Nya moved away from Lloyd. No matter how well she handled it, her eyes could not hide the lingering pain of The Quiet Ones games. Her mind had been twisted, broken and scarred and Nya would kill her. Lloyd believed it, but a murderer she was not and if she followed through, she would regret it.

Nya slid through the crowd, swift and agile; like a silverfish she had reached the front easily. Lloyd had followed but was now stuck amid the throng. As the crowd moved through the tight and complex roads of the settlement Lloyd asked himself 'how in Wu's name did they manage to lock off part of a city?' He was truly astounded at the scale and wanted answers.

'Cole' Lloyd shouted pushing through to fall into a run beside him 'these shadows...' He looked around at the small army 'How are they with us now?'

Cole released a respectful laugh 'you'll have to talk to Jay about that, though maybe when his jaw's been reset!'

'Man, I need some info, I'm running around blind here!' Lloyd implored his friend.

The swarm turned a corner and suddenly a vast high-sided thoroughfare stretched away in front of them. Cole broke away and pulled Lloyd aside. He scrabbled up the looming wall, the render crumbling as he swiftly pushed upwards, latching his hammer on the lip to pull him-self up. Lloyd followed and Cole reached his hand down to allow Lloyd to scale the great wall without activating his powers. Standing at the top they saw the thoroughfare before them, wide and high sided, it's substantial build was like a fortification and painted a deep red.

'This must be the main artery Nat talked about' said Cole 'if The Quiet One and Hutchins were heading here what was it for?'

'Who's Nat?' Lloyd asked.

Cole started jogging along the wall 'There are a couple of shadows that helped Kai. They happen to be the Quiet Ones sisters'

'...And we trust them?'

'Well, yeah! Or at least Nya does, she seems to believe in Kai's estimation of them. But...'

'But?'

'Well, I'm not sure how much we can actually trust Kai's judgement'

Lloyd furrowed his brow, this was a new sentiment he did not expect from Cole and carefully asked 'How so?'

'I'm pretty sure his brains are located way south of where they should be!'

'Well, yeah' Lloyd replied sarcastically 'I think we've always known that, so what's new?'

Cole flicked his eyes back to Lloyd 'It's Skylor' he said.

'What do you mean?'

'She played him. She wasn't who he thought she was' Lloyd looked at Cole with a confused look and Cole continued 'she may have been Chens Daughter, but she served only herself. She ousted her own father, using us to do it and took over daddies business, sailing his ship under her own sails and used Kai to keep an outsiders eye on her dealings, to make sure she was never rumbled'

'Shit! Well I see what you mean... That's harsh. Kai must be... oh, so that was the shock?'

'Yep. We can't blame him, we were all fooled'

'But what you're really saying is, did we follow his trust blindly?'

'Yeah, kind of... It's just, I feel like maybe we need to start looking at things differently. The world is changing, we're older and we can't trust like children anymore...'

'... Nothing is black and white' Lloyd added.

'... And nothing is quite as straightforward as Yin and Yang would have us believe' Cole turned back to his friend to see he was no longer behind him and had slowed to a stop, a look of deep concentration on his face 'are you ok Lloyd?' Cole called back to him, but Lloyd continued his faraway look of confusion and so Cole went back 'Lloyd!' he shouted sharply and Lloyd looked up abruptly.

'I... I was trying to remember something. You said Yin and Yang and I had this feeling, no... more like a memory. But I can't access it... its, frustrating!'

'It's probably just something you read in a book'

'Probably' Lloyd shook it off and as they turned to continue, a blast ripped through one of the great walls further up the artery and a green fireball rocketed out to explode on its opposite side. The whole swarm contracted in unison, an attempt to shield themselves. As the fire took hold a wall of water grew around it. Lloyd swept Cole up in his energy field and surged towards the phenomena.

'We've seen that fire before' Cole growled. Below them Nya was smothering the flames, Kai was running towards her with Hitch and Nat following.

'At the Palace!' Lloyd added.

'It was Hutchins who razed it, that's how he's got those scars'

Lloyd threw out a gust of energy, which he manipulated around the remaining flames, suffocating them. Seeing Lloyds face once again confused, Cole explained 'He has a major disfiguration. The blast at the palace didn't kill him, but he must have been caught up in it'

They ran to Nya and Kai, who with the two ninja were pulling shadows free of the blast zone 'Is that The Quiet Ones sisters?'

'Yes'

Nat looked up and directly into Cole's eyes as he spoke. She moved towards them with a purpose, a stern look and a determined walk, she shoved debris out of the way and arrived in front of him 'listen up, I don't give two friggin' hoots whether you trust us or not. Trust is overrated and I trust no one' she spat at him and whipped around continuing on to Nya through the damp haze of the extinguished fire.

Cole looked abashed 'Oh... and she can hear your thoughts!'

'Oh... right!' Lloyd replied and they stood silenced for a moment.

'... I wonder what goes on inside her head?' Cole quietly mulled.

'I think she makes her thoughts pretty clearly heard' Lloyd replied.

'I'm not so sure' Cole said thoughtfully and continued to join Nat and Nya.

Lloyd watched him go, a knowing smile appearing on his face 'You don't need to be a mind reader to know she's piqued your interest' he thought and as Nat shot Lloyd a dirty look he quickly thought of something else!

A shout came from further up, Kai and Hitch were running towards them 'the tunnels have been scorched. They either made their way through first and then activated the traps, or they're barbequed'

'Tunnels?' Nya asked.

'Yes' Nat explained 'the main artery also links to an underground system, the veins; tunnels that spread under the whole settlement and beyond. They could be anywhere'

'Or nowhere! We may find remains...' Hitch added.

'No way' Cole cut in 'Hutchins has tried this diversion before. I bet he's fine and he's probably not even left. Nat, can you hear him or The Quiet One?'

She shook her head 'I don't know what she's capable of. For as long as we've lived I could not hear her. But with her powers released, I heard her, for a moment' She continued to shake her head, the uncertainty of silence so alien to her 'she could be shielding him, blocking us again, or something, I just don't know'

Nya let out a frustrated growl, knowing they would now be long gone, the explosion was obviously a way to block them from following. She wanted the Quiet One. She wanted revenge. Revenge for the way she was played; she had twisted her will and wants and lured her away from her friends and her love. She drew the worst out of me with a hand of friendship and she's doing it still because I want to kill her... and I will enjoy it. But this time I accept it, this time I choose it. Nya turned to face her friends a fierce look in her eyes and lied 'This is a ruse, they want us to think they've left, they're still here'

'Uh, I don't think that's necessarily right Nya' Lloyd cut in 'It makes more sense they would cut off their escape route from us so there's no way to follow. They are in The Veins, I'm sure of it'

'That's what they would have you think. They could be holed up here or anywhere' we have to make sure...' Nya tried to convince Lloyd and then thought to herself and I have to make sure I go into The Veins alone.

Cole and Lloyd looked at each other. Confused and worried. Jay mumbled still in pain but unable to ever stay quiet 'sho, wha gu ee oo?'

...Nya echoed his words back 'so what do we do?' and began to formulate her own plan.

Nat spoke 'we need to get into The Veins. We don't know for sure where they've gone, either way' and gave Nya a long hard stare 'also, we should sweep the area and the whole damn settlement' she threw her arms wide and looked around in dismay at this impossibility 'it could be a ruse, though I think you know its not' and again she settled her gaze at Nya who stared her down. Lloyd, Cole and Jay followed Nat's gaze to Nya and sensed that Nat was not telling even half of what she was hearing 'Ok. Shadows with me! We are the greatest number, we will search the settlement' she turned to move her people to action and paused for a moment before looking back to Nya 'you do what you must, she is no longer my sister...' Walking away she added 'I suggest you find Hitch and Fireboy, she'll know some ways into The Veins' and the shadows moved behind her obscuring her from view.

Cole raised his Borg watch immediately to find Kai 'Ugh, of course! He doesn't have a watch!' We should wear these things all the time... New rule, ok?'

'They can't be far' Lloyd said and as if on demand Kai and Hitch appeared over the high wall of the Artery followed by their Shadow crew.

'What happened?' Kai shouted as he lowered himself and slid down the face of the wall.

'Explosives!' Cole shouted as Kai made his way over to him 'Hutchins has collapsed The Veins. We need to find a way in beyond the ruined parts; they could be beyond, using it to hold us up. Nat and her team are searching the Settlement, in case it's a diversion' Cole called up to the small ninja standing atop the wall 'Hitch, do you know a way?' Hitch motioned to follow her and she dropped back down to the other side of the wall 'Lets move!' Cole shouted and he started a run, followed by Kai, Jay and Lloyd.

They scaled the wall, Lloyd helping Jay with a subtle push of energy; he was not in great shape. Lloyd stopped at the top to check if Jay was ok and caught sight of Nya still far down on the ground. She had not moved, except to turn her back on them. Still and alone she looked into the dust of the newly created cavern. Lloyd turned and so too did Jay. Quick as a flash Nya disappeared into the dark void and Lloyd flinched forward as if to follow, but Jay caught his arm. His eyes wide, he shook his head 'don't' he whispered 'thish ith her fight'