~ Part 3 ~ | The Strange Girl In The Elevator

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** Common Sense (Joshua Basset)**
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"Common sense tells me kiss the girl goodbye
Common sense tells me leave it all behind
Common sense says the girl's not worth my time
But common sense ain't common when you come to mind"

~ Joshua Basset

(P. S common sense would totally be Gwen and Zane's song. I'm thinking about the one-shot where they decide on adopting to those who read my OC stories)

This chapter is dedicated to @mariapham9090 . First person to ask if I could update again. Made me weirdly excited XD

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Zane smiled softly as he watched Nya and Jay lean closely to each other, talking in giddy tones about Cyrus Borg's various technology. Zane wasn't the best when it came to human interaction but he could read people well. He could very well tell by Jay's rosy cheeks and sweaty hands that he liked Nya.

Zane stepped away and allowed them their time, wandering to a more forgotten section in the lobby displays. A small little table with what looked to be an old invention. But it was incomplete.

Zane tilted his head, his gaze moving over the blue prints hung on the walls by it. It was a beautiful build, delicate details and complicated circuits. The metal perfectly crafted into feather like pieces. Zane looked down at the machine, it was a small robot bird that sat lifeless on the display. Its chest plate open to show its unfinished mechanics. Tools and random parts were spread out on the surface along with yellowed papers and little notes.

There was something that drew Zane to the android. Something that tingled in the back of his mind. Zane picked up on of the pieces. A small circle-like piece with a pale blue colour. He looked at the birds empty mechanics. His eyes fell on a small spot in his chest where there were just empty wires. Something... some kind of feeling told him what to do.

Zane's fingers moved fast as he adjusted a few things, rewiring the mechanics, cleaning the circuits, and tweaking small mistakes here and there. Whoever had made this machine had accidentally screwed in a plate wrong so it made the wires fit in a different way. Zane found the small, strange, blue plate and set it in the birds chest. He held his breath as there was a whir and the falcon's heart began to glow. With a squawk his eyes blinked open and his wings stretched out wide. His gaze regarding Zane thoughtfully.

Zane grinned, a proud feeling spreading through his chest as he stared at the life-like bird.

"How did you do that?" A methodical female voice asked. Zane turned and came fade to face with a young woman around his age. Blonde hair with a silvery sheen, expressionless yet thoughtful face, and vibrant green eyes that seemed to stare into his soul.

"I.... I don't know." Zane stammered, glancing at the falcon. The robot bird beat its wings, taking off into the air and flying a small circle around their head. "I guess I just.... reacted by instinct."

"One cannot always achieve science by instinct." The girl spoke, confusion lacing her tone. "But... it seems you have."

She turned her gaze back to him. "Cyrus Borg has been trying to figure out that android for years since we recovered it."

"Oh." Zane winced. "My apologies, was I not supposed to touch it?" There was a small pinch on his shoulder as the bird landed.

The girl didn't say anything but suddenly grabbed him by the arm. "Come with me." She walked quickly and Zane had stumbled to keep up as she guided him towards the elevator.

"I don't believe it's customary for someone to drag strangers off somewhere." Zane said weakly as she pulled him in and hit a button. The doors closed before he could bolt. The internet's caution of stranger danger was written in his mind well so he didn't totally feel safe.

"My name is Pixal." She told him abruptly. She held out a hand for him to shake.

Zane took it carefully. "I am Zane."

"Now we are not strangers." Pixal smiled hesitatingly. "We are...acquaintances."

Zane returned the nervous gesture. "I suppose we are."

There was silence as they listened to the elevator whir. Zane turned, staring awestruck out the large windows of the elevator. He could see all of Ninjago City from inside there. "May I ask why you...yanked me in here?" Zane glanced at her.

She flushed, clearing her throat uncomfortably. "Sorry about that.... society deems that as kid napping, I believe. Which was not my intention."

"Then what is your intention?" Zane turned, leaning against the rail.

"To introduce you to my father, Cyrus Borg." Pixal said. Zane's eyebrows flew up. "Like I said, he has been working on the bird currently nibbling at your collar for months and hadn't made much headway." Zane smiled at the falcon, who gazed with intelligent eyes.

She tilted her head. "And yet you fixed it in exactly seven minutes and forty five seconds."

Zane's brow knit. "I suppose that is quite strange if Dr. Borg is indeed the greatest inventor of Ninjago."

"I assure you my father is the greatest inventor." Pixal said defensively.

Zane's mouth opened and closed dumbly like a fish. The lean boy wasn't usually at a loss for words for he always managed to mentally piece out what he wanted to speak quickly. But it's seemed at the moment he had offended one of the only girls he had met since his amnesia and he had no idea what to say.

Zane supposed the best thing to do was offer a genuine, shameful, sorry and hope she didn't hold a grudge. "My apologies, Pixal." Zane looked down at his fingers, they pulled at his sweater sleeve. "I did not mean offence. I have heard widely about your father's reputation. And I observed his work in the lobby, it is quite impressive."

Pixal regarded him carefully, gauging the sincerity in his voice before deeming it acceptable. "I have not seen you in Ninjago City before."

Zane chuckled. "There are many people in Ninjago City perhaps you did not notice me."

"I remember absolutely everyone my eye sees." Pixal smiled smugly, raising an eyebrow. "And I would remember you if I had seen you." She nodded to his...less than causal choice of wear.

Zane flushed, a bright pink on his pale cheeks as he adjusted his patterned sweater vest. Before he could say anything the elevator stopped, jerked slightly before the doors opened with a ding.

Pixal led him into a large room, it sat at the top of the tower with huge floor to ceiling windows and big machines, computers, and other technology lining the walls and the floors. A man in a wheel chair and a giddy laugh excitedly worked away at something he had on a table.

He turned at the sound of the elevator doors. "Pixal!" He greeted his daughter with a smile. Zane looked over Cyrus Borg as he talked excitedly to Pixal. He was a small man with dark hair swept to the side, big round glasses, and a wild grin. His clever brown eyes turned to Zane.

"And who is this?" Cyrus asked Pixal with an excited beam, rolling over to shake Zane's hand. "Is this a friend of yours?"

Zane didn't miss the barely concealed surprise in his tone and expression. Pixal's face reddened and she gave Dr. Borg a look.

"No, he's an acquaintance I met downstairs." She told her father sharply, her green eyes flicking to Zane.

"I'm actually from out of the city." Zane explained politely. "I came to visit Ninjago City with my friends."

"Out of the city?" Cyrus's brow knit as he tried to analyze his words.

"Yes. I'm attending Master Wu's school." Zane wanted to bite back his words as Pixal immediately drilled her gaze into him with an expression he couldn't quite read.

Cyrus, however, appeared delighted. "Master Wu? How is he? I haven't seen him in forever!"

"He's alright, I believe." Zane appeared flustered as Cyrus ushered him to a chair by his desk. "Busy." The blue-eyed boy waved a hand vaguely, an action he noticed Jay would use often when he was either avoiding an answer or just didn't know what to say.

"Ah well, I did hear his nephew has been getting into trouble." Cyrus clicked his tongue as he shoved things in the desk hazardously into his desk. The organization- freak of Zane grimaced as the inventor just dumped stuff inside without paying much attention. Even the contents of a coffee cup.

"Dr. Borg!" Pixal interrupted, giving him a pointed look. Cyrus glanced down at his now coffee-filled desk drawer.

"Oh dear." Borg sighed. "Not again."

He backed up his wheelchair. "Please excuse me, Zane. I'm just off to find a...towel or something." He chuckled and disappeared around the corner.

Pixal sighed, rolling her eyes as she pulled the desk drawer out of the table and placed it on its surface. Zane awkwardly shifted in his seat, glancing around.

"You're going to Wu's reform academy." Pixal noted.

"Actually, its a self-discovery school." Zane tried to lean on the arm of his chair but slipped with a grunt. This wasn't the most comfortable of sitting arrangements. So he stood instead, trying to brush off his suddenly movement as a way to look at Cyrus's stuff.

Pixal's gaze never left him. "Dr. Borg considered sending me there." She told him, voice guarded. "He never told me but I found the advertisements and letters in his desk."

"It is quite nice." Zane tilted his head, unsure where she was going with this. "The students are...odd but make good company. They're very unlike people at a normal school."

Pixal wrung her hands, fingers fiddling nervously with each other. "I've never been to a normal school." She said quietly. "Borg homeschooled me."

Zane's eyebrows flew up but the rest of his body remained neutral. "Can't say I ever remember being to a real school either." He replied.

Pixal didn't miss a beat. "Remember?"

Zane's fingers found a pen and he began to twirl it distractedly. He might as well tell her. "I have amnesia. I don't remember anything before about a month and a half ago."

"Oh. I am very sorry." Pixal apologized, feeling silly.

Zane shrugged. "It's alright."

"Do you..." She hesitated. "Do you know your parents?"

Zane shook his head.

"Me neither." Pixal walked slowly to a computer, hand trailing on the tabletop's edge. "Not my biological ones anyway. Cyrus adopted me when I was four."

Again Zane didn't know what to say. For some reason his mouth seemed to lock up and his tongue would go numb. This alarmed Zane but he tried to play it off as best he could without appearing to be ignorant.

"You know..." Pixal gave him the side eye. "We could... try and figure out who your parents or guardians are."

"Wh-I beg your pardon?" Zane stuttered.

"You've heard of a DNA test, haven't you?" Pixal's eyes widened. "Unless you don't remember. I'm so sorry."

"No. I know what a DNA test is." Zane assured the girl as she moved to the computer and began typing quickly.

"If you want to, I could do one here. In the lab. No cost." her gaze flicked to him then back at the screen. Zane stood beside her leaning in as he gazed over her work.

"Why?" He breathed.

Pixal was silent for a moment. Her hands pausing on the keyboard. Then she turned to look at him, her eyes locking with his with the most sincere expression. "I don't have many friends." She said softly, looking down at her hands. "People find me weird. But my father....he thinks I'm brilliant." She smiled a little.

Pixal turner back to him. "My Father is everything to me. I don't remember much about my life before I was adopted but I remember the emptiness. I want to ensure that you don't feel that same feeling."

She turned back to the computer. "And if your family are simpletons than I'm sure Cyrus will gladly kidnap you and take you in."

Zane chuckled, his icy gaze watching her as she worked. "Thank you, Pixal."

She smiled another brilliant smile. "You're welcome."

Authors note***

I don't think I ever revealed this officially but Pixal and Zane are humans in this fanfic.

So... just a little tidbit of information that will help you. Also I had to speed-edit this one because my sister really wanted to play a game with me so sorry if you find a lot of typos. They always slide their way in there.

Have a nice day!

Lucky