(Warning. This chapter contains some mild gore and strong language).

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The sheer force of the explosion blew Cole backwards a few feet, and for a number of seconds, he was completely incapacitated.

Ears ringing so loudly he couldn't even hear his own breathing, no energy to get himself up, and the weight of what had just happened bore him down, dragging his morale and conscience deep into the depths of despair...

But then...

He remembered Jay.

Jay, who hadn't wasted a single second.
Jay, who had sprung into action immediately.
Jay, who had saved all their skins.
Jay, who they could all be dead without.
Jay, who launched himself in the direction of those in trouble.
Jay, who acted selflessly.
Jay, who risked his life.

Jay, who was currently buried under rubble... possibly already dead.

"... J-J... Jay!"

Cole managed to collect enough energy to drag himself off the glass and rubble covered floor, limping as quickly as he could over to the blast radius.

A piece of debris had shot past him during the event, and tore a huge gash in his leg. He payed no mind to it, no matter how much it hurt. He hit his head pretty badly too, as he came to the ground after the blast.

"... JAY!" He screamed, begging for some sort of answer to come out of the wasteland in front of him, but there was nothing.

Everything was swaying, and blowing itself out of proportion, but he couldn't give up.

With immense effort, Cole used his elemental powers to shift a large section of concrete out of the way. He was ever so grateful at that moment that he had been blessed with this specific ability, because without it, uncovering even a sign of Jay's location would be near impossible.

More shifting, more calling. He started to hear the other Ninja making their way downstairs, to where the main blast had been.

Again and again he moved the rocks, trying his hardest to remember Jay's position as it went off, but nothing was functioning right in his head.

Once more, and again, and another...

He seemed to be getting nowhere, and started clawing at the mess with his battered hands, unable to muster any more elemental strength.

Everything swayed... and he felt woozy... and pointless, and as if he had failed...

But with one final movement, a specific flat of rock fell away, revealing a snippet of electric blue material.

... could it, really be?

Cole slapped himself, waking himself up and refusing to fall under. Not now. Not now that he was so close.

Brick by brick, dust and grime, more blue came to light, and eventually, Jay's figure was recognisable.

Cole could have cried in relief, grabbing his friend under his shoulders and pulling him out of the rubble. Zane was the first to reach downstairs, and rushed over to help straight away.

"Cole! Thank god you are ok! What about Jay? Is he breathing?"

Cole couldn't do more than shrug, and once Jay was safely out of danger, lying on the floor, clearly still alive... he finally let his unconsciousness get the better of him, and passed out.

Zane caught him before he hit the ground with an unpleasant thump, and laid him down to rest as well.

Nya was next, and close behind her were Lloyd and Kai. Lloyd was helping him along, an action that was very much needed, as he had been wounded pretty badly. The gunshot holes bled openly, dying his red-suit dark crimson.

"O-Oh god... did they get caught in it?!" Nya exclaimed, kneeling next to the unconscious boys and testing both their pulses.

"Jay did, but Cole managed to get him out."

"... thank god..." she uttered.

Lloyd let Kai down to the ground, so he could stop putting so much strain on himself.

"... what the f*ck... happened?" He groaned, clearly a little bit out of it due to the blood loss, and the pain.

Nobody payed attention to his question. There would be a time for answering it, but now was not the case.

"... the other people..." Nya whispered, then jerked her head around to meet Zane's equally horrified stare.

"... the... the other hostages! They were right in the middle! What do we do?!"

As if the gods themselves had been listening to their despair, the police managed to get through the rubble piled at each entrance, and swarmed into the building in their tens.

They were undoubtedly a lot better equipped to deal with an explosion, and lives to save, than a group of Ninja. Their specialty was fighting.

Nya and Zane were perfectly capable to help the search, so once Cole and Jay had been carried out on stretchers and sent to the nearest hospital, they started helping as best they could.

Kai was also lead out by a police officer, told to wait outside for another set of medical staff to arrive to treat him and take him to hospital.

However, Kai had different plans.

Sure, his arm was full of holes. Bullets were still deep inside his flesh, and the quick tourniquet Nya had tied was helping the blood flow, while it couldn't stop it... but... that didn't make him useless.

He didn't wait outside. He went to another edge of the building and went right back in, making his way over to an unmanned pile of rubble, and beginning to dig. Nobody nearby noticed him, as everybody else was so focussed on the rescue mission.

He was a lot slower than he would usually be, since one of his arms was arms was hardly useable. Despite this, he didn't give up.

Digging, picking rocks up and throwing them to the side, creating a little path through the rubble no matter how slow his rate was.

Kai was beginning to think that he'd chosen an empty location, and after all, the rubble extended for metres past where the hostages actually were.

"... come... on..." He gritted his teeth, feeling himself overheat and start to stress out, "... come... on...!"

Sharp and jagged edges made his hand sore and heavily scratched, and he was losing strength... but... finally there was some hope in the dark.

A hand. A bloody, battered hand yes but... a hand.

He felt his strength return, lifting away rocks more carefully now, so not to hurt whoever was in there.

"F*ck... f*ck f*ck f*ck..." he swore.

It was soon clear that it was a person of at least male anatomy, wearing a pride shirt and, Kai also uncovered a pride flag very near his body.

The back of his mind called for him to say something, display how much it displeased him.

Instead, he told that part to bugger off.

No matter how much he may have disagreed, nobody deserved to die, suffocated and crushed under the weight of a building.

So he pressed on, and was finally able to pull the person away from the concealing rocks, away from the danger, into the light...

... and as soon as Kai saw his face... he froze up.

He knew him.

He... knew him.

... there was... no way... that he was...

He...

Kai gritted his teeth and scanned the guy's body, looking for wounds.

There was a particularly nasty puncture mark in his side, and endless scratches adorned his face and arms.

He needed medical help straight away, or else he'd bleed out.

"... hEY! OVER HERE! I FOUND SOMEONE!" Kai yelled over at the nearest police officers, who rushed towards him, and luckily by this point, more medical staff with stretchers had arrived.

They took him and rushed him off to get help, and once one of the officers saw the state of Kai, ordered another one inside to take him too.

Kai wasn't very pleased about that, but didn't argue, weighed down by the realisation of who the guy was... of everything that had transpired that day.

He eventually got to the hospital, and was given anaesthetic, falling under and mutually joining Jay and Cole in the world of the unconscious.

With Zane and Nya's help, many of the hostages were saved that day, but... there were also many casualties.

Some people weren't found soon enough, and by nightfall, many of the bodies still hadn't been uncovered.

At least something positive came out of the awful, traumatic experience.

Nobody - the police and the Ninja included - could ignore the threat of Dei Noctis any longer.

They were an incredibly dangerous, ruthless, disgusting group of terrorists, who had now made it clear that they would do everything they could, to wipe what they hated off the face of the earth.

The good side of the fight, could only hope, that they weren't already too late to stop them.