The pale sun shone down on Ninjago City, making for a lovely spring day. It was morning break at Wu's Academy, and student Jay Walker was on his way to Chen's Noodle House to grab the usual morning snacks for himself and his friends. As he exited the school, he counted the money given to him for the third time, making sure yet again that he had enough for everything. He hated it when it was his turn to do this. He didn't say it to the others, but it just made him think of how much better off they were than him. It also took ages to get to Chen's, unless you could cut through the park, and carrying the food for the four boys was tiring.

Jay stopped dead as he looked up to cross the road and caught sight of the crowd in the park. He'd have to take the long way around to Chen's today. The park was full, not to mention rowdy. Before he turned to walk along the pavement, one of the signs someone had grabbed his attention. It was another anti-android protest. He should have known. They were getting more and more common these days, as Borg Industries was making more and more of them for different purposes.

It looked like this one was getting aggressive, too - a smaller crowd converged within the protest, screaming and... were they getting violent?!

It was definitely better to take the long way around to Chen's, Jay decided, gulping in nervousness. He didn't want to get involved. Hopefully he'd misread the situation. And if they were getting violent, he was only seventeen, and pretty scrawny - some of those protesters were big and burly. He had the tendency to say things without thinking (there was a reason his friends called him Motormouth) and if he said the wrong thing to the wrong ear... well... his friends probably wouldn't get their food, that's for sure.

Jay arrived at the restaurant almost ten minutes later to find it pretty busy. He was dismayed, but not surprised. It was one of the most popular places in the city. He began to worry that he might not be able to make it back to school in time for his next class when his attention was called to the counter.

"Jay!" The girl calling him over was Skylor Chen, a fellow classmate (and his friend Kai's crush). He went up to the counter, much to the annoyance of the people in line. "Kai texted me your guys' order a while ago," Skylor continued with a smile. "It's being prepared riiight as we speak."

"Wh - is that even allowed?!" Jay exclaimed, taken aback. He hoped no one else had heard that.

Skylor shrugged. "Who cares? If Dad wants me here during my break from school, I can do whatever the hell I want." She held out her hand, palm upwards.

"That's fair," he laughed. Skylor cleared her throat and Jay realised that she was holding out her hand for the money. Of course. Idiot. Why else would she be doing that? He scrambled to get the money from his jacket pocket and placed it in her hand. In the process, some coins fell to the counter and he wanted the floor to swallow him whole as he heard the people around him grumble. This situation was already so embarrassing and awkward and now he looked like an idiot, too. Skylor laughed and assured him everything was fine; she told him to take a seat and that she'd call him up again when his order was ready.

He called out thanks as he turned to search for an empty table. He took one of the very few available seats, cramped in a corner of the restaurant. Another reason he hated it when it was his turn to get food. There was always so many people... it made him feel awkward at the least. The others were much better around people than he was. He played a game on his phone to pass the time, and a few minutes later, when the order was ready, it took Skylor several moments and the android waiter passing by tapping him on the shoulder to get the boy's attention.

Jay apologised profusely, gritting his teeth as he grabbed the two plastic bags from her. God they were heavy. Ugh, why didn't Cole just do this? He was way stronger than Jay was - stronger than any of their friends were, actually. He dreaded the thought of having to carry all the food back the long way to school, but upon stepping out of Chen's and back into the sunlight, he saw that the park had cleared out. The police had probably gotten involved in the protest, telling everyone to leave, or the protesters had gotten bored. Protests at random places such as this tended to be a spur-of-the-moment thing that a few people would start and others would join. Planned ones tended to be outside the Borg Industries headquarters or outside Borg Stores. Those protests tended to last hours.

The park was in between Chen's and the school - all he'd have to do was cross two roads and walk through the park. Jay liked that area, as far as the outdoors went. He was more of an inside person, but he had to give whoever planned out the park some credit. The plants were well-manicured, the structures fit in well and were well looked after, and the flowers smelt amazing.

One time, Jay had picked one of the flowers, a red one that he didn't know the name of, planning on giving it to a girl he liked - Nya, Kai's younger sister. Kai intercepted the gift before Jay could give it to her, however. This was back when Jay first moved to the school, as a fourteen-year-old. Kai used to be a very overprotective brother, but as he grew up he had chilled out a bit. Jay still really liked Nya - she was in some of the same clubs as him. Perhaps he could try again...

As Jay got further into the now desolate area, he spotted someone laying on the floor. That wasn't normal. Jay picked up the pace, wanting to make sure the person was okay. His mind was flashing back to seeing the angry protesters - maybe things had gotten violent. He felt sick to his stomach, he should have intervened...

"H-hey, buddy," Jay called as he got closer to the person, kneeling down beside them. No response. "You... okay?" Now that Jay was closer, he could tell that the person was a guy, and... he couldn't hear breathing. No breathing. Oh god. The guy looked around his age; Jay hoped he wasn't dead, he really, really hoped he wasn't dead. He placed his hand lightly on the boy's neck - the cacophony of his racing thoughts were suddenly silenced.

No pulse.

Jay was panicking. Was he actually dead?! Had he just touched a dead body?! Was there a dead person in the park?! His breathing picked up to a point where he became light-headed, and in his confusion he had accidentally slipped and pressed down harder on the guy's neck. Jay yelped and withdrew his hand - that didn't feel normal. He hadn't felt any tendons or bones or anything. It was solid. Sure, the pale skin felt soft, but underneath, it was hard.

An android.

The panic flowed out of him as he let out a long, heavy sigh. Thank goodness. It must have gotten caught up in the protest, poor thing. Jay leant in closer; he couldn't hear the quiet whirring of machinery he was used to. He quickly scanned the park - still, no one was around. Surely the android's owner would be nearby? Unless it was out on an errand, or it was a service android. He took it's left hand and looked at it's inner wrist - no identification. No name, no model number, no owner. That was odd. It was the law that all androids must have their model number and owner (whether that be a person or a group, like a business) in case something happened. And Borg Industries, the company that created and distributed the androids, always made sure to follow this rule. Jay couldn't just leave it out here... if it was seen by a police officer or something, without the requirements and shut down like this, unable to explain itself, it was likely to be taken away and either scrapped or repurposed.

Screw it.

He picked up the android, placing it over his shoulder. Jay was quite the tinkerer and knew his way around robotics - he was at Wu's Academy on a scholarship for technological science he won - he could probably fix it up. The thought of leaving it there to be found by someone else felt... incredibly wrong. Even though he was carrying a whole lot more weight now, he pushed onwards through the park with newfound determination.

As soon as Jay finally got back to the school, he felt the need to stay out of sight as he made his way through the hallways to his dormitory. He wasn't sure if he'd get in trouble or not, but he didn't want to risk it. Fortunately, he didn't have to find out, because he made it to his dormitory without an issue. Everyone was outside enjoying the sun, he assumed. He stashed the android under his bed, untucking the top blanket so that it draped down to the floor, concealing it. He apologised quietly as he left the room. He had to find his friends - time was running out before they had to get to their next class and the food was getting cold. He had a free period after Engineering - he'd tend to the android then.

As expected, Kai and Cole were varying levels of angry when Jay approached the group. Lloyd called out a weak hello as Cole jumped up from his spot on the grass. He ran up to Jay and searched the bags for his food. When asked what took him so long, Jay used the protest as his excuse - not mentioning that it had ended by the time he left Chen's. They bought it and Lloyd took the bags and spread the food out in the middle of their little circle on the grass. It felt good to finally be sitting down again.

"So Jay, How big was this protest?" Kai asked in between mouthfuls of food. You could almost feel everyone else in the group roll their eyes.

"It was uh, at least forty people? I guess? I dunno, I avoided it, Kai..."

"If I knew it was happening, I would've joined in..." he mumbled, poking at his food, his mood suddenly sour. Cole almost choked at that statement.

"And missed stuff from Chen's? Chen's?!" he shouted, staring wide-eyed at his spiky-haired friend. "Jeez - come on, we know you hate androids and everything, but do you really hate them so much you'd miss heaven in the form of food?"

Kai put his container of food in his lap, folding his arms. "It's easy for you to take this stuff lightly, Cole. Your dad is a dancer, or a musician, or whatever-"

"He's part of-"

"Androids are driving my parents out of business," he finished, not giving Cole a chance to cut in.

"Wait, wouldn't they be good for the metal industry? Since they're made out of metal...?" Lloyd asked.

"Not when they use them as workers!" Kai shouted. Then he, as well as Cole, screamed. In his annoyance, he'd gotten himself worked up and he'd knocked his food all over himself. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

"Good thing it's your turn to do laundry for us this week," Jay laughed, and Cole snorted, a smirk on his face. Jay hoped his friends hadn't noticed he'd been quieter than usual. He'd been thinking this whole time. "And what if Skylor had seen you at the protest? You know she appreciates the help at the restaurant since he dad has her there as much as he can."

Kai couldn't think of anything to say back. He was a hothead - he'd calm down by lunch, so Jay wasn't too worried. When he'd first met him, he was wary of his temper but now he learnt that Kai would cool down eventually, unless something was really wrong. The four boys continued their banter until the bell rang and they went their separate ways to their classes.