The spiders ended up forcing Clay into a broom closet in the mansion's attic, leaving only three of their number to guard him. He waited until the other robots had made their way back to their original positions before climbing to his feet inside the closet and withdrawing the Reversing Mirror from inside his robes.

"Hi." Clay said.

The spiders craned their mechanical heads up. "'sup." They muttered back. Then, they realized that he was at least five times their size.

"Seismic Kick – EARTH!" He stomped the spiders into oblivion, knocking the door apart and buckling the foundation of Jack Spicer's mansion in the process.

The attack persuaded a pair Guard-bots to come and try to mess with him. That was yet another mistake, since it barely took Clay five seconds to add them to the local ecosystem.

"Clay? Is that you?" called Kimiko from elsewhere in the lair. Clay stepped out of the broom closet, looking around.

"Look up! Look up!" called Dojo. Clay looked up.

"Well, I'll be darned." He said. Kimiko, Raimundo, and Dojo were still in their cages, but Jack had suspended them on the attic roof, far above his head. "This is going to take some doing. You guys better just sit tight, and let me handle things."


Omi had chosen to call a Jack-bot to the stand. "Jack-bot," He began after swearing it in.

"I prefer Jackie." The Jack-bot replied, giggling.

"Uh, okay. Jackie." He amended. "Where were you on the day of today?"

"In Jack Spicer's lab." The robot said.

"What does Jack Spicer usually make you do?" Omi demanded.

"Oh, the usual." The Jack-bot said with a titter. "'Jack-bots, attack' and 'Jack-bots', bring me a pudding cup'. My favorite is, 'Jack-bots, give me a sponge bath'. Oi, it's a nightmare working for this one."

"Did we really need to hear that last one?" Jack called.

"You're right." The judge said, sounding queasy. "Your testimony is thrown out, Jackie."

"But I had just come up with the perfect defense!" Omi complained.

"Too bad!" The judge said.

"Yeah, too bad!" Jack snickered.

"Shut up, boy!" The judge snapped. He banged his pistol on the podium again. "Would your lawyer-trons like to cross-examine the witness?"

"Nah." 1.0 said.

"There is no need." 2.0 added.

"Ditto." 3.0 piped up.

"Then call your next witness!" The judge shouted.

"I call…Master Fung to the stand!" 3.0 said.

Master Fung took the stand, and 3.0 jumped into the interrogation with gusto. "In your own words, describe a Xiaolin Showdown."

Master Fung cleared his throat loudly. "A Xiaolin Showdown is a martial-arts contest between two or more opponents that is usually fought over a magical artifact known as a Shen Gong Wu." He said. "The very first Xiaolin Showdown was fought by Grandmaster Dashi against the evil Heylin witch W--,"

"That's enough!" Wuya hissed from the sidelines.

The Lawyer-bot nodded. "Okay, you can stop now. I have another question – do people usually get grievously injured during a Xiaolin Showdown?"

"No." Master Fung replied. "The magic of a Xiaolin Showdown is such that any major injury that takes place is rectified at the end of the competition. Of course, physical damage is possible, but only if the rules of a Xiaolin Showdown are broken so heinously that the magic stops working."

"Aha!" The lawyer said. "So it is possible that Mr. Spicer could have been grievously injured!"

"Yes, but it is--," Master Fung began.

"There you have it, folks! Straight from this monk himself! XiaolinShowdowns are nothing but vicious orgies of bloodthirsty violence, designed entirely to harm people who 'break the rules heinously'."

"That's not what I—," Master Fung tried again.

"You may take your seat!" 3.0 yelled. "Unless Amy wants to be cross again…"

"No thank you." Omi said dejectedly.

"He's guilty! GUILTY!" howled half the jury members.

"Not yet!" Judge Roy Bean snapped.

Omi could only hope that Clay was almost done rescuing his friends. Then they could just leave and never talk about this horrible trial again.