~~ Ch42:Thur3, Echo's Upgrade ~~

"Big brother! Big brother!" came the excited shout as the elevator arrived at the top floor. The doors swished open and an armful of small, but very heavy, little brother launched himself straight at Zane's chest.

Zane just barely got himself braced in time, and Echo actually looked a little disappointed for a second that he'd failed to knock his brother over. Just for a second, though - he was awfully excited about the new upgrades he'd been promised!

"Is it true? I can't wait! How did you crack the code? Was it a hardware or a software issue? Does this mean I can go to school?!" he rambled excitedly, wiggling around happily.

Zane and his father exchanged hopeful but tense glances.

"It's actually Lloyd who, ah, figured it out," explained Zane. Kind of. He reached back and took a nervous Lloyd's hand, pulling him forward and into the penthouse.

"Lloyd!" cheered Echo, trying to jump from his big brother's arms into his new friend's, but Zane's grip tightened and instead he carried Echo over to the low dining room table Dr. Julien had already taken a seat at.

Echo scrambled out of Zane's arms the second his grip loosened, but instead of sitting nicely on his own cushion, he zipped on over to Lloyd, climbing into his lap and snuggling.

The concern in Lloyd's eyes clearly showed Dr. Julien that, yes, Lloyd did understand Echo's issues now. And, from what he knew of both Zane and Lloyd, they would not have made such an incredible claim unless they were absolutely sure of themselves.

Dr. Julien's hands were shaking. He had been trying to figure out the puzzle for so, so long. Why, how, Echo was different from Zane, and what needed to be done to fix things. Echo's situation was dangerous, precarious. It had perhaps been arrogant to think he could make another Zane, especially considering he had changed the design substantially, deliberately designing a child that could learn and grow instead of a teenage robotic babysitter, already (he'd thought) programmed to be and know everything it needed.

Zane... Zane was a miracle. From the first day he'd been turned on he'd been uncannily human. And once he'd been brought back by Gerald, with new ice powers, a newer and fuller range of emotions, and an inexplicable sense of touch that didn't rely on sensors and was nowhere in his programming... He even began having increasingly strong opinions and preferences not based on logic! It had made no sense, and in an attempt to understand, Dr. Julien had sought to replicate... and failed. Not that he regretted his little bundle of joy.

There was no debate on whether Zane qualified as 'alive'. Legally, human rights lawyers had won Zane the same rights as any other citizen years ago, even before he gained ice powers. It had been easy to prove, and the ruling thankfully had extended to Echo, once he'd been built. And now even other nindroids, like the one built by Cyrus Borg.

One screw up could destroy everything.

One malicious hacker. One public scene demonstrating nindroids to be monsters rather than people. One demonstration of Echo's inability to process pain or fear.

Yes, he feared for Echo. But he also feared for Zane. Things were good now, but it would be so easy for things to go wrong.

He'd been working on the fix for Echo, to try make him the same as Zane, for years. Pretty much as soon as he'd realized Echo WAS different from Zane. He'd been fearful, for Echo, for his future, for the possibility of his future affecting Zane's, for years.

Now all that could be over. He didn't know how or what or why, which would definitely drive his inner scientist crazy, but it would be over.

He wasn't jealous. This wasn't a matter of professional pride. He was a father, not just an inventor, mechanic, scientist. If this worked, he would be eternally grateful to Lloyd, as well as Zane for bringing Lloyd into their lives. (Back into their lives? Though he hadn't been involved much when he'd originally designed a 'robot babysitter' for the Ninja Force.)

Dr. Julien took a deep breath, looked up to meet Lloyd Garmadon's bright green eyes, and asked simply, "Are you sure?"

Lloyd nodded. "Absolutely certain," he replied back, with not a shred of doubt. "I know my new power can give Echo the same full scope of emotions and feeling as any of us." But then he frowned. "But I cannot explain how. I'm sorry."

"This is gonna be so cool!" exclaimed Echo. "I can't wait!"

Zane frowned, worried. "Echo, do you remember when Father and I explained negative emotions and nerve receptors to you?"

Echo waves a hand dismissively. "Blah blah blah, you'll get to go to school and be just like big brother! Awesome!"

The three older people in the room exchanged worried looks, but after a minute, Dr. Julien just sighed. They'd tried so many times, but it was like explaining colors to one born blind.

Echo had already jumped topics and was trying to start a conversation with Lloyd about yesterday. "I saw you with your giant kitty on TV yesterday! She's so pretty, and you were so cool! Lord Garmadon's got cool new powers too! Can I see your green sparky powers? Can you really talk to your kitty? Can I meet her? I think she'll really like me!"

Dr. Julien and Zane ignored him, while Lloyd kept almost answering but then getting cut off with the insertion of another question, until he clearly couldn't remember what the first one had been.

"Shall we go down to my lab for, for the... process, Lloyd?" asked Dr. Julien.

Lloyd tilted his head thoughtfully. "We can probably do it right here. But maybe one of you should hold him?"

"Right now? Here? Sweet! I can't wait! How does this work? What's gonna happen?!"

Zane took a shaky breath and reached over, taking Echo and pulling him into his own lap. He hugged his little brother tight, his own conflict and fear clear in his eyes, and Echo completely missing any of the normal cues, such as how he'd been gripped in a way that was definitely a ninja hold.

They wouldn't be able to stop halfway. Zane shivered and was tempted to close his eyes and just hang on, but he had to be brave. Lloyd or his father might need him. And he had to know what was happening, if his little brother was in pain, what he'd have to live through.

No one had been there for him. No human could possibly understand how traumatic becoming, well, 'human', could be for a nindroid. He would be there for Echo.

Dr. Julien came around the table, kneeling this time next to Echo and Zane and kissing them both on their foreheads. His eyes were wet behind his glasses, and he wiped them as tactfully as he could, trying not to make a scene.

Lloyd licked his lips. "I... Green isn't the same as Ice, Zane. It shouldn't hurt him," he said softly. "But, but I won't be able to stop. And it's gonna take a lot out of me, so don't be scared if I faint again."

Zane nodded. He'd figured.

Lloyd took a fidgety Echo's hands in his own, took a deep breath, and directed his energy directly into Echo's body.

Dr. Julien held back a yelp as Lloyd began glowing, a brilliant emerald green that quickly engrossed Echo as well. The power was strange, warm and soft, beautiful and pure, very similar to sunshine actually. It was one thing to see sparks and swirls flying around the teen on TV yesterday on the news - he was already familiar with elemental powers, after all. It was quite another to FEEL that physical energy not three feet from him, a literal wash of warmth and tingling and an almost magnetic pull.

Echo was giggling. Zane was glowing white himself, his own Ice energy being affected by the proximity of Green, even without being directly fed by it.

Dr. Julien would have backed off, but these were his boys. He had to be here. Even then, he had to close and shield his eyes, as the energies grew brighter and brighter, until that animal part of his brain was almost screaming that it was too much, it was gonna explode, they were all going to die, when...

It was over.

The glowing and pulsing energies just disappeared, as simply as if someone had flicked off a light switch.

Everyone stared at each other for a tense minute. Did it work?

Suddenly Echo gave a violent shiver.

"You're c-c-cold, b-big brother!" But his expression was one of wonder, as he snuggled closer against Zane's chest, which actually had a coating of frost over it from his own Ice being released.

It worked! But... wasn't this too easy?

Lloyd wobbled and Dr. Julien rushed over, remembering the boy's earlier comment that he might faint. Garmadon's son did weakly drop against him, but thankfully didn't lose consciousness.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

The next few minutes, and honestly the next hour or so, we spent waiting for the other shoe to drop, as Echo rushed around touching things and pinching himself and giggling even as he groaned when he crashed into walls or tripped against furniture in his mad dash around the Julien's living space.

The nerve receptors, the whole feeling of pain thing, seemed to be working fine. And Zane reassured me that the being giggly over pain was just fascination with the new sense and not something we needed to be concerned about. Sure enough, by the end of the hour Echo was already being more careful to avoid things that could hurt him, though he still was amazed by differences in texture and temperature.

"Like, like I could already tell temperature! I mean, my sensors can give me an accurate reading up to twelve decimals - I use them all the time helping Father! But this is just soooooo much cooler, even though it's so much less accurate! Why is that, Father? And why are the reactions to cold and hot different? Ooh, does this affect taste? I always wondered why you and big brother insist on some foods hot and others cold, beyond the logic of preserving structural integrity and preventing bacterial contamination! I think-"

Everything seemed fine. But... where was the anger? Betrayal? Depression? Did I fail after all? But I'd been so sure...

Zane's MOM interrupted my thoughts. "Lloyd, while your new pet is adorable, she's currently blocking traffic. Would you please ask her to desist?"

She what? Oh, how embarrassing! For convenience, and because I couldn't bear to leave her behind, Zane and I had rode Meowthra to his family's building this morning, easily stepping right over the small (relatively) group of reporters clustered outside. We'd even been able to jump from her head right onto the roof, and from there only had to go down one floor instead of up over two dozen!

I rushed over to the balcony as quickly as I could, still feeling a little extra tired and unbalanced from helping Echo, opening the glass door and stepping out. Sure enough, Meowthra was now sitting in the exact center of the street. Thankfully MOM had called me quickly, so it looked like it'd only been a few minutes from the amount of cars she'd stopped. No one had even gotten out or started cursing her yet, whew!

"Baby girl!" I called out. "Come here, baby girl!"

Meowthra immediately stood up and stepped delicately out of the way of traffic. She purred as she lowered her massive head to nuzzle me.

"Such a good girl!" I happily praised her. "Let's not block traffic now, ok?"

She purred her agreement, and as I pet her face I remembered Echo's earlier desire to meet her. I turned my head to call him over, and...

Echo stood frozen, staring at Meowthra with a look of morbid terror twisting his face.

"Echo?" I called softly, worried.

That drew Zane and Dr. Julien's attention and they rushed over, both still on high alert for the emotional instability we'd all been waiting for. And now looked to have finally been triggered.

"Sh-she, she's so big..." Echo's hushed voice rang out in the sudden silence. "She-she destroyed a lot of, of homes and businesses and stuff yesterday. Could, could have hurt a lot of people if they'd gotten trapped. Even, k-killed them. Killed? A-And-" His eyes suddenly whipped from Meowthra's enormous head to Zane. His big brother.

"The- the Ninja fought her. Y-you c-could have fought her. She- she c-could've k-killed you! SHE COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"

Zane quickly pulled his now sobbing baby brother into his arms, hushing him and whispering how he was here, he was alright.

"B-but, you're a NINJA! You could d-DIE any, any time you go out! DIE!" Echo rambled between sobs, desperately clinging to his brother and trying to explain himself.

Zane met my eyes, a touch of relief in his own, even as they echoed the heartbreak of his little brother's breakdown. It had worked. But that didn't make dealing with the consequences any easier.

"Maybe you should go ahead, Lloyd? I'll join you guys when I can. It might take a few days for him to calm down."

"NO!" shrieked Echo, heartbreak and terror shifting suddenly to fierce, possessive rage. He hammered his fists against his brother's chest, making a terrible clanging sound but thankfully no damage. "YOU CAN'T GO! YOU'VE GOTTA STOP! NO MORE NINJA STUFF! NO MORE ALMOST DYING! NO MORE GARMADON!"

Oh. Uh, yeah. That was a good signal to go. I nodded, suddenly not trusting myself to say anything. Not that it would be heard over Echo's racket anyway.

Meowthra was still right there, giving me a concerned mew, so I just backed out, closed the glass door behind me, and climbed up my kitty's head. Jay had texted Zane and me directions earlier, so I'd just follow those.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Author's Notes: Phew! That's one critical chapter down! Hope you all enjoyed! It's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but then I did warn you guys. Next up, Lloyd gets to visit the home of Cliff and Libber Gordon!

MOM's line about Meowthra was copied word for word from a PM from Sunny Lighter! It was just too perfect! Also, the concepts that Green wouldn't hurt as Ice had and that Echo would seem fine but crash later as he realized what Zane being a Ninja truly meant are joint ideas between Sunny and me, the result of multiple discussions on the topic. Thanks as always, Sunny!

Answers to common/anticipated questions: (1) In this version of Ninjago, Nindroids have the same rights as humans. Thus how Zane, Pixal, and Echo have the legal right to attend school - there was no hacking or perjury involved. (2) Also in this AU, Nindroid does not refer specifically to a Ninja android, but to any Ninjagian android. I use it as a race, same as Serpentine. Echo and Pixal also count as Nindroids. (3) FSM stands for First Spinjitzu Master and is used in this AU and by several other Ninjago fanfiction authors as the Ninjagian equivalent of OMG. Variations include "eff ess em", "by the First", and "First Master". (4) Again specific to this AU, Ninja equals hero. A Ninja is not necessarily an elemental master or someone who knows Spinjitzu, but any warrior who puts themselves on the frontline to protect Ninjago. Being a Ninja grants a hero certain protections and rights, which Koko exercised to view Lloyd's hospital records. They outrank police and military. They must be approved by Wu and/or the current leader of the Ninja Force. (5) In my chapter titles, the number refers to the week. Thurs3 means this chapter takes place the third Thursday since chapter one. (6) Yes, Harumi and Morro exist in this AU. Harumi is the mayor's daughter and Morro is Wu's adopted son, still alive and currently on his own journey far away from Ninjago City. Neither will appear in My Dad is Bad, though I'm planning to use Morro in the sequel.