"How is it looking?" Wu asked, peering over Cyrus' shoulder as he sat by the surveillance console.
"Good, everyone is on course to finding the hidden cabin." Cyrus responded.
"I was surprised you were so willing to let Pixal join in." Wu noted.
"She is forging a new path for herself, I have to trust her," Cyrus kept turning to the satellite map which was tracking everyone's movements. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried, especially since she's apart from Zane."
"Kai and Lloyd are diligent students; you can rely on them to assist where her training may fall short." Wu assured him.
"No, it's not that…" Cyrus paused. "Sensei Wu, there is something you need to know about Zane."
"Oh yes? And what is that?"
"During the trial of the virtual reality simulator, an element of Zane's programming clashed with something in the coding of the VR device," Cyrus spun around to face the aged master. "the subsequent shock used by Jay to cease the internal conflict, has activated a previously dormant piece of software."
"Interesting…" Wu nodded. "what does that mean?"
"It's nothing to be concerned about, after all, Pixal has the same software," Cyrus turned back to the screen. "I just thought you should be aware of it – in case he begins to act strangely when everyone gets home."
"Thank you for letting me know," Wu smiled. "well, if you will excuse me, I am going on deck to meditate."
Wu meandered away from the surveillance area and Cyrus heaved a weighty sigh. Shiro noticed how deflated he seemed. She drifted across on her wheeled desk chair and stopped next to him. He glanced at her through his peripheral vision then looked back at the screen.
"Sir, you seem troubled." She lured.
"Not at all." He deflected, sitting up straight.
"There's no need to worry about Pixal, she's with the ninja and she's been training with Sensei Wu," Shiro reminded him. "she'll be fine."
"It's not her I'm worried about… it's the others…"
"Is this about the Angel subroutine?" She probed. "You never did tell me what it is or what it does."
"It's a failsafe, a means of protection; part of the Genbu processor that's present in both of them," He confessed. "if placed in two regular electronic devices, such as a smartphone or computer, it allows one to protect the other one's data in the event of a cyber hacking incident."
"So, what will it do to Zane and Pixal?"
With a heavy sigh, Cyrus removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"I don't know for sure… I do know that the protective qualities are active, but how they will manifest, I can't imagine..." He put his glasses back on and stared at the screen which tracked the ninja's movements. "all we can do now is watch and wait."
"So ominous…" She whistled. "Is this your way of telling us to expect a blizzard?"
"That depends on whoever sends the signal first…"
Not wanting to crowd her, or make her feel like a damsel that required constant protection, Lloyd and Kai had allowed Pixal to follow them, rather than have one of them take point and the other bring up the rear, with her in the middle. After a couple of run-ins with Mr Borg's security droids, it was clear that she could handle herself, having taken out a few with a formidable blade they didn't even know she had.
However, they were careful to still keep her in their peripheral vision; Jay was only kidding when he insinuated that they'd be in deep trouble with Zane if anything happened to her, but many a true word was spoken in jest…
"Is she still looking at us?" Kai whispered.
"Yeah, but you should be used to it by now," Lloyd whispered back. "she's been giving us that look on-and-off for like a month now."
"Do you think she knows?" Kai wondered quietly.
"No way," Lloyd shook his head. "she would've said something before now."
As they trekked through the leafy terrain, eyes skimmed on the dense shrubbery, with the occasional glimpse up at the treetops, there was a certain intensity looming in the air.
It had been a month since the wedding – since their illicit tryst in the hotel – and Kai and Lloyd had all but returned to being normal teammates. Aside from the odd lingering glance, they had kept everything strictly on the level. But every now and then, Pixal would look at them; her green eyes burning into them like a laser pointer. It was the look of someone who knew something that no one else did, but she never said anything (to them or anyone else). She only looked.
"According to my sensors, the cabin is not far away," Pixal said. "however, we have not encountered any resistance in a while, so we should stay on alert."
"Thanks Pix," Kai smiled. "you're right, we're bound to come across another wave of goons."
"We should continue in this direction," Pixal insisted. "stealth mode is advised."
"Agreed." Lloyd nodded.
The three of them moved into a crouch-and-sneak position, snaking their way through the long grass and shifting their gaze as they went. It was a wonderful, sunny day, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky; had it been closer to the summertime they might have hung out on the beach. Regardless, the beautiful weather was a most pleasant addition, but it could never have indicated what was about to happen.
They approached a large wooden structure, but before they could get close to it, a dozen of Cyrus' security droids emerged from the shadows and attacked them. Between the two battle-experienced ninja and the situationally-aware nindroid, the other droids were easily dispatched.
"That was easy." Kai chuckled.
No sooner had he finished speaking, another two dozen security droids rocked up, even more aggressive than the last group. This time, there was considerably more exertion on the ninja's part, as they resorted to their elemental powers and Spinjitzu to fight them off.
Meanwhile, Pixal fell back on her defensive moves, ducking and twirling and swaying as she had on the dancefloor. This evasion method worked pretty well; while she shimmied out of harm's way, the droids were hitting each other in their attempts to strike her. It was only when she turned to see how her compatriots were getting on, that one of the droids slashed at her shoulder with a diamond-tipped tanto blade, taking a small chunk out of it.
Pixal paused, before she let out a high frequency shriek that seemed to briefly echo across the island.
"Pix!" Lloyd called out to her, as he kicked away the droid attacking him and ran over to her. "Are you okay?"
He didn't get an answer. He saw her eyes turn from peaceful green to fearsome red and she growled viciously. A long blade curved out from her left forearm like a jagged longsword, as she produced the dagger from the concealed sheath under her sleeve. The metal of her right arm began to twist and shift, followed by the whirring of a plasma cannon charging up. A resonant battle cry emerged from the once-pacifistic droid, as she flew into a violent rage…
Red lights on the wall began flashing wildly.
"Sir, sir!" Shiro yelled. "Something just set off the frequency detector!"
"Ma'am, there's a duplicate signal coming from a few miles away from Pixal's location!" A technician worriedly tugged on Shiro's sleeve.
"Oh no…" Cyrus' eyes went wide. "It's started…"
"The subroutine…?" Shiro asked.
"Yes." He breathed.
"Can we stop it?" She looked at him, deeply concerned.
"No, all we can do is watch," He sighed. "make sure all camera-enabled drones are sent to the area, I need this to be documented!"
Zane stopped.
"Is this another location recognition type of thing?" Jay wondered.
The nindroid said nothing.
"Doesn't look like it," Cole answered. "there's no building here."
"Zane, you okay?" Nya asked.
Moments ago, they heard a loud, high-pitched yell, and Zane had halted in his tracks. His expression slowly turned from neutral to furious, and his left eye twitched uncontrollably. The semi-cold air dropped into sub-zero temperatures within a matter of seconds.
"Jeez, what's up with the weather?" Jay shivered. "It's gone freezing all of a sudden!"
"Can anyone else hear that?" Cole wondered.
A low, constant murmur, that resembled the haunting vocals of a distant choir, seemed to appear out of nowhere. It rumbled so quietly that they could just about hear it, but it was such a peculiar thing to hear on this island, miles away from New Ninjago. An icy wind chill quickly descended on them, violently shaking the trees and the grass, and spinning around Zane's body; isolating him in the vortex of a bitter gust.
"Looks like you might get to see the snowstorm after all," Jay shouted over the noise of the vicious gale. "something's set him off."
"No kidding!" Cole yelled.
"Guys, get back!" Nya shoved them away as ice swept across the ground and consumed whatever it touched.
Suddenly, Zane took off into the forest, leaving a frozen trail in his wake.
"C'mon, we gotta follow him!" Cole declared.
As they chased after him as fast as they could, they saw chunks of ice being launched forward, uprooting trees by sheer force, and sharp icicles emerged from his shoulders like pointed armour. When they could see a wooden fence on the horizon, they expected him to stop, but he didn't. Instead, he took a running jump and – in a matter of seconds – covered himself in a thick layer of ice and cannonballed straight through the fence as though it were paper. Cole jumped straight through the newly formed entry point, but Nya was stunned and stopped for a moment. Jay grabbed her hand.
"We need to keep up," He said, assisting her through the frost-coated hole in the fence. "he's running a lot faster than usual."
It wasn't long before they came upon a rather large cluster of security droids, and Cole, Jay and Nya immediately jumped in to fight them. Meanwhile, Zane hesitated, but only for as long as it took to form razor sharp ice blades that stretched out from his hands.
With a bellowing roar, he too leapt into action, furiously hacking and slicing into any droids foolish enough to come close. He was becoming more and more aggressive with each defeated droid; first with deep, penetrating stabs to the chest, then well-aimed thrusts to cut into the processor, before moving on to outright beheading them.
However, he soon came upon the leader of this particular group, who was able to dodge or deflect many of his attacks without issue.
"So much fire, for such a cold element," She chuckled, her voice muffled slightly by the mask she wore, and swiping back at him with a gleaming ninjaken blade. "your darling wife would be so proud."
Zane was momentarily startled by this; no other security droid had said anything more than their programmed responses of "intruder alert".
"The Angel subroutine has been activated, and the mention of one of the protected parties indicates guilt," Zane insisted. "confess your involvement, or face the consequences!"
"Confess what, exactly?" She deflected. "I haven't done anything."
"Your exaggerated tone indicates definite involvement," He fumed, slashing at her and coming up against her blade every time. "confess!"
"How cute that you think I would be involved in harming her," She laughed again. "knowing who she is, and who she's married to – who would be that stupid?"
"You are deliberately withholding information!" Zane yelled as he caught her off guard with a roundhouse kick – that missed – followed by a swift headbutt – which didn't.
He put his foot on her chest and held his ice blade close to her masked face. A thick frost spread from beneath his foot, over her arms and legs, which pinned her down. Ice began to form into a snake-like pattern across her neck as Zane glared at her ominously.
"Where is she?" He demanded.
"You know where she is, just follow the signal," She chuckled hoarsely, glaring at him with her lilac eyes. "and who knows what could be happening to her while you waste your time on me?"
The female droid laughed manically, only for Zane to angrily jam his ice blade through her heart. The haunting laughter continued while she slowly shut down. Suddenly, there was a loud boom, and the ground beneath their feet briefly shook. Zane looked up from the droid he had stabbed and instantly ran off again.