Lloyd POV: We didn't waste any time and headed to Borg Tower immediately. To make it faster, we went inside through the roof and walked into the main computer room, where Borg was waiting.
"There you are. Sorry to bother you, but the signal was very concerning." he said as soon as he saw us walk in.
"Has it moved?" I asked, checking the screen. From what I could tell, it was under the Tower.
"It hasn't, and it is still too distorted to make out what it is exactly." he explained, and he played it back for us. It was mostly static with some weird noises here and there.
"That does sound concerning." Zane said, clearly thinking about it.
"We'll go check it out. Are the old tunnels still open?" I asked. I know they found some tunnels under the building they were planning on closing soon.
"For now, yes. The company I contracted will be coming in three days, so you shouldn't be interrupted." he said, and I nodded.
"Alright, we'll let you know what we find. Let's go." And we headed out.
Thankfully, Borg, let us use the private elevator to the bottom so we could avoid bothering normal employees. Also, it could take us all the way to the bottom easily. But I really wasn't a fan of the tunnels, given how unstable they looked. At least they made our job a lot easier.
"Why do weird signals always have to be underground?" Jay asked as we walked down.
"We've been to worse places." I responded.
"Fair point, but you would think bad guys would want to be comfortable." He mumbled. I guess he was right about that.
The tunnels weren't that big, so we really had to squeeze through until we finally reached a more open area, with an interesting scene waiting for us.
There were a couple of guys unconscious and a couple of other guys that were tied up with a large device on the wall.
"Well, that's not suspicious at all." I mumbled to myself.
Zane and Nya walked over to it and someone said to my right, "Took you guys long enough."
I jumped and saw it was Kai somehow. He was sitting against the wall looking really pale. He was panting a little. I was about to say something when I saw it. The blade in his side and his hand covered in blood.
I rushed over to his side and said, "What happened?!"
I placed my hand on the wound and he groaned before saying, "These guys were the ones spotted on that camera. One of them got a lucky hit."
Nya and Zane looked over at us and I could see the blood drain from her face. Zane handed her some bandages before she sprinted over to us. She wasted no time and gently placed them and I applied pressure. He groaned again and panted from that. Nya took his hand and he squeezed it hard. Cole and Jay stood over us, with Jay fidgeting a little.
"Do you know what that device is?" Cole asked, not looking at his wound.
"Yeah, it's a bomb they were going to use to bring down the Tower." he explained through his pants. We all froze when he said that.
"Why didn't you call for back-up?" Nya asked, squeezing his hand a little.
"Because I couldn't get a signal out. I was only able to get a weak connection after I took these guys out." he said, and gasped from the pain.
"The signal we were getting was you?" I asked, mostly to myself. But I did get his point. These tunnels made it really hard to communicate with anyone.
Finally Zane walked over and said, "I have it completely disabled, and from my scans they'll be out for a while. Now I can take a look at you."
I moved and let Zane take my spot to do his scan. Outside of Kai's breathing and Zane's scan no one talked. But the air was thick with worry for Kai, who was really pale and clearly in pain.
Zane finished his scan and said, "The blade is in deep, but nothing major was hurt. I recommend that we wait until we are on the Bounty until we remove it though. To keep the bleeding under control."
"Alright. Then Jay and I will stay and get these guys to the police. The rest of you get Kai back up. Cole, did you mind carrying him?" I said, Kai gave me a soft glare when I asked Cole that.
"Got it." He said, and moved to pick him up.
"Make sure to not move the blade as much as possible." Zane instructed, and Cole nodded to him.
Slowly, he gently picked Kai bridal style, and Kai groaned and gasped at this. Nya remained at his side and Zane kept his eyes on the blade. Some of Kai's blood dripped a little even though he was covered in bandages.
"We'll be up as soon as we can." I said, mostly to reassure Nya, who looked worried out of her mind.
"Understood. See you soon." Zane answered, and they left.
As we got the guys and made our way up Jay asked me, "Do you think Kai's going to be okay?"
"I think so. It's Kai and there's no way he's going to let something like this bring him down." I reassured him. But while I did believe that I couldn't help but worry. I hate it when someone gets hurt like this, and Kai was clearly in pain. I just hope the others can help him.
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Kai POV: I will admit, I did try to hide my pain. But it was way too hard given how every time Cole took a step hurt. But I tried not to gasp at least. It didn't help that the tunnels got narrow and Cole had to go sideways to get through. I kept pressure on my side, but it was hard because of the pain.
"Are you doing okay?" Nya asked from behind us. I glanced at her and saw she was really worried.
I tried to smile and said, "I'll be okay, sis."
But the pain spiked and I flinched. Cole squeezed my shoulder and said, "We're almost out, Kai. just hang on."
I didn't trust my voice and just nodded a little. But he was right, because not long after he said that I noticed our surroundings were similar to the Borg Tower's interior.
I sighed a little and closed my eyes a little until we stopped. Then it felt like we were moving up, meaning that they were taking the elevator. And I felt someone take my free hand.
"Kai, you have to stay awake." It was Nya again, and I forced my eyes open despite being tired.
She and Zane were watching me closely, and Cole squeezed my shoulder again. The pain flared again and I groaned again. I leaned my head against his shoulder and started panting again.
"He's getting worse. Can't this elevator go faster?" Nya asked, sounding impatient.
"I'm keeping tabs on him. And I can promise he will be fine until we get back." Zane reassured, but she didn't say anything.
Eventually the elevator stopped and Cole started moving again. I looked to see Zane walking in front of us to open the door. The Bounty must be on the roof, and when they opened the door the fresh air felt good. Soon we boarded the Bounty. But, while Cole was being careful, the movement really hurt. Carefully and quickly, they moved me to the med-bay. And Cole placed me on the bed and Zane immediately looked at my wound.
"Can we please take it out now?" I asked, really tired now despite not moving myself.
Instead of answering right away he did another scan. And I could see Cole and Nya nervous against the wall. Finally he said, "I believe that I can safely remove it. As long as I pull it out in the same way it went in."
"Alright." I said, but he wasn't done.
"When I do it's going to hurt. And you will need to stay as still as possible." he explained. That's just great.
"If it means I can get this out of me, I'll take some pain." I answered, but I wasn't looking forward to that.
He nodded and turned to the others before saying, "I'm going to need someone to help hold him down."
Cole immediately walked over and placed his hands on my shoulders, and Nya went over to Zane's side and also helped hold me down.
Gently, Zane grabbed the blade and said, "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." I said quietly. I swallowed a little and prepared myself.
Zane nodded to them and tightened his grip, which I could feel. And quickly, he pulled it out. And my side exploded in pain. I might have screamed, I don't know. But I do know that I tried to jump up. Only Cole and Nya's intervention kept me from moving. I nearly passed out, but somehow I managed to stay awake. I closed my eyes as I felt them start doing stitches for a bit and wrap more bandages around me. I waited a bit before opening them after they finished.
I saw Zane place the bloody blade on the table across the room. It had a lot of blood on it, but I'm going to ignore that. I looked down and saw my whole stomach was covered in bandages and Nya placing some tape to keep it in place.
Cole patted my shoulder and asked, "Better?"
"Yeah, it's nice to not have a knife in my stomach anymore." I responded, now even more tired than before.
Zane walked back and said, "You need to rest now. You need some strength back." He has never been more right.
I nodded and closed my eyes again, letting myself drift into the comfortable darkness.