astra

"You don't need surgery,"

"Lovely," Astra commented dryly. In truth, it was lovely. Doctors and hospitals and anything medicinal freaked her out.

"But you will need a cast and splint for your leg."

"Lovelier."

Joker dropped his clipboard to the table with a rattle and rubbed at his temples. "Honestly, how did Troya find you? Kids are insufferable and a blight on this world."

Astra laughed to herself. Joker worked with adults - or teens borderline adults from the few other patients she had seen stumble in and hated kids with a passion. Obi saw to more of the general practice aspect and Joker specialised in...whatever it was.

"Stop squirming, hold still and don't complain when I do it."

"Do what?"

"This."

"OW! Holy crap dude, what the hell—" There was now an IV connected through her arm, and her eyes were lazily drooping close. "Did you give me like, a sedation med or something?" A rude yawn escaped her mouth.

He ignored her. "Oh no Joker! I can't do Rea's leg! You'll have to do it!" Joker mimicked Obi's voice poorly in a high pitch imitation of pure annoyance, waving his hands around for extra effect.

"Alright you imp, listen up. I'm going to do what's called a closed reduction, which means I'll be applying pressure to get your bone back into place. Don't give me shit about it hurting because you are on pain and sedation meds right now."

"Cooooooolio." she flashed him a double thumbs up, and promptly passed out stone cold.

She woke to a not nice throbbing in her lower leg and found herself looking at a slim cast running from her upper thigh down over her foot. It was a lot thinner than what she'd expected and it was that sort of annoying soreness you could push to the back of your mind. Her arms - with what little strength they had - pushed her up in the chair to a more comfortable position. The IV cord pulled along with the movement.

The door opened and Astra flinched at the loud noise. Luckily, it wasn't Joker here to complain about kids, rather Obliterate with a familiar clipboard.

"All good?" she asked with a kind smile. Astra nodded, tapping on the cast gently.

"When can I get out of this?"

"So while you were passed out, we took some tests using your blood and whatnot, ran some scans and found that you young lady, have a very interesting immune system. Your innate and adaptive systems work at twice the pace of the average human's when they use their natural killer cells or antibodies. Because of this, you've seen outer evidence that your leg is healing very quickly, which means I've estimated your recovery period with the cast on should be about...three weeks."

Her eyebrows rose with surprise and Obi nodded her affirmation. "I only know one person with an immune system that strong and fast, alas I'm afraid I can't continue my investigation into that. People here get injured far too often for me to have any spare time and Joker is grumpier than ever. Anyways, after that you'll get a brace to go around your knee and then some physio to keep the muscle and ligaments around it strong."

Astra pursed her lips. "I have school tomorrow..."

Obi laughed heartily. "Oh honey, you're part of the gang now. I don't think school is very high up on the priorities of training you."

"But...maths?" she tried weakly, secretly cheering to herself.

The GP chuckled again. "Destroyer is gonna come talk to you about all that in five minutes. Relax for a sec hon, I just need to give you a quick check up."

She shone a light into her eyes and checked her vitals, scribbling some things down before leaving Astra alone. Obi's amiable personality and conversation made Astra more comfortable in such a strange environment, but worry was clawing at her stomach like butterflies, but with really sharp nails. If they had them? Did they? Her brain wandered off on a tangent so she didn't notice her sister creep in, picking at her nails as she waited for the younger Harlow to acknowledge her presence.

"Rea—"

"Holycrapjeezusshrekwhatthefuck—"

"Now I see why Joker was in such a piss mood when he finished your reduction. You swear far too much." Before Astra could protest, Cassie waved her hand in a silencing movement. "Take these crutches, we're going for a walk."

Troya tossed her a pair of crutches which she fumbled for, her fingers clumsily slipping on the metal. Cassie sighed, loudly, and Astra grumbled to herself as she shifted her leg to hang over the table. The sudden weight was a surprise but she adapted to the change, using the crutches to support herself, swinging with each pace. Her sister held the door of the room open, leading her out into the waiting room where they waved goodbye to Obi.

"You've just left Med-Sec and now you're in the training space, AKA the Arena. Don't make a smartass comment about that Rea or I'm joining Joker's anti-kid campaign." Astra's mouth clamped shut guilty. They were in a gigantic space with a high roof - it looked like a massive warehouse had been moved underground with big fans, metal rods creating a grid across the ceiling.

"Med-Sec is so close to the Arena because we get hurt a lot in this line of work. We take training here seriously because life and death relies on your muscles, your wit and your reflexes." Cassie gestured to a bunch of people in similar slim all-black attire to hers flipping and tumbling through an obstacle course set up in a corner of the Arena. The Med-Sec was located in the corner diagonally opposite to the training course - set back into the wall to save space.

"How is this all here?" she gaped like a goldfish, still trying to get a hang on her crutches.

"Catacombs beneath the city," Cassie placed her hands on her hips, turning back around to look at Astra. "We simply assessed the structure and strength of the walls and excavated where we could work. It's a fairly new facility."

Her eyes were scanning Astra thoughtfully, and she becockned for the younger girl to follow her over to a store of sorts, built into the wall just like Med-Sec. Almost like a bar, there was a counter, a few computers out and some papers strewn across it. A black curtain was pulled across to serve as a backing so Astra had no idea what lay behind there.

"This is Tels, or, Tellum, our Weapons Master."

They're very organised. Astra waved a cautious hello to Tellum as he gestured for her to take a step back. He 'hmmm'ed and 'ahhhhh'ed a lot. He only spoke to address her leg.

"Hmmmmmm. Your injury is not very useful. How long will you have that cast on for?" His voice was surprisingly high despite all the low humming he did.

"About three weeks, Obi said." she replied, calling on the doctor's earlier words. She tipped her head slightly in interest as he disappeared into the back, moving the curtain slightly to slip through the gap. Taking the opportunity, she rounded on Cassie anxiously.

"Troya! What the heck? I thought I was supposed to get my cast and get out of here? Why am I being introduced to a freaking weapons master?"

"Oh, yeah about that," Cassie swung herself up casually on the counter, sharpening two daggers against each other. "Big man wants you to train...and I honestly think it's a good idea."

Astra snorted, stabbing the prodded end of her left crutch at the ground. "Yeah...no"

"Rea, we have to talk about your fingers going, like, pew-pew when I was about to get backstabbed." Cassie even did the finger guns half-heartedly. Tellum was still rummaging around the back for something and Astra wished he would hurry up so she wouldn't stuff up the situation.

"We actually don't, denial is very healthy." she countered swiftly, using her crutches to hop around so her back was facing Troya.

Cassie sighed and walked back round, her face steeled into an expression of seriousness. "I'm not joking, yes again, I'm saying this because it isn't a joke. What you can do — what you did, was not normal. Not in a bad way, but...you need to be trained. Also, the Serpentine probably have a hit on you now that they think you're a SOG spy."

"That's a bit rude of them."

Cassie looked like she wanted to strangle Astra in a sister-dear way.

"Fine." she relented, shrugging as best as she could whilst holding the crutches. She hadn't given any thought to whatever had burst from her fingertips in that alleyway - her brain was currently clouded by dimmed down pain, lots of surprise and a stream of curses. "I don't have to go home? Right?"

Cassie nodded, albeit unsurely. "Yeah, we have dorms here."

She let a slow breath out. Of relief, probably. If there was one thing Astra was good at, it was procrastination. She could procrastinate going home, going to school - then she remembered her friends. Kade, Zander, Annabella, Rema and Zi would notice. Maybe.

"Can I get, like, a deal? Three weeks here, one in school? Just so I can see my friends and stuff?"

Cassie nodded slowly, her fingers racing over the screen of the tiny black device she was carrying around. "I gotta talk to the Lord, sort some things out, but yes, I can do that. Oh, and listen to Tels. The guy's good with his weapons even if you think it won't suit you at first. I wanted to use double swords but he was a stubborn donkey, and here I am stabbing people with double sappara." She tapped the hilts of the two knives she'd been sharpening against each other with a fond smile that almost doubled as maniac. "Of course, they're a little elongated and slimmer with reinforced—"

"Ooookay, off you go knife nerd." Astra said dryly, shooing her away with a crutch. These things are useful. Annoying, but useful. "Get Big G onboard."

Cassie snorted. "I dare you to try call him Big G in person." Before Astra could reply, Cassie had slipped into some shadows, and then she was gone. Astra blinked a few times to make sure her eyes were working, then turned her attention back to where Tellum was standing behind the counter, now holding some kind of...bow?

"Troya is one of the best here. Trained her in weapons myself." he said, setting the contraption down on the countertop.

Astra took a page out of his book and 'hmmm'ed in response, sitting on a high bar stool so her arms could rest. Her left leg was annoyingly clunky with the cast and she had to manoeuvre it slowly and carefully so she could sit properly.

"You're probably wondering what this is." He pointed to the weapon sitting on the counter and she nodded along. "This is a modified crossbow, made her myself. I had to touch a few things up back there because we need you working with your weapons as fast as possible."

"Dang." her fingers ran over the cool metal surface of the crossbow, her admiration showing.

"The draw for your starter bow is significantly less than what your final draw will be. Can't have you working on a 150 right away. Now, this is where your injury sort of affects your loading. You can either manually draw the bow, or use a crank. The problem with a normal crossbow is that the loading time takes far too long. With a normal bow, you'd have five or six shots off in time you load and shoot a crossbow."

Her focus was now entirely on the crossbow, attention piqued.

"And here's where my favourite parts come in." a smile grew, slightly crazed, but with the fondness Cassie had when she spoke of those sappara thingies. "This crossbow doubles as a normal bow."

Eyebrows raised, she tried and failed to whistle, impressed. Tellum patted it affectionately, his fingers moving quickly to assemble the parts.

"If you're far off, the crossbow will provide you with much greater range and power behind the shots. Closer, you move the parts like so—" He finished moving everything again, back between crossbow and bow. "And boom. You have a bow. Not a traditional one of course, but tomorrow we'll delve into the specifics. Just wanted to show her off."

Astra smiled, already attached to the bow. I'm attached to a bow? Thought dismissed, she thanked Tellum and shuffled off the chair with the help of her crutches in the direction of the dorm he'd pointed her way to. Head pounding with every new surprise that had come her way, Astra set off on her crutches with purpose - and a broken knee.

lloyd

He yanked down a bag from the top of his cupboard and yowled in surprise as it toppled down onto his head.

"Ow!" he grumbled, massaging the top of his head with a foul grimace of pain. He hated packing. Packing was not a Lloyd thing. Opening a back he found himself staring at a massive stack of comics higgledy-piggledy shoved inside. Distracted, he started flicking through an old issue of The Amazing Spider-Man and got lost in the plot.

"Lloyd!" yelled his mother from the door. Immediately, he threw the comic over his head and pretended to be buried in the exciting activity of packing.

"Here!" he responded belatedly, just as his door creaked open.

Misako chuckled and bent down to help him sort through a few things. She took a good look around his room and nodded proudly. "Nice job Lloyd."

He smiled in response, continuing to pack on autopilot. "You kinda just sprung this whole we're moving thing on me...where exactly are we moving to?"

"I think you'll find out at school tomorrow." she brushed his fringe out of his eyes and jerked her head towards the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."

He nodded mutely, watching her back retreat into the hallway, utterly confused. Why would he find out at school? How come his dad had just dipped after his short visit, not even a goodbye? Suddenly packing seemed a good idea to take his mind off everything and his frown deepened as he found things that he didn't even know he owned.

Sleep was welcome as his exhaustion took control, and Lloyd flopped into bed contentedly, snoring before his head hit the pillow. When he woke, his alarm clock was screaming at him and he muttered an altered curse under his breath as he scurried to get ready for school. His mum would have left for the museum already, leaving behind a just-warm plate of eggs and toast which he inhaled before legging it out of the door.

"LLOYD!" yelled Nya and Kai in unison the second he stepped off the bus.

"SMITHS?" he cried back confusedly.

"You'recomingtostaywithus!" Nya rambled in true Jay spirit.

"Slow down." huffed Kai, shrugging his Dragons jacket on.

"You're. Coming. To Stayy. With. Uss." she tried again with a cheeky grin.

Lloyd's eyebrows raised at her mood - considerably happier than last week, but surprise took over and he actually wheezed in laughter.

"No way! My mum was just being cryptic and telling me 'I'd find out at school tomorrow'. Wait, why are we coming to live with you?"

"Our parents are getting busier with work and they figured we needed a guardian, and turns out it's Misako. Which means you're coming along, of course." Nya explained as Kai rolled his eyes at 'guardian'.

"That's so cool." he cheered as they rummaged through their lockers. "Imagine all the video games we can play, and you guys can fund my comic and sweet addiction, and we can—"

"Slow down there motormouth," Kai joked.

"Hey! I thought I was motormouth?" exclaimed Jay indignantly just as he turned the corner.

Lloyd's eyebrows entered his hairline. Suddenly, everyone was a chirpy bundle of happiness today? Not complaining from the recent grumbly mood that had been thrown over them, Lloyd closed his locker and went on his phone.

harumi.brassard wants to send you a message

Lloyd groaned, squinting so his eyes were practically closed as if that would rid him of that notification. He opened one eye. Nope, still there. When he looked up again all his friends had left for homeroom and he launched into a sprint with an exasperated sigh. He made it to homeroom with two minutes to spare - and thirty seconds to spare as a familiar voice told him.

"Zane! You're back!" he let his bag fall to the floor and brought out sufficient doodling materials to keep him distracted.

His friend nodded absentmindedly. "Yes, I am back." Zane's eyes turned down to his notebook where a rough drawing of Zane was laid out in pencil. There were gears and switches and wires in certain uncovered areas, and Zane frowned as he drew arrows out of each part. Lloyd had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to see that, so he averted his eyes and continued his attempts to draw. It was from one of his dreams, that type of epic adventurous dream that seemed to be real when you were experiencing it, sending shivers down your spine when you thought back to it.

It was of Ninjago City, upsettingly gloomy whilst rain poured down from above. His cheap ballpoint pen moved quickly over the corner of his maths worksheet in steady strokes, pausing to check it from a different angle. He snuck a look at Zane's drawing while homeroom droned on, and his friend was still staring at the paper. The only one of their friends who still seemed down.

While Zane's art style was punctuated, deliberate drawing, Lloyd's was messy, unpredictable and changed with every drawing he did. Admittedly, this rough sketch was one of his favourite pieces. Sometimes ballpoint pens and maths homework came in clutch.

Homeroom was over in a flash, and Zane left the classroom quicker than anyone heading for the bathroom after eating Cole's cooking. He chanced a look back at his phone, his gaze lingering at the notification.

"Oh, what the hell."

He clicked accept, and moved for his next class.

Monday passed by swimmingly - at least the better half of the day, up until lunch when he sat at their table again - Pixal and Zane were here, but both refused to speak. Jay took up the mantle of keeping the conversation alive, Nya and Lloyd occasionally butting in. Skylor was fixed at the popular table, rigid and stiff but seeming to enjoy herself. She also looked...different? Lloyd couldn't really tell but it looked like she was wearing makeup.

notification from harumi.brassard

His fingers swiped up before his brain could yell protest at him. Her first message had been: hi lloyd, and the second, wrong person, sorry

lloyd_g: i'm literally the only lloyd in the school

harumi.brassard: no i meant another lloyd

lloyd_g: okay, what's his last name?

harumi.brassard: ...garmadon?

lloyd_g: cut to the chase harumi, why are you talking to me?

harumi.brassard: ouch. can't i talk to people?

lloyd_g: you've ignored me for most of highschool, why is that changing now?

harumi.brassard: because...you're cute?

He let out a loud splutter of pure shock and laughter that startled Jay into a flap, his friend's milk cartoon flipping up wildly into the air and landing spout-down and splattered milk everywhere. His green hoodie was stained pale with the milk, droplets hanging off his eyelashes. He leapt up to mop up the mess, scrubbing at his shirt and face. His eyes caught Harumi's from across the cafeteria. She was holding her phone with a genuine smirk, looking as if she was choking back a laugh. Nya dragged Jay to grab from napkins leaving the only couple left for him to third wheel awkwardly. Glancing back down at his phone, he saw he had a new message.

harumi.brassard: very graceful

lloyd_g: thank you

harumi.brassard: ill see you around garmadon.

harumi.brassard is now offline

His hoodie was still damp from the milk and smelled weird, so he took it off and stuffed it into his backpack leaving him in a white shirt. Jay and Nya finally came back from the bathroom, eagerly chatting about something the latter had in her hands. Jay reached across to fiddle with it and Nya's cheeks blushed the faintest pink you wouldn't even have seen if you didn't know to look for it. And Lloyd did, considering he knew about Jay's crush.

About to exit the app, Lloyd's thumb hovered over the home button when a notification slid down.

unknown number has added you to a group chat with known contacts: kai the fry, punchy girl, music man, brains of the operation, pixxxal, i am a bad (bleep)..., and noodle lady

unknown number: your presence in required at the principal's office in five minutes

i am a bad (bleep) addison rae changed their name to mrbulletcar

mrbulletcar: STRANGER DANGER I REPEAT STRANGER DANGER

mrbulletcar had left the conversation

unknown number has added mrbulletcar to unnamed group chat

music man: who are you

unknown number: you have three minutes to be at the principal's office

Me: uh, who are you?

unknown number: two minutes and twenty three seconds

kai the fry: lets get this over and done with

unknown number: two minutes and seven seconds

It was amazing how the panic snapped his head up so fast he heard his neck crack, all eight of teens making nervous eye contact from across the cafeteria. Nya stood up first and left indiscreetly, Lloyd and Jay following as the bell rang for next class. Another buzz from the pocket of his pants. The distinct feeling of I should not be doing this thudded with every heartbeat frenzied by panic.

unknown number: one minute and thirty three seconds

Shit.

A/N: im so hungry writing this and probably will be when posting this. ALRIGHT I THOUGHT I WOULD GET THERE QUICKER BUT NEXT CHAPTER WILL HAVE ACTION OF SORT. this is up to what i have planned which means i have to start my random jumble of planning again y a y. This a freaking fat chapter, the acutal writing being 3.5k words. Someone tell me to stop using curse words as cliffhangers please. *insert montage of me writing* yes.

I did post a double chapter today because I've gotten quite a bit ahead and i felt like it. I'm actually starting a new school in a couple of weeks which is nerve wrecking because i don't intend on speaking to anyone but the school is big on group things. So eugheuganubfnw.

-dommie out