They had crept one by one to this place of gathering, hoping no unwanted company tracked their movements. Big groups caused unnecessary chaos, which was why their main camp was so well hidden. For some it had taken longer to get here; the years had been especially unkind to them, taking away pieces of their bodies, minds and souls. All around them they heard the sounds of bombs going off, with the occasional whistle of laser weapons and the musical repetition of old school firearms. They didn't flinch or shy away, as these were the normal ambiance for their world now.
When the group was as whole as could be expected, Grumpy Bear cleared his throat and began. All eyes were on the yellow bear who appeared to be sleeping in a large wooden box on the ground.
"As hard as it is for us to lose another member of the family, it is right that Funshine died today. As you all know it was 4 years ago today the plague took her Playful Heart away, and now she goes to join him at the hands of the same culprit. Losing her is going to be like losing a piece of sunshine at the camp, but we've done without the sun and we can manage without her. She'd want us too." His electronic eye flashed as he eyed the group. "Pay your last respects and then get home. Trick, you'll stay behind and bury her?"
The hare nodded from where he was perched on a grate, gun at the ready, eyes sweeping their perimeter. "Yup."
Moving stiffly, his cyborg leg needed oil again, Grumpy started the trek back to base.
After paying her respects, Tinker Bear, Trickster Heart Hare's twin sister, took Trick's place as lookout while he buried Funshine. She looked through the scope of her sniper rifle, using it as a telescope to keep watch. "Clear so far, Trick," she said, quietly but knowing his ears would pick up what she said, "but hurry up, the longer we're out in the open the less I like it."
She chanced a quick glance back to see Loyal Heart pushing his step-daughter, Melody Heart Lioness, back to the camp in her wheelchair. Harmony was walking with them but her and Loyal's son, Trust Heart dog had stayed back with Tinker and Trick. He was too reckless.
She returned to scanning the horizon, everything seemed clear but, wait... there.
"Better hurry, Trick," she said, "Looks like some raiders are coming this way, it may just be coincidence but we'd better not risk it."
"Why not to kill them, you have plenty of ammo don't you?" Trust Heart asked.
"Discretion is the better part of valor." Tinker said, keeping her eye on the approaching raiders. "Besides, they're moving slowly, if Raiders find that there are people nearby to steal from or kill, they'll start charging, then we risk them following us and finding the camp. Raiders would kill us just for the fun of it, and then steal our supplies and food and everything they could get their hands on. Besides, even if I could take them all out, I'd rather not waste bullets if it can be avoided."
Trust Heart sighed; he was always getting lectured by everyone because of his overly eager nature in terms of combat, even the others in this new generation like Tinker and Trick.
Tinker looked back to see him still standing there, "Get going before your mom and dad start worrying about you, we'll be fine here." Trust nodded, not wanting to start an argument, and took off as fast as he could to catch up to his family.
A golden eagle flew over Tinker's head to perch on the roof of a dilapidated building. Pretending to preen his feathers he would casually cast a glance in the raiders' direction, keeping an eye on their movements.
Ruby watched her twin, Arrow, as he aided the lookout. She would wait until he was sure the coast was clear and rejoined her before she left. Ever since their parents were killed they didn't like to be apart, especially when it involved traveling between the burial ground and main camp. Readjusting the belt on her hip, she checked the large black pouch, making sure it's precious cargo was secure and warm.
Gliding down from the roof, he landed next to Ruby regaining his human form and brushing his bi-colored bangs from his eyes. "Looks like they're moving off. We can chill."
Tinker hesitated a moment more before lowering her gun and moving to her brother.
Trick's mouth was set in a straight line as he filled in the grave.
Tinker watched the sad proceeding for a moment before moving to help Trick fill the grave. Once they were done she looked around, "Every time we come here it just gets more depressing." She said sighing, "We should get back to the camp soon before anyone finds us."
"Ok then," Trick said. The hare managed a smile, "Wanna race?" he suggested.
Tinker rolled her eyes, every time. Not that she could deny him his request as long as they weren't in immediate danger, "All right, get your bike." She said. Trick immediately dashed to the motorcycle he always rode, and had brought along both because he hated to be away from it, and because it would prove useful to make a speedy getaway if that were necessary. Tinker Bear on the other hand had no need for a vehicle. She had inherited more from her mother, Swift Heart, than most would guess at a glance. Tinker had been able to train herself to run very fast, fast enough in fact to keep up with and sometimes beat Trick's bike.
She looked up and gave a hand signal to Ruby and Arrow, letting them know she and Trick were about to race so they could keep watch and meet them back at camp. Then she crouched in a starting position as Trick pulled up his bike next to her. Trick looked over to make sure she was ready before revving his engine.
"Ready, set..." he said, "GO!" At the word Trick hit the gas at full speed and Tinker took off at a speed that was a credit to her late mother, both of them giving it their all to make it back to the camp first.
Champ watched from the shadowed window of one of the buildings surrounding the graveyard. Silent tears had coursed down his cheek as he watched Funshine be lowered into the plot next to Playful Heart. Every time he watched one of these, he couldn't help but relive the day he lost Cheer. The loss had been so great he had left his family, unable to be around anything that might remind him of her.
Now he watched Swift Heart's children racing off back to the base camp and smiled slightly. "Your kids turned out great Swifty. You'd of loved them. He watched Ruby and Arrow leave the lot before he too returned to his "home."
Ruby sighed as Champs scent filtered through her nose. "I don't see why he's being so stubborn. It's been ages since she died."
Arrow slung an arm around his sister's shoulders, which was easy since she was so much shorter than him; a fact he loved to rub in her face. "He may come around eventually. Not everyone copes as well with death. Especially of a loved one."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get back so I can put the egg back in its incubator." She patted the pouch on her hip.
Upon her return, Ruby hurried to her part of the camp and with the utmost care placed the egg in incubator. The true parents of the egg were Cozy Heart Penguin and Jolly Heart Platypus, both deceased. When her parents had died, those two had stepped in as best they could to help her and her brother over their grief.
7 months ago when they had been killed by raiders, Ruby took it upon herself to raise their newly lain egg. Tinker and Grumpy had helped her to construct the incubator and Trick often raided dangerous areas of town for power cells to keep the contraption going.
Stroking a finger gently down the leathery shell she grinned, "Only two more months little one."
Arrow came in and discarded his trench coat on the floor, stretching his arms across his body and behind his head to limber them up.
"Come on Rubes, time to practice." Grabbing his bow and quiver he went to his targets and began firing.
Ruby placed the lid on the incubator, removed her boots, and started a series of acrobatic tumbles and twists.
Once both were warmed up, Arrow spun without warning and began firing at Ruby as she twisted and flipped, avoiding. Tumbling to a pile of rings in the corner, she began to toss them in the air, presenting harder targets for Arrow to shoot.
When he was on his last arrow, Ruby tossed her final ring at his head. Shooting he split the ring in half and the arrow continued on towards Ruby. Snatching the arrow out of thin air an inch from her nose she dropped into the splits, grinning and tapping the arrow on the ground.
Arrow applauded slowly, "You live to fight another day."
Breathing hard she grabbed her canteen. "I guess that's a good thing." Her brother mirrored her, his usual smirk in place, "Trust me Rubes, mom and dad would be very glad."
She fluttered her fingers by her eyes; "I think I may cry." Instead she rolled her eyes and turned away from him.
The race back to the base ended in a tie between Trick and Tinker. Before exposing the well hidden entrance to the underground, Tinker checked the surrounding area using the scope of her rifle.
"Ok, we're good," she said opening the door to the warehouse they had to enter. The building was old and abandoned; all the supplies inside had been pillaged a long time ago by raiders and the current inhabitants. All that was left were empty wooden crates in random stacks everywhere. Trick pulled his bike over to the back wall of the first room near a stack of wooden crates that they had stacked there.
"Are we safe sis?" Trick asked Tinker, who was standing at the entrance, still checking.
"We're safe, let's go," she said, racing across the floor to where Trick was in less than a second. Tinker pressed a button on a control panel that was attached to the left of her armor. A door that was hidden behind the crates slid open and the twins, along with the bike headed down the wide ramp into the compound, the door sliding shut behind them to merge seamless with the wall. This was only one of two entrances, the other was on the roof of the warehouse, which was thankfully still stable, through an air vent which led straight down, making it a good entrance for Ruby and Arrow, as well as a way for Tinker to get on top of the base if she needed to scope out the surrounding area.
At the bottom of the stairs, a large door lifted up into their garage. The garage was the place where the bike, the armor and all the various weapons and other mechanical items the remaining Care Bears had gathered were stored; this allowed them to gather equipment quickly when they left the base. They had started building the base before most of the family had died, but were forced to finish it quickly when the war claimed the lives of much of the family and so other than the garage, much of it was rather slap-dash; the only walls were the ones leading to the kitchen and the garage from the inside.
The rest of the inside was held up with supports poles and the various "rooms" were only separated by curtains hung from various hooks and loops on the ceiling. The two closest rooms to the garage were Trick and Tinker's since they wanted to stay near the place where they're favorite things to work on were. Grumpy slept in the garage as he had to keep his cyborg limbs plugged in to recharge each night, just to make sure they would not run down in a crisis situation.
Tinker walked over to her equipment storage area and began to remove her polycarbonate armor. The armor was good for outdoors but it got in the way indoors. Once she had taken off the armor, leaving her in just her undergarments, she grabbed and pulled on the work shirt and overalls she wore indoors all the time.
"Hey dad, everything all right?" she asked, calling to Grumpy who was also in the garage.
He lifted his welding goggles and looked at his daughter. "Fine as can be expected. Still trying to get some doors done for this place." He flicked the goggles back down. "Did you two run into any trouble?"
Trick was gassing his bike, "Nah. Easy as pie. Smooth streets all the way back, right Tink?"
Tinker rolled her eyes, she didn't really like that nickname but in the current circumstances, she didn't stop him since he at least tried to lighten the mood.
"No one followed us," she sighed, "I wish there was more we could do than hide down here, but until the fighting lets up more..." she trailed off and went to work on some pieces of equipment she was trying to restore to a functional state.
In the kitchen, Harmony Bear and her wheelchair bound daughter Melody Heart Lioness were working on supper. The food they had was crude and more often than not was less than appetizing, but at least it kept them fed. They were fortunate enough to have a large store, much of which had come from the warehouse, which had been a grain warehouse before the apocalypse.
Trick finished wiping down his bike and placed the cover over it. "Ok my techno nerds, I'm gonna go see what the other twins are doing and check on the others. Happy tinkering. Oh, and grumping!" Laughing to himself he strode out of the garage.
Outside he ran into Ruby and Arrow on their way to the water source in the kitchen.
"Yo dude and dudette! What's up?"
Ruby grinned, "Oh you know, the usual, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, barely scraping by, oh and my brother was trying to kill me about 10 minutes ago."
"How about you Trick? Did your bike say yes to your proposal yet?"
He placed a paw over his heart, "Alas no. She keeps me wrapped around her little kickstand but refuses to be mine."
Laughing they continued on to the kitchen, greeting Harmony and Melody. Arrow sniffed the soup, "So what's for dinner? Green mush or brown watery muck?"
"The best soup I can manage," Harmony said, "at least it keeps our strength up," she sighed.
Melody reached up and place a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry mom, something will happen soon, something that could change our situation."
Back in the garage Trick headed for his beloved bike. Taking a rag he rubbed it over her surface to get the 3 specks of dust off the shiny red surface. His hand lingered on the decal of his mother's tummy symbol he had painted on. The real reason he loved his bike so much was it helped him feel connected to her; the speed, the attitude, the cool factor.
"You know if you just let me-"
Trick straightened, spreading his arms to separate his bike from his sister. "I've told you, you aren't laying a hand on her!"
Rolling her eyes she moved away.
"Don't start again kids. I'm not in the mood." Grumpy tightened a nut on his leg. Trick rubbed the back of his neck. His dad always got like this when another one died. "Just came to get you for dinner. Better hurry before it goes even more bad..."
"Right, ok." Tinker didn't feel like arguing. When she got to the kitchen the food, as it was, was done. She grabbed a serving and ate as quickly as she could manage. The food was never good tasting, but it kept them alive and that's what was important. There wasn't much conversation passed during the eating of the meal, there was little to talk about that everyone didn't already know, and the one new topic wasn't something they really wanted to discuss.
Harmony was the first to ask something of any substance at the meal, "How's Brave Heart?"
"The same as always, sadly." Loyal Heart said. When Tenderheart had been killed, something had snapped inside Brave Heart's mind and he was never the same. He had lost his mind and actually attacked Harmony, his wife who was pregnant at the time, which was why Melody Heart was bound to a wheelchair.
Loyal Heart got up grabbing another serving of food, "I'll go give him something to eat." he said heading for what was unenthusiastically referred to as "the pen."
As Loyal approached, Brave Heart turned from where he had been sleeping and growled, much like a real lion, before launching himself at the bars that held him back. Loyal Heart placed the food on the floor and pushed it towards the crazed lion. Brave Heart sniffed it then grabbed the food and started eating it, rather messily before throwing the dish back at Loyal Heart, who managed to catch it and keep it in one piece.
"Brave Heart," he sighed unhappily, "I once looked up to you as a leader, and to think you've been reduced to this." He looked back over his shoulder at where the meal had been taken, then back to the concrete and steel barred cage, "If only we knew a way to cure your mind." He turned and left.
As the others sat down to eat, Arrow walked into the kitchen escorting Lotsa Heart Elephant. He had sustained an injury towards the beginning of the war and as a result was totally blind. Because of this he never left the home base, however he still retained much of his optimistic nature. Fortunately, the accident had cured him of his klutziness, since now he relied solely on his ears to navigate himself around.
Feeling his chair, he thanked Arrow for the help and smiled at the group. "So how is everyone?"
"We're as well as can be expected these days, Lotsa Heart," Harmony said, "I just wish there was something we could do out there rather than just sitting here and surviving as much as we can."
"I wonder where Champ is," Melody said, "I've never really met him."
Lotsa Heart shook his head, "Poor Champ. He was never the same after Cheer died. You can't hold it against him for wanting to be alone, we each deal with our grief in our own way."
Arrow grinned, "And this coming from the elephant whose biggest regret over losing his eye sight is that he can't make a sandwich by himself anymore?"
Lotsa Heart grinned, "Good thing we don't have bread very often, or else it would be even sadder."
Loyal Heart returned from his task and set about helping Harmony clean the dishes up. There wasn't anything they really felt like saying to each other, nothing they didn't already know and wanted to discuss.
Trick checked his guns to make sure both were fully loaded. "Kay, I'll be on patrol. If something comes up you know where to find me." Cracking his spine he headed for the exit.
Checking the surrounding area before coming into the open, he gradually patrolled the perimeter of his home, keeping to the shadows so as not to be spotted. His ears twisted to and fro, knowing they would pick up any dangers before his eyes. As usual, the area around the hidden base was quiet. Still, it never hurt to be too careful.
At that moment, Tinker was taking a look at Grumpy's limbs, cleaning out any dust that had gathered in them during the day. Despite how used to this he was, Grumpy still didn't like being forced to remain completely still during these cleaning sessions.
Tinker rolled her eyes and said, "Just hold still, you know if I don't do this every time you go outdoors that your limbs could freeze up at a bad moment. Don't give me that look, sheesh; it's as if you can feel things when I shut these robotic parts down." Tinker finished her cleaning work and reactivated Grumpy's robotic arm and leg, "There, now I need to get back to my work, see if I can get this GPS of mine working, gotta see if I can get an uplink to any of the old satellites that are still up there."
Grumpy scowled at his daughter, "Have I ever told you you're as stubborn as your mother when you want to be?" Stretching his arm and leg he moved over to his own work bench. "You know Tinker, even though the world is falling to pieces, it is okay to have fun now and then. Why don't you see what some of the others are up too?"
Tinker sighed, "Dad, you know I have to get this stuff working as soon as possible. If I don't we won't be ready when we're able to go out and start looking for more supplies. Maybe when there's not so much to do around here, and not everyone is depending on us to keep things working."
As if on cue Ruby came storming into the work area with one of the eggs heat lamps swinging from her hand. Her cheeks were slightly pink indicating a famous Ruby blow up was most likely on the way.
"Grumpy! This stupid POS lamp broke down again for no reason. I hadn't even touched it since we got home and then, I dunno, it decided it didn't like the direction the wind was coming from so it made this god awful fizzing sound, flared and went out. I am so sick of this thing!" She threw the lamp on the table, where it landed with a loud clatter.
Grumpy scowled at her, "Well I'm sure that didn't help things any. Go sit with Tinker over there until you cool off. And don't touch anything. I don't need you breaking stuff while you're in one of your rages."
Snorting she turned on her heels and plopped herself on a stool opposite from Tinker, arms folded across her chest.
Tinker sighed, putting aside her work on the GPS, "Honestly, how many times have I fixed these lamps, and throwing it around isn't helping, especially if you broke the bulb, those are some of the rarest things around here." Tinker went over to where the lamp was lying and managed to extract the bulb from the socket, or rather what was left of it, "Oh that's just great Ruby! I only have a couple of those bulbs left, if you do that again you might just be dooming Jolly and Cozy's unborn child!"
Ruby's eyes flared, "Well obviously if they keep breaking you aren't fixing them right! Plus I'm doing just fine with the egg so you can cut the crap about me dooming it!"
Tinker glared at her as she picked up the remained, "Well it's busted now, I can make a new one just give me a few minutes." The blue bear began to assemble various pieces of junk she could use to make a new heating lamp.
"Thank you! Yeesh the attitude was not necessary."
Grumpy scowled up at her, "The same goes for you Ruby. Your mom would have scolded you three ways from Sunday if she heard you overreact like that."
Ruby smirked and propped her feet up on the table, her bad mood evaporating. "Yeah right. She would have rolled her eyes and told dad to deal with me because I was his daughter. Plus if mom was still here she would be able to turn into a platypus and incubate the egg herself, meaning we wouldn't need this piece of junk." Turning to Tinker she asked, "Are you done yet?"
"Here," Tinker handed the new heat lamp to Ruby, "if it breaks, don't damage it more this time." She then got up and grabbed the old GPS again to try and get it working.
"Gracias." She picked up the lamp, "You really should try to get out of this workshop every once in a while though Tinker. Or else you're going to lose what remaining social skills you have." Turning she strode quickly from the room.
Trickster Heart Hare sat on an overturned crate polishing his gun. He was currently at the northern most part of his patrol, which also happened to be the part closest to the graves. As soon as he was done he planned on paying his mom's site a visit, having noticed earlier there were weeds creeping over her tombstone. Although he appeared totally relaxed and certain he was alone that was hardly the case. His sensitive ears had picked up the footsteps of a stalker. He waited patiently as the person approached him from behind, hoping to take them by surprise. When the figure was just about to reach him he lunged to his feet, cocked his weapon and pointed it right in the stalkers face.
"Sorry dude, not today."
Champ raised his arms, showing he was unarmed, "I should have known your ears would have picked up on me. You can put that down now." His eyes shifted to the gun barrel resting 3 inches from his nose.
Trick slid it into its holster before resuming his seat. "You know if you just came home you wouldn't have to sneak around in the shadows spying on us. Ruby told me you were at the funeral today."
Champ sighed and sat on a crate of his own. "I can't come back. It's too hard without Cheer. Plus I'm not the same bear I used to be. I don't want to help people care anymore. Not after all I've lost."
"Well neither do we. Hell most of us can't understand why any of you ever tried to help these idiots."
The yellow bear's expression changed, "It wasn't always hopeless Trick. Back when we were growing up, we managed to help a lot of people and the world was a much better place to live. I miss it. Times were good back then." He laughed, "You kids would've loved Care-A-Lot. It was the best place to grow up."
"No offense, but I'm pretty sure anything is better than this." He opened his arms to show the dilapidated area around him.
"Talk to your dad about it sometimes. I'm sure he'd love to give you the full run down." Patting his shoulder, Champ got up and started to leave.
"Champ hang on!"
"Yeah?"
Trick stood and indicated the direction of the grave yard, "I was going to pay my mom a visit. Would you like to come?"
He felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips, "Sure. That sounds good."
As they walked, Tricks mind began to create images of what Champs "world" used to look like.
Tinker Bear had finally worn herself down, even she had a limit to how long she could work on any projects in a day. The GPS was finally working which meant that there were at least some global position satellites still in orbit. It had taken all her skills and then some to get that working and now, she needed to rest, but first she thought she'd go and greet her twin brother as he returned. She got up and made her way to the entrance to their hideaway, hoping to catch him on the way in.
As Trick walked his bike back into the hideout, he saw Tinker waiting for him. "Hey sis, you're up late. Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," Tinker said, turning to walk into the hideout with her brother, "I finally got the GPS working so we should be able to find some more places nearby. Most of the people left on earth probably don't even realize that there are satellites still working up there. So did you find anything interesting on your patrol?"
Parking the bike he started to slip the cover over it. "I talked with Champ. He told me all about Earth when he was growing up and the caring missions he used to go on. He also told me to not judge the new world too harshly."
Tinker just sighed, "It's hard not too, this world is a wasteland and there's nothing left of the home our parents grew up in. If I could have anything in the world, it would be to meet our mother, and to have grown up in that world, away from all of this," Tinker's rough exterior melted and she started to cry. She never normally allowed this to happen but it was late, she was tired, and talking about these things with her brother just made her feel suddenly sad.
Trick pulled Tinker against him, stroking his paw down her back to calm her. "Hey it's okay. I know how you feel. Me and dad are right there with you. I mean sure he pretends he doesn't miss her every moment of every day, but we know it's not true." He stood for a moment thinking. "You know Champ told me the Forest of Feelings was so thick in places, you could easily jump from one tree to the next. Can you imagine how easy it would have been for me to set up buckets of mud to fall on people?" He laughed, hoping it would cheer his sister up. He hated to see her upset.
Tinker smiled at the thought of the buckets of mud falling on people, "I would have loved to see that," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "thank you, Trick, you're a good brother." As they made it to the garage and Trick locked up his bike Tinker spoke up again. "I'm going to give the GPS a test tomorrow, would you mind taking me out on patrol with you so I can make a clearer map of our surrounding area?"
"Can do. I think I may ask the Pegasis if they want to come too. I know Arrow has been dying to stretch his wings and Ruby...well..girl needs to not spend so much time talking to that egg or else she's going to go mental."
That elected a snicker out of Tinker Bear, "Not before I do, if I spend much more time in that workshop anyways." She shook her head, "I must be tired if I'm cracking jokes at myself." She yawned and stretched, "I'll see you in the morning, good night." Tinker turned and left, heading for her bed.
Yawning Trick walked to his room. Kicking off his boots and pulling his shirt off he fell into bed and pulled his covers up. He was asleep within 20 seconds.
When Tinker woke up, her first thing to do after she got fully dressed was to check on her father, particularly his cybernetic limbs. Once that was done she went over to check the GPS to see if the satellite she'd managed to hook up to was picking up anything strange nearby.
In the morning Lotsa Heart made his way down to Brave Hearts pen. He would go down every couple of days and just talk to his former leader. Since he couldn't see the sorry state of the lion, it was easier to be around him. As he arrived, he could hear Brave Heart muttering to himself. "Good Morning Brave Heart, did you sleep okay? I had the strangest dream last night. I was starring in a Care Bear version of Dumbo." He laughed at his own dream. Brave Heart began to pace, warily watching Lotsa Heart as he continued to tell him about the dream.
Loyal Heart overheard Lotsa Heart's conversation with Brave Heart and shook his head, sighing. He used to look up to Brave Heart so much and now he had been reduced to that. He felt Harmony's hand on his shoulder and he turned to smile at her.
"Sleep well my dear?" he asked.
"As well as I can in this world," Harmony said, "Though I wish you would linger some mornings instead of just getting up before me."
Loyal Heart kissed her, "All right, I'll remember that from now on," he said.
Lotsa Heart stopped his story when he heard Brave Heart stop moving. "Brave Heart? Are you okay?" "I miss Harmony." Lotsa Heart was taken aback. This was the first time he had ever heard Brave Heart speak so clearly. Sometimes he even wondered if he remembered what he did to her. "You do?" His answer was an angry roar. Turning behind him he called, "Hello? Is someone there?"
As Tinker examined the GPS screen, noticing something strange. A building on the map they had never run into, it was farther out than they usually ventured and they had never checked that area thoroughly but it was worth a look. Getting up she wandered over to her brother's room and pounded the wall with her fist to wake him up. "Hey Trick, get up! I found something I want to check!" She shouted to wake up her brother, not wanting to enter his sleeping area until he was dressed.
Trick stumbled to his entrance, eyes still closed. He propped himself up against the door frame, "What's your damage sis?"
Tinker rolled her eyes, "Brother, with ears like those I thought you'd have heard me. I found something nearby on the GPS and I want to take a look at it, so get yourself cleaned up, dressed and meet me in the garage please."
He rubbed a paw over his face. "K' gimme 10 minutes. I need to reload and clean my guns real quick." Moving away from her he slipped on a black t-shirt and his arm holster.
"Ok, I just need to get my armor and pack on too, but don't make me wait." Tinker Bear said, turning and leaving to do just as she said she would.
Tinker finished strapping on her armor and checked her ammunition supply. Strapping her sniper rifle to her back and making sure she had plenty of ammunition for it she grabbed the GPS and attached it securely to her tool belt. She was bringing it just in case there was salvageable technology at the intended destination. Before she went to the garage, she paused, looking at the weapon's locker they kept. She walked over, unlocked it with the key she had, one of only two the other of which was built into Grumpy's cyborg arm, and took out a pair of smoke grenades, just in case she and Trick needed to make a quick getaway, then closed and locked the locker again before going to meet Trick at his bicycle.
Striding into the garage, his other gun on his hip, sun glasses on his eyes he nodded to his sister. "Good morning baby sister. So where are you taking me today?" He pulled the cover gently off his bike and grabbed the rag to polish off the miniscule pieces of dust that may have accumulated. Continuing with his ritual he kissed his moms tummy symbol, just like he always did before the first ride of the day.
Tinker just rolled her eyes at the "baby sister" comment and got on behind Trick on the bike, "It's far out to the east, just a bit beyond where we've gone before. When we get outside I'll point you in the right direction," she said, pulling the helmet of her armor in place and sliding the durable visor over her face.
"You got it chief." Folding his ears over on the top of his head he slipped on his helmet. Revving the bikes engine he sped from the garage and headed east.
As they sped through the landscape, Tinker gave Trick directions, mostly just pointing him in the specific direction he needed to turn in order to head straight for their target. Thankfully there was no trouble encountered along the way.
Tinker eventually called for her brother to stop and she got off, "It's near here, just give me a minute to check around." She said, dropping to her stomach and crawling up a nearby rise, before pulling out her sniper rifle to check around. "Ok, looks clear," she said, standing up and getting a good look at what they had found. It was a mostly intact building, missing about half the room and the wall on one side but humorously a large steel door stood out where the wall had once been. Tinker dashed over at full speed, leaving a small cloud of dust in her wake.
Coughing in his sister's wake Trick called, "That's okay, I'll catch up." He looked to the clouds, "You couldn't share the wealth there mom?" Following his sister, hand on his gun he surveyed the building, "Gee Tinker you sure can pick 'em."
"You got that right, brother." Tinker said as she stepped over the small stump part of what used to be the wall. She looked at the back of the still intact steel door, "Huh, looks like the door is the only part of the wall that withstood whatever tore it down." Tinker crouched down and examined the wall stump, "No char or blast marks, so there's only three ways this wall could have been taken out, either it eroded away, the people trying to break in used tools to tear the wall down rather than blow it up, or..." she paused, seeming to be a bit fearful of what she was about to say.
"Or?" Trick asked, impatiently.
"Or, something tore the wall apart with sheer strength," she said, "but who or what would be capable of that?" Tinker stood up, "Never mind, let's see what's in here." She turned around and began to explore the roofless room which had several stalls in it and a clearly locked door leading to the one part of the building that still had a roof.
Not liking Tinker's idea that something tore the wall down, Trick took his gun off his hip and cocked it. He didn't want whatever had done this taking him by surprise. "What do you think they kept here?"
"I can't say, whatever was kept here," she came to a stop in front of the locked door, "is probably behind here." She checked the electronic lock, "This must have its own power source if this lock is still working."
Trick pointed his gun at the lock, "What do you think the odds are that the lock will disengage if I shoot the panel controlling it?"
Before Tinker could reply there was a click from behind them.
"About the same odds that you'll survive if I shoot you." a voice said, "Drop your weapons and turn around slowly."