Annie bursts into a lab, where Kat has some news for her: she's figured out how Shadow 2 talks. He's actually got some very slight mass, so he can vibrate against surfaces to make noises. Kat then demonstrates a gadget she's made that lets Shadow 2 actually talk, as opposed to just making noises. Annie thinks this is wonderful, and Kat says that Shadow 2's smart enough that teaching him English would be fairly easy. Kat then asks if Annie needed to tell her something, because of the way she rushed in. Annie saw robots! Specifically, the kind of robots that Robot is, the ones with wings. She tried to ask them about him, but they ran when they saw her. They went through a door marked "Boring Door", which didn't have a handle. The doorkeeper robot wouldn't let her through, because that area's robots only.
Kat asks her what she's thinking, because Eglamore already said the robot had been disposed of. Annie says that he wasn't her robot, he was his own person, and he was hurt because of her. She feels she at least needs to know what happened to him. Shadow 2 says "friend", and Annie responds "Yes." Kat can't come along, though, because she has to clean up the huge mess she made in the lab on her mother's orders. Annie has an idea of how to get past the door-bot, and brings some help . . .
Reynardine wants to know why Annie needs him for this mission, and she tells him it's because he has her lockpicks. Rey grouchily agrees, as it at least means he can get out of the box she keeps him locked in. They arrive at the door, and Annie gets past the door-bot by putting on a headband with a pair of star-shaped antennae, and claiming that because of them, she's a robot. Also, robots never lie. The door-bot even gives them directions to administration, when she asks.
Annie asks at administration for Robot (number 13), and is told his real name is S13, he has a history of making trouble, and his body was made into paperclips after the last time, when he left the Court's grounds. But his CPU, his brain, has been sent to research, because "criminal behaviour is to be studied." Annie and Reynardine duly set off for the research department down Corridor 3. The hallway is extremely long, and Annie tries running, but shortly loses her breath. Rey is cocky about this, but Annie points out he doesn't have any lungs. He says "Fine . . . get on", and transforms into a wolf. Annie is surprised, and Rey tells her it's a simple trick, as he is inhabiting a toy wolf, after all. Annie rides him down the hall to the research department.
In the research department, Annie and Rey find a lengthy directory of CPUs being studied, and Rey wonders if they've been having trouble in the ranks. Annie finds S13, and presses it, and Robot's CPU is brought up. Annie asks Rey if he can use her lockpicks to get the window open. Rey does so — by smashing the window. Annie grabs Robot's CPU, and an alarm goes off, and two security robots rush in. They tell Annie and Reynardine to stop, but the two of them simply flee. Reynardine is much faster than the security bots, and they are unable to keep up. As they pass by the administrator, Annie thanks him for his help. She also thanks the door-bot, as she and Rey leave the robot area.
Back at the lab, Kat notes that Robot's CPU looks fairly normal, but there's an unusual extra part. She plugs Robot's CPU up to a docking station, and immediately the lab is filled with Robot's panic at being made to push Annie (or "Mommy", as he calls her) off the bridge. He then wonders if he's in heaven, as he thinks Kat is an angel. He's incredibly relieved to find out Annie is okay. Annie asks Robot what happened to him in the forest, and he tells her:
As Robot tells his story, Reynardine grows surprised and angry. Robot says the man put a seed in his body, and the next thing he knew he had a wooden arm. It felt like an instant, but his internal chronometer told him several months had passed. Then a shadow man possessed him, and made him walk to the bridge and push Annie off. Annie tries to reassure Robot, but Reynardine interrupts to demand confirmation that Annie actually sent a robot to the forest. He tells her he has no idea what she's started, as the inhabitants of the Wood despise all forms of technology. That's why the divide exists in the first place. And the fact that Annie and Kat have captured a Glass-Eyed Man, Shadow 2, will only exacerbate things. Shadow 2 retorts that he was not captured. Rey then mentions that "It's a wonder my fool cousin hasn't already retaliated. He must be up to something . . ." When Annie asks him about his cousin, Rey pops back into the form of the stuffed wolf.
Kat promises Robot she'll build him a new body, and Annie apologizes to him for the trouble she's caused him. He thanks her anyway, saying she gave him what no one's ever given him before: a choice.
Tropes:
- Butt-Monkey: Introducing Boxbot, who nobody likes.
- Call-Back: We learn what happened to Robot in Gillitie Wood between "The Shadow and the Robot" and "Of New and Old".
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- The man who gave Robot his wooden arm.
- Reynardine's cousin.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The chapter title.
- Foreshadowing: Reynardine's knowledge of Gillitie Wood, as well as his reaction when Robot mentions the man who gave him his arm. He also mentions his cousin, but pops back into stuffed toy form when Annie asks him what he meant.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy:
- Door-Bot falls for Annie's "disguise" and claim that she's obviously a robot because "robots never lie".
- The guard-bots attempting to order Annie and Reynardine to stop provides the trope image.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: Annie is a robot because she has antennas, and also robots never lie.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Annie's robot disguise serves as the page picture for the webcomics subpage.
- Saying Too Much: Rey mentions that he has a cousin, and then pops back into stuffed toy form when he realizes what he said.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: The door to the robot area is labelled "Boring Door".
- Technobabble: Kat's explanation of how Shadow 2 can talk. However, this is mainly from Annie's perspective — it's actually not difficult to understand.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: It's revealed that Reynardine can take the form of a wolf.
