Like Cyrus said, he sent an employee to deliver Cryptor's assignment. The employee he sent was Jackson. He poked his head in before entering the room. Cryptor was still sitting at the table with his head down. The poor guy looked miserable.
"Hey there, Cryptor." He greeted as he strolled over to the table. He set out a pile of large maps. "Cyrus said that he wants you to learn the levels of the tower and the streets of the city. He said to start with the tower." When Jackson entered the room, Cryptor lifted his head at the sound of the familiar voice before dropping his head back down. Although, once Jackson began placing stuff on the desk Cryptor's head resided on, he sat up watching the maps get spread out. Cryptor grumbled at what Jackson explained, immediately losing interest.
"And I have to sit here in this muddled prison and look at papers instead of actually looking at the rooms." He grunted, his question more like a statement of distaste.
"Yeah, I thought that it would be better to explore the tower rather than read a silly little map. But I guess you just have to do what the big man says." Jackson said, scratching the back of his neck. Cryptor obviously hated being confined in this room. He seemed even less thrilled about the work either. "Oh, Mister Borg said that you had something to tell me. What is it?" Cryptor growled, slumping into his chair.
"No, I don't." He hissed, still refusing to thank him for the hand. "Let's just get working on this stupid assignment so you can leave." With that, he reached forward pulling one of the maps a little off the table so it bent in a way he could see it better from his angle. Jackson quirked a brow as he watched Cryptor begrudgingly read the map. His eyes soon fell on Cryptor's new hand. He recognized it right away.
"Is that the hand I made?" he asked with a tilt of his head. "What happened to the color?"
"It was in a fire, idiot. What do you think happened to it?" He hissed in response, irritated by the question.
"Right... well, I'm glad that you decided to use it." Jackson chuckled as he finally pulled up a chair. "I guess we should get started..." Cryptor grumbled, but nodded looking at the map.
"That would be the lobby, correct?" Cryptor asked, pointing to the room on the map, then tracing his finger over it. "And that would be the room that set fire." Jackson took a quick look at the map and nodded.
"Yeah," he answered as he reached over and pointed at the room next to it, "and this room is where we test our new inventions." Then he tapped another larger room. "That there is the assembly line where a lot of machine like cars are put together." Cryptor frowned, crossing his arms and sitting upright in the chair.
"And what would that room be?" He asked pointing to another. Jackson looked at where Cryptor pointed and laughed.
"That's the lady's rest room." he answered, knowing just from the symbol on the room. "You won't need to ever use one of those." Frowned even further, Cryptor slouched farther down into his chair again.
"I see." He muttered, his arms crossed yet again.
"That room next to it is the men's rest room just so you know." Jackson said before pointing at another room. "That room is the break room. It's where we employees have lunch and whatnot." Cryptor leaned up again for a few moments to look at a better angle of where he was pointing on the map.
"Uh huh." Cryptor hummed not really interested in looking at the map much anymore.
"You would probably learn these halls better if you walked them yourself." Jackson sighed when he noticed Cryptor's lack of interest. "I would take you on a tour if I were allowed to."
"I would be out of this room in a heartbeat if I could." Cryptor grumbled, looking down at his feet.
"At least you obey your father when he tells you to stay." Jackson laughed, leaning back in the chair. "When I was a teenager, I would sneak off when I was grounded and do what I wanted to. I was pretty rebellious."
"I would, but it's kind of hard to go unnoticed." Cryptor frowned, pointing up at one of the cameras in the room that was directed towards the door. Jackson glanced at the camera and nodded.
"My dad did something similar." Jackson laughed at the "fond" memories of his teenage years. "Sometimes parents can seem unfair, but they only want what's best for you... at least good parents do." Cryptor grumbled.
"Cyrus is an idiot." He grunted. "You realize he stayed up for three days straight here right? And he was going to stay up another couple of days if I hadn't forced him to go home." Cryptor sighed. "You know, he probably did that sort of thing before he built me didn't he?" Jackson gave a slight chuckle and shook his head as he sat up and sifted through the maps. He found the one he was looking for rather fast. It was one for the tenth floor.
"See that room?" Jackson said as he pointed at a big room in the center of the floor. "This is a room completely dedicated to his failed inventions. More than half of which were the results of several all-nighters. The guy works too hard sometimes." Cryptor chuckled looking at spot on the map, not very surprised that there was such a room in the building.
"And I take it that's where the Nuclear Toothbrush would have gone if he built it."
"Oh man, a nuclear toothbrush?" Jackson laughed, slapping his knee. "That sounds more disastrous than his suborbital golf cart. Oh man, you otta see the things he's made." Cryptor laughed.
"Suborbital Golf Cart? That has got to be a sight to see. What else has he made, a Jet Powered Surfboard?"
"I don't think that he's made anything like that just yet," Jackson laughed, "but you wouldn't believe some of the horrible mistakes he has made. It's kinda sad."
"Excuse me?" Cyrus said from the door as he cleared his throat, arms crossed and a brow quirked. Cryptor immediately looked up at Cyrus as soon as he made his presence known, staring at him for several moments before falling over onto the desk laughing even harder than before.
"I'm glad you find my horrific failures so hilarious." Cyrus said with a dull tone, looking at his employee rather than the android. Cyrus gave his employee a look and watched him try to contain himself. "Have you heard about my electronic papercut carving set?" He said with a smile, laughing a little as he approached the table. Cryptor continued to laugh until he accidentally fell out of his chair, quickly bringing his laughter to a stop and he got back up into his chair, all signs of his outbreak gone replaced by full seriousness.
"What great balance you have." Cyrus laughed when Cryptor returned to his seat. With a smile, Cyrus looked down at the maps. "How many levels have you two gone over? Are you on the fifth?"
"No. We skipped to the fifth floor after the first." Jackson answered while scratching the back of his head.
"These are stupid." Cryptor grumbled, flicking the corner of the top map.
"Well, maybe you would only have the one map to study if you ever explored more than the level with the sparing room." Cyrus sighed, rolling his eyes. It was obvious that Cryptor was not happy with him, though that was expected. No one liked being punished and that was the point. "These three weeks will be up soon enough, Cryptor." Cyrus added with a shrug.
"Mister Borg, if I could just say something," Jackson said before clearing his throat, "Cryptor probably has nothing to do in this lab and no one wants to study all day and night for a month. Time would probably go by very slowly for him if he were so bored... I know he's being punished, but maybe you could give him something to entertain himself."
"And what sort of something would you suggest?" Cyrus asked with a quirked brow.
"I dunno. Maybe give him a book to read or something to take his mind off of the boredom." Jackson replied, glancing at Cryptor as he did. Cryptor frowned, listening to Jackson talk to Cyrus.
"He's given me books before." He grumbled, dropping his head on top of the maps, remembering the last book he was given by Cyrus. Instead of Cryptor reading the book, Cyrus entered the room in the morning to find shredded paper everywhere.
"He's near impossible to entertain, Jackson." Cyrus stated, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Cryptor seems like he's always bored, unless he's in that sparing room..."
"There has to be something else that entertains him." Jackson questioned with a quirked brow. As the two talked, Cryptor zoned out with his head on the table. He just grumbled as Jackson finished his statement.
"Perhaps, but none that I am aware of and good luck getting him to tell you." Cyrus sighed, waving his hand. "Anyway, I have work to do. I only came down to check on you."
"Alright." Jackson sighed, looking down at the maps again. "I'll keep him focused on this I guess."
"I'll see you later today then, Cryptor." Cyrus said before turning to the door once again. Cryptor sat up once Cyrus said he was leaving, looking at the maps again, only giving a grunt to say goodbye to his creator. Once Cyrus left, Jackson looked at Cryptor and sighed.
"Shall we get back to work then?" Jackson asked as he went through the maps. "What floors have you yet to see?" Cryptor sighed looking at the stack of papers in front of him with a frown before flipping through the stack in search of the sparing room. Once he found it he pointed to the level on the sheet.
"For the most part I've only seen this floor, although I have seen quite a bit of levels seven, eight, and nine, but I didn't really look at anything, I was more focused on finding you."
"Alright, so we can quickly review those and get them out of the way." Jackson said with a sigh. "Hopefully we can get through all of the floors today." Cryptor grumbled, sliding down into his chair, picking up his pen off the table as he did so.
"Hopefully." He grunted before starting to click his pen with his thumb, focusing on it more than the maps.
"Man, this wasn't on my job description." Jackson sighed as he sat up straight. Glancing at Cryptor as he clicked away at the pen, he shook his head. He picked up the map of floor seven and began explaining the layout of the floor. As they went through the maps, Cryptor hardly paid attention, and Jackson had to keep snapping his attention back to the paper, one time, Cryptor even attempted to get up from the table and walk to some other part of the lab, but ended up back at the table eventually. It took longer than it needed to, but they got through quite a bit of the maps. After some odd number of maps, Jackson decided to go on his break. He was far too frustrated to continue on. Cyrus was right when he said that Cryptor was impossible. He was far too stubborn to work with. Once his break was over, Jackson begrudgingly returned to the lab. He was ready to get Cryptor focused again, knowing that it would be difficult.
"I'm back." He sighed as he entered again. When Jackson came back Cryptor was laying on the floor, a place he didn't often go unless he was charging. But he was laying behind the desk with the maps on it, chair rolled away and pen not far from his hand. When Jackson spoke, Cryptor groaned not even looking at him and keeping his focus on the ceiling above.
"Horray…" He cheered in his monotone voice, lazily raising a wrist in the air to wave at Jackson, which the motion could be more closely compared to a noodle flopping around.
"I'm no more thrilled than you are." Jackson groaned, approaching the desk with his hands on his hips. "Can we please just get through this ASAP?" Cryptor grumbled as he got up off the floor, getting back into his chair.
"This is all stupid, it's not like I'll ever be going to any of these places."
"You don't know that." Jackson sighed as he sat down at the desk. "We can go to the map of the city for a bit if you want." Cryptor immediately perked up at the mention of the city before looking out the window behind them.
"Could you do that?" He questioned to make sure Jackson wasn't joking with him.
"Yes." Jackson said with a smile when Cryptor perked up. "We can actually take the map over by the window and I can show you the streets we can see on the map." Cryptor shifted a glance from the maps on the table then to the window, then to look at Jackson doubtfully, waiting for him to make a move before he did anything. Jackson gave Cryptor a playful nudge before standing and taking the map of the city.
"Come on." He chuckled as he made his way over to the window. "I'll tell you the street names for the streets we can see from here." Cryptor quickly got up out of his chair when Jackson went over to the window, following after him excited to know more about the outside world. Looking at the map, Jackson pointed at the street just below the tower. "We are at the center of the city and the street we are on is called Axe View." He said as he traced along the street. Cryptor nodded, looking from the window to the map that Jackson was tracing.
"Axe View…" He repeated to remember it better.
"Axe View has many intersections." Jackson stated, pointing at one nearby out the window. "That street that intersects is called Rose Blossom." Cryptor nodded, looking at the streets and the map.
"Rose Blossom…." He frowned. "Who names these things? Rose Blossom?"
"I donno, Cryptor." Jackson laughed. "I live on a street named after a lady. It's called Melanie. It is just seven blocks down Axe View and a right turn on Garcia avenue for three blocks. Then it's just a left turn and four houses down." Cryptor snorted at Jackson's words, crossing his arms.
"Nice, tell the guy with lasers where you live." Jackson laughed and shook his head.
"I don't think you'll do anything." He said as he nudged Cryptor again. "You were built to protect, not to destroy." Cryptor shrugged.
"Still, you shouldn't say unless you want them to come over to your house."
"Having you over would be pretty cool." Jackson stated with a grin. "Craig would probably like having you over too." When Jackson answered, Cryptor slowly turned his head from the window to look at Jackson flatly, without saying anything before turning to look out the window again.
"I wouldn't recommend that. Besides, I'm not allowed to leave the tower yet, furthermore this room."
"One day you'll be able to leave though." Jackson said with a nod of his head. "If you work hard to learn everything you need to know, that day might come sooner."
"Yeah…" Cryptor grunted.
"How about we get back to work then?" Jackson questioned with a quirked brow. "We can learn some of the city and go back to the tower just to get some of it out of the way?" Cryptor nodded, looking over at the map, finding where Borg tower was and following the street with his finger till he found the street Cyrus' house was on.
"I went to this street, that's the farthest I've gone outside of the tower." He turned to look out the window in the direction of the desert he knew was out there. With a frown he tipped his head at the sight of the sand. "Jackson? What's outside of New Ninjago City?" He asked. He had a feeling he'd never get the chance to see anything outside of its boundaries.
"Outside the city is the Sea of Sands." Jackson stated as he looked out at the city. "Beyond that is a whole content of forests and mountains and many other wonders. Maybe you'll get to see them some day. I wonder how you'll like the ocean." Cryptor frowned, looking at the desert.
"I don't think I ever will…" He sighed. "I don't think I'll ever get to leave the city…"
"Maybe someday you will though." Jackson said, giving Cryptor's back a pat. "You can dream... Maybe you can even ask Cyrus to take you to see the sights someday." Cryptor laughed softly for a couple of seconds.
"I doubt that would happen any time soon."
"Well, you never know." Jackson sighed, lifting the map up once again. "Shall we continue then?"
"I guess." Cryptor grumbled. A few hours later, after all his work was done, Cyrus went down to check on Jackson and Cryptor. When he arrived at the lab, he found Jackson and Cryptor at the window. They were going over every street in the city. Looking at the table, Cyrus could see that a few of the tower maps were shared while others had pen marks on them. Clearing his throat, Cyrus got their attention.
"How did the studying go?" Cyrus asked with a quirked brow. "Did he learn most of the tower?" When Cyrus spoke, Cryptor turned to look at him before crossing his arms and looking at the ground with a grumble. Jackson turned to face his boss and smiled nervously.
"He did... but he got fed up and shredded a few." He answered as he scratched the back of his head. "I tried to stop him, but he was very... determined."
"I see." Cyrus sighed and shook his head. Cryptor was just too stubborn sometimes. "I suppose we'll have to teach him some other way... how did teaching him the streets of the city go then?"
"It went pretty well." Jackson answered, glancing at Cryptor. "He was far more interested in that. We got pretty far with it too. Go ahead and ask him how to get somewhere."
"Okay... how do you get to the museum from the tower." Cyrus asked, looking at Cryptor as he did. Cryptor grumbled at the question, locating the museum on the map easily.
"You walk there. Or drive, whatever your preferred method of transportation is."
"That's not what I asked, but okay." Cyrus said, shaking his head. "You are dismissed Jackson. Sorry for sticking you with Cryptor all day. I don't really have anyone I trust with him at the moment, so..."
"It's alright." Jackson said as he headed towards the door.
"Wait, did Cryptor thank you?" Cyrus asked before Jackson left.
"Thank me? Thank me for what?" Jackson asked as he paused at the door. Cyrus looked back at Cryptor and crossed his arms. Cryptor was so ungrateful and bratty, it was hard to deal with him sometimes. Cryptor frowned, looking sheepishly at Cyrus for a couple of seconds before looking down at the ground, clasping his hands behind his back. For a second, he got ready to say something before he shut his mouth and decided not to. Cryptor was impossible. It was so tiresome to deal with Cryptor or to even try to teach him anything. Cyrus wondered how he even managed to keep his patience when around the android.
"Cryptor, Jackson did something nice for you." Cyrus stated. It was clear from Cyrus' tone that he was in no mood to play these games. "Please just thank him for the hand."
"Oh, that's what you want to say thanks for." Jackson questioned, shaking his head. "There's no need. I just-"
"Jackson, he has to learn to be grateful and polite." Cyrus grumbled. Cryptor grumbled, still looking at the ground, refusing to thank Jackson for several moments, Cryptor sighed realizing there was no way out of it.
"Thanks for the hand..." He grunted grudgingly.
"No problem, Cryptor." Jackson said with a slow nod. "You're welcome... I have to go now." Cyrus waved him off, more focused on Cryptor than anything. Cyrus steered his chair right up to the android and gave his shoulder a pat.
"Was that really so hard?" Cyrus inquired with a quirked brow. Cryptor growled, swatting away Cyrus' hand, leaving the question unanswered. "I get it, you're still mad at me." Cyrus groaned. It was no surprise. "This grounding will be over as soon enough, then you'll get your old privileges back. I even have some things for you to see when you're free." Cryptor grumbled walking away from Cyrus and plopping down in a chair by the map covered desk.
"Terrific." He hissed in irritation.
"You won't have that tone when you see what I have planned for you." Cyrus sighed, shaking his head. He glanced back at the maps and frowned again. "You know, I might just have to have P.I.X.A.L give you a tour of the tower since you shredded those maps." He added before turning to leave again. Cryptor sighed when Cyrus turned.
"P.I.X.A.L…" He muttered.
He wanted out of the room.