Chapter 7
Despite the situation at hand, Glitch didn't rush to reach the bunker. His arrival at the underground entrance was a blur. He was too busy scrambling to figure out what to say. But as he was allowed entry, he solemnly determined that there would be no easy way to reveal what happened to the Morbot gateway. He let out a long sigh while stepping inside, accepting his looming fate. There was simply no escape.
None.
The underground bunker was a large emergency facility located beneath Droid Town. It was essentially a small town in and of itself, capable of holding a capacity of a few thousand. If the situation worsened and ever called for it, the bunker would hopefully be able to hold the Droid Town population. Glitch heard familiar voices on his way inside. He eventually found Slosh shouting about something, with Krunk complaining about his presence nearby.
"We're under attack again! The Droids are under attack!" Slosh cried.
"Argh, would you shut your pipe hole already?!" Krunk shouted. "How does anybody put up with you?"
Slosh quickly noticed Glitch walking into the room. He eagerly pointed toward him. "Hey, look!" he exclaimed. "Glitchy ol' pal is here! Yep, it's Glitchy ol' pal! Haha!"
Glitch watched the others come into view upon his announced return. The group comprised of Mozer and a handful of the other troops. He stood quietly in the middle of the room while everyone surrounded him. He felt a tightness rise in his chest; he tried pushing it away, but the expectant pairs of optics trained on him only made it worse.
"Oh, so the war hero finally decides to show up," Krunk flatly remarked. "What took ya so long? Did ya lose your head on the way?"
"Ok, men, give him some space."
Colonel Alloy eased his way to the front of the group to meet Glitch. Glitch lowered his eyes, too nervous to look up at him.
"How'd things look out there, killer?" the Colonel asked. "Was the square evacuated safely? Do we need to send out any additional enforcements?"
Glitch managed to meet his gaze. He shook his head. "No," he answered. "Everything went okay. The Droid Rebellion's the only place that took damage."
He carefully weighed the possibilities of things to say. He could at least tell them that Dr. Exavolt was responsible for the attack. That should've been doable without mentioning the Morbot gateway.
The Colonel nodded, accepting his first response. "Good," he said. "Anything else?"
Glitch went for it. "Exavolt was behind the attack," he stated.
Everyone gave a small, collective gasp at the revelation. The Colonel's eyes widened a little. "How do you know?"
"He went after me," Glitch replied. "He's the one who separated us in the west wing." His mind briefly went back to Exavolt tearing the corridor in half with his powers, dividing him and the Colonel.
"Oh, man. Is this really all Dr. Exavolt?" Mozer asked.
Glitch scanned the group, analyzing everyone. He paid special attention to Colonel Alloy in particular. He had everyone's attention now, including his. For the first time all month, everyone was ready to hear him out. "There's a ton of stuff about Exavolt we don't know," he explained. "To make a long story short, he's worked directly with the Morbots before, a long time ago. We're talkin' pre-Corrosive. He was able to get something from them."
"Any idea what it was, exactly?" Alloy asked.
"Morbite," Glitch answered. "The Morbots rely on it. He was able to use the powers from the Morbite to take over their world. Now he's on his way to take over ours. We gotta do something."
"You're right." Colonel Alloy was rigid with determination. "If it's Iron Star he's still after, he'll have to tear it from us," he declared. "If he thinks we're going down without a fight, he's got another thing coming." He turned to Glitch again. "He's trying to use the Morbots for his little scheme, is he?" he went on. "Well that means we need to keep a close eye on the Morbot gateway."
Glitch swallowed, overwhelmed by dread.
"Krunk," Alloy said, "you were able to bring the gateway chip with you, correct?"
"Ya got that right," Krunk replied. "Ever since that blunder with that Mil f*er Vlax, I've been keepin' a close eye on it. It goes wherever I go. I've even tethered it to give any unauthorized bot a good shock if they try gettin' their metal claws on it!"
"Good," Alloy said. "As for the gateway itself, we'll set up a parameter around it and keep it guarded—"
"No!"
Colonel Alloy and the others looked over at Glitch as he stopped him mid-sentence. Glitch stood there awkwardly, his mind racing. "Uh, that won't work," he quickly justified. "Dr. Exavolt can access the Morbot region whenever he wants. And from wherever."
Alloy and Krunk exchanged a wary glance. Glitch held his breath, hoping he hadn't fumbled. It wasn't necessarily a lie, just not the complete truth. The Colonel finally spoke. "Very well," he said. "We'll have to figure out something else, then. In the meantime, we'll keep Droid Town on high alert. A curfew will be put into effect. No Droid enters or leaves town limits. We'll also have search and rescue on standby in case there's anyone out there who's unaccounted for."
Glitch relaxed. He was almost caught off-guard, though, when the Colonel proudly placed his hand on his back. He warily looked up at him.
"You brought us some useful info!" he praised. "Well done."
Glitch gave a resolute nod. He averted his gaze, however, uncertain of just how useful he had really been.
...
He sat alone for the next hour or so, pondering anxiously. He watched the other Droids congregate throughout the room, either discussing the Exavolt situation or holding more arbitrary conversations, mainly to take their minds off of the issue. Glitch disappointedly looked down at the floor. He couldn't recall ever feeling like such a failure, nor could he live with himself knowing he kept the Morbot gateway's demise a secret from everyone. It was only a matter of time before they discovered it had been destroyed. What would Colonel Alloy even do to him when he found out he withheld that level of information, or even worse, that it was his fault? Glitch cringed, imagining the moment when he'd be stripped of his rank and booted from the Droid Rebellion for good—perhaps even exiled from Droid Town. It wouldn't be the first time such a fate was bestowed upon a bot. The Colonel did it to a soldier earlier in the month, when he was caught selling valuable codes to the black market. Colonel Alloy took his militaristic duties seriously, and for good reason.
Glitch saw him speaking with Mozer on the other side of the room. He must have been asking the large, friendly Droid how his time with the rebels was faring. It was rare seeing him focused on something other than his work. A flicker of hope lit itself inside of Glitch at the thought of Alloy letting him off easy after having a good time with the other bots. He was tough but fair. Glitch thought about the possibility a bit more as Zobby eagerly trotted up to him. He placed his head in Glitch's lap, which was his way of asking to be scratched behind the ears. Glitch saw him do this to Krunk a handful of times, so he knew. He chuckled and gave him what he wanted. "Ya big baby," he teased. "How are you a military dog?" It was a nice distraction, even if momentary. It wasn't long before Colonel Alloy wheeled over to him. Glitch forced himself to look up at him from his spot on the floor against the wall. "Yeah, Colonel?" he said.
"I wanna see you for a sec," the Colonel told him.
Glitch could almost feel his metal tightening. He reluctantly got to his feet and followed him. He and the Colonel went out into one of the bunker's long, winding corridors leading to various rooms and safe zones. Glitch glanced about him, practically disoriented by the sheer size of this one corridor alone. He wondered how many there were given the magnitude of the bunker itself. It felt like a maze.
When he met Colonel Alloy's gaze again, his optics were bright with optimism. Glitch tilted his head to one side in confusion. It was odd to be so chipper during a time like now, especially for him.
"Before all of this happened," said the Colonel, "I was doing a lot of thinking. About the things I discussed with you in my office. About Epsilon and the medal and everything else."
Glitch listened.
Colonel Alloy pulled out the Medal of Honor. "It's your turn," he said, smiling. "To carry the torch. I'd like for you to have it."
"But, Colonel…" Glitch stared at the medal, then at him, wanting to object but too stunned to form a complete sentence.
"Nope, not another word!" the Colonel protested. "You've earned it. Epsilon would've thought so, too. He would approve of me doing this, I'm sure. He'd be proud of you, just like I am. It's too bad I can't get you one of your own, but I think this is the next best thing."
Glitch's mind began to race. Why here?! Why now?! He was practically shouting in his head. I don't even deserve it, not after…
There was something about the gleaming pride in Colonel Alloy's eyes, however, that he didn't wish to ruin. It led him to reluctantly accepting it. "Ok," he said. "Er, thanks. Thanks a lot, Colonel Alloy. I'll take good care of it."
...
He didn't sleep well that night. He found himself lying awake most of the time, staring at the ceiling far up ahead. The sound of other Droids' loud snoring would usually annoy him, but this time around, it somehow aided in keeping his mind off of his issues, to an extent of course. The Morbots were in danger. So were Droid Town and the rest of Iron Star—again. He'd been tricked by Exavolt. And he gained back Alloy's trust when he didn't even deserve to. Glitch rolled over onto his side, trying not to succumb to the negative thoughts. He would've been a lot happier to be on better terms with the Colonel if not for what he did.
He wasn't sure when he finally fell asleep. He didn't receive any of the dreams or visions he came to always expect, however. He never went to the Morbot realm, so Void never came to him. The space they met in had seemingly been destroyed, and she likely wouldn't have shown up, anyway, he figured as he got up the next morning. After what happened to her, his chances of actually seeing her again were slim to none. What if he never saw her again ever? The thought of that being reality made Glitch a little sad. He didn't realize just how much he would miss Void. He had only known her a brief time. But in that short span, she revealed so much to him, more than he could have ever learned on his own. She was a mysterious robot, but her presence calmed Glitch in a way. She even found him charming. She was fairly young for a Morbot, so he was likely the first Droid she ever interacted with. She enjoyed learning new words from him, about the behaviors and habits of bots on the surface. With Void, Glitch felt he had gotten closer to finding out who he really was. His chest tightened at the realization that he may never get that close again.
Nevertheless, he held out hope that things would turn around. He went to sleep every night anticipating the moment when he would be sucked into the Morbite room, and Void would appear in front of him. But as days passed without anything happening, Glitch's hope deteriorated. He had trouble focusing on his usual duties and routines. He stopped seeing Shooter, Vex, and Tank as frequently as he normally would. He never apologized to Vex for snapping on him during the punishment. He didn't speak to his friends as much, and he never accepted any of their offers to hang out when he had time. When Tank was able to stop him one day in town to ask what was wrong, Glitch simply told him that things were busy at the Droid Rebellion. It wasn't entirely a lie, thankfully. Half of the building was still under reconstruction following the attack, and Dr. Exavolt remained a top priority.
They discovered the Morbot gateway, of course. Glitch played clueless, as if it were news to him like it was to everyone else. He still just couldn't bring himself to own up to what he did. He didn't want to keep it a secret; he just had a feeling they wouldn't understand.
Glitch continued going about each day on autopilot. He found himself navigating his daily life in a sort of daze. The only thing he looked forward to was his hope of one day seeing Void, that something new on Dr. Exavolt would turn up, that he could be stopped and things could go back to normal. Another full month dragged by. Yet still, nothing happened.
Until one day.
He had just completed a training exercise. He was taking a break in the locker room when he was hit by a familiar jolting sensation. Normally it would've unnerved him, but this time he welcomed it. He knew exactly where he was going to end up next.
