When Kai and Zane returned to the Bounty with the unconscious girl most everyone else on the team was already in bed. Which was unsurprising considering it was past 3:30 in the morning. As Zane approached the door to go below deck of the Bounty Kai opened it for him, allowing the white ninja to step inside first before entering the ship himself.
However, while most of their team was indeed asleep both Master Wu and the green ninja himself, Lloyd Garmadon, were both still awake. Awaiting the safe return of the ice and fire ninjas. At the sound of the door closing behind them a new sound made itself heard, or rather voice.
"You guys are finally back. It was getting so late I was about to go-" Lloyd stopped mid-sentence when he appeared from around the corner and saw the limp girl cradled in Zane's arms. Master Wu followed right behind his nephew, noticing the girl nearly the same time.
"Kai, Zane, what happened?" Master Wu questioned, approaching Zane to get a better look at the girl and see if she was alright.
"When we were about to come back from patrol Zane saw some sort of gang creeps about to kidnap this girl, so we had to step in to save her." Kai answered, an expression somewhere between sad and tired draped across his face.
"Actually, the Falcon spotted them." Zane corrected his red clad friend.
"Is she okay?" Lloyd asked, a frown moving onto his own face as he continued to look down at the girl.
"She suffered a mild concussion, as well as having some prior health concerns. However she should be fine. Given that she gets plenty of rest and proper care." Zane explains. When he scanned her earlier he had mainly been concerned about her concussion. While that was still important, he didn't need his scan to see this girl was in a state of declining health just based upon her appearance. However his scan did confirm his observations. With enough rest and self care though she'd be alright.
"I see. Let us take her to the spare bedroom. She can rest there, and once everyone is awake in the morning we can discuss more about her kidnappers with the others present." Master Wu decided, moving down the hallway towards the spare bedroom.
"Yes Master." Lloyd replied, respectfully bowing in his uncle's direction.
"If it's all the same to you guys then I'm going to hit the sack. I'm beat." Kai stated tiredly before walking in the opposite direction towards the boys' shared bedroom. Lloyd following close behind him to head to bed as well.
"Go ahead brother. I will join you both shortly." Zane answers before following their Master. With that, the two groups went their separate ways. When Master Wu reached the door of the spare bedroom he opened it and walked inside, being sure to hold the door open as the ice ninja entered the room as well.
Once they were both inside Master Wu let go of the door, allowing it to close before going up to the bed where Zane was now standing patiently. After pulling the covers back Wu stepped out of the white ninjas' way, allowing his student plenty of space to maneuver the girl comfortably onto the bed.
When Zane finally laid her down she let out a small breath, but besides that was silent. Zane then ran one final scan over the girl before concluding that she would be okay for the remainder of the night, and gently placed the covers over her motionless form. Wu and Zane then exited the room silently, closing the door behind themselves.
"Goodnight Master." Zane bid farewell to the elder, bowing respectfully as Lloyd had done before.
"Goodnight Zane, rest well." Wu acknowledges his white gi student before continuing down the opposite length of the hallway, and towards his own sleeping quarters. With that the remainder of the ninja family went to sleep, prepared to call everyone to a meeting once the sun had risen.
In the morning -
As the early hours of the morning passed by the sun slowly began to rise, blanketing the horizon in a golden glow as far as the eye could see. While some would take time to appreciate the natural beauty of Ninjago's sky, others were not as welcoming to the glistening rays. Especially when some of those brightening rays managed to maneuver themselves perfectly through the smallest of cracks and land right onto the eyes of unsuspecting sleepers.
One of these unfortunate casualties just so happened to be the victim of the attempted kidnapping from the night prior. While the sun began to make its presence known in the spare bedroom, disrupting a somewhat peaceful slumber, the teenager couldn't help but groan in frustration. She had never been much of a morning person, but it was particularly unpleasant to be pulled from a dreamless sleep instead of the body being allowed to rouse in its own time.
After trying and failing for nearly ten minutes to go back to sleep the girl finally conceded, accepting that her body would no longer allow her to rest this morning. It was only after she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes that she finally realized she had no clue as to where she was. With a new flood of panic coursing through her veins the young girl attempted to calm her now irregular breathing, simultaneously attempting to desperately rack her brain for the memories of the previous night.
Where am I? What happened last night?
The girl paused for a moment, scrunching up her face in concentration as if it would better help her remember. In a way it did, suddenly swarmed with the events from several hours ago. The thugs, or better yet, gang members. Their attempt at capturing her, and the fight that occurred. The last thing she remembered was struggling against one of the shadow shrouded figures before drawing a blank.
Had they managed to capture her? It was obvious to her now that she had lost in her struggle against them. Inspecting her body though she found she was still dressed in the same clothes she'd been wearing all week. Not just that, she wasn't being held by restrains of any kind either.
Maybe they locked the door…
Following through on her train of thought the teenager moved herself off of the bed, crouching quietly and slowly over to what seemed to be the exit. Seemingly grabbing a soft hold of the door handle in slow motion she was surprised when the knob moved, unphased by any locks she suspected there could have been.
As she silently cracked the wooden door ajar the planked hallway began to fill with the sounds of voices. Committed to seeing if she could amass any more information on her current situation the girl sneakily made her way down the hall until she was at the edge of the room where the voices were emitting from.
Gathered in the room appeared to be at least 4 bodies around a table. Not daring to risk any of them seeing her by peering into the room further though she relied on listening to the voices to figure out just how many of these strangers there really were.
"Zane or Kai, were either of you able to catch the names of her attackers?" A voice asks.
That's at least 3. They also said attackers… so, these aren't the same gang members from the alley way?
Now even more confused, the girl continued to listen intently. These people couldn't be cops or doctors, could they? No. She could tell based on the inside of this building that it wasn't a precinct or medical facility of any kind. Or at least, not one like any kind that she had seen before. This room she was near as well, the table resembled less of a break room employees would have and instead looked more similarly to a dining space.
"No, unfortunately not." A different voice from the first answers.
"All their leader mentioned was something about taking her to meet 'The Boss'." A third voice informs.
More of the girls' memory returns as she remembers the lackey who had been in charge of the group that attacked her. From what she could recollect she had never seen any of those people from last night before. She had no clue who this "Boss" could possibly be, or what she had done to have a target placed upon her back.
"This is worrying news indeed." The voice of an older man states solemnly.
"What should we do now?" A female voice asks.
That's 5 people now…
"Well, I for one think that we can't just let her go back home. Not with this gang still out there." Yet another voice contributes to the conversation.
"I must agree with Cole. If we let the girl leave it is likely these mysterious figures will simply go after her again." The second voice from earlier agrees.
"Not trying to burst your guys' bubbles but, Cole, Zane, we can't just force some random stranger to stay with us!" Another boy retorts, his voice more erratic and louder than anyone else who had spoken up to this point.
That's 7, and, based on what these guys are saying… Did they save me from those creeps from last night?
"I'm sorry guys, but as much as I want to try and keep the girl safe like everyone else, Jay is right. If she doesn't want to stay with us we have no other choice but to let her leave." The room stays silent for a brief moment before one of the voices finally breaks the silence.
"Someone should probably go see if she's awake then, and talk to her." The female voice from earlier spoke.
The girl hiding outside of the room drew in a nervous breath, having an internal debate with herself as to whether or not she could trust these strangers. It did appear based on the circumstances that they had saved her from her would-be captors. They also all sounded normal and friendly enough. Not only that but they also seemed to care. She had woken up in a comfortable bed after all, unscathed and they spoke of how they simply wanted to keep her safe from the gang menace undoubtedly now scouring the city for her.
Standing up from her crouched position in the hall, the girl stepped into the doorway, making her presence known to the group of people sitting around the table that was now directly in front of her. The girl could feel a lump get caught in her throat as her nerves began to take over. Finally getting a good look at the colorfully dressed lot they were all wearing ninja-yoroi. She had been saved by thee ninjas of Ninjago, and was standing before them in what she suspected to be their home.
The girl cleared her throat before speaking, her balled fists bouncing restlessly against her outer thighs.
"I- uh, there's no need. I kinda overheard everything you guys were talking about just now." The girl admitted quietly, her face starting to burn with embarrassment as she refused to look directly at any of the ninja.
"Then I suspect you also heard our discussion about you staying here?" The elder questioned calmly, leaving his spot from the table and walking up to the girl before gently placing a hand on her shoulder. The girl moved at the Sensei's touch, but forced herself to stay put, not wanting to seem disrespectful by pulling away. At this she also worked up the courage to look up at him. While his face was lined with wrinkles his chocolate brown eyes shone with a kind and youthful twinkle. "No one here will force you to stay if you desire to return home. However, it would be unwise to return to the city until the ninja have resolved this latest plight."
The girl let out another breath, though this one was more steady, and she felt her nerves begin to dissipate in the presence of the elderly man. She then nodded, her stature more confident than when she first appeared before them.
"I'll stay, but only until the people from last night are caught." The girl finally answers, giving a passing glance to each of the ninja in front of her.