How long? How long had it been since then? Since her creator walked up the stairs and...never came back. Stella's chronometer had ceased function long ago, a flaw of only being partially built, she supposed. She could still remember the day she'd been activated. Why had Doctor Julien activated her when she was partially finished? She never knew. Perhaps to test connectivity and function. Dull violet eyes staring ahead into the dark of the basement, she let herself remember. After all, who knows how long whatever had been installed to power her would last. It could always be the last time.

"Ah..there we are. Hello, Stella. My my, you'll be a wonderful medical droid. Maybe a rescue droid, even! If these nasty talks of war ever become real." The younger doctor said, adjusting his glasses. Not a wrinkle on his face. He couldn't have been any more than twenty. "Are your optics working?" Julien paused, a frown apparent on his face when his creation didn't respond. "Mm..just a moment here-" A spark flashed as he connected a wire in her throat, and he grinned. "There now. See if you can answer me."

"Hellloo-" It was glitched and drawn out, and it caused Stella's expression to shift to confusion-as much as she could express it, with her face mostly made up of plates.

Julien chuckled, holding his chest slightly as though he were terribly amused. "Oh-Oh my, don't worry about that. I'll fix that right up, and get you a better face plate. One not made of so many parts." Scratching his head with the butt of a screwdriver, his mouth twisted in concentration. "Well, your eyes seem to work, voice needs a little tuning...how do you feel?"

"FeeL?"

"Yes, feel. I have your pain receptors turned off, but I would like to know how you feel otherwise. Can you move your shoulder for me?"

Stella gently lifted the unfinished arm stub, then the other. "Operational." A brief glance down, and she was confused again. "I am incomplete."

Julien waved his hand dismissively at her, rolling his eyes slightly and going back to his work. "You shouldn't worry about that, dear. It's not important." He scribbled 'lack of understanding and adaptation software' on a large piece of blank blueprint paper next to him.. And then paused. Julien began drawing and scribbling at a fast pace, screwdriver dropped and abandoned. The only sound was the tool clattering to the floor. Lifting the paper up in joy, he spun around once. "Perfect!" Bolting up the stairs and shutting the door, Julien made sure to lock it.

That was it. The last time she ever saw him. He'd left her powered on in his frenzy of inspiration, and never returned. She heard voices by the door twenty years after that, and had silently wished her creator a happy birthday. She never knew exactly when it was, but if her chronometer had read twenty years by that point, Stella was certain he'd had at least a few.

Another twenty years after that had passed in mostly silence for her...despite the different voices she heard occasionally. This.. 'Zane' the doctor talked to. Was that her replacement? Was that the 'perfect' model? Perhaps it was, the scans for life she'd done occasionally back then had shown one droid reading. One day, there was silence for a few hours. Her chronometer had ceased by then, but Julien's vital signs had ceased and then restarted. Did humans die and then come back? No..no the data loaded into her contradicted that. Stella had files on supernatural magics and creatures-the limited knowledge Julien could provide her with, anyway.

But now, she heard a voice. It was...-Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn't even tell the date or year anymore. The flashing box in her internalized screen had frozen on the day of the silence. Stella paused, trying to listen.

"So this is your home, my mysterious friend." Curiosity is present in Zane's voice, and a brief clatter is heard. "You've brought me here..but why?" A brief pause, and then he seems to be pained, breathing heavily. "No, No! It can't be. No! Nooooo!" Zane screams in anguish and the sound echoes down into the empty basement.

Stella can hear Zane shakily breathing, slamming his fist on the floor. What had happened? Had he truly forgotten? She would never forget his voice, ever. Now she had a proper match to the voice Julien had spoken to. The..perfect one.

A rush of footsteps pounds down the staircase, and a cacophony of voices sounds off, sounding more worried than anything. They'd heard Zane's pained cry.

"Zane?" One of the voices finally triumphs over the others, and he sounds exhausted.

A low whistle of awe and appreciation leaves another, and he chuckles. "Wow, would you look at this place!" He pauses when he hears the worry in his friend's voice. " Zane..? Kai, why's he hunched over like that? What's wrong?"

So the first voice's name is Kai. Stella makes a mental note of this.

Kai shakes his head. "I dunno, Jay. Zane, are you hurt?"

Jay.

A gruff, but soft voice speaks next. "Hey..are you okay?"

Zane sighs and slowly stands, looking at the blueprint in his hands again. He lifts his gi top and opens his chest panel, only to be met with screams of shock and surprise.

Kai sounded shaky, pointing at Zane. "Y..You're a robot?"

Zane sounds saddened as he shakes his head. "All this time and I..never knew."

Jay chuckled weakly. "Guess this explains why you're actin' so weird all the time, right?"

Cole lightly smacks Jay on the back of the head for calling Zane weird, and he hisses.

"I was jus' tryin' to make a joke, Cole!"

Cole.

Zane sighs. "Speaking of jokes..the reason I never had a sense of humor is because my funny switch wasn't on." He gently flips one of the switches in his open chest panel, and begins a song and dance routine, much to the amusement of Jay, who can barely contain himself and begins snorting.

Julien had installed a humor switch? The thought alone confused Stella. What exactly had Zane been built for?

Cole scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "It uh...just makes you more special. You're still the same Zane, just more gears!"

Special.

Kai speaks up next, nodding and placing his hand on Zane's shoulder. "No matter what you're made of, you're still our brother."

Brother? Zane had no family, save for Julien. He'd always called Zane his son. He'd never called her anything similar. Ever. A brief pain creeps into her chest, but it's not physical. What was that? Was this sadness?

Zane frowns, his face shifting to confusion with one eyebrow raised at his brothers. "Really? Are you certain?"

Cole nodded and crossed his arms. "Of course we're sure! Heck, I bet it even makes you a better ninja!"

"Yeah, and how cool is it that I can honestly say that my brother is a Nindroid!" Jay cheered, voice full of glee at this new realization.

"A..Nindroid?" Zane tilted his head in slight confusion at this new title Jay had given him.

Cole shook his head and waved his hand, trying to get them all to focus on the task at hand. "Come on now, Pythor is still out there looking for the first Fangblade, and we need you."

Pythor? Fangblades? An error message popped into her internal screen. Database error. No files found on 'Pythor' or 'Fangblades'. Of course not. Her banks were limited, she was an old model.

A sigh leaves Zane and he shakes his head, closing his chest panel and pulling his gi top back down. "You'll have to go on without me, I..just don't feel right."

Another rush of footsteps echo as the group leaves Zane as he requested, and he sighs. "How could I have not known, I..."

The ground the lab resides in rumbles, and Stella cranes her head upward to try and figure out what it is. It's getting closer. Her eyes slowly widen. That call is in her databanks. A Treehorn. Camouflaged beasts hiding as trees, that could easily crush their prey to death.

Zane however, seems preoccupied. "I have..a memory switch?" There's a soft click as he flips it on, and then silence.

"Lost in his own memories..remembering his Father." Stella says softly, though she knows no one would ever hear her down here. The word 'father' is foreign on her tongue, and the pain is back in her chest.

His frantic footsteps echo as he snaps out of his memories and rushes to the aid of his friends, and the door closes.

Stella had many questions. What was a ninja? Or a nindroid, for that matter. Though she supposed that was Zane, now. What did he look like? Was he really as wonderful as Julien had claimed him to be before he'd rushed out and forgotten her down here? What year was it? How long has she been down here, collecting dust? Why was she still alive after so long? What was the power source she'd been given?

Maybe one day she'd know.

Maybe one day, someone would open the door.