The Son of Time - A Ninjago Alternate Universe

The Helmet

The first thing Maya and Ray heard when the ninja came back to the temple was Nya screaming for help with Zane. 

"Someone grab me a toolkit!" Nya yelled, directing Cole to put Zane on a table. "I'll see if I can fix him here!"

"What happened to him?" Ray rushed up next to his daughter with a toolkit, and she frantically began rummaging through it. Maya joined them.

"I don't know. We found him like this," Nya responded half heartedly, obviously focusing  on the nindroid in front of her. "Turn his head for me please."

Ray gently turned Zane's head to face away from Nya. On the back of his neck, Maya spotted a loose part. Something had ripped open a panel. Inside appeared to be wires, or, there would have been, but someone seemed to have... melted them? 

The tips of the wires were black and scorched, with signs of melted rubber and metal throughout the cavity. Maya felt a little sick. Zane may be a nindroid, but she could only imagine how painful this must have been.

"Well shit," Nya mumbled, she grabbed a flashlight and shone it on Zane. Even more damage could be seen now, Maya even thought she saw some sparks still flying off from circuits. "This is too much to fix here."

"What about the bounty?" Ray turned to Nya, she put her head down, seeming to think.

"Not enough equipment," Suddenly, Nya perked her head up. "The cave."

"The cave?" Maya questioned.

"The Samurai Cave," Nya said. "It's been repurposed for vehicle and weapon building- but it's better suited to fix him. And to be able to search through his memory- see what happened."

The Samurai Cave- Right. Maya had forgotten. 

When Wu was reforming the ninja, Ray and Maya kept Nya from joining. They were afraid they'd lose her, obviously, but Nya didn't appreciate it. She started her own secret rebellion, building mechs and vehicles for the ninja and also learning how to utilize her powers as "The Samurai X", luckily though by the attack of the Great Devourer Maya and Ray finally let Nya join the team. It was the first time that Maya and Ray had actually released their hold on Nya when it came to her own choices about safety. And to be honest, they were a little embarrassed that Nya even felt like she had to hide her project from all of them in the first place.

"Well, how fast can you get there?" Maya asked Nya,"Do you need us to come with you?"

"I can make it there in a few hours," She responded. "And I'll be fine on my own, for now."

Gently, Nya put back Zane, and Cole lifted him up. The two walked out of the room, probably towards a vehicle. 

"Is Zane okay?" Lloyd walked into the room with Jay. They both carried an armful of armor.

"Nya just went to to Samurai cave to see," Ray raised his eyebrow at the two ninja, eyeing the armor. "What've you got there?"

"The armor that those snake things were wearing," Jay placed down the armor on the same table Zane was just on, turning towards the parents. "How's Wu?"

Maya and Ray looked at each-other nervously. They weren't quite sure what to say. Wu was not well, that was obvious. He had been slipping in and out of consciousness the whole day, Misako tending to him the whole way through. But they weren't sure how the ninja would react to hearing that their master was... unavailable during a brand new threat.

"He's still in bed." Maya said, deciding to not explain further.

"Ah. Okay." Lloyd also put the armor he was carrying on the table. Ray and Maya leaned over, observing the armor on the table.

There was no denying that this was the work of the time twins, the designs of the helmets and the chest plates were flashy and sharp. If memory served correctly, they also still had resemblance to what Acronix and Krux used the wear. It made Maya and Ray a little sick to the stomach.

Ray and Maya had made the original armor for the twins. It was a gift when they joined the ninja, a sign of friendship. Seeing new armor built made to fight against them, based on the original designs that Ray and Maya had given to them? It made the former blacksmiths a little uncomfortable.

"Wait, how did you even get this? Shouldn't the armor still... be on whoever was wearing it?" Maya turned to Jay and Lloyd, as Ray examined a helmet.

"Well uh, it was kinda... easy?" Lloyd looked like he was struggling to explain.

"Did you mention snakes?" Ray questioned, looking at holes in the top of the helmet.

"Did Acronix get... serpentine to help him?" That would be disappointed, Maya had grown quite fond of some of the serpentine living underground. They were nice people.

"No, it was uh... a bunch of tiny orange snakes who coiled together to make a vaguely human form?" Jay attempted to explain, looking to Lloyd for guidance. Lloyd nodded in approval.

"I uh-" Maya blinked. Tiny orange snakes? "... can't say I've heard of those."

"That would make sense with the armor," Ray held up the helmet, pointing to the two holes on top of the helmet. "Was there snakes coming through these?"

"I think," Lloyd picked up a boot, looking at it. "I have no what kind of serpentine they are, if those things are serpentine."

"You took the armor from the snakes?" Cole walked in the room, back from helping Nya.

"Yup. Thought maybe we could, uh, find out something from it," Lloyd shrugged. "Honestly I was hoping Wu was better."

"Well, he's still unconscious, but I'd love to hear the rundown of what happened," Everyone turned to Misako, who was standing in the doorway. "Come here, I've got snacks."

As the ninja left, Maya noticed Ray staring at something in the helmet. His brow was furrowed, looking at the inside of the helmet.

"What is it?" Maya walked up next to him, leaning over his shoulder. 

Inside the helmet, near the top, a sigil was stamped on it. The sigil was an anvil with a clock hand and a flaming sword, crossed with eachother.

"Great, the time twins made their own smithing sigil," Maya mumbled, sighing. "They're even more cocky now."

"That's the issue. I don't think this is... their smithing sigil," Ray turned his head to look at Maya. "It looks just like ours, just a little edited."

"Did they memorize our smithing sigil?" Maya raised her eyebrow. "That seems unnecessary."

"I don't know," Ray mumbled, turning the helmet over in his hands. "But this whole helmet doesn't make much sense. How did the time twins replicate our helmets without elemental powers? Well, how did one of them do it?"

"Right... we haven't even found Krux yet, have we?" The helmet was passed from Ray to Maya. "Where would they even find our sigil to copy, anyway?"

"We donated the original stamp to the museum," Maya turned to Ray. "It's possible maybe Sander has seen anyone suspicious around. Also, if anyone besides Wu knows what those weird snakes the ninja fought are, it's Sander."

"Alright then," Maya smiled at Ray. "Let's go pay him a visit."