***(Jay's POV)***

I never imagined I'd be fighting alongside Kai Smith again, but here I am saving his bacon once more. He's a jerk for how he's treated Nya, but given that they are family, I guess I'm kind of obligated to save him.

Plus, regardless of what he's done, we're still brothers. He's covered my mishaps before, and now I guess I'll have to rescue him from a stupid decision of his own.

As the android casts a blow at Kai, he manages to dodge the robot's flying fist with a roll to the side. I take the spare moment in which the android is distracted to make a running leap for its back.

Three...

Two...

One.

I launch myself into a jump, springing onto the android's back and looping my arms around its neck. I quickly search for some sort of power switch. I mean, since Zane has one, it makes sense that this guy would too, right? Maybe it's just one of Borg's inventions gone wrong?

"Wha- Jay?" Kai asks from the ground.

Not taking my eyes off my work, I feel a smirk twist my lips. "To your rescue, mi'lady. How's the weather down there?"

He sputters. "You – what are you doing here?!"

"Saving you, obviously." I find a panel on the back of the robot and try to get a grip on it, then rip it open, exposing a host of wires.

"Aww, nuts," I groan. "What am I supposed to do with all this?"

"Enemy...detected," the creature rumbles, raising one clumsy arm up to swat me off.

I lean toward the android's other side. "You'll have to do better than that to take me out, buddy. Now, how do I turn you off?"

Suddenly, the robot pulses with energy and swivels downward toward the ground. I latch onto its neck for dear life as it pounds both its fists into the ground, sending shockwaves through the pavement.

"Eesh!" I cry. "Okay, new plan: I'll just turn you off manually!" I stuff my hand inside the panel off wires and sift through them with nimble fingers, trying to get hold of a happy-colored one as the whole android vibrates. And by happy-colored, I mean a nice green or blue one that means the bot will turn off.

Beside me, I hear an awful noise that sounds kind of like a building could soon be falling on my wife.

Crap.

"How are our partygoers, Nya?" I call, keeping all panic from my voice as I frantically search for the proper wire.

"Almost out!" I hear her tense voice yell. "Just give me a minute more, and I'll be over to help!"

"I think I've got this covered!" I reassure her. "But get out from under there before that thing collapses! We don't have much time!"

"I know that, Jay!" she yells back, stress lacing her tone.

I manage to find a green wire. Rubbing my thumb and forefinger together, I place them around the wire and pull.

I see sparks pop, and the android's whole body surges with electricity. My own elemental power stirs within me at the feeling, and I try to absorb as much of it as I can. Heaven knows what would happen if someone else experienced this much of a shock.

Someone like...

Kai?!

As the android's form folds, I see Kai running for the robot. I assume he thinks he can help out, but –

Oh, no. Heck, no. No, no, no, no!

"Kai, you stupid idiot!" I yell. "Stop! This thing is an invitation to electrical shock right –,"

A clattering groan resounds as the droid collides with the ground in slow motion. I'm still yelling. Kai's still running. The bot is still overwhelmed by electricity.

Seriously?!

I place both hands on the droid's back, concentrating on taking on all the power within its body. For a moment I'm seized with anxiety – I had an accident a few years back when I absorbed way too much electricity from a machine – but I push through the fear.

I have to take it. I have to save Kai. There's no way he'll –

Right as Kai's about to slam into the robot, something catches the corner of my eye. A...cross-runner?

I focus more clearly as the person collides with Kai. He falls toward the pavement while the cross-runner – Nya? – falls toward – me?

"Nya!" I gasp. "Why are the Smith siblings so – no!"

She bounces off the side of the android as she falls and hits the ground.

I don't miss the mingling of her element with mine as she slams into the android.

No! Not – not that much of a shock!

I scramble off of the fallen android and rush over to where she fell. "Nya, you're a heck of a lot smarter than your brother, so why do you two have to make the same bad decisions?!" I land in a heap next to her on the ground.

She winces but rolls over with the slightest of laughs. "Have more faith in yourself, Sparky. You shock me harder in practice than that android did just now."

I sigh with relief, pulling her into my arms. "How many times are you going to scare me to death, Nya?"

"However many times you can die," she quips, hugging me back with trembling arms. I don't miss the tremor of fear in her voice.

It never really goes away, does it?

I rub my hand over her shoulder blades comfortingly as she rests her face against my shoulder, angling my eyes toward the banquet hall. "You and Cole took care of all the party guests, right?"

"Yeah." She takes a deep breath and pulls away from our hug, looking up at me. "Are you okay?"

"Besides the fact that my punchlines today were sick?" I wiggle my eyebrows.

She rolls her eyes at my stupid joke, rising off the ground with trembling legs. I stand with her, keeping one hand at her waist while surveying the damage around us.

The banquet hall is collapsed, part of it in crumbles and the rest in chunks of fine architecture. A group of partygoers in fancy dress stands in a huddle off to the side. Skylor's bossing a squadron of Ninjago City emergency workers around – as best as she can, at least. The guy she's chewing out right now doesn't look like he has much appreciation for her efforts.

My eyes dart around in search of Cole. I finally spot him helping an elderly woman sit down on a nearby bench.

I guess that means the only person left is...Kai.

Nya seems to realize this about the same time I do. She suddenly jerks away from me to look behind us. "Kai?!"

I turn my head back to see him slowly rising off the ground, his eyes fixed on us. "I – how –,"

Nya bolts toward him and captures him in a fierce attack hug. "You idiot!" she cries, the words muffled against his suit jacket. "Didn't you hear Jay shouting over and over again that you couldn't touch that giant metal...thing? You could've been killed, Kai, and all because you weren't willing to listen to sage advice!" She inhales a huge breath in a stilted sob.

He awkwardly puts one arm around her, looking bewildered. "How – you two – how did you get here?"

"Unlike you," I step in, "some of us are still into the crime-fighting gig. We have eyes and ears everywhere."

Nya huffs, pulling back from her embrace with Kai and angrily rubbing away tears. "He means that we saw what was happening from Skylor's girls' home down the street." She plants her hands on her hips to hide her shaking hands.

"I...girls' home?" Kai blinks. "What does Skylor have to do with a – "

Nya pivots away from him and sighs. "Never mind. I'm going to go help Skylor redirect police efforts." And with that, she marches off in the redhead's direction.

Note to self: Nya is an emotional mess and will need one of two things tonight – extra affection or a lot of extra space.

I clear my throat, looking back at Kai. "So...you're okay?"

He nods, still staring slack-jawed in Nya and Skylor's direction. "Yeah, just...my past has flashed before my eyes more times than I can count tonight."

***(Kai's POV)***

I watch in a daze as the evening darkens and emergency officials wrap up the street in caution tape. Roadblocks go up, witnesses are questioned, and fallen androids are observed.

And I feel like I'm not even part of it all. It's like I'm watching a movie – I meet Skylor at some fancy charity ball, I try to save her from a crazy robot, I get rescued by my brother-in-law and an emotionally abusive sister. Said sister risks her life to save me. Y'know, the usual.

Not.

Someone grips my shoulder, and I turn my chin slightly to see Cole's cautious yet ever-friendly smile.

"Hey, buddy," he greets. "Need a ride home tonight? I think we may need to talk over a few things."

"I..." I clear my throat. "Uh...like what?" 'Cause I have a lot I'd like to know as well – why my sister risked her life for me today, what my ex-fiancée's been up to the past two years, and how the heck we all ended up in the same place at the same time.

"Just some stuff." He claps his hand on my shoulder. "Great. Thanks for being a good sport. Nya and Jay are over there if – "

He stops short when he sees my sister emphatically saying something to Jay as she pinches the bridge of her nose, stress written all over the lines of her face. I can't catch much of what she says over the evening breeze, but a few words are audible: "brother", "don't understand", "jerk", and "bleepin' android".

Except the bleepin' part, of course.

I clear my throat. "I'll just stay with you, if that's all right."

He scratches the back of his head. "Well, I'm finishing up with the police, but you do need someone to keep an eye on you – no offense, but tonight has just been nuts, and..." He swallows hard before pasting on a happy smile and waving frantically toward the opposite side of the crime scene. "Skylor! I have a job for you!"

~Music Cue~

Oh, boy. My eyes slowly and carefully flit toward her.

She looks up from her phone, but her eyes go dark and slightly murderous when she sees me.

My self-confidence from earlier has evaporated into nothingness. I have no idea what the heck I've gotten myself into.

I see a swear pass her lips before she storms toward us, gripping her phone in her palm like a sword in a warrior's hand. Her black gown swishes along the contours of her hips, several red curls bounce around beside her face, and the whole scene looks very poetic.

I just wish that glare were aimed at anyone but me.

"What do you need?" she snaps when she reaches us, still staring me down with that haunting gaze.

Cole coughs. "Um...you...babysit...Kai. Thanks for the help, Skylor!" And he rushes away to safer pastures – like Jay, my sister, and the chief of police.

Yeah, I don't think even Nya's wrath can compare to Skye's right now.

I awkwardly stare down at my ex, my smile sheepish. "So..." I shiver at a gust of wind and pull my suit jacket tighter around myself.

Then I notice the goosebumps on Skylor's arms and realize I might buy myself a few last words if I do her an act of kindness.

I shrug off my jacket and cautiously place it over her bare shoulders. "Um...how's...life?"

Her head jerks upward, eyes defiant as they meet mine. "How's life? How's life?"

The wild bear in her natural habitat.

I smile in as placating a way as I know. "Yeah. I mean, what have you been up to the past two years that you've yet to fill me in – "

She barks out a laugh, slapping my suit jacket to the ground. "Maybe if you'd been around, I wouldn't have to fill you in."

I quirk an eyebrow. "Uh...didn't sound like you wanted me to stick around when we parted ways two years ago, sorry."

She scoffs. "And whose fault was that? I tried everything I knew to make us work, and I'm glad I stopped. I never knew what a self-centered jerk you were until then, and I see now that we would never have worked. We have totally different life callings." She scrubs a hand over her hair. "I run a girls' home, Kai. There's your answer – that's what I've been up to the past two years." She crosses her arms in front of her chest protectively, shivering against another gust of wind.

Her words bring me pain and anger, but something about the sight of her standing there, looking so independent yet lonely and small, breaks a part of me. My heart...softens. It pangs for someone other than me.

I bend down and grab my suit jacket off the ground, shaking the gravel out of it and brushing off any dust with my palm. I then drape it around her shoulders once more.

"I always knew you'd go on to do great things," I try, standing beside her in the dark of night. "Where's the home located?"

She turns her face away from me. "Right down the street, Kai – it's at my house." Her tone turns hard, her fists clenching tight. "And to think that this android...android-creature was just down the road from my girls."

Oh. I pegged her as a bear earlier, but perhaps I should've said mama bear.

It all makes sense, really – Skylor's always been super protective of any girls she thinks are young and vulnerable. She took Nya under her wing back in high school, and that was the only way she and I ever got together.

I stare down at her. "So...how's girls' home life working for you?"

She blinks up at me. "Working for me?"

"Yes," I say slowly. Why does she look so angry?

She clenches her eyes shut and sighs. "None of it is for me, Kai Smith. It's for them. By golly, how did I ever think you knew anything about love?"

I take a step forward, trying to control my temper. "Look, I know you're upset and all, but would you quit insulting everything I say and do? I'm trying to be kind here."

Skylor's eyes pop open, rage spilling out of them like unwept tears. "I'm sorry if I'm freaking out because fourteen girls who are practically my daughters are all hiding in fear in my house right now!" Her tone is laced with hysteria and fear. "You really think I'm going to be cool and calm and poised while talking to a basilica like you – "

"Basilica?" I exclaim. "What the heck does – "

"I'm sorry!" she yells, insecurity twisting her features. "I raise fourteen teenage girls I won't let myself curse around, so I have to come up with replacements for all the usual swear words, and sometimes I forget to switch back to regular lingo when they're not around!" Her fingers dig into my jacket so it's pulled tightly around her shoulders, and she draws in a ragged breath.

I'm honestly worried my coat might rip.

I take a deep breath, trying to defuse the situation. "I understand that you're upset, Skye. This is a lot to deal with at once, isn't it? I – "

"You understand nothing, Kai Smith," she laughs bitterly, her voice breaking like a frayed thread. "You don't know crap about my life, so don't even try to pretend you do. Let me put this for you in simple terms." She swipes a tear from her inner eye. "You used to be terrified of Nya going to malls or movies or sleepovers? Imagine having fourteen younger sisters who could've just died." She pivots, her wedged heel digging into the busted pavement. "Tell Cole I'll be back at New Beginnings for our meeting. I'm walking back." She halts abruptly, her whole posture tensing. "And for your information – since you're so disconnected with my life and everything in it – New Beginnings is the girls' home."

Despite my frustration and better judgment, I reach out and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hold up, Skye. You're not thinking clearly because so much is going on right now, but it's not safe for you to walk home alone while it's dark out and – "

She turns her face toward me, and I see all her vulnerability exposed in that one look.

"Kai," she bites out, "I've been walking myself home for two years now, and I'm just fine."

And with that, she practically runs away, my jacket flapping behind her like a superhero's cape in the air.