A/N: Ho boy, we're nearly at the end! Next week I'll be posting the last TWO chapters, so be ready! At this point, I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to start publishing book 4, it's taking a lot longer to edit than I thought it would. But, maybe if I can get the first few chapters ready to publish, that will give me enough time to finish working on the rest of it. I really don't want to leave you guys hanging, and I'm so excited to continue the story so we can finally finish off Chen lol XD. I'll let you guys know what I decide, but for now, enjoy!

. . .

Construction on the Roto Jet was going well. With Seliel, Jay, and Karloff working on it together, it was going at least twice as fast as before. Pixal helped, too, because although she wasn't programmed with as much knowledge of jets, she was made to assist with projects like this. They were nearly finished, and now it was just a matter of keeping Chen's henchmen off their backs for a little longer.

Cole and Zane were busy keeping watch along with Karlof and Nya's brother, Kai. Jay was assembling the firearm in front while Seliel was double-checking that the controls were wired properly in the underside of the jet. Pixal held up the tarp so that Seliel could see, but in just the right way so that the guards wouldn't be able to identify their project.

Pixal glanced over to Zane. She was glad that had been willing to cooperate with her to assemble the jet, but then again, both their survival depended on it, and she didn't think that he would be speaking to her at all otherwise. Which was disappointing, because she knew she was right about him. As sure as she was of anything in this world, Pixal knew that Zane was like her. She just wished he could accept that.

Someone nudged her sharply in the side. "Hey, Pix!"

Pixal blinked twice and turned to Seliel. "Yes?"

"Take a look at this, something doesn't seem right."

Pixal leaned forward and immediately identified an incorrect wire. "In order to function, this wire must be plugged in here, and that one there."

Seliel set to work unplugging and untangling the wires. After a moment of silence, she said, "You okay, Pixal?"

"Of course."

"Really? 'Cause you seem kinda distracted. And you're never distracted. I had to call you three times before you heard me."

Pixal frowned in confusion. "That's strange. There must be something wrong with my audio receptors."

"Hmm. So why were you staring at that boy?"

Pixal didn't have to ask who she was talking about. "I was thinking."

Seliel paused to look Pixal in the eye. "Need I remind you that they're still our enemies? You may have let your guard down while working together to escape, but as soon as we get out of here, it's back to the way things were."

Pixal was quiet for a moment. She knew what Seliel was trying to say. She thought that Pixal had romantic feelings for Zane. Pixal opened her mouth to respond, then paused. Did she? Did she have feelings for the only being in the world like her? Was that even possible for a machine constructed from synthetic parts and programmed with code that someone else had written?

And even if she did, did it matter? As Seliel said, Zane was still her enemy. Her duty, first and foremost, was to protect Ninjago from him. She couldn't jeopardize that even if she did feel a connection.

"Rest assured, Seliel, I am simply trying to understand our foe. There is something different about him that he's trying to hide." Even from himself.

Seliel studied her. "Just be careful, okay? They've caused enough harm already, I don't want you to get hurt, too."

Pixal nodded, and with a pang she remembered the way Zane had taken the news about being an android, how he had pushed her away when he denied the truth. Even if she did have feelings for him, it didn't matter because he clearly didn't feel the same way about her. "Thank you, but rest assured, there's no need to worry."

It was enough to satisfy Seliel for the time being, and she went back to work.

A few moments later, Pixal heard Karlof whistle – the head guard Zugu was approaching. Seliel ducked out from under the tarp and Pixal let it drape back over the jet. They hurriedly ran to the back where Jay, Cole, and Zane were crouched. She could hear Karloff and Kai trying to hold back the guard.

"Soon noodle machine will be firing on all cylinders," Karloff insisted.

"No, make now! Master Chen wants noodles for the big ceremony."

"What ceremony?" Pixal couldn't see much from where she was, but she recognized Kai's voice trying to stall.

"Chen defeated the Green Ninja," Zugu said.

Pixal and Seliel exchanged a glance. Green Ninja? Did he mean Lloyd? That was the only ninja Pixal knew to wear green. Perhaps Lloyd was the final ninja to be captured. But that would mean he had gotten Nya, too.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Zugu wouldn't be deterred. It looked like they were going to have to take action sooner than expected. Pixal saw Seliel exchange a look with Cole to make sure they were on the same page. He nodded, and the ninja split up.

"Now no one in Ninjago can stop us!" Zugu was gloating, and he cackled loudly.

Pixal followed Cole as he crept toward the nearby staircase.

"Look on the bright side. At least all your jobs just became permanent."

Karlof had put himself between the guard and the jet. "There's a few minor kinks."

In response, the guard threw him aside with a laugh. "Give me that sheet!"

Pixal braced herself for the signal as she and Cole climbed the stairs.

She couldn't see Zugu's expression, but she could hear the shock in his voice as the tarp was removed. "That's not a noodle machine!"

"Heh, that's the kink. Now!"

At the top of the stairs, Pixal and Cole split up. She headed for one of the guards on the catwalk and, just as he turned, roundhouse kicked him over the rail.

Directly above the jet, Cole dispatched another guard and then leapt off the catwalk into the open cockpit. He revved the engine and Pixal cringed to hear it gasp and sputter. But it held together, spinning into action. The ninja had already agreed that Cole would pilot the jet, despite Seliel's protests, but she and Pixal had been outvoted, four against two.

Pixal refocused her attention on the guards, picking off a few more before she dropped to the ground. She found cover just in time as the engine's pitch rose to a whine. The rest of the guards scrambled out of the way and Cole opened fire. The nose of the jet flashed as it spit out their makeshift projectiles. Rusty screws and pieces of scrap metal pinged wildly off of every surface. One must have hit the fortune cookie machine because it suddenly exploded.

The jet shook violently with the effort. Pixal might have been worried that it would fall apart at any second if she hadn't done the calculations herself. But numbers didn't lie, and the jet held as Cole turned the gun in a wide arc, following the frightened sentries.

Pixal's gasped as she realized that the gun was turning towards her friends!

She saw Seliel duck as a twisted shard of something shot over her head. Another piece of equipment exploded behind her. A moment later she popped back up and shouted, "Hey! Watch it!"

The spinning front of the jet slowed to a stop and smoke wafted up from the barrel. Pixal could see Cole through the glass in the cockpit as he returned Seliel's glare with a shrug and a grin. Pixal was just relieved that he hadn't actually hurt one of their own.

Then she saw the guards returning, attempting to retaliate in greater numbers. "Over there!" she warned.

"Come on!" Seliel waved the other prisoners over to the aircraft. The jet, still immobile for now, had been built on a wheeled platform. Pixal fell in beside Seliel and the rest of the Elemental Masters as they got behind and pushed it forward, while Cole fired on the guards again, forcing them to scatter.

He paused as soon as they were out of sight, most likely trying to conserve ammo. "When will it fly?" he asked, frustrated.

"It fly when it fly," Karlof answered from where he was still working on the wing. "No sooner!"

"We've got to help Karlof," Seliel said to Kai on her other side. "Just keep it up. We're sitting ducks without everyone working together to push this thing."

"And here I was about to take a well-earned break," Kai grunted sarcastically.

Seliel nodded to Pixal and they both hopped onto the platform, then climbed onto the wing opposite Karlof and set to work.

"On the other side!" Jay warned. Reinforcements were swarming in from the entrance. It took quite a bit of effort, but together the Elemental Masters were able to swing the jet around so Cole could take aim. Chen's henchmen couldn't face up against the barrage of shrapnel, but Pixal knew that their ammo wouldn't last for much longer.

Cole seemed to read her mind as he said, "We'll run out of bolts trying to fend them off! Make her fly guys, or get us out of here!"

"Hit the red button!" Seliel called.

He did as she said, and two missiles blasted through the large door covering the exit. The Elemental Masters cheered and pushed toward the new opening.

"This is why you don't make jets underground, Karlof!"

Pixal found the juxtaposition to be comical, but more importantly, it was working. And really, that was all that mattered.

"Behind you!" Karlof said. Pixal glanced up to see that the guards were back again. She almost lost her balance on the wing as the cart was spun back around. This time Cole used another missile. The sentries narrowly dodged and the missile exploded harmlessly against the far wall, but they seemed to get the message.

They may not have been able to fly yet, but they were armed and on the move. Nothing could stop them now.

. . .

Nya had all but given up on her original plan to escape. There weren't and useful bones nearby, so she had gone back to trying to force her way out of the chains, though it wasn't proving to be much more profitable. She was also tempted to give up on Skylor.

"You'd think if she wanted to help us, she would have left behind a key, or –" Nya broke off when she thought she heard something, a faint echo from within the tunnel.

Garmadon and Misako must have heard it, too, because they also stopped and stared down the passageway. Nya tried to see through the shadows at the mouth of the tunnel, but her eyes couldn't penetrate the deep darkness. But the sound, she soon realized, was like a whispering, and grew steadily louder.

No, not whispering. Hissing.

Two pinpoints of pinkish light appeared, closely followed by the wide purple head of the largest snake Nya had ever seen. It reared up into the light and hissed fiercely, inspecting its prey.

Nya stood stock still, not in the hope that it would leave her alone, but because she didn't know what else she could do.

She had to close her eyes when it leaned down and roared in her face. She was blasted by its hot breath, the stench of its previous meal enveloping her, the smell of death. She could have sworn in that moment that she was really going to die.

"Nya!"

She barely heard Misako scream her name above the noise, but it seemed to capture the snake's attention. There was a brief rush of relief as it turned away before she realized that it had turned to Misako instead.

Misako cringed as its tongue flicked out to brush across her face. It curled its long, lithe body around her, bringing its face up close to get a good look.

"Don't touch her!" Garmadon yelled, still fighting against his chains.

Nya felt completely helpless. There was nothing they could do to fight it, to break free, or to escape. They would end up as just another pile of bones on the heap.

The snake was rearing itself up again as it seemed to make its choice, its eyes trained directly on Garmadon. But instead of the fear that Nya expected, she saw only calm defiance in her sensei's eyes.

The snake opened its jaws. Nya pulled with all her strength on the bonds, but couldn't look away. She gasped as the snake shot forward.

There was an explosion and the snake stopped short. Something crashed into the back of Nya's pole and she stumbled forward, only to find that the chains were finally loose.

Nya was trying to figure out what had happened as the snake roared again and the cavern became a mess of flashing light and gunfire. As soon as she realized she had mobility back, she took cover behind the bones and debris. She tried to catch sight of Misako or Garmadon, but they were nowhere to be seen.

It appeared that some strange vehicle had come to their rescue. Nya looked to the serpent, now trying to defend itself from a barrage of missiles. It weaved around the shots, until one missile hit the ceiling. A chunk of earth fell loose and crashed over the snake's head, and in seconds the snake was buried under a mound of earth. Its tail, the only part visible, waved in the air for a moment before it fell limply to the ground with a final thud.

Nya was gasping for breath, though she'd hardly done anything. She half expected the snake to burst out from the rubble and bare its glistening fangs again. Could it really be dead?

"Woo-hoo! We did it!" Nya looked at the machine that had just come bursting through the wall. Cole, the Master of Earth, hopped down from the vehicle in an orange jumpsuit. She recognized the other Elemental Masters streaming through the hole he'd just made, also dressed in prisoner garb. It took her a few more seconds to recognize Seliel and Pixal sitting on the wing of the jet behind him.

"Nya!" They both scrambled down and ran to meet her.

"You're okay!" Nya hugged her friends, finally feeling safe again.

"Girls!" Sensei Garmadon was scrambling up out of the mound of bones he'd fallen in, his wife struggling to help him stand. All three of his students rushed over to help, and then they held each other in a group hug.

Seliel was the first to break away. "But Skylor –"

"She's with her father," Garmadon said solemnly.

"I know, I was there when she sided with him. But it's not her fault, I think she's just scared –"

"It's alright, Seliel. We'll win her back."

"She's just trying to do what she thinks is best," Misako agreed. "We can't be angry with her for that."

Seliel sighed. "Well I hope we get her back soon. It's not the same without her." Nya and Pixal nodded their agreement.

"Karlof, why isn't this thing off the ground yet?" Cole's irritated voice came from the jet.

"Two hands can only work so fast."

"Oh, right." Seiel turned back to the machine, but paused. "Nya, can you help us out with this? It's a Roto Jet, but we still need to make it ready to fly, and you'll probably do better at fixing it up than me. I'm really more of a chemist than a mechanic."

Nya screwed up her face, confused. "A jet? Underground?"

Seliel just rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. But don't hate, we'll get it off the ground soon enough." Seliel ran back toward the jet, slapping the Lightning ninja on the shoulder on her way. "You too, Sparky." 

It was then that Nya realized that all four of Wu's ninja were there amongst the other prisoners. She couldn't say she was very surprised. Figures that Chen would turn on them. No honor amongst thieves, after all. 

At the same moment, Kai met her gaze, but Nya turned away before he could speak. She had nothing to say to him, and she very well couldn't trust anything he said. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. 

So maybe part of her was glad to see that he was okay. And maybe part of her felt bad for ignoring him. But she couldn't forget his betrayal. And if he was still going to side with his friends over her, then she didn't see any reason to give him another chance to hurt her. 

She pushed him out of her thoughts as she followed Seliel onto the jet's wing and tried to focus instead on getting everyone out of there and saving Skylor and Lloyd.