Street Rats (Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter Thirty One-Where's Jenny?

The next day, Alex was down at the lair of The Vipers.

"I sent Ezra and Kira out," Jax informed her at breakfast. "We're doing everything we can, Alex." She just silently stared at a full plate of food. Atlas hesitantly touched her shoulder.

"How did it happen?" Alex flinched away from him.

"Shaun took her." She replied briefly. Jax sat down next to her, as cautiously as if she were a wild animal.

"She'll come back." He reassured her quietly.

"Did Kai say how he lost her?" Atlas asked.

"Shaun took her." Alex repeated. Jax sighed.

"She'll be okay," he told her. "Now, come on. Eat. She'd want you to keep your strength up." Alex picked at it half-heartedly. Just then, Ezra walked in with Kira.

"No sign of her yet," he told the group. "We'll keep looking."

"She's not anywhere on The Faceless territory," Kira reported. "Which means, she could be on Viper ground. They'd want to shove it in our faces." That was when Alex's phone rang. Zane was calling her. She ignored it, and stood.

"I need some air." She stated bluntly.

"Want one of us to come with?" Ezra asked.

"No." With that, she left the base.

Meanwhile, back at the temple, the Ninja were having breakfast together.

"Kai, what happened?" Nya asked her brother. "How did you manage to lose her?"

"Shaun grabbed her," he replied quietly. "I tried to get to her but all the others, they surrounded me. She gave me her energy to fight them off, but I wasn't fast enough. By the time I got free, they were gone." Lloyd shook his head sadly.

"We were gonna do so many pranks together...."

"Don't blame yourself," Cole tried to reassure Kai. "The Faceless were strong, and they fight dirty." Zane frowned.

"She's not dead," he pointed out. "We'll get her back."

"But how?" Nya questioned him. "They might be less of a threat since the war, but there's still a lot of them. We can't do anything."

"They escaped before right? Plus, we're with The Vipers now, and there's a lot of them." Jay answered. Sensei Wu chose that moment to walk in.

"Why all the long faces?" he asked. "Where's Jenny? And Alex? What happened?"

"You didn't hear?"

"I was asleep when you came back," Wu responded smartly. "And you're avoiding the question."

A few miles away, in a hideout in Viper territory, Jenny was tied to a chair.

"Hey, did I mention I might have a rope allergy?" she called out to Shaun, her brain going wild as she went through all the possible ways she could get out. There was no response. "No? Oh yeah, I forgot. There's no humanity in ya, Shaun." The gang leader laughed mirthlessly at her.

"You won't be talkin' like that by the end of all this," he replied menacingly. "Fact, you won't be talkin' at all." A chill ran down Jen's spine at his words, but she raised her chin in fierce defiance.

"They'll come for me," she responded, keeping her voice even. "Then you'll be sorry."

"What makes you think they will?" Because they were her last hope for moving on. She took a deep breath, looking him straight in the eye, though her heart quivered with fear.

"They ain't street rats, Shaun. They keep their promises." Shaun sneered.

"But you are." Jenny remembered Kai's words at the gala, and smiled.

"No, we're not," she re-joined quietly, but firmly. "Not anymore."

Day two, and still no sign of Jenny. Wu had let the Ninja off training for the week, so they were going back and forth between the temple and the base, working with Jax and his gang to try and find Jenny. Alex was still staying with The Vipers, and saying very little. Eventually, Jax ended up calling Lloyd, concerned about Alex.

"Could one of you come and talk to her?" he asked him. "If you're not too busy. Nothing we do is working."

"I'll see," Lloyd's reply came through the phone. "She's closest with Zane and Nya, I'll send them over." He hang up on Jax.

A couple of hours later, Zane and Nya arrived at the base. It took them some time to convince Alex to do some baking with her new baking set.

"It'll take your mind off it." Nya told her quietly, not wanting to say what 'it' was. Alex sighed.

"Fine."

At first, it seemed as if it was working. Alex certainly seemed quite relaxed around Zane. But she couldn't stop thinking......what would Shaun do to Jen? This time, she wasn't there to protect her. Snarling, she threw a bowl across the room. It hit the wall and broke into pieces. Before Zane could go to pick them up, Alex had already left the base. She wasn't seen for the rest of the day.