Awh man. You guys are fantastic sports, you know that? Thanks so much to everyone for putting up with my shenanigans. ^_^
Wellllll, now that the fun and games are over, it's time to get serious! We have bypassed the extra fluff, and by golly things are going to start happening in earnest now. Whee! :P
BriarDIEZ: Thank you, thank you! *bows*
Kairocksrainbow: Ahhhh, so I guess the "O_O" face was just you playing along? ;) Eh, yeah, I'm not big on April Fool's Day either, but I thought I'd give it a try this one year. It was a little nerve-wracking, I don't know if I wanna do it again. ^_^'' Anyways, thanks for the review! So you like Meep, huh? I'll admit he's kinda more fun to write about, since he isn't stuck in the sink or being carried like Mopp is. :P
Angel Star Ninja: Woah. XD That must've been an anxious few quarter-minutes!
Dragongirl15: Ha, I'm honored! X3 Man, in hindsight I feel kinda bad about asking people to choose between sticking with their standards and sticking with the story. If I've lost readers, I guess I deserve it. ^_^'' Glad I haven't lost you, though!
Sept 9
1:02 AM
Patrol circuit: Jay and Cole
Status conditions: None
That night, exhausted after the extra training, most of them went to bed early. Jay was too achy to fall asleep, though; at last he got up to get a drink.
He stepped out into the hallway, shut the bunkroom door softly behind him, and nearly had a heart attack when a dark form suddenly sprang at his face. Then he realized it was just Meep, wandering the halls.
"You little fiend," scolded the lightning ninja, loosening his death grip on the doorknob. Chuckling softly, he set off down the darkened corridor, Meep trailing alongside.
Turning the corner, he stopped and raised his eyebrows. There was light filtering from under the control room door. Nya was still up fiddling with that smartphone?! Wow. Typical Nya—once she really got into something, she'd forget that time was even a concept.
Shaking his head, Jay decided he'd better go over and see how she was doing. Maybe he could sort of gently hint that she should get some sleep.
Before he could make a move, however, a soft electronic melody echoed from the direction of the control room. It was the ringtone of an incoming call on the Bounty's main computer. Jay knit his brows. Who'd be calling at this hour? Especially considering how few people knew their number.
From the control room came a crash—Nya must have knocked something over—then some muffled exclamations. Jay raised his eyebrows, stifling a chuckle; he hadn't thought Nya's vocabulary ventured into those particular regions.
Then a sudden thought struck him cold. Who could possibly be calling—except Mindy?! She'd told him she was something of a night owl. She must be calling to ask if he was coming to the formal tomorrow! And Nya was going to answer!
Oh no ohno ohno. Nonono. Those two couldn't meet each other! He'd heard about what happened when girls sensed a possible rivalry! Heck, he'd seen what happened when guys sensed a rivalry. Cue the anime sweatdrop.
Okay, so he had a little more faith in Nya's maturity than his own. She'd doubtless take it with grace, and there wasn't really much chance of a rivalry in the first place—he was currently in a romantic relationship with neither of them. But still, he had a feeling a conversation between Nya and Mindy could end up hurting either or both girls, and he didn't want that. What to do?
The ringtone stopped. Jay's heart plummeted. He held his breath, waiting to hear Mindy's bubbly voice.
He got something even worse. Following Nya's "hello!" came a raspy, throaty "Good evening, Misssssss Nya."
Serpentine.
Nya was getting a phone call from a Serpentine?!
Heart pounding, Jay slowly lifted one foot, aiming to edge closer. He was too far away to hear the conversation clearly, but the hallway's floorboards were creaky. He wasn't sure if ninja stealth beat out samurai senses.
The sibilant rumble of the Serpentine's voice continued to mix with Nya's lighter tones. The conversation seemed to be serious, but not at all tense. What was going on?
Then Nya's voice suddenly rose a little.
"Sure, I can show them to you. Give me a second, I have them in my workroom."
Oh snap.
Realizing he had about two seconds to get himself the heck outta sight, Jay looked around frantically, then grabbed Meep by the leg and yanked them both into the nearest doorway—the hallway bathroom. Leaning back against the door, he clutched Meep and tried to control his breathing. The alien squirmed and looked up at him curiously, and Jay wished fervently that these critters had mouths you could clamp a hand over. If this dork decided to babble now, he was screwed.
Mercifully, Meep kept quiet. Nya's footsteps pattered by in the hallway, the door to her room clicked open and shut, then she pattered back in the other direction. Jay licked his lips nervously. What was she doing?
After a few minutes he ventured to slip back out into the hall. The muffled conversation was still taking place in the control room, and for a second Jay considered bursting in and confronting Nya about it. But what if that put her in danger? . . . His insides went cold as he remembered what Kai had told him about Nash. What if . . . what if there was a connection? What if the crazy Serpentine had somehow tracked down Kai's sister? It wasn't a long shot, considering that he knew Kai. What if he'd realized that the ninja were getting uncomfortably close to cracking the Technicians' secrets, and now he was threatening Nya to keep them away?
Jay listened for a moment, chewing his lip. It really didn't sound like a threatening conversation . . .
. . . What if she was in cahoots with the Technicians?!
At this point Jay silently smacked himself in the forehead. The late hour and dark hallway must be getting to him. Nya had even more willpower (aka stubbornness) than her brother, and all his fierce loyalty—she'd never go along with any shady dealings.
. . . Would she?
He would never have thought Kai would get mixed up with drug-dealing Serpentine, and look how that went.
Hanging his head, Jay turned back to the bunkroom. This was too big an issue to barge into at one AM; he'd have to think it over and figure out some way to approach Nya tactfully.
Boy, sleeping was going to be tough tonight.
Obviously Jay had nightmares. He woke up hitting the floor from the top bunk, and for a moment all he could do was thrash, still convinced that Serpentine had overrun the Bounty and he was the sole survivor. They were coming for him, coiling their scaly tails around his neck—
"Jay. Jay! Wake up!"
Oh no wait, those were the bedsheets.
Sitting up, Jay blinked through the darkness and saw Lloyd leaning over him. The green ninja reached over tentatively to pat his shoulder, not sure if he was done flailing.
"Just a dream," he whispered bracingly.
"Argh." Jay rubbed one eye and looked around. The others were still there, safely asleep. Phew. Not so bad; he could tolerate the kind of nightmares that were obviously not true the minute you woke up. The lousy kind were the ones where it took you half the morning to realize it had been a dream.
"What are you doing up?" he whispered to Lloyd, though he had a decent idea.
"Same as you."
They both sighed.
"We can make a job of this," said Jay at last. "The floor inspection society."
"Yeah." Lloyd thumped the heel of his hand appraisingly on the ground and nodded. "Good floor. Very . . . floorlike."
"A little too hard, though," said Jay.
"We'll have to dock points for that."
Jay laughed hollowly and licked his lips, still thinking about Serpentine. Nya's phone call had reminded him of Nash, and the fact that he still hadn't told anyone about Kai's involvements with Venomari spit. He should really get around to that . . . Cautiously he snuck a glance over at Lloyd. Kai had mentioned that the kiddo already knew something about this situation, so maybe it would be easiest to start with him?
Before Jay could speak, though, there was a flurry of motion and a harsh clatter. Zane, without any kind of preamble, had rolled out of bed. Shaking his head blearily, he blinked from a tangle of blankets, his eyes glowing a soft, frightened blue in the darkness.
"A new member joins the floor inspection society," sighed Jay, as Lloyd crawled over to disentangle the bewildered Nindroid from the bedsheets.
"Am I awake?" asked Zane, shying away. The falcon fluttered down from his headboard, alighted on his shoulder, and pecked his ear.
"Oh . . . I guess I am." Zane rubbed his head. Lloyd laughed softly and gave the falcon a reproachful tap on the beak.
Jay was uncharacteristically quiet all through breakfast that morning. First off, he was groggy from the lost sleep last night, especially after all that training. Second, he was dreading the formal this afternoon. Third, he was freaked out about Nya's phone call, and he still didn't know what to do about it.
He snuck a glance down the table to Nya, who was cheerfully doodling sketches for their spaceship. She seemed so at-ease, how could there be anything shady going on? . . .
"Oh!" Nya suddenly looked up, and Jay jumped, hoping she hadn't noticed him staring. "Forgot to tell you guys, I finished checking through that smartphone's coding."
"How long were you up? . . . " asked Kai. Nya pretended she hadn't heard.
"In the entire thing, I only found one piece of coding that didn't belong in a normal smartphone."
"And?" asked Lloyd hopefully.
"It's junk." Nya shook her head. "It's just this tiny little lump of code that couldn't do anything. I don't even know why they would put something like that in there!"
"Maybe it's a leftover," said Jay. "Maybe they have some kind of code that executes and then self-destructs, but it leaves behind that tiny bit. Or . . . something?" He shrugged awkwardly; coding wasn't his strongest suite.
"Yeah, I guess that could be it." Nya looked glum. "Either way, I'm done with the smartphone, and I have it all fixed up again, ready to return." She looked to Cole. "I have some other errands in New Ninjago City too; do you think you could fly me there and pick me up in the afternoon?"
Jay gulped. Considering that Cole wasn't actually the one with the city patrol anymore . . .
"Sure, I can drop you off." Cole didn't bat an eyelid. Jay blinked over at him surprisedly, but Cole merely raised his eyebrows like, "Well, what?" and went back to his breakfast. Was he . . . trying to cover for him? Jay felt a little twist of warmth go through his insides.
All the same, this was getting out of hand. The more Jay tried to keep Nya from hearing about Mindy, the more suspicious it was going to look when she inevitably did hear about her. Now was a good time to be honest.
"Actually . . . " Jay took a deep breath. "I'm the one with the city patrol today. We switched."
"Ohh." Jay braced, waiting for Nya to ask why, but instead she seemed preoccupied. "Oh, that's a problem, though. One of my errands was to pick up more gasoline for the Bounty's generator, and I don't know if we should be carrying explosive fuel home on the back of a lightning dragon."
"I can pick up the gasoline," said Kai. Nya gave him a deadpan look.
"Because carrying gasoline on the back of a fire dragon is so much safer."
"Relax, it wouldn't blow up!" Kai waved a hand. "Those big containers are spark-proof anyway, and I could use a little excitement."
"You just have a death wish, don't you?" said Nya, exasperated.
"Forget death wish, he just wants an excuse to see Skyyyyyy-lor," sang Cole.
"Geeeez. Okay, so maybe I do," said Kai, rolling his eyes. "I was gonna go see her anyway, might as well be useful while I'm out there."
"Really?" Nya snorted. "You couldn't just go to the city to visit her, you have to try get yourself killed in the process?"
A squabble began. Nothing the others weren't used to—Nya was never too happy with Kai's daredevil ways, despite her own recklessness. Zane, yawning, caught his drowsy falcon just before it could topple off his shoulder.
Jay went to wash his breakfast dishes. He lingered a little bit extra with Meep and Mopp, knowing he would be away for most of the day. Cole came to put his dishes away too.
"I'm impressed," he said. "Didn't think you'd have the guts to be square with Nya about that."
"Yeah, well. Whatever." Jay didn't look up. "But, uh . . . well . . . thanks. F-for trying to cover for me, I mean."
"What, you mean helping you dig a hole under yourself?" Cole gave a snort of laughter. "Any time."
Jay rolled his eyes, smiling. There were moments like this when, despite everything, Cole actually did seem like a pretty okay older brother to have.
"'ey." Cole elbowed him on his way out. "Have fun at the formal. Try to take a good cold shower just before, or something. You don't wanna get too obvious, Mr. Steal-Yo-Girl."
Annnnnnd there the moment went.
Jay was a little delayed in gearing up for patrol, since he had to pack a backpack with some fancier clothes. Kai and Nya had finally squabbled themselves to a standstill; it was arranged that Kai would indeed fetch the gasoline from New Ninjago City, flammability be darned. Meanwhile Jay would be dropping Nya off at the garage where she kept the DB Xpress, and Cole (who would be done with his patrol much sooner than Jay) would swing by the city on his way home to pick her up.
It was a mess. Jay was looking forward to the day when the Bounty was repaired and they could just go back to their usual cloverleaf patrols.
"If you blow up, I'll laugh," said Nya sourly, sitting on a trunk full of weaponry. Kai snorted and tightened the buckles on his gi.
Meanwhile Jay fiddled with his weapon belt, eyeing Nya. She still hadn't asked why he'd switched patrols with Cole, and now that he was no longer panicking about that, he wondered: what kind of errands did she have in New Ninjago City? Errands that she needed the entire DB Xpress to run?
It could just be groceries, of course. Returning the phone. Undoubtedly getting supplies to fix the ship, too. But what if . . . what if there were also some Serpentine affairs in the mix? . . . Technician affairs? . . . It was ridiculous, of course, but now he couldn't shake the idea . . .
Jay looked around. Kai was still here, and Lloyd was lurking in the doorway too, but maybe he could ask some super-subtle questions. Or at least see if she was nervous or . . . or something.
"So, uh," he began, hesitant. "The Bounty's low on gas, huh?"
"Yeah." Nya gave a frustrated sigh. "The generator is drawing way more gasoline than it normally does; the crash must have caused a leak in a fuel line or something. Just another thing to fix."
"Oh." Jay pulled on the top layer of his patrol gi. "Well that sucks. So, uh, what else are you—what the freaking freak?!"
He'd just jammed his hands into his pockets, and both had met with something mushy and slimy and cold. Yelping, he yanked his hands back out and stared at the strange grayish glop now coating them.
"Oh, come on!" groaned Lloyd. Jay turned to him, silently demanding an explanation.
"I didn't tell you about that?" Lloyd smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I burned some oatmeal this morning, and it wasn't any good for eating anymore, so I, uh . . . kinda stuffed it into Kai's shoes. I guess I forgot to clue you in."
"Ughhhhhh." Jay looked around, but Kai had already disappeared. "This is getting out of hand! How does he do it?" He began to dig oatmeal out of his pockets, grumbling. Nya stifled a laugh.
"You two are having an awfully hard time taking my brother down a peg. I hate to think what this must be doing to his invincibility complex."
Jay gave a frustrated groan, casting a scowl at Nya and Lloyd and wherever Kai had gone and the world in general. Then he glared at the two dripping handfuls of cold mush he'd managed to scoop from his pockets.
". . . Where's Cole?"
What with one thing and another, he forgot to ask Nya what her errands were about.
The city patrol dragged on. Occasionally Jay glimpsed the hulking form of the DB Xpress in the streets below, but it was always doing something entirely innocuous: waiting at a red light, parked in front of the grocery store, heading for the hardware store. He wasn't so paranoid as to start following her.
Once he glanced up and spotted a bright-red elemental dragon in the distance, with two tiny figures on its back. He considered going over to give Kai a hard time, but decided against it. The poor guy got enough grief as it was.
Besides. Thinking of Mindy made him remember how it felt to be on the receiving end of the ragging.
At last he realized he'd have to cut off for the formal, and there arose the awkward question of changing into his suit. He examined a phone booth, but couldn't comprehend how Superman managed it; in the end he slipped into one of the bathrooms in Borg Industries and changed in one of the stalls. He was well and truly fed up with everything by the time all this was done.
The party was . . . well, a mixed bag. Jay had spent enough time on a TV set that he was comfortable in a suit, but mingling with all these science and technology moguls left him a little shy. The conversation wasn't all that tech-oriented, either, and overall it was more boring than he'd have hoped.
And of course, Mindy. He had to chitchat with her, she'd invited him for Pete's sake, and he struggled so furiously to stay distant while not acting unusual that he wound up making a complete idiot of himself—which was probably pretty usual, actually. She didn't seem to suspect anything.
"I'm still waiting on pictures of that spaceship," she said playfully, scooping a glass off the refreshments table. "How's it coming along?"
"Oh, uh, great," said Jay. "We're having a little bit of trouble finding time to work on it, though. We both have training, I have patrol, and Nya has fixing the ship."
"Mmm." Mindy swirled her drink. "So, tell me about this Nya."
Jay froze, his mouth halfway open. Um, um, umm . . . oboy. Shoot. One of the few things as dangerous as two sort've-rival girls meeting on video chat: describing one of these sort've-rival girls to the other. Talk about a landmine!
But then he realized this was actually great. He could talk freely about Nya—he could tell Mindy all about how awesome she was—and it would just prove that he wasn't trying to threaten her boyfriend. She'd want Jay to not be tooooo interested in her. And best way to convince a girl you're not too interested is to praise another girl to her! Ha, take that, Cole.
"Oh, Nya," he said, putting on his "extra-casual." "Maybe you've heard about her in the news too? She's Kai's sister. Great at building stuff, tinkering, inventing, computer programming—"
"That's all out of my league," laughed Mindy. "I recruit inventors, but that doesn't mean I understand what they're inventing."
Jay started to explain a little bit about the kind of work he and Nya did, trying to make it as clear as possible to the layperson, but he saw that Mindy's eyes were glazing over. Honestly that irked him a little. Maybe it wasn't high drama or anything, but he was really excited about this stuff! Even his teammates, who put up with his technobabble on a regular basis (and complained just as regularly), still made some effort to show that they cared about his projects. If only because they cared about him.
"Sorry, am I boring you?" he broke off to ask.
"Oh! No, no, please continue," said Mindy. Jay hesitated, not really believing it.
"Oh FSM," somebody suddenly said. "I think there's a crash down there."
Jay's head snapped around. A fancily-dressed couple was standing by one of the giant floor-to-ceiling windows, peering into the distance. Without thinking Jay drifted over to them and saw that there was indeed a snarl of traffic forming in the streets, around what looked like an overturned eighteen-wheeler.
"Something going on?" asked Mindy, joining him.
"Yeah, there's been an accident." Jay turned to her with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to duck out for a while. It's my patrol today, and part of patrol duty is to help the city services handle any crashes."
"Oh. Well go ahead," said Mindy. She seemed peeved. As Jay hastily wove his way out of the room, he again experienced a flash of irritation. By the time he made it to the ground floor it had consolidated into a sort of grumpy defensiveness.
"Sorry, but I've got a job, you know," he muttered to no one in particular as he bolted out onto the sidewalk. If Mindy had issues with him fulfilling his ninja duties, tough!
It was only then that he realized he was still in his fancy suit. Dangit. Well, maybe his assistance wouldn't be needed. If it was, he'd work things out once he got there.
He powered up his dragon and flapped hastily towards the site of the crash, still grumbling. He'd always said those big trucks shouldn't be allowed to drive through the city! Just seeing them trying to squeeze through the intersections was enough to give you a heart attack. They caused more accidents than every other kind of vehicle put together, and—
He reached the crash site and landed, aghast. That eighteen-wheeler must have been trying some kind of truly insane maneuver—it was lying in two pieces, the trailer crumpled on its side with a lamppost impaling it and the cab almost upside-down. Caution tape and barricades were already set up all around the scene, and ambulances and police vehicles were flashing on every quarter. Jay jogged over to the barricade to see where he could help out.
Then his heart stopped.
The truck hadn't crashed on its own; there was a mangled, flaming wreck where another vehicle had been. And hanging off the twisted pile of metal was the front bumper of the DB Xpress.