to rule the world | a ninjago au

[14] control. it.

jay

"We have a situation," Zane's voice came crackling over the comm, "Rema's arm is now on the floor."

"With like, the rest of her, right? She's lying on the floor?" Jay asked quizzically, bashing someone over the head with the butt of his nunchucks.

"No, just the arm," Rema said, voice wobbly. "You know, there's a lot of blood—"

"We must leave promptly. Everyone follow me, I have sourced an escape route. Keep Zane near Rema to freeze off the lower arm limb. Staunch the bleeding, but it will not last for long." Pixal took charge of the situation swiftly, leaving Jay to stumble on his feet slightly and make his way across to the group of elementals forming.

Every few steps he'd shoot out a frizzle - frazzle - spark? of lightning at the nearest person and try not to concentrate on how loudly they'd yell from the pain, crumpling to the ground as they spasmed and shrieked. At least they aren't decomposing, he told himself in a mad attempt to make this better. That just reminded him of the one time he'd been on a mission with Astra and seen her use her powers on something human, with flesh that had been eaten away so quickly and their shouts made his own enemies' cries seem like kitten mewling.

"Jay, over here!" Pixal called, frantically slashing her katana around her. Jay let himself lose control, just a little, to blast her enemies out of the way and clear a path. They kept that rhythm going; Jay zapping a path ahead for Pixal, Rema's muffled swears and Zane's constant stream of it's okay, it's okay, breath, it's going to be fine, Nya and Reginald bringing up the back to hold off all of these really, really, annoying people. Then there was that girl, Reginald's sister, who didn't seem to have any powers but fought like a demon.

Maybe it was the buzz of several Bloody Marys (the least alcoholic drink Jay could think of), or maybe the adrenaline, or maybe it was that feeling whenever he saw Reginald even talk to Nya that made everything around Jay blur. He just saw a lot of blue, heard a lot of screaming and shouting and he could smell the tang of blood and he could see it too, all over the walls, on his suit, on his nunchucks, the red thing was everywhere and he wanted to throw up badly.

"We're almost out," Pixal said, her voice cracking slightly. "We're almost there."

Jay reined in his lightning a bit too late, the guard crumpling to the floor, uniform smoking. "Who's got the Fangblade map?"

"I do!" Reggie called from behind, "Insurance, you know."

Jay hissed in annoyance - and pain. Being an elemental didn't mean you were invulnerable, and the training they had didn't make them fighting machines like Astra or Cassie; hits still snuck through their defences, he was bleeding from about eight different places and unlike Rema (who was still cussing to rival Astra), he did not have a high pain tolerance.

Up ahead was one of many servant's entrances that Jay remembered, but only Pixal or Zane had the capabilities of mapping to. It was discreet and built into the wall so the Emperor's servants could slip away since they weren't meant to be seen, weren't meant to be heard. That was exactly what they needed. Pixal yanked open the door, ushering Nya, Reginald, Zane, and Rema ahead of herself. Jay was about to close the door behind them when the android suddenly froze.

A garbled stream of letters and numbers poured out of her mouth, Pixal's arms moving jerkily as she staggered forwards, almost as if she was trying to fight whatever this was.

"GO!" she yelled, taking another step forward, "Troya and Valley are outside with a car, I'll—I will be there in a minute, I just need to—"

And then her green eyes flickered one last time, and Pixal's body crashed to the ground.