As they came in to land on the helipad, they saw that Mr Borg was waiting for them. Pixal looked out the window and waved to him; a big, relieved smile swept across his face. The pilot gently settled the helicopter down and turned off the engine. He then gave a thumbs up to Hedges. Hedges took off his seatbelt and slid the door open, assisting Pixal in getting out safely. Benson was about to leave the helicopter also, but Hedges stopped him, and shot him a disapproving look.
Meanwhile, as Pixal stepped out, Mr Borg wheeled over to her.
"I cannot tell you how thankful I am that you are back!" He said throwing his arms in the air.
"My apologies Mr Borg," She bowed. "I accidentally pressed the S.O.S button when I fell over."
"Think no more of it, my dear, I'm just so happy that you are home safe and sound," He insisted, suddenly noticing the glowing purple lines on her body. "I say, what happened here?"
"Well… it's a long story…" She mentioned.
"Come, we'll go to my office and you can tell me all about it," He said, smiling at her. "I'm very interested to hear about your trip – from the look of the route we tracked you making, you went on quite the adventure!"
Pixal walked alongside him as they made their way to the elevator. He pushed a button and the doors opened. Mr Borg gestured for her to enter first, smiling as he did so. She bowed and walked in, holding the door for him. The doors closed, the elevator went down a couple of floors and opened into his office. Mr Borg once more allowed her to go first, happily following her into the office. He energetically went behind his desk and turned to smile at her, only to see her looking rather anxious. Then he remembered that she went on that journey to pay her respects to Zane. His face fell slightly.
"I'm so sorry my dear, for a moment there I forgot the purpose of your trip," He admitted, feeling a little embarrassed to have been so jovial. "please, sit down."
"Mr Borg," Pixal began as she sat down opposite him. "I was not completely honest with you about the reason I wanted to go."
He raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.
"I went to get Zane's blueprints…" She confessed. Cyrus shook his head and sighed.
"Pixal…" He interrupted. "I really am sorry for your loss, but this is not the right way to grieve."
"But Zane is not gone," She insisted, tapping on her chest with her hand. "he is here, with me."
"Of course," He said, looking slightly relieved. "you are right, Zane is still with us as long as we remember him."
"You misunderstand me sir," She sighed. "I mean I literally have him here."
Pixal opened her chest cavity and pulled out the blueprints, then the second power source. Her circuits stopped glowing and she reached for the hard drive containing Zane's subconscious. She stopped and looked at Zane on her internal vision, he was worriedly shaking his head.
["Please, Pixal, do not tell him – we cannot risk word getting back to my team until my body is rebuilt."] Zane pleaded.
"Zane, we can trust Mr Borg," She whispered. "and we need his permission to rebuild you here."
Cyrus Borg looked at her curiously, as it appeared that she was talking to herself. She nervously grinned.
["Okay, but if it is all the same to you, I would prefer to stay here in the meantime."] He conceded.
"That is fine by me." She smiled widely, feeling reassured that she could keep him somewhere safe.
She got up from her seat and kneeled beside Mr Borg, who still had no idea what was going on. Retrieving a cable from the back of her neck, she plugged it into the laptop on his desk. To his amazement, Pixal's interior vision was displayed on the screen and there was Zane, waving at him.
"Hello Mr Borg." Zane beamed.
"Zane!" He exclaimed. "But… but… how? The fight… the explosion… we all saw it!"
"I redirected my digital subconscious just before the explosion," Zane told him. "it took a few days, but I managed to get into an access point – I had to find Pixal, and I needed to reach her as soon as possible."
Cyrus noted the expression on Pixal's face slowly turn coy, and a kittenish grin appeared as Zane spoke of her.
"Ooh… so, this is why my Pixal suddenly perked up." Cyrus stated, highly impressed with Zane's ingenuity.
"Uh, I suppose so, yes," Zane replied as he sheepishly rubbed his arm. "she bravely put herself on the line for me, she insisted on helping me find my blueprints and she also found a spare power source."
"Yes, she is a marvellous young lady," Cyrus agreed, proudly patting her on the shoulder. "so, I take it you would like to rebuild your body."
"I know it is a lot to ask…"
"Nonsense, it's the least I can do for the hero of New Ninjago! I will clear one of the manufacturing floors, so you can work privately," He said. "the machinery is at your disposal, as well as any materials or other resources you may need."
"Thank you very much, Mr Borg," Zane bowed. "however, I must ask yet another favour."
"Hmm?"
"This must be kept a secret," Zane appealed to him. "you must deny having seen Pixal."
"Why Pixal?" Cyrus wondered.
"If anyone on the outside found out she was holed up on one of the manufacturing floors working on a secret project, it might arouse suspicion," Zane insisted. "if my team should get wind of it, then it will only be a matter of time before they figure it out – it is critical that no one knows I am still alive until I have rebuilt myself."
"Consider it done – if anyone asks I shall say I haven't seen her since before the memorial service," Cyrus smiled. "and I'll inform my employees that we are now on the highest tier of company confidentiality."
"Thank you."
Pixal removed the cable from the laptop and it retracted into her neck. With the screen now blank, Cyrus turned to her, astounded by her initiative and courage.
"You could have told me from the start, you know?" He mentioned. "I would've understood."
"I did not want to seem demanding, nor did I want to betray Zane's trust," She answered. "he was insistent on keeping his return a secret, but I knew I would have to tell you eventually."
"Well, now we know," He grinned. "it's getting late, and you've had a long day, perhaps you should rest up for tonight and tomorrow you can get started on the rebuild."
"Thank you, Mr Borg." She stood up once more, collecting the power source and blueprints that were still sitting on the desk.
"You're very welcome, my dear."
Pixal bowed politely and walked away, getting into the elevator with a great sense of relief.
She stretched out her right hand, and a key protruded out from her palm. She put the key into the button panel and turned her hand to the left. A previously unlit button suddenly flashed green and she pressed it with her other hand. The elevator closed, and it travelled smoothly down several floors before stopping about hallway down the building. When she removed the key from the panel, the door opened. She stepped out, the door slowly closed behind her and seemed to go back up to the floor where they'd gotten on.
["Is this your room?"] Zane asked, trying to take in the rather extravagant surroundings.
"Yes, once the tower was completed, Mr Borg presented it to me as a gift." Pixal replied while she walked over to a pile of large, plush cushions and sat down on them.
He glanced around at the cavalcade of purple, plush surroundings, the deep maroon painted walls, and the soft, warm lighting that made the whole room just seem so cosy and comfortable. Admittedly, it did not look like the room of a personal assistant – it looked more like the boudoir of a young heiress or debutante.
"I used to come here at night to recharge… well, back when I had to recharge anyway." She smiled, remembering the day she woke up to find that Zane had given her half of his heart.
["I suppose being a successful CEO enables him to be charitable."] Zane noted.
"Oh yes, he shows gratitude to all the people who work here," She nodded. "he frequently hosts company-wide parties and always rewards outstanding employees."
["Now it makes sense."] He said plainly.
"What does?" She asked.
["You're the most outstanding employee he has, no wonder he gave you this private room."]
She lightly chuckled, grinning to herself contentedly and toying with the power source in her hand, glancing over the blueprints as she did so. She couldn't help but think about how different her attitude was this morning compared to now. It had been a very long day and a rollercoaster of emotions; great alleviation in knowing that Zane was still alive, nervousness for the long journey, but also guilt from keeping such good news a secret from his friends.
["Pixal, you have gone quiet, are you alright?"] Zane wondered.
"I'm just thinking about how sad I was this morning – my heart felt like it had shattered," She admitted, leaning back onto the cushions and hugging his blueprints close to her chest. "I was starting to feel like part of me had died with you."
Zane's face fell, and a sudden sombre feeling dawned on him. There was never any question that taking out the Overlord was the right thing to do and sacrificing himself was the only way to do it. Of course, he understood loss and how hard it is for those left behind – he had lost his father after all; twice – but he clearly underestimated the emotional devastation he would leave in his wake.
["It was the only option and I had to do it,"] Zane reasoned. ["for my friends, for all of Ninjago… for you…"]
"Oh Zane…" She squeaked as she began to cry.
["Please do not get upset, everything is okay now; we have the blueprints and a power source,"] He reminded her, panicking slightly. ["we will rebuild my body, reunite with my team and everything will go back to normal – I promise."]
She seemed to be comforted by that promise, as her distressed sobbing slowly dissolved into reassured sniffling.
"My apologies," She said, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "the memories are still fresh, and my emotions must have gotten the better of me."
["Well, you have had a long day, perhaps now would be a good time for you to go into sleep mode."] He suggested.
"My sleep mode has not been functioning as a result of what happened last week," Pixal admitted. "I will do a system check to see if it is working now."
He smiled sincerely at her. She trusted his judgement, and he was right about it being a long day. Pixal secreted the blueprints and power source into her chest cavity for safekeeping, rolling off the pile of cushions and walking toward the large round bed in the corner. She sat on the edge of the bed and fell back onto the plush cotton bed covers. When she was first gifted this room, she was intrigued to discover that the bed base was in fact a wireless charger. The first time she sat on it was something of a shock, as it glowed purple and her internal battery began charging without the use of a connector wire. Now that she had a more permanent energy source, the bed had lost its dual purpose and simply became a safe, comfortable place to rest.
Pixal reached under the pillow and pulled out something white and silver, which she held close to her. This peaked Zane's curiosity as whatever it was looked very familiar to him.
["What is that?"] He asked.
She looked down at the fabric in her hands and suddenly felt a little self-conscious.
"It is one of your spare uniforms," She confessed. "Nya brought it to me the day after… well, you know… she thought it would help to comfort me."
["And did it?"] He wondered.
"Yes, especially with my sleep mode being out of operation," She said, holding the uniform closer. "even though it reminded me that you were gone, it also reminded me that I had you in my life – if only for a short time."
Suddenly there was a loud ping sound. The system check was complete and, not altogether surprisingly, her sleep mode was once again fully operational. It was expected, seeing as the trauma she sustained had been soothed with Zane's return, though she wondered if there would be unexpected consequences; droids typically do not dream, but these were not typical circumstances. As she felt herself drifting into electrical hibernation, the last thing she saw was the image of Zane waving at her, and she couldn't help but smile.