Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Chapter 6

***New update, boos! And finally, one more ship makes its entrance <3 And we're saving the song until the second POV - I don't want to distract from Zane's part until it's time for that road to diverge.***

***(Zane's POV)***

I arrive at the monastery, PIXAL in tow. After Cole contacted me about a factory explosion in Nom, I scanned the event through my database and located all possible information on it. The explosion was electrical, so I presume it may have something to do with the power plant's stolen plans from Ninjago City.

"Are you confident you would like my aid in this matter?" PIXAL asks softly, tugging on my hand.

I smile down at her. "Of course. I trust your judgment, and I believe your perspective on this situation will prove useful to my team."

She beams. "Will we be doing any undercover work? I brought an extra pair of boots, just in case."

PIXAL is a lover of shoes. I have no idea where she gained that affinity from, but it's quite adorable. It reminds me to take pride in my own attire.

"I am not sure whether we will have a mission or not this evening," I confess, "but no matter what, I would be honored to see the shoes you selected, PIXAL."

She grins in pure happiness, and I sigh contentedly. Since meeting PIXAL in February, life has been much sweeter. She's taught me much about self-acceptance and my personhood. In fact, she's the one who revealed to me that I am, in fact, an android. But instead of allowing that information to upset me, she showed me that I have a special kind of reality shared with no one but her.

I lead her inside to the couch, where Cole and Seliel are already seated. Nya appears to be on the phone, but she shakes her head and pulls the device away from her ear.

"Lloyd's still not picking up," she informs us. "I don't know what's up with him tonight."

Cole shrugs. "Your brother says he's on his way."

"And Jay's out of the question," she finishes.

Cole raises an eyebrow. "Jay's just fine, Nya. Besides, this was an electrical explosion. We kind of need him around."

"He's really not feeling well, Cole. He was in tears when I came back today." She massages the bridge of her nose. "I gave him one of Master Wu's teas to calm him down, so he basically can't come. He'd be spaced out the whole time."

"Wu's teas?" Cole groans. "He would've been fine without it, Nya. I'm telling you, he's not really sick! Watch, he'll magically get better tomorrow."

"Look, I trust Jay," Nya defends him. "If he says he's not feeling well, then he's not well. Zane could even do a scan of his vital functions or something to prove it."

I nod. "That is true. I would be happy to offer my services, should you desire them."

"I don't need proof, but thanks." Nya sighs. "We know for sure we can't take him anyway, since he had that tea. So it looks like it's down to us and Kai."

"Okay," Cole declares, taking charge. "I say we do a little investigation around that power plant. The police don't have many theories as to what could've happened."

"That seems like a wise course of action," I put in. "We could check for similarities in evidence to the Ninjago City power plant incident."

"Or lack of evidence," Nya moans. "There were no footprints at the power plant, and the forensics test came back negative for serpentine residue. So unless the intruder came in with a wheel chair, pretending to be the paralyzed engineer, we're stuck with a villain with the ability to avoid walking on the ground."