On a String

Chapter 6

"Kai?" Cole asked gently. "We need to know,"

No. They didn't.

Kai shook his head violently, brown spikes bobbing with the movement.

"Kai," the pitch of Cole's voice remained the same, not raising in frustration or dropping in anger. It was still gentle, still reassuring- flowing like a lazy stream of water over a smooth riverbed of flat stones.

(But you can still drown in the laziest of water)

(Ican'tbreatheIcan'tbreathe)

No! His secrets! Not theirs! Giving in to their interrogation would make what had happened come back; make it all the more real (more alive). He wouldn't (couldn't) reveal anything. He would just withstand their interrogation. (After all, he'd had plenty of practice).

It was just unfortunate that the sort of interrogation he was used to involved pain (fire heat pain burning someonepleasepleasepleasehelpme) and not kind, gentle words. But adaptation was the key to survival and if there was one thing that Kai was good at, it was surviving against the odds.

Changed playing field? No problem.

"Kai," Cole spoke again, watching the internal conflict escalate on his team mate's face and knowing that the Ninja in red was close to breaking. He'd been examining Kai as Jay had attempted to get answers from him and knew that anger and shouting would only get Kai to retreat further inside himself.

Patience was critical here. "You can trust us," his brown eyes shone with honesty (fluffy white clouds playing in warm sunshine). "It would really help us to know what's going on,"

Trust? Them?

Blinking, Kai tuned away from those fartoohonest eyes. "I..." couldn't take this anymore. Giving up, giving in. "Okay." The very air seemed to freeze as Kai conceded defeat. "That man is with The Puppeteers. He's one of two deputies. A couple of days before I found you, I planted a bomb in the gang's main building. It blew the whole place up and I believed that no one had survived. But this man was in the building when the bomb exploded and he obviously didn't die,"

Cole sat back down, the wooden bench squeaking as he moved it across the polished floor. "Why would he come back and plant the bomb in the supermarket, then?"

Kai swallowed. "It's a display of The Puppeteer's power. They want to show that nothing can stop them. If one man survived, that means others would have, as well. The Puppeteers haven't disbanded. They've come back," against his will, his fingers anxiously started to tap against the table top.

Nya's frown grew as she looked at her brother. "Did they want to get rid of you that badly? That bomb could have killed everyone if you hadn't pushed it out of the store. What would they gain from the attention of the authorities if the bomb had created a massacre?"

Shaking his head, Kai gave a sigh. "They knew I was watching the pram enter the store. It was done deliberately so that I would grow suspicious. Had they desired me dead, then there was nothing to stop them from sending a sniper up a building near the store and shooting me. They purposefully set it up so that I would notice and get rid of the bomb,"

"But why?" Jay whispered, his voice soft with horror.

"Because I've humiliated them. I've cost them so much in terms of money and reputation. They want to get back at me- keep me on my toes- by threatening us all. It also serves as a warning for others who want to see the gang disbanded by showing that it's better not to mess with them,"

"How long will they do this for?" Zane enquired.

"For as long as they're entertained by it. Then they'll capture us and kill us and there'll be nothing to stop them from controlling Ninjago. The police can't do anything to stop them; the gang is just so powerful," Kai replied, the drumming sound of his fingers on the wooden table stopping as he resumed picking small at splinters of wood.

"Why did you use a bomb when you were taking them down? Why didn't you just capture them?" Jay asked.

"They sort of... captured me first," Kai explained hurriedly (don'taskdon'task). "During my last escape, I found some of their weapons, so I grabbed a couple of bombs and planted them in the main building. At this point, the situation was far beyond taking prisoners,"

Sensei Wu spoke up for the first time that evening. "Did the leader definitely die?"

"Yes, Sensei," Had anyone been looking closely at Kai's face, they would have seen a flash of satisfaction. (At least he'd gotten one part of his mission right). Sensei looked at the red Ninja for a couple of seconds, his brown eyes flickering, evaluating, before nodding in approval.

"Good,"

Lloyd's lower lip trembled slightly. "If the leader died, why did they immediately come back? It would take a while to nominate a new leader,"

Nya nodded her agreement. "It doesn't make sense. This gang cannot be stopped. The police have tried- they managed to kill the leader a couple of years ago. But The Puppeteers didn't appear to be affected by the loss. A new leader was selected and things carried on as normal. Since then, other agencies have tried to wipe out The Puppeteers- many members of the gang have been captured or killed, but no one has succeeded in completely stopping the gang because the same thing happened. They just came back. That's why we had to send Kai in the first place,"

There was an awkward silence for a couple of seconds. Lloyd fidgeted with the material on his green gi anxiously until Jay finally broke the stillness.

"So, what do we do now?" The blue Ninja asked.

Kai still felt sick. They hadn't been told the complete story yet- just all they needed to know so far. But talking about it- even this little part- left a bad taste in his mouth. They shouldn't be learning about what had happened. Not only because it was his business and not theirs, but because this should have never occurred in the first place. Kai's hands clenched into fists. He didn't want to suggest this, but they had no other options. "We fight,"

Cole frowned. "We don't know the first thing about fighting these guys,"

Sensei Wu nodded. "And that is why Kai is going to train you."