34. Motherboard

“Who's this guy?” asked Alhannah abruptly. “And what’s he doing to Wendell?”

When the Gem awakens to call a Hero, the world is ill prepared...and its fate is placed in the hands of a 17 year old boy, named Wendell. 

Some will say this is nothing but a tale of fiction.
Let them think as they may. 

After all...I can't fix stupid.

Previously: Morty found himself navigating a dangerous Clockworks City, smuggling a group of off-landers—despite strict anti-foreigner laws and his own doubts about risking his life and career. In a bold move, he reunited with his ex-wife Deloris, hoping to secure her help, only for the encounter to take a shocking turn when he revealed the very "make-believe" allies that had once caused their marriage to fall apart.

---

Just because someone looks innocent, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry. Beware little people with big brains.

“They can’t be here!”

“But they are, Deloris.”

“But they can’t, Morty! We’ll be fined, imprisoned, banished from Clockworks!”

“Calm down, Deloris.”

She punched him in the arm. “Don’t tell me to calm down! What am I supposed to say in a situation like this?”

“I’m sorry would be a good start.”

“What are you talking…oh.” She looked cautiously over Morty’s shoulder. Chuck, Dax, Alhannah and Lili sat quietly in a corner of the warehouse. The wizard smiled warmly and wiggled his fingers in a dainty wave. She quickly snapped her head back behind the protection of her ex-husband’s frame. “Alright. I’m sorry. There.”

“Really?” he frowned, “after all this time and all my pleading with you to believe me, that’s it? You’re just going to say I’m sorry…like that?”

“This is too much for me to digest right now, Mort—so don’t push your luck.” She sighed and rubbed her temples with both thumbs. “Oh this is giving me a headache.”

“They,” Morty started, but corrected himself, “well, Chuck, specifically asked for you.”

Deloris’s eyes grew wide in fear. “Me!? Why me? No—that’s impossible. He can’t ask for me. I don’t know any humans. I’ve never even met a human before! How could he possibly know my name?”

Morty shrugged and reached out to rub her shoulders. “Calm, Deloris. These are good people.”

“That’s a TROLL, Morty,” she hissed in a whisper, grabbing his shirt roughly by the collar, “…as in vallen. Who like to eat us!”

“Not that one, dear,” he replied calmly. “He’s…relatively safe. And for the record, he's evolu, NOT vallen.”

She frowned. "What?"

"Dax is evolu, not vallen. Trust me, I'm 100% positive."

"Then why does he…"