Chapter 2: Botched Rescue
In a flurry of activities, Charlie sped out of Zootopia on his motorcycle to the outskirts of town at Bunnyburrows. His bike was a rather futuristic sci-fi like vehicle with no wheels under it save for a round anti gravity field underneath the chassis.
The vehicle's headlight was an IR blue colored beam that aided his vision at night out in the open road while his HUD synced with the vehicle's own to manage the speed, direction and balance of it.
The momentum was overwhelmingly fast as he came towards the bunker of Canyon and Hunter, the coyotes he met and worked with at the Hopps Family Farm. Arriving at the entrance of the place, he spun the bike around into a perfect parking spot outside their door.
"Good show there o' boy, keep this up and I'll hand you a treat." Said Alfred the AI as he levitated out of Charlie's rucksack, and activated the vehicle's optical camouflage system, hiding it from sight for the most part.
"I sent a message to Logan to inform of the situation. In any case he'll contact Anubis as soon as he gets it." The AI stated to Charlie who in turn nodded at him and sighed out. "Just can't believe this is happening to Earl of all mammals. Anyway better get some weapons and ammo before moving out." Said Charlie as he knocked on the door of the premises to let the coyotes know he was there.
The first thing Charlie received as a response for knocking on the door was the sound of Earl grumbling inside of the concrete bunker. It sounded like on the inside of the place was thrashing of bottles, and metal objects. The usual odd redneck type stuff the coyotes were known for by now.
Of course on the inside of the fallout bunker Canyon stood up after having fallen asleep on a couch near the left side of the entrance by a door. "Shit! Shit! Hang on man! I'm coming!" Canyon shouted. The sounds inside of the bunker of course were his feet kicking some empty bean and soup cans out of the way as he stumbled around. On the tv just ahead of the couch was planing what appeared to be a game of football. Or at least the highlights of a game that occurred earlier as the slow motion replays of mammals tackling each other depicted.
After finding his groundings Canyon stumbled to the front door of the bunker and unlocked five different locks. Each time he unlocked one of the locks his head would slide down in an exhaustive manner before he would reach back up feeling his moments heavy and uncoordinated. "Hang on! Just hang on I'm! I'm very tisp right now!" Hunter yelled from inside of the bunker just behind the heavy metal door. Finally he opened it up and saw Charlie standing at the front. Canyon stretched his lips bak in a smile having it been a while since they have seen Charlie at all. "Hey man! What's, uh, what's new with you today?" Hunter asked. Charlie saw Canyon's right eye was half closed in an uncoordinated quint while the other seems to be drooping as if tired. "You guys really know how to come at late night when everyone should be asleep man." Canyon said slurred and drunk. Each word stumbling out of his uncoordinated mouth.
Charlie sighed out still being rather sober and wide awake. Perhaps too awake and calm despite the dangers and urgency of the situation. "Long story short, we have a problem. Two weeks ago Logan's uncle Earl went on a cruise trip vacation to rest a bullet wound he got in Turkey. But 15 hours ago the ship went off the grid in a sudden and by the time I got traces of it again, Earl said something happened to him and the ship." Said Charlie in a hasty and somewhat concerned manner.
The AI Alfred bobbed his spherical body next to Charlie to let the two coyotes know that he was serious in his statements. "That's right, I think he may have been molested and turned into a robot onboard. How did this happen I don't know yet. But right now Charlie could use some guns you have in here." The AI summarized with a more panic induced tone than Charlie showing that he might indeed have an idea of who and what was onboard the cruise ship. Charlie nodded to them both before going inside the bunker with Canyon and head down the stairs to meet with Hunter. "Hey Hunt." Said Charlie in a casual manner before looking for the weapons on the rack of the place for something he could use.
Hunter looked back at Charlie and tilted his head up once in a quick greeting gesture to him before he turned back to his massive weapons storage. They had a tan wooden board with drilled circular holes on them to have some hooks hold the weapons up for display purposes.
On the display they had many kinds of weapons that would make the most well stocked of gun enthusiasts drool. On the top right of the board display they had pistols ranging from smaller Cat M1911, IMI Desert Eagles, average Glocks, all the way to a stash of revolvers on the bottom of the pistol display. The range of revolvers ranged from classic .357 single action revolvers that made them look like cowboys, .S&W Model 10 to 29, and even went to exotic looking BFR .45-70 revolver that was chromed out and shiny. This particular one had Hunter's initials scribed in as scratch marks.
However, there was still the odd amount of assault rifles that were lined up on the wall. However, due to their special contacts the coyotes have acquired a nice supply stash of fully automatic rifles from AKMs to M16 styled weapons. They didn't however appear to have any bullpup rifles. Rather to keep with their redneck style they had on the wall bolt action scoped rifle, and even lever action repeater rifles.
To the left of the massive supply of weapons they had a wooden board dedicated for reloading spent bullets and had a brass tumbler on it of an upside down dome shape. To the left of this though was a blue colored metal cabinet with a gleaming clean glass display that showed what appeared to be 12 gauge double barrel shotgun. More specifically it was a Beretta 471 Silver hawk, and with it a box of Nitro Express rounds. Among other items were the metal grey sleeves filled with ammo and grenade boxes and additional weapon on the shelves such as LMGs and grenade launchers. They were fully stocked clearly.
"Jeez you guys think this much firepower is needed for the end of the world?" Charlie asked in shock while looking at the amount of weapons on display before him. He felt not only a sudden rise in flabbergasting but also a rise in absolute confoundment seeing that the coyotes themselves had stocks of military grade weapons for war against some sort of perceived threat.
Only that such threat only rose up on specific occasions. "Whatever, I'll take only what I need, one pistol for personal defense, one assault rifle for general situation and that's about it." Said the robot arctic wolf as he went to the shelves and racks picking out his weapons type.
Charlie's paw reached for the classic AKM of the Izhmash's fame Mikhail Kalashnikot. Although he never had actual military training before, his robot body and augmented brains allow him to inspect the weapon's functions, parts and condition for rust as well as other kinds of possible defects to look out for like lack of grease, or need out of service dud rounds.
"This will do, Ratssians never fail in weapons durability." He quipped before gently giving the bolt of the AK a cock, generating its signature clicking and grinding sound that sends fear shivering down his enemies spines. Or in this case, simply a boner crawling up the coyotes while he packed his ammo counts. 4 magazines in total for his AK with one already attached, his pistol, the Cat.45 had an additional 3 magazines in reserve.
"Not much room on my body to haul ammo and weapons. Since I gotta make rooms for other gadgets as well. If you guys need me, I'll be at the museum catching my plan to get out to the Caribbean Sea and intercept the cruise ship." The robot arctic wolf calmly instructed before heading out of the bunker.
Not before bidding a "Thank you" and "Good bye" to the two coyotes. "You know Charlie I could modify those weapons to fit with you onboard that ship. Mainly the idea is that you could take on possible robots there." Said Alfred as he levitated with Charlie out to his motorcycle before going back into his rucksack hanging on the side of the bike.
"We'll see about that when we get there Al. I have a bad feeling for Earl's well being." Said Charlie as he tied up his helmet and hit the ignition of the bike. A mechanical high pitched humming sound was heard as the vehicle levitated off the ground using its anti gravity function before quickly speeding away back to the museum. Along the way Charlie expect two things, either a phone call by Logan via their cyber comms or the coyotes following him.
Too not much surprise the dark of the night was not enough to hide the coyote's 1956 Ford F-100 pickup. Due to the nanites modifying and repairing the truck from its former rusted state it now shone in the night well with a glossy black paint job that gave it away. The truck's paint job reflected the orange colored street light of the night, but even then he could see hunter at the wheel being the sober one due to the faint glow of the dashboard instruments making Hunter's face glow red almost. Charlie by now knew that if the coyotes were following him then they were there to help. Only they helped usually with explosives and guns.
As they speed their ways into the mammal metropolis of Zootopia, the hard part was sneaking in without being stopped for gun search as the city banned weapons of all types. Thankfully, the busy traffic of Zootopia along with the busy nightlife of town with various posters and advertisements on display made the job easier as the police were still busy going about their usual duties and researching applications for their Robot members. Soon enough, Charlie arrived at the museum of the city along with the coyotes.
Their truck was directed to the rear loading area of the building by a Jackal warrior dressed in modern SWAT uniform with an Anubis silhouette painted in white on his chest plate. "Come on guys, down the stairs the hideout is just there for us." Said Charlie as he ran down the staircases of the museum's basement entrance with the coyotes.
They soon arrived at the hideout of Anubis manned by a few other Jackals, souls of the dead essentially they occasionally morphed back into their original form and continued their routines keeping the high tech lair operational day after day.
In the middle of the lair was Anubis standing watch over the large theater level monitor of the cruise ship Tartarus still laden at sea with the two Coast Guards frigates heading towards it. "Good thing that you came back with help. I'm still trying to make contact with Earl but...without anyone with intimate knowledge of Cyber Comms like yours helping him, we're having a hard time." Said Anubis with a disgruntled sigh as he sat down by the commander's chair in the office.
"There you are! You sexy hunk bot!" Screech a familiar gravelly voice as a raccoon quickly pounced on Charlie's chest and dug his furry face into his metal breastplates. "FINALLY! I have you to thank for letting my ass being bought up by some fancy Jackal and my technical genius being put to good use...of researching you.~" Rodney the Raccoon crooned creepily to Charlie. "Ummm...ew stop it Rodney. I'm just glad that you...have a good time for yourself here but not the time to be pervy to me at the moment. Where's Logan by the way?" The robot arctic wolf asked looking around for Logan just in case he might have come here before Charlie returned with the coyotes.
Logan finally arrived however on the outside of the Museum in a Dodge challenger of a blue color. The car was not as well waxed or as shiny as the truck the Coyotes had which was a big surprise. However, the car sped into the parking lot in the front with enough speed it drifted for a split second causing the back tires to screech loudly and give off a small ploom of smoke. Logan the exited the car quickly wearing his police uniform and armed with a single 9mm pistol.
However, Logan's face was full of anxiety and disbelief as he knew what had happened with Earl. The only issue now was he refused to believe any of what he had heard as he tried to block the images of his uncle being used out of his mind. Quickly he ran into the museum at stunning speed to meet up with Charlie he coyotes and Anubis of course. "Is it true!?" Logan questioned as he go into the museum. His focus was on Anubis. The coyotes nodded, but were just as uninformed as Logan. "Well is it!?" Logan shouted again in a way that meant he demanded some answers.
Anubis looked to Logan and sighed out as he stood up from the commander's chair. "I fear it is true. But I dare not speak of it in details for your sake. First thing first, make contact with Earl. To do that, Charlie needs to be parachuted into the water near the ship and board it, my men can secure transport and insertion methods for that. However once onboard, expect everything." Said Anubis with a calm and stoic tone, trying not to give in to emotional outbursts that might complicate the situations any further.
Charlie sighed out out and padded Logan's back while Rodney scurried over to Logan and nudged his leg with the raccoon's elbow. "Listen pal, I know you're forced to be a robot hunk, but if you need to pound your abuser, I'm right behind you." Said Rodney with a wink. Perhaps even the erratic and perverted raccoon had a sensibility for others. "Well I'm armed now just need time to modify the guns and ammos then I'll be off to the ship." Said Charlie as he carried the weapons to the workshop area of the lair with Alfred and Rodney to begin work on their loadouts to make sure that he was well armed and ready for ordeals onboard the ship knowing that the enemies might be robots if the perpetrator was the same one from before.
[hr]
Within the glittering and sparkling walls of the Casino Royale, Herakles, Earl and Monty were sitting by a casino table going over a plan for their own escape from the doomed ship. The atmosphere was tense with Monty tossing his fancy suit aside and wear only his polo shirt due to the temperature of the ship's deck. The goat himself was apparently teetering on the edge of madness being the only organic left in the room, Herakles projected a holographic map of the ship from his palm to help Earl and Monty decide what to do next for their well beings onboard the captainless ship. "Interrogative Unit 591, what is our priority and needs at the moment? The first most notable demands for me is the need of repair tools and makeshift repair station along with supply for ammos." Said the orca robot sitting next to Earl.
Earl for the moment sat down with his back resting firmly against the seat in the casino. He held his now robotic head back against his hands. He moved both of his shoulders up in a shrug. Ever since he was raped and turned into a robot he had trouble coming up with ideas for himself. It was made difficult for him just due to the fact he was now in someone else's domain. Their spider's web. Thinking fo the the proper move to make got him believing he would only play along with whoever's trap this is. "Gee. First off some weapons. That's always important if we are going to get out of here. No way whoever this is, is just going to let us walk out of here…" Earl explained before hunching his body forward by bending his back forwards.
Lloyd nodded to Earl as he focused his attention to the shopping area above the ship's casino area and the passenger cabins. "You know first we need to haul some supplies and containers first if we get out of here. Food, water and medkits and hygienes shits. I'd say we snoop around the shopping area and gather some personal belongings from the cabins first as well just in case." Said Monty as he pointed his hoof to the cabin of the ship and the adjacent shopping area and central park decks that the cabins overlook.
"Recommendation of weapons acquisition: salvage from deactivated hostiles and repurpose for personal usages. Additional recommendation, salvage communication and navigation equipment for further coordination." Said Herakles as he remained robotic in tone but thoughtful in his mind as he rationalize the supplies and specific equipment needed for their survival out on the high seas. The orca robot rotated his head to Earl and gave him an almost lifeless stare if it weren't for the fact that orca robot might have been intending to ask Earl for some advices on further coordinations and focuses. "Unit 591, do you require salvage assistance and advices when we head out?"
Earl quickly nodded his head to Herakles in agreement thinking that so far Heracles has been helpful enough to warrant being brought along. Not only that, but Herakles to Earl was muscular enough to carry object Earl himself could not. Earl also viewed the muscles as a good way to have some fighting done thinking that a punch form the orca-bot would be devastating. "Yeah sure. Come along if you want. Monty I think you should stay put and hide here since they haven't come for us yet. Better than leaving and then needing to dodge some bullets." Earl recommended.
Lloyd of course nodded to Earl as he couldn't find anyway to argue with the elderly wolf robot that was essentially his colleague at work. "Well alright I think I can work with that. Good luck out there you two." Said Lloyd with a nervous jittering mouth as he waved the two off. Herakles went outside first before followed by Earl out of the casino. Monty dragged the barricade back into place and shield the entrance tight before sitting down on the couch. The orca bot on the other hand was the first to make his move up to the shopping floor to take point for Earl, "Recommendation: Personal belongings are to be taken first before the salvaging of organic bare necessity." Said the orca robot as he went up the stairs with Earl following closely, they came to the shopping area of the ship where they saw a rather large and impressively hulking robot walking about.
Strangely enough, it was reptilian in design with mechanical legs arched forward by the knees and a set of dorsal plates on its back that can be folded down if need be. The reptilian bot has a sleek frame almost like an aircraft with gun metal black armor. In its hands, it was seen holding what can be amounted to a plasma shotgun with a automated targeting module attached on top. "Demonstration mode: Watch and learn." Said Herakles as he made a running start pummeling the reptilian robot into the ground and drove his massive dual blades arm into the head casing of the robot. Its deactivation was swift and certain leaving a lifeless carcass behind for Earl to salvage. "Unit 591, each of us has a set of automated tendril that allows us to salvage components and weapons from enemy combatants by simply holding our utility left hand over them. Your HUD will show you a list of selections you can choose from." Said Herakles as he stood aside for Earl to begin his salvage.
Earl cocked his head slightly, but rather than remaining curious he made a stern frown to the statement made by Herakles. Earl looked to his right hand which to him was his most dominant hand by far. "Uh… So I have those little squigglers inside of my body?..." Earl asked in a suspicious tone. He sighed annoyed having to live like this. It felt so off putting to him, and so abnormal to live like a machine.
He held his hand out to the robot that was just downed by Herakles and as previously stated Earl's hand split open in five different panel lines that ran perpendicular with his fingers. His robotic thumb lowered and then tilted to the right while each of his four fingers extended outwards by stretching thanks to the wires. However as they stretched the armored panels stayed unchanged making the wire gaps longer.
His forearm then split open into three different panels sections and then extended outwards giving Earl a view of his body's inner workings. He saw inside of his hand and arm were black colored wires, and chrome colored pistons as well as various tiny lights inside of his arm. However he began to see tendrils move out of the palm of his now split open hand and were able to move around more freely due to his arm splitting open. The end of each tendril opened up after the tips of them split open to reveal different types of tools ranging from scissors, solter irons, tweezers, screws, scalpels and other types of instruments.
The scene was like a thousand worms or tiny serpents crawling into the body of the downed robot, they began to dismantle parts of the components of the robot's body, Earl's HUD show him that he can now integrate working components such as an advanced targeting module for his weapons to quickly and automatically lock on moving targets. There were also options for him to upgrade his own communication assets with Herakles, another option for him was that he could use an upgrade for his motor functions giving him better jumps and agility.
As he accessed the reptilian robot's components and memory hard drives, he saw that the bots were assembled inside the ship's hull, underneath the entertainment deck of the ship along with Herakles. His entire body was taken apart first during boarding and loading, then finally reassembled inside the production facility of the vessel and put on Standby mode. He also saw that the reptilian robot's design wasn't from this world, it came from another, a different world where giant monsters rampage the Earth with strange creatures walking on two legs with universal appearance of being relatively hairless animals in clothing and shoes fighting one another and the monsters as well.
The information overload caused Earl's head to ache slightly in a headache. Each time it felt like his heart beat full of nanties a wave of slight pain would wave over the top of his head. He looked to the odd information perplexed by this different world. The mammals he saw confused him just by their lack of fur, and how each one were some part of a singular species rather than having multiple species. Worst still was the descriptions of monsters rampaging. "Oh god Logan would love this…" Earl said to himself.
He then looked back to the angular looking robot's limp partly destroyed body and then used his tendrils to lift away the crucial upgrades he need to function properly. Not only that he knew these upgrades would allow him to be a more formidable adversary now. The first thing he did was confiscate the robot's weapon before selecting for his tendrils to assign him the allowed upgrades. Doing this though he shut his eyes tightly expecting for the upgrade process to force him to have the orgasmic jolts again just as before. "Here goes…" Earl said.
True to his concerns, as the process took place he felt his body being stimulated by sensation of pleasure and orgasm as the tendrils moved the components into his chest and assembled them into place one at a time. While closing his eyes to be spared of the pain and rather embarrassing process, his HUD streamed in various pop ups and notifications that he his system was being upgraded and modified by the components he took in. Once the process was done and his armor panels reassembled into place he can feel his legs being much more energetic and agile while his perception and ability to lock on target has been increased by tenfold.
"Alert, incoming transmission of the Coast Guards. Detected two patrol frigates approaching at 30 knots, possible boarding actions will follow." Herakles informed Earl while having his right hand placed on the right audio receptor unit on his head. The tuning of the audio and radio broadcasts soon found the Coast Guard's channel informing the laden ship that was steaming ashore. "This is the Coast Guard of the United States of Americlaw, State of Florida. You are to slow down and allow us to board and search your ship!" Said the broadcaster on the frigate. However, after 5 minutes of broadcast with no replies from the cruise ship, the broadcaster turned to his captain the Fennec fox named Reynards. "Sir they're not responding sir, sounds like we'll have to board and search them." Said the mouse radio operator.
Reynards growled in a mild gruff voice that sounded more like a disappointed groan. "Great…" He complained while see the ship was in a direct path to slam into Miami. The Tartarus was large enough to wipe out an entire dock, or take out part of a harbor. Reynard began thinking about the destruction that would unfold such as destroyed warehouses made up of twisted metal and concrete while an shipping containers would be thrown like toy blocks, or crushed. "Why do we have to go this route? Can't just shoot it out of the water. There are too many passengers. I call for boarding! Get on it. Search these bastards out and then give em the bad news they aren't the captain of the ship anymore. That's an order go!" Reynards commanded impatiently.
The frigate under Reynards command quickly entered its boarding mode as the ship went close to the cruise ship preparing to board the vessel with the helicopter shaped like a dragonfly warming up its engine with a team of boarding crew in its passenger compartment. The helo took off from the helipad of the ship and flew over to the front of the cruise ship's bowl and began to hover over the helipad with a rope tossed down, letting the boarding crew to fast rope down on the ship's deck. A lion, a fox, a buffalo, a ram, a bunny cadet, a horse one by one roped down from the helo then followed by other members of their unit. "Sir, boarding team is now onboard, ready to go." Said the pilot as he loitered his bird around the ship to get a view of the vessel's conditions. He saw various signs of carnage on the decks with the passengers dead strewn across the place, what caught his attention the most were the roaming patrols of deadly combat bots that came right out of a sci-fi movie.
The violence that the ship held seems to give no mercy for the minds and eyes of the boarding team. As they moved more into the ship Reynards had a relatively decent view of the ship himself from the team's mounted cameras and the helos streaming video coverage to Reynards.
The team's pointman was identified with a patch that was labeled "Williams." He was the lion here for the mission, but was one of the younger members of the team. Looking at the carnage he grimaced in dread. "Yeah this is not a ransom hostage thing. Who ever this was, was a chaos agent or something! Terrorists… And they aren't done et. This ship is on a one way trip for Miceami!" Williams shouted.
The carnage of course did not end with simply the deck's massacres, the boarding team would see that in the lower deck of the ship, there were a pair of robots moving around the place, one wolf and one orca. The strangest thing about them was their physical appearances, with the orca, they saw an overly masculine figure with oily rolled up muscles and bristling with weapons. The wolf they saw a thinner but still athletic model walking about taking point for the orca as they make their way up to the passenger's cabin. "Warning, area is contaminated by toxic nerve agents released via the ventilation system. Hazard is deemed non lethal to us, however may pose a contamination risk for organic Lloyd "Monty" Grazerson." Said Herakles as he scanned the corridors of the passenger's cabin for Earl.
"Well that ain't going to stop us now. Monty sure, but not us." Earl boasted. Despite his confident boast he was still hesitant to move into the nerve gas. The prospect of running into the danger head on made him still hesitant to actually move into the passengers area. He sighed one final time in his normally gruff voice before taking steps into the nerve gas cloud. The cloud itself seemed to only mess with his vision as it appeared as a pale colored thin mist with a small hint of a yellow tint. Of course the thing he complained about was the foul stench the mist gave off. "Smells like bitterness and hate." Earl quipped seeming to reference the persona responsible for all of this.
Williams the lion watched the orca and wolf move into the mist and shook his head out confused. "What the hell are terrorists?... We just came across something i'm not sure we are qualified for. I don't think fighting robots was in the job application." Williams joked as he led the team to follow Earl and Herakles until the nerve gas blocked them completely.
Inside the passenger's cabin Herakles first made attempt to breach the door of Lloyd's cabin, he raised his rather large right foot up and kicked the door down flying right through the window of the cabin. "Apologies, my power output was not adjusted correctly for application on the door frame." Said Herakles as he ducked behind the frame that was too large for him to go through. Waiting for Earl to finish clearing through the room. The first thing Earl did was secure the laptop of Lloyd, some clothing, phone, essentials for hygiene and so on. The process was then repeated inside Earl's own cabin as he gathered his personal supplies and belongings into backpacks and luggages that remained undisturbed despite the recent turn of events.
"Alert detecting additional life forms to our six o'clock. Possible Coast Guard boarding unit. Hostility assessment: unknown, possibly increasing." Said Herakles as he swiveled his body to the direction where the boarding team was coming from while holding his weapon, a large plasma bolt cannon with a circular smoothbore barrel and holographic targeting module on the top rail. His targeting reticle moved to lock on the members of the boarding team one by one, though he could not identify the identity of each individual members, he can tell they were nervous and perceiving hostiles of him and Earl by their facial expressions.
However, hearing the news that rescue had arrived did not give any kind of joy to Earl. Rather it sent him into an urgent state of mind to stay clear of the coast guard that were aboard the ship now. He saw Herakles pointing his weapon towards the various men traveling the ship, and then he was just a trigger pull away from taking someone's life. As such Earl rushed over to Herakles and quickly smacked the gun he was holding so that he would point the barrel of the gun towards the ground. "No! Come on let's get outta here!" Earl shouted. He turned around and lead Herakles with him. He looked back quickly to Herakles, and made an exhausted look to him. "Okay. Once we lose these guys I'm gonna tell you some new… Erhm… Parameters? Is that a word you say a lot?" Earl said referencing how robotic Herakles is.
"Ehhh...affirmative Unit 591. Command confirmed." Said Herakles sounding rather confused for the first time ever in a while, seeing that he was given an order not to engage with the Coast Guard boarding team. However, they weren't left untouched at the moment as a pair of reindeer robots were watching from the Central Park deck nearby. Each one of them was armed with a pulse cannon that can tear through the ship's hull or even disintegrate an organic target completely. The two charged up their weapons with their cyan HUD aiming at the robots on the cabin area, they adjusted their blast to that of the supporting structures below the floor they were on and fired. The two beams ripped through the beams supporting the floors and caused a cave in for Earl and Herakles, the two fell down one floor at a time with their luggage still in hand. Eventually landing on the Central Park ground floor area just in front of the two robot deer.
"Rogue Robot Units detected, proceed to subdude and reprogram." Said one of the reindeer robot. Earl and Herakles saw the two reindeers, one with light cyan chrome frame with matching cyan optics. Earl's HUD would lock on it and ran diagnostic, showing it to be "Long Range Combat Application Model HT-08 Unit 563 Designation 'Paz'". The other reindeer, a crimson chrome colored robot with amber optics was "Unit 564 'Galitz'". The eye and the finger, a tag team of killers ready to do the bidding of the dungeon master. "Now that you've met my hunters, perhaps you could play a game with them if you like, be warned if they win, the result might be...raunchy." Said the female robot voice over the P.A system of the ship with more snarks in her tone than before.
Earl looked up and tilted his ears around hearing the voice come out of the comm system. However, the voice only seemed to annoy him further rather than threatening him. "I've already been raped! What fucking more could you want!?" Earl shouted demanding answers. He looked back at the robo reindeers and pulled his pistol out of his thigh compartment. He pointed it towards the crimson colored reindeer bot and pulled the trigger aiming for Galitz's torso and center mass. Earl expected for the vital machinery and components to be somewhere in its chest.
As he did so, the Reindeer made an acrobatic backflip dodging his shots, while in the air, it fired its arm mounted Gauss rifle again at Earl and Herakles while Paz quickly made acrobatic wall climbing runs to reposition itself above Earl and Herakles, firing its bolts and shots at them, forcing the two to scramble to opposite ends of the Central Park area. "Organics detected, proceed to ensnare and assimilate." Said Paz in a robotic tone as it fired a series of darts on the ground around Williams and the other Boarding members of the ship unleashing an electric shock on them to subdude the organic intruders.
The shots exploded in a blue array of crackling lightning that arched through the air in loud cracking noises. Some of which wrapped around Williams and the men around him causing each of them to lose control of their motor reflexes. As such Williams pulled the trigger of his rifle and shot the ground of the ship resulting in bullet holes. He then fell to his back after being subdued just and the blue lightning stopped its assault on his body. "Ach… Can't…. Move…" William said in pain.
Earl saw what the electric bolts had accomplished, and opted to stay down while forming a lan in his head. He kept himself behind cover while the thought of the helpless men just outside of hsi help were stranded at the mercy of whatever this omnipresent AI is. Only he knew by now whatever this thing was had no mercy, and as such he jumped out of cover with his pistol in hand. He let his feet both slam down on the ground after he landed while he directed his attention to Paz. Once he saw him Earl rose his arms into the air, and waved them back and forth while hollering for attention. "Hey you! Yeah you! Take a look at this! Stray wolf you've been chasing now! Come after me!" Earl challenged directing the attention of the robot off of the downed men. He stood just off to the left of the men as to not let any stray fire hit the men there.
Paz of course swiveled its head down to Earl and make a acrobatic leap off the wall it was hanging off of and slammed its hooves on the ground, generating a small quake that sent Earl flying into the waiting arms of Galitz who then locked Earl with both arms raised vertically his shoulders kept him tied up. Herakles of course didn't simply wait for them to hurt his Dominant Command Unit, the orca robot instead stood up and fired his cannon at Paz, blowing it flying through the wall before aiming at Galitz, the second robot reindeer used Earl as a shield, forcing Herakles to consider his shot. Instead of firing straight away, he aimed up at the skylight and casted his bolt, shattering it, forcing the reindeer to let go of Earl for self preservation. It shoved Earl off and made a backward jump to avoid the falling glasses that shatter on the ground into millions of pieces.
After the glass of the skylight shattered into many gleaming sharp fragments, Earl got up off of the ground letting a few of the pieces of sharp glass fall off of his body, and then land back down on the ground below him creating some jingling noises.
However, his attention the focused back onto Galitz. He pulled his pistol back up to his face and aimed at the robo-reindeer. He didn't hesitate to take some shots at the deer producing loud ear piercing banging noises caused by the gun. Each of the projectiles struck Galitz in the chest creating some inwards dents. Earl then made a "Run and Gun" bolt to his left to avoid the next volley of attacks by Paz before he rolled on the ground and focused the aim of his pistol on Paz's head. Each of the gun shots of course produced a recoiling kick for Earl, but he seemed rather steady with his aim.
Galitz quickly made acrobatic dodges to avoid being hammered by Earl's more powerful pistol while its twin unit Paz re enter the fray now its optics focus on Herakles who was firing his shoulder mounted rocket pods at the bolting crimson reindeer. "Rogue Unit Herakles identify. Subject for reprogramming and alternative insemination." Paz stated without any inflection in its voice before making a run towards Herakles throwing a kick at the waist of the Orca robot. However, its more agile leg lacks the durability like Herakles armor. The orca robot grabbed Paz's leg and crushed it in his tight grip before letting the reindeer fall to the ground, he then stomped over his chest with his massive foot. "You are terminated." Herakles remarked before firing his arm cannon at point blank range at the reindeer's face.
Earl looked over and saw Paz's head exploded into a million metal fragments. Some of which burned a hot orange color as other smoking pieces scattered around randomly in the room they were in. Earl didn't have timm eot focus on the fight as he still need to combat Galitz. He ran towards Galitz with his pistol still firmly held in his metal grip while shooting at Galiz's shoulders. "Give it up pal! It's a two against one minus several other guys!" Earl boasted just as he bent his legs down and then sprung into the air after uncoiling his legs. In the air he made a barrel roll that twisted to the left as he felt the air breeze past him. He then swung his left foot forwards and aimed it at Galitz's face. Earl's foot connected to Galitz's face as he came to his landing, and used Galitz's head as his landing pad.
The robot reindeer struggled under his feet while moving its limbs around in a confused daze trying to get him off of it. However, much to its chagrin, Herakles came behind it and unveil his own cabal jack device from his left hand. The cabal jacked into the outlet on the reindeer's rear port and allow Herakles to dive into the databank of the reindeer. On the outside Earl saw the reindeer's optics were flashing randomly denoting its own equivalent of fear and panic as it felt its mind being raped and interfered with. Inside the VR world of the robots, Herakles consciousness was standing over a bounded and tied up Galitz. The robot orca was working on a set of holographic screens in front of his captive as it was twitching erratically. "Reprogramming of Unit Galitz completed, Hunter Unit now under our control and take orders from you. Insemination will permanently lock our command to you." Said Herakles as he retracted from the outlets.
Part of Earl felt slightly bad seeing Galitz seemingly mind raped, but part of this due to seeing Herakles force an already painful looking jack into the back of Galitz. Earl winced despite not feeling any of the pain, but knew also this could easily happen to him as well if caught. It wasn't a pretty vision he saw, but decided to keep alert to avoid what happened to Galitz to him as well. "God with all of the rape stuff… is it really necessary to look like that, or is because machines already work like that?" Earl asked. He tilted his head up to look at Galitz in its eyes, but then pointed over to the downed men. Each one writing and squirming on the ground in pain."Now go fix those men. Revived them, or something. Can you do that?..." Earl asked in a bored tone.
Herakles nodded to Earl as he stood up and began to walk over to the down coast guards, his footsteps left mini quakes and loud thuds in their wakes while generating loud mechanical whirring sounds as he approached the boarding crew. He crushed the electric shots under his feet before moving to secure each of them, tapping their nerves to restore their mobility one at a time. Watching the camera feed from the Coast Guards give Reynards and Osborn a sense of bizarre situation as their initial thoughts of the ship being hijacked and all robots are hostile may have been challenged by the apparent assistance rendered by Herakles and Earl.
The camera feed from William's helmet in particular gave a good view of Earl and Herakles aboard the ship. What Osborn and Reynards saw however was Earl raising his hands up to be level with the sides of his head in a surrendering stance. On the screen the viewed trough Earl did not smile one bit, but neither did the stiff face of Reynards who looked to never smile. "What is this muppet doing? Why aren't you guys shooting him yet? They are just going to kill you later after that show they presented. It was all a fake!" Reynards said in a raised authoritative voice.
However, he was not the mammal in charge here. Rather Osborn shushed Reynards with a quick hiss brings his tongue to the roof of his mouth and blowing a gust of air out of his lungs. Osborn then sighed with a much longer gust of air while viewing the screen in front of himself. He brought both of his arms up to his chest before he crossed them as he thought about the situation now confused by Earl's action towards his men. "I doubt that. If they were going to kill our boys they would have done so by now. Calm down…" Osborn commanded while keeping his focus on the screen. It didn't even look like he glanced to Reynards, but rather he looked to Earl thinking still. "Can we get a communication line to this fellow? I would like to ask a few question personally." Osborn asked.
"Uhhh yes sir, we'll try if we can sir...Not sure how we'll do it." Said the goat of the team as he looked to Earl and Herakles feeling rather awkward by the sight of their robot frames. "I have a baa'ad feeling aboo'uut this." He shiverishly stated before approaching the two. "Uhh. Command requests a communication line with you two. Got any way to help me with that?" He asked awkwardly not certain if the robots understand the wording of his phrase. Herakles of course did not listen to the coast guard member before looking at Earl for directions and orders. "Unit 591, should I allow communication with the authority at this point of time? They are not included in my parameters of command units and task handlers." The orca robot stated.
Hearing someone on the outside could now listen to his plees Earl's eyelids widened now in shock. He nearly fainted if not for the fact he could hold his emotions. He did however feel a massive rush of relief run over his body like a tingling feel while his heart jumped. He looked over to Herakles and made a stern frown while raising his palms up to point at the ceiling. "Well no shit! They're here to help us man!" Earl shouted sounding emotionally broken. "In your words then I allow, err, contact… with the commanding units? Is that right?" Earl asked confused by the language herakles used.
Herakles nodded to Earl. "Affirmative." He stated before reaching his right hand to the comms unit of his head and adjusting the signal and tune it into the coast guards channel and patch Earl to Osborn. "Coast Guard Command Unit of this operation. I am Psychological and Technical Combat Support Model TL-3 Unit 456 designation Herakles, you are now patched into Dominant Command Unit 591, my superior. Please state your intentions and mission objectives." Said Herakles as he gestured for Earl to get on the line with the coast guards while the orca robot picked up the luggage and belongings of Earl with Galitz still confused and aimless while looking around blankly.
Osborn on the opposite end of the line spoke into a CV radio like device while the spiral chord of the radio hung below his shoulder. He sat down feeling the heaviness of the situation bare down on his shoulders. Not wanting to pull down the radio with him in case he failting he sat down and let out a heavy breath of air. "Right… Okay… Whoever you are Unit 591 I want to know what you are doing on that ship, and why so many people are dead." Osborn said in a calm stoic voice.
Earl rolled his eyes tough after being referred to as "Unit 591" still now by outsiders. He spoke to the various coast guard men in front of him and shrugged his shoulders upwards for a moment nonchalantly. "Sorry to say this commander guy, but I'm kinda just as lost as you are. Really. I was just a guy on a vacation after being shot. And then suddenly I was dog napped, raped twice, and then fucking turned into a metal robot… and I'm still stuck like this!" Earl shouted losing his temper.
Williams flinched and tilted his back slightly backwards in response. "Hey man. We're not the robots here! I can hear you just well! You gotta be kidding me though. You got nothing on who ever this is!?" Williams questioned.
Earl unfortunately shook his head back and forth in a negative response slowly. "Nope I have a hunch… But that's a personal hunch. Look I just need help! You have to believe me! I'm on your side and I'm stuck in this hell hole with a ton of shit trying to either have sex with me or kill me dead!" Earl shouted again.
Osborn squinted to the screen. He could clearly hear the desperation in Earl's voie and just by how Earl moved sent a chilled tingling up his spine. Everything about the situation seems cryptic to him now and he even felt his heart sink knowing Earl was just a victim rather than any type of hero in this situation. "Anyone have any suggestions? I want to believe this guy, but I don't know what we are dealing with here. If he's just a victim…" Osborn stated with a solemn tone.
"Oh I don't think I can allow you to get away that easily. Our wedding hasn't started yet." Said the sinister AI voice over the P.A as they saw the robot hordes were moving in to surround them on all sides. "I will now take you to prepare for our wedding the suits will fit nicely while the witnesses here can watch and enjoy the champagne. Oh wait, the champagne was a lie. Along with the cake. Haha." The snarky AI stated as they saw hordes of Coyote and jaguar robots leaping off the balconies to the central park area surrounding the group.
"We must run immediately!" Herakles quickly fired off his arm cannon at the hordes of bunny bots hopping at them, blasting them apart into scrap pieces while covering for Earl and Galitz to run first down to the casino deck of the ship with the belongings and luggage in hands. The orca robot quickly smashed a hole on the deck he stood on and ascend down to the shopping area of the ship rather quickly to evade the pursuing enemies.
On the fore decks however, a different story was happening with the various robots shaped like reptilian creatures that Earl encountered before were firing at the Coast Guard Frigates on both sides of the ship, apparently they want to make sure the authority stays clear. "As for you uninvited guests. Leave now or you might want to dock and experience the conga party at 3. Before I decide to thoroughly convert you and upgrade your ships for my personal usages. I have no concerns whatsoever about your mental well being." Said the AI as her malevolent nature was flaunted to the Coast Guards pursuing the Tartarus.
"This bitch is fucking crazy! All vessels pull back now! Abort Abort!" Reynards shouted in a panicked voice while Osborn felt a very slight attachment towards the odd robots on the ship. However, he didn't have time to think as now he had men stranded on the Tartarus along with Earl now. Each of the coast guard ships pulled away after having their hulls dented by the fire of the enemy mecha units. Each explosion on the huffs if the ship left a bit of paint blasted off leaving scorched blackened metal. However, if the paint wasn't blasted awa it was part of the each of the boat's armor that was surely blown off. The crews made a hasty retreat by slowing down and letting the Tartarus cut through the ocean waters at its top speed.
However, hearing they were being abandoned by high command did not go over well with any of the stranded coast guard men aboard the ship. Following Earl William's was the first one to panic. "Oh man game over man! Game over! We're fucked now on this thing! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do now!?" He shouted looking for some kind of reinvigoration for the mission that has now gone awry.
"Recommended course of action: Build a fire and sing a few tunes to relief mental stresses." Said Herakles in an odd display of sarcasm and joke. Perhaps something he picked up from Earl due to his programming as they went down to the shopping area for other supplies like clothing and related medical kits that might be of use. As they do so, Herakles entered the fashion shop where Earl found him, the pad remains there, untouched and undisturbed but was too heavy to haul back to the Casino and too cumbersome even on Herakles own. "Support require for moving of repair pad, estimation of number: 4. Placement set, commencing selection." Said Herakles as he looked back at the Boarding team selecting out members like the bovine, the equine and Williams himself to assist in moving the pad out. "I require your assistance to move the repair pad. As I will need it to operate repairs and maintenance on my body." The orca robot stated while pointing to the pad.
Earl of course didn't question Herakles and took his own corner of the repair pad. "Come on you grunts. You wanna live or not?" Earl asked in a dark tone. He bent his back forward to lean down to the floor while he stretched his arms out to grab hold of a left corner.
Williams then selected his own corner and did the same as Earl following the old wolf's instruction. "Okay! Ready? 1,2,3! Lift!" Williams commanded as he lifted his own end of the repair pad upwards. Earl followed as well as the rest fo the men there. "Christ! What is this thing made out of fish bot!?" Williams asked confounded by it weight.
"Titanium Alloy, ceramic steel plates, Depleted Uranium and classified materials. I am not an assigned logistic robot to know additional details other than how to operate this on my own. And I am a Mammal bot." The Orca corrected him as they went down to the Entertainment area of the ship, in front of the Casino, Earl knocked on the barricade using the coded knocking sound to let Monty know they were back.
The antelope then pulled the barricade aside and allow them in though he grew even more confused to see the Coast Guards were onboard the ship as well as an equally confused Galitz walking into the casino looking around without being aware of what it was doing.
"Interrogative Unit 591, what is my purpose and function here? My frame has suffered damages and require repair for proper operation. Otherwise, you may scrap me and recycle my components and parts." Said the reindeer robot as it stood in front of Earl and Herakles questioning its existence.
"Woof man… Now you're asking the real questions…" Earl stated stunned by the lifelessness still by his robotic companion. Not only that, but the question asked in general gave Earl a headache thinking too hard on the subject of existence. He brought his hands up to hold the sides of his head while groaning. "Dammit now you got me thinking of what would have happened if i hadn't taken this stupid joy ride!" Earl shouted. He looked to the various dents and damages Herakles had that were speckled randomly across his body, and recalled Herakles being a decent companion to hand around. "Okay. Purpose. Uhhh. Well first off get patched up, and then we can talk more on purpose." Earl said confused. Truthfully he felt that herakles was placed here just for him as a companion.
"Affirmative Unit 591, conducting field repair now." Said the reindeer robot as it stepped on the repair pad recently plugged into the emergency generator of the casino, they saw various mechanical arms moving up and down the reindeer robot body removing panels and plates from it as it began to be repaired, first was its arm cannon, which had to be taken out of its right arm completely leaving it unarmed while others work on its ribcage repairing the endoskeleton structure and mechanical components, tweezing and rewiring the robot.
Once the process was done the reindeer bot stepped off the pad looking slightly more well toned in terms of muscle appearances and also sporting a new name on its chest panel, "Rudolph". An easier to remember name.
Herakles stepped on the pad next as he began to put himself into maintenance mode, his body was locked into place while his mind still active letting him watch Earl with both eyes as the mechanical arms repair his body's damaged portions and areas, restoring his combat abilities to 100%. But without proper support and logistic, he can't quite be improved beside salvaging weapons and parts from other robots.
"Unit 591, considering the hostile numbers onboard, I suggest we raid the production center of the ship to shut down the enemy's ability to mass produce their robots. Second suggestion is to assault the central communication node and overturn the control of the robots onboard." Herakles stated as he was being repaired, he let out occasional soft moans of pleasure and ecstasy, for a robot, being repaired like this was equal to an orgasm.
Each time Herakles moaned or even found slight pleasure with his repairs Earl cringed by bending his neck backwards and biting his teeth together in a tight manner causing his cheeks to stiffen up. He tried to ignore this is who he was now after seeing Herakles take in so much pleasure from being repaired, and simply tilted his head up and down in a nod. "Well… I guess first off I can call you Rudolph now." Earl said firstly. He moved his arms up so he could scratch his right temple with his hand as he thought about the plans Herakles gave off. "Well if we cut off the speaking and chatting between the bots then they won't know we cut off the robot baby making plant. Although… If we wreck that up first then we'll have less stuff to deal with down the road now won't we?" Earl asked.
Herakles nodded to Earl as he stepped off the pad, his appearance and design gave members of the Coast Guard boarding teams a strange arousal, but also awkward feeling of seeing the robot orca being designed in an obviously sexy way so as to give them a boner or two just by looking at the aqua mammal mecha. "Affirmative, the robot plant located under the ship's entertainment deck can mass produce or replace downed robots simply by recycling materials from the wreckages we have been making. However it will need resupply from time to time in order to keep up with operational demands. My memory unit show that the plant also has a robot wolf pack designed in your image, they are still dormant as far as I know, and can be modified in anyway you see fit. Should we take over the plant?" The orca looked up at Earl with Rudolph looking at the robot wolf now recognizing him as the leader but the reindeer bot was still rather confused by the sudden change of leadership that has just occured.
Earl looked over to Rudolph and noted his confusion. He for some reason still felt bad for the robotic reindeer seeing his face was capable of showing emotions beyond just obeying orders. He swiveled his head back to look at Herakles again before nodding to him. "Yeah, and I think we should take Rudolph with us. I think the coast guard boys are able to handle everything else here after being electrocuted. Right fellas?" Earl asked as he looked back to the lounging coast guards. Williams for one rose his hand chest level and gave the thumbs up, but was really thinking he was unqualified for any of this. Earl smirked and looked back to Rudolph and made a softer look to him. "So you are going to follow us and help us right Rudolph?' Earl asked.
Rudolph nodded his head though slowly. "Affirmative, I am capable of conducting electrocution stun attacks and scout operations for you Unit 591 and Unit 456. I also require the plant to repair the damaged arm cannon of mine to restore my combat functionality to full strength." The reindeer raised his right arm up and looked at the now empty interior. There was no weapons left in it other than the electrocution stun attack and the reindeer's own specialized sensor array on its antlers.
"Unit Paz was...in a word...my mate. I do not understand the concept of organic love or loyalty. Only that my assistance might betray Unit Paz in some way. However as I am now locked to your commands, I am obliged to assist." The reindeer robot stated with a robotic and monotonous voice before Herakles looked back at Earl with his palm projecting the hologram of the ship's schematics and deck designs as he knew it.
"To gain access of the plant, you will have to disable the security matrix of the plant to allow freedom of access and movements inside the facility. That will open the door for reprogrammed units like Rudolph and me and to enter the facility and aid you." Said the orca robot.
Thinking on the fact he could have more assistants by his side Earl Imagined reprogramming each of the wolf bots would offer some type of greater help to him. However, he already knew doing so would give him more unwanted pleasure than before. Only thinking about that made him some desire to act out in a perverse manner to the deactivated drones. He groaned slightly at first thinking about this before he shook his head out. "Okay. We can do this then. I just need to know how to get rid of the matrix thing first off. Before I get in that and with that thing on it'll be hell for me." Earl said pondering on how to disable the matrix.
Herakles nodded to Earl. "Also to note, if we can reprogram the master control node of the production plant, all robots on the assembly line there will follow a simple set of parameters of your desire. If you are capable, then they can be programmed with greater complexity and become much more independent." The orca robot stated as he had his right hand on Earl's right shoulder, the robot orca kept Earl close to him and pat him on his back but he quickly titled his head at this motion seemingly confused. "Interrogative Unit...Earl...what is this motion meant for?" He asked before stopping the patting and looked at Earl's face waiting for an answer from the robot wolf superior.
Earl however flinched slightly in response to the simple pat on the back and breathed in a quiet surprised gasp. His mind flashed back to when he was put down on the ground and raped right after he was roboticized. However, before he growled he grabbed his own face with his right hand after he had moved his arm upwards. "O-kay… I'm really fucked up right now…" Earl said depressed.
He let air move out of his lungs and out of his mouth before speaking. "I don't know what its called Herakles… We just do it naturally when we want to help each other out. You know? Calming someone down after a rough day. Maybe saying 'good job. You done good' that sorta thing." Earl said. Admittedly though even Earl had trouble describing basic humane functions, and kind gestures that most everyone learns or is born with. It felt odd even for Earl not to understand what has become usual normal behaviors.
"Understood, I shall keep mental notes of them." The orca robot sighed out mechanically trying to comprehend the normal social interactions of an organic and by extension society. It was strange for him but he was showing signs of learning and taking in the otherwise needless knowledge but still no less valuable for him in the future.