Chapter 14
Search
"Zane, can you hear me?" Marcy asks while lifting the table upright. Zane nods, ceasing his struggle while Marcy removes the tape from his mouth and arms. "Are you okay?" He nods again and bites his lip from the pain.
"Can you change me to a human?" Zane requests, "I would be very grateful."
Marcy smiles and pushes her glasses farther up her nose, saying, "Are you ready for this?" She picks up his blueprint off the floor and the toolbox.
"I am ready," he responds after nodding. Marcy sets the toolbox back down and flips on a light switch on the wall, blinding the injured Nindroid.
Zane squints as the woman tells him, "I will have to inject you with a robot sleeping liquid for the operation."
"Lloyd!" Melissa screams as she shakes the unconscious ninja on the floor of the hospital room, "Someone help him!"
Lloyd's eyes snap open and he jerks right up into a sitting position, shouting, "Kai, no!"
"Lloyd, where's Kai?" Melissa puts her frail hands on his shoulders, while the others rush into the room.
"What's going on?" Jay asks.
"Kai's gone!" Melissa exclaims.
"What happened?" Nya speaks anxiously.
"I don't know." Lloyd responds, "I was hit in the back of my head and now he-he's missing."
"Let's search the area again," Cole says.
"Did you guys find Zane yet?" Lloyd inquires.
"No; we did not discover any traces of him," Pixal tells him sadly as she and the others help Lloyd to his feet.
"We better go in groups and be on the alert in case something else happens to us," Lloyd speaks as they head out the door.
"Okay. That's a good idea, because we don't know what happened or if someone is targeting us," Jay says.
Behind the Hospital Building
"Okay. This where we split up," Lloyd announces, "I'll go with Pixal."
"I am going with Jay then," Melissa tells them, eyeing Cole strangely.
"Then, I am going with Jay and Melissa since Nya is taking care of Emma," Cole responds and he heads with them to the right, while the other group heads to the left.
Lloyd gets on his hand and a knee, spotting something in the mud next to the abandoned building to the left of the hospital. "Pixal, can you scan for any traces of them?" Lloyd requests. A soft, blue light projects from Pixal's green eyes as she does a sweep of the area and walks away from him. Lloyd digs his hands in the squishy mud, feeling a small, metal object, and pulls it out, wiping it off with his sleeve; it's a gear. He holds it aloft in the dark night, while rain pours, knowing it's from Zane. "Pixal, I found something!" Lloyd announces as the android rushes back to him, holding something as well. She shoves a shard of glass and two neatly severed wires in his face.
"I found these over there," Pixal points to edge of the old building, "There is something else you will want to see as well." They walk over to where she pointed and find a trail of blue and black liquid that strangely does not wash off.
Lloyd stoops over and touches a bit between his fingers. It makes his skin tingle and he straightens up, asking, "What is it?"
"I scanned it and am certain it is Zane's; however, I cannot get a reading on what it is," Pixal responds, "There is a trail that must be where he went. It looks like he was running away from someone, or something."
"Well, then we better get on the move."
"Have you guys spotted anything yet?" Melissa ambles to Jay and Cole, who are doing rapid sweeps with their flashlights.
"I think you should go back inside," Jay tells her.
"Why?"
"Nya may need your help, and besides, you shouldn't be out in the rain," Jay says.
"But Kai-" she protests, but is cut off.
"You could investigate where Lloyd had been attacked and where Kai was last seen," Cole adds.
Melissa purses her lips together, her brows furrowed, and gives in, "Alright, but notify me if you find anything." After she departs, Jay picks up a piece of flesh with a bit of brown hair on it.
"Cole," Jay looks at his brother with a concerned expression, "I think we have a problem."