Well, here we go. Fair warning as usual, this chapter is pretty close to rock bottom; you may want to save it for later if you're stressed or depressed right now and tend to get affected by this kind of stuff.
Though if you are stressed or depressed right now, feel free to PM me, we can chat if you want. Things are wild out there, I know.
SpiritDragon: Thiiiiiis is admittedly it!
Yeah, the HP bar on this guy must be insane. :P
Thanks! Hope this one doesn't bring you down either.
Jens: I wish I knew myself! :P
Well gee, well gosh, well I don't know, we'll see. The aliens are important, yeah, but we'll see if this is their moment yet or not . . .
Ah, Nash wasn't kidding around, it was still a pretty bad dose tho. Enough to do its work. :/
Thank you! And thanks for the review!
Fiiiiyaaah: Ohhhhh, my goodness! Thanks for the review! Gosh, you're so nice, I hardly know where to start. ^_^'' For starters I guess, glad you're enjoying the story! Also, I like your username. XD
Oh wow, I started so long ago, that's hard to remember . . . I know for sure I had the basic framework in place. I knew the climax(es), I knew how it was going to end, and I had a bunch of lesser plot points and random fluffy details that I knew for sure I wanted to include. (Whether they were entirely relevant to the main story or not. :P) But the details of the plot are constantly evolving as I write—I'm always realizing, wait, that's a plot hole, now I need to rearrange things to fill it, wait, now I've introduced this sideplot, let's revisit it later! It's like going on a roadtrip knowing my final destination and which cities I want to visit, but everything else I'm figuring out on the fly. And I'm easily distracted by The World's Largest Rubber Band Ball on the next exit. XP
I love all my ninja children, but Kai is definitely one of my favorites too. There's something so endearing about someone who throws his whole self into protecting those he loves. Definitely gonna explain how the aliens level up! But you're right, first let's see about who survives Nash. ^_^''
Iiiiii can . . . neither confirm nor deny that. ^_^'' Man! You've been close-reading.
Glad the feels are working! That's what I write for. :)
Updating, what's updating? Not a chance! Never! No idea what all that text down below is, but it's not an update. ;) Admittedly I am finding more time to write now that I'm holed up at home, although it also helps massively that I gave up YouTube for Lent. So much writing happening now. Maybe I should make this permanent. XP
Eeee, thank you so much for the kind words! I hope I don't disappoint. ^_^
Thanks again!
Oct 22
1:00 AM
Status conditions: Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good
Nash didn't even straighten up after knocking out Jay. He could sense that behind him, Kai had pulled himself together. He leaped out of the way before the inferno even started, sumersaulting neatly and commencing a tricky zigzag across the alley. He could almost forget about all his injuries now; he felt incredible. Everything was going exactly the way he'd wanted. Sure, he had one grief-crazed ninja left to deal with—but that was only one. And it was exactly the right ninja too.
While fighting with Jay, he'd pinpointed the location of his other gun, the one he'd lost when Nya's first missile struck him. That one had bullets, not venom darts. Scooping it from the ground, Nash pivoted on his heel and leveled the barrel at Kai.
"The bullet's faster kiddo, trust me."
Kai faltered for only a second, then set his teeth and hurtled at Nash anyway. The gun's muzzle skipped erratically as Nash caught onto this development. Then instead of firing, he snapped his aim around to Jay.
Now Kai stopped instantly. The two of them stood motionless for a long moment, deadlocked, panting. Abruptly Nash shook his head and stuttered into breathless laughter.
"Damn!" Looking to Kai, he grinned and gestured around the alleyway with his free hand. "So, what do you think?"
Kai's stance had loosened in futility. He raised empty eyes to meet Nash's.
"This was why you didn't kill me."
"Yep." Nash gave a winning half-smile. "You're golden, buddy. Right now, I'd take down Ninjago's whole armed forces just to keep you alive. You need to be around to see this, y'know? What you get for thinking you could drop out of my crew."
Kai let out a slow breath, his hands shaking at his sides.
"You're going to regret that, Nash."
"What. Because you'll kill me?" Nash shrugged. "Go ahead. You make a move and I shoot your friend."
"He's dead anyway," said Kai thickly.
"Fair. It's prolly all the same to him. But do you want to watch him melting peacefully in his sleep, or do you wanna see his head explode?"
Kai swallowed hard, his eyes burning.
For a second there was silence. Kai stood, still poised precariously mid-lunge, and watched Nash with raw, sizzling hatred.
Nash waited. Kai had more self-control than expected, but it couldn't dampen his mood. He had gotten everything he wanted. The alleyway reeked of death, a sweet heady scent he'd only dreamed about till now. He could see Kai's soul slowly crumbling out from underneath him, as each passing second drove in the realization that his friends were going to die, horribly, all of them. And all he could do was watch. Finally, catharsis. Finally, everything was right.
Still, it really would be the cherry on top if Kai would just attack him. The whole point was to make him feel like it was his fault Nash fired. If he'd been more cooperative, Nash might have even considered shooting him too—last of all, of course—but, you know. Not force him to live with that knowledge too long.
He'd forfeited that small mercy by now, though. Nash was going to make this one live.
"So. How does it feel, Red?" he said at last, wagging the gun slightly to indicate all the others. "All this because you wanted to make a little extra cash, hiding paper bags you didn't open. Was it worth the pocket money?"
For a moment Kai quivered with overwhelming dark impulses. Nash licked his lips, anticipating. Then the red ninja slumped and gave a despairing laugh.
"Shut up. You wanna make this my fault? Sure. You only killed my friends because you wanted to punish me for leaving. Not because we all spent our weekends destroying your plans. Heck, you probably joined up with the Technicians just to hurt me, right? I'm the only reason anyone does anything!"
Nash quirked an eyebrow, processing.
"It's been a while since we last met." Kai gave him a poisonous grin. "I learned to get over myself."
Nash shook his head in wordless irritation. A bit of blood-scented silence. At last Nash blew wearily through his nostrils.
"A'right, Red," he said. "You really do take the fun out of it."
Kai lunged. He connected with Nash's chest at the exact instant the handgun barked and spat fire. The impact nudged it aside just barely enough, so the bullet exploded into the asphalt instead of Jay's skull. Kai was already pressing his dagger to Nash's throat, teeth bared, eyes blazing, his fingers digging into the Serpentine's shoulder. For a split-second their eyes locked again. The dagger trembled in Kai's hand.
Then he swung it back. A raw fleshy sound as the blade plunged into Nash's chest—metal scraping past bone—twist, twist, so easy—you'd think he'd been doing this all his life—then all in the same motion he yanked the dagger out and shoved the corpse away.
Breathing hard, he wiped blood from his face and spat.
As he cleaned his dagger, he looked around to the others, so close to death. Then he looked down at the still-gushing body of the Venomari responsible.
Antivenin . . .
Gasping, Kai dropped to his knees and grabbed the dead snake's muzzle, already parted in the precursor to a final scream. Kai forced it open further, scraping his dagger at the roof of the snake's mouth. At last he simply began to carve the lower jaw right off.
"Ka-ai? . . . " Jay was reawakening. He blinked, then started up to stare horrified at Kai, coated in blood and dragging the jaw off Nash's body with a crackle of snapping ligaments.
"If you can get up," said Kai breathlessly, "come and help me."
Dazed, Jay stirred to obey. He was still bleeding a bit from shattered glass and asphalt, but it was nothing serious. He didn't even feel it; the spreading venom was making him light-headed.
He managed to drag himself over to the site of the butchery. His stomach rose up his throat, but he set his teeth and clamped it. Now was not the time.
"Hold his head still," said Kai. "I have to get through the roof of his mouth."
Swallowing, Jay grasped the sides of the snake's head and tilted it back, struggling to keep his grip on the wet, slippery scales. Kai gouged furiously at flesh and bone, levering away the palate, slicing nerves. Suddenly something broke, and a burst of clear fluid splashed over the fire ninja's hands.
"Yes," he breathed, relief flooding his features. Hands shaking, he reached into the wet red cavity, carefully prying at something deep inside. At last he drew back, cradling an organ in his hands. It was about the size of a grapefruit, oblong, gray-brown, crisscrossed with dark veins.
"What is it?" asked Jay.
"It's the gland that produces the antivenin," said Kai. He was already fumbling through Nash's utility belt pouches with one hand, balancing the excised organ in the other. "It keeps Venomari from dying of their own venom. It'll work on you too."
"We can save them?" whispered Jay.
"I hope." Kai gave a bark of grim satisfaction as he found what he was looking for in Nash's pockets. "Ha! Son of a Skulkin always carried this trash around." He pulled out a set of syringes. "Hold this thing. Do not break it."
Jay gingerly held the antivenin gland and watched in revulsed fascination as Kai worked, sliding a hypodermic needle through the gland's soft surface, drawing back the plunger, and pulling the device out filled with a cloudy liquid.
"Will there be enough for everyone?" Jay said, blinking. His vision was growing blurry and red around the edges.
"Mm." Kai scooted over to Lloyd on one hand and one knee, turning his arm over and searching for a vein. "See if you can mark out the veins on Nya meanwhile."
Jay pulled himself over to Nya and rolled the unconscious samurai over. Then he nearly screamed. A trickle of blood was flowing from under her eyelid.
"Kai!"
"Keep it together." Kai barely looked up from injecting Lloyd's arm. "The venom dissolves surface vessels first, weird places start to bleed. The vital stuff lasts longer."
"You sure?" whispered Jay, watching with horror as a matching red dribble began to ooze from Nya's ear.
"I hope." Kai was already drawing another syringe of antivenin, crawling over to dose Nya in turn. Then lastly he prepared one for Jay. The blue ninja watched hazily as the needle broke his skin and the muddy fluid disappeared into his arm. It burned a little.
"There," said Kai, hurling the syringe away down the alley. "Done. All we can do now is wait."
"Do you think we were in time?"
"Like I keep saying. I hope." Kai sank back against the wall, shutting his eyes. "But I've seen people get this far along and still recover."
Silence fell. Jay looked around and shuddered. The others lay motionless, bleeding from eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, with strange dark bruises forming all over their skin. Nearby lay the mangled body of Nash, charred, broken, his head scraped out, a slit in his chest. Jay swallowed. This one had not had an easy path to death.
He turned to Kai, and found the fire ninja was stumbling to his feet, lurching towards the mouth of the alley with a glazed expression.
"Kai, no!" Jay looked after him pleadingly, too dizzy to get up and stop him. "Don't—don't leave me here. If something goes wrong I won't know what to do!"
"If something goes wrong, there will be nothing anyone can do," said Kai. But he still slid down the wall to sit again.
After a moment he turned away. Jay heard his breath growing less and less even, and eventually the scattered plip, plip of teardrops hitting the ground.
"Kai?" He wasn't sure if his voice was even audible. Either way he got no reply.
"Kai." He slid a little closer. Only a little.
"Don't," said Kai throatily.
Jay hesitated. He didn't want to. Honestly he was terrified. Kai was coated in blood, dried and fresh, streaks of red mingling with his tears every time he swiped at his face. He had just murdered someone. There seemed to be a dark aura hanging around him now.
Then he started to feel ashamed of himself. It wasn't like the rest of them hadn't been aiming for the same result. Kai had just been the one to finally succeed. He'd done it to keep all the rest of them from dying.
And Kai had never hesitated to comfort him when he needed it, even when he'd been overwhelmed with mere self-pity. Now when Kai had just paid an unspeakable price to save them all, and the full weight of what he'd done must be crushing him—shame on anyone who even thought of hesitating.
"Kai, hey." Jay crept over and placed a hand tentatively on the fire ninja's shoulder.
"Just get off." Kai shrugged him away. "I wouldn't want to touch me either. It's okay."
"It's not—"
"I just killed a guy." Kai's voice cracked. "He's dead."
"You had to," said Jay shakily. Kai only drew more tightly into himself.
"Hey, look. It's not like . . . " Jay faltered. He couldn't bring himself to say it had been deserved. Not even for Nash. It didn't feel like his call to make. And even though he realized they'd probably all killed someone accidentally before—running around waving weapons, knocking people out, blowing stuff up, it was bound to have happened—he knew that wouldn't make Kai feel any better. It wasn't direct intentional hand-to-hand murder, and even then it still sent a shadow across their consciences whenever they thought about it.
The reality of it came into sharper and sharper focus. His brother was a murderer. Self-defense maybe. Justified . . . maybe. Excusable, almost definitely. But the fact remained: the first of them to actively take another's life.
If he was reeling, he could only imagine how Kai must feel.
"Kai, geez," he gulped at last, and wrapped his arms around the fire ninja. "S-see? I'm not scared."
Kai sat motionless, neither leaning in nor away. Jay felt hot tears dripping onto his arm.
"I keep hearing it," mumbled Kai. "The sound of the knife going in." He shuddered violently. "It's a nice sound. I keep thinking it's pretty."
"Woah, woah . . . easy . . . " Jay shivered. "You're not gonna become some crazy knife murderer, Kai, I know you're not. You did this to save us."
Kai shook his head mutely.
"Come on," whispered Jay. "It'll be okay. Nobody's going to hate you. Come on, you know how it is! Cole's all sensible and hardcore and stuff, he'll understand you had to do it. Nya's your sister, she's got to love you no matter what. Zane's such a softie that he could never stay mad at anyone. And you know how crazy Lloyd is about you! Heck, I'm the stupid insensitive one who freaks out about everything, right? And even I still love you. Promise."
Kai sniffled and leaned a little closer. For the three minutes or so that they sat huddled together, he said nothing, his jaw clenched, tears seeping slowly from under his eyelids. Jay ached to tell him to let it all out, cry for real, as much as he needed to—but he knew there was no way to word it that wouldn't make Kai clam up entirely. He was a tough one. Maybe a little too tough.
