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Zane looked at the mess on the rooftop. Bits of the building had been blown straight off and scattered pieces of… he wasn’t really sure, laid everywhere. This was right where Emperor Garmadon had sat, ruling merciless over Ninjago City.
And guess who had to clean up?
Barely a day after defeating Garmadon, the city had started rebuilding. The ninjas? God forbid they would get some rest after quite literally saving everyone! No, help fix the city instead!
They had decided to split up, making it go faster. Zane had gotten the pleasant task of fixing this place. Perfect.
Zane sighed and got to work. First he inspected if any part of the rooftop was dangerous and threatening, he didn’t want another… Well, another Harumi incident to happen. Lloyd was devastated.
After making sure the building was safe, he started to get to the more boring things. As Zane picked up trash and threw it in his bag, he let his thoughts wander. There was something that was bugging him in the back of his mind. But what? Everything was fine! Garmadon was defeated. Himself and his brothers were safely returned from the First Realm. The Sons of Garmadon were in jail.
No.
Not all The Sons of Garmadon.
One wasn’t. One who had been nowhere to be found since the start of Garmadons reign.
Mr. E.
______________
Zane clawed at the gloved hands of Mr. E, who had pushed their motorcycles together. The white ninja watched with horrified eyes as the edge of the cliff came closer. He used all of his strength and pushed the two motorcycles apart. Zane and Mr. E flew in separate directions, landing hard on the ground. Zane felt his ‘Snake Jaguar’ disguise flicker, leaving him in his original titanium body. He looked over at Mr. E, and then…
His heart stopped for a minute.
Mr. E picked something up from the ground and led it to his now empty armpit. It connected with some crackles.
He had just lost his arm and put it back.
Mr. E was a… He was a…
“You're... You’re a nindroid, like me!” Zane said, speechless.
“That’s not the only thing we share...” The snaring voice of Mr. E said, still with his back to Zane. Zane realized now that his helmet had fallen off in the crash. Mr. E slowly turned to face the ice ninja. When Zane saw his face, he gasped.
“You… You’re me.”
They were identical, with the exact same design. The difference was that while Zane had good functional parts from Borg Tower, the other seemed to be made of spare parts, and his metal had turned brown with rust.
Mr. E smirked. “Hello brother.”
Zane spluttered. “I don't understand… You are clearly made of my blueprints! Who are you!?”
“I guess father didn’t bother to tell you about me when he left me in the lighthouse,” Mr. E scowled. “Of course, who would mention the cheap copy when you’ve got the real deal!"
Zane felt his stomach turn. Had they just…left him there? Had his father left him there?
“If my father built you, he built you for good! Like me!”
“Our father never cared about me!” The other droid shot back. “So why should I care about his expectations!”
“You are on the wrong side! If we’re family, you’re the only one I have left! Please, brother…”
Mr. E pulled out his sword. “The Sons of Garmadon has treated me better than anyone else have. Better than you have!”
He then ran towards Zane, launching an offensive attack. Zane blocked, but Mr. E didn’t stop, striking punches and kicks. Zane started fighting back and quckly got the upper hand, being a ninja and all. It did not take long before he had Mr. E against the edge of the cliff and a shuriken to his neck. But the master of ice spoke softly.
“Please. This is not what your life has to be! If I knew I had a brother, I would have gotten to you much sooner. But I’m here now. Please…”
Mr. E slightly softened his harsh glare, giving the barest nod. Zane smiled, lowering the shuriken. But as soon as he did, the other eyes hardened again. Zane barely had time to react before Mr. E punched him in the face and kicked him to the ground. As Zane rose, gritting his teeth in pain, Mr. E wasn’t in front of him anymore.
“I will never be your brother.”
Mr. E, who had gotten behind him, kicked Zane hard in the back. The master of ice tumbled off the cliff, hitting rocks as he fell. With a final and brutal thump, Zane crash landed in the sand below. Warnings popped up in his vision, telling him a shutdown was coming.
Mr. E walked over to him. “If you thought I would ever go with you, you need to work on your logical meter.”
Zane tried getting words out, but it was static and glitchy. “Pl-Plea-”
That was all he got out before he shut down.
______________
Zane clenched his fists at the flashback, dropping the trashbag due to the trembling in his hands. He hadn't had that much time to think about Mr. E while fighting Garmadon and the Iron Baron, but now that his mind was at peace again, the memory came up. Finding out he had a brother, only for him to turn to the dark side, was the hardest thing Zane had ever gone through.
The confrontation after hadn’t been fun either.
______________
Zanes eyes fluttered open and he quickly sat up, still in panic and confusion.
Mr. E was his brother, Mr. E was his brother, Mr. E was his brother, Mr. E was his bro-
He cut off his chaos of thoughts when he heard a female scream. He turned his head and saw Nya struggling against a… robotic spider? Zane grabbed a spear and flung it, impaling the spider to the wall.
“What in the name of Ninjago is going on here!”
Later, when they repaired the bounty after the crash, the others noticed Zane was acting strange. He couldn't get through with a task properly and eventually sat down, burying his head in his hands.
Nya, Jay, Cole, Kai and the newly revealed Pixal gave each other worried glances before walking over to him.
Cole spoke softly. “Zane? You okay buddy?”
“I…am not.” The nindroid admitted. “But, I do not think you would understand…”
Nya put a hand on his shoulder. “Try us. We will be there for you no matter what it is.”
Zane sighed. “Well, it's... It's about Mr. E. During our fight… something happened. He lost his mask. I saw his identity.”
“Zane! That's awesome!” Kai cheered. “So? What did he look like!”
Zane looked down. When he spoke it came out as whisper. “He is another nindroid. A copy of me . ”
It became total silence. The only sounds were birds chirping.
Cole was the one to speak first. “What do you mean, a copy of you?”
“He is identical to me, definitely built based on my blueprints! The only difference was that while I am made of solid and good material, he’s made of what seems to be scraps and extra parts! But the worst part is what he told me…” Zane trailed off.
Pixal looked at him with a questioning look on her face. “What did he tell you?”
Zane was quiet for a moment. He then spoke, his voice trembling. “Mr. E. told me that he was built by my father during his time in the lighthouse. That he’s my brother. When we rescued my father, he was left behind… That’s why he hates me more than anyone…”
Zane let out a few sobs. “If... If I had known I had a brother I would have come for him ages ago! I would have loved him! I would have loved him…” Zane then broke down, tears flowing as he sobbed.
The others were completely silent, trying to comprehend what Zane had told them. Pixal acted first, wrapping Zane in a warm hug. Zane replied immediately, clenching her Samurai X clothes with his fists as he buried his face in her shoulder. Cole and Kai came as well, rubbing his back and giving soothing words. But Jay and Nya stood still, both pale as snow.
Nya turned her head towards Jay. “Jay… You don’t think…”
“There's someone else it could be... Right?” Jay stuttered. “It... It just cannot possibly be-”
“What are you talking about?” Cole interrupted. “Why do you two look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
Jay and Nya looked at each other, grabbing hands and squeezing them tight.
“We…might have met Zanes brother before…” Nya said quietly. “We for sure think so, because everything Zane said now matches up with who we met.”
Zane looked up. “What…?”
"It's a long story!” Jay said defensively. “A very long one at that, and none of you remember it. But… do you remember when we were going to stop Clouse in Stiix, and me and Nya got together? Well, it wasn’t the first time us two had been on that rooftop…”
The others listened in confusion as Jay and Nya told a quick recap of pirates, wishes and time travel.
“And then, me and Nya were forced to go and hide somewhere, a place no one would find us, so we thought of Dr. Julien's lighthouse. And there we met…Echo…”
Pixal tilted her head in confusion. “Echo?”
Nya nodded. “Since he looked like Zane we called him Echo Zane, Echo for short.”
“And why haven’t you told us about this? Actually, a better question; why don’t we remember it?” Kai asked.
“Because it never really happened!” Jay exclaimed. “When I made my final wish, time was rewinded back to that point on the rooftop! No one remembered what had happened, except for me and Nya…” Jay trailed off and Nya squeezed his hand gently, giving him a warm smile.
Zane had been quiet for the whole story, but now he whispered. “You knew I had a brother…and never told me?”
Nya gave a sympathetic look. “Oh Zane, we’re so sorry, we couldn’t tell anything without having to tell it all and-”
But as Zane rose and looked them in the eye, Nya and Jay both wanted to crawl into a hole. Not only was the master of ice several inches taller than them both, but the look in his eyes was as cold as ice itself. As he spoke the couple paled at how venomous his tone was.
“You knew I had a brother…AND NEVER TOLD ME!?”
Jay and Nya both stuttered, unable to get any words out.
Zane continued. “Because of you trying to protect yourself, I now have a brother who hates me, for good reason! If you had told me, I would have gotten to him as soon as possible, gotten to him before his hatred grew so much! And now the Sons of Garmadon have him…”
Jay now cried. “Zane, please!”
“No.” The white ninja said. “You have done enough.” He then strode into the bounty, slamming the door shut.
_____________
Zane felt his energy get drained, and fell to his knees. The reminders and flashbacks were too much to handle at once.
He hadn’t really spoken to Jay or Nya since, not even when he was stuck in another realm with one of them. They had both tried to strike up conversations, apologizing and begging him to forgive them, but it just hurt too much. Zane couldn’t forgive them yet.
Zane rose from the ground. He needed to focus. Mr. E. was still out there, and no matter that they were family, Mr E. was a dangerous nindroid. He had almost taken Zanes own life. The police were looking for him, and the sooner they found him, the better.
For now, the white ninja had a task to do.
Zane picked up bits and pieces of things scattered around, and helped some workers remove Garmadons throne, which would be put in the museum.
When the throne was removed and the people had left, Zane saw lots of things that had been pushed under the throne and were now visible. Zane let out a sigh, it seemed like he was not finished quite yet.
As he approached the pile of things (was it scrap metal or something?), Zane got a bad feeling in his gut, like he was gonna regret doing this. But the job was important, so he pushed the warning away and knelt down.
At first sight, it seemed to be exactly that, scrap metal. But then, with a closer look, Zane came to the horrifying realization that it was not just that.
It was arms.
Legs.
A torso.
This was parts of what used to be a droid. Like Zane himself.
Zane felt his heart sink, and if he could have thrown up he would. Who had gotten such a horrible fate? Who had given them such a horrible fate!? It was clear that this was beyond repairs, nothing but a miracle could fix this.
Then, Zane noticed another part of the dead nindroid a bit further away from the others. He reached out and grabbed it. As soon as he turned it and got a clear look, he let out a gasp. Then a broken sob came up from the back of his throat. Then he started crying, tears flowing like two rivers.
It was a head, wearing a motorcycle helmet. A motorcycle helmet that used to have glowing red eyes portrayed on the face shield.
Mr. E.
Lloyd, Kai, Nya, Jay, Cole and Pixal stood in the elevator, chatting with each other as they got lifted up to the top of Borg Tower.
Only Pixal was silent. It had been over an hour since they had all agreed to meet after helping with the clean up. And everyone had, except for Zane. The one who literally always came on time. The other ninja and Pixal herself had decided to wait, assuming he was probably just running a little late. But when minutes turned to an hour, they were not so sure. Lloyd had suggested that they could go to Borg Tower to see if something had taken longer time than expected, and that’s what they did. But as they had arrived, the security guards told them that Zanes shift had originally ended, he just hadn’t come down yet. So the other ninjas and samurai went up.
Pixal gazed out of the glass wall in the elevator. Lloyd came up to her. “Hey Pix, you ok?”
“Affirmative,” She responded. “But I do find it strange that Zane has not returned, nor given a message. It’s not like him.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing, he must’ve just simply lost track of time!” Lloyd said, rubbing her back. “I mean, everyone slips up at times.”
Pixal nodded and smiled, but it did not quite reach her eyes. When Lloyd broke their eye contact and looked out on the city, his gaze stopped on a certain building, or, what used to be a building. Now it was just a pile of rubble, and the place Ninjagos princess had died. It became Pixals turn to rub Lloyds back.
A loud bling rung out. It seemed like their ride up in the air was over. Pixal gave Lloyd a warm smile before they exited. The ninjas walked out of the elevator and took the last staircase up to the rooftop.
When they came up and looked around, it was easy to spot Zane. His white gi rippled in the breeze as he sat hunched over something. He sat perfectly still, except for his hands who seemed to be trembling as they held something.
Cole spoke as the team approached the silent ninja. “...Zane? Buddy? What’s going on?”
“We got worried when you didn’t show up you know.” Nya said.
Kai furrowed his brows as Zane didn’t speak or even acknowledge they were there. “Zane? What is-” He cut off as they could now see what Zane held in his hands.
It was a head with a motorcycle helmet. One the team knew far too well. But it was only the head, because the rest of the body laid in parts beside Zanes knees.
Kai felt like throwing up. Cole and Lloyd slapped a hand over their mouths. But Jay and Nya stood completely still, not saying a word.
It was Pixal who made the first move, gently removing the helmet from Zanes shaking hands. She then gently leaned forward, wrapping him in a soft hug, just as she did when Zane had first told them about Mr. E. that day on the bounty. And just like then, Zane hugged back, clenching fabric in his hands as if it was the only anchor he had. Maybe it was. Only now could the team see that Zane was crying silently, tears streaming down his face.
As the two nindroids hugged, Lloyd and Cole whispered to each other.
“Who could’ve done something like this?” Cole muttered. “He’s completely disassembled…”
Lloyd whispered back, his face paler than usual. “This was not done by human hands. I think this was done by my father himself…”
Jay and Nya had been quiet the whole time, just watching the scene unfold, as the colors from their faces had disappeared.
Jay stumbled over to the two nindroids, still wrapped in a firm hug. “Zane… I-”
Zanes head immediately snapped up, staring at the couple. Where sadness and grief had been just seconds ago, there was now just pure anger in the tear glistening eyes. He said one sentence, a short sentence, but it stung the two others deeper than any knife could.
“I hate you.”
Zane then started sobbing again, burying his face into Pixals shoulder.
And as the rooftop was filled with the sounds of crying, the ninjas and samurai knew that nothing would really be the same again.