily he got him "roughed up", it wasn't so over the top anymore. Maybe it was time to stop overestimating his abilities.

He huffed and scrunched it up, "Hey, that's evidence." Nya fumbled around, then grabbed his wrist, always careful of his fragile state.

"You think I care?" He crossed his arm, just the one, the other was incapable at the moment, "I'm gonna go rough him up just as much as soon as I'm out of here!"

Zane chuckled, "Yes, but after you are fully recovered, which will be longer than your hospital stay."

He gripped Nya's hand back, and looked to the others on the opposite side of the bed, all watching over him, all here. They were going to be very protective for a while now.

"And we'll be there, not like how we weren't today." Lloyd sighed and rubbed his arm, gripping his GI right, not making eye contact.

"That's not your fault." He rushed to comfort, but… he remembered how scared he was. For once, he wasn't with the team, it was a special circumstance.

Usually, a big job ends with the villains being sent to a cursed place, prison, sometimes even death or anything of the sort, but the Mechanic was a mid-level crook working to bring this big level villain to the real world, so it was a little weird. This let him catch him off guard the day after the tiring mission, changed his life to recovery-mode for weeks to come because of some petty revenge.

And, he was scared.

As the new clawed arm of his pierced into his arms, his side, it just hurt, and it wasn't some big bad.

Maybe it was time to consider that they weren't here just to stop world ending evils.

Also, that to the average person, a common thug was a threat that could take your life. Today, he felt as if he was in the shoes of the people he saves everyday, and what happens when the ninja aren't there to save them.

"But what if- what if he wants to try again?" He clutched the note again, unfolding it a little. "Next time, he might actually want to…" tears sprung into his eyes, and he tried ignoring the note he so tightly gripped. He could chuck it away, but he almost wanted to get the Mechanic in prison, show up to his cell and rub the thing in his face.

"He won't. We're here." Kai put his hand on the side of the bed and gripped the sheets. Nya still held onto his hand, Cole still grabbing his shoulder, and he wanted nothing more than to hug him as tight as he could, but that would be against the doctor's boring orders. "And… don't say sorry for this, man, we- we thought we…. lost you."

"'Kay, sorry." He sighed and unfolded the note again.

Sorry for making you worry so much, for putting you through this when things are already so busy. He thought to himself, but he knew the others wouldn't let that thought drive him mad.

It might take a while to get past this fear, but the Mechanic had been arrested more times than the records can hold, so this time, they would make sure he didn't escape.

"There it is again." Kai leaned forward and smiled.

"No more 'sorrys', we're taking care of you for now." Cole joined, snapping his hands shut to imitate a mouth zipping quiet. Jay folded, leaned back and focused on each breath; he was exhausted for now, but he'd get better soon.

He nodded quietly and pushed his lips into a small smile, "Okay… thanks for finding me." Hugging Cole and Nya from the side, he would be fine with leaning on them for a while. "Love you guys."

The note dropped to the ground, and he would forget about this for now.