The next place that Clay led them to was the hangar, where robin was busy at work welding something together. His head mask was lowered, and the sheer amount of noise prevented him from noticed anyone or thing until he had a hand on his shoulder. Robin was startled for a moment before he noticed that there was a familiar tingle to its touch. Clay. The mask was flipped up and Robin used his arm to wipe sweat off of his forehead. He smiled at his mentor.
"Heya, Clay!" He said, putting down his soldering iron, "Are you showing the visitors around?"
Clay nodded and stepped aside so that the freshman knight could see the ninja. At once, Robin's eyes locked on Zane, and he gave an excited wave. Zane returned it politely, leaving Robin with an even wider smile than he had had. Before he had the chance to launch into more questions like the ones that had been asked earlier though, a hand ruffled his hair. He squawked loudly.
"This is Robin," Clay said, lifting his hand with a small laugh, "He's not a full knight yet, but his skills with electronics are so useful that Merlock wanted him to travel with us."
Robin said hello again while trying desperately to fix his hair. Cole laughed after watching for a moment.
"Yeah," he said leaning over to Kai, "He does look a lot like Jay when he was a kid."
Kai stuck an elbow into Cole's side, shutting-up the earth ninja.
Robin finished fixing his hair with a little help from Macy, and finally turned to greet the ninja properly.
"Sorry about that-" he shot a glare at Clay, "And uh, yeah I'm Robin. Robin Underwood."
Zane stepped forward, shoving his brothers aside, and stuck out his hand to Robin. He wasn't the best at picking up on emotions, but Robin's reaction to him earlier and the newfound knowledge that Robin was a mechanic told Zane that the young teen would probably enjoy getting to know how he worked. And he was right. Robin practically glowed with excitement and awe as he shook Zane's hand. After they were done shaking, Robin gently turned the nindroid's hand in his own, staring at all the joints and seams. Zane wiggled his finger with a grin and watched as Robin gave a small gasp in return. It was then that he looked up, and let go of Zane.
"S-sorry," Robin said, laughing nervously, "It's just- you're really cool. Literally and figuratively."
Cole and Kai snickered through their teeth and Zane smiled. He stuck back out his palm, letting a hiss of coolant out. Cool steam surrounded his hand in an instant, forming ice crystals in the air. A collective "Ooh" passed through the group.
"That's…" Robin's eyes widened, "That's so cool! Is that a misting coolant or some sort of ice regulated system-"
He bounced on his heels excitedly.
"You're amazing!"
Zane blushed a bright blue, pleased at the compliment, and drew back his hand. He was at least a whole foot taller than Robin, and was easily able to see the young knight's work from over his head. On the worktable behind him was what he had been working on when the group entered the hangar. It was a sort of gauntlet, with wires attaching it to a complicated outlet system on the wall. Zane scanned it with his eyes, wishing that he still had PIXAL in his head to help him determine what was what. But PIXAL was back in Ninjago, and Zane was here, so he had to use older methods of figuring things out. This method was commonly known as asking a question.
"Thank you," He started, "And I'm curious to know what you're working on at the moment?"
Robin's eyes lit up, and he turned back around over his project. The gathered knights and ninja followed him to look at Robin's creation.
"This," He said, pushing a button on the side of the gauntlet, "Is something I've been working on for a couple of days now to help Clay control his magic!"
The gauntlet lit up to a bright blue color, the same color that Clay's arm was at the moment. Clay inched closer to watch as Robin demonstrated.
"Ya see, I thought that holding the power back hurts Clay, why not just channel it outwards instead?"
He motioned for Clay to put his glowing arm inside the gauntlet and Clay complied nervously. Anxiety poured off of the knight in waves.
"It may only be a prototype," Robin continued, hooking up the wires from the gauntlet onto a lightbulb, "But the basic idea is that Clay releases his magic into the system, where it can be turned into power for the Fortrex! Kinda like how Merlock 2.0 works now. Clay, if you would."
A moment passed where the ninja, knights, and Robin watched the small bulb in anticipation before they realized that Clay wasn't doing anything. Zane decided to scan both Clay and the mechanism and was nearly physically thrown back by the bright lights that covered his vision. Pure, raw magical power filled the knight and concentrated near his arm. It was amazing to him that Clay wasn't being hurt by the energy.
And then Zane remembered what Robin had said only moments ago. Holding this power back actually did cause Clay physical pain. The nindroid swallowed awkwardly and took a half-step back from Clay.
"Robin," Clay started slowly, "I can't control how much power comes out and I-" He paused, uncertain, "I don't want to hurt anyone."
Macy face-palmed and grumbled something to Axl, who in turn moved closer to Clay so that he could wrap an arm around him. Clay stiffened at the touch, slowly looking up into Axl's eyes. An entire conversation seemed to pass between the two just between their eyes, and the ninja were ever so slightly confused by it. Eventually though Axl lifted his arm and Clay sighed, then closed his eyes.
A faint orange light began to spill from the cracks between the gauntlet's seams, and the blue of the mechanism changed to match. Robin's breath caught in his chest. And then, the light bulb flickered to life. A cheer of success passed between the group. Clay's eyes stayed shut as he concentrated though, but there was movement behind his eyelids.
To him, there was silence, and then a voice. A sweet, soft, comforting voice that he heard in his dreams and his nightmares. It sang his name to him once, and his eyes flashed open.
Yellow, bright and burning yellow, replaced the usual deep brown of his eyes, and his lips pulled back into a half-grimace half-snarl. The light bulb promptly exploded, the gauntlet with it.
Instinctively, the ninja moved to cover their faces with their arms, the knights lowering their helmets. When the ninja lowered their arms, Lance had Clay's head in his hands. Clay, sweat dripping down his forehead, was breathing heavily, and his arm slowly faded back to blue.
Kai leaned over to Cole and Zane, eyes wide in shock.
"So uh," He said softly, "Any of you see that coming?"
Zane's optics flickered once as he scanned the area. Clay's magic levels had spiked with the burst, but now they were returning to normal.
"I did," The nindroid admitted, "But an explosion of that caliber was… not what I thought would happen."
Cole shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. It was grimy from sweat and lack of cleaning.
"Should warn us next time, Tin-Can."
There was a collective roll of the eyes between the three.
Meanwhile, only four feet away Clay was recovering from the flash of his mother. His breathing was still labored, and Lance was still holding his head, but now Axl was rubbing his back gently, and Macy was working to take the shattered gauntlet off of his arm. Robin was busy pulling himself off of the floor, rubbing the back of his head where a bump was starting to form.
Lance stared deep into the deep browns of Clay's eyes, "Hey. You're okay. Whatever happened, it didn't happen here. Everyone's okay. You're okay."
Clay swallowed down a thick lump in his throat and slowly forced himself to stand up straight. For half a second he had seen everyone in the room as his enemy. It had taken all his power to keep himself from pulling his sword off of his back and attacking everyone. He let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding.
"Th-thanks," He croaked, "Sorry about that."
That last bit was louder, and aimed towards both the ninja and Robin. Robin shook his head and held up his hands.
"No need to be sorry. At least now I know to build it stronger next time."
Clay nodded, albeit shakily, and brushed himself off. He didn't care where they went next, he just wanted out of the hangar.
"Well should we um-" he rubbed his collarbone anxiously, "We should continue with the tour."
Kai and Cole shared a glance, but Zane walked over to Robin and began to help clean up glass.
"Actually," Zane said, "I think I'll stay here and help Robin clean up. And maybe help with some inventions."
Robin's jaw dropped in awe, and then it snapped shut a half second later. He turned to Clay happily and waved him out of the hangar.
"Thanks for helping!" He chimed, "I'll see you later, Clay!"
Macy waved, and Cole joined her after a moment. Half waving to Zane and half to Robin.