The spider was angry. This had not been part of her plan. The green ninja shouldn't have died. Not by the hands of another. But it did not matter. There were a billion other universes in which she could kill him. Still, this one should have been special. After all, it was her homeworld.
"You want to give Kai to the snakes? Are you crazy?" Jay seemed very shaken, and Zane wasn't looking so keen about it either. "Look, Jay, we know that they aren't enemies anymore. They've been reformed for years, and they helped us with the golden master. Also, I don't want to sell Kai to the snakes. I want to ask the snakes to watch his rehab." "He's not an old man and they aren't trained doctors." Zane jumped in "Actually, Scales is one and so are at least two fangpyres. Well, one fangvyper, but she has two heads." "That's not my fucking point, Zane! Kai needs us! We can't just abandon him because we want to go a-questing. By the way, why can't we keep him here? It's not like we got something ultra important to do. Or do we?" The last three words didn't come out like the rest of his rant. They rather sounded like the words spoken under a white flag. Defeated.
"We don't, as far as I know. We just gotta drop off Harumi at the state prison. I called them a few minutes ago, they have an unoccupied high risk cell. You know what? You're right. Kai is our friend. He's my brother. If it were still just the two of us, living in the little smithy, I wouldn't dream of sending him away a second longer than necessary. But I don't think we can support him while we're always out there, fighting criminals. I don't want to put responsibility off me, I want to have a clear focus. There is no way that I could both care for him and help the city. And honestly, I don't think either of us can."
"You know what, Nya? You're right. You're right and I'm wrong, and that makes me want to scream. Not because I can't take being wrong. But because I hate that we have to leave Kai behind. You're right, Nya. The snakes are our best option. But, in the name of friendship, can we at least keep him here for the first few days? Until he got his skin transplant. Until we know he's okay." There was a short silence. Then, Zane said "For what it's worth, I second this plan. P.I.X.A.L. is on her way to the CNH to get us skin transplants for his arm, and we really do not have anything better to do." Nya remained quiet for a moment, then she replied "Alright. I think it will help me sleep better too. Now let's call it quits for the day. P.I.X.A.L. can get him his skin transplant, and I've been awake for the last twenty hours. I'll see you all tomorrow."
Nya didn't sleep much, and the few hours she slept plagued her with nightmares. At six in the morning she decided that she wasn't going to get any more sleep and got up. She put on casual clothing (which, for her, meant the outfit of a mechanic) and brushed her teeth. Then the ninja of water walked into the living room. Zane was sitting next to the outlet and 'slept', and Jay was making himself coffee. "Morning. Did I wake you up?" "Nah. Do you know how Kai is doing?" "Yeah, P.I.X.A.L told me. He's in stable condition, but probably will need to be kept sedated for the next few days. Oh, by the way, we'll be over the prison in about two hours, and as much as I love this outfit, I'm pretty sure they expect the ninja to show up in actual, you know, ninja-i clothes." Nya gave him a scornful look. "The one day I want to dress casually and of course they expect something from us. But fine, I'll talk to her and then change my clothes." She gave Jay a little kiss and took his coffee with her.
"So, Harumi, in two hours you'll be in a maximum security cell. Got any last secrets you want to share with us?" Harumi looked at her as if Nya was just a minor annoyance. "I know how you can bring back Lloyd."
"Look, I know that I've been yelling stuff like that a lot in the past few days, but she knows what? Nya, that's huge! We got to have her do it!" "We don't know if she's lying! It's not like she's known for being the world's most honest person! It's Harumi, for the sake of everything!" "I know lied to all of us! I know it's probably just a scheme to escape, but dammit, if there is even the sliver of a chance, we have to take it!" "You know, Jay, your loyalty will be the death of us all. Fine. But we keep Harumi as closely guarded as possible. And we drop off Kai. End of discussion."
Nya left the room and strode over to the infirmary. Cole was awake in his bed, reading a book. "Hi, Nya. How ya doing?" "I'm fine. What are are you reading?" "A history book. I decided to read up a bit on the first spinjitzu master. Did you know that the belief in his creation of the universe is actually highly doubted, and renowned scientists believe that it's actually much older? New theories believe that the Spinjitzu master created the continent, but not the world. I haven't come further so far." "Sounds interesting. How's your leg?" "Well, the best part about third degree burns is that you don't feel them. The area around, on the other hand, hurts like hell. Kai is doing fine, by the way, and while I appreciate the small talk, we both know that you didn't come here for me." "Yeah. Thanks, Cole. Did he talk?" "No. Pixal's got him under drugs I haven't ever heard of. But he's gonna be fine. He snores like a healthy guy." Nya chuckled. Then she kneeled down next to Kai.
"Hey, hothead. We're giving you to some actual doctors. Don't worry, though. I'll come to visit you as often as possible."
"Ssssso let me get thissss ssssstraight: You want us to watch after your brother, after finding out that he is unsssssstable enough to burn his own arm? What do we get in return? Because everything sssssmaller than a million sssssseemssssss not worth it." "Alright, I understand that. Scales, the thing you love most is your people, right? We're going to help them integrate. Stop the people up there" she pointed vaguely at the ceiling "from seeing you as monsters. But, Scales, before you give your answer, I'd like to let you know that we're going to do that no matter what you answer. It's something we should have done years ago, and I don't want to force my mentally unstable brother on you in exchange for helping your people. We did wrong, and we're going to fi- is that a tear I see?" Scales sniffed. "You really are that selfless, aren't you? Of course I'm going to help you. Hell, I'm going to nurse your brother myself. Just promise me that you're going to help my people. Promise me the stares won' t be as bad when I slide down the street. Promise me my son will be able to go to a real school." Nya was speechless for a moment. "I... I didn't know how bad it is. Scales, I'm going to do everything I can do. And... Thank you. Thank you for caring for Kai."
After about thirty minutes, the ship took sail again. Nya looked out the window thinking about her promise. Had she known what awaited her, she would have had other worries.