Huge shoutout to FaithRenewing who was the first one to notice (or at least the first one to comment) that the previous part was based on 'The Snake King'. I guess it's time for a big reveal now - the book title actually comes from this episode! (So it's probably not too hard to guess what's gonna happen over the next couple of chapters 😉.)

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Lost Nephew/Brother/Son

PIXAL looked up in surprise when Nya entered the autobody shop's small office.

"Good evening, Nya." The android greeted her friend and teammate. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to see your boyfriend after college tonight." She wondered.

"I was but Jay called to say that he's stuck at the tea shop." Nya explained. "Mr Wu's nephew has disappeared, and he's asked all the guys to help looking for him."

"Oh, so he still has not been found then." PIXAL remarked. "When I was there earlier, Mr Wu mentioned that the school had called to notify him that the boy had not turned up for class. He had last been seen leaving the tea shop in the morning."

"So, he's been missing all day..." Nya mumbled. "I didn't know that. Poor Mr Wu must be worried sick. Anyway, I thought I could use our system to help them. Also, Kai thinks I'm working tonight anyway."

"About that..." PIXAL said. "I met your brother, and I was not aware that you had pretended to work late shifts so that you could spend the night at Jay's place without him knowing."

Nya's eyes widened. "You didn't..." She gasped.

"Unfortunately, I did." The robot nodded. "And I am very sorry about that."

"It's not your fault." Nya comfortingly placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "He was gonna find out sooner or later anyway, I've been putting this off for way too long. I just hope Kai's not gonna do anything to Jay..."

"I believe he might be safe while the boy is missing." PIXAL reassured her. "I have heard that your brother is very attached to the child."

"Yeah, Lloyd's like Kai's little brother." Nya smiled.

"Lloyd?" PIXAL's gaze fell on the photo on the desk. "This seems to be a common name for missing children."

"That's true." Nya agreed. "So, would it be okay if I used the computer to help the Ninja?"

"We can do it together." PIXAL moved over to the side so that Nya could put another chair next to her. "Zane mentioned that he had tracked Lloyd's phone signal to the kiddie arcade. I would suggest we start by watching the surveillance camera recordings."

Nya nodded, and the smart robot started hacking into the Ninjago City CCTV server, just as she had many times before. Unlike the Ninja, the Samurai did not have the ID and exact location of the cameras inside the arcade so they had to check a number of videos taken by all recording devices around the area.

"That's a lot of snakes." Nya muttered when she saw a group of Serpentine gathering in front of a large building. "That's the entrance to the arcade." She pointed at a colourful glass door on the screen. "I've been there once with Jay."

"We should leave this video then, Lloyd must have entered and exited the venue somehow." PIXAL suggested and opened another video on a second monitor. "And this was taken by the camera located the nearest to the other one."

This one indeed showed the inside of the arcade. PIXAL synchronised the two recordings so that people who entered through the glass door could then be seen playing video games or other machines. Not that it had been very busy in the early morning hour when this had been taken. "This is an interesting choice for a date." The night blue Samurai remarked.

"Oh, it may look a bit childish but it was actually fun." Nya smiled. "Life's serious enough. By the way, how was your date?"

"Oh, it was very enjoyable." PIXAL's green eyes lit up. "Zane had me prepare some dishes with him, and then we had lunch together. Unfortunately, our time together was cut short, because Jay was out on his mission to find young Lloyd, and Zane could not leave the kitchen unattended for a longer period."

"I see." The red Samurai said. "So, you didn't get to see the rest of the Ninja's headquarters?"

"No." PIXAL shook her head. "But I was not going to ask for that anyway."

"Why not?"

PIXAL paused the tape before she answered.

"After our last conversation, I realised that spying on the Ninja is not that beneficial to us at all. On the contrary, the whole situation causes a lot of stress to us and it also could damage our relationships with the people we... care about."

"I-I lied to you this morning." Nya admitted. "I could have easily got the data from Jay's laptop but I decided not to."

"I know that." The robot stated. "I could tell by your vital signs that you were lying."

"Never lie to a robot, huh?" Nya smirked.

"And yet, this is what I have been doing to Zane since the first moment I met him."

"And he's done the same to you. Just like me and Jay. And Kai." Nya remarked.

"You are absolutely right." PIXAL nodded. "And the only reasonable solution I have come up with for that problem is to change that."

"You mean, we should tell them the truth?"

"I do, but unfortunately this is not our decision to make."

"But Misako hates the Ninja..."

"I know, but what we do not know is why she does so." PIXAL noted.

"I'd like to know that as well. But speaking of why, what had made you change your mind all of a sudden?" Nya questioned. "After making me go through this for months – sure, I didn't know Jay and Kai were two of the Ninja, but I've been lying to my boyfriend and brother."

"I believe you have been lying to your brother about other things as well." PIXAL retorted.

"Tha-that's completely different." Nya blushed. "But don't try to shift the blame. It's not really fair that now everything should change just because you like the white Ninja."

"I do like Zane." PIXAL replied. "A lot. But that is not the main reason. I had never interacted with any of Ninja before. And all of them – Mr Wu, Cole, Kai, Jay – were very kind to me. And, as you know, I can tell when people are just acting. But they were not. They are good people, and I find it hard to mistrust them unless I am given a very good reason to."

"That makes sense." Nya admitted. "So, let's first help these good guys find their friend, and then we can take care of our problem."

"You have met Lloyd, haven't you?" PIXAL asked as they were watching the resumed recording. "Will you recognise him?"

"I have." Nya nodded. "Ah, there he is." She pointed at the blond teenager entering the arcade.

"This does not look like a little boy." PIXAL remarked when Lloyd's face appeared on the other screen. "How old is he?"

"I think he'll turn sixteen next month." Nya answered. "Why?"

"From the way, the others were talking about Lloyd, I expected him to be a lot younger."

"Oh, they do treat him like a baby, that's true." Nya laughed. "And he absolutely hates it. But apparently, he had gotten into a lot of trouble before Wu took him in. So the guys are very protective of their 'little brother'."

"He must be around the same age as Misako's son then." The android said.

"True..."

"You are still working?" A voice came from the door.

The two girls turned their head to see their boss standing in the doorframe.

Misako was a middle-aged woman, her long hair (which had greyed prematurely after losing her closest family) was kept in a single thick braid. She was looking at the two employees through her silver-rimmed spectacles.

"I know you don't need to actually sleep, but you are still entitled to time-off." She reminded the robot before she turned to Nya. "And I wasn't expecting you to work tonight either."

"We are just looking through some surveillance tapes, helping out some... friends." PIXAL answered. "They are missing their... brother."

"Oh, I see." Misako smiled. "That's really sweet of you."

Her gaze shifted to the monitor, and her eyes widened as she recognised the blond boy.

"Lloyd?" Misako gasped. "My son?"