Chapter 1

A peculiar noise fell within Glitch's hearing range. It was fleeting at first, fluttering in and out as his audio input recalibrated. His vision flickered back to life not long after. It took some time for his eyes to adjust to the light shining down on his face.

I'm rebooting. I'm…not dead?

He was almost afraid to try sitting up. For all he knew, he could've still been in pieces after…

The memories came hurtling back at full throttle. As the rest of his CPU came online and his databank restored itself, previous events returned to the forefront of his mind. They revealed themselves in quick frames, flashing through his head as rapid still images. The projectile obliterating him, the front of his body exploding while the rest of him was sent flying backwards. The faces of his attackers. A single bullet leaving the barrel of its revolver and traveling directly through his head.

The memories were almost too overwhelming for Glitch. He thought the moments leading up to the headshot would've been his final. How had they not been? How was he still alive?

He heard the noise again. It was metallic and raspy. Animal-like. It was like the sound's originator was making a call of some kind. It sounded extremely close, right next to him, even.

Glitch realized he was lying on what appeared to be a procedural table. He decided to try moving, at least somewhat. He merely turned his head, looking to his left. A mechanical, bird-like creature made another one of its cocka-doodle-dooing noises directly in his face. Glitch flinched away, startled. "Ah! What the?!" he yelped.

The mechanical bird creature was restricted by the arms of a tiny she-Droid. She wore a welding helmet, which she quickly pulled from over her face to reveal a pair of curious turquoise optics, one of which were damaged. "It's okay!" she persuaded. "He don't bite or nothin'! He's a lil' jumpy, but he's nice as can be."

Glitch kept still on the table, flabbergasted beyond the ability to form words. He had no idea where he was, much less where this little robot came from. All he could do was stare quietly while lying on his back.

"He's a rooster!" The small, young she-Droid proudly held him up closer for Glitch to see. "I hope I'll get to keep 'em. I ain't got a name fer 'em yet, though," she expounded. "I just caught 'em a couple minutes ago. You like 'em? He's cute, ain't he?"

"Uhm…" Glitch was still stunned.

"Ooh! Wanna help me name 'em?" the little Droid offered. "I was finna name 'em Chip-Chip, or somethin' like that. I dunno yet." She spent some time affectionately scratching the mechanical rooster's head before speaking to Glitch again. "Is Chip-Chip a good name?" she asked him, seeking his approval. "Or is Chirp-Chirp better? He don't really chirp, though. But he do like to squawk! So I might name 'em Squawky."

"Drill-Bit! Drill-Bit, is that you in there?"

The little girl bot, Drill-Bit, anxiously looked toward the door, where the voice came from. It was muffled on the other side. She tossed another glance at Glitch, giving him a wink while placing a finger up to her mouth. "Shhh, don't tell 'em I'm in here!" she hissed. "I'm gonna go hide!"

Drill-Bit took the rooster and rushed past Glitch to find her hiding spot. He had a chance to sit up a little and study her before she disappeared behind an old shelf. Her design and components led Glitch to predict that she was a type of engineering Droid. Aside from the welding helmet and belt compartments, she had six extra arms extending from the power cell on her back. The arms had different tools attached to each of them: a drill, a torch, a hammer, a wrench, a pickaxe, and a nail gun. Glitch cringed at how much trouble she must've regularly gotten into with all those dangerous tools. Drill-Bit also spoke with a heavy country dialect, which only made him further wonder where he was.

The individual from beyond the door entered the room. Glitch hurriedly skimmed it over. It was actually a garage. A very junky one. The unknown robot was emerging from a side door attaching the garage to a home. He came around to meet Glitch at the table. Glitch tried sitting up more, but a sharp pain radiating from his midsection stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa there!" The robot steadied him. "Easy now, easy," he gently cautioned. "You was messed up pretty bad when you was found. It took a minute to get ya fixed up! Ya actually woke up sooner than we was expectin' ya to." He reached up to cut off the light shining down on Glitch.

"Urgh." Glitch gnashed his jaws, stifling a pained grunt. "Who…who are you?" he asked.

"You can call me Mister Fixit!" the Droid happily declared. He tipped his welding helmet like a hat. "Howdy!" he said.

Glitch quickly analyzed Mister Fixit's appearance. He, too, appeared to be an engineer or mechanic. Glitch had never seen anything close to this model of Droid. He had all sorts of tools and other components intended for repairing and building.

"Don't worry, you ain't gotta tell me who you are, I already know!" Mister Fixit continued. "The fella that helped me fix ya found ya name on ya ID chip. Glitch, innit?"

"Uh, yeah," Glitch replied. "Yeah, that's it." He looked down for a moment. He woke up before they expected him to. What did that mean? He finally looked up again, growing wary. "How long have I been out for?" he slowly asked.

"'Bout five years," Mister Fixit answered.

"H-huh…?" Glitch couldn't believe it. "Are you serious?"

Mister Fixit burst out laughing. "Relax, son, relax!" he cackled. "I'm just kiddin'!"

Not funny. Glitch held his tongue.

"You shoulda—ha!—you shoulda seen the look on ya face just now!" Mister Fixit finished up his laughing. "All jokes aside, it's been two months," he said. "It probably woulda been longer if not for the guy and his buddy helpin' me. I ain't never come 'cross a miner bot quite like you before. You was a real head-scratcher at first! Puttin' ya back together was a doozy."

Glitch nodded with a small laugh. "Yeah," he said, "I've heard that before."

"Eh, don't worry!" Mister Fixit reassured him. "I've done plenty of difficult repairs in my time." He pulled up a chair to get comfortable in front of Glitch. "So what are ya, a custom build?" he asked.

Glitch gave it thought. Krunk mentioned him being a "custom jobbie" when he was first repaired. But it only appeared to be the case. It could never be confirmed. "I'm actually still not sure," Glitch admitted. "Yet."

"What do ya m—" Mister Fixit stopped himself. He seemed to recall something. "Oh," he said, partially to himself. "Oh, right."

"You've seen the mark on the back of my head," Glitch quietly surmised.

Mister Fixit gave a nod of affirmation. Glitch realized how it seemed to deeply unsettle him. Perhaps it was a normal reaction, given that most Droids had a fear of the Morbots. They were almost completely unmentionable. Glitch had grown so accustomed to interacting with one that he'd practically forgotten.

"It's part of the reason I landed in the mess I'm in," Glitch told Mister Fixit. "Not long after Corrosive and the Mils were defeated, I started getting visions. From a Morbot. She warned me about Dr. Exavolt and—"

"You should go and see 'em."

"Huh?"

"Uh, sorry, I ain't mean to cut ya off there. The Droid who helped me fix ya," Mister Fixit elaborated. "He's a scientist. He used to be one of the scientists, if ya know what I mean. He was actually the one that rescued ya and brought ya back here!"

Scientist. Glitch had a feeling who it was.

"Yeah," said Mister Fixit, "he's definitely the one you should be tellin' all this to. He just might be able to help ya! He's a lil' busy right now, though. In the meantime, if ya feelin' up to it, I can have somebody show ya 'round."

There was a loud cawing sound and a series of crashes and thuds. Glitch and Mister Fixit looked in the direction the noises came from. Drill-Bit's rooster broke out from behind the shelf. She rushed out after him. "Wait, no, get back here!" she yelled after him. Try as she might, she wasn't able to catch him. He slipped underneath the cracked garage door, escaping. Drill-Bit sadly came to a halt. "Awww," she whined.

"I knew you was in here somewhere. I done told you 'bout messin' 'round in here, missy!" Mister Fixit chastised.

"I know," Drill-Bit said, "but I was just showin' the rooster to the new Droid guy! He was gonna help me name 'em!"

Mister Fixit gave a forgiving sigh. "Oh, I can't stay upset with you," he confessed. "Come 'ere, Sillybug!"

Drill-Bit jumped into Mister Fixit's clutches with a happy squeal. Glitch had never heard anything like it. The closest thing he could compare it to was the Droids' celebratory cheers after winning a battle. But Drill-Bit's was a little different. Her little high-pitched voice was full of life and innocence—two things that probably weren't seen very often in most parts of Iron Star.

Drill-Bit was so small compared to Mister Fixit that he was able to hold her in one arm. She eagerly looked up at him. "Can I be the one to show Ditch around?" she asked hopefully.

"The young man's name is Glitch, Sillybug," Mister Fixit corrected her. "And no, 'cause you don't need to be strayin' out that far. I'll have your sister show 'em 'round."

"Ok," Drill-Bit disappointedly huffed.

"Alright, get back in the house!" Mister Fixit placed her back onto the ground.

Drill-Bit took off again with laughter. She ran through the side entrance, heading into the house. She made fighter jet noises along the way.

"I built Drill-Bit myself." Mister Fixit watched her go with dancing eyes. "Not long after I found 'er big sister. She got lonely 'round here with me workin' all the time, so I made 'er a lil' friend."

"Who's Drill-Bit's big sister?" Glitch asked.

"Oh, you'll meet 'er!" Mister Fixit gave an amused laugh. "She's got a sense of adventure herself, that one! She should be out 'round the hills over yonder, not too far from the house. She likes to practice on 'er wheels out there, learnin' new stunts and whatnot!"

"Her wheels…" Glitch repeated the words under his breath.

"Motorbug, I always call 'er." Mister Fixit fondly carried on. "Drill-Bit's the Sillybug, and she's the Motorbug!" He chuckled.

Before long, Mister Fixit went to lift up the garage door, revealing the outside. Glitch stood beside him and looked out at the world before them. Beyond Mister Fixit's property lay a modestly developed Droid settlement. The community was small but busy, with bots riding along in old, carriage-like vehicles or trading at markets. A few of them were hauling goods in robo-mules. One old Droid in particular rode past Mister Fixit's home in a jalopy. He honked and waved. "Howdy, Mister Fixit!" he called.

"Howdy, there!" Mister Fixit greeted back.

Glitch continued gazing out at the settlement. He thought he remembered Krunk referring to something like this as the boonies. He was glad Krunk wasn't around to insult anyone.

"The hills are out thatta way." Mister Fixit pointed to the left. Aging infrastructure bordered the property. The hills supposedly weren't far beyond them. "Ya shouldn't get lost, it's not that long a walk," Mister Fixit told Glitch. He spoke into a radio attached to his right arm. "Motorbug!" he said. "Motorbug, come in, this is Handyman, over!"

"Motorbug here. Over."

Motorbug's voice was incredibly familiar to Glitch. Or it sounded familiar at the very least. The transmission was rather garbled, so the voice wasn't perfectly clear.

"I got a Droid comin' your way," Mister Fixit informed her. "He'll be over where you're at soon. I want ya to show 'em 'round Ridgebolt. Over."

"I'm not the local tour guide, Dad," Motorbug mildly stated on the other end. "Over."

"Ah, but you'll like this tourist!" Mister Fixit promised her. "He's cute. Over."

"Argh, Dad…," Motorbug complained. "Fine, he can come. I'll be here. Over."

"Alrighty, he's on his way! Handyman out, over!" Mister Fixit ended the transmission.

...

Glitch ventured off Mister Fixit's property, past the dilapidating piles of steel and concrete at the edge. The old support beams and frames were likely part of a bridge that long collapsed. It made Glitch think more about the rest of Ridgebolt. The settlement was almost completely makeshift, constructed from spare parts and an overall sense of community. It made him think of Droid Town. He tried not to, however, not when he knew he was no longer welcomed there. He was still on the run, a fugitive. Alloy and the Rebellion still had it out for him, undoubtedly. He kept walking, focusing instead on his destination. His injuries still stung, but he could tell they were healing underneath the temporary patchwork. Being out for two months, the repairs were surely coming along well. He kept them in mind and moved with care.

He arrived at the hills. They were large mounds of red clay, tinged to a vibrant scarlet against the dusking sky. Glitch could hear motorized movement among them. The sound was accompanied by occasional billows of dust as the individual responsible for the trail made their rounds. The motor noise faded in and out, in and out, with every lap.

That's when Glitch spotted her: Motorbug. She reached the top of a hill and launched through the air. Although her body briefly silhouetted against the setting sun, Glitch recognized her. Her tinted visor. Her off-road tires.

Her Morbot symbol.

She touched down onto the next hill and kept going. She repeated the jumps a few more times. Half of them involved tricks. Eventually, she achieved the number of laps she set as her goal. She stopped on a dime not too far from Glitch. She turned his way while lifting away her visor and shaking the red dust from her head. The rest of her green and blue exterior was covered, as well. "Phew! Nice!" she breathed. "That was a sweet run!"

"Rev?"

Rev's vibrant green optics locked with Glitch's. She immediately looked surprised upon seeing him. She stared at him silently for a few seconds before managing to articulate herself. "It's…you," she softly uttered. "I mean, you're up."

She began approaching him. Glitch moved a few steps forward to meet her. It was their first time seeing each other since the drag race fiasco months before. He hoped he wouldn't come off awkward. "Uh, 'sup?" he said. "How's it goin'?"

"Er, yeah, no, good!" Rev nodded up and down while she answered. "It's been great, actually! Real great!" she exclaimed.

Rev seemed to have mutual thoughts, about working hard to avoid being awkward. Glitch gazed at her steadily as they stood across from each other over the red clay dirt. It felt like centuries since he'd last seen her Kelly green, dark blue-accented carbon fiber. She was the only other green and blue Droid he'd ever come upon, definitely the most unique. She continued brushing the red dust off her brown fitted vest. She wore a hip pouch that matched. When Glitch saw her last, she had on activewear. Both looks fit her style.

Her eyes eventually met Glitch's again. She suddenly pointed to his patches. "How're you holdin' up?" she inquired.

Glitch briefly looked down at them, then up at Rev again. "Oh, uh, I'm good!" he replied. "I think I'll be, anyway!"

"Awesome!" Rev sounded relieved. She looked off for a minute, however, as if something worried her.

Glitch noticed. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, it's just…" Rev looked up again. "You were messed up real bad," she said. "What happened out there?"

It was Glitch's turn to peel his eyes away in discomfort.

Rev quickly waved her hands back and forth and shook her head. "Oh, no, dude, it's cool if you don't wanna tell me!" she assured him. "It's really none of my business, anyway."

"Oh, no, it's fine." Glitch motioned in the other direction with his head, grinning. "You, uh, had some tour-guidin' to do, Motorbug?" he joked.

"Hey!" Rev playfully nudged him. "Nobody gets to call me that but one other Droid!" she teased back at him. "And that's pushin' it." She started to go along with him, but then glanced herself over and paused. "Um, maybe I'll give the grand tour after I've freshened up!" she giggled.

...

Glitch and Rev moved deeper into Ridgebolt together. Rev's exterior was nice and glossy again after she went and got clean. She'd changed out her tires, too. It didn't take long for her to show Glitch around, as there wasn't a whole lot. It was growing dark, so some were congregating around burning barrels that had been lit. There was selling, music, singing, and dancing. Happy, grateful Droids clapped and moved rhythmically to the melodies performed on homemade instruments. Glitch examined the villager bots. The demographic was older, with the youngest being middle-aged, and the oldest dating a hundred-plus years. Rev eventually led Glitch to a bar in the heart of the village. They stopped there and took their seats together. The Droid running the bar, a very kind centennial gentleman, went up to their end of the counter to see what drinks they wanted. Glitch had no idea what they offered. Rev did, fortunately.

"Hey!" She kindly greeted the elderly Droid. "I got a friend with me today! Can I get two of the usual?"

The Droid swiftly fixed the drinks and passed them. Rev and Glitch thanked him before toasting one another. Glitch briefly studied the drink. It was coolant of some kind, but he couldn't tell what. "What is it?" he inquired.

"Sarsaparilla," Rev revealed before taking a drink. "No alcohol, though. Not this time around, anyway!" She winked. "Dad doesn't want me drinking late, so…"

Glitch tried it. He put it down afterwards, pleased. "It ain't alcohol, but it's damn good!" he admitted.

"Right?" Rev enthusiastically agreed.

They sat with their drinks for a spell. They occasionally eyed one another past their cups while they sipped. Glitch wondered what Rev was thinking of him. Her expression tampered curiosity, amusement, and contentedness, as though she already felt comfortable around him.

"Not much of a younger crowd around here, is there?" Glitch struck up a conversation, referring to the ages of the villagers.

Rev shook her head. "Pssh, naw!" she replied. "Mostly Gen X and over. We're pretty much the only millennials or whatever!"

"Ah." Glitch took another drink.

"Yep!" Rev playfully knocked Glitch's arm. "Just you and me, bud!" she joked.

They both shared a laugh. After a while, though, Rev's mood seemed to dull slightly. Glitch noticed her optics shift downward a little. "What's up?" he asked.

"Oh, nothin', really." Rev met his gaze. "You're the only other young bot to come around," she told him. "I've been the only one since, like, ever. Well I guess Drill-Bit counts, but she's a tyke. I mean like our age group, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Must be pretty hard, huh?" Glitch sympathized.

"Mm-hm," Rev confirmed. "I don't have much in common with anybody around here. Nobody to race or go mud-bogging or botfly-riding with, y'know?"

Glitch's eyes widened a bit. "Botfly-riding?" he surprisedly repeated.

"Uh, yeah?" Rev was surprised that he was unfamiliar. "Riding botflies isn't a thing where you're from?"

"Err…no?" Glitch shuddered at the thought alone. He'd seen giant flies and other mechanized insects traveling the skies over the wastelands. They were predatory, and they looked pretty terrifying from several feet off the ground. The thought of even witnessing them up close, let alone riding on the back of anything remotely similar…much less for fun

"I oughta take ya sometime!" Rev excitedly suggested. "Botfly-riding, that is. It's crazy-awesome, I promise!"

"Su-sure," Glitch stammered. He was tempted to turn it down, but Rev seemed to have already finalized her decision. He moved on to another subject. "So how did you guys come about this place?" he asked her.

"Who, me and my dad?" Rev said. "He's one of the ones who made this place. He founded it with some friends back in the day to give refugees a home during the war." She briefly turned her head. "I don't know much about the uprising," she admitted. "Dad's pretty much sheltered me out here since he put me back together and brought me up with Drill-Bit."

"He rebuilt you?" Glitch recalled Mister Fixit saying something along those lines, about finding her.

Rev nodded. "He found me dismantled while scavenging for parts in a junkyard one day," she explained. "Out in the ruins. He took me back to his garage and fixed me."

"Was your memory chip fried?" Glitch asked. "With no creation date?"

"Um...yeah!" Rev gave another nod. "Dad said he had to install a new one. I didn't have a creation date, either. Just my name. How'd you know?"

"Er..." Glitch thought for a moment before answering. He quickly shook his head. "Lucky guess," he said.

"Oh!" Rev giggled. "Wow, you're a great guesser!"

Glitch blinked at her steadily. That sounded all too familiar. That's definitely one thing we've got in common, he thought. He brought up her Morbot symbol, bearing in mind how oddly Mister Fixit reacted to his. "What's he think of your mark?" he asked.

The question made Rev ponder momentarily. She gave a response at some point, a hesitant one. "He doesn't mention it really," she answered. "Whenever I ask him about it, it's like it bugs him kinda." She tentatively clutched her cup. "I think he knows more than he'll let on," she hypothesized. "He's hiding something, most def."

Glitch wondered what it could be.

Rev gulped the rest of her drink and put down the cup. She called the old bartender. "Another, please," she requested. He gladly got her a refill. She started on her second drink right away. Glitch downed his first and got a second one, too. Rev took one more sip before speaking again. "So, wounded traveler!" she exclaimed. "Enough about me. Let's hear 'bout you some!"

"Me?"

"Uh-huh, whereabouts are you from?"

Glitch wasn't sure how or where to begin, or what to even tell her. What would happen if anyone there knew he was wanted by the government?

He was saved by Rev's incoming transmission. "Come in, Motorbug, this is Handyman! Over!" Mister Fixit's voice buzzed in.

"This is Motorbug, Handyman, over!" Rev answered.

"Our scientist friend's ready to see Glitch, over," Mister Fixit reported.

"'K, I'll let 'em know! Over." Rev looked up at Glitch. "Ya ready, newcomer?" she asked him.

They finished the last of their drinks. Rev paid and thanked the bartender before she and Glitch stood to get going.

...

Rev led Glitch to the outside of a dwelling. She rang the buzzer. "He's here!" she announced into the comm.

"Splendid, Rev, dear! Be a darling and bring him in! I'll unlock the door for you."

Dr. Exavolt? Glitch did a double-take at the voice. It sounded like him, but didn't simultaneously. The voice was almost exactly alike in pitch, but it was more…jovial? More kind?

There was a clicking sound from the door; it had been unlocked remotely. Rev pulled it open and led Glitch inside. An aging, somewhat rusty Droid wheeled into appearance, holding equipment. "He—he's here!" he breathed. "It's…really him!"

The Droid scientist the bot was helping came into the room. He removed his advanced, intricate goggles to see Glitch better. He smiled pleasantly. "It is," he confirmed. "It is indeed Iron Star's hero."

The scientist was Dr. Axon—Exavolt's former colleague and brother.