The glass shards were brushed aside, the droid digging his delicate fingers into the trap door and pulling it up out of its socket. The spiral staircase went deep into the ground, the dark rusting plates of metal echoing the noise that traveled down. Ronin cautiously made his way after Echo to the bottom, where he opened the metal door leading to a hallway. Everything seemed to be coated in a layer of dust, the lights that have long burnt out disappeared into the dark. Ronin Flicked on his flashlight, firstly noticing the corridors of labeled doorways before looking down at the sneaker-prints on the floor. "I knew it.." he stated to himself, following the prints, "I knew there was no way everything disappeared into thin air."
"What do you mean?" Echo dared ask, his eyes had been wide open since they had gotten there.

"When the company bellied up there was a lot of suspicion that they all skipped town, the workers, and that they hauled their work with them," He meandered away form the steps and opened up one of the doors, poking the light around in, "I figured that as a possibility when I started looking, but it seemed unlikely, and it was." The room had everything in tact, the files all neatly set with parts and models that seemed shuffled around in a hurry. He closed the door and went back to the prints, "Of course the names of the scientists beside Julien weren't released to the public, so I had to do a little digging, and boy they hid their tracks well. I've only found pseudo names or pen names, no pictures, no licensing or bank information, it was as if this whole situation was well thought, planned even… A-hah!" The light glinted on the plaque with the letter 'J' and 'Julien' engraved in thick letters.

The thief took in the room, everything seemed torn up and sifted through in a hurry, files lay scattered across the ground and table with pieces parts laying about. He looked over at the prototype arms that hung on a rack, some with hands, some with tools for hands. "Dad was never this messy, I think someone beat you to this punch." the droid flipped through the mess, looking at the scribble notes for various mundane things, like how to market or how advertising works, in depth ideals for why certain colours are appealing. Ronin set down the light and pulled open the filing cabinet, flipping through the folders and sighing. He went to the next cabinet down, and the next, slamming it closed.
"I know someone was here before but who? How?! Not even I saw this place before and I'm top of the line for this sort of stuff!" Echo glanced down and picked up the crumpled picture, unfolding it and inspecting it, squinting. "Sorry, This whole situation is a puzzle in itself. Usually I would have a lead by now but so far I keep stumbling into dead ends." The droid looked down at the advertisement slogan drafts that littered the floor; 'With the new Julien-40™ Synthesizer, the magic begins with a flip of a switch!' 'A musical miracle, the Julien-40™ Introduces a whole new way to create music with its very one robot assistant!* Just turn it on!' he glanced from the picture to the papers, to the footprints on the floor. "Worst part is, I don't see any fingerprints. Whoever got all of this sure knows how to cover their tracks damn well."
"I do not think someone from the outside took all of these."
"What do you mean?"
"I do not know the intention, but look at the tracks. There are 3 sets of tracks with the same footprints, and one of the tracks started from here, see?" the droid pointed at the starting point, the two prints with their heels together.
Ronin pulled at his chin, thinking, thinking.. "So if we were to presume those tracks are your brother's, the Julien-40, are you saying that he left and came back to collect all of this?"
"Yes, but look, these papers… they're advertising its function. My brother did not just wake up and walk away, He was turned on."
"But not from anyone on the inside… someone has their hands on the synthesizer, and turned it on… its in operation…! And it looks like," Ronin sifted through some papers, pulling some more out of a folder, "Wherever the synthesizer goes, he goes."

-o-o-

Jay sat at the lunch table, trying his hardest to read the manual despite the endless thoughts running through his head. It had all started since the night of the rollaire, though he couldn't help but recall that it wasn't the first time Zane had done something like that. But for how long? It had seemed that zane had acted very close ever since he first met him, maybe that's just how he is? He couldn't help but doubt that idea…
"So, made any progress?" Cole sat heavily next to him, the ginger jumping.
"Oh!... uh, n-no, I've just been busy uh, busy reading, yeah." he nervously laughed, "oh, hey Pixal, what are you doing here?"
"Well I have a lesson at MOSPA today and my mom is busy today so It would've been easier if she came along and left here with me." Cole shrugged, glancing over Jay's posture and face. He seemed.. Unsettled. "You doing alright?"
"Mmm, nahh, no not really," he set down the book, "I've been thinking about.. Things.. Stuff regarding things…" his eyes darted around, chasing the thoughts that rolled around. The best thing to do was ask, right? He needed a second opinion. "Uhm… Hey Cole.. do you uh.. Do you think a robot could uh.. Love a human?"
"What?"
"Y-you know, it's just that.. I think Zane likes me- like, like-likes me… He's usually really sweet and kind and stuff, and sometimes he stands really close to me, o-or puts his hat and glasses on me and I dunno.. I think.."
"You think he likes you?" Cole laughed, shaking his head, "Jay, robots can't love, robots are programmed, you know that. How they act is based on their programming, all their feelings are simulated. You're the tech guy, isn't that obvious?" Pixal deflated and looked down, rubbing her arms from the sudden coldness that had entered the cafeteria.
"Yeah.. yeah, I guess you're right. That's probably just how he is. Besides, he's an old model, I don't think AI was that advanced back then as it is now."

"Even now it's not that advanced, I mean look at Pix. It's a state of the art new model and even it doesn't feel love, right?"

Pixal looked up and away again, shrugging, "Yes."

-o-o-

"Zane, pass me a pipe wrench could ya? Should be in that toolbox if I didn't put it anywhere else." Ed wiped his brow with the oil rag, sticking his hand out from underneath the engine. The droid looked around, opening the metal drawer and retrieving the tool. "Thank you." The sun was high in the sky, beating down and lights of the metal. At least the cool breeze was enough to counteract the heat, but even his sunglasses didn't help the blinding reflections. The two had been working on the car since the morning, a routine maintenance was in order now that winter was only a few days away, and no better time to get it done than now.
"You know you're a good friend, I don't think anyone has ever really been friends with jay as quickly as you are. Now I know he can be in his own world sometimes, but I'm glad he found someone to listen to him," Ed grunted and chuckled, "Now if I didn't know any better I'd think you're in love." He wheeled from under the hood, zane raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, Edna told me all about it, your day with him. It was real sweet of you to do that, I just hope he picks up on it, would be a shame if you're doin' all of this and he doesn't even bat an eye." he winked, going back under. Te droid couldn't help but feel relieved, the last thing he wanted to do was get on Jay's folk's bad side, especially since they were always so nice.
"Oh I remember when I was a you man, Edna was the one and on our first date I told her I was going to marry her. Well, you know just how that story ends, huh?-" There was a distant rumble of an engine, a truck approaching from ninjago city painted black with the 'CB' symbol painted on the hood. This was a surprise to the droid, he couldn't recall anyone scheduling a pickup of metal today, maybe a brief switch of plans? Ed wheeled out from under the car, worry creased on his brow. Even Edna had stepped outside. "D'oh Zane you need to leave." Leave?
"Oh yes sweetie, you need to go hide right now," She echoed, walking close to him and pulling him towards the camper, "They're not here for scrap metal, they're here for you." She whispered, Zane suddenly feeling cold. Everything was spinning, why did he have to leave? Who had finally found him, and how? His legs finally connected to his thoughts as he picked up his pace, swiftly walking through the camper towards the back where Jay's room was. He collected the yellowed papers, which had thankfully been organized in a better binder, dumping them into the synthesizer case before Edna stepped in and placed the instrument in after. Zipping it up, both parents ushered him out the door. "Be careful deary." Edna hugged him before following Ed towards the front gate. Zane scrambled, bolting and weaving through the piles of metal, case strapped hard on his back. He gave himself a running start, jumping and wrapping his fingers around the top of the wooden fence before landing hard on his arms causing them to stal. Using the wall as leverage, he pushed himself to his feet and bolted once again, hydraulics pumping hard as he kicked up sand and dust into the arid blue sky. In the distance the white-capped mountains slowly faded into view….

The truck wasn't anything new to Jay, although it was strange that one would show up today without any warning. Usually his dad would inform the family of any sort of shipments ahead of time so everyone could give a hand in bundling up the supplies. Stepping into the front gate, his breath caught on his throat. There was no way… He stared in awe as no one other than Borg was there talking to his parents, two other workers standy by the truck. Cyrus Borg, in the flesh? Oh this had to be a dream.
"M-Mr Borg?" Jay stammered, throwing his pack down and swiftly rushing over, "Oh my gosh, it's really him!"
Borg turned to look at the boy, the sun hiding his eyes against the reflection in his glasses, "Ah, this must be your son I hear you talk about Mr. Walker. Jay, was it?"
"Ohmygoshyouknowmyname-" He stuck his hand out and exchanged a shake, smiling giddily.
"Yes, I have heard such good things about you. How you're smart and innovative, not to mention handy and talented," he chuckled, "I came here to check on your uh," he casually flicked his hand, "your projects. F-for inspiration."

"OH! Yes, I've been working on all sorts of stuff! Hold on let me go get it-"
"Oh don't mind bringing it to me, I'll follow you." Borg wheeled after, Ed and Edna exchanging glances. "I am sure your parents are well aware with what you've been working on, hmm?"
"Mmm.. Well, I was going to keep it a surprise, but If I'm going to show you I might as well show them too." Jay signaled them to follow, in which they did relatively stiffly, arm in arm. The agents by the truck watched as they went around a corner before going over to the bookbag. Sifting through it, they flipped discreetly through folders, paging through notebooks and textbooks.

"...and so I was going to take the alternator and flip the solar power for batt power to store and run through the generator for electricity. So, what do you think?" The ginger held his hands behind his back nervously, straining his smile. Borg seemed to be deeply thinking…
"Well, if you're making solar panels, I think you may need some fiberglass, that in a large quantity is hard to find anywhere outside the manufacturing," The rumble of the engine starting up caused him to tense before sitting back, "But I can supply you some if you would like. In fact, I will go fill out an order right now." The three watched as Borg wheeled himself back up the ramp into the truck before watching it back up and turn back on its way to Ninjago city.
"Wow… did all of that really just happen..?" Jay sighed out his fear, feeling his parents each put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at them, confused by their nervous nature. "Uh.. what's up?"

"Oh Ed, I was so scared.."
"Oh I know Edna, I wasn't gonna let them shake us down or take you away."
"What….?" He felt the nervousness slowly creep back in, "What's wrong? What do you mean Dad?" The two parents exchanged glances. Jay glanced around, suddenly feeling as though something was missing. "Wh-where's…Where is he? Where's Zane?"