Work Text:
“I’m telling you, Clancee, they’re the worst, ” Jay whined.
He was tinkering with one of the ship cannons while finally letting off some steam about the jerks he used to call his friends. One of the perks of being a master inventor is that you could chat while working!
Even if some stupid robot monkey thing keeps glaring daggers at you and trying to steal your tools.
“Were they? I th-thought you used to really like them.”
“Yeah, well a little space away does wonders for clearing your head! None of them treated me with the respect I deserve!”
Sure, maybe sometimes they treated him decently, but clearly, when it came down to it, they were all too thrilled to throw him under the bus!
“Oh you know, just my great cool friends doing great cool friend activities like forcing a guy to face a VENOMOUS SPIDER COMPLETELY ALONE!!”
Yes , he was still mad about that! Why wouldn’t he be?!
“Oh, and when I try to ask if I haven’t suffered enough, you know what they all said?! NO ! They WANTED me to suffer! Some friends they are!”
“That c-certainly-”
“And that’s just a general thing!! You know, two of them wasted all three of their wishes and I’m not even surprised!”
Without so much as turning around, he grabbed a hammer from his toolbox and launched it at the monkey he knew was trying to tamper again. He either missed or it got dodged, because he heard it hitting wooden planks instead of metal, followed by weird angry robot monkey sounds sent in his direction. He responded to neither.
“Stupid Kai jumps into everything without thinking and NEVER listens to a word I say when I’m trying to warn him! Well MAYBE if he had ever actually used his probably non-existent brain, he wouldn’t be trapped in a cool pirate sword!”
Jay tightened a few screws on his upgrades (seriously, no motion sensors or auto-targeting? Jeez , this stuff was old school), while an almost static sensation began to rise in his body. Clancee opened his mouth to respond, only for Jay to beat him to it.
“Oh, and Zane . I swear, he thinks that just cause he’s a robot that somehow makes him smarter than everyone else! Well, turns out one of us wasted three wishes and one of us still has one! So who’s smart now, ZANE ?!- Gah!-” in his anger, he had let some electricity loose, receiving a significant shock from both himself and his work-in-progress motion sensor.
The shock across his body reawakened his remaining injuries and he found himself nearly falling over from the blinding pain in his ankle. He staggered to the side, electing not to use the still volatile cannon for support and instead gripping the edge of the ship until the sensation subsided.
Clancee rushed towards him in a panic, “Jay- are you alright?”
Jay gave a small chuckle, brushing off the feeling entirely, “um, duh? Come on, I’m a lightning ninja- well, lightning pirate now. I can handle a few little shocks,” he spun his wrench around in his hand, trying to look flashy, until his grip slipped and it fell directly on his foot.
“OW- ow-” he staggered again, before grabbing the wrench from the ground and pointing at Clancee accusingly, “DON’T laugh!!” He demanded.
“I wasn’t g-going to! Just glad y-you’re alright!”
Jay gave his crew mate a smile, genuinely a bit appreciative of the concern.
It took all of three seconds for it to turn back to anger, “oh, they all SO would’ve laughed! Cole would’ve brought that up for days - ugh, he’s so annoying , he just loves making fun of me!!”
He turned back to his work with a huff, not so much as paying Clancee another glance as he continued on his tirade.
“Lloyd, too! He used to be the biggest little brat in Ninjago, but some stupid tea means he’s suddenly mature? Smarter than us even? Who let him be the stupid leader or the stupid green ninja? Last I checked, it’s always us saving and protecting him !!”
He sent a death glare when he saw a mechanical paw reach for his toolbox, and his hand lit to life with sparks as a warning. He gave a small smile at the reluctant retreat.
“And- and the girl?” Clancee asked.
“Huh?”
“The one that looks like the cap’n’s old love?”
“Oh, Nya , Nya’s-” brave, caring, observant, valiant- “she’s.. fine ,” he reluctantly said.
He still wanted her so, so badly. But the thought of actually ending up with her was as laughable as being a ninja again. She hated him. Besides, he didn’t need her, he had a new gig keeping him busy!
Though, he still felt a bit uncomfortable when he thought about her place in the plan… It’ll work out though. He can feel it! This is where he belongs. This is what needs to happen.
“Do you think they’ll come? T-To save you?”
Jay looked back at the snake, grinning, almost giddy at the prospect. Oh, he had plans for that. Plans for exactly what he’d say when he next saw them.
“Hehe, they better!”