Hey everyone, happy Friday and time for another update. So Jay being sly and sneaky when calling to ask another girl out for a date, without Nya, or anyone, knowing of it. How will this become for the Ninja of Lightning? Also be fair that if I made a incorrect theory later in the chapter when you see it, I did something like this back in high school and I couldn't find my notes to help me with this part. So heads up if I made an error. But anyway, enjoy. You may be shocked and awed... ;) Also enjoy the added soundtrack I discovered at last minute. watch?v=cGOgzmatsgA and when you see the mark, *, enjoy the experience. :D
Chapter 24: The Best or Worst Date Ever
Soft piano music filled the air of the dimly lit cafe restaurant. The large glass windows casted the warm glow of the October setting sun to brighten the room in a warm embrace. Waitresses easily maneuvered their ways through the crowded tables fit for two to four people with trays balancing on their palms to reach for their customers to serve them. A small stage stood in the back across from the cafe's front entrance with a live band playing gentle soothing jazz music to entertain the crowd. Everyone was enjoying the evening at the Blue Jazz Cafe, but a certain teen with auburn hair felt nervous to the snow-white haired girl across from him wasn't enjoying the evening a little.
Ever since Jay and Gwen entered the small cafe, he felt himself rather distant and quiet to the young scientist as he couldn't find any topic to discuss about with her. Sure he was the talkative one, but feeling nervous on a date was different. Way different than the first date he had with Nya at Mega Monster Amusement Park when he was turning into a Serpentine after accidentally getting pricked from a skeleton of a Fangprye with venom still intact. But this time, he was normal Jay without scales or a thick trunk of a tail, but with spider abilities. A sigh broke free from his mouth as he played with the rim of his ming tea cup with a finger. This is wrong. he thought. Very wrong. I love Nya, but Gwen is like her too. This is so hard.
"Jay, are you okay?" a voice asked, kindly and concern. The voice helped Jay break free from his thoughts to meet the crystal blue eyes of Gwen Stacy as she softly smiled at him. He smiled back at her softly as he could, but it quickly disappeared as he felt the old knot in his stomach tightening to make him feel uncomfortable. The young scientist could see this to frown a bit. "You know, if you are uncomfortable, we can do this another time and-"
"No it's fine." the blue ninja stopped her. "Really I'm fine." He gazed deep into her crystal blue eyes to feel the hair on the back of his neck standing as his nerves were kicking in. Like when he first laid eyes to become short and quiet, even with his voice missing for a bit. And in a black shirt and leggings with a light blue sweater, he still couldn't find his voice. Even the music around them from the live band made her look sweet and beautiful, like it was made for her when being with him. You can do this, Jay. he said to himself. You made the promise to Uncle Ben and Aunt Mary. He drew in a deep breath to let it out as his nerves were suddenly washed away. What can possibly go wrong? He smiled. "I'm just trying to think of something to talk about that's all.
Chocolate brown eyes scanned around in both curiosity and excitement. A smile softly grew on the raven haired girl's lips as she was escorted in by a teen older than her by a year that had auburn hair with soft hazel eyes and a vertical scar running down his right eyebrow adorned in a blue dress shirt and black dress jacket and pants. She felt like a high school student going out on her first date in the new cafe she never knew of in Ninjago City for having a large number of catering establishments, but this one felt new, charisma, exciting. Oh where did Jay come up with such a nice place for a date night? "Wow, this is actually exciting, Jay." she said to the unknown android and fixed her knee length red dress. "Where did you find this place? This place is packed though; hope we can find a seat."
A smirk formed on the nindroid's face to her concern on finding a table. They won't have a problem with him around. But besides that, the auburn couldn't have felt happy when spending time with Nya. Ever since he watched the samurai kissing Jay the other night, he felt lost and jealous to think she was falling for someone else and not him. He was starting to have feeling for the girl. And when the real Jay told him he was going out, he couldn't have felt more excited to ask Nya out for a date night. "Oh I've done my research and thought it was perfect for us." he smiled when lying as he really searched with the processor in his head. "And don't worry about the seats, I've got it covered." He turned to the welcoming usher to lean closer to her ear. "Find us some shade." he whispered to her while handing a twenty dollar bill her, hidden from spectators.
The usher with deep maroon hair gazed the bill in her hand to smirk and slipped it into the olive green apron wrapped around her waist. "Right this way." she smiled and led the two through the crowded cafe. Once they reached an empty table with a reserved tag on it, the usher removed it to ensure the raven haired girl didn't notice, thankful it was more dimmed in this area and handed the couple small menus for them once they seated. "Enjoy your night." she said and walked back to the doors.
Jay 2 kept his smirk on his lips as the usher walked away and turned to Nya to softly smile at her. If he said he got the seating covered, he got it covered. Sure in an unfair way, but like he cared. All it mattered that Nya was happy. Nice spot close to the live entertainment, lowly dimmed for the two, nothing could go wrong for them. But yet, the nindroid had an uneasy feeling that something didn't feel right. But what? He snorted as it didn't matter right now. "Told ya I got it covered." he chuckled to move closer to her. "So what's been on your mind?"
"Here I got an idea." Gwen said and moved their tea cups aside. Jay watched in curiosity as the snow-white haired girl was searching through her hand bag to pull assort of items. A large battery, wires, magnets that were like beads and even copper wiring. His scarred brow was raised to look at her puzzled on what idea it was. Also, why have these with her all the time? "I figured we may be stuck on conversations so I have something to show you then." she smiled. "In front of me is a theory here of a way that could help Spiderman stop Maxwell from destroying the city." She began and starting sorting the items. "If he would listen to Spiderman that day, I too could've talked to him. I worked with him before it changed. But this could be a way to limit his powers."
Intrigued. Very interesting to the lightning ninja as he gazed at the items before him. A way to limit Electro's powers from a small theory. If he hadn't killed him the other night, it could've been useful to his advantage than water. But it was too late now because he was gone. But still, the Ninja of Lightning was now fascinated to know more of her theory. "And how exactly?" he wondered while taking the coil of copper wiring.
To demonstrate, the young scientist plucked the coil of copper from his hands to start wrapping it around the large battery. Jay watched in a wondrous look with his hazel eyes full of concentration as the girl started to rub the wire across the battery and removed it. She then fed the beaded magnets through the normal wire and tied the copper wire to a free end. "Copper is really conductive when processing an electric current through it." she began. "But when you take a source of power and run it through a wire, the copper will reflect the current. Much like a magnet would."
Jay was puzzled at first to study the experiment more and watched as Gwen used the negative side of the battery and placed it on the open end of the normal wire. His hazel eyes widen with awe as the beads were repulsed across the wire, but before they could reach the coil of copper, they suddenly stopped to remain suspended. Stunned and surprised, the blue ninja couldn't find his voice as it was just fascinating on how it worked. Like a magnet she said and only two of the same poles repel against each other. "W-Wow." he choked on his words. "That's pretty cool actually. Even when I'm an inventor and the Ninja of Lightning, I couldn't even have think of that. Gwen, you may be on the smartest people I have ever met."
He then stopped to rethink on that compliment he said to feel his heart sink a bit. He remembered saying to Nya when she found the remaining Serpentine Tombs from a hidden puzzle on the map of Ninjago. It made him feel like a traitor toward the samurai saying the same compliment for being smart. To which he frowned a bit. Gwen, however, gave him a sheepish smile to blush on his face, but it disappeared as she noticed something was on his mind. She may be a scientist at Oscorp who worked with his uncle before, but she was no psychiatrist. She sighed a bit and tossed everything back into her bag and her ears perked as the music began to change and smiled a bit. "How about we change the subject then," she said and pulled herself from her seat. "Care for a dance? Just one?"
The auburn's head was lifted to turn and locked his eyes with hers to remain still. What were the outcomes? It was just one dance, but it would make him feel more of a traitor to Nya. But he sighed as he made that promise and also has the ring for the future. Bringing himself back, the lightning ninja smiled softly and took her hand to escort her to the dance floor. "One dance can't hurt us." he smiled and rested his hands on her hips with hers on his shoulders. "What could go wrong?" And yet he had an uneasy feeling that someone else he knew was in the cafe and was going to see him with another girl. What were his spider senses telling him?
"Can I ask your hand for a dance?" Jay 2 offered with an outstretched hand for her.
The samurai lifted her head from the small menu to meet her gaze with the unknown android's hand to softly smile a bit. She couldn't help but blush on her cheeks to make him smile as well. They had just gotten settled in their seats and now he wanted a dance, but the music said otherwise. It felt settling for the two. To which, she accepted his hand to let him escort her. "You may." she said.
The smile was still plastered on the nindroid's face as he led her to the dance floor as more couples soon surrounded them. His hands were wrapped around her hips as her arms hugged his neck and the two slowly took small steps like if it was a high school prom dance. The auburn felt peaceful to the dance as the samurai rested her head on his chest to feel his power source hum softly. This must be what love is like; regardless if he was a robot. It made him feel...human. More human than a nindroid.
As the two danced away to the soothing jazz music, Jay 2 sensed something had felt rather odd to lift his head and scanned around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him, but his eyes were soon set on a girl with snow-white hair dancing with a teen. A teen with auburn hair, Jay 2's height and supposedly weight the same. It can't be. he wondered. He's out as Spiderman. He said he was going out. He carefully studied the two across the floor and as soon the male turned his power source somewhat dropped as he met eye to eye with the real Jay. What in the world? he breathed quietly and could tell by his expression he was thinking the same. Both were hooped. But who was Jay with? Was he seeing someone else over Nya?
Panic. Panic! PANIC! That's all on Jay's mind as he caught eye contact with Jay 2. If his android counterpart was here, so would Nya then and both of them would see him with Gwen Stacy, but then, his Spiderman secret would be out and all would see who he was and Jay 2 a nindroid stolen from Oscorp. Oh he was hooped, even if Nya found him with another girl and soon Kai would be killing him. Slow and painful or quick and silent? Oh he was doomed.
Once the music had ended, Jay and Gwen quickly returned to their seats and he quickly thought of a plan to get Jay 2 alone with him. He just hoped Nya wouldn't see them together if he got the nindroid away from her. "Hey can you excuse me?" he asked while getting to his feet rather quick. "I need to use the restroom." He smiled as she understood and quickly transverse to a secluded area he could find that had a curtain which could hide them and saw Jay 2 and Nya across from him and the surrounding crowd. Thankful they were in a dimmed area, the blue ninja acted discreet to wait for a chance and fired his wrists to hear him squeak a bit as he caught his blue dress shirt and pulled him away toward him and closed the curtains behind them. "What are you doing here!?" he asked panicky.
What was he doing here? Oh he could ask the real Jay the same question. And who was he with even? The nindroid furrowed his brows to rip threads off his body. "What am I doing here?" he questioned him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out as Spiderman and not on a date. Who is she even? Are you seeing someone over Nya? Because if she saw you with that other girl, you'd ruined my date with Nya and our secret would be exposed."
His date with Nya? With his Nya!? The samurai he loves with all of his heart after Gwen came to his life? Irritated, the Ninja of Lightning quickly threw a right hook at his counterpart's face to have him stumble to the floor. He snorted as Jay 2 quickly pulled himself to grab him by his jacket to lift him off his feet and pinned him to the wall. "First off, her name is Gwen Stacy." he stated and set him down after he collected himself. "Second, she's the one who asked me out for coffee because she wanted to get to know me more as a friend. The dance didn't mean anything."
"Then what is it then?" Jay 2 questioned him. "Looks like betrayal to me."
"It's...It's complicated to explain." Jay stuttered. To him, it was complicated to say anything more to him. He didn't want to give him more information than he has to know. "Doesn't your databanks have any records of Gwen Stacy from the blood drops I gave you?" he asked to receive a shook from the android's head. "Anyway, she works at Oscorp and she wanted to get to know me more. That is it. And let me remind you, Nya is mine. You're nothing but a robot taking my place when I'm Spiderman. Keep that saved in your databanks." He turned to the curtains to slide them open and glanced over his shoulder. "I'm taking Gwen home and you'll take Nya back, when I get back I'll deal with you later." and walked away to his date.
The nindroid glared at the back of the auburn's head as he weaved his way through the crowded cafe. His brows were still furrowed to snort. Nya was his after he caught him with another girl? Yeah right. Betraying the samurai with a girl from Oscorp. How cold of him. He waited for a couple of minutes to watch the two leave and soon found himself walking back to Nya. "Hey there you are." Nya's voice chirped to have him face her with a flustered look. "Everything okay?"
Everything didn't seem okay now. Something from the blue ninja had triggered him to become annoyed and angered. He just couldn't explain it. He never felt so...raw with anger. "Nothing." he lied. "I'm going to get us something to drink." He turned on his heels to make a beeline walk for the cafe bar table.
Something blossomed in the android's mind as he waited for an open space for his take to get drinks for him and Nya, but with what Jay told him, it made him feel dark. Even his hazel eyes darkened as he stared at himself at the reflection of a mirrored shelf. Absentmindly, he saw an opportunity of an open spot to take, but didn't sensed the person next to him coming on his left and bumped into each other. He felt something hot and wet running down the sleeve of his blue shirt to turn and glare at the clumsy culprit. "Hey watch it, buddy!" he scowled to the teen with dirty blonde hair. "What? You need glasses to see? Because clearly you didn't see me."
The teen, probably older than him by a year, glared down at him to narrow his eyes and threw the cups he had in his hands down to the floor. Glass shattered over the hardwood floors and the cafe became quiet, even the band stopped to the commotion. The teen grabbed Jay 2 by his shirt to pull him closer to give him a death glare. "The only one who needs glasses is you, moron." he scowled and soon his eyes went hard as he recognized him. "You again! What, ready for round two!? You got lucky before at the last fight, but it's just you and me without that leader of yours I socked the last time. Now you come by again to spill mine and my girlfriend's coffee who even works here on break, someone should put you in your place."
Anger spread through the android's body as he scanned the teen with his dark eyes. Where had he seen him before from Jay's memories to have him wound up? It now dawned on him as he finished scanning him to receive a name; Alex Miles. He growled to push him away to notice a crowd was gathering. He didn't know why, but he could give them a real show of entertainment. "Yeah, someone should be put in their place." he agreed and clenched his palms tightly. "And it should be you!" He grabbed him by his shirt to push him against the bar counter roughly to cause the dishes to rattle and threw a punch to his abdomen. He heard him gasp a breath to smirk and threw him to the floor to pounce onto him in hatred.
Nya heard something rattling from her spot to turn where it was and watched a flash of auburn hair heading for the floor and heard a familiar cry of anger. She gasped as she knew who it was to start rushing for him. "Jay!" she shouted to him.
The teen with dirty blonde hair struggled under his weight to raise both arms to protect his face as the auburn android threw the punches. Jay 2's anger consumed him to start throwing harder punches; regardless to those that tried to pull him away from Alex. He started it and the doppelganger was going to finish it his way. "Jay, stop it!" a feminine voice cried to him and felt his arm being grabbed. In retaliation, he tugged his arm free and swung it to whoever grabbed him to felt contact. In return, he heard a girl scream and slumped to the floor.
All was silent and the atmosphere became still as the nindroid stopped to glance over his shoulder to gasp. Behind him and on the floor laid the samurai as she had herself prompt up with a scared look on her face. Jay 2 became more scared to the swollen welt that darkened on her cheek to realize what he had done. He harmed Nya. "What's wrong with you?" she hastily said and was helped up to start running out.
*Worried for the girl, he felt his power source dim to what he had done. It wasn't like him ever and he didn't mean to. He glanced over to the teen he was fighting with and became scared along with the marooned haired usher holding onto him closely, scared as well. What had he become now? "Nya, wait!" he cried out to her. "I'm sorry!" His feet demanded him to race out of the cafe without realizing and used his eyes to scan for the samurai he harmed on accident. He finally found the girl in a red knee length dress with golden accents and black hair to rush over to her in haste. "Nya!" he called for her and grabbed her hand softly. "I'm-"
"Don't touch me!" the samurai cried out to turn and show him the hot tears streaming down her face. Jay 2 was frozen to what pain he caused to her. She wretched her hand freed to slap him across the face to stun him. "And stay away from me!" She then swung her foot out at his chest, but missed and hit his left kidney.
Click!
A squeak escaped from the blue ninja's lips as he felt his hatch opening and tried to push them close. Nya's chocolate brown eyes widen to what she was witnessing to blink as his chest was expanding and splitting apart to gasp. What did I do!? she wondered in fear. The blue shirt started to rip and pull the fabric down the middle and soon was torn open to reveal the chest cavity of not a human, but a robot. To which, she gasped loudly to have her hands over her mouth to cover her screams and removed them. "You're...a nindroid!?" she cried out.
Ashamed as his secret was exposed now to her, he hung his head down to gaze at his open chest cavity. It wasn't supposed to happen, never. But what he had leaded him to this moment. He ran a hand over his power source to sigh and lifted his head to reveal soft hazel eyes to frown at the surprised girl. He had to tell her now. "Yes. I'm a nindroid." he admitted and tried to close his hatch. Eventually he did. "And my name is Jay 2. The real Jay created me to take his place when needed when he was out. I'm sorry Nya."
Confused and startled, the girl was quiet to speak as her eyes were glued on the nindroid hidden underneath her nose. A robot that even talks, looks, and acts like Jay. Why was there two of them then? And what happened to the real Jay Walker? She had to know now. "Where's the real Jay?" she demanded, afraid still. "Where is he if he made you?"
The nindroid gazed into her eyes to shake his head. He couldn't tell her that or anything. Only him as a robot. "I can't tell you that." he said and took a step forward. The girl reacted and took a shaky step back from him. "He swore to me to never tell you or anyone his deepest secret. He needed to be kept hidden. From everyone. But let me explain more if we go...to the park or something." He took another step while she stepped back to frown. "Nya, please?"
Another Jay in front of her while the real Jay was somewhere else that she couldn't know. What if he was dead and buried in an unmarked grave? No, she knows he was still alive because she felt him warm. While the imposter was cold and life like. Like how Zane is today. But her gut kept telling her that Jay was alive and the robot was hiding him. Maybe as a prisoner. Just where? She noticed Jay 2 taken another step toward her with his hand held out to her to shake her head scared and turned to run with tears cascading down her face.
Heart broken and solemn, the nindroid watched the girl he was starting to develop love toward her run down the streets in fear and sadness. "Nya!" he called out to her but she kept running and running. Thunder rolled into the skies and soon poured heavy rain to have him hung his head and walked down the opposite direction. He didn't care if he was getting drenched and cold from his ruined shirt, he understood now what it was like getting hurt and from others. Especially toward someone he...actually loved regardless if she loved the real Jay. But what was going to happen to him now when Jay finds out what he had done.
Something then flashed into his mind to darken his eyes and growl on the thought of the Ninja of Lightning. It was his fault, not the nindroid's to harm Nya. Ever since he was created, he was more than nothing and taking Jay's place for little time and locked in the basement. A puppet. Just a puppet on his strings being played with. The thought of that made him more angered and dig his fingers into his palms. A puppet being used by the real lightning ninja and he wasn't going to take it anymore. He wasn't a puppet now. He was free from his strings. He was Jay 2. Nindroid of Lightning now. And with one, and only one objective.
Kill Spiderman!
Ooh tension now rising! And I leave you all in a cliffhanger. Hmm... With Jay 2 now exposed, how can Nya explain this to the Ninja? What about Jay and Gwen? But apparently Electro isn't the only one that wants Jay dead, Jay 2 now as well. Hmm... What can this mean now? Find out next week and I hope you enjoyed the soundtrack with it! Thank you reading the update, leave a review if you wish to, have a great weekend and I'll see you all next week. :) Boy I just realize I sound like Markiplier or JackSepticEye when they do their outros. Oh well, it's fun still. :)