Jay and Nya finally made their way down to the kitchen where Lloyd was sat at the table surrounded by his three teammates. Dishevelled and tired, Lloyd jerked his head up off the table as they entered and took the large mug of coffee that Cole pushed in front of him.
'Took your time' Kai reprimanded them.
'I think you'll find that's a good thing' Jay said sarcastically.
'Huh?' Kai replied.
Cole shook his head 'Kai, I think you have a serious blind spot going on there'
'What?' Kai replied again, looking confused.
Nya whispered to Cole 'I swear he'd spontaneously combust if he actually acknowledged... uh, well, you know'
'True dat!' Cole joked behind his mug.
'Shh shh shh' Kai waved his hands in the air 'just... shh'
Zane stood 'everyone, please be calm. Lloyd is very tired and needs to tell us his news'
'Thanks bud, but y'know, listening to you guys is more fun' Lloyd smiled at Zane, who again took his seat and smiled back.
'So what happened to you?' Nya asked pouring a cup of coffee for Jay and her.
'I had a night on the tiles, so to speak' everyone remained silent, so Lloyd continued 'I was hanging out on top of a roof downtown' he paused, realising just how much he was leaving out. Coles dark eyes locked onto his in the momentary silence and Lloyd quickly continued 'I encountered a Shadow Ninja and decided to follow'
'Man those guys are getting out of control' Jay commented
'That's why I followed. This new rise in underground Ninja seems sudden, but they must have been in training for years. Whatever this secret syndicate is, its not new, but unless we do something about it now, Ninjago will be taken over from the inside out'
'Agreed' said Cole 'What happened when you followed?'
He... she... they, travelled a fair distance to the far suburbs in the north and ended up at an old villa. It was a typical courtyard style settlement with buildings coming off one main and an outer wall. It was nestled behind the main streets and was well hidden from view. I watched our guy drop into the courtyard and knock a code out on the door'
'Did you see anyone else?' Cole asked.
'Not at that point. The door opened and they went inside'
'Not at that point?' questioned Zane.
'Uh, well...' Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck 'I dropped in after them and repeated the code...'
'WHAT?' Nya stood.
Cole cut in 'Lloyd, you don't do that. That's been agreed. We are a team, you don't take that kind of risk alone'
'I know, I know. I don't even remember making the decision to do it, it just happened!'
'And what happened?' Nya asked firmly. Jay pulled her back down to sit.
'Well, I thought the door wasn't going to open, but it did eventually. It was a young girl. She knew I wasn't meant to be there and then some kind of Ninja squad appeared from nowhere behind me. There were about ten. I just don't know where they came from. I scoped out the property beforehand and there weren't any other entrances. They must have used secret hatches or...'
Nya was becoming more agitated '... Lloyd, this is bad. They now know we know about them. If you'd held back we could have worked the place, maybe infiltrated it...' she took a breath and caught herself 'But at least you got away, I'm glad for that'
'Yeaaah...' Lloyd drew out the word, there was still more to tell.
'Yeah?' Cole asked inquisitively.
'Well, I tried to take the girl. We could've interrogated her or turned her... and then they obviously gave chase'
'Obviously' said Jay dryly as everyone else listened with worried looks.
'I ended up dropping the girl. She came around too quickly. I got away. But, something very peculiar occurred'
'Peculiar how?' Cole leant forward.
'The ten ninja multiplied; by twenty maybe even more' he lowered his voice to a worried whisper, a confused look fell across his face 'there were hundreds of them'
Cole slumped back in his chair and everyone looked to him. He rubbed his forehead 'hundreds from one settlement?'
Jay added 'Maybe the whole precinct is a training ground? It's not exactly on radar; they could be doing anything out there. Who'd know?'
Zane stood to leave 'I can set up some scanning and surveillance on the area. We need to start monitoring it'
Cole added 'Maybe we should all go out there tonight. Just to check it out'
'Tonight?' Lloyd questioned. His mind, although tired and reeling from his escape, was more focused on someone else. If they all went tonight he wouldn't be able to see her. He had made a breakthrough. She had talked to him and he needed to understand her and to banish his fears over her new found piety. Mostly he wanted to gaze into her eyes and hold her cup for her to drink from 'sorry, what was that Cole?'
'I said, why not tonight?'
'Oh, right. Yes, sorry. They'll be on high alert after my idiot move, so it might be worth just lying low for a few days.
'Dammit I just want to get out there... But you're right' Cole replied 'Zane if you can rig whatever surveillance equipment you can without anyone becoming suspicious, we'll observe first. Jay you can help'
Jay jumped up excited for the task 'We're on it' and left the room with Zane.
'Kai, we'll need to understand the area. Can you start analysing the location maps? I want to know all the accessible routes into and out of the area'
'Absolutely' Kai replied and got up to start.
'I'm gonna turn in, if you don't mind?' Lloyd looked at Cole.
He nodded, but added 'If you could just pinpoint the settlement location for Zane, Jay and Kai, then you can sleep'.
'Sure' Lloyd replied and left the room with Kai to catch them up.
Nya took a long breath and sat back in her chair. Glancing across to Cole she found him already looking at her, or through her. She smiled 'y'ok?'
'Uh... yeah, yes' he shook his head as if to wake himself 'I don't think the coffee's working this morning and stood up, gathering the empty mugs.
Nya turned to watch him at the sink. Something was off. It wasn't like Cole to be distant 'Cole?'
'Yup?'
'Something's up'
'What? With you and Jay?'
'No. We're good... Something's up, with you'
'...aah' He turned back to washing the mugs.
'You wanna talk?'
'I'm not sure that would help'
'On a scale of 1-10 how worried should I be?'
Cole laughed 'Worried? No! It's nothing bad'
'Well then, it will probably be easy to get off your chest then'
Cole turned to Nya, folded his arms and leant back on the sink 'Well, you make it sound so easy' and lowered his voice 'but its kind of personal Nya'
Nya raised an eyebrow 'We couldn't be closer Cole, let me help'
'It's not anything really' he said gently.
'Ok. Well if you change your mind, you know where I am' Nya stood and gave Cole a final smile before leaving the room.
Cole dropped his head and sighed 'Ugh, jealousy is not a good trait Cole' he whispered. He poured the last of the coffee from the jug and headed to his room. It had been years since he last acknowledged his feelings for Nya. He knew he would always feel something for her, but recently he found his own singularity a source of frustration and looked at his best friends relationship with his old crush as a source of desire in itself. They had what he wanted, an unbreakable closeness. From something as simple as holding hands in the light of day, to the darkness of night, entwined in damp sheets. He knew what they had and it fuelled his need even more.
As he came to his door, he found it ajar. He stopped and slowly pushed it open. Nya was in his room. Turned away from him she looked at papers on his desk. This was fine normally, Nya always poked around his drawings, but why was she here now, they had just talked. She did not turn, though she must have known he was there 'Nya?'
'Cole... We are alone'
'Uhhh...?'
'I don't think it's by chance you sent the others off'
'Um' He didn't know what to say. This was strange, not like Nya at all 'What do you mean?' Nya remained turned away.
'I know your problem'
'Oh...'I wouldn't look at me either frankly, he thought to himself.
'You want me' She turned and started to walk slowly forwards, stopping inches from him. He was feeling strange himself. Not quite right. Tired, so tired. He moved off and sat on the bed. Nya followed. 'Lie down' he did as she said.
His eyes flickered 'Nya, it's not what you think...' Nya's face hovered above his as his eyes closed and his mind swam through a deep fog.
Nya's words were quiet, far away 'I'm right here for you Cole' she whispered as he slipped into unconsciousness.