Chapter Text
Jabber was bored. He had been super bored recently, but today he was especially bored.
He joined the Raiders to have fun! Now, ever since Zodyl got them out of that trash beast, it's been boring!
All he talked about was destroying the Sphere. All they did was search for other parts of the Watchman series. He barely even let him battle the Cleaners anymore!
Jabber only got to fight Zanka twice in the past two weeks, and that was when he snuck out! How could he survive in these conditions?!
"Boom, ba-boom. Boom, boom, boom." Jabber vocalized to himself. It broke up the defining silence of the hallway he was walking down. "Bang, ba-bang. Bang, bang, BAMM! I'm here!"
He swung the door open to the meeting room. Everybody else had already gathered. He might have gotten a bit lost earlier.
"Sit. We have a lot to discuss." Zodyl pointed to the last chair open. It was between Bundus and a very out-of-it Momoa. She was still recovering from that memory overload.
"Kay!" Jabber plopped down with a smile. Despite his boredom, he was banking on one fact. Zodyl only called meetings with all of them when they were doing something big.
"Thank you. As of late, I have been noticing a lot of trash beasts in a…"
Jabber began to tune him out. He would focus when something interesting was said. He nudged Momoa with his foot.
She lifted her eyebrow as if to ask what. He stuck his tongue out at her, and she weakly smiled. If Jabber had any actual friends in this place—he couldn't—it would be Momoa.
"…We have gotten news of the Watchman symbol being seen in—"
"UGGHHH!" Jabber groaned and hit his head on the table. "Again?! When are we going to do something else?"
"Excuse me?" Zodyl's silent anger sent a chill down everyone's spine. "When you are under my rule, you will do what I instruct. Have you lost sight of our goal?"
"That's your goal, though. I joined to have fun and fight." Jabber rolled his eyes. "Don't act like I didn't make that clear. Can I duck out on this one?"
Momoa poked Jabber's side. She had a panicked expression. It was like she knew something he didn't. They must have talked about him before he showed.
"Y'all were gossiping about me? Wooooow." Jabber slowly clapped. "Coworkers of the year. You all should get raises."
"Jabber, are you disrespecting my authority?" Zodyl stood up and walked to stand behind him. "This is important."
"I'll only get bored and mess it up." Jabber laid his head on the table. "Think of it as taking one for the team. I'm looking out for us all!"
Zodyl silently pulled Jabber by the end of his hoodie and threw him out of the room.
Jabber lay on the cold floor. One of the poisons he had tested out yesterday had him damn near melting!
"What's got him so mad?" Jabber mumbled while playing with his rings. "It's just one mission…He's had me benched for two weeks now."
Jabber sat there bored and zoned out. He didn't know how much time had passed before Zodyl came back out.
"I think you need some correction, so I shall give you a choice." Zodyl crouched in front of him. "If you come back after this, I'll consider your transgression forgiven."
"Are you going to beat me up and leave me into one of those deserts again?!" Jabber smiled wide and got up with a bounce. "It's been forever since you've…"
He saw Zodyl smile. Jabber felt his stomach drop. This wasn't going to be fun.
~
"Then the bastard kicked me out!" Zanka spoke into his choker as he walked. He was heading to a town nearby. He had to walk through a desert to get there.
Enjin wouldn't lend him the car after he got road rage last week. Zanka didn't fully mind, though; it was good training.
"No way!" Riyo laughed. While Zanka was trudging through a desert, she was laid up at the base. "Did you at least get a refund?"
"No." Zanka groaned as he climbed up a particularly steep hill. "He kept yelling about how I need to learn respect. Meanwhile, he wouldn't know a quality meal if it socked him."
"Do you want me to do anything about it? I haven't had a good fight in weeks!" Riyo yawned. "Just a few good punches."
"Go wild."
"Nice!" Riyo's smile could be heard. "By the way, when you reach the town, buy me some nail polish. Amo stole all of mine yesterday."
"Why can't you go steal it back?" Zanka asked.
"She deserves them. I don't mind that much. You, on the other hand, owe me after I covered for you last week."
"No one told you to do that! I was handling the lie perfectly fine."
"Well, either way, you owe me. I'll even give you something if you pick me up something extra!" Riyo began to plead. "I need some new shoes!"
"I'm not spending all of that money. You better out figure out something new quick; I'm about to reach—WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Zanka saw Jabber passed out in the sand. Jabber was a wreck. He had barely dried blood all over him. No broken bones as far as Zanka could tell.
"What is it?!" Riyo's calm demeanor immediately disappeared. "Do we need to send out an emergency team?! I knew Enjin shouldn't have let you walk!"
"Just calm down for a second!" Zanka tried to call her down despite his own layering panic. He wiped some of the sand off Jabber's body and got a closer look.
A lot of fractures, nothing broken. Whoever did this was methodical and trying to send a message.
Zanka muted himself and lightly slapped Jabber's face. "Jabber!"
"Huh?" Jabber weakly opened his eyes. "Zanka… what are you doing in this part of the desert?"
"What are you?!" Zanka made sure Jabber didn't have any serious bleeding. All of the blood seemed to be coming from his mouth and nose with a few cuts here and there.
"Zodyl…I pissed him off real bad."
"Why would he…" Zanka realized he had a choice. He could leave Jabber here or get him help. One would deal with one of his biggest problems, while the other would probably be counterintuitive.
Zanka, sadly, had a heart. He couldn't leave someone to die. Even if that someone was a Raider he couldn't stand.
Zanka lifted Jabber into his arms and ran to town. He unmuted himself to say one thing.
"I found an injured man. I need you all to send an emergency healing team. Eisha should be a good fit."
"Don't scare me like that! I'll get on that. If I'm remembering correctly, there is an underground hospital near there." Riyo's fast foot steps echoed in the halls as she ran.
"Thanks." Zanka quickly hung up.
"What are you doing?" Jabber asked, on the verge of passing back out.
"Getting you some help and getting a good informant on the Raiders. Two birds, one stone." Zanka finally made it into town and searched for the hospital. "Stay silent. I don't think they'd like a Raider being here."
"You're so weird." Jabber laughed before passing out again. He went limp in Zanka's arms, but he still had faint breathing.
Zanka found the hospital quickly and charged to the last room. No one was there except for a solitary nurse.
"Hello, sir." She said in monotone. "What's your emergency? Here at…this place, we are here for all your needs."
"Can you get this guy on some sort of support? I found him in the desert. I don't know how long he was out there."
"Sure. Place him on the hospital bed and take a step outside." Despite her bland tone, she was clearly serious about this. "He will be in good hands."
Zanka sighed in relief and took a seat outside. He looked down at his clothes. Some of Jabber's blood got on him. Zanka would have liked that in a different context.