"No."

"But Candace-"

"No. You're not going back out there and picking a fight. The robot's got what he wants. Just leave him alone now!"

"But what about Moon?" Phineas protested.

"What about her? This was all because of her anyway. If she hadn't showed up none of this would have happened," Candace told him.

Phineas frowned. "Don't you get it? She needs our help. We can't just sit here and let him kill her."

"Well then maybe she shouldn't have gone-"

"Don't you dare say that!" Phineas shot her a glare, curling both his hands into tight fists, "If she hadn't gone then Ferb might be dead! But you don't understand that, do you? All you do is criticize Moon because you can't understand anything else!"

Candace faltered. "But I - I didn't mean it-"

"Yes you did, Candace, you meant it," Phineas snapped. He could feel his face beginning to turn a bright red, and he held his glare. Finally he turned to Ferb. "Go and get Zhalgo ready. We're going to get Moon back."

Ferb nodded, quickly darting out to the garage. Phineas followed, shooting Candace another glare before turning back to the garage. When he spoke to Ferb his voice was neutral. "How does Zhalgo look?"

Ferb stepped aside to allow Phineas a closer look at his work. He'd dissected Zhalgo's head, and he'd gotten through cleaning about half the pieces. There were several sketches that he'd made that were strewn about the workbench; he'd drawn what he'd seen before he began work in the hope that it would help him put it back together when he was finished.

Phineas just nodded. "It'll have to do for now. You start putting him back together and I'll do the best I can with the bodywork."

Ten minutes later they'd finished with Zhalgo, and Phineas took a step back to look it over before it was powered up. It wasn't in one piece; they hadn't had enough time to finish the repairs, but Phineas knew that they would have more time later. Its cage had been welded together, and both its arms attached, but its wings and its tail had been piled in pieces in the corner. Its fingers were still horribly mangled, and one of its arms wouldn't quite lie straight, but Phineas seemed satisfied with it and reached up to the switch he'd installed under its head to turn it on.

Zhalgo just sat for a moment and then came to life, its eyes glowing an iridescent amber-white as it slowly became more aware. It glanced down at Phineas, giving an elated screech, and reached with one mangled hand to pick him up.

Phineas smiled. "It's okay, Zhalgo. We'll fix you up, but there's something you have to help us with."

Zhalgo stared down at Phineas, its head giving a quiet creak as it cocked to one side.

"Moon is in trouble," Phineas told it, "We need you to help save her."

Zhalgo was silent. It stared down at Phineas for a long time, the gears in its head clicking away as it processed what he had said. He knew its mistress - from that it could trust him, as if it hadn't already, and it knew it had to help him. It could see that it had only been partially repaired, but it had to save its mistress if she was in trouble.

"Zhalgo?" Phineas asked.

Zhalgo nodded. It had to help. It had to see its mistress again.

Phineas took a deep breath. "Alright," he said, "Come on. There's not much time."

Zhalgo pulled Phineas up into its cage, and then Ferb with him, and then they headed away into the wildlands outside of Danville. Phineas knew the way fairly well by now, after having been out so many times, and in a few minutes Zhalgo had taken them up the cliffside and out to the entrance of the cavern where Six-Bolt made his home. He could hear the monstrous engine from somewhere inside, although the sound was quiet, and he stood for a moment at the edge to try and see into the darkness.

He could feel Ferb's hand slip into his own, and he turned back to him briefly. He was scared too, but he knew he had to save Moon. Turning back to the dark cavern, he carefully ventured inside.

The sudden click of a machine caught his attention, and he looked down to see one of the hundreds of spider-robots, staring at him as if sizing him up. After a moment it pounced, latching quickly onto Phineas as it scrambled to find a choke-hold on him, but Phineas was faster and after a moment he pinned it down. It struggled uselessly under his hold but he wouldn't let it go. He turned to Ferb. "D'you think we can get into its system?"

Ferb pulled a screwdriver from his back pocket, which he used to open up the back panel of the machine and access the circuitry inside. Pulling one of the wires out, the machine instantly fell limp in Phineas' hands and he set it down so that he could get a closer look at what was inside.

"It looks easy enough to just rewire the thing," he said as he cocked an eyebrow, "I wouldn't mind having a few of these things on our side. What do you think, Ferb?"

Ferb just nodded.

Phineas turned back to the dormant robot, quickly fixing its circuitry so that it wouldn't attack them anymore, and then set the last wire back in place to power it up. Ferb replaced the access panel and then slid the screwdriver back into his pocket, his eyes on the robot as Phineas set it down onto the cavern floor.

The robot just stood, staring up at him with its blank camera eye.

"Go and bring another robot," Phineas told it, waiting to see if it would listen to him. He hadn't wired it to do so, but he wanted to see how far he could go with it and so he just sat and watched.

The robot quickly scampered off, returning with an inquisitive partner a moment later. That one too was rewired, and when they were done Phineas turned back to his brother. "We can't possibly do this to all of them; there's not enough time. Do you have any better ideas?"

Ferb shook his head.

"Hmm," Phineas put a thoughtful hand to his chin, looking back at the two robots that he had fixed, and frowned. "Do you think maybe they could help?"

Without a sound the spider-robots scurried off, returning a moment later with a third one. After it joined the first two, Phineas stood in front of them. "What else can you do? How many of you are there?"

The three of them just sat, silent.

"Of course not," Phineas sighed, "You're not going to answer me. I suppose we just take Zhalgo and look for Moon, then."

Zhalgo gave a grind of protest, reluctant to go back into the place where it had been left for so long, but after a moment it followed the boys further into the cavern. The glow from its eyes lit their way as they went along, but the place was eerily quiet; there seemed to be no sign of either Moon or Six-Bolt anywhere.

"Moon?" Phineas called, his voice echoing off the deep cavern and coming back to him in a quiet whisper. For a minute there was no response, but then the mechanical clicking of the spider-bots caught Ferb's attention and he took a step back, his eyes shifting up to a low-hanging stalactite where several dozen of them had gathered. Reaching back he found Phineas' sleeve, giving it a small tug and then pointing up to the swarm of robots over them.

"Umm, Ferb?" Phineas squeaked, "Run."

Before anything else could be said they attacked, and Zhalgo scooped the boys up in its cage before turning to run. Since it hadn't been fully repaired, its gait was uneven and rickety, but it was able to keep easily ahead of the spider-bots and after a moment it ducked into a side tunnel in the hope to evade them. It shut its glowing eyes, hoping to throw them off track, but they weren't so easily diverted; they nearly doubled in number as more of them joined the chase.

"Zhalgo, just run!" Phineas exclaimed, keeping both hands tight around the bars of its cage to steady himself as the slender machine fled. In a flat-out chase, the spider-bots were no match for them; they couldn't keep up and quickly fell behind in the darkness of the cavern.

"I think we lost them," Phineas glanced back behind them just to make sure, and Zhalgo settled with a quiet creak on the cold ground so that the boys could be let out of its cage. They both slid easily to the ground below, and Phineas turned back to Zhalgo. "Now what?" he asked, "We still have no idea where Moon is-"

As if on cue, the distinct sound of a monstrous engine echoed up from further down the tunnel, and the sound of it made Ferb's spine tingle. "That's him."

"Then let's go. Come on, Zhalgo," Phineas turned down the tunnel, using the glow from Zhalgo's eyes to see, and led both it and Ferb further into the cavern. It was noticeably warmer here, which, he was certain, was due to Six-Bolt's enormous engine throwing off so much heat, and as they went deeper into the darkness the sound came ever-closer. Phineas could see a thin crack of light ahead, and he approached quietly in case the steel monster would spot him.

Zhalgo gave a small whine, inquisitive, and crept closer to the crack in the rock so that it too could see, but it quickly drew back from what it saw: its former master, Six-Bolt, holding one of an array of nasty-looking tools, and six of his spider-bot lackeys with him. It gave Phineas a nervous look, reluctant to face the monster, and slowly backed away from him.

Phineas glanced back at it and sighed. "Zhalgo, come on. What if Moon's in there-?"

His voice was cut off by the sudden roar of Six-Bolt's engine inside, bringing with it a blast of hot exhaust fumes that made Phineas cough and take a step back. He could feel the ground rumble under him as the giant spoke: "I've wanted to do this for a long time, you know. You ruined me. You made me into this."

Moon's voice followed, more quietly: "This wasn't my fault-"

"Liar," Six-Bolt snapped, "If it wasn't for you I might still be human. Perhaps I should just return the favor..."

Zhalgo knew it couldn't face the monster. Even if it could, there was no chance it could beat him-but its mistress was in there, and if nothing was done she could be badly hurt. Its eyes narrowed in determination and it pried the rocks apart, giving it more room than the small crack it had been given. With a terrible screech it approached Six-Bolt, rocking a little on its thin arms as it did so, and rammed him, sending him a step back but leaving him undamaged.

"Zhalgo!" Six-Bolt exclaimed, "You think you can save your little friend? She's mine now. Look what she did to me. She made me into this."

Zhalgo took a step forward, its eyes locked on Six-Bolt with a fiery rage, and with a shriek it opened up its grinning mouth to reveal a set of newly sharpened steel teeth. It rammed the giant again, this time harder, and stamped one mangled hand down on the warm cavern floor. Without hesitation it advanced again, this time not to go after the monster but its mistress, for it knew that it had to help her escape.

It had to prove to her that it could still be useful.

Before it could reach her, Six-Bolt attacked, both its massive fists smashing through Zhalgo's cage almost without effort as he pulled it up off the ground. Steel ground against steel as Zhalgo slammed its head back, using both wiry arms to scrape at the thinner armor around Six-Bolt's collar. It found a catch in the steel and yanked as hard as it could, deforming the metal with a furious squeal and locking the giant's head into place.

"You think you can stop me, scrap?" Six-Bolt rumbled, opening up its saurian jaws and unleashing a harsh burst of fire that sent Zhalgo back, the hundreds of gears in its head clicking louder now that the heat had distorted their delicate fit. Zhalgo could feel them jamming, and it knew that it didn't stand a chance of winning this fight. It knew too that it didn't have a choice. It pounced, its jagged teeth bared, but the giant slammed it down and then sent another inferno that stalled its workings completely and made it lie still.

"Zhalgo!" Phineas cried, darting suddenly out from where he and Ferb had been hiding. He couldn't come too close or the hot metal would burn him, but he didn't care. He sat by it, seeing the dark smoke rising from its broken frame. Its wings had only been partially repaired, jutting out from the back of its cage, seeming to channel the heat like two sharp smokestacks on a twisted steel demon.

"You!" Six-Bolt roared, snatching Phineas up in one quick movement, holding him up in front of his glaring headlight eyes, "What makes you think you're so special? What makes you think you can stop me from having what I want?"

Phineas just stared, petrified, but then finally found his voice: "Y-you can't hurt her, I-"

"You'll stop me?" the giant growled, a hint of amusement in his voice, "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for her? She didn't tell you she made me like this, did she? This is her fault. If it hadn't been for her, I would still be human! Look at me! I'm a monster! I was forced to create this new body because she destroyed me! She deserves nothing less than the same!"

"But you can't-"

Six-Bolt roared, hot jets of blue flame shooting up from the tailpipes behind his shoulders, and threw Phineas back, his yellow headlight eyes glaring with an inhuman fury. "Perhaps you should join me," he growled, "Then you can see what it's like to see yourself wither away."

Phineas scrambled back, his eyes locked on the iron monster, and then he turned to run, knowing he couldn't possibly be fast enough but hoping that he would be allowed to escape. Returning to the place where he and Ferb had been hiding before, he paused a moment to turn to him, but - Ferb was gone. "Ferb!?"

"Don't expect him to save you," Six-Bolt rumbled, catching Phineas again and holding him up impossibly high over the rocky cavern ground. "You should have kept out of my way. Why is she so important to you, anyway? She's just a wild killer."

"She - she's my friend," Phineas stammered, squirming but unable to free himself. A flash of movement caught his attention and his eyes flicked over to Ferb, who had taken one of the commandeered spider-bots with him. He was with Moon, who'd been tied and kept in a small cage in the corner, and he worked quickly to free her.

"You would rather suffer with her than run home?" asked the monster, "You're just a fool."

Phineas glanced back at him, silent. Of all the things he could think at that moment, he couldn't help but wonder what his mother would think if Six-Bolt would get his way with him, and they would all go home like robots. He knew it wasn't the right thing to think just then, but for the life of him he couldn't think of anything else. He could only stare up at the mechanical monster, without a word.

A sudden click behind him made him jump, and he looked down to see that Zhalgo was slowly becoming active, having cooled off enough to allow its inner-workings to function. Now aware of itself it got quickly to its feet, before Six-Bolt could protest, and grabbed a heavy panel of steel armor, ripping it slowly up and throwing him slightly off-balance.

"You again," Six-Bolt growled, "You wouldn't dare attack me - not when I have this," he opened up one hand to show Phineas inside, and Zhalgo drew back with a defeated whine. The monster was right; it couldn't risk Phineas' life.

Regardless, it had to save its mistress. It lunged again, aiming for Six-Bolt's throat, but he was faster, and slammed Zhalgo down. It hit the ground, mangled, crumpling into an inactive heap no longer able to function.

"Zhalgo, no!" Phineas exclaimed, squirming to break free of Six-Bolt's hold. To his surprise he was able to pull himself out, and he scrambled quickly up onto the giant's shoulder, gave Ferb a brief glance, and then ran down to the broken panel that Zhalgo had opened for him. Grabbing a fistful of circuitry inside, he yanked it out as hard as he could.

Almost instantly the monstrosity fell.