Chapter Text
Jumping across the rooftops, the ninja peered down at the exchange below them. Zane counted seven smugglers, less than they had expected but not drastically. More were probably waiting inside. They were just out of range of his hearing, even amplified. Zane doubted even Lloyd's inhuman hearing could pick up their voices.
The ninja moved around above the exchange, sticking to the shadows, taking up positions and preparing to strike. Watching their leader, Lloyd held out a hand, signalling wait – they held their positions, tensed. The green clad hand dropped, and all six ninja dropped down, weapons drawn, surrounding the smugglers gathered below.
Shouts of alarm went up, the seven directly in the exchange all raising their hands in surrender. Zane and Nya cuffed them to the wall, where later once the area was secured, the police would find them. Lloyd beckoned the team over,
"I think we should check out the warehouse."
"Yeah—see if there are any more for us to take out," Jay replied enthusiastically, spinning on the spot.
"Technically Jay, you have not 'taken out' anyone yet." Zane replied that smile playing behind his hood, gesturing at the smugglers, "They surrendered without a fight."
"Yeah, well um—" Zane watched amused as Jay struggled to come up with a comeback, "As they should—no one could take on trained Ninja like us!"
"Guys—focus." Lloyd pulled them back to the group and began outlining their plan to search the warehouse. Split in half, one team takes the upper level, one the lower.
"Zane, Jay and Nya will take the top, while Cole, Kai and I will search the bottom," Everyone nodded, "okay, Ninjaaa GO!"
Zane followed Nya who vaulted up on to a ledge before slipping in through an open window. The office inside was dark, completely bare apart from a few desks. The group snuck into the corridor, sticking to the shadows as they began to search the floor.
After a few minutes, and still no sign of anyone, Zane decided to check in with the others.
"Lloyd, anything where you are?"
"Negative," The com crackled more than usual, indicating some kind of interference. "No sign of any kind of operation—are you guys getting interference on the com?"
"Yeah," Nya chimed in, "It could be some kind of strong electrical signal, but we haven't seen anything yet either."
"There isn't any electricity in this building at least," Jay added, "I can't feel a power signature, I'm pretty sure it must be of the Ninjago grid."
"Okay, well clear the floor and then we'll meet in the lobby downstairs."
"Affirmative, over and out."
Zane clicked off the com, continuing behind Nya down the corridor. A loud bang sounded up ahead, like a door slamming. The three of them looked at each other in alarm, before running towards the source of the noise. Turning a corner, Zane caught a glimpse of someone retreating down the corridor.
"Hey—stop!" Nya shouted, speeding up. They burst into another room, this one even darker than the rest of the building. As soon as they crossed the threshold, Zane felt the too familiar feeling of being cut off from his elemental power, as if the air had been knocked from his synthetic lungs.
He stopped suddenly, seeing Nya stumbled and hearing Jay swear behind him. Scanning the darkened room, Zane detected no heat signatures, and that this room was significantly larger than it seemed. Relaying this information to the others, they fanned out slightly and began to move forwards.
"Lloyd?" Zane whispered over his com, getting no response. Frowning, he rebooted the connection, "Lloyd—Cole—Kai, anyone, come in."
He glanced right at Nya, she shook her head, no response either. Jay took a sharp breath in, and Zane whipped his head around to face him.
"I don't think we're alone..." He trailed off, voice barely audible. Zane scanned for heat signatures again, still coming up empty. There were ways to block scans, but they were difficult and time consuming. Whatever was hidden in this warehouse, they didn't want it found.
Jay and Nya closed ranks around him, continuing to creep through the room. A sudden influx of light left them momentarily blind as the entire room became illuminated.
Surrounding them, were at least thirty smugglers, all armed, all wearing some form of vengestone. They were outmatched. Jay reached for his weapon but stilled when a grunt brought his sword level with his neck.
"Uh—guys?" he hissed, "What the hell do we do?"
Jay took a deep breath, trying to ignore the blade hovering near his neck, glancing sideways a Nya and Zane to see them in similar situations. The smugglers closed ranks around them, grabbing him and binding his hands behind his back, before shoving a bag over their heads and dragging them from the room.
Jay tried to follow where they were going, turning down corridors – left, left, right, left – and eventually out into the cold night air. He was pushed into the back of a vehicle, hearing the same happening to Zane and Nya behind him. His stomach sank. Now they had no way of keeping track of where they were going.
He sat on the floor, leaning back against the wall of the van. Moments later, he was jostled around as the van started to move. Jay began to twist his hands around, manipulating the rope, searching for any kind of weakness, whispering,
"Everyone okay?"
Nya huffed angrily, "Yeah—but I can't get out of these ropes."
He nodded, before remembering they couldn't see him either, "Yep. They got us good."
"I wonder if the others are in the same situation," Zane remarked.
Jay closed his eyes – it wasn't like he could see anyway – he didn't know. The communications failure seemed to be intentional, which suggested maybe.
"Hey Nya," He asked, "You said earlier that a large electrical signal can interfere with our coms, is there anything else that could.?"
She was silent for a moment, "Yeah, they could have a jammer. I just—I didn't say that earlier because their really hard to get and to make work. Like you have to know exactly what kind of equipment you need to block and what range of signals. There's a reason we haven't encountered one before"
"They also took precautions to block some of my scanners." Zane added, "It is not as complex as blocking radio transmissions as there are several materials I cannot scan through—but it requires expert knowledge and resource."
That was concerning. It seemed that maybe they'd been expected. The Van stopped suddenly, throwing Jay out of his thoughts. He heard the doors open a second before Nya yelped. Jay threw himself forwards, trying to get to Nya, "No—don't touch her!"
He was grabbed before he even got out the van and hauled off. He could hear Nya breathing heavily somewhere behind him and he struggled pointlessly, heartrate going wild as he tried to escape their captors hold.
After being forced down and unknown number of corridors, the bag was ripped off his head as he was shoved through a door and into a different room. He stumbled, losing his balance but righting himself before he hit the floor.
"Jay? Nya?" A voice exclaimed, "Zane? Oh no, they got you guys too."
Jay looked up to see Kai, Cole and Lloyd. Kai had run over to Nya the second they entered the room, Jay twisted to look at his yang, seeing she was okay, they must have just startled her earlier. Cole walked up in front of him and Zane, checking them over.
"You guys okay?" He asked. Jay nodded shakily.
"We are all currently unharmed." Zane replied, "Are any of you injured?"
"Kai took a hit to his arm," Lloyd piper up from his seat on the floor, "He didn't want to be tied up so he punched a guy and someone else took a swing at him with a sword."
Jay suppressed a laugh at the look Kai was giving Lloyd, catching a muttered 'snitch' under the red ninja's breath. Zane walked towards him and Kai presented his arm, though there was little anyone could do while they were still bound.
"Look—it's just a scratch."
"That is more than a scratch kai," Zane scolded, "but it is not dangerous as of yet."
Jay wandered over to Nya, pressing his forehead against hers.
"You okay?" He whispered, closing his eyes as they leant against each other.
"Yeah, you?" She replied softly, relaxing slightly at his answering nod. They remained still for a moment, Jay breathing deeply as he tried to regulate his anxiety. He opened his eyes to meet Nya's hazel ones, offering a small smile before pulling away and going to sit on the floor next to Lloyd.
"So, Greenie, what's the plan for getting out of here?"