Author's Note/Disclaimer: Still don't own it; y'all should know that by now. (Or maybe I do? Am I secretly one of the Hageman brothers? You'll never know! … No. No, I am not.)

I figured I ought to finish this, since it'll affect things to come in my other fic, Ship of Theseus (which I still need to finish writing.) I don't think it'll be terribly important to read this first, or at all, really, to understand the plot of that story, but I wanted to put it out there so some of the things that happen will make more sense, is all. Also, this was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend, but it kinda spun into something a little different than I originally planned. Either way, here you go. I should mention, this takes place after season five, not that it's incredibly important to know that.

"Damaged Sectors"
By Skylark Starflower
Started February 26, 2016
Finished June 16, 2016

He stood on the steps of the building, looking up. It had been quite a while since his last visit. Honestly, although he had nothing against the man who ran the place, he had never really been that comfortable there since the whole Digital Overlord debacle.

"PIXAL?" he asked.

"Yes, Zane?" came the reply only he could hear.

"Must we do this now?"

She seemed mildly surprised. "Isn't that why we came?"

"Well, yes, but …"

"Then what's the matter?"

"… Nothing. Never mind."

Still, Zane didn't move. Standing on the doorstep to Borg Industries was reminding him of the last time he was here, and it wasn't a pleasant memory. He did his best to fight down the growing panic and began to walk.

No one looked twice as he entered the building. Nindroids weren't all that uncommon these days. There were two, newly painted white, acting as greeters just inside the front doors. Despite being based on Zane's blueprints, he found they really didn't look much like him at all.

Ignoring them, Zane made his way to the front desk. He smiled at the clerk, hoping the man wouldn't notice just how nervous he actually felt.

"Welcome to Borg Industries. How may I help you?" the clerk asked.

"I have a meeting scheduled with Mr. Borg," replied Zane.

"Name?"

Zane told him, and the clerk turned to his computer, tapping away at the keyboard for a moment. Finding the information he was searching for, the clerk nodded. "Ah, yes. Mr. Borg is expecting you in his office. I'll call ahead to let him know you've arrived. You can take the elevator." The man smiled at Zane. "I trust you know the way?"

"I do, thank you." Zane left the counter and traveled to the bank of elevators. A moment later, he was making his way up the floors to Cyrus' office. He fiddled nervously with his hands, the panic from before growing more intense the higher he went.

"Zane?" PIXAL sounded worried. "Are you okay? Readings show that your anxiety levels are rising."

"I'll be all right. Being here is just stirring up bad memories, is all …"

"Okay, if you're sure …"

The two were silent the rest of the way. Soon, the elevator dinged and opened up into the vast space Cyrus called his office. For a moment, Zane just stood there, rooted to the spot. It was only when Cyrus called out for him to enter that he unfroze and walked inside.

Cyrus was smiling at Zane, but there was something unusual about it. The nindroid couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, though.

"Well, I see no reason to beat around the bush," Cyrus said. "I imagine the reason you're here is because of PIXAL?"

Having the topic broached for him served to calm Zane down somewhat. "Yes. Why have you not responded to our letter?"

Cyrus' smile was gone as thought it had never existed. For a moment, he just looked at Zane before he turned around and wheeled himself over to the big picture window over looking New Ninjago City.

"I have received your letter," Cyrus said after a moment of silence. "I've read it thoroughly. I've chosen not to reply because you wouldn't like the answer."

Zane frowned. "I fail to see how writing back a simple no would have been so upsetting."

Cyrus snorted. "That's just it. It wouldn't have been just a simple no. I was trying to be kind by not replying, but here you are, forcing the issue."

"Issue?" Zane's earlier panic was almost completely gone now, replaced by irritation. "What issue? We asked if you could rebuild PIXAL, and you've made it clear now that you can't."

Cyrus shook his head. "Not so much can't as won't."

That brought Zane up short. "I don't understand. Why not?" He paused for a moment before continuing. "PIXAL is asking the same."

Cyrus sighed. "I would ask that PIXAL not listen to the answer, if only to spare her feelings, but I know she'll listen anyway, so I may as well tell you." He turned around to face Zane once more before continuing. "Zane, you considered Dr. Julien to be your father. Is it so wrong of me, then, to have come to consider PIXAL as my daughter?

"When she went missing, after your death, I had no idea what happened to her. I didn't know at the time that the both of you were taken to Chen's island. I didn't know she had been forcibly dismantled and I certainly didn't know that she ended up residing in your head."

Cyrus stopped for a moment, staring down at his hands, clasped in his lap, frowning. "Imagine my surprise when I first heard from you, so long after your rescue, asking if I could rebuild PIXAL. Did it never occur to either of you to inform me of her situation beforehand? I never heard from you, continued to believe PIXAL was gone forever, because neither of you thought to tell me. Not once, until you decided to ask for my help to fix her!"

Here he stopped and looked up at Zane. His expression was cross, but his eyes were shining with tears. "Do either of you have any idea what that feels like?"

An awkward silence fell, Zane not really knowing how to respond as he watched Cyrus struggle to recompose himself.

"Zane?" said PIXAL after a couple minutes had passed.

"Yes?" he replied internally.

"Could you please tell Mr. Bor – no, my … my father, what I have to say?"

Zane turned his attention back to Cyrus. "PIXAL would like to say something." He paused for a moment, cocking his head slightly as he listened to her speak. "'It is new for me to think of you as my father, but not at all unwelcome. That said, I feel I must apologize. We failed to mention in our letter why it took so long to contact you.'"

Cyrus' expression was unreadable. "Oh?"

"'Please don't blame the others, they had no idea of the extent of the damage, but it turns out both Zane and I are suffering from memory issues. I am ashamed to admit it, but we both had … forgotten you. It was only when you arrived at Steep Wisdom that we even started to remember. Zane never said anything at the time because he simply did not realise there was a problem.'"

Silence fell. Cyrus and Zane stared at each other until the silence grew awkward and Cyrus turned away. Once again, he took to looking out over the city. He kept his back to Zane when he finally spoke once more.

"You forgot me? And the others never saw fit to bring it up?"

Zane shook his head. "No. To be fair, we did practically go straight from fighting Chen's Anacondrai warriors to Morro and his ghosts. There wasn't much time to worry about memory issues. We didn't even know PIXAL was having difficulty until we realised she couldn't remember you."

Cyrus was silent for a moment longer before turning around. He was smiling. "Well, I wish you had mentioned that sooner, as it would have saved all of us a lot of grief. I understand now, though, and that's all right. I forgive you."

Zane nodded slightly. "Thank you, from the both of us"

"However," and now Cyrus was frowning again, "I still cannot rebuild PIXAL."

"Why not?"

Cyrus spread his hands, shaking his head. "I'm afraid I simply no longer have the means. Why do you think I haven't built any more robots since the incident with the Digital Overlord? Refurbished, certainly, but not built."

"Is there anything at all you could do?"

"Well, I could fit her into one of the remaining nindroid bodies, but I'm going to hazard a guess that that wouldn't do."

A pause. "PIXAL says thanks, but no."

"Then I'm afraid there isn't much I can do unless you can recover her original parts. And even then, they'd have to be in good condition."

"Chances are, given what Chen did to her, they wouldn't be in any decent shape even if we could recover them." Zane paused for a moment before inclining his head slightly to Cyrus. "Thank you for seeing us. I am sorry we've wasted your time."

"On the contrary! Thank you for explaining the situation more thoroughly. I am quite glad that I no longer need to be angry with you."

Cyrus wheeled himself over to Zane's side and patted the nindroid on the arm. "I am sorry I can't fix PIXAL. I would very much like to, believe me. I will, in the meantime, see if I can't find another way to help. I'll contact you if I come up with anything."

"Thank you, Cyrus. We will be looking forward to hearing from you in the future."

With that, Zane turned to leave. Cyrus watched him go before heading back to his desk. He had a lot of work in front of him if he was going to find a way to help.

The End