On a String

Chapter 1

He closed his eyes and fell backwards onto the burning sand, landing right next to the rucksack he had abandoned almost half an hour ago.

"....Hence why different people react in different ways to poison," Nya explained as she pointed at a diagram of a snake. Jay was watching with interest-mostly because it was his girlfriend teaching the lesson- Cole was drawing and a bored Zane was trying to look like he was somewhat interested in the lesson. "We all have different DNA in our genes, which means that people react to changes in their body- such as snake venom entering their blood stream- differently," she said, pointing at another diagram- this one was of a chromosome with a section of DNA enlarged so everyone could read the base pairs and see how they made up the DNA polymer.

Cole lent back in his chair and yawned. Nya raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Cole, what's a gene-" she was cut off as a small chiming noise began to sound through the bridge. She frowned. "The radar has picked up movement. Someone is coming our way."

Nya's hands flew over the controls as she brought up the radar on the larger screen so everyone could see. "Funny," she commented. "Whoever this is, I don't think they pose a threat to us. They're wandering in circles. Look at that," she pointed to a small dot on the screen.

Abruptly, the dot stopped moving.

"Who is this?" Jay asked as Nya ran a search for snakes through the scanner. It came out clear.

"I have no idea," she replied. "I could try and widen the search. It could be someone else we know- maybe Cole's dad or something."

Cole's eyes widened. "It's unlikely. I don't think he'd just come here. But if that's my dad, then we've got to hurry. He's not moving,"

The scan ran through, and a small bleeping announced that the person had been identified. Everyone stared at the screen as the image of a figure appeared.

"Kai? He's meant to be in Ninjago, working undercover to stop the Puppeteers gang." Zane mused. "What's he doing out here?" he asked, looking at the smiling, spiky haired image of his team mate. When the picture had been taken, Jay had been pulling faces and spiking his hair in an attempt to get Kai to laugh and ruin the photo.

Nya shrugged. "No clue. But he needs help, quickly. I'll go out and grab him," she replied, running down the hall to get her Samurai gear.

Waking up was the worst part of losing consciousness. To lose consciousness was to lose control over what happened to you. Anything could happen, while you were blissfully unaware.

And then you woke up and found everything had turned to chaos.

Kai didn't open his eyes. That would alert whoever had captured him to the fact that he was awake. Instead, he used his other senses. He could tell that he was no longer in the desert- it wasn't as dry or sandy as he remembered. That meant someone had moved him. But who were they? A friend or an enemy? He could hear voices murmuring around him. He must be surrounded- and that was not good.

Then someone placed a hand on his shoulder and he couldn't help it. Panic flooded through him and Kai leapt up from where he had been lying on some sort of table. Although uncertain about why he hadn't been tied down to the table this time, the Ninja didn't hesitate. There was a door on the other side of the room and he bolted toward it. Someone ordered for him to stop, but Kai ignored the instruction and kept moving.

He couldn't let himself get caught. They'd punish him if he didn't manage to escape right now. Disobedience was not tolerated- and he had already defied them twice recently. His adrenaline surged as he raced out the door, finding himself in a hallway.

There was no time to ask for directions. Winging it, he took a left, his heart pounding as his feet thumped against the wooden floor. He had to get out of here, now. Before they chained him back up, before the nightmare began again, before his hoped died.

"Kai! Stop!"

Never. They wouldn't take him, not this time.

"Brother, why are you running?"

To get away from them, of course! They were the cat, he the mouse. This was how the game was played. Run from the predator, and you might live.

"Dude, we're not going to hurt you! Get back here! You need medical attention!"

Like heck they weren't going to hurt him. What had they spent the past three weeks doing to him?

He dashed around a corner, listening as the thud of their feet gradually closed in on him ("Face it, ninja. You're trapped,"). Kai stopped. He had reached a dead end. No! They would capture him, and then there'd be no way back.

The footsteps slowed behind him, and he knew he had been spotted. They weren't hurried; they had him right where they wanted him.

In their power.

He couldn't turn to face them- to face all his hope dying. It really was pitiful ("You're pathetic!") to be so afraid, but he just didn't have the energy to feel embarrassed with himself.

Weakly, he stumbled.

"Just relax, Kai. It's okay," someone took his arm, supporting his swaying body and turning him to face the rest of the group.

He blinked.

Cole stood in front of him- his grasp on his arm the only thing keeping him upright. Behind the Earth Ninja, was an assembled group of the team mates he'd never thought he would see again.

Nya's eyes were wideas she took him in and Jay looked confused. Zane looked startled, while Lloyd was mildly panicked. Only Sensei Wu looked unruffled.

"Oh," was the only thing he managed to say.

"You're on the Bounty," Cole said gently. "Where did you think you were?"

"Nowhere," Kai mumbled softly, staring at the ground.

Cole gently rested a hand on his shoulder. "Let's get you back to the sick bay,"

Immediately, Kai stiffened and paled visibly. "Don't touch me!" He cried, throwing himself away from the (controlling) hand on his shoulder.

"What?" Cole asked as his friend backed up against the wall, an uncharacteristic fear swimming in Kai's eyes. Cole held up his hands placidly. "I'm not going to hurt you, Kai. What's going on? This isn't like you,"

Everyone looked at Kai tensely. He shuffled awkwardly, not liking the feeling of all those eyes on him.

"Uh...haha yeah. Just, um...yea...don't mind me,"

Frowning, Nya walked forward. "Let's just...go to the sick bay," she said, gesturing for her brother to follow her. Kai nodded and followed, leaving the rest of the team standing in the hallway behind him.

Once he had gone, Cole looked at Sensei worriedly. "What just happened? That was so unlike Kai,"

Jay nodded. "I've never seen him like that before. Did you see it? He was completely freaking out,"

Zane frowned. "That was most uncharacteristic of him. I think that this had something to do with his mission,"

"No, really? Maybe he just woke up and decided to get lost in the desert and then freak out in front of his team mates," Jay shot back sarcastically.

Tapping the ground with his staff to get the ninja's attention, Sensei Wu spoke. "He told us that everything went well- the Puppeteer's leader was dealt with and the gang has broken up now. He never said anything about things going wrong. We'll need to watch him to find out what happened,"

The three ninja all nodded, all more than slightly alarmed at the state of their team mate.