Zane's P.O.V.

I had taken Pixal home and was working on repairing her leg. Luckily it wasn't severely damaged, but it would still be a while before it would work properly again.

"There." I finished the last of the repairs. "How do you feel Pixal?"

"Like an idiot." She sighed. "This was our only chance to get Alex back to normal and I failed him."

"It wasn't your fault." I held her hand. "We'll figure something else out. We have to. We..."

"Zane." She looked up at me. "It's over."

"What do you mean over? We can't just give up."

"As much as I hate to say it, we're out of options." She frowned.

All of a sudden Cass came through the door. We had to put on a brave face to tell Alex what had happened, and that was gonna be hard.

"Hello Mr and Mrs. Julian. Sorry for the surprise visit, but Alex really wanted to show you something." Cass said.

"Of course Cass, you two are always welcome here." I smiled.

We watched as Cass made her way over to the computer and plugged herself in. A video image of Alex appeared on the screen.

"Hello Mom and Dad." Alex smiled through the screen.

"Alex!" Pixal smiled. "It's so nice to see you and hear your voice again."

"And I see you've learned a new trick." I smiled.

"Yeah, Cass and I have been working on it all week." Alex said. Then he noticed Pixal's leg. "Mom? Are you ok?"

"I'm alright son." She said. "Nothing a little repairs and rest won't fix."

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Your mom went on a mission and she got in an accident." I frowned.

"I'm ok Alex. Don't worry." Pixal smiled.

"Have you found a way to repair my exoskeleton yet?" Alex asked.

"That was actually why I went on the mission in the first place." Pixal frowned. "I went after a sap that could fix your heart, but the mission was a failure and now the tree that produced the sap is dormant."

"So, this means I'm never getting my body back?" Alex frowned.

"We didn't say that, we just need a little more time to come up with something else." I said.

"My father might have a few ideas." Cass said.

"We're not giving up on you Alex." Pixal said.

"You got hurt because of me?" Alex looked at Pixal's leg.

"It was my decision." Pixal smiled. "Don't blame yourself for what happened to me."

"I don't want to put you guys in danger." He frowned. "Maybe I should just face facts and stop forcing you to help me get back to normal."

"You're not forcing us to do anything, we want to help you." I said.

"But it's not worth it if you have to get hurt." Alex said. "Maybe you guys should give up."

"So you're just gonna live in my head forever?" Cass asked.

"Not forever, just for now." Alex said. "Now that I can take over other technologies, it might be possible for me to take over another vessel."

"It's possible but we don't know how long you can last in another exoskeleton without your power source." I said. "Cass's systems have been sustaining you, but without her there's only so long you can go before your operating system shuts down permanently."

"Can you get another power source?" Cass asked.

"We'll see what your grandpa Borg can do ok? He might be able to make you another one that can work temporarily." Pixal said.

"We don't need a temporary fix, we need a permanent one." I said.

"My father and I have been working on something that might fix everything." Cass told us.

"Really?" Alex looked at her.

"He was saving it as a surprise, but he may have created a similar adhesive that might be enough to repair your power source." Cass said. "It's still in the testing phase but we should be almost ready."

"We appreciate your father's efforts, but what if this does not work?" I asked.

"Isn't it worth a try?" Alex asked.

"I guess we can try it, but I don't want you to be disappointed if doesn't work." Pixal said.

"Thank you Mother." Alex smiled and zapped out of the computer.

"Alex wants to see my father." Cass said.

"Then you should go." I nodded. "See you both later."

"Good bye." Cass waved and walked out.

I looked at Pixal and she looked at me. I could tell she was upset.

"Are you ok?"

"I miss not having him around and now it sounds like he doesn't want to come back."

"Of course he does, he just needs some time." I said.

"But we're almost out of time." She frowned.

"Pixal, we're gonna figure this out, I promise." I gave her a hug.

I wanted to believe that we could do something, but at this point it was proving even more difficult. I had no idea how to fix this, but I had to figure it out before it was too late.

Maizy's P.O.V.:

When we finally got home we both took about an hour to recover from what had happened. I decided to get some sleep.

"Maizy! You were supposed to bring me that boy. Why did you let him get away?!" My father shouted angrily.

"I told you, he escaped." I backed away from him. "It wasn't my fault!"

"Lies!" He punched the wall right next to me, forcing me to duck to the floor.

"Please Dad, don't do this."

He was about to hit me but then...

"Ahhh!" I set up from my bed catching my breath. I woke up to the sound of someone knocking.

"Maizy? It's me. Are you ok?" My uncle asked from the other side of the door.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I lied and got up to unlock the door.

"I didn't wake you did I?" My uncle asked.

"It's ok, I'm kind of glad you did." I admitted.

"I heard you screaming and ran to check on you."

"I'm alright now, just a bad dream."

"Have you been getting them often?"

"I used to but it's gotten better since my father got arrested." I frowned and set on the bed. "I guess that seeing him again yesterday brought everything back."

"Maizy, seeing him again was my idea. I should've realized you needed more time."

"No, it's ok. I just thought that seeing him again would fix everything but I think it just made everything worse." She sighed. "Anyways, it had to be done."

"Are you sure that's all?" My uncle set next to me on the bed.

"Well, I am nervous about what the VKA will say about me quitting, especially Zena."

"If they're really your friends, they'll respect your choice."

"I guess." I sighed. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He stood up. "Now I have to head off to work so will you be ok?"

"I'll be ok, thanks." I smiled.

"Ok, if you need anything call me."

"I got it." I rolled my eyes. "Have fun."

After a large sum of questions and reminders later, my uncle finally headed out the door. I started contemplating what I was going to do. Do I quit and hope things don't go south, or do I keep sneaking around and reporting to Ryder? I guess I have to ask myself who my real friends are.

Nya's P.O.V.:

I was in the shed with Matt helping him design a new vehicle to help the junior ninja on their missions. He was actually really good at it and had a lot of great ideas that I hadn't thought of.

Jay was in the basement working on building Matt's new room in the basement. Cole was supposed to come and help him today, but he was spending time with the brother he didn't know he had and we didn't want to interrupt them. Those two had a lot of time to make up for.

"Hey Mom, am I doing this right?"

I walked over to see Matt tightening a bolt onto the top of the new vehicle with the wrench. He was tightening it the right way but the bolt wouldn't go in.

"That's exactly right." I nodded. "The bolts can be sticky sometimes but just take it slow."

"Thanks Mom." He smiled and slid down the side of the vehicle.

Matt had gotten used to calling Jay and me Mom and Dad. Now that we we're officially his legal guardians, he felt closer to our family and we felt closer to him too.

Matt wiped his forehead and took a look at our new creation.

"Wow, great work Matt." I smiled at him.

"You really think it'll work?" He asked me.

"Yeah, and if it doesn't we can make adjustments until it does."

"Ok." Matt nodded and set down. "Can we test it out later though, I'm getting hungry."

"Sure." I nodded.

Matt and I got our things and headed back into the house. Matt went into the kitchen and I walked down to the basement to see if Jay needed any help with the new room. I saw him finishing up the structure for the new drywall.

"Hey."

"Ahh!" He screamed and the hammer flew out of his hand and almost landed on his foot, but thankfully it missed. He turned around and smiled at me. "Oh, hey Nya."

"Are you ok? Sorry if I startled you." I apologized.

"That's ok. No harm done." He smiled and picked the hammer back up. "How is Matt's new vehicle coming along?"

"Great, he's a natural builder." I smiled. "How is the new room coming?"

"I should have it done by tomorrow or the day after." He said.

"Great, you need some help?"

"No thanks, I'm basically done for the day." Jay took a deep breath.

"You hungry?" I asked.

"I could eat." He shrugged. "How do you think Cole is doing?"

"I'm sure he's having fun." I smiled. "I can't imagine what it must've been like to have his long lost brother show up at his door."

"Yeah, growing up an only child, I'm glad Lily and Jax have each other."

"Don't forget, Kai's your brother now too." I laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Jay's smile came back on his face.

We went upstairs and I made sandwiches for lunch and then someone came knocking at the door. I opened it to see a man with brown eyes, black hair and a beard. I had never seen him here before.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Yes, does Mathew Scott live here?" He asked.

"Who wants to know?" I asked.

"I'm Dean, Mathew is my nephew."

I wasn't sure if this guy was telling the truth or not. There was no paperwork in his hands, no ID, nothing that said he was Matt's uncle. I don't even think we told anybody Matt was living with us. We had to get to the bottom of this.

Allison's P.O.V.:

I was in my house while my parents and my new uncle were out to dinner. They wanted me to go too, but I had already made plans of my own. Tonight, I was meeting with someone I had been meaning to meet up with for a while.

We had tried to do this a thousand times before, but between our missions and family drama, we never got the chance. This was such a big night for us. Our very first official date. I was so nervous I could hardly breathe.

I had lied to my parents and told them I wanted to stay home and practice my training. I know it was wrong but I didn't want them knowing about me and Amber yet. I mean they know that we have feelings for each other but I don't think they realize how serious the relationship is.

I was in the middle of setting the table when I heard Amber's signature knock outside my bedroom window. I laughed and went to let her in.

"Hey cookie." She whispered as she started crawling into the house.

"Amber, you know you can come through the front door, right?" I giggled.

"I know but it's more fun this way." She smirked.

"It's been so long since we've gotten a moment alone together."

"Yeah, we've been so busy lately, it'll be nice to have a little time with just the two of us." Amber smiled.

"So where do your parents think you are right now?" I asked.

"Oh, they think I'm babysitting for our neighbor's daughter." She winked and smiled. "So do you have any plans?"

"Oh um... there's leftover pizza in the fridge and the newest Starfarrer movie in the DVD player." I suggested.

"Sure, sounds like fun." Amber nodded.

So we heated up the pizza and started the movie. We set on the couch and cuddled underneath a blanket together. It had been so long since we had any time together and it was just perfect. She put her arm around me and eventually, we fell asleep on each other's shoulders.

A few hours later, I woke up and saw Kai and my parents looking right at us. My eyes widened and I tapped Amber's shoulder.

"What?" She said tiredly. Then she noticed. "Oh, hey Daddy."

"Don't "hey Daddy" me. You're in big trouble." Kai crossed his his arms.

The two of us got up off the couch and wiped ourselves off.

"Allison, you wanna explain what's going on here?" My mother looked me in the eyes.

"Well... I... uh..." I was at a loss for words.

"It was my idea." Amber stood in front of me. "I wanted to see Allison so I lied and took my bike here so we could see each other."

"Amber, I can't let you take the fall for this." I looked at my dad. "It was all my fault. I told her that you guys weren't home and that she could come over. I'm so sorry."

"Why did you guys lie to us about this?" My father asked.

"Because we didn't think you guys would be ok with it." I frowned.

"Ok with what?" Kai asked.

"Ok with... us." Amber held my hand and I blushed.

Amber and I looked at each other. It took a few minutes until they finally figured it out.

"Oh, I see what's going on." My mom smiled. "Cole, our girl is in love."

"So you're not mad at us?" Amber looked at her dad.

"I'm only mad because you lied to me about this. If you guys wanted to be together, you should've just asked." Kai smiled.

"Just no more lying to us, ok?" My dad said.

"Deal." We agreed.

Amber and I hugged and she kissed my cheek. We were so happy that we could be ourselves and didn't have to hide who we really are anymore.

_____________________________

Happy pride month! 🏳️‍🌈