When Cole had left, the other ninja cleared away the plates and glasses. It had been a long day, and they agreed that it would be sufficient if only Lloyd stayed up to wait for Cole.
For some reason, their rooms were all on different floors, and while Nya and Kai said goodnight and went down the hallway, Jay and Pixal waited for the elevator that would take them upstairs, and Zane took the stairs down. He had just entered his room when he heard the familiar beep of his communicator. He hastily sifted through his bag – the porter had brought it up earlier in the evening – and activated his earpiece as soon as he found it.
"Zane?" he heard Pixal's voice. "Sorry to bother you, but could you perhaps ... uhm ... drop by my room for a minute and lend me a hand?"
"Sure," he replied. "What's the matter?"
"Too embarrassing to tell." She gave a little laugh, and it did sound a bit embarrassed. "I'd just appreciate if you could come here for a minute."
"Alright," Zane replied, already on his way back to the stairs.
A couple of minutes later, he knocked at her door.
"Come in already," he heard her voice.
He slightly shook his head. "Pix, this is a hotel room. Even if you did not bolt it, I cannot open the door unless I hack the electronic lock, but perhaps you could just let me in?"
"Yeah, right." There was a pause, rustling and shuffling and a muffled curse. Then, Pixal opened the door. She did not step back immediately, and he squeezed past her into the room.
"So," he raised his eyebrows, "what's up?"
She sheepishly glanced down at herself. The shimmering, midnight-blue fabric of her dress was tightly wrapped around her legs, neither jumpsuit nor skirt, but gathered in a way that made it impossible for her to slip out of the obstructing garment.
"A zipper got stuck," she muttered, and her facial circuits started to glow purple.
Zane failed to stifle a laugh. "Is this the mermaid version of your dress? But you do realize that a single tailfin is not the most convenient means of locomotion on shore?"
"Oh, shut up," she scowled. She angrily tried to make a step towards him, tripped, and almost fell over. He caught her in his arms.
"I can't believe that the girl who handles the plugs and wires of a Samurai suit with unrivaled dexterity gets entangled in her evening gown," he teased.
"You'd rather help me, because I ... hey!" Pixal gasped in surprise when Zane simply lifted her up. "Oh, ok."
She put her arms around his neck, and he grinned. "Don't get used to this, mermaid. As soon as we've freed you, you're going to walk by yourself again."
He laid her down on the bed and she rolled over, reached behind her back, and impatiently tugged at one of the zippers.
"No, no, no," Zane gently shoved her hands away. "You're making it worse. The fabric is completely stuck there."
It took him a few minutes to undo the ribbons, zippers and buttons that held the skirt of her dress in its inconvenient place.
"How you managed to change so quickly in the street remains a conundrum to me," he remarked.
She shrugged. "That just went according to plan. What we didn't think through is how a clumsy nindroid would be able to undo the gatherings again," she added bashfully.
"Fortunately, you've got another clumsy nindroid to help," Zane smiled.
"Don't tell Nya, ok?" Pixal said with a pleading glance at him.
"I won't." He undid one more knot. "There we are. Can you get up?"
He held out a hand. Pixal took it, stood up and straightened her dress.
"Hang on, there's something odd." He stepped around her and untangled the last tie in her back. "Now we're done."
"Great, thanks. I'm sorry I had to call you. It won't happen again." She tried to step away from him, but he quickly wrapped one arm around her waist from behind.
"That's ok. I didn't mind." He playfully nuzzled her hair. When he felt her relax in his arms, he began to caress her neck with his lips and slowly continued along her collarbone and towards her shoulder.
She closed her eyes and leaned even closer into him until he suddenly raised his head with a mischievous smile. "I just remember something I did mind, though. I should really pay you back for embarrassing me like that in front of the others."
Still holding her around the waist, he placed his free hand on her hip and moved it up along her side, fully knowing that she was what humans would have called ticklish. His fingers lightly tapped on those sensitive spots between her ribs; a little more pressure, and he would produce a sensory short circuit that inevitably made her jump and giggle.
"Noooo …" She immediately tried to wiggle out of his arms, and after a few moments, he gave in and loosened his embrace just enough for her to turn around and face him.
"You're angry with me?" she asked, her expression changing to slight concern.
"Let me think …" he teased with a glint in his eyes and briefly rested his forehead against hers. "Well, probably about as much as you when my detective voice goes on your nerve circuits ..."
She hummed and slightly tilted her head to the side. "I see …" she said with a smile.
Zane smiled back. He felt his face warming up and noticed a faint purple sheen spreading over Pixal's cheeks. The electrostatic charge between them produced a tingling sensation on his skin; it gradually built up and made him close his eyes in anticipation of a shower of tiny, pleasant sparks. He bent down a bit, waiting for her to close what little gap there was between their lips.
"Krrrssh … krss …"
The sudden crackle in his earpiece was disturbingly loud and startled them both.
He pulled away. Since Pixal was with him, Zane could only think of one other person who would try to contact him right now.
"I might be a little bit angry with Lloyd, though," he mumbled resignedly and switched on his mic.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Oh, great, Zane, thanks for answering. I tried Pixal first, but couldn't get through to her."
"Lloyd, it's 2.24 am," Zane replied, but only Pixal could see him rolling his eyes. "Bedtime even for a droid. She must have taken her earpiece off already." He glanced at the bedside table where said piece lay. Pixal gave him an enquiring look, which he answered with a shrug. "Why do you need her at this time of the night?"
"Oh, just either of you, actually," Lloyd specified. "Cole's here with the billiard set. The police seemed not too interested in the balls, but with what we know, he thought it would be a good idea to bring them here for us to examine. What do you think?"
This sounded interesting. "Tell Cole it was a very good idea. I'm coming."
Zane switched off his earpiece.
"Cole returned with the billiard balls the Dartfrogs were after," he explained, unable to hide his excitement. "Lloyd asks me if I could examine them."
"Sure you can." Pixal's eyes widened. Her interest was piqued. "How are you going about it? I guess we want some non-destructive technique first. Is your x-ray scanner functional and the software up to date?" she asked, accompanying him to the door.
"Affirmative. I might try ultrasound as well," he remarked, to which she agreed with a nod.
"Oh yes, good point."
Her green eyes sparkled. It was amazing how quickly she could switch between emotions; one moment she had almost been kissing him, the next she was eagerly discussing adequate non-invasive scanning methods for billiard balls and all but ushered him out of the door. He realized that she could probably have said the same of him. They were both able to override their feelings at will if necessary, even if the effect was only temporary.
It was convenient to be a droid, sometimes.
Zane had hesitated in the doorway for no more than a second, but it was enough for Pixal to sense the direction of his train of thoughts.
"Hey, it's alright," she confirmed. "It's alright that you're eager to examine that billiard set. I'd be the same."
"Would you like to ..."
"No, that's not what I meant." She shook her head. "It really doesn't need us both. You'll tell us everything in the morning."
She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked up at him. "Good night!"
Their eyes locked.
Well …
Lloyd and Cole would have to wait for another moment.
When Zane went down the hallway a couple of minutes later, he was smiling. He smiled when he waited for the elevator, and he continued to smile all the way to Lloyd's room, because he could still feel her fingers in his hair and her lips on his.
Maybe they were not so different from a human couple after all.
"That's interesting," Zane muttered when he carefully weighed the 16 balls in his hands. "The solid and striped ones are all the same weight – perfectly within manufacturing tolerances. I can't detect any irregularities in the material, either. You said this is a new set that Dareth acquired recently?" he asked Cole.
"Yes," Cole agreed. "That pool room at Laughy's is rather new, and Dareth is still checking out various brands of billiard balls. It seems that the regulars at Laughy's, like the Dartfrog members, get to test them as well. He stores quite a selection of balls in his game room. This set is his current favorite, and I guess he wanted to impress Gayle with it. So he asked her out to play pool with him. They probably came here because it's a bit fancier than Laughy's."
"And it's somewhat more private than his own club," Zane stated dryly.
Cole gave him a grin. "There's that, too. At any rate, he seems to have had decent success impressing Gayle. Perhaps not with his playing, because from what Gayle said – or rather, from what she did not say – I assume that she's a far better pool player than him. But she literally had heart-eyes when she talked about him defending her in the street."
"That's weird," Lloyd snickered. "She should really be swooning over you, Zane."
"Uhmm ... let's look at those balls again, shall we?" Zane quickly changed the topic. "According to what you say, I would expect them to be matched and not yet worn with use. This is true for all but the black and the white ball."
He put the other balls aside, calibrated his analytical devices and focused on the two special balls in front of him. A few scans later, he looked up with a grim smile.
"The cue, the white one, is inconspicuous. But look at that!"
Zane projected a scan of the black ball in front of Cole and Lloyd. Embedded in the resin matrix, the shadow of a capsule with undefined contents was clearly visible.
"Can you get that out for us?" Cole asked.
"Patience. It's not like this ball is a surprise egg that you just squeeze to open."
Zane opened a compartment in his forearm and contemplated the tools he had at hand. Deciding on something that looked like the miniature version of a cutting disk, he motioned the other two ninja to stand aside. He positioned the disk on the ball, hesitated, and looked up.
"Lloyd, I don't want to make a mess in your room. May I use the bathtub?"
Lloyd nodded. "Sure."
He and Cole followed Zane to the bathroom to watch, all the while keeping their distance to stay out of the way of the chippings. Carefully holding the ball over the bathtub with one hand and working on it with the other, Zane managed to cut the capsule free from its casing. He threw it to Cole.
"There's your surprise egg. Careful, I don't think this shell requires super strength to open."
Bending excitedly over Cole's shoulder, Lloyd watched as Cole pried the capsule open, and both gasped as he extracted a small memory card. Zane had finished cleaning the bathtub and turned towards them.
"Another task for you," Lloyd stated. "Can you read it?"
Zane looked at it with great interest. "I'll try."
He inserted the card into his drive, but it only took a few moments before he shook his head regretfully.
"I can see data files, but they're encrypted. It's a very strong algorithm. I'm sorry, I don't have enough processing power for that specific task. Neither has Pixal," he answered Lloyd's implicit question. "It requires more RAM than we can set aside for a prolonged period of time. But there is someone in Ninjago who's got the appropriate facilities ..."
"Borg Industries!" Cole exclaimed.
"Yes. Cyrus Borg." Zane nodded. "Nevertheless, I think we should go the route via the police commissioner. As far as I know, he consults Cyrus anyway in such cases. Cyrus once mentioned to me that he has worked with the digital security team of the police before, acting as an external expert."
"But we won't get the results, then!" Lloyd pointed out.
"Well, of course Cyrus has signed a confidentiality agreement," Zane agreed. "But if we get involved in the case as well – as we already are, I believe – we'll find a way to be included. In the worst case," he suddenly smirked, "it's a very simple deal: we've got the memory card, so if they want the information, they'll have to give us access as well – or else we'll go to Cyrus directly."
"Zane! That's not how I know you," Lloyd grinned.
The nindroid simply shrugged. If the police were lazy enough not to bother with the balls in the first place and let him do the work instead, they could not expect the ninja to keep their hands off the case.
"He's got a point," Cole confirmed. "I like this approach."
"I didn't say I dislike it," Lloyd replied, still grinning. "Let's go to bed now. But I'll take that card to the police first thing in the morning and ask them to keep us in the loop, alright? Might make a call to Mr. Borg as well."
Zane and Cole agreed and got up.
"Don't forget, team meeting at 10 am."
"Lloyd!" Cole groaned. "Jay asked you to change it to 11, and you agreed to that."
"Ok." Lloyd pulled a face. "Sleepyheads ..."
It was past 3 am when Zane eventually went to his own room. He quickly changed into his pajamas and got ready for a few hours of sleep. A large screen opposite the bed displayed advertisements of the Plaza's various facilities. Zane was about to switch it off when he noticed that the information was not as random as it appeared at first; it was about the spa, and more specifically, about the droid spa.
"We expect you at 8.30 am," the display board said, and there were pictures of the interior and a note saying that swim trunks could be purchased at the reception desk.
Good to know, Zane thought and yawned. It was an odd reflex of his body, seeing that it had no actual function, but he had never bothered to do anything about it. It made him feel more human.
Only when he noticed a subtle color shift of the display, Zane started to pay closer attention to the board again. The images faded to grayscale, and at the same time, the unobtrusive background music changed to a distinctly jazzy groove. He watched with growing interest the small icons appearing on the screen – a flurry of snowflakes, then a string of ones and zeros, fedoras, and Samurai helmets – and as the symbols started to twirl around, intertwine, and form letters, his face split into a broad grin. Pixal.
Her message only consisted of a few words, but they made another bit of his power source melt. If the weekend continued like that, he would have to do a thorough check-up of his emotional circuit board and install some extra fuses ...
Humans might create a piece of calligraphy on premium letter paper to express their affection for a special someone. His droid girlfriend simply hacked into the Plaza's infotainment system.
I like your unorthodox methods, Pixal Borg, he thought before going into sleep mode with a wide smile on his face.