Heatstroke - Tumblr Posts

She allows herself to envision a clean journey back. A miserable hike, nothing the Black Widow can’t handle, then debrief, and then collapsing on her couch and not leaving her apartment for two days. Recharge time. Every great spy needs it.

Sunburn was not something she had given any particular thought to.

Natasha’s certainly thinking about it now.

my mom when I faint from heatstroke: oh my god baby are you okay?! come inside, I’ve got ice water for you, do you need to go to the hospital?! 

my employer when I faint from heatstroke: oh I'm so sorry you had to witness that, valued customer! just pop her in the freezer for five minutes, she’ll be fine. also that’s coming out of your break time:)

🥺🥺🥺

the boys... oh goodness...

Whumptober Day 5: Sunburn, Heatstroke

Four and Hyrule!!! Who do not deserve a bit of the abuse I put them through 😔 Also something about the nature of heatstroke fics... they always get really long when I write them. Dunno why.

Warnings: things in the title, hallucination, rope burn, very brief vomiting, arguably a bit of torture.

Ao3 link

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The desert was a fascinating environment, really, but Four had a feeling he would appreciate it a whole lot more if he could do so from a distance.

He couldn’t think of a single good experience he’d had in a desert, and it looked like his streak was holding. Seeing as Four was currently tired to a pole on top of a dune, Hyrule beside him, nothing to look at except endless sand and sun.

“Before you ask, no, I’m out of magic,” Hyrule said wearily, and Four sighed, setting his head back against the pole. He closed his eyes against the piercing sunlight, and tried to ignore the sweat already trickling down his brow, missing his headband. He could already feel the first signs of sunburn on his chest.

“Couldn’t they have given us some water before we started?” he asked, opening his eyes and staring idly at the horizon. Hyrule snorted.

“That wouldn’t be ‘fair’.”

“Oh like tying us to a pole without any sort of assistance is fair,” Four grumbled. “Not to mention taking half our clothes and all our belongings, and refusing to give them back unless we pass their “trial”. Just because we’re men. I’ve never met any Gerudo this territorial before.”

“I’ve never even met any Gerudo,” Hyrule said with a shrug against Four’s shoulders. “Well... I guess I have now. From what Wild said I thought they’d be nicer.”

“Well this obviously isn’t his time,” Four sighed. “They even took the dagger from my boot. Couldn’t they have given us something useful?”

“To be fair, we did agree to this,” Hyrule pointed out, and Four sighed again.

“Yeah. Because the only other option was them skewering us. I’m well aware.”

Four had never heard of a ‘trial of the sands’ before today, but the longer it went on, the less he liked it. The Gerudo he and Hyrule had stumbled on by complete portal-related accident were not friendly in any way shape or form. They’d quickly been surrounded, labeled trespassers, and been given the option of either attempting to survive for two days tied up in the desert, or be immediately killed for their crimes.

Four and Hyrule had chosen the desert.

It seemed to mostly be a choice between a quick or slow death, since as the Gerudo had tied them up and dragged them away, the leader mentioned that only one person before them had ever survived the trial. But Four still clung onto hope. If they survived, the Gerudo would let them go scot-free— the Gerudo wouldn’t oppose the will of the desert.

They just had to survive sitting out here for another 47 hours or so.

Easy.

Another bead of sweat trailed down Four’s face, and he sighed. He certainly wouldn’t complain if the others showed up before their time was up, though.

“Well... it could be worse,” Hyrule said after a bit, and Four raised an eyebrow. Then he remembered Hyrule couldn’t see it.

“...Oh yeah?”

“We’re not dead,” Hyrule said with a grin in his voice, and Four chuckled a bit weakly.

“Not yet, anyway.”

Silence fell over them, broken only by the scorching wind that whistled past. Four worked a little at their bonds, and he felt Hyrule doing the same, but the rope was as tight as ever. Four’s wrists were already raw, and he thought he might be starting to lose the feeling in his fingers.

And it was getting awfully hot.

A bead of sweat dripped off his nose, and Four blinked, his eyes beginning to hurt from squinting. The skin on his shoulders was pink from the sun, and it stung now where the ropes scraped against it. If nothing else, Four was going to come out of this with a wicked sunburn.

And hopefully nothing else.

“Smithy?” Hyrule asked after a while, sounding more weary than before. “You think the others will find us?”

“I hope so,” Four replied quietly.

He couldn’t think of anything more reassuring to say beyond that, but he shifted his head so it was resting more against Hyrule’s back. Hyrule leaned on him in turn, and despite the added warmth, Four appreciated the contact.

At least they weren’t alone. Four didn’t think he could stand that.

The scorching wind kept blowing past, too hot to cool either of them, the breezes kicking up sand that stuck to their sweaty skin. Four’s shoulders and arms began to sting, the ache of sunburn beginning to take hold. Sweat still dripped off his face, stinging his eyes on occasion.

The horizon stayed as blue as ever, nothing but sand and sky in sight.

Four wasn’t sure when, but eventually he and Hyrule both stopped working at the ropes, moving too painful with the burns only growing redder on their skin. They talked a little, but speaking felt like it expended more and more energy as time went on, and their conversation faded.

Four couldn’t turn his head very easily to look, but his whole chest felt raw now, the handful of bruises he’d received from the Gerudo throbbing, the ropes making his skin ache.

The sun felt like one of Wild’s guardians lasers on his skin, hot and painful. Four tried to keep his eyes on the horizon, looking for the others, but the line began to blur, wavering and melting in the sun.

He realized belatedly it had been a while since Hyrule had said anything, and blinked, struggling to focus.

“Hyrule? You still... ‘wake back there?” Four rasped, and he heard a croaky hum in response.

“Yeah. Gettin’... pretty warm.”

“Mm...”

Four blinked slowly, headache pulsing behind his eyes, and tried to fix his gaze on the horizon again. It had been sometime midmorning when they’d been put out here, was it noon now? Afternoon? It didn’t seem like the pole’s shadow had moved at all.

His whole torso hurt. The ropes rubbed against his burning skin with even the smallest movement, and Four hissed through his teeth when Hyrule shifted around.

“S’rry...” Hyrule slurred, and Four blinked, realizing Hyrule’s voice was a lot weaker then it had been. He wondered if his drained magic was making him feel worse.

“Stay awake ‘rule,” Four said, shakily tapping his head against him. “Don’t... you gotta stay awake.”

“I am, I... I am. I will.”

Hyrule’s skin felt clammy where it rested against Four’s, and Four scanned the horizon with a mounting desperation, barely able to focus.

How were they going to last two days out here?

Four’s stomach began to churn, his shoulders faintly trembling. His skin felt scraped raw, limbs aching, and for some reason air felt like it was harder to get in, and his breathing sped up. His heart pounded in his ears, the beat too fast, faster than it should be, and it throbbed in time with his headache.

Four swallowed back bile, and realized he’d stopped sweating.

That was bad. He didn’t remember why, but that was bad.

You’d think not sweating anymore would be good... he thought blearily, eyes rolling up to look at the sky. He’d given up on the horizon. The sky was better to look at anyway, even if it hurt his eyes. Blue and bright, the color was similar to... to something.

To water, he thought with a groan, throat drier than ever. He was so thirsty. Even a drop or two would be amazing. Especially if it was cold.

Mm. Cold.

Four never thought he would miss the time Blue got trapped in ice, but he found himself longing for it now. The idea of being anything but hot seemed like a distant dream.

Hyrule made an abrupt noise behind him, and Four startled, biting back a cry as the ropes scraped him. It sounded like Hyrule had lost the battle with his own stomach, and Four grimaced, unable to do anything but rest his head back on Hyrule’s shoulder while he weakly retched.

“Okay?” Four whispered when he finished, and Hyrule merely leaned on him a little harder.

Four closed his eyes, and silently begged the others to come soon. He didn’t think they could stand it much longer.

The sun continued its slow trek above them, Four still not convinced it was moving. His skin hurt, and though he couldn’t turn his head to look very well, he thought it might’ve begun to peel a bit.

He didn’t know how much time had gone by when Hyrule suddenly shifted a little.

“Four...” Hyrule croaked, “Four I see... see somethin’.”

“Really?” Four asked, hope stirring him from some of his dizziness. Hm. He might’ve fallen unconscious for a bit. “What?”

“It’s... can’ tell,” Hyrule murmured. “M-maybe... the others...”

Hyrule went quiet, then jerked suddenly, Four gasping as the ropes pulled.

“No!” Hyrule cried, voice cracking. He tried to push himself back, breath heaving, but all it did was send the ropes shifting around Four’s burnt skin, making him cry out.

“Hyrule s-stop!” Four gasped out, but Hyrule kept squirming, movements frantic.

“No no no— it’s gonna—” Hyrule choked out, still thrashing as much as he could. “Four, it’s— it’s r-right here!”

Four bit back another cry, and he tried to listen over the sounds of Hyrule’s frantic struggles, hearing nothing except the wind. No threat that would make Hyrule react so violently would be able to be that quiet.

It’s not real.

“Rule there’s n-nothing there,” Four wheezed, pained tears pricking in his eyes. “You’re seein’ th-things, please, s-stop moving.”

“It’s got... got a sword,” Hyrule gasped, still struggling madly, ropes tearing across Four’s skin. “Four it’s gonna—”

“It’s not! It’s not real!”

“It is!” Hyrule cried, “it’s about to—!”

“‘Rule, you’re hurting me!” Four nearly shrieked.

Something in his voice must have finally gotten through to him, and Hyrule went still, breath hitching. Four’s own breath hitched, his whole chest scraped and burnt, and he felt something wet trickling from under where the ropes were tightest.

Hyrule abruptly slumped, and Four waited in silence.

“N-nothing’s there,” Hyrule said shakily. “I thought th-there was, it... oh Four. ‘M s-sorry...”

“It’s okay,” Four whispered, swallowing thickly. “‘S okay. K-Keep... your eyes closed.”

Four heard his breath shake, but Hyrule didn’t argue, and the silence fell over them once more, thick now with pain.

Four closed his eyes, a dry sting in the corners, and tried to think about anything except the fiery feeling all across his middle.

...

More time passed. Four didn’t know how much.

He could barely remember how they’d gotten here, only reminded of it when he tried to move and the ropes further scraped his arms and wrists. Hyrule wasn’t saying anything anymore, and Four had run out of energy to try and talk to him.

He didn’t know if Hyrule was awake anymore. He only knew he was alive because he could feel his pulse where his head was pressed, too fast, too weak.

Four felt jumbled and weary, and more than once tried to reach for his sword so he could split, biting back a cry as the ropes scraped his bloody and sunburnt skin. They hurt even worse since Hyrule had thrashed around, and Four could barely breathe without pain searing across his chest and arms.

He needed his sword. Needed help. Needed to get out, he needed to help Hyrule get away from here and find the others, but the ropes were strong and Four’s energy had been entirely drained by the sun and pain.

All he could do was sit here and listen to Hyrule’s rapid, weak pulse, and hope they would make it.

Something was making a noise beside Hyrule’s pulse though, something that wasn’t the wind. Four peeled his eyes open, holding back a whimper as the sun hurt his eyes.

There was something in the distance, moving towards them. All Four could make out was a fuzzy blob, lit faintly orange by the setting sun, but that was all.

Four squinted, suspicious of another mirage like Hyrule had seen, but the blob got clearer as it approached, something with arms and legs. The noise got louder too, what sounded like garbled words on the wind, and Four blinked, the figure sorting itself into multiple figures, all... familiar.

“Four!”

Hope caught in his throat, and Four watched as Legend appeared in front of him, face sweaty and horrified. Wolfie ran beside him, sand kicked up by paws and pegasus boots, and Four could only watch in shocked relief as Legend slid to his knees beside him.

“Oh Four,” he breathed, and Four gave him a trembling smile, unable to do much else.

Legend wordlessly pulled a knife from his belt and began sawing, muttering something worriedly under his breath. Four could only watch, and when the pressure from the ropes abruptly disappeared, he lurched forward, unable to hold himself up any more.

Legend grabbed him, carefully avoiding where the ropes had cut into him, and Four gave him a grateful smile, relief making him feel twice as exhausted.

“Wait wait, don’t pass out, drink first,” Legend said a little frantically, and Four peeled his eyes back open, and let Legend hold his canteen to his lips.

Cool water filled his mouth, and Four nearly cried, drinking at it greedily. He whined when Legend pulled it away again, and the veteran gave him a chiding look.

“Hey c’mon, you should know better than to chug it,” Legend said gently, and Four sighed, relief hitting him as he saw Twilight nearby with Hyrule in his arms. “You can have more in a bit.”

Legend shifted him around a little, and Four hissed as his hands ghosted over his abused skin.

“Looks like it’s a good thing we found you when we did,” Twilight said from somewhere nearby, voice thick with worry.

“Yeah,” Four rasped, and despite the pain still cutting through him and the way his vision was darkening at the edges, he still reached out for Hyrule’s hand, threading his fingers through the traveler’s.

Hyrule held back, his grip even weaker than Four’s, but that was all the reassurance he needed.

Four sighed, and finally passed out, Legend’s frantic yelp ringing in his ears.

:D Glad you liked it!

The Beginning of Heatstroke, aka Red’s Villain Origin

* crashes down from the ceiling * I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED ONE OF MY 5+ CURRENT WRITING PROJECTS! BEHOLD, A WRITTEN VERSION OF THE ‘Red’s Villain Origin AU’, also known as RVO / Heatstroke AU

To summarize the AU for SPBNR for those that don’t now it: 

“Who’d be the biggest conspiracy theorist out of the M!Ninja? The one who drinks 5 hour energy at 3am and spits off the craziest theories and then actually gets it right but nobody gives the theory any merit because the rest of the theories are too crazy?”

The answer: Red / M!Kai

Red: Okay hear me out: Smith is actually an alternative version of one of us sent here from another dimension.

The other M!Ninja: You’re just saying that because Smith’s cool and you want him to be your counterpart

Based on the M!ninja making red cork boards trying to figure out ‘What Is Up With Smith’: Red gets increasingly accurate and nobody will believe him (all pre shogun reveal) and he eventually snaps and takes up a secret villain persona to fight Shogun like 'if they won’t believe me I’ll do it myself’ and it gets awkward when he accidentally does too much damage and catches not only Shogun’s attention like planned, but also the rest of the Ninjaforce, and now he has to keep his own identity a secret

So, without further ado, I present… Heatstroke

————

Red blamed the 5-hour energy coffee blend at 3:00am for this.

It was no surprise that between ‘Operation: What’s Going on with Smith’ & the sudden appearance of Shogun that the resident Bounty red-stringed ‘joke’ cork-board doubled in size and seriousness. It also was no surprise that Red had a corner all to himself and that his theories were… in the words of the others, ‘wildly inaccurate and implausible’.

But this time, he was sure he’d gotten it right.

Smith is Shogun sent here from another continent/planet/dimension with the goal of protecting Ninjago City.

The latest string of laughs and scoffs at his theory was the last straw. He’d show them. He’d prove it!

Which was why he was currently standing on the roof of a noodle house, awkwardly adjusting the spare motorcycle helmet he’d ‘borrowed’ from Nya and painted black and orangey-yellow (red had seemed too obvious). He’d exchanged his Ninjaforce outfit for a soot-burned cross between a bomber jacket and a leather jacket. Down his back jutted a row of flames like the spines of a monster, courtesy of one of Nya & Jay’s unfinished inventions Red had modified- surely nothing bad would come of that!

For tonight, the Red Ninja was off-duty. For tonight, it was Heatstroke’s turn.

He fiddled with one of the weapons he’d ‘lent out’ from Master Wu. It resembled a small arm canon, like a smaller version of the Ultimate Weapon. The plaque under its post had read ‘Elemental Focuser’, which, in cryptic Wu speak, probably translated to ‘you can use an elemental power like something out of Avatar: The Last Airbender’. So far he’d only figured out how to activate a focused jet of fire. Well, at least it was on brand. He hoped it would help him catch Shogun’s attention so he could unmask him.

He’d tried confronting Smith at school, of course. But there were only so many ways of saying ‘are you the new vigilante helping the ninjas’, and Smith has a genuine talent for dancing around the topic. Red could confront him with the name Shogun to get a proper reaction, but that would mean explaining how he knew the name and outing himself as the Red Ninja.

So fake villainy really was the only way.

His plan was to use the Elemental Focuser to cause some minor petty damage, just enough to attract the new vigilante. Perhaps set a trash can on fire, block an alleyway with rocks (if he figured out how to change the setting from fire to earth), small things that could easily be repaired.

Of course, plans were never actually stuck to. One way or another, something was always improvised.

Red’s improvisation just happened to involve him accidentally setting the entire alleyway on fire.

He’d only been aiming for one dumpster, honest! And maybe he’d spotted a couple fliers for a SoG meeting on the ground and happened to burn those too. And a newspaper article blaming Lloyd for the recent Garmadon attack, again. And an article about those ‘Damn Ninja Menaces’ by a S. Sonah Sameson. And-

Okay, so maybe Red had aimed the fire at a few small targets. But just a few! And with good reason and good care, but…

Well, fire liked to burn. Give it enough kindle and it’ll continue to grow, stretching like reaching branches towards each other to join in a massive bonfire. 

So now the entire alleyway was on fire, and Red was panicking. 

He’d luckily chosen an abandoned part of town near the beaches where Shogun sightings seemed most frequent, but with the stupid Elemental Focuser not switching from fire mode to water mode or ice mode or something that didn’t have the potential to burn Ninjago City to the ground, Red had no way of stopping the flames.

And more flames meant more destruction which meant a bigger audience.

Which was why his previously muted comm suddenly flared to life, the only warning Red had before Nya’s water strider mech slid around the corner.

Red scrambled onto a roof as the mech drove past, spraying water at the bonfire to dose it. His sigh of relief was just as quickly dosed as Lloyd’s voice came over the comms; “Status, Grey?”

“Flames are out,” Nya replied. “Pursing the joker that set it ablaze.”

Uh oh. Red took off across the roof, leaping from building to building. Tiles creaked, pebbled and dust scattering underfoot. The sounds of the mech’s engine roaring behind him echoed through alleyways below to create the illusion the mech was everywhere at once. 

As the chase grew on, more mechs started to join in. Red ducked into a narrow avenue to avoid Zane’s tank, then under a cafe overhang to throw off Jay and Lloyd. His heart hammered in his chest and he groaned, filling the inside of the motorcycle helmet with steam. Saying this was going ‘bad’ would be the understatement of the century. 

What had he been thinking? Oh wait: he hadn’t. Seriously? ‘Oh I’ll just pretend to be a villain real quick, that should get Shogun’s attention and not the attention of literally my entire team of fellow ninjas!’ Stupid, impulsive, this was why everyone was always calling the red ninja the ‘hothead’ when he really tried not to be- Lloyd’s voice over the comms snapped him from his thoughts. “I can’t catch them! It’s like they know our every move!”

Red winced as he climbed up a banister and leapt from balcony to balcony. Sorry, Lloyd. 

He didn’t miss how the others asked Nya where Red was. And how she made up excuses the others bought so easily- granted, he’d told those excuses to his sister before setting his plan into motion, but still, ouch. They acted like he was simply being at best too busy and at worst lazy and selfish.

He just wanted them to know the truth! Why couldn’t they at least try to believe him when-

Of course, that was when Shogun dropped out of the sky and tackled him.

Red shouted with surprise as he tumbled down from the second floor, slamming into a few softer bags of garbage to break his fall before rolling and slamming into the unforgiving concrete. A crack formed in his vision as the visor of his motorbike helmet smacked into the concrete ground. One of the fire jets on his back sputtered and sparked, sending a thin wisp of smoke into the air.

Shogun pinned his wrists to the ground and growled. “Who are you?”

Red tried to break free, agony turning his muscles and bones to fire with the movement after his fall, but the vigilante was too strong. Damn, how often did this guy train?

“Who am I?” Red said, a nervous tinge to his voice. He quickly smoothed it over with faked confidence. “Who are you? Who are all of us, really?”

Shogun narrowed his eyes behind his hood. “Did Garmadon send you? Or someone else?”

Red sputtered. Really, the nerve! Garmadon? The thought turned his insides to disgusting mud. “Nobody sent me!”

“Then why are you here?” Shogun spat.

“Why am I here?” Why was he here again? Oh right, the bright idea on how to reveal that Shogun was Smith. “It’s, uh… a valid reason! That I don’t have to tell you!” He tried for a villainous laugh. Stay in character, don’t blow your cover, you got this!

Shogun was unimpressed. “Nearly burning down my home was a valid reason?”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to set everything on- wait, WHAT?” Uh oh. “You LIVE here?”

Now it was Shogun’s turn to look uncomfortable, though the expression was quickly wiped from his face. “Nothing wrong with this district.” 

Red nodded. “‘Course not. Uh, sorry about that… wasn’t my intention, I swear.”

Shoot, he could hear Jay’s jet getting closer. He had to get out of here, but Shogun, annoyingly, didn’t seem to be in the mood to simply let him go. “Then what is your intention?”

“Well, for starters, it’s getting out of here. This really isn’t going to plan and I’d rather just be home right now, or even inventing a time machine like in that book ‘Hands of Time’ to slap my past self in the face for even thinking about this stupid idea in the first place-“

Jay wasn’t the only one that could ramble under pressure, it seemed.

Shogun leaned closer. “What idea?”

Red shrugged as best he could with how he was pinned to the ground. “Well, for starters, I just wanted to prove to my friends that you’re Smith, and things just kinda escalated from-”

The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he said. 

Shogun lurched back, letting go of him. His eyes betrayed a kaleidoscope of emotions; surprise, worry, suspicious, hurt, fear, realization. 

“…Kai?”

Well, f!ck.

“I-“

Red was about to badly attempt to bullsh!t his way out of his identity reveal before it suddenly dawned on him that Shogun had not denied his theory. 

Which meant Shogun was Smith.

And it also meant Smith instantly recognized him as Kai, which, considering his disguise, was aptly concerning. Sure, he was the first one in his group of friends people would think to do something this extreme but give him some credit! Zane was a regular detective, he’d do the same if it meant answers! Or, well, at least something similar. And Nya could be an adrenaline seeker. And Lloyd- well, maybe not Lloyd. Or Jay, either. Cole had his head just enough on his shoulders that he probably wouldn’t do this either.

But come on, instantly guessing it?

Well, at least Smith/Shogun didn’t know Kai was the Red Ninja. That would be a catastrophe.

Right. Back to the current catastrophe at hand.

Shogun- Smith- still had a look as if he’d been slapped, and Red hated it. He hadn’t meant to hurt his friend. Shogun… Shogun hadn’t wanted them to find out his identity. And then Red had gone and done it, just to prove that he could be the smart one, or a leader, or the protector so they didn’t get hurt, or literally anything but just the ‘hotheaded one’. 

…And he’d done it in the most hotheaded, impulsive way possible.

He really was an idiot.

The cracked helmet hid the look on his face, a twisted mess of distraught and shame. But it didn’t help hide how he took stumbled to his feet and away from Smith, nervous that any second he’d spill another mistake and mess up again, like how he always freaking messed up on everything. Don’t pick this fight, interject there instead, no, not there, idiot, there, FMS why are you so useless-

Focus, focus.

Lloyd’s voice, sharp in the intercom and full of static from his tumble, snapped him from his thoughts. “Anyone got eyes on the arsonist?”

Red caught Smith’s eye as he raised his hand to his own communicator. He was so screwed, so busted, so doomed… Smith would report it, and the others would know, and they’d think he was just messing around in an alleyway with some stolen devices and weapons out of curiosity or rage, - and-

“None yet, still looking.”

…What?

Smith stared at him, gaze searching. He looked shaken, more so than Red- who’d just taken a fall from a second story, mind you, it was a miracle he wasn’t more injured than a couple small scrapes and some future bruises-, yet everything from the set of his jaw to the softening of his furrowed brows suggested a change in emotions. Well, not quite change; more like repress and replace.

“You wanted to prove yourself, didn’t you.”

Red flushed, hand instinctually clamping into a tight fist at his side. The still-working fire jets on his back ignited without him pressing any buttons; faulty activation from the fall or something. 

Palms up and hands raised, Smith silently asked to defuse the situation. “Didn’t mean it as an insult. This wasn’t about venting some anger, was it.”

Red’s lack of response only confirmed it. Smith continued. “I won’t say anything about this if you don’t tell anyone my identity. Deal? I know finding it out was important to you, but-“

“Deal,” Red interrupted. Guilt ate away at his core, like a wave of water dousing a candle. “Smith, I-“ He swallowed hard and stared at the alley floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… to…”

Smith’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder and he flinched before relaxing as Smith didn’t move further, nor did the grip tighten. “I’m a little hurt, you’re right. But I’m not mad. And I won’t tell the others, so you can relax. But you better get out of here and get yourself an alibi. We can talk at school or something.”

Wow, he was handling this rather calmly. Red was struck by the sudden memory of- what did Jay call the word? Right. Compartmentalizing. That… wasn’t healthy. But at the roar of Lloyd’s mech somewhere nearby, he didn’t comment further. Instead, he shot Smith a grateful nod and ran down the alley, sticking to the shadows and blind spots of the flying mechs and the tight alleyways where the land mechs couldn’t reach him. 

When he got home, miraculously without further incident (though Shogun leading the others on a wild goose chase over the comms certainly helped there), he ditched the outfit in a bag hidden beneath a loose floorboard in the shed. He’d return the weapon to Master Wu’s ship later, and… well, hope Nya never searched for the missing supplies. There wasn’t a way of fixing it without involving her or Jay, and neither was an option.

Heatstroke was back off duty, and so was the Red Ninja.

For now, he could just be Kai Smith. And there wasn’t any issue with that.

…

Right?

—————

yooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THIS IS AMAZING REHJJGFHDESFXJVZ

and ah yes, good ol trauma and compartmentalizing, we love to see it

AI-Less Whumptober Day 9 - Hypothermia/Heatstroke

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