Hidden in Plain Sight

Robot First Aid, Identity, and Human First Aid

"Okay, how does this sound: Hi, Mr. Borg. Boy, if you didn't hate us yet, have I got news for you? No need to beat around the bush, we murdered your robot daughter. But it's okay, we did it to save your cooperation and also all of Ninjago. So, y'know, all good. Right?" I chuckled, trying to relieve the immense tension I felt in my chest. No matter how I framed the situation, nothing could sugarcoat Pixal's untimely death.

Zane stared at Pixal, his hand tightly squeezing hers. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her lifeless body. He ran a diagnosis scan on Pixal- or attempted to. Zane wasn't equipped for thorough examining capabilities. But he did his best with his hardware to figure out why Pixal wasn't rebooting. Apparently, the Royal Family's digital defences included power surges. As soon as Pixal's system was noticed by the defences, her circuits overloaded, making her battery give out.

"Needs work," Dareth said.

"Any notes, Zane?" I said. Zane tightened his grip on Pixal's hand, but didn't say anything. I'd never seen Zane so overtly emotional. I knew he loved Pixal, but I didn't realize how much. He was mourning. Which made him useless. I guess I have to pilot this 'Pixal Murder' bus and make sure we don't crash. I hated being in charge.

"It's just her battery that's fried, right?" I said. Zane didn't respond. Work with me, Zane!

"We can replace that. Maybe Cyrus won't notice," I said, "Let's go to the store and get some Double As."

"That won't work," Zane said.

"Or we could hide the body," Dareth said, winking at us, "Bleach the apartment. We were never here."

"Really leaning into the murder. I like it. We're not doing that," I said.

"I'll give her my heart," Zane said.

"Save that love confession till after Borg revives her," I said.

"No," Zane said, tapping his chest, "I want to give her my heart."

"Literally?"

"Yes."

"Yikes, man. Can we at least try throwing Double As at her?" I said. Zane rose to his feet. He turned to me and put his arms on my shoulder.

"This is no time for jokes," Zane said, "Please Jay. Give her my heart."

"I-I can't do that," I said, "You want me to kill you for Pixal. I want her back too. But I'm not losing you in the process," Zane sank to his knees. I continued: "Borg will fix her. She's not gone. As far as we know, her hard drive is still intact. We just need to boot her up again. No need for drastic measures."

"I know," Zane said, "But I want her to have my heart."

"It's pointless," I said, "All we have to do is go to Cyrus Borg and get her fixed."

"With another weak power source? What if this happens again?" Zane said, "I'll lose her."

"Borg will probably upgrade her power source," I said.

"Would you give Nya your heart? If you knew that your heart was stronger than hers. And that if you gave her your heart, she'd never suffer like this again, would you give her your heart?" Yes. I wouldn't hesitate. 

 I knew the feeling all too well- going above and beyond to protect someone you loved even if you didn't need to. Why else would I be so obsessed with finding Samurai X? I was doing it for Nya. Even if I knew Nya could handle herself- I've seen her take serpentine and, more impressively, Harumi- the idea of Samurai X, her kidnapper, running loose in Ninjago made my blood boil. My heart felt heavy just imagining what would've happened if Nya hadn't escaped the Samurai. I loved her too much to let anyone get away with even thinking about harming her. She could take care of herself, and I was going to make that a little bit easier. Starting with electrocuting that suit in oblivion. And if the pilot's mean, I'd zap him too.