Default07

Part I

"There we go..." my dry voice croaked to myself as I noticed probably the only man-made thing in about 500 miles: a country highway. It was only about a hundred yards away, but walking the length of a football field in the middle of some desert when I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in about 2 days was mind-boggling to me. Look... you've gotta get there... it's your only chance of getting out of this barren desert! spoke my conscious to me sharply. I had to agree.
Even though I wore lightweight clothes, I still had two longswords strapped to my back in their scabbards along with a composite bow and a quiver of arrows. Even for someone as far away from civilization as I was, it felt kind of ridiculous. Carrying medieval weapons like that in the year 2002 is pretty ludicrous to almost everybody. Mainly because if anyone was going to attack you, they'd have a gun, and the fact that medieval weapons like that were hard to conceal, which could cause you to get arrested.
God, I hate it when I go off on tangents like that... I thought as I shook those thoughts out of my head. I put my focus solely back on getting to the highway. I made the somewhat drastic decision to run for it. It could take all my strength, it could knock me unconscious, it could kill me for all I cared, but at least if it killed me, I would have died with a chance of being found by someone on that highway. I began running as fast as my deprived body could allow me to run, causing me to not only sweat almost instantly, but to start panting as well, which probably meant that I was losing nutrients in my body. The smell of my own sweat and the sensation of heat from the glaring sun above me was rather intimidating, but I put that beside me. I kept running towards that highway as if it was the fountain of youth or maybe the Holy Grail if it had some sort of holy liquid in it. Such a mindset had gotten me about 10 yards away from the highway, but by then I had to stop running and walk, because I thought I'd give out before I got there if I did, and that might reduce the chances of me finding someone drive along this desolate highway.
I fell to my knees. I could reach out and touch that highway right now, smell the asphalt, feel the heat coming out of it, and even see those heat waves rising from it, but I didn't find the strength in me to move anything that was part of my body, except my head, as I looked to each side for someone coming. I looked to my left; nothing. I looked to my right; nothing. I knew I was doomed now. I could feel the strength draining from me now. I closed my eyes and looked up to the sky to await my fate, hoping that it would come to me quick and swift. I took a somewhat deep breath (each breath was beginning to hurt) and exhaled.
As if on cue, I heard the noise of a motor in the distance. I turned to the direction where it was coming from. Sure enough, it was a silver and black bus sort of vehicle. Thank you, Jesus... I thought as I saw it approaching. I reached my arm out towards it, trying to get its attention. It was going pretty fast, so it didn't take long for it to slow down, put on its hazard lights, and pull over. My vision started to blur. Whoever's in that bus had better hurry up! I thought. I heard a window open on the bus, and I saw a blurry figure lean out the window. The same thing happened for a few of the other windows. A voice (I couldn't tell which one of the people leaning out the window it came from) called out in a friendly voice, "Hey, you need a lift?" I tried to roll my eyes, but my strength was quickly waning. I managed to reply, "Ya think...?" in a somewhat soft and extremely dry and scratchy voice before falling over to the side, landing in the sand. Well, at least that wasn't the road... I thought. I heard panicked voices come from the bus. I picked out a female voice with a British accent, and a few male voices, two of which had accents from some European country, one was American, and another was something else that I couldn't make out. I heard the door of the bus open and footsteps rushed towards me. A couple pairs of hands rolled my body onto my back. I think I blacked out then, but I don't know, because I remember feeling someone try to perform CPR on me for a couple seconds, or at least I thought that was the case... all I know is that I did black out. I knew that death could be a short time away from now.

My eyes opened. I moved my eyes around to see where I was. I was kind of surprised; this sure didn't look like a hospital... although there was the fairly strong smell of rubbing alcohol that every medical facility had, the seemingly metal walls were not what hospitals usually looked like. It's what laboratories looked like. I began to panic, and I got up off of the cot I was lying on. It was one of the more painful things I have done, but I wasn't really thinking about that at the moment. I reached to my back for my swords or my bow and arrow, but they were not there. "Well that wasn't too surprising..." I said to myself. I mean, come on, you think they want large metal objects strapped to your back while they're trying to revive you? I ran to the nearest door and pushed it open. The rest of whatever facility this was was the same as everywhere else: metal. Although the domed roof above me was what looked like either glass or Plexiglas. Well, at least this place is using natural light, I thought.
I looked around my nearest surroundings, and I found a rack. My swords and quiver of arrows were hanging from it. My bow was leaned against the wall. "Thank you, whoever put these here..." I said to myself as I ran to them to equip myself. As I finished strapping my sword scabbards and quiver of arrows to my back, I reached over to pick up my composite bow. As I stood up, I felt a presence behind me. Oh, no... I thought. I was sure I was caught now... Being caught in a laboratory that had you in one of it's medical rooms is almost never a good thing. I didn't have time to draw my swords, so I used another move that was more damaging than a punch; I grabbed one hand, bent my right elbow at about 30 degrees, and swung it back around me, hoping to smack someone in the side of the head. The person behind me was hit hard, but... it wasn't necessarily a person... it had a dog's head! Christ, this place is more insane than I thought... The dog-headed person's head was smacked to the side as it was hit by my elbow in the direction I was swinging to. The guy held his head like that for a moment, wide-eyed. "ow..." he said in a way that would be humorous had I not been afraid for my life, and then he fell backwards onto the ground, out cold. I crouched down examined the body to get an idea of what else I was to expect. It looked like a yellow lab's head put onto a human body with metallic light blue armor almost all over it. Well, it looked human until I noticed a tail sticking out of it's rear end. "Sorry, I don't like whatever they did to ya, but I don't want the same fate for me." I said in a somewhat fake reassuring voice, smiling. I patted the guy's shoulder, stood up, and began to run.
I didn't get further than about 2 feet until I noticed a line of three other bodies like the one I had hit, and another freakishly tall... something. Fortunately, that one was more afraid of me than I was of him, so I wouldn't have too much of a problem dealing with that one. I drew my swords and swung them around menacingly. I assumed my battle stance. "Step out of my way or you're gonna meet a similar fate to him!" I called out. One of the ones that had armor pulled out a small, but menacingly designed pistol. Another, who seemed to have the head of a Doberman, pulled out what looked like a mortar launcher. The third one, who I could tell by the armor design, was female, but that probably was deceiving to most of her enemies. I realized that the hard way, because she jumped into the air towards me with astonishing swiftness, and karate-kicked me in the head, and at the same time, I heard her battle cry. I fell down, out cold... again.
I came to some hours later. I was in the same room, but this time those people whom I had an encounter with were standing around my bed. "If you intend to kill me, then please spare me the pain and do it now..." I said weakly. "After vat you did to Hunter, I'd like to." said one of them. He had a heavy German accent and had the head of a Doberman. "But we can't. It is against code." returned another, the one who had pulled out the pistol. He had the head of a Siberian Husky, and spoke with a Russian accent. "You are prisoner for what you did," the Siberian Husky continued, "so we must question you before we let you go." Well, at least they'd find nothing wrong with my background, I don't think... I thought. "Look... let me say that I'm sorry for what I did to the Yellow Lab guy, um, I guess his name's Hunter..." I sighed. "I was in fear for my life. Waking up to find yourself in a laboratory with nobody around you is an especially scary and disturbing situation. I mean, healed or not, it puts images in your head, you know?" The female one who kicked me earlier, who had the head of some sort of Collie, laughed. "Blimey, we know that you've been watchin' too many movies!" she spoke, still laughing a bit. She had a noticeable, but not strong British accent. "Well, next time, we'll keep the doors locked when we take someone in for me'ical care," she continued. "That, my friend, would be a good idea." I said. "But ve still must ask you questions. If you vere vell enough to valk around like you vere, then follow us!" spoke the Doberman sternly. I was well enough to walk, but I just had one heck of a bruise on my head. I followed them out of the room and through their HQ. As we walked in silence, I decided to show some sympathy for what I did, since I really was sorry for attacking one of my rescuers, I wanted to make a point that I was truly sorry. "So... how is Hunter doing?" I asked. "'E'll be all right," said the Collie, "but 'e's got a bit o' a bruise on his 'ead." "Ts, like me..." I commented to myself. The Collie must have heard that and gave me an evil look. I lowered my head, showing remorse. We continued to what was probably their briefing room in silence. When we got there, they put me in a chair. "The Master will be in in few minute," said the Siberian Husky. They all walked to the door, and before they closed it, they gave me one a somewhat evil smile, but I disregarded it. They closed the door, and I heard a click sound, probably meaning that the door had locked. A few moments later a door in front of me opened up, with intense light coming through it. A dark figure with eye the same color as the intense light behind him walked through. He spoke in a voice that was somewhat calming, but otherwise trying to be neutral. "Greetings, stranger." he said. "What do you want from me? Who are those weird mutants you command? Who in the heck are you?" I demanded. The person laughed. "I want answers, to answer your first question, to answer your second one, they are not mutants. They have been morphed by an mechanized, but completely painless process, yes, but they are not genetic experiments gone wrong. They can be morphed back to their normal canine forms, so do not feel bad for them. To answer your last question, I am who they call 'The Master'." I tried to process this all as the "Master" said this. "OK, so then what are they for? Your personal bodyguards? Your army? Your pets, God forbid?" I asked erratically. The master sighed, this time annoyed rather than amused. "Please, do not be ridiculous," he said. "If they were to be my pets, I wouldn't have had them morphed. They are not my army, as there are only five of them. They could be my bodyguards should this place ever be invaded by enemy forces, but they are not just that. They are a crime-fighting force known as the Road Rovers. They stand for everything that you stand for: truth, justice, and order." My jaw dropped. "How do you know me?" I asked sternly. "When you were in our medical care, we scanned your iris patterns and compared it with INTERPOL and FBI files of known criminals, as a sort of preliminary background check. You did have a small criminal record of being accused, but acquitted of murder a couple times, but you were acquitted because it was for self-defense, were you not?" I sighed, "Yes, but it was self-defense. Don't judge me based on that." The Master laughed a bit. "Of course we wouldn't. But we were alarmed , however, when you knocked Hunter out cold, though, so that put us up on our guard. You seemed like a loose cannon." "I understand that," I said. "So, before we start going off on a tangent, let's just get to the questions you want to ask me. I can assure you you will not find anything wrong with my background." "We shall see," said the Master. "First off, do you know this person?" A huge screen in front of me, but surrounding the door lit up, showing a picture of some large muscular guy dressed in camo attire. "I do not, sir." I replied. The screen changed to a lie detector meter. It showed three different straight lines, and then the word "clear" flashed in large letters in front of that. "Have to make sure you're not lying." said the Master. "Your chair is fitted with lie detector equipment. Second question," he continued, "Does the name 'Parvo' mean anything to you?" "I heard it once... the news named him as a suspected terrorist leader, but I don't know what he looks like, or where he lives or anything..." I answered. The screen again showed a "clear" lie detector test. "Next question," continued the Master, "Do you, or do you not know any other connotation for the word 'Groomer'?" I made a confused look, as I was very confused by that. "You mean, other than for someone who takes care of a dog's fur? No." Again, a "clear" lie detector test.
I was asked a bunch of other extremely cryptic questions, which lasted a while. I gave a "clear" response to the lie detector every time. The Master guy told me someone else would ask me one final question. "Someone else?" I asked. "Why not you?" The Master replied, "It's complicated, but let's just say it would be more fitting for this person to say it." Then, the door clicked, unlocked. It opened, and a figure walked into the room. The Master exited the room and the door closed behind him. The lights came on. I stood up, gasping in shock. It was Hunter, the one that I knocked unconscious. I fell to my knees. "Christ, I am so sorry for what I did to you earlier! Please, will you accept my forgiveness?" I asked profusely, and somewhat desperately. Hunter chuckled a bit. "Hey, we can forgive an honest mistake like that every so often, man." he said in a friendly tone that was very sincere. "Well," I said, getting up, "I can assure you that the 'once in a while' part will be something you will not have to worry about any more with me." I stood upright, took the stance of a soldier at attention, and saluted Hunter. "If you wish for me to join you and your team in fighting crime and terrorism, I shall serve." Hunter smiled, and put a hand on my shoulder. "You took my question out of my mouth, man. Welcome to the pack!" he exclaimed. On cue, seemingly, the others in the blue armor came through the same door. They seemed happy. I lowered my hand to my side, and was at ease. "Please," I told them, "I do hope you can forgive me for what I did to him. Even he says it was an honest mistake." The Siberian Husky smiled, "Of course we can. Just so long you don't go kick one of us again like that." he said. I couldn't believe it. I had finally, in God knows how many years, felt at home.

I began stretching for the training exercise. The Road Rovers wanted to know what kind of capabilities I had. I did have good skills, but I still needed to be entirely prepared for whatever they were going to throw at me. I was mostly doing this in exchange for... let's just say, getting to know them in a more human fashion than what they were used to doing with each other. They have a habit of keeping most of their identities and skills secret until they know they can trust someone or until they run a background check on them. Most of the time, they do both before they can trust someone. Well... that, and a reason to go out in the field with them. I didn't really want to stay around the station simply making sure intruders didn't come in. Considering the fact that this place was hidden in the ruins of some old bombed-out laboratory, intruders probably weren't likely. I had to prove to them that I could do more than just sit around and guard a place that wasn't going to get invaded any time soon. I got my swords out and warmed up my hands and arms. A voice came on on the loudspeaker. It was the Master guy. "Are you ready?" he asked. I stood at attention. "Sir, yes sir!" I shouted. The Rovers walked up to me from behind a corner. "You sound a bi' over-confident..." said the Collie. I did some fancy moves with my swords, then took up a defensive posture. "I don't usually get over confident, actually." I said. "You want to fight me to find out?" The Collie laughed. "No' until I've seen ya fight the bad guys." she replied. "Follow us." ordered the Doberman. I sheathed my swords and walked behind them as they lead me to the room where I was to be tested. I spent the walking time testing out my bowstring to make sure it was tight enough.
We got to the room and a large door opened. It was a large, extremely rocky terrain, probably made artificially or from the bombed-out ruins that this compound was hidden under. "Velcomme to tha chamber of deaath." said the Doberman very menacingly. He was starting to remind me of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I didn't want to say anything about that. I walked forward, and then turned around. "Well, wish me luck." I told the Rovers. "I only do that because you haf potential..." said the Siberian Husky. "...according to Hunter." "Thank you." I said somewhat sarcastically. The Rovers grinned a bit, and the door closed behind me. The voice of the Master came over the loudspeakers. "You'll be attacking dummies of the enemies that we face on a regular basis. They are made of ballistics gel, so it will be similar to actually fighting them." "Yeah, except for the fact that they aren't moving..." I said. I heard a mechanized sound all around me. I drew my swords, and four ballistics gel models of helmeted people come up from the ground, looking like they held guns, and lasers came spewing from the guns. I ran for cover. I sheathed my swords and took out my bow and arrow. I knocked an arrow on the string, then looked around the rock for a moment long enough to aim and release the arrow. The arrow hit the ballistics gel dummy in the chest, and although it didn't fall, it ceased to spew out laser fire. I did the same thing for the rest of the dummies, and all lasers were silent. I heard the mechanized noise again, and looked out from the rock. Two dummies were in front of a sign that said "Get here without raising the alarm." Well, I could try firing two arrows at the same time, but that was too difficult for right now, and I didn't want to blow whatever chance I had. I decided to do a more stealthy, but up-close way of getting there. I pulled a cloak over my body, and silently ran over to another cover spot nearer to the dummies. I had to do that about two times before I was within striking range of my swords. I drew them, and then I jumped on top of my cover area, and then jumped down onto the two dummies, and drove one of my swords into one of them, let go of that sword, and then with both hands, hacked the other one in the chest with my other remaining sword. No alarm went off. I took my sword out of the first dummy. I wiped off some remaining ballistics gel on the blade with my cloak. It's not that bad... I thought to myself.
The testing continued with a bunch of stuff that required me cutting up a bunch of more ballistics gel dummies and some models of baby Godzilla-sized creatures that I guess the Road Rovers had already fought at some point, and a few things that required my bow and arrow. It lasted about three or four hours, and by the time I was finished, I was sweating, panting, tired, but still confident that I had done well. That was one Hell of a test! I thought as the door I had come in by opened. The Road Rovers walked in with very impressed looks on their faces. "Wow, man, a lot of us underestimated you, but you sure proved us wrong!" exclaimed Hunter. "Oi'd challenge you if you didn't have to use two swords all the time..." the Collie said coolly. "You were amazing! I give you big hug, OK?" exclaimed the Siberian Husky. He did give one heck of a hug... I almost stopped breathing! "Ay!" I yelled as he did so, "Thank you, thank you! I understand you were amazed at that!" He let me go. "I could have done thaaat..." remarked the Doberman. He put up his claws and they grew longer, and they appeared really sharp, probably razor sharp. "Well..." I said, "how about I challenge you to a demolition derby tomorrow? Hack up as much stuff as you can with your claws, and me with my swords in a time limit!" I suggested. The Doberman didn't answer, but I could tell he might be interested. Somehow, I had a feeling there was less to the Doberman than meets the eye, but I couldn't tell how I knew that.
We walked back into the lobby area. We all sat down, and I relaxed, and started up everything. "So," I began, "I'd like to get to know you better, so, I'd like to hear some names, please. I don't want to always be calling you by your breed names, and I don't want to seem like I'm singling out Hunter, either, since I only know his name. How about I start? My name is Kurt. I am from the United States, and I have German descent. My primary weapons of choice are, as you saw, my two longswords and my bow and arrow." I smiled and waited for a reply from someone. The Doberman was the first one to do so. "I am Blitz," he began, "I am from Germany, and back there I vas a guard dog for a car dealership. I had a record for the most biting of the soft parts of any intruders! You already know vat my veapon of choice is!" he exclaimed, holding out his razor sharp claws and flashing his teeth, which seemed to have a similar complexion. "Don't be a weird-boy in front of new guy. You scare him." said the Siberian Husky. He then turned to me. "I am Exile. I come from Russia. I have super strength, and I freeze things with my eyes, like this," he stared at a wall. His eyes turned blue, and then blue beams of light came out of them. The wall was frozen over in a matter of seconds. "And, I melt it." he continued. He did the same process, but his eyes turned red, and the ice melted. Exile sat down, and the Collie stood up. "Colleen's the name 'ere." she said. "I'm from London, and as you've noticed, I'm a martial arts master, and I've got quick agility. YAAA!" she exclaimed as she executed a couple consecutive karate kicks in lightning speed. Hunter stood up next to her. I sensed that they had some sort of feelings for each other, but if they did, they were trying not to be obvious about it. "Well, you already know my name," said Hunter, "so, I'll continue that I'm from the United States as well, and that I've got super speed!" He ran across the room and back so fast that he left a trail of fire behind him. Exile quickly extinguished the fire with his ice vision. "Wow..." I said, amazed at these abilities. "This is probably the most incredible group of crime fighters I've ever heard of!" I exclaimed. "Of course," Hunter added, "even super heroes need some equipment sometimes..." "Like what?" I asked. "Follow me." he said, waving at the others to do the same. We all followed Hunter into another room. He hit the lights, and I saw an arsenal of weapons. "I'd explain all of these, but that would take about... a year, so we'll just explain our favorite ones." Blitz and Hunter walked over to a particular weapon that they apparently had a favor of. Blitz came up first with a weapon off the rack that looked like a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. "Thees is the Tooshie-biting bouquet. It vill chomp at vatefer I fire at with steel jaaws!" he explained. I could tell he was really passionate about using that thing. He put that away and came up with a similar weapon. "Thees, is the spike-ball launcher." he explained. "Well, that sounds pretty self-explanatory, launches a spiked ball at whatever you want to..." I tried to figure out what it's purpose was. "...to knock down valls and gates and stuff." Blitz finished. He put it back and got out a menacingly designed pistol. "Thees is a powerful laser." he said. "I like to call it the 'Puppy Blaster'". "I can see why you call it that..." I mused. "I guess it's too dangerous to see what it can do... or is it?" Blitz smiled a bit, and pointed it at a wall, and fired. The laser made one heck of a hole in the wall. He walked back and put the pistol back where he got it. Hunter came up with what looked like a powerful grenade launcher. He held out a tennis ball. "Although this doesn't seem like much of ammo, it packs quite a punch!" he explained. He stuffed the ball into the front of the launcher, and said, "this is actually a gas bomb, and it releases sleeping gas to whoever it's fired at. I've also got a couple other tennis ball launchers, but they all perform basically the same function: to shoot tennis balls at high speeds." he concluded. He put the tennis ball launcher back and came back with a smaller version of that. "This is the same thing, it's just more portable." he explained.
Suddenly, the Master's voice came on the loudspeaker, calling for all of us to report to the briefing room. We all ran there as fast as we could. Once we got there, the Master was already standing before us. "Rovers, we've got a heavily armed robbery going underway in New Mexico. Terrorists are trying to steal Uranium that was buried underground since it's not good enough to be used in Nuclear power plants." The screen behind him showed news footage of the robbers. The appeared to be heavily armed with automatic weapons and mortar launchers. "These people appear to be General Parvo's military force, based on their armor and their weapons. They do have a convoy, so the best thing to begin with is to destroy their transports so they can't go anywhere with the Uranium unless they want to go on foot." he explained. "Sir, yes sir!" I shouted, standing at attention. The rest of the Rovers followed suit. "Then go out, and prevent any possible World War III that could come from this!" the Master exclaimed.
In the hangar, we had to split up, since each vehicle could only hold so many people at a time. "OK," said Hunter, "Blitz, Kurt, and I will take the Street Rover. Colleen, Shag, and Exile will take the Sky Rover. Let's hit the road, Rovers!" He exclaimed. I followed Blitz and Hunter into the Street Rover vehicle. It lacked the new car smell, since it was probably anything but new. We all got situated in the vehicle, and the doors closed. I then realized something. "Wait..." I said as Hunter started the engine, "you mentioned someone named 'Shag', who is that? I was never introduced to him..." "Oh, Shag?" said Hunter, "Well, let's just say two things: first, he doesn't wear armor, second, he's not the bravest soul you'll ever meet..." "And I aaaam!" exclaimed Blitz. "Ts, we'll see about that..." said Hunter sort of sarcastically. I wondered how Blitz could be faking any bravery. I mean, he did seem brave, but I'd just have to see him in action to see if that was for real or not. Hunter hit the gas pedal, and we sped out of the hangar. I was more excited than I ever was in my life. I was actually going on a crime-fighting mission with real super-powered crime fighters! Nothing could compare to this, and probably nothing could surpass it, either.

Part II

As Hunter, Blitz, and I entered the vast desert of New Mexico, we could all feel the sweltering heat of the sun glaring down on us. Even though were inside their fast ground vehicle, the Street Rover, the heat from the sunlight coming through the windows was unavoidable. Even though Hunter flipped on the A/C, you could still tell it was burning hot outside. I also finally found out why Hunter was being sarcastic about Blitz's bravery; he was complaining constantly about the heat. Although I think it's true that it never gets this hot in Germany, I did know that he shouldn't worry too much about it since he's got really short fur, unless his armor was making it worse.
"Blitz, stop that, would you?" demanded Hunter. "Seriously, Kurt walked through the desert for two days without food or water! Show him some respect!" "It's fine," I said. "Goes to show you that doing what I did when you guys found me was no walk in the park." "I'll say..." said Blitz. "Well, we'll need any heat stamina we have to get through today. I don't think the bad guys are gonna make sure we don't get heat exhaustion," said Hunter. "Well," I said, "once we've beaten them into the sand, we can always take their water supplies, can't we?" "Eh... try getting that past Colleen," remarked Hunter. I looked at him somewhat confused. "...She'll want it sterilized first!" he joked. We all burst out laughing. We stopped laughing very suddenly when the Street Rover hit something hard enough that it stopped instantly. Thank God the airbags worked... I thought. I took out a small pocket-knife I had in my pocket and cut out the airbags so that we could all get out. Once the airbags were deflated and we could all move freely, we looked at what we had just crashed into. We had just crashed into the enemy's convoy, consisting of military-grade Hummers. "Get out of the car! Now!" I shouted. Not only because we had just crashed into the bad guy's vehicles, but because I saw flames coming from the hood. We all opened the doors and ran out as fast as we could. Both the car and the enemy vehicle exploded in about 15 seconds, but fortunately we had everything we needed out of the car. "Hunter," I said, "radio the others. Tell them we've found the convoy." Hunter got out his headset communicator and put it on. "Exile, Colleen, we've found the convoy," he said into the headset. I could hear a muffled reply in the headphones, but not what was said. Hunter looked at Blitz and me. "Well, apparently they've already found it and they're engaging them right as we speak," he said. "Then let the biting of many backsides begin!" shouted Blitz. I gave him a strange look, but I took out my bow. "I second that, except I'm saying let the flying of sharp, pointy objects towards their targets begin!" I exclaimed. I was starting to realize that Blitz had a thing for biting bad guy's rear ends for some strange reason that I didn't really want to think about. Hunter nodded. "Let's go, then!" he shouted. Blitz got out his pistol which he called the "Puppy Blaster", and Hunter got out the tennis ball gas bomb launcher, and we all started running towards the coordinates that Exile and Colleen gave Hunter over the headsets.
Getting there, we saw that the Sky Rover was shot down and Exile, Colleen, and Shag were on foot. The majority of the convoy was clustered around here, so taking those out would be no problem, as blowing up one would get most of the others. Colleen was executing a bunch of martial arts skills on whoever dared to approach her in rapid and lightning fast succession. Most of them were knocked out, but there were probably more still taking out the Uranium from the underground chamber, and probably more still in the convoys. I took an arrow out of my quiver and knocked it. Two of the terrorists were attacking Colleen, one from behind, the other from the front. She seemed aware of the one in front, but not behind. I took aim and fired one at the one behind her. It hit him square in the neck, and he fell to the ground. Colleen, after knocking out the guy in front of her, turned around to face the one behind her, but found only his dead body. She looked at me as I ran up to her and Exile, firing arrows at more of the terrorists as they approached. "Thank you for tha'," Colleen said to me. "Any time," I replied. Exile was busy freezing more terrorists solid in blocks of ice. It was no wonder he didn't use weapons that much. He had all he needed in his eyes. Then it hit me. "Exile!" I called out to him. "Use your heat vision to destroy their convoys! They're immobile without them!" Exile nodded to me and attempted to do so, but was held back by the terrorists. "I'll cover for you!" I shouted. I ran and jumped into the middle of the action in front of Exile, swords drawn. I landed, and with one slash, I knocked over three of them, and caused three others to double over. The other three Exile had no problem freezing them solid. "Thanks," I told him. "No problem, it is duty," he replied, smiling. I smiled back a little. "I love the duty code you guys have!" I called out to the Rovers in general.
Exile climbed up the wreckage of the Sky Rover and took a sheltered spot in it and began to use his heat vision on the convoys. I covered for him, like I said I would. I had to use a makeshift shield made from some scrap pieces of metal from the Sky Rover when the terrorists began opening fire on us with their automatic weapons. Fortunately, they didn't see Exile up in the wreckage of the Sky Rover heating their vehicles with his heat vision. "Hunter! Blitz! A little help here!" I called out to them from behind the shield. I knew that they had weapons that could help with these guys. Sure enough, laser fire from Blitz's Puppy Blaster came slicing through their lines. Some of them dropped their weapons and ran, others were hit by the laser fire and fell where they were, but others turned their fire onto Blitz and Hunter. Hunter launched his sleeping gas bomb tennis ball a few times, which was able to sedate almost all of them. I ran out from my shield, and cut down all who were still standing. I looked at Hunter and Blitz. Hunter walked over and examined what damage I did. "Well, there goes our G rating..." he said. I rolled my eyes. "You should have considered that when I was in the training room..." I replied. "But no matter, we've still got to make sure the convoys are destroyed..." but, as if on cue, there was a series of explosions. I turned around, and all of the terrorist's Hummers were exploding, one after another like a set of dominoes falling onto each other. The convoy apparently circled the attack zone. The explosions stopped at about the place where the Street Rover hit one of the convoys. Exile jumped down from the wrecked Sky Rover and ran over to us. "Well," said Hunter, "that worked out well." Colleen and Blitz ran over after Exile. "Although," I said, "We need to get rid of the ones that are underground taking the Uranium. They're probably down there right now waiting for the fighting to stop, which it did..." I noted looking around. "Then let's get down there and let the biting of the soft backsides begin!" exclaimed Blitz, getting out his grenade launcher that launches a steel ball with metal jaws attached to it. "Well... that thing will sure cut out most of our work..." I commented. "Then wha' are we waitin' for?" asked Colleen. "Le's get down there and era'icate them!" "You have agreement with me." said Exile. "My agreement there." Hunter and I said at the same time. "Wait..." I said, "Where's that Shag guy?" Then the large, moppy-looking bipedal dog that I had seen earlier came out from his hiding spot. "You were right about him..." I whispered to Hunter. "Not the bravest one you'll ever meet..."
We all gathered together and ran down to the underground storage area where the Uranium was. Sure enough, there were more terrorists down there guarding the entrance and taking out the Uranium. "I'm second-guessing if this is a good idea..." I said. "I mean, Uranium is radioactive, isn't it?" The Rovers looked at me. "I mean... don't we need radioactive protection suits for this?" I looked down to where the looting of the Uranium was taking place. The terrorists weren't wearing any of those things because apparently the Uranium was being stored in huge metal containers that were resistant to corrosion. "Never mind..." I said. "Let's move, then." said Hunter quietly. I nodded. I took out my composite bow and pulled back an arrow, and fired at the ones guarding the entrance. It hit one in the neck and he fell silently. Colleen jumped to the side of a wall, pushed off of it, and landed a swift kick in the head on the other one. That one fell to the ground as well. We sneaked in through the entrance. We came across a terrorist that had his back facing us. I got close to him, put a hand over his mouth, and drove my sword through him. I let him fall once I stopped hearing his muffled scream. I made a gesture to the others that looked like I was loading a gun, meaning that they should be locked and loaded for this. Blitz held up his weapon he got out earlier, and Hunter got out another weapon that looked like a rocket launcher, but he loaded another tennis ball-like object into it. I held up my hand with three fingers up. I counted down with them. Three... two... one... I motioned forward. Hunter fired his weapon, and the tennis ball emitted a rope, and the rope went swinging around a somewhat large cluster of the terrorists , and eventually tied them together very tightly. They were all in panic, but they couldn't do anything about it.
The rest that did not get tied up in the rope pointed their guns at us. Blitz grinned and fired his weapon of choice on them. The metal ball with large steel jaws came out and began chomping away, and following one of them. Colleen, Exile and I ran after the others. Blitz put away his weapon and did the same, and flashed his claws menacingly. I ran after two of them, and cornered them. They turned their guns at me, but before they could fire, I knocked the guns out of their hands with my swords, causing their hands to bleed. One of them put their hands up to surrender, the other one threw a punch at me. I ducked out of the way, and drove one of my swords up at him. It went through his gut, and he fell. I sheathed one sword, grabbed the one surrendering, and held the other sword at his neck. "This way..." I said. I walked him over to Hunter. "We could use some handcuffs here." I said. Hunter nodded and pulled out a pair that seemed to be designed for the Road Rovers, as it had their insignia on it. He cuffed the guy and held him. I watched the others follow through with taking out the rest of the terrorists. Blitz was able to use his claws and slice their guns down to almost nothing as they were pointed at him. When that happened, they dropped what was left of their weapons and held their hands up. Exile was chasing three of them. As he cornered them, they turned and tried to open fire on him, but Exile was quick to use his ice vision and freeze the barrels of their guns shut. They tried to fire anyway, but it only caused the guns to backfire and make a small explosion right next to their faces. They all fell unconscious. Colleen chased after two guys who also attempted to open fire on her, but she was too agile for their trigger fingers to react, kicking one upside the head, and executing an uppercut punch on the other in rapid succession, so fast that it almost seemed like she was doing it at the same time! They slumped to the ground, out cold.

Blitz came back over to Hunter and me holding his prisoners at the points of his claws. Exile carried the two unconscious terrorists over his shoulders, and Colleen dragged the ones she knocked out cold by their feet. Hunter got out a couple handcuffs for Blitz's prisoners, and Blitz cuffed both of them. "Well," said Colleen, "You think 'e shou' call the police?" she asked. "She does have a point..." I said, "I mean, they're the ones who take scumbags like these guys to jail, right?" "Of course," said Hunter. "We simply leave them unconscious or handcuffed outside until the police arrive," he said. "Sounds like a plan to me!" I replied. So, we went outside to the entrance to the underground chamber and sure enough, the police were already there. "We've got some people you should take in, but you'll need back-up..." I said. We brought out the ones we'd handcuffed and the ones that Hunter tied up with the lasso launcher thing. Well, every one of the police cars were taken up by the time all of the ones that were still conscious were put away. They had to bring back a few more to take in the ones we'd knocked unconscious, and the ones that I cut down were loaded into ambulances. Soon enough, the battlefield was clear. The police informed us that SWAT teams had neutralized all other resistors and their vehicles were disabled. "To the power of the pack!" exclaimed Hunter. Then all the Road Rovers began to join into a howl. I simply drew my sword and raised it to the sky in triumph. I was far too amazed with the fact that I had made a difference to speak. As the howl subsided, I lowered my sword and sheathed it.
After repairing the Sky Rover enough so it could fly back to base, we flew back there. There, we docked the ship in the hangar and walked back into the briefing room. There, the Master was waiting for us. Even though his eyes were the same color as the almost blinding light behind him, I could tell that he was pleased. "You have done well, Rovers. You are all very good dogs. And Kurt," he said, turning to me, "how could we ever thank you for helping us out? You did realize you might not have come back from that alive, right?" he asked. I nodded. "I did know that. I went out because I didn't really have much to live for, but now I do. I think that allowing me to remain on your team is good enough a reward for me, sir." I said. The Master smiled. "Then you will. I hope you enjoy being with us and continuing to fight crime as the only human member of the Road Rovers," he explained calmly. I smiled. "Thank you, sir," I said.
We left the briefing room, and I was hailed amidst many compliments, and many "Welcome to the pack!" comments and such. I was glad that I was welcomed so warmly. I had proved that I was worth something in this field. I finally belonged somewhere. I finally had a place to call "home."