Aaaaaaah, new chapter, new makeover! I spent all day yesterday sprucing up the covers and making them look fancy and cool. Plus I *finally* figured out a more fitting background for this cover. I'm soooo proud of it, it came out even better than I hoped! What do you all think? I'm worried about the covers being too cluttered or the text being difficult to read (that's was the hardest part to do XP). Let me know your thoughts!

Pixal was surprised to find out how productive the system in Master Chen's factory was. It was a bit primitive for the times, but she supposed that was only to be expected from one who was in exile. Not to mention that it violated a number of laws on both working conditions and food preparation, most specifically due to the force manual labor.

And yet, Pixal was, to say the least, the most efficient worker there. She wished to sabotage Master Chen's precious noodle production, but sadly her programming caused her to resist such urges. She was made to assist, and though her strong negative opinions toward Master Chen could not be suppressed, it legitimately bothered her to purposefully leave a job unfinished or to perform it improperly. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.

But she kept her optical and auditory sensors metaphorically peeled for any information about the staff. Of course she had already seen it when she was first taken into custody and was robbed of her elemental power more than twenty-four hours ago. But she had yet to find a way to get to it.

Pixal was stirred from her thoughts when the only exit, two massive wooden doors, slid open and revealed three figures. She stifled a gasp.

Clouse and one of the sentries were escorting Zane into the factory. Instead of his dark ninja gi he had been made to wear an orange jumpsuit like all the prisoners. Pixal was some distance away, but she could see that his pale blue eyes were carefully scrutinizing the contents of the room, taking in all the details and possibly searching for a means of escape. Pixal had already analyzed every inch of the factory and had found that it would not be easy.

Admittedly, Pixal was astonished to see him here, especially now that she knew he was allied with Master Chen. Perhaps he had thrown his fight and was there to act as a spy. She would have to stay on her guard. However, she was eager to have a chance to finally talk to him and find out what it was that made him so susceptible to her element.

She had still been running possible explanations through her head when she wasn't preoccupied with planning an escape. As Seliel had suggested, Pixal was trying to use only variables that she knew to be true based on concrete evidence. But even still, she couldn't come to a sensible conclusion. She needed answers. Although she doubted he would tell her his secrets, she thought that it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Fortune, if there was such a thing, seemed to be on her side. Soon after having entered the factory, Zane spotted her.

"Pixal!" he exclaimed and jogged toward her. She though it was odd that he appeared to be equally keen to speak with her.

"Zane. Hello." She remained on guard, wary that this could all be a trick.

"Hi . . . How are you?"

"I am physically unharmed and fully functional."

"No, I mean, how are you?"

Pixal blinked, though she understood the nuanced amendment. "I . . ." For once in her life, Pixal hesitated, searching for an appropriate way to express the feelings that she could barely comprehend herself. "I suppose that I am well. Mentally and physically. I hope that you are well, too?"

Zane offered a slight smile. "Better now, but the past few hours have been very trying."

Shaking her head once, Pixal reminded herself that there were more pressing matters. "Zane," she said, and he gazed at her attentively. "I need to speak with you. Come." She tugged on his sleeve and led him to a somewhat secluded area between a couple of machines that would give them at least a few moments of discretion.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

All visual signs pointed to sincere concern, but Pixal narrowed her eyes. "There is very much wrong, and you know it. But this is about something else. I want to know once and for all why it is so easy to manipulate you with my element."

Zane frowned, and his unusual friendliness all but melted away. "I have been wondering the same thing."

"Are you aware that my element is magnetism?"

"That's what Chen called it, but I thought he might be wrong. It doesn't make any sense."

Pixal was beginning to feel frustrated, and it showed. If he didn't know the answer, then who could? "Surely you must have been wearing some sort of metal during our previous encounters?"

"I've thought about it too, but the only metal I had each time was my shuriken."

"But I have no power over the weapons," Pixal mumbled, half to herself. "If it wasn't what you were wearing . . ." Pixal eyed him curiously. She knew her power would not work, but for a brief moment she allowed an instance of wishful thinking and held out one hand to try and feel for something. She felt nothing, however, but thought of another tactic.

"Permission to scan?" she asked.

Zane blinked in surprise. "Uh . . . permission granted?"

With him standing right in front of her, she had a much better chance to properly analyze him than when they had fought before. She set her criteria to search only for metal, but there was so much metal in the factory that it caused some interference. Still, a centralized scan showed the same thing she had already felt with her element: a cocoon of metal that encased his entire person.

She furrowed her brow, confused. But then a thought occurred to her, one that she never would have considered had it not been for Seliel suggesting that her parameters were wrong.

She dropped her hand and her eyes flitted up to meet Zane's. "Tell me about your parents," she demanded.

His brow furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

"It may help me find the answer. What were they like?"

Confusion gave way to solemnity as he said, "I don't remember my parents. Years ago, I woke up all alone in a forest with amnesia. My parents are either dead, or they simply abandoned me."

Pixal could feel excitement growing in her chest, or at least she imagined she did. This could be it. "Do you bleed? Have you ever seen yourself bleed?"

Zane's brow was furrowed as he tried to make sense of her questions, trying to see what she saw. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, then finally said, "Of course."

Pixal hummed to herself, thinking. "But have you ever had any deep cuts? Or have they all been superficial?"

"I'm not sure . . ."

"Think, Zane, you must remember. Have you ever been cut deeply?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Can you remember any ways that you have stood out in the past? Anything that made you seem different from others?"

Zane hesitated, and she could tell she had struck a nerve. "You're going to have to tell me what this is about."

Pixal didn't want to present her theory without proper evidence, but already by running it through in her mind, everything was adding up.

"Zane . . . I think there's something different about you."

What if Seliel was right, and Pixal had made too many assumptions? What if the most basic assumptions was, in fact, wrong?

Pixal raised her hand again. He stiffened when she laid her palm on his chest, but didn't move away. Even without her element, she knew what she would feel. He wasn't just encased in metal, it permeated every part of his being. It filled him up, crammed into every corner of his internal systems where bone and tissue and organs should have been.

"Zane, you're not human . . . You're . . . like me."

He jerked away from her touch. "That's not possible."

She shook her head. "It's the only possibility."

For a moment, he only stared at her in disbelief. Then he scoffed with a somewhat amused smile, though Pixal could see that it was more or less forced. "It seems you're as well as you thought."

"Zane, I've felt it!" she argued. "My influence over polarity allowed me to sense the metal inside of you."

Now his expression hardened into icy resentment. "I don't believe you. You must have been lying the whole time about your power, and you've even managed to trick Master Chen. But truly you only want to throw me off, just like with Kai."

Pixal felt a surge of irritation. She really would have thought he was above denial, especially when the logic was staring him straight in the face. But it appeared that he was as stubborn as any human. "You've already been kicked out of the tournament, what would be the point?"

"Well if you're so certain, then how can I bleed?"

"Artificial tubing attached to your framework mimicking the veins in a human –"

"I am human."

"Be reasonable. Surely you, too, must realize how much sense this makes." Then she had an idea. "You could probably feel it now that you know, just like I can. Here, I'll show you." Again, Pixal lifted her hand. Zane backed away, only to run into the apparatus behind him.

He rubbed the back of his head sorely, but glared at her. "No. I've had enough of this. I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work."

"Zane, please –"

"We're done here."

Pixal could only watch as he stalked off. She had her answer now, she was certain of that, as certain as she was about any other calculation she could make. So then why did she feel so disappointed?