Whoa this update was fast! I'm kinda scared.

Let's see...this 'shot was heavily inspired from Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

Nya grunts, risking a glance at the way she came. She's not sure whether or not she was in the right place, but her gut was screaming at her that something was about to go down. Something nasty and, most likely, illegal. Her walk had gone from a leisurely stroll to a deadly, adrenaline-powered chase.

She tries tugging on the door to the warehouse, but it refuses to give, a pathetic squeak the only result. She sighs, looking around for some kind of entrance. Hm, maybe there's a door around the side?

A scream comes from inside the seemingly-abandoned warehouse, causing Nya to whip around and dash to the left, where she spots a hole in the wooden wall. It seems to have been busted in, but by what? With no time to ponder on the cause, she climbs through, grateful she decided against wearing heels earlier. Stumbling through the hole, she comes across a large clearing, most of which is blocked from her view. Roughly six feet in front of her are a series of broken bookshelves, dressers, and other various furniture, their wood splintered into sharp pieces that could easily penetrate flesh. She makes a mental note to stay away from this area if she can.

The waterbender hears voices coming from the center of the room. She crouches a bit, then sneaks towards a crack in a rather large, broken bookshelf, where she can see a through the makeshift barrier.

"I told you, I don't have the money yet! I'm gonna get it soon!" yelled a man tied to a chair.

"Mmm, but you told me you would have it by this date," replies the smooth, soft voice of a woman with dark, black hair cut just above her shoulders.

Nya frowns, trying to make out the object in her hand. It's in her left hand, so Nya can't quite make out what it is from her hiding spot. She waits a few more seconds before looking around.

"Look, I have a way to get the money, I just need some extra time-"

"I don't have time!" snaps the woman.

"I don't have the money! I promise I'll get it to you!" the man's voice is growing more desperate with every plea.

Nya spots something to her right, just around the corner. She tiptoes her way over to the yellow object that had caught her eye: a stack of rectangular, wooden, faded-yellow crates. She sneaks a glance at the two; they seem to be engrossed in their argument. Quickly, she turns back to the stack of crates, and then tugs on the lock of one. It squeaks slightly but opens. She looks back at the conversation playing out in the clearing, but neither seem to have noticed her. Grateful, the water ninja gently pulls the lid open.

Inside are several stashes of a colorless, crystalline salt. She's overcome with the overwhelming stench of...bitter almonds?

That means these packets can only be one thing: potassium cyanide, a lethal poison. Nya frowns. She'll have to get this to the police somehow so they could get rid of it. This was enough poison to kill thousands.

Closing the top and re-securing it, Nya creeps back to where she started. There's low chance that she'll be able to sneak up on this woman if the man gets distracted, but she thinks she'll be able to take on this woman, and the man if he turns out to be hostile, too.

She steps closer to the barrier, then she steps into the center through another hole in the barrier. The woman turns, shock written on her face.

"Who are you?!" she demands, her left reaching into her pocket. Nya keeps an eye on this.

"That doesn't matter," Nya replies coolly, "just surrender now, and I'll-"

She doesn't have time to respond, because the woman whips out a pistol faster than Nya can summon her magic. The trigger has been pulled before Nya can even react. The waterbender collapses onto the concrete floor, her vision going blurry. She's suddenly overcome by a strange burning sensation just below her rib cage.

Mmm...it's like the burning feeling is getting even more aggravated as time progresses; the pain is spreading upward, throughout her stomach. Or what's left of it. There are screams, bursts of light, blurry colors, and rushing figures. Nya can't bring herself to attempt to distinguish this from that; it simply seems like too much effort. She can't believe she got shot; it's not what she would have imagined it would feel like at all.

Her head rolls to the side as her eyes flutter shut.

…

Cole sighs, turning his head sideways on his pillow. He had finally managed to get a good night's sleep, which was a rare occurrence for him. He squeezes his eyes closed once more, trying to jerk himself back into his dream world. Of course, now that he's awake and trying to remember it, he can't force the idea of his dream to come back to him. He knows it's back there, hiding somewhere, but he can't quite grasp its concept.

With a frustrated huff of disappointment, Cole gives up, then flops onto his stomach. His back suddenly feels very relieved to stretch out a little bit. He nuzzles his face into his pillow, inhaling its comforting scent.

He lies there for overlord knows how long, until he decides he should get up. Shifting his weight to his hands, he pushes himself up, sliding his legs over the edge of his bunk bed. He drops down as quietly as he can. Cole hears both Jay and Kai shift and groan, but neither wake. Of course, Zane is already up and at it, probably whipping up yet another phenomenal breakfast.

He stretches out, raising his hands above his head and arching his back. A yawn escapes his mouth as he listens to the chorus of the bones in his back popping. He realizes that something about today is just…off. That's the closest he can come to what the pit in his stomach feels like.

Off.

He's not sure what could be wrong, so he decides to keep his guard up and keep the nagging feeling of off-ness filed away in a mentally-unlocked cabinet.

The ninja pads into the kitchen bare-foot, his feet slapping lazily away at the wooden floor. Hand shoved into the pockets of his dark sweatpants, Cole shuffles towards Zane.

"Good morning, Cole," greets Zane without even turning from whatever he's cutting on the counter.

"Mornin', tin can," Cole replies, patting Zane on his shoulder before trekking towards the fridge.

"Do not fill up just yet, brother. I am cooking!" Zane sighs.

"I was just gonna make some coffee!" whines Cole as he grabs the creamer from the fridge.

"If you say so," Zane responds, wiping his hands off on his pink apron.

After Cole helps Zane set the table, the nindroid begins bringing in the food. The other ninja start to trickle in one by one.

The uneasy knot in his stomach is swelling tighter every minute. Cole looks around; something is wrong, but he's not sure what.

Wait.

Nya wasn't here. She was always one of the first ones up. He stands suddenly, then walks into the hallway, ignoring all the questioning stares he's getting from the table.

He nearly jogs to Nya's room. Taking a breath, he knocks three times.

"Nya?" he asks.

There is no answer.

"Nya?" he wonders again, "I'm coming in."

He turns the knob, but only to find out it's locked.

…

That must mean she's not here. The only time she locked her door was when she was out.

Where would she have gone? Usually, she would sleep in a little longer on days like these.

He turns around and walks into the living room.

"What's up, man?" Jay asks.

"Does anyone know where Nya went? She's not here," Cole states.

Kai looks up. "Really? She usually tells me if she goes somewhere."

"I know. I have a bad feeling that she's in trouble," Cole admits, wondering where he should start to look for her.

Then, Kai's phone rings. He picks it up and answers it.

"Hello…yeah, I am…what?!...is she…where…will she be alright?" The firebender seems to be holding his breath as he waits for a response. Then, he thanks whoever is on the line, then turns his phone off, standing up.

"You. Come on," Kai points at Cole, then the two race out of Destiny's Bounty.

…

Cole's always hated hospitals. There was too much blinding white, and oh how he despised that trademark scent of a hospital. Every time he saw someone in a wheelchair or heard a scream or cry, his protective ninja instincts would flare up, urging him to do something to help these poor people. It killed him to see people like this, but he knew that there was little he could do for them.

They easily found the room Nya was in. Cole gently pushed the door open.

There she was, lying in a hospital bed. An IV was hooked into the crook of her elbow, and she was dressed in a hospital gown. A blanket had been half-heartedly thrown over her, and her eyes were slightly open. Cole rushed to one side, and Kai the other.

"Guys?" Nya asked, her eyes widening. Cole took notice of how pale she looked, and his heart nearly broke.

"Nya, thank the overlord you're alright," Kai starts, taking her hand in his.

"I knew something was wrong this morning. Why didn't you tell either of us you were going out?! I would've gone with you!" Cole says, enveloping her clammy hand in his.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles.

Kai sighs exasperatedly, shaking his head. "It's alright. What happened?"

"I woke up early to take a walk," she starts, "so, when I was out, I heard a scream. I went to see what it was, and I found out it was in an abandoned warehouse. I managed to get inside, and I saw two people-one was tied up, the other had a gun-and they were arguing. I found a stash of potassium cyanide, enough to kill several people, and I tried to stop the woman with the gun from killing the man, but she shot me first." Nya explains.

"Where did she shoot you?" Cole inquires.

Nya pulls away the blanket, then lifts the hospital gown to reveal the gunshot wound in her stomach.

"It's a wonder I didn't bleed to death," she chuckles humorlessly.

Cole traces his fingers over her injury gently, then hugs her.

"Don't do that again," he mumbles, "you know you aren't supposed to go far alone. None of us are,"

"I'm sorry," she apologizes again.

"It's alright. Just tell me or Kai next time, alright? We were scared to death," he responds.

Kai joins in on the group hug, too.

…

[A Few Hours Later]

Nya's eyelids flutter open, traces of a headache beginning to creep into her forehead. She groans, trying to stretch her back out a bit. She turns head to see that her big brother has fallen asleep at her side, and that…a large bouquet of multi-colored flowers have replaced Cole.

She grabs the card, then opens it:

Dearest Nya,

I'll be back in a few hours. I'm off with the others to catch the people who shot you. For now, you may enjoy these flowers I found. They're anemones, and each color symbolizes something. You know I get confused with symbols and stuff, but I think anemones stand for healing. The white ones stand for sincerity, the purple ones are protection from evil. I know you're a mythology nerd, so the red ones were something like: "While Aphrodite was crying, Adonis shed blood on the anemones that came from her tears and stained them red." Yeah, I googled that. Sue me.

I love you, cutie. Please don't pull that crap again. I need you, and your hothead of a brother needs you too. Hell, the team needs you too. We love you.

From the bestest, most awesomest boyfriend eva,

Cole 3

She glances at the flowers again. Overlord, how in the world did she end up with a man as sweet as Cole?

She's not sure, but hey. She's not complaining.

Nya keeps the card pressed to her chest when she falls asleep again.

Since the last 'shot sucked, I decided to make this one longer, and (hopefully) with better writing. I mean, after I saw that I now have 101 reviews, I couldn't not write this. THANK YOU SO MUCH! This story has had the most reviews that I've ever gotten! Thank you all for sticking with me through my trashy update schedule. OH YEAH AND 6k! Jeez!

Thank you all for reading!

Also...one more thing. Someone brought a loaded handgun into the middle school I went to last year. My little brother was in the school when it happened, but thankfully no one was hurt or killed. Please be aware when you're out in public. This is scary stuff. I saw how it affected my brother...but jeez. The trigger wasn't even pulled and this kid caused a lot of damage. There were three other schools near mine that were on lockdown because everyone was so on edge...I hope everyone from my Criminal Justice class is alright who are from that other school. This crap seriously pisses me the hell off.