When the sky finally falls, Kai has been dead for six months. Nya has been dead for one. She isn't dead, of course—not to anybody but Lloyd, who thinks she might as well be.
He didn't call again after she refused to answer, and she never called back.
He decides it is for the best, because he might yell at her if he ever gets the chance to talk to her again. He might scream.
The day the sky falls, it hangs low in the sky, pulled down by a dark layer of clouds. Lloyd watches them swirl over the mountains from the workroom window, feeling as empty as the rest of the room.
These moods usually go undisturbed, but today, a knock startles his thoughts. Lloyd tears his eyes from the sky to see Zane at the door, and the look on his face tells Lloyd that this isn't the time to argue.
"What's up?" Lloyd asks, a pit opening in his stomach.
"We've a problem," is all Zane says.
Lloyd follows his friend, and they walk straight to the base. The doors open to reveal Pixal at the other end of the room, typing furiously at a computer while Cole and Jay perch at her side. They look exhausted, all wearied lines and apprehension.
"What's going on?" Lloyd asks as he approaches.
"Looks like those rats came out of hiding," says Jay, nodding towards the screen.
Over several windows, call logs and maps line the screens, flashing different colors. As Lloyd watches, Pixal pulls up a map.
"Something is happening in Ninjago City," Pixal starts, "An agricultural supply plant several miles west reported a robbery to local authorities early this morning. The entire place was cleared out and left in ruin."
"Who would rob an agricultural plant?" asks Cole, "What would they take; several tons of chicken feed?"
"Try advanced machinery," says Pixal, "Among items stolen were parts used for tractors, grinders, and other large-scale equipment—some of them were blades as large as this table, here."
Lloyd eyes the spot she indicates on the map. "Doesn't sound like a problem for us."
Pixal casts him a surprised, then worried, frown. "I wouldn't say that."
Beside them, Cole folds his arms, head tilting down like it does when he is distressed. Lloyd would ask what is wrong, but he can't bring himself to speak up. Frankly, he's having trouble feeling anything.
"Similar reports have been popping up in districts all over the city," says Pixal, "Either a robbery or robbery in progress. Each target carries some form of technological prowess. Lloyd—" Pixal faces him, "They've been laying low throughout the summer, but I believe these are the same people involved with Borg."
A silence follows in the wake of her statement, and Lloyd stares at the screen, wondering why these people are striking now, and in so many places.
He swallows. A fire burns in his chest, and in the corner of his eye, he sees his other friends twitching, with Zane fiddling and Jay balling his hands into fists.
"Are these the same things stolen from Borg?" asks Lloyd.
"Not exactly, but within the ballpark," says Pixal, "I'd recommend putting a stop to it."
"They could be stocking up," says Cole.
"That doesn't change Pixal's statement," says Zane, "How many people are involved right now? Is it the Mechanic?"
"No definitive sightings of him," says Pixal, "but the weapons are of his design. How many other crime bosses have advanced tech on hand?"
A beat passes, and Jay inhales. "Where are they now?"
"My radios report three altercations in progress," says Pixal, fingers dancing where she rests her hands in an almost agitated manner, "One at a university lab, another in a warehouse, and one in a research center outside the city. These might not be the only ones."
"Of course not," Lloyd almost groans, but he saves the tone at the last second. Now isn't a good time to show his apprehension.
He steps back, drawing a shaky breath. By all accounts, they should put a stop to this, and it doesn't sound like a big mission—not compared to what they've faced so far. They can do this.
His friends glance at him, waiting for command. From this angle, the group looks very small.
They can do this, Lloyd tells himself, because what other choice do they have? The world was going to move on whether they were ready for it or not.
"Let's suit up," he says.
They take the Bounty to the city, with Cole following below in a separate vehicle and Pixal flying in the Samurai suit. Looking back, Lloyd thinks they could've all fit in with Cole, but as they left the mountain, he couldn't help but feel that they were going through the motions.
That said, the inclusion of the Bounty allows them the flexibility of splitting up, a valuable option once they see how many attacks are going on in the city.
"The reports all seem to be in the same area," says Lloyd, "I think we could handle them separately, that way we can stop them all at once. Zane and Jay, you take the university. Pix, you take care of the research facility. Cole and I will take the warehouse."
"Wait—" Cole's voice sounds over the radio.
"Make sure you stop them from making off with anything," says Lloyd, "Don't let anybody escape, but don't put your life on the line, either," he swallows, "Then we'll see what started this."
At his side, Jay and Zane nod. He doesn't need confirmation over the radio to know that everyone heard him, and the silence where he would've spoken with Kai or Nya sticks out like a sore thumb.
When they reach the city, he tries summoning the will to do this, but the mantle of the green ninja seems too heavy to take up after months of sitting on the sidelines.
Before they go, Cole blurts, "Wait, guys—I don't think we should split up."
A beat passes that feels akin to a punch to the throat. Unsure of how to respond, Lloyd stares blinking at the radio, and no one takes over the job for him, either.
"We'll be in pairs," he says, "We'll be fine."
He doesn't get a reply, and they split without another word. Lloyd drops to the vehicle with Cole, and Jay and Zane take off in the Bounty. Pixal flies away, sparing them one last look as they drive towards the warehouse.
The warehouse in question is a storage facility for a larger factory, and between the mess of parts inside and operating machinery, it is a prime location for the likes of the Mechanic. The building is already in bad shape when they arrive, with a wall blown out that a hodgepodge kind of mech moves in and out of. On the ground, two men stand armed to the teeth.
Upon seeing Lloyd and Cole, they promptly take aim, spreading out as the mech behind them stops what it's doing and turns. They don't look concerned at their appearance; if anything, they sneer.
"Tactic?" Cole asks.
"Disarm and disable," says Lloyd, "Can you get that mech from here?"
"Yes, but there's a good chance he'll shoot back," says Cole, fingers twitching around the controls.
"Just take care of it," says Lloyd, "Keep it off the building, will you? I'll deal with these guys."
"Lloyd," Cole starts, but Lloyd jumps from the vehicle before he can finish.
They need to keep this as brief as possible, because Lloyd doesn't think he can handle anything larger right now.
He inhales, mustering his best 'big speech' tone, "Getting bold for a siege like this, aren't we?"
The men don't seem to buy Lloyd's front, all but laughing in his face.
"We'd call it practical," says the man nearest to him, twice Lloyd's height and grinning with smug confidence, "Fewer ninja means it's harder to get rid of us."
The blunt admission of their motives alights something in Lloyd's gut that he didn't know was there. It is unexpected, mostly because Lloyd can't believe the nerve of this man, and the rest of this attack, for doing as much and stating why.
His hands burn green against his palms with an unexpected sting, and he winces, confused. His powers are not supposed to burn like this.
He blames the months of inaction, and he blames them again when the energy sparking at his fingertips looses itself in an uncoordinated arc. It lands nowhere near their adversaries, but that is all the signal they need to start firing.
Lloyd spins out of the way as bright darts of ammunition streak past, and in the same second, Cole charges for the mech, flying forward. Lloyd would've preferred if Cole shot from further back, but Cole doesn't fire at all.
His vehicle slams into the mech, backing up just as fast as the mech keels from the force.
Lloyd can't question the action, for the men on the ground fire again. The weapons they use are advanced, like guns, if they fired light instead of bullets. He isn't sure what the projectiles are made of, but they glow red and explode in a sharp cloud of debris when they hit the ground.
The men don't move much except to follow Lloyd's path as he spends the first few minutes dodging their line of fire. He tries summoning his powers more than once, but is met with a burning sting and nothing more.
He makes it to a pile of rubble that was once the wall of the warehouse, ducking behind for a moment of brevity as he tries thinking of a plan.
A better plan than his first, that is. For some reason, his actions feel detached, acting without thought, and communication between him and Cole, normally fast and sharp, is silent as Cole continues his strange barrage behind him.
Lloyd sneaks a quick look at his friend's progress and frowns. The vehicle is equipped with several firearms and even a grappling hook, but Cole doesn't use them. From what little of Cole's face Lloyd can see from this distance, Cole has no clue what he's doing either, just driving into the mech, backing off, and doing it again.
If his goal is confusing the man in the mech, it works, but it does nothing to knock the mech off balance or disable it in any way. The only reason Cole hasn't been stopped yet is because the person at the controls has no clue how to combat Cole's uncoordinated attacks.
In confusion, Lloyd yells, "Get your head in the game, Cole! Attack that thing!"
A blast hits the back of Lloyd's pile, sending a cloud of dirt flying and his head jerking forward with the force. He leaps up in time to kick the barrel of the second man's weapon out of its position towards Lloyd's face. The resulting blast fires past Lloyd into the warehouse, where a crash sounds in its wake.
Lloyd unleashes another ball of energy, landing it squarely against the man's chest. He flies back with a grunt, hitting the dirt hard, and Lloyd uses the opening to turn on his other adversary.
Neither of them seem skilled in combat, so Lloyd thinks if he can get the weapons off them, then he can take them down with ease. His issue is that he can't seem to get that far. While he fusses at Cole, he doesn't fare better in his own fight. Between his unfocused, unpredictable use of his powers, and generally being out of practice, he finds himself getting backed into the warehouse, trapped on defense.
He tries using his powers to end this faster, but they don't work like he expects, burning in his hands while they rest at his sides and fizzling out when he holds them up to fire.
Something is wrong, and nothing he does seems to be working. At one point, the man Lloyd first spoke with gets a shot at Lloyd's chest, and he is just barely able to kick up a slab of roofing in time to protect himself.
The force lands him several feet backwards with an underwhelming, "Oof!" as he skids against the warehouse floor, the roofing skittering away from him.
For a second, he stares at a hole in the roof before realizing that something large and heavy falls towards him. Before he can blink or even curl away, something shoots it backwards with a pop that sends dirt and dust stinging through the air.
Lloyd grunts and clambers to his feet, disoriented. When he looks back, he spots Cole's wide-eyed stare, having fired from his vehicle.
He'd shot a piece of roofing material out of Lloyd's path. The debris sits bent in the metal rungs of a shelf, one of many lining the warehouse. The racks bend far out of shape, but they thankfully don't fall.
Lloyd sees what might've happened, and it is written all over Cole's face. Then, spotting the opening, the mech pushes forward and clenches a mighty metal fist, crunching it down on the front of Cole's vehicle.
"Cole!" Lloyd calls, too late.
Another string of red flares fire his way. Lloyd raises his hands again, and this time a wave of green leaves his fingers, barreling forward and pushing his adversaries backwards. It causes their weapons to fizzle strangely, and one of them sparks and starts smoking.
As they look over it with concern, Lloyd runs for the cover of the shelves.
He needs to regroup—he needs to make sure Cole is okay. First he needs to get past these men; no, he needs to take care of them now and show them just what they are up against.
What are the Mechanic's plans, or anyone's, next to grief?
This thought raises him a problem. Lloyd doesn't know enough about grief to know if he's been doing it right, but it feels wrong. He hasn't cried like Jay, shut down like Cole, or cast away everything in a fit of rage and sorrow like Nya. Lloyd has been something else entirely, and he suffers for it.
He sees that now, in both his poor handling of this mission so far and his inability to fight like he used to.
The way he's handled himself is a problem. He needs to do something. He needs to act.
Inhaling, he peeks through the shelves of the warehouse racks. The men have split, and one now holds a long metal beam in place of his weapon—good. They follow Lloyd at either side of the warehouse, peering down the aisles.
Their gazes are sharp, no doubt aiming to finish this.
Lloyd swallows, considers his options, and fires into one of the many surrounding shelves. The force rattles through the metal, knocking down boxes and sending metal parts clattering over the shelves and floor.
As Lloyd suspects, the first man fires at the sound, and the explosion causes the shelf to fall. It knocks against the next shelf, and the force trails throughout the building like a line of dominoes.
The noise is incredible, and Lloyd presses his hands over his ears as he ducks out of the path of destruction. He hears someone yell, but it is lost almost the instant it begins.
As the chaos settles, he thinks. They don't exactly have a plan, which means Lloyd has failed. He needs to get it together.
He runs to edge of his aisle, scanning the walls when a hand surprises him by grabbing a fistful of his suit and yanking him backwards. Lloyd yelps as he's thrown against several boxes and parts, and the next thing he registers is a weapon pointed at his face.
"Think you're smart, do you?" says the man at the other end, "You're just a bunch of stupid kids. Always were."
Lloyd's heart leaps to his throat as the weapon clicks, and in the next second, he kicks out against one of the man's legs, not quite knocking the large man off his feet, but sending him off balance. The blast jolts upwards, dangerously close but flying into the ceiling.
He attacks again, pushing the man down, and Lloyd finally gets the opportunity to kick the weapon from his hands. It is sleek and unusually well put together for the likes of this man—or the Mechanic, for that matter.
Lloyd doesn't give it much thought, preparing to knock the man unconscious, but before he can act, someone shoves him aside. Lloyd's mouth falls in silent surprise as he trips sideways, and the man has enough time to stand up.
He thinks it is the second man to have done this, but he turns and sees Cole standing there, disheveled and shaking as he grabs the man by the collar and clocks him across the jaw.
It is a quick but effective defeat, almost embarrassing on Lloyd's part. The man slumps to the floor, and for a second, Cole stares at Lloyd, breathing heavily.
His mask is gone and his hair flies all around his face. His dark bangs fall over his eyes, but Lloyd still sees the intense stare burning through them. The look inside is downright haunting.
Lloyd is so caught up in it that the anger he feels regarding getting pushed (because he had that, Cole!) all but disappears, and he misses the second man crawl out of the shadows and jump Cole from behind.
"Cole!" Lloyd exclaims, standing to help, "I got him!"
He rushes forward, but Cole pushes him away again, nearly off his feet.
On his own, Cole goes after his attacker, all fists. No spinjitzu, no elemental powers, just uncoordinated manpower. It is an odd and disturbing sight; one Lloyd would be worried about if he weren't getting so angry.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
Cole doesn't respond. The fight should be over, but Cole doesn't so much as use his super strength.
"Cole!" Lloyd shouts. His hands burn again, and he raises them together to take a shot from this angle.
The green light warps in the air, bright and flashing. The sheer rage from this fight and this situation has the color bouncing off the walls, almost blinding, but Lloyd doesn't look away. He stares down the man before him through the gaps in the waves of green, angry at himself and these past few months, when Cole suddenly backtracks and closes a hand over Lloyd's wrist, squeezing hard.
This in itself is dangerous, but Cole doesn't let go, drawing Lloyd's fist sideways and causing the energy to fly at a distant wall, missing someone who should very well have been defeated by now.
"Don't—" Cole says, voice coming out through his teeth like he has to force it through.
"What is the matter with you?" Lloyd asks. He yanks on his hand and immediately wishes he'd kept his mouth shut when he spots Cole's unseeing, blazing gaze again.
In short, it doesn't look good. Though Cole's grip is iron, his entire body quakes.
"Cole?" says Lloyd, alarmed.
A dart of red shoots between them, just missing the side of Cole's face and startling both of them enough that Cole lets go and Lloyd stumbles back.
The blast hits somewhere behind them, and at the sound, Cole bends. Lloyd turns, sees the man holding his companion's gun, and finally releases his powers.
He fires a sharp burst, without a thought.
The man falls at the blow, and Lloyd releases a sigh of what he decides is relief. He hits the man over the head before he reaches the floor, and the blaster clatters and sparks. Smoke rises in its wake, to which Lloyd steps back.
Nothing happens, though, and in the next second, the only sounds are the lingering shifts and creaks of the wrecked warehouse and the fast, broken breaths that Cole is sucking in and out. He still stands bent over, hands on his knees and looking on the verge of collapse.
Lloyd stares, shocked and suddenly afraid.
"Uh," he says, once he finds his voice.
Cole stares at the ground, trapped in his own world. A beat passes, and Lloyd places a bracing hand on his friend's back, hoping to steady him, if he is capable of such a thing.
"Cole, please talk to me," he says, "What happened?"
Lloyd glances about as Cole continues his…whatever this is, for Lloyd hasn't seen it before. Trying to gather himself, he spots the wall that Cole sent Lloyd's ball of energy towards. It was the same that was wrecked to begin with, though the hole in it sits twice as large. It was a calculated deflection, Lloyd realizes.
That side of the room is out of the way from anything that could directly or indirectly bring them harm.
Outside, Cole's vehicle sits in flames, the mech's fist still imbedded in its hood. The mech itself is wrapped in Cole's grappling hook, though the controls sit empty. Lying against the ground outside is the third man, hands behind his back.
"Cole," Lloyd repeats, "I need you to talk to me."
He needs Cole to tell him what to do, for he's never felt more lost.
Several minutes pass, and as Lloyd debates himself, Cole finally and abruptly straightens, bringing his hands to his face.
He breathes in, then out. It is a slow process, like an exercise, and it lasts a while until he finally takes his hands away. He stares at Lloyd, swaying like he is about to fall. Lloyd steps closer just in case.
"What happened?" Lloyd asks, quieter now that he looks Cole in the face.
When Cole speaks, he stutters, "The roofing almost got you, and I—I saw the shelves fall. I thought you were under there."
Lloyd shakes his head. "I was fine. They didn't get me."
Cole doesn't look reassured, and it hits Lloyd now what it must have looked like from his perspective, to see his friend in that situation.
"I'm okay," says Lloyd, "Cole, it's okay."
"No, it isn't," says Cole, "Nothing is ever going to be okay. Not anymore. You could've died, Lloyd. You could've died."
His voice quavers like it never has in the past, though Lloyd hates the statements Cole makes. He holds off on an insistent, but I didn't, hardly feeling it helpful.
Instead he says, "There were many other times we could've died. Like—like you messing up my attacks! That has nothing to do with…the shelves, or the roof."
"It has everything to do with that!" says Cole, suddenly loud, "Don't you see what happened? Your powers nearly killed you!"
"What are you talking about?" the volume, as well the argument, anger Lloyd, "Most of that was just the situation! And what about you? You just sat there and let that mech attack you! You didn't do anything to defend yourself—no missiles, no grappling hook—"
"Something that extreme could've blown up in our faces," says Cole, closing his eyes, "The missiles, the mech, our powers, they could've brought down the entire building. You would've been crushed."
"Don't say that!" says Lloyd, "I might not have been in the building if you'd acted right away. Attacking would've been better than refusing to defend yourself. You could've died, too."
He says it, then hates himself for doing so when Cole deflates before his very eyes. His friend shrinks and sinks down until he's sitting against the racks of a fallen shelf. Staring at him, it clicks as to what went wrong, here. Cole was defensive to the point of destruction, and while Lloyd understands, he doesn't know what to do with this information.
"Look, shoving me out of the way isn't going to 'keep me safe' or whatever," says Lloyd, throwing his hands out for lack of anything else to say, "And refusing to do anything drastic in the face of an attack isn't going to help, either. If anything, it makes our jobs more dangerous!"
"I know that," says Cole, "I know."
He looks like a turtle again, curling into his shell and closing himself up tight. Looking it over, Lloyd realizes just how their team failed in the months since Kai died. They haven't talked about this.
They never spoke of losing someone and what it did to them, because sooner or later, that someone came back. It was easier, in the past, to sweep those feelings under the rug, but that was never a solution.
"Keeping everyone from fighting isn't going to stop us from getting hurt," says Lloyd, sitting next to Cole, "It will just make it more difficult to stop the bad guys."
"It isn't the bad guys that bother me," says Cole, sighing, "Back on—that day—it wasn't the people I was chasing that killed Kai. It wasn't the Mechanic or his stupid cronies. It wasn't even the explosions in the labs…it was the damage. He walked in there and got hurt and just—he couldn't leave—"
Lloyd quiets, losing his breath as Cole continues.
"He died from something so innocuous. How many times had he—or any of us—gone back into dangerous places and made it out okay? You just—it isn't even something I think about, when planning these missions. I don't think about it like I do other things, like enemies, weapons." Cole brings his hands to his face, but he doesn't cry, not yet. "And now, it is all I can think about. Everywhere I look, there is danger. The roof could've caved, the shelves could've crushed you, your powers could've shattered something and harmed you. All this could've happened, and there would've been nothing I could do."
Cole heaves another shaky breath, brow furrowed. "I told myself on that day, that if I could do something, anything, I might be able to save you from that."
Lloyd stares. "Cole," he says, "I appreciate that, I really do, but you realize that everything you just listed is beyond your control. What happened to Kai was beyond your control. You couldn't do a thing about it if you tried."
Cole shakes his head. "I can't bear not trying. I can't fail the rest of you like I failed Kai. I won't do it again."
"What are you saying?" Lloyd stands, heart pounding, "You didn't fail Kai, nor will you fail any of us! You've always done your best to make sure we're okay, even at your own expense. There's just some things you can't control, and like it or not, you'll have to accept that!"
His voice gets louder the longer he continues, but he really doesn't mean to yell. Cole curls in on himself, regardless.
"I know," says Cole, "but I can't help but look back. I think of every decision I made that day, big and small, and I wonder what could've been if I'd done just one thing different. If I made another choice, if I had gone with him, or risked someone else's life, I wonder if there was something I could've done to change what happened that day. These thoughts haunt me, Lloyd."
He sounds terrified, and Lloyd stills. Had Cole been thinking this for all this time?
"I understand."
"Really?"
"Yeah," says Lloyd, sitting again, "That morning, before you guys left, I saw him. I was up, about to go on a flower hunt, and I bumped into Kai. He told me not to worry about it, so I stayed home. I stayed because I wanted to, and to this day, there is nothing I regret more."
Cole looks at him with sad eyes.
"I was going to suit up," says Lloyd, "Really, but he told me not to worry. I wanted to stay, so I let it go. I've wondered if things would've turned out differently if I'd so much as woken up the rest of the team."
"Oh, Lloyd." Cole smiles a heartbreaking smile.
The world around them was crumbling under their grief, and for the first time, Lloyd feels like he's getting the full picture. It's a terrible sight.
"I don't think much would've changed if you were there," says Cole.
"I could've gone after him," says Lloyd, "I could've pulled him out of there."
"Or you could've come with me," says Cole, "Or you could've gone into that building and gotten burned. You both could've died."
They stare at each other for a while, and Lloyd says, "I guess that's the nature of accidents, huh?"
Cole nods.
Lloyd stares at his hands, which he folds in his lap. He doesn't feel better about their situation, but the relief at having finally spoken up about some of the feelings tearing through his mind has him sitting straighter than before.
He had no clue Cole felt the same way, but he also doesn't know where to go from here.
Fortunately, he doesn't have long to fret, for Pixal suddenly buzzes in through their damaged radios, startling them from their thoughts. She relays another confrontation as well as a report of her own encounter.
As she passes the address, Lloyd looks at Cole.
"I think we should talk later," says he, "With the whole team."
Cole nods. "I'm sorry for throwing us off."
Lloyd sets his teeth as he stands. "Let's just keep it together until this is over."
It isn't an easy task. Pixal tells them to hurry, and together, they turn the men over to authorities and leave the warehouse.
This chapter was rewritten too many times, so huge thank you for reading this far.
Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! You're the best!