Back at Gizmonic Institute, Dr Carnage was sitting in a booth of some kind. As she sat, she randomly swatted at a fly.
Dr Ray entered the room with a pot of coffee, but he spilt it on the counter.
The coffee melted through the countertop, making a loud HISS!
"Shoot," muttered Dr Ray.
"You weren't concentrating again," sighed Dr Carnage, swatting at the fly some more. "It's your own fault for making the coffee so damn hot."
Dr Ray shot a glare at her.
"What are you doing in the Cleansing Booth?" he asked curtly.
"I had a naughty thought today, and I was informed by Dr Paul to sit in here and think about all the ways I could put all that negative thinking into something useful for my next invention. Then I could come out again," she said.
Dr Ray snorted.
"He's constantly coming up with the dumbest ideas ever," he said. "I don't care if he does outrank us. He's just trying to make this a terrible place for us lower-techies."
He didn't notice that Dr Paul was coming up behind him.
"Um, Ray…?" said Dr Carnage, motioning behind him.
"Dr Paul says," continued Dr Ray, "that the harder we work, the less we'll need his so-called 'assistance'."
"Assistance? You?!" Dr Paul snorted.
Dr Ray spilled more of the really hot coffee on the counter in shock.
Dr Paul laughed.
"Dear Dr Ray, you'll always need help. Do you know why?"
"Uh…"
"It's because you're a cowardly weasel of a man who couldn't harm a fly! That's why!" said Dr Paul, getting really close to his face.
"Am not!" said Dr Ray, somewhat pathetically.
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"ARE TOO!"
Dr Ray toppled over, nearly spilling the coffee on him.
Dr Solomon entered.
"What's going on in here?!" he demanded.
"Back off, Curly!" snarled Dr Paul.
"Hey now…," said Solomon, patting his hair gently.
Dr Paul stood before them all.
"Now then, we've been given a job to find that Mike Nelson and his robotic cohorts!" he said. "We're going to destroy the Bots, and lock Mr Nelson away forever!"
"Why?" asked Dr Solomon. "They seem harmless to me."
"Because they mock us! They taunt us! They tease us! And worst of all and this is what really gets me… They dare to riff us!" he said, putting them emphasis on 'riff'.
"I see," said Dr Solomon. "Well, the robots were designed to be funny and sarcastic wisecrackers. I see no harm in them. I mean, it's not like they're a threat to human society."
"Ha! Tell that to the President!" snorted Dr Ray, who was just now getting back up.
"Why?"
"Because we've told our Gizmonic President that they are criminally dangerous, and they conspired with Mr Nelson, and are out to rule the world!" said Dr Paul.
"Why would you do that?!" Dr Solomon asked.
"Because they riffed us!" said Dr Carnage, swatting at the fly again.
"So? You guys are pretty riffable."
Dr Paul glared at Dr Solomon.
"Solomon, do you like your job?"
"I love my job. But there is a thing as too much love, and let me tell you all that you're really gonna have to get a sense of humor. If you can't take it, just leave it alone."
"You're a wimp, Solomon, and that's what'll do you in," hissed Dr Paul. "Good day, sir."
He turned on his heel and left.
Dr Solomon watched him leave, and then glanced at Dr Ray and his pot of coffee.
"Ray, your coffee is burning through the pot again. You might want to get a mop," he said as he left.
Dr Ray nodded sheepishly and put the pot in the sink.
Dr Carnage swatted at the fly a few more times before Dr Ray finally ran back in and swatted it dead.
Dr Carnage stared at it.
"I wanted to do that!" she yelled.
Meanwhile, the truck that carried the destroyed van that Mike and the Bots had been riding was coming to a stop at a truck stop in North Dakota.
Once they were sure they'd stopped, Mike motioned for them all to make a mad dash away from the truck before they were seen.
"Phew!" said Mike. "I think we shook 'em."
"Yeah," said Crow. "Otherwise, that would have been a really embarrassing reenactment of a scene from The Final Sacrifice."
"What do we do now?" asked Gypsy.
"I opt we grab a bite at the Waffle House over there," said Tom.
Mike agreed, and they all crossed the street to the restaurant.
When they got there, there was a strange reaction.
Or should I say no reaction.
No one seemed to care that a man wearing a blue jumpsuit and four robots had just entered.
They got a booth and looked at the menus.
The waitress came up.
"Smile, you gloomies," she said perkily. "It's a sunny day here at Waffle House!"
Gypsy moaned.
"It's not sunny because we're being attacked by a bunch of idiots from a top-secret laboratory!" she said.
"Well, turn that frown upside down and drown your sorrows in maple syrup!" said the waitress, handing them some bottles of syrup.
Mike glanced out the window.
"I'm just hoping those guys and their helicopter are gone," he said.
Tom sniffed. "I've got some nasty stench matted into frames from that van!" he snorted.
"And we're still going to be attacked again," sighed Gypsy.
"What was that thing that made their helicopter disappear?" asked Crow.
"Probably another Gizmo from Gizmonic Institute," said Mike. "If they find us again, that thing could probably destroy us all!"
"What? Even a robot as studly as me?" Crow asked, shocked.
Mike sighed. "Yes, Crow. Even you."
Crow went to say something, but then he sniffed Tom.
"Phew! Say it! Don't spray it, Servo!" he said.
Tom grunted. "That does it. I'm gonna use the restroom sink to clean up. I'll be back in a bit."
Tom started to leave.
"You're just gonna smell worse when you come out," Mike warned.
"Whatever," Tom muttered, and he made his way towards the men's room.
Once in there, Tom filled up the sink with water and soap, and then doused himself in.
"Ohhh… Much better," he sighed, sinking further into the soap.
Soon, he had sunk to the point that no one would see him.
Just then, the door opened.
Tom looked up.
Two people wearing suits entered. They entered the two stalls simultaneously.
Tom didn't pay attention until they started talking.
"We've tracked the robots to this building," said a voice. "Once we've finished with the burritos from last night, we lock the place up and capture them."
"Why are you telling me this while I'm on the can?" the other voice demanded.
"Just in case you forgot."
Tom managed to snap out of his daze long enough to hear that main part. He immediately exploded from the sink.
KA-SPLOOSH!
Water and soap flopped and slopped as Tom Servo hovered and flew away.
"What was that?!" a voice yelled.
"It was a robot! Smash him!" yelled the second.
"But I'm doing number two right now!"
One of them got up in a hurry and accidentally rammed into a locked door, and then stumbled around with his pants around his ankles, and in the process of trying to pull them up again, caused the stalls to tip over and collapse around them.
"Ouch!" they shouted as everything tumbled down.
CRASH!
Tom Servo rocketed up to Mike, Crow, Gypsy and Cambot.
"We've been located!" he cried. "The Gizmocrats are here!"
"What?! Where?!" asked Mike.
The restroom door burst open, allowing two very smelly and undignified agents to come tumbling out.
"What an entrance," sighed Crow.
"Run!" Mike whispered, grabbing Tom and Cambot in his arms and making a run for the door.
Crow and Gypsy followed.
They exploded from the Waffle House and made a run down the street.
Mike quickly waved at a bus that was coming, and it pulled over.
Everyone piled in.
"Excuse me, how far does this bus go?" he asked.
"To the east end of the state," replied the driver.
"Excellent."
Mike put a few quarters in the machine, and they went to the back to sit down.
Mike was in a bench alone so he could get comfortable.
Crow and Tom took the seat across from him.
Gypsy sat in the back, seeing as how she was the biggest.
"How long will this take, Mike?" Crow asked.
"Probably a few hours at the most," Mike replied.
"Uhhh, I want ice cream!" Tom whined.
"Yeah, me too!" Crow whined.
"Copycat!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"QUIET!" Gypsy ordered.
"Yes, Gypsy," Crow and Tom muttered.
Mike groaned.
"This is gonna be a long trip," he moaned.
He was beginning to miss his cell.