Chapter 77
Blood and Metal

.:Violet:.

Cowardly, Violet ran away from the scene, away from the dying people, away from the fear. Never in her life have she ever been this afraid or weak. The ninja of air considered herself brave but what scared her the most was being unable to protect those who cannot protect themselves. If she goes out there, there's a high chance of being killed. What the heck, these guys had guns while she had a bow and daggers. She was at a disadvantage and a big one at that.

Once she was out of the village and a few meters away, her legs once again gave out and she dropped to the ground. The female ninja's eyes casted to her hands and saw that she has fallen out of her invisible form. But they were trembling as well and hard. Suddenly, Violet heard the familiar cry of the falcon and she sighed with relief but at the same time, cautious. There was no doubt that the team were watching her. Would they think she's weak and unfit?

The robotic large bird perched down in front of her. Instead of the usual yellow eyes, they were blues which confirmed her assumptions. The team were watching her. With a sigh, she spoke, "I'm so sorry Sensei Wu… It's as bad as you feared…"

And to her surprise, the bird spoke back but in Wu's voice. "I do not blame you for feeling scared or afraid."

"Since when can the falcon do that? I mean chat back?"

"Jay inserted this feature a while ago." Came a reply from Zane. It was easy to detect with his monotone yet caring voice.

"Back to the real problem," Wu continued, "do not let fear consume your thoughts. By having a clouded mind, you won't be able to control your element therefor you fall out of your invisible form."

"But how do I stop the fear from consuming me Sensei? I'm afraid by the time I have something figured out, everyone will be dead!"

"Violet, calm down. Panicking won't do you any good." The ninja of air then heard Nathan's voice from the other end.

"Nathan is right. Just focus on your own breath Violet and calm yourself down like that." Accepting Wu's advice, Violet breathed in deeply for seven seconds before letting it out for another eleven. "Good. The reason the fear is getting to your head is because you're allowing it too. You're thinking of the bad possibilities that can happen when they won't. That's the point of fear; it makes you think negatively of a certain thing. Yes, some innocent people may die but there's nothing you can do but if you try, you can save more. Is that better?"

"Yes Sensei Wu." She answered truthfully.

"Don't forget Violet, we believe in you." Then came Kai's reply. Believing that's the end of their conversation, the ninja of air turned invisible and dashed back to the village with her bag hitting her lower back. The falcon flew towards there as well, high in the sky.

An idea slightly formed in her head. First, she'll find out where the gang is keeping the citizens alive and access how many guards they have put up so if she does charge, the guards won't be able to threaten her by killing more folks. Ignoring the awful scent of the fire and the agonising screams, Violet lightly ran through the village, peeking into every house or building for any mass of people. It wasn't long until she found them. At least a few hundred people were gathered in the school courtyard; all were bounded and gagged with a few guards surrounding them. Violet didn't want to believe this was the amount of people that were left to live while some others are left to be beaten. Assessing them, Violet realised most of the people there were young children and ladies (older ladies).

They probably killed the males first so they can't pose a threat to the gang and they must have also killed the elderlies to spare them of the misery? Nah, the gang can't be that kind. The women… Only ones that were in their thirties and over are here… Could the gang actually be- no, they can't,,, can they?

Violet pondered to herself, shivering at the thought of some of these sick men deciding to rape the younger women.

Perhaps it would be best to kill- no, I can't kill them… but I can't capture them by myself either. If I wound them, they'll create more noise and I'll have fend myself off against the rest of the gang… And stunning them or knocking them out will take longer and not a possibility if I want to remain close to the shadows.

Violet hated the fact that her only option left is to kill these gang members… Sure they have killed so many people already but she didn't want to kill anyone. Does this make her selfish? Especially when she's the only one that can stop this without –possibly- getting killed.

Just as she was about to move to the front of the village, a gunshot was heard and a screech. Violet whipped around on her heels, frozen when she saw the falcon stop in mid-air and fall to the ground.

Lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub! Her heart quickened its pace in her chest and it rattled painfully against her ribcage. Her communications with her team was cut off as well as the loss of Zane's falcon.

"I got it! I can't believe I shot it down!" A gruff voice exclaimed and Violet leapt to a building, not wanting to panic and get herself seen. In the corner of her violet eyes, the ninja of air saw as six figures came running forward towards the fallen bird.

'I'm sorry Zane' the ninja thought forlornly as they studied the bird.

"Hey, it got feathers and all but its rock solid… No, I think its metal!"

"Metal? You mean the bird's a robot?"

"Probably."

"That means there are spies watching us." One said grimly and then all their heads looked around. Violet sank deeper into the shadows and looked down at her hand to see it was transparent. Come on, stay invisible for a little bit longer.

"Let's report to Vincent."

Once they left, Violet exhaled the breath she had been unconsciously holding in. Looking back to her hands, a sigh exited her dried lips to see she have fallen out of her invisibility form. Knowing she won't be able to conquer the fear, the elemental master ran along the shadows of buildings and drew her mask down.

.::.

Hidden in the shadows, Violet watched as the ginger leader, Vincent commanded everyone on the watch. She needed to get the falcon back before they figure out how to configure it so they could see who's on the other end or other footage. Plus, this was Zane's friend; she couldn't leave the robotic bird. Calming herself down and listening to her breaths, Violet disappeared and ventured through the busy mass of gangsters. All the citizens were huddled into the school courtyard.

The bird was placed on a table where the ginger was sitting back on his chair and his feet kicked up. His beady grey eyes were observing his surroundings whereas his hands were unconsciously playing with the gun in his hands. Being quiet, she tiptoed over and tried to not let the fear control her. When the table and the falcon were right in front of her, a grin spread on her lips. Her fingers softly brushed against the black feathers and immediately, the robot vanished.

This caused a startle gasp from Vincent but his hands shot towards her direction and the sound of a bullet firing was sounded in the air. It wasn't until a couple of seconds later when Violet's mind registered the burning, sharp pain in her shoulder. Biting on her lip hard, she held the bird in her shot arm and the other to apply pressure. Then, she ran.

"Get back here!"

She heard Vincent yelled out but looked down, she could tell she was still in her invisibility form (luckily). Due to her increase in body movement, the daggers in her bag rattled loudly and her blood pumped faster, therefor making her bleed heavily.

Come on, not now. Don't fail the mission Violet, don't fail. You can do it.

But her own words had no affects. Instead, things went downhill. While running through a wide street crawling with gangsters and an angry Vincent hot on her heels, her charm decided it was time to fall out.

"Don't just stand there, shoot him!" The leader's voice yelled out and this caused the men to pull out their guns. It wasn't long until an out-of-time orchestra of bullets were sounded. However Violet didn't stop. Shutting her eyes, she deeply wished for her barrier to pop up and it did. She nearly sighed with relief but it was over yet.

"He's getting away! Shoot him! SHOOT HIM!" Vincent continued to yell out; Violet could easily hear the strain and distress in his voice.

Ignoring the pain, she swung her bag over her shoulder, tucked the falcon in and took out her quiver of arrows. She then took off her bow off her back and swung her bag back on. Holding twelves thin arrows in her mouth, the ninja of air attached the arrow onto the string and turned her waist. Aiming quickly, she found her mark and shot. The arrow was embedded in one of the many gunners' chest. She kept shooting, ignoring another bullet gazing her leg. Once she was out of arrows, she went to reach into her bag but another bullet found its spot in her leg (the one that just got gaze – left). Every step she took jolted immensely sharp pains through her body. Then finally she collapsed.

"Hold your fire!"

Violet laid there in defeat. If she moved, there was a chance they would shoot her on the spot. With a right bleeding shoulder and left bleeding leg, Violet clutched her leg and groaned in pain.

"You're surrounded pathetic ninja."

Heavy footsteps walked towards her and Violet kept her head down. Thank goodness the blooded dirt won't go onto her face because of her mask.

"I would like to kill you but perhaps I can use you as bait to your ninja friends." Then something collided into her stomach, causing a deep groan to escape her lips. "Huh, a male ninja in purple. Maybe that's why they sent you. You're a joke"

"Think again bastard." The ninja of air hissed when she opened her eyes so she could glare at the leader.

Insulted by her insult, Vincent's large and icy hand clasped around her neck. As an instinct, the ninja of air's hands clawed at his hands to let go but rage burned in his eyes. Her eyes went wide and small gasps of air were escaping her throat. Vincent seemed satisfied by her suffering when a sickening grin spread on his lips. It wasn't until his lips drew next to her ear.

"What did you call me girly?" He whispered lowly. Violet shook her head. "Tell me!"

This time, his grasp around her neck tightened and the female ninja could feel her head going light and her brain pounding against her forehead. Her lungs ached and hungered for oxygen. Slowly everything started to blur like a broken camera that was unable to focus. Soon, black dots marred her sight.

"B-Bastard!" She barely whispered but it seemed the wicked gangster heard her. With a mighty throw he threw her to the ground.

Instantly, oxygen flooded in Violet's lungs. It wasn't long until his hand grasped the purple material covering her head and pulled it off. Instantly gasps echoed around her but Vincent just grinned at her.

"And what a pretty ninja we have too. Boys, prepare to have fun tonight! This one is mine."

.:Kai:.

"What do you mean?! Get her back on!" His voice came out louder than intended when the computer screen turned black.

"Zane, can't you use your falcon vision to see if it's just the signal that's down?" Wu asked carefully but the ninja of fire paced the room with his hands in his hair.

He should have gone with her. Just seeing her panic like that made him wish he was there to comfort her. How could Wu do this to him? And now the robotic bird decided to go unresponsive.

"I-I can't see anything!" Zane suddenly exclaimed, sadness woven into his voice. With a defeated groan, Kai collapsed in the nearby chair. He dug his elbows on his legs while his hands clutched his hair and head.

"Kai..." Nya's voice reached his ears and a hand softly placed itself on his shoulder.

"Okay, we all need to relax-" Wu started until Nathan cut in.

"How? Violet might be in danger right now! How can we be calm?!"

When Kai looked up, no one looked calm, not even Wu. The elder looked distress by the way his castes his eyes down or onto the black screen with his brows set low. Nathan was standing up, walking around in circles, muttering to himself. Cole was trying to keep Zane together about the recent death of the falcon while Lloyd and Jay was trying to see if they can get any access to the computer.

"Guys, you're underestimating Violet. She's stronger than all of us; it will take more than a bullet or a whole group of gangsters to kill her... We just need to give her faith." Nya tried reassuring them but it wasn't working, it just made Kai worry more.

What happened if the gang have shot her more than once? What if they already killed her? The ninja of fire's heart ached at these possibilities and his gut churned sickening. He wanted to break down and cry out right there by he knew if he did, everyone else will break in.

"She'll be fine Kai. I was kidnapped by Garmadon yet I'm alive and unharmed."

"But this is different. Garmadon wouldn't kill for any reason, he would have one. But those men don't! They already murdered half of Jamanakai Village and they kill on sight!"

"Kai calm down-"

"No! I won't! I-I can't!" He groaned but softly, Nya's arms wrapped around his shoulders and her head rested against his.

"This is Violet we're talking about."

"But-"

"Hey, I'm not done yet. This is the girl that saved your ass from Garmadon's sword-"

"-Nya, you know how I fell when you use language like that-"

"-and also the one that managed to keep the serpentine off our heels plenty of times. She'll be fine."

"But you saw her Nya! She was terrified of these men! At least the Serpentine don't have weapons that can kill you in one shot!"

"Kai listen to me please! There's a reason why Wu asked her to do this-"

"But I'm regretting my decision." Wu spoke gravely that he attracted everyone's attention.

'Wu regretting something?'

But Kai realised how sad the elder looked. Violet was like a daughter to him, of course he would be concerned the most since he was the one that sent her to the stupid place.

"Uncle?"

"I should have sent all of you instead but I was afraid to lose the chosen one so I sent her alone..." Wu's voice was devoted of any emotion but sadness and grim. "But I'm not sure if she's okay or not. Like Nya said, she's strong. If she doesn't come in two days, we all are going in."

Yep, Violet's captured and… well… I don't think I need to say more than tortured and other stuff. Big thanks to everyone, I need to make this AN short since I need to go to bed. And by the way, please please please read my good friend –McKennaCarson15- 's story "Ninjago Fan Fiction Volume l: Reign of the Serpentine" The start had quite a few swears but it's really good and it would mean a lot to me and her if you read, review and fave. But that's it for now so goodnight from Australia! :)