"Alright, you dumb little robots, where's Jonah? It's time for the invention exchange." Kinga demanded.

Max put his hand up. "Well, Kinga... ever since you cut off his oxygen-"

"Shut up, Max!" Kinga growled.

"Yeah, he's still not doing too good." Servo said. "I don't know why you don't just let him go, at this point."

"And while you're at it, you can also let us go." Crow added.

"Aha. Nice try, but no." Kings folded her arms. "Invention exchange. Now."

It was at that point that Gypsum descended from the ceiling. "Actually, Kinga, we've been too busy looking after Jonah-"

"You mean you have." Crow said.

"That we haven't got an invention to exchange today."

"Besides, Jonah usually makes the inventions anyway." Servo added.

Kinga turned to Max. "This is useless." She said. "Our experiment is ruined."

"I stand by what I've been saying all along, if you hadn't got angry and cut off Jonah's oxygen, we wouldn't be in this situation." Max said.

"You're the one who got him eaten by a mechanical dragon on our wedding day!" Kinga countered.

"Hey, just saying-Crow's right, you should let us go." Servo said.

"No. No, I'm not going to let you go." The amount of calm in Kinga's voice was unnerving. "I'm going to get another test subject!" She wrung her hands as she grinned. "Bots, tell Jonah that he's excused from watching today's movie. It was going to be Howard the Duck, but maybe that's best saved for another day." She said. "Come on, Max."

The two of them hurried out of view and the screen suddenly went black.

"I'm going to go and check on Jonah." Gypsum said, disappearing back to the ceiling.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go steal Growler's stuff." Crow said. "Coming, Servo?"

"Think I'll go to my room, actually." Servo said.

"You've been spending a lot of time in your room." Crow observed.

"And you've been spending a lot of time stealing Growler's shit." Servo said. "Like seriously, how much stuff does he have left for you to steal?"

As if on cue, Growler appeared on the bridge. "Oh not that much. But it's okay. I don't mind. I'm just easygoing."

"Shut up." Crow said. He walked away.

Servo hovered away without saying a word to the other robot.


It would be a few days before the bots heard from Kinga again.

"Hello, bots." Kinga said. "And Heston. Finally out of bed, I see."

Jonah was sitting in a swivel chair at the desk on the bridge, looking half dead. Even though his left eye was drooping, he still managed to glare at Kinga, though he said nothing.

"No thanks to you, Kinga." Gypsum said.

"Well, I have a surprise for you today, Heston." Kinga said. "You're not watching a movie today. Instead, say hello to your new friend."

"What new friend?" Crow asked.

"Yeah, you're not sticking another ugly, smelly, clumsy, waste of space up here, are you?" Servo asked. "Because having one Jonah is already more than enough."

Kinga chuckled humourlessly. "Max? Do the honours, would you?"

"With pleasure, Kinga." Max said as he pulled a lever.

A tube descended from the ceiling and the bots all moved away, Crow pulling Jonah with him. Someone was dumped out of the tube and onto the Satellite bridge.

Growler approached first. "Hey, do you need some help there, pal?"

"No, I can..." The man began, but stopped and looked around, as if he'd been there before.

Crow and Servo both gasped audibly and exaggeratedly.

"Oh my." Gypsum muttered.

Jonah cocked his head slightly out of curiosity.

The man blinked, out of pure disbelief. His mouth flapped open as if to speak, but closed again. This happened at least three times before he actually said something. "Crow? Tom? Gypsum?"

"Who are you and why do you look so familiar?" Crow asked.

"You idiot, that's Joel." Servo said.

"Nuh uh. No way. Joel was younger than this guy is." Crow said.

"That's because he's a human and humans age." Servo shook his gum ball machine head.

A silence fell over the Satellite that was interrupted only by Kinga loudly saying; "Enjoy!" And with that, the screen went black again.

"Joel... are you okay?" Gypsum asked.

"Why is your voice different?"

"I needed a new voice, mine kept glitching out like an old TomTom." Gypsum said. "Jonah installed it."

Joel's eyes drifted over to Jonah, still sitting down in the swivel chair. "You're Jonah, the Mads' latest victim."

"Actually," Jonah began, with a heavy slur, "you are."

"What's wrong with him, is he drunk?"

"No. Kinga shut off his oxygen." Crow explained.

Joel paused, just trying to make sense of everything. Then the penny dropped. "And she still sent him back on the SOL?" He asked. "Hm. I doubt her father would have done that if it were me or Mike."

"'M going... to..." Jonah paused and frowned, trying to think of the word he wanted. "Uh..." He growled in frustration. Not being able to communicate properly was really irritating. And actually depressing. At least the bots didn't make fun of him, although they did avoid him, particularly Servo.

"Bed, Jonah?" Gypsum asked softly. "You want to go to bed?"

Jonah sniffled and nodded, looking like he was about to cry. He stood up slowly and put one hand on the desk to pull himself up.

"You sure you can walk, Jonah? You're really unsteady." Crow said. "I mean, I'd hate it if you fell. On me." He added, hastily.

"Fine." Jonah said almost angrily. He used his other arm, which Joel noticed was shaking and seemed to be seizing up, to wipe drool from his stubble.

What had happened to him? Joel thought to himself. This Jonah was obviously an inventor, the Gizmonics jumpsuit kind of gave it away. Now he was just... reduced to this, dependent on the bots for any kind of assistance. Was Kinga going to do that to him too?

"Joel, are you okay?" Gypsum asked.

"Really confused and I can't believe I'm here again, but I'm with you, so yes, I'm okay." Joel said. He wasn't. He was still hoping this was a nightmare of some sort.

Gypsum nodded, knowing that if Joel wanted to talk, he'd do it on his own terms. Instead, she turned her attention back to Jonah, who was shaking trying to walk on his own. "It's okay, Jonah, Growler will take you back to your room."

Jonah, frustrated at not being able to express himself, simply nodded.

"I don't mind helping out." He said. "It makes me feel good." The green robot took Jonah by the hand-the shaking, spastic one-and slowly led him off the bridge.

Joel tried his best not to look by taking off his glasses to clean them. The truth was, he felt so weird and awkward. Why was Jonah here? Why didn't Kinga send him back to Gizmonic Institute? Or better yet, an Earth hospital?

After Jonah had left the bridge, Servo was the one who spoke up first. "Didn't expect you'd be back on the SOL, Joel."

"I didn't expect your voice to sound so different." Joel said. "It's not how I remember it." He looked around the bridge and sighed. "None of this is how I remember it."

"I know." Gypsum said. "You came at a bad time as well."

"Gyps, what's wrong?" Joel asked her. He could tell she was holding something back from her voice. "You can tell me." He gently put his hand on her head.

"I should... go and check on Jonah." She said, ascending back to the ceiling.

Joel sighed.

A little orange and white robot carrying a parcel entered the bridge. "I was told by one of the Boneheads that I have to bring this to a Joel Robinson." He said. "Oh. That's got to be you." He handed the parcel to Joel.

"... Thanks." Joel took the parcel.

"Now get out of here." Crow said aggressively. The little robot did as it was told.

"What is it, Joel?" Servo asked. "The parcel."

Joel opened the parcel to find a familiar red jumpsuit and sighed. "Of course." He muttered.

"Ooh. Tough break." Crow said. "The only clothes Jonah has is his jumpsuits and his t-shirts."

"Crow, Tom, can you tell me more about Jonah?" Joel asked.

"What do you want to know?" Servo asked.

"What happened to him? How did he get like... that? How long ago was it?" Joel asked carefully.

"Well..." Crow began, "Jonah first got here three years ago in 2017. We survived all kinds of bad movies together, like Reptilicus, and Cry Wilderness and then he built that stupid orange robot, M. Waverly."

"Kinga wanted to marry him, even though Max was hopelessly and hilariously in love with her." Servo added. "And so she arranged a wedding ceremony and everything. Then Jonah built Growler and got eaten by a giant mechanical dragon and we thought he'd died. He was gone for almost a whole year."

"He hadn't died, but when he came back, we were forced to watch and riff six movies in a row." Crow said. "Oh Joel, it was horrible. And then we had to watch even more bad movies after that. All the time, Kinga kept threatening to turn off Jonah's oxygen."

"Until it wasn't a threat. And she did it." Servo said ominously. "It took Gypsum sevenminutes to get oxygen back to the SOL. But by that point, it was too late. We were okay, we're robots. But Jonah... he was unconscious for days. Weeks. I don't remember how long. Gypsum even put higher oxygen levels in his room. But when he came back, he came back-"

"Like that." Crow finished.

"Yeah, like that." Servo agreed.

"And ever since then... everything's been weird." Crow said. "Jonah will hardly get up out of bed anymore. We can't make fun of him. It's not fun to steal his stuff. Gypsum's been acting really weird. And Servo spends all his free time in his room."

"She blames herself." Joel said. "For what happened."

"No, she doesn't." Crow said. "I know she doesn't."

"Yeah, it was Kinga who did that to Jonah." Servo said. "Not Gypsum. Why would she feel guilty?"

"Why do you spend all your free time in your room, Tom?" Joel asked.

"Because it's boring out here-I can't make fun of Jonah." Servo said.

"That's not all, is it, Tom?"

"Yes." Servo said. "It is."

Joel frowned, not quite believing him. "How long ago was this?"

"Couple of months ago." Crow said. "About four. Jonah was in a coma for almost three weeks."

Joel folded his arms. "This is a nightmare. And I'm going to wake up in my own bed. I'm going to wake up. In my own bed."


Jonah was sitting down on his bed with his head down, focusing on his breathing, drool dripping down onto his boots. He remembered Kinga shutting off his oxygen. He remembered flashing lights and panic from the bots. He remembered Max begging Kinga to put the oxygen back. He remembered Kinga freaking out when she couldn't turn it back. He remembered collapsing down to the ground, not able to breathe. And then he remembered waking up in his bed with five worried looking bots surrounding him. But he also remembered the pains stemming from his arm and leg seizing up every god only knows how often. It felt like every other second. And then there were the seizures themselves.

Gypsum descended down into Jonah's room and by his bedside. "Jonah, are you okay?" She asked softly.

Jonah simply shrugged. He knew he was never going to be normal again. He was smart enough to know what was wrong with him, even though nobody had said the words. Brain damage. To him, it made it worse that he understood everything that was happening around him. But he couldn't speak properly. Couldn't move properly. Everything made him confused, irritable or upset for little to no reason. His eye was droopy and he couldn't see out of it. And everything sounded like he was underwater, even though he was out in space and nowhere near water. That was nothing compared to the pain, dizziness and the tiredness. Every little thing was just so exhausting.

"Why... Kinga..." Jonah clumsily wiped his mouth again, "no doctor?" He slurred.

"Because she's a supervillain." Gypsum said. "I don't think she has anything against you personally."

"Good target?" Jonah asked, pointing at himself.

"Convenient, I'd say." Gypsum nodded.

Jonah lay back down on his bed and Gypsum lifted the sheets over him.

Crow burst into Jonah's room. "Hey, Gypsum."

"Have you come to watch over Jonah?" Gypsum asked. "Because it's not your turn. It's Tom's turn-"

"We all know that Servo won't do it." Crow said. "Not with Joel back on the SOL. Oh you know what Joel said, he said that you feel guilty about this." He gestured to Jonah, whose muscles were twitching violently under the sheets. "Is he having another seizure?"

"I don't think so." Gypsum cocked her head. "Jonah? Jonah, are you okay?"

Crow tapped Jonah's exposed hand. "Jonah?"

"Fine." Jonah said.

Crow sat down in the chair next to Jonah's bed. "You can go now, Gyps. I'll watch Jonah."

Gypsum nodded and left the room.

Everything was somehow worse now on the Satellite. Even though there were six robots, Jonah still needed round the clock care thanks to his injuries. Without access to any medications, sometimes that care was a two bot job. And Tom Servo never seemed to step up and do his part, while Jonah resented that he needed this kind of help. Because he couldn't swallow properly and drooled a lot, and because he had seizures, a bot always needed to stay with Jonah while he slept, just to ensure he didn't choke and die or worse. He seemed to spend a lot of his time sleeping. But at least he was out of pain while he slept.

"Don't worry, Jonah, I'll just be working on my latest screenplay-it's gonna be a masterpiece." Crow said.

"Fine." Jonah mumbled, although it didn't come out sounding like that. It came out sounding more unintelligible and garbled than anything else because he was speaking into his pillow.

"I'm sure it will be, Crow." Joel said from the doorway.

"Joel." Crow said. "What are you-this is Jonah's room."

Joel cleared his throat. "I was just... reorienting myself on the SOL." He looked over at Jonah who was lying on his side with his eyes closed. He could see the muscles in Jonah's leg and arm twitching like crazy under the sheets.

"I'll be going now." Joel said.

"Joe...l" Jonah opened his eyes. "Nice... meet you."

"Um, nice meet you too, Jonah." Joel said apprehensively.

"You don't need to talk like him, you know, Joel." Crow said. "He understands you just fine for the most part. Isn't that right, Jonah?"

"Fine." Jonah said. That was Jonah's go to word. The only word he could say without slurring. Though if it wasn't for Gypsum, Jonah wouldn't be talking at all.

"See?" Crow asked, as if he'd just proved a point. He picked up a pen and a notepad. "Alright. Time to work on my screenplay."

"Crow... you do know what's wrong with Jonah, don't you?" Joel prodded gently.

Crow lifted his head and shut his beak together as he put his pen and pad down. "There's nothing wrong with Jonah. He's fine."

"Jonah's not stupid." Gypsum said, again descending down the ceiling. "He fixed us all up and built two other working robots. And he does those invention exchanges all the time with the Mads. He was going to notice that his brain isn't working at full capacity at somepoint."

"Jonah. Is. Fine." Crow snapped. "He'll get better. You watch. He will." He stood up out of his chair and glanced over at Jonah. "He will."


A/N: This one basically came to me in S11, from Kinga's threats to turn off the oxygen.

Don't ask me why I wrote it, but I did. I know that I put Jonah up against a lot of adversity, but I promise, absolutely promise, he will have his happy ending, despite being... the way he is, needing round the clock care from the bots. And there are other things related to his brain damage that I haven't even got into yet.

And Joel. Oh man, poor Joel. He's been thrust into a familiar situation that couldn't be more foreign to him. Yeah, he's on the SOL, yeah he's with the bots, yeah he's gonna be forced to watch terrible movies by a Forrester... but the SOL is different than he remembers, his bots all have different voices, that Forrester is Kinga, not Clayton and the icing on the cake is that he has to do it all with a seriously brain damaged younger man who needs a lot of care.

The bots. Oh the bots. Servo and Crow can't say they don't care about Jonah. Gypsum is the mom friend, making sure Jonah eats and sleeps, on top of keeping the higher functions of the SOL running. Sure, Growler helps out, and Crow and Cambot, but M. Waverly just wants some semblance of normalcy, while Servo is isolating himself.

Maybe it's a good thing Joel's come back. Maybe he can help them all. Even Kinga and Max.