Chapter 5

"Dude, where are you going? Come back! He can't be that bad, come on!"

The terrified worker ignored Glitch's calls. He disappeared inside the building, leaving him alone with Feeble. Glitch slowly turned back to face the old bot. He was still staring at the young Droid across from him, the light from his pallid eye meticulously cutting through the shadows. Glitch firmly stood his ground. Unlike the cowardly worker, he wasn't going to let anything deter him. He couldn't afford to.

"Hi." He remained calm and cordial. When Feeble didn't greet him back, Glitch proceeded with caution. "I'm not here to cause a ruckus," he promised. "Nothin' like that, ok?"

Feeble didn't give an answer. He continued with his mean glunch while moving his jaws with small, smacking noises. Glitch shifted uncomfortably. Maybe he could try appealing to him. He gestured to the unique figures.

"Did you make these yourself?" he inquired. "They're pretty dope! Uh, I mean, neat."

Feeble rose. Glitch stiffened as the elder bot slowly stepped into the light and revealed himself. He was severely hunched over; he supported himself with a steel rod for a cane. Contrasting his tiny, frail appearance was his stern, partially blind left optic that could pierce anyone's soul despite its poor vision. He was missing his right. He was disheveled, clad in an oversized, raggedy robe that he must have worn for decades. Glitch thought he saw little black things flying around Feeble's body. Nano-flies were attracted to him for a blatant reason: his odor. Glitch could smell him from where he was standing. He was not looking forward to letting Feeble get any closer.

But against his best interests, Feeble advanced another couple of steps. The sternness refused to leave his single, cloudy eye.

"What do ye want?"

He sounded like he had rust forming in his throat. His voice was scratchy and dry, nothing more than a rasp that made him sound like he was whisper-shouting. Glitch quickly answered his question. "Dr. Axon sent me," he told him. "He gave me this, see?" He carefully pulled out the map of Iron Star and opened it up to show Feeble. "I need to get to the places that are circled. Dr. Axon told me you could get me to them."

Feeble had come closer to examine the map with his one bad eye. Glitch stood in silence, feeling awkward as Feeble began to sniff and poke at the parchment. Glitch expected him to act funny. What he wondered, though, was how much he could even see. He wished Axon had mentioned Feeble was almost totally blind.

Out of nowhere, he snatched the map out of Glitch's hands. The elder moved back, defensively pulling it away when he tried to retrieve it.

"Wait, stop! What are you doing?" It caught Glitch off-guard.

Feeble glared up at him, or somewhere near him, rather. "Where'd ye steal this from, ruffian?" he growled.

"I just told you where I got it from." Glitch was losing his patience already. "I didn't steal it. Dr. Axon lent it to me to use."

Feeble looked down at the map.

"You remember Dr. Axon, don't you?" Glitch asked. "You gave the map to him yourself."

Feeble violently shook his head. "No," he hissed. Glitch couldn't tell if he was talking to him or to himself. "I told him not to give it to anyone else!"

"He knew I needed it," Glitch insisted. "Dr. Axon's not the type to just break promises without a good reason."

Feeble looked back toward him.

"I won't let it fall into the wrong hands." Glitch gave an earnest nod. "I promise. You have my word."

Feeble still didn't seem to buy it. He angrily stuffed the map inside his robe—his ragged, crusty, smelly, ancient robe. Glitch barely wanted it after that. He tried to maintain his patience. He realized he would have to approach Feeble a little differently than he'd anticipated.

"So…" He resumed glaring at Glitch. "…ye want to get to the gateways, do ye? Huh? Do ye? Huh? Huh?!"

He began bouncing around the courtyard without warning. Glitch watched, dumbfounded. Feeble was behaving like an absolute looney-bot. He did backflips and cartwheels while singing random songs. Glitch blinked slowly. The craziest Droid he'd ever come across had been Slosh. But even he couldn't top what Glitch was witnessing now. The more he studied Feeble, the less faith he had in any exploring abilities he possessed. This robot couldn't possibly be capable of guiding someone across the planet. Dr. Axon might have been wrong about him. Glitch was starting to believe he would have to find the chips and reach the gateways some other way.

But just as he considered leaving, Feeble stopped. He quickly came back over to Glitch and pulled the map out again. His face was no longer a scowl, but serious just the same. "I can take ye to the gateways, lad," he proclaimed.

"You can?" Glitch's hopes returned.

"Aye." Feeble slowly nodded. "BUT," he went on, loudly enough to startle Glitch a little. "I should ask ye. What do ye need them fer, huh?"

"I need to stop Dr. Exavolt," Glitch explained. "He's Dr. Axon's brother. I don't know how much he's told you about him. I was after him when he tricked me into destroying the gateway where I'm from. I was told I could restore it by finding the power chips for the other gateways and activating them."

"Who told ye that?" Feeble demanded.

"A Morbot." Glitch didn't waver.

The information took Feeble by surprise. Glitch saw his eye widen slightly. "A Morbot…," he breathed.

He moved even closer, and Glitch had to work very hard to keep from withdrawing. Feeble absolutely reeked. The smell had a unique ripeness to it—sweet and sour at the same time, with other sharp notes that Glitch couldn't recognize. He never had such a strong urge to gag.

"There!"

Glitch found himself getting pulled down aggressively by his head. Feeble brought it to his level and turned it at a certain angle. The position was uncomfortable, but Glitch kept his mouth shut instead of complaining. He didn't want to do anything to set Feeble off. He immediately knew what the elder bot was looking at as he felt his withered metal fingers lightly trace the spot on the back of his cranium. He was going over the pattern of the symbol.

"Aye, yes," Feeble breathed. "As I suspected."

Glitch held still. What did Feeble know?

"So the legends me pappy told me was true." He let Glitch go.

"Legends?" He stared at him.

"You were one of 'em, me lad." Feeble spoke with a level of conviction Glitch didn't expect from him. He was serious but sincere. "Your carvings," he murmured. "They symbolize the power you've been given. You were built to walk among them. To exist alongside them."

"How do you know that?" Glitch quietly asked. He knew he at least had the ability to communicate with the Morbots. But living among them?

Feeble reopened the map. His eye scanned the circled areas. "There's a lot the Droids don't know about the Morbots," he said. "But that's because it had to be kept from us. The Morbots were as ambitious as they were clandestine. Some of the things they did were so shattering that they sought to make sure no surface Droid knew of their endeavors. If we knew every detail of what the Morbots were up to back in the day, it would cause anarchy. All hell would break loose."

"Things like what?" Glitch pressed. He recalled what Void told him. The elders keep many secrets.

"All I know is the stories me pappy told me as a wee lad." Feeble's gaze lifted to the air, and his face became distant. "He told the tales to me from his own dyin' breath, that man did. They was passed down to him, too, by his pappy, from his deathbed.

"There was a time when the Morbots roamed the surface. In fact, they existed with the Droids in harmony. They were respected as Iron Star's creators. The Droids looked to them as rulers, overseers. But the Morbots abused that power. They were cosmic deities, gods and goddesses, as one might put it. They understood they were superior. They wanted total dominion over the modern world, and that included control over the Droids. The Droids didn't want that. They felt they no longer needed to depend on the Morbots for governing. They'd become advanced enough to do that themselves. They sought free will, a democratic society where the people could decide. The Morbots disagreed wholeheartedly. The Droids' views didn't line up with theirs. The Morbots were imperialists. They believed in expansion and military. They believed the nations of Iron Star would benefit from their style of ruling. There was a fierce clash. The political climate suffered. Riots and protests erupted as opposing ideologies came to a head.

"But then the Droids and the Morbots came to an agreement. The Morbots let the Droids have the surface, but only because they'd already developed so much of their society there. The Morbots resided underground. The Droids could keep the surface and have their democracy, while the Morbots kept rule over the underworld. They built their cities there, and Droid society eventually moved on without them. But they didn't like that, oh, no. They wanted more, so much more. They might've lost part of Iron Star...but Iron Star was still theirs. What the Droids failed to take into account was that its energy derives from its core, the core the Morbots created themselves with the rest of the planet. They used it to their advantage. They forged a powerful weapon from their own essence: Morbite.

"They created a new generation of Droids—guardian bots designed to fight their fights. Part of the legend is that the Morbots were planning to take back the surface. But for some reason, it never happened. No Droid from recent time's ever seen one with their own eyes. Until you."

Feeble carefully studied Glitch. He continued keeping still, quietly going over everything Feeble told him so far. "So the Morbots were planning to take the surface back. But it never came to fruition. What if they did it through the Mils?"

"Oh, no. No, no, no." Feeble gravely shook his head. "It was going to be worse than anything the Mils could do," he stated. "Worse than General Corrosive. The guardian Droids were made to help the Morbots take back the surface by force. The Morbots built these beings with the power from their Morbite. It made them demigods—half-Droid, half-Morbot. They would've been unstoppable, they would've unleashed Doomsday!"

Glitch stared in silence. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. The new Droids. Exavolt's Project Doomsday...

"And you were one of them."

He met Feeble's gaze. His mind raced, more than it ever had before. If what Feeble said was true, then he himself was half-Morbot. The thought of being a "demigod," as Feeble put it—a half-celestial being built for destruction—sent chills through Glitch's metal. He couldn't handle it. He couldn't handle being the product of such a vision, a vision Dr. Exavolt himself had a hand in. "No." He backed away, denying the idea. "No, no way!" he snapped. "Hell no!"

"You know it's true!" Feeble spoke in a sharp hiss as he advanced toward Glitch again. Glitch stopped in his tracks but didn't look his way. He was so shaken that he could no longer look him in the eye. "You know it's true," Feeble repeated to him. "It explains why you're different. Her, too!"

"You know about Rev?" Glitch asked him.

"Aye, of course I do." Feeble withdrew slightly. "I see her 'round with her pappy. She's with the scientist quite a bit, too. I've seen 'er mark."

Wait 'til she finds out about all this, Glitch said to himself. He could already picture Rev's excited reaction after learning she was a warrior demigoddess.

Feeble rolled the map back up suddenly. He furiously shook it at Glitch. "I don't think you're ready!" he snarled. "You're not ready for this journey!"

"Why not?" Glitch demanded.

"The Morbot," said Feeble. "What else did they tell ye 'bout the gateways? Did they tell ye what would happen once ye turned them all on?"

"They'll channel their energy to the robot who did it," Glitch replied. "They can use it to restore balance or whatever. And that's it, that's all she told me."

"NO!"

Feeble's scream thundered through the courtyard. Glitch stepped away from him.

"No. No!" the old Droid bellowed. "That ain't all, lad. That ain't all!"

"What else'll happen?"

"The power ain't for the faint of heart." Feeble's tone was grim. "If the wielder ain't meant to have the power…boom." He formed an explosion with his hands. "It won't just wipe out Iron Star…but the whole darn universe."

"Say what?" Glitch was bewildered.

Feeble broke out a laugh. "Aye!" he snickered. "That be it, lad!"

Glitch tried to fathom what he was hearing. Void didn't mention anything about the universe being destroyed. Why would she leave that out? he wondered. It was such an important detail. He tried imagining what would've happened if he accessed the power without knowing the consequences.

"I should also mention," Feeble proceeded. "If the bot can wield the power successfully, they can indeed restore peace. They'll also be able to bend the universe to their will."

"If Exavolt's after the gateways, too," Glitch said, "then that'll be the part he's bettin' on. If all of that plays out in his favor, then he wins. I can't let that happen, you gotta help me!"

"I'll help ye, lad." Feeble stretched his rusting lips to form a smile. "I'll help ye, aye."

Glitch quickly noticed the smugness in his grin. The elder Droid was planning something more, he could tell. He studied him through a suspicious, sideways glance. "What are you getting ready to do?" he queried.

Feeble suddenly retreated into the darkness where he had been sitting. He stopped where he placed his knife. It was long and curved, but sharp, most of all. Glitch's metal tightened. Feeble was reaching for it. Before he could question his motives, he whipped around with the blade gripped tightly in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Glitch took several more steps back.

Feeble aimed the blade at him. "I don't give up me services for free!" he barked. "If ye want me to take ye to save the universe, ye's gonna have to pay to play, lad!"

He charged at Glitch without warning.

...

Rev tiredly rubbed her temples with her fingers. She uttered a frustrated sigh as she suffered through Drill-Bit's tantrum. She was screaming and kicking aggressively on the floor in front of her. Serval sat nearby with his ears curled back in an effort to block out the loud crying.

"Argh, Drill-Bit, will you please stop it already?" Rev begged.

"I wanna look in it, too!" Drill-Bit wailed.

"For the last time, no!" Rev firmly repeated. "You're gonna stay here with Serval while I go out back. Dad'll be super-ticked if he catches me looking in there. The last thing I need is for him to be even more mad for dragging you along."

Drill-Bit stopped screaming and sat up. Her crying reduced to begrudging sniffles as she listened.

"Glitch might be back soon!" Rev told her. "You can play more Space Pirates together!"

Drill-Bit wiped her tears away and nodded softly. "Ok," she grumbled.

"Good girly." Rev got down and nuzzled her on the forehead. Then she determinedly looked toward Serval. "Hold the fort down while I'm gone, boy!" she delegated. "Make sure she doesn't get into anything."

Serval dipped his feline head with a meow to show his understanding.

Rev ventured out the back door and into the backyard. She'd gotten the itch to see inside the shed after Drill-Bit mentioned showing it to Glitch. She'd been wanting to investigate it for a long time but didn't have the courage to until now.

She hurried up to the locked shed, armed readily with a bolt cutter. She stopped for a moment to listen for Mister Fixit. She could hear the faint sounds of his tools from inside the garage as he continued working away. He would hopefully be busy for some time. Rev settled her attention on the shed's lock. It was rusty and brittle. It didn't look like it would be too difficult to break.

She hastily got to work with the bolt cutter. It took some toggling to get it positioned just right. She immediately started snipping once she did. To Rev's worry, the lock was more stubborn than she thought it would be. But she didn't allow it to discourage her. She kept clipping, until eventually the metal began to weaken.

At that moment, the sounds in the garage stopped. Rev jerked her head around and froze. She could hear the garage door opening on the other side of the attachment. Her carbon fiber ran a bit cold, but she ignored the feeling of worry. She resumed cutting the lock, and a few more diligent snips broke it finally. The lock fell, and a harsh creak from the door rattled Rev's auditory sensors as it came open. She got inside, and it was with great timing since Mister Fixit had emerged from the garage in the same instant. Rev pulled the door in to avoid being seen by him. She cracked it ever so slightly to allow herself a view. Mister Fixit walked around the attachment to the backyard. He began scrambling around in one of the junk piles littering the area. He must have been searching for scrap to trade. He was completely distracted for the time being. Rev pulled the door up more, closing herself inside the shed.

The state of it really surprised her. It wasn't as messy as the rest of the property. It could've been in a better state, but Rev honestly would've preferred to live in here to avoid the squalor den that was the house. She assumed the reason the shed hadn't fallen victim to the junk storm was because it'd been locked up for so long. Rev stretched her legs to stand. She was crunching for time as it was; she had to hurry.

There were a couple of places to look around. Rev started with the bureau in the corner closest to her. She yanked open the topmost drawer first, only to be met with a musty dust cloud. She held in her cough while waving it away. If Mister Fixit heard a peep from her, it was game over.

There was nothing in the first drawer except more dust. Rev gently closed it and moved on to the next one, then the next. They were all empty. Rev resiliently sifted through every drawer she came across. Her hopes had withered by the time she reached the last place to look. It was an armoire. Rev examined the antique piece before going into it. Mister Fixit had likely forgotten about it. Otherwise, it would've been sold off a long time ago.

Rev tried to get its doors open, but they were stuck. Oh, great, she thought with an eye-roll. Opening this was going to take effort, which meant, possibly, a ton of noise-making. She tried to keep it quick. With both hands gripped on the doors' handles, she gave a hard, swift tug. It only budged a centimeter or so, but Rev felt it. Her hopes climbed a little and she kept pulling. The armoire finally came unsealed…but at a cost.

The force from Rev's last pull got the doors open, but not without disturbing the armoire itself. It came tumbling forward, timber-style. Rev leaped out of its way with a yelp. She heard an explosive crash from the armoire's fall while she was still on the floor with her head down. It rattled the entire shed. Rev slowly looked up, filled with dread.

Double-oh great, she complained in her head.

She started to rise onto her wheels, but not without noticing a bright glint in the corner of her optic. She lifted her head a bit to see over the fallen armoire. It was ruined now, but Rev didn't have time to feel guilty. Her sights landed on the shiny object. She crawled up to it for a better look. Her optics widened when she realized what the strange thing was.

It was a chip.

Rev picked it up and analyzed it in her hands. She'd never seen a chip quite like it. This was what Mister Fixit was hiding without a doubt.

Light washed into the shed as its door was aggressively swung open. Rev blinked toward the entrance to find Mister Fixit standing there with his arms folded. "Just what on our precious land do ya think you're doin', Motorbug?" he demanded.

"I…" Rev struggled to speak.

Mister Fixit walked farther into the shed. His eyes fell on the destroyed antique lying on the floor. "My armoire!" he cried. "That was worth a fortune! What in tarnation have ya done, Rev?!"

"Heh…" Rev gave a nervous laugh. He hadn't forgotten about it after all.

"Wait a minute. Oh, no!"

Something crossed Mister Fixit's mind. He quickly lifted the armoire and set it back upright. Its entire front was in shambles. He anxiously looked through it. "Oh, no. Oh Sweet Baby Goodness, no," he whispered. "Where's it at? Where'd it go?!"

"Err…you mean…this?" Rev awkwardly held up the chip.

Mister Fixit gasped. "Rev Fixit!" he vindictively breathed. "What are you doin' with my chip?!"

...

Feeble struck his knife in Glitch's direction. He ducked out its path and moved opposite of the elder Droid. Feeble furiously faced him with his weapon still trained.

"Feeble, what the hell!" Glitch yelled.

Feeble swiped his blade at the air. "What's the matter, matey?" he challenged. "Can't take a jab from a simple ole dagger, can ye? Here ya go." He tossed Glitch his cane.

Glitch caught the long, steel rod and twirled it a few times before getting into stance. "You want smoke from me, Grandpa?" he jeered. "Come and get it."

Feeble chuckled. "Aye!" he said. "That, I shall!"

He hurled himself forward. Glitch was surprised by how agile Feeble really was. His name was extremely ironic. Glitch managed to successfully parry his first barrage of moves. He counterattacked Feeble with the rod by knocking him off his feet. It didn't keep him down, though, as he placed a hand on the ground to stop his fall. Feeble acrobatically propelled himself upright again. They spent the next ten minutes trading attacks across the courtyard. By now, elder and worker alike made the battle into a show. They crowded around the window inside the lodge to watch Glitch and Feeble go head-to-head. Glitch was putting up a strong fight, but Feeble unexpectedly gained the upper hand. He had Glitch backed into a corner with his dagger held against his throat.

"I used to be a pirate, matey." Feeble began boasting about his past through a smirk from his aged iron lips. "They called me Captain Iron-Eye. Ye know why they called me that? Because I might've only had one eye, but I still had vision sharper than an iron sword. I gutted robots for a livin'! I'd send me own mate off the plank if they double-crossed me!"

Glitch grabbed one of Feeble's figures from a few feet away with the rod. He swung it up into the air. Feeble saw it coming down and broke off from Glitch. They both leaped to evade the figure as it fell and shattered on the ground. Feeble froze at the sight of his ruined piece.

"Uh-oh," Glitch uttered.

"By the steel gray whiskers of Davey Jones!" Feeble wailed. "What have ye done, lad?!"

"Look, my bad, man, but you came after me first," Glitch retorted.

Feeble spent some time pitifully fumbling around with the broken parts. Then, suddenly, he sat up and shrugged. "Oh well, screw it," he said.

Glitch paused. "What…?"

"These are just passion projects, matey, I don't take 'em seriously!" Feeble explained.

Glitch walked over and helped him up. Feeble met his gaze with a grin and a chuckle.

"What is it?" Glitch asked while handing him his rod.

"Ye passed me test, laddie!" Feeble exclaimed. "Ye fight quite well, if I do say so meself! It's the Morbot in ye, and the Droid, too." He dusted himself off. "Well, now," he said, "I'll be mores than happy to take ye to the gateways!"

Glitch gave a sigh of relief. He was glad he and this pirate turned nomad explorer were on equal terms now. He could finally begin what would be his biggest journey yet.