PAW Escape - Team C Chapter 4: Return to Earth, a paw patrol fanfic

Author's Note:

Alright, time for another group chapter! All parts will be updated simultaneously.

I've created a forum for those who are interested in discussing or adding theories, as well as for adding pictures that I've drawn myself :3
For the images, please refer to the corresponding "Team C Pictures" thread in the forum.

To compensate the length of the previous chapter of Team C, I'm making this one a little bit longer with an added extra: An explanation of the Prisoner's Dilemma.

[M/R/C] RETURN TO EARTH [4]

Chase had no idea how much time has passed. It could have been minutes, maybe hours, or maybe even an eternity.

But it didn't seem like and endless sleep. Suddenly his eyes opened, revealing himself laying on the floor, in front of a door frame, and a hallway right behind it.

The door opened in time for them to provide the dogs fresh oxygen. "We... We made it!", he thought. His vision was foggy, blurry, and it felt like if everything was somehow liquid. The walls were flowing and distorting, and the floor seemed to change shape every now and then. As he struggled to look around, he gazed their partners. They seemed to be still knocked out.

The Shepherd tried to fully wake up, but while trying to stand up, his messed-up balance sense caused him to fall back to the floor all the times he had tried.

With the passing minutes, the pup started recovering the strength on his paws, although he wasn't fully recovered mentally. Trying his best to stand, he approached to the husky, and landed on top of her. He whispered to her ear. "Hey, Everest. Wake up... We made it."

The Husky didn't respond. She seemed to be knocked out, and it'd take some time for her to recover. Despite that, he tried waking her up again, and again.

The ears of Chase perked up when he listened something. It seemed like a masculine voice, but played in fast forward. He turned around at the direction of the sound and he spotted a bulldog trying to stand up. "Rubble...?"`

Chase instructed Rubble not to move harshly, as their brains had to recover from the scarcity of fresh air. And so, they waited, taking deep breaths and aspirating as much oxygen as they could.

After half an hour, Chase's brain capabilities started to run fully operational. He was able to stand up, his vision was very clear, had no dizzy sensations, and he could hear Rubble loud and clear. The latter would take a short time to fully recover, but the bulldog was already ready to move on.

"Let's bring Everest with us. She'll probably be better out of this place" Recommended Chase to Rubble. Since he got so much strength to push on his body, he faced the rear side of Everest with his muzzle and started pushing her outside the chamber they were in.

Everest noticed the movement, and started waking up. She stood up just fine, and gave out a loud yawn. "...Morning, guys. I guess I could say good morning..."

"You were sleeping?" Asked Chase out of curiosity. "I thought you were knocked out by the gas..."

"I was... At least, until I heard your voice. I had no energy to stand up, so I thought I could use a short nap to recharge my batteries."

"Guys, we hafta move. Now that we got this keycard!" Rubble cut the chase, showcasing the card he got trapped on his muzzle. "Remember that door with a card reader?"

"Right, that keycard must open it! Let's go!"

The puppies quickly retraced back their steps, going back through the meandering hallways full of pipes slithering around them. They eventually reached the rusty door with a glass window, a plaque reading out "SECTION B", and a card reader to its side.

Since he was so little to reach out by simply raising his front paws, Rubble jumped a couple times, trying to reach out the card reader. After the fourth try, he dropped the keycard.

Chase took the chance to take the card. "I'll take care of this", and jumped in a more precise angle, just high enough to reach out the card reader. However, it took a couple tries for him to slide the card on the reader.

The reader accepted the card, and the door automatically opened, revealing a hallway that was previously inaccessible. The trio gave themselves a group high-five before resuming their exploration. But Everest called them out.

"Guys, wait. Aren't you curious how are the rest?" She said as she pressed one of the buttons at the side of her bracelet. She had her eyes closed for a couple seconds, but after opening them, she glared the "NO CASUALTIES" message. "Phew, they were all alive, for now..." She thought. The other pups got closer to her and spied at the watch device, smiling after realizing that nobody had died yet.

Team C eventually resumed their search. After trotting up some stairs, they stumbled across an intersection. To their left, there was a metal door with the plaque "Boiler Room", which was open. To their right, there was a hallway with a window on the right wall. Behind it was another meandering hallway, but had no seemingly visible doors. The hallway they were at seemed to continue way ahead. Chase and Everest decided to examine this hallway, while Rubble would search the remaining one.

Now they were both alone. It was the perfect timing for returning to that conversation. "Uh... Remember what you said about that Shroomer's cat?"

The lavender husky jiggled. "It's Schrödinger's cat, Chase."

"So... How do you relate that cat's problem about being dead or alive with the world outside this place?"

"Well, that's simple to explain, actually." Everest thought it'd be so easy to explain that she even bothered to stop and explain to him. "Imagine we're the scientists observing the cat's box. And the entire world outside this facility is the cat's box. We have no idea what the world looks like right now. It may be the world we used to know... But it can be different."

Chase stopped with her and kept questioning. "How can our world change with us inside this place?"

"Well, in a physical sense, it doesn't make much sense to set the analogy, but we could say that the world right now is in a state of superposition between many different possible outcomes. It could have been destroyed by nuclear warfare, bioweapons, a horrible virus, a meteor strike... Even zombie or werewolf apocalypse. It's very unlikely... But after all, they are possibilities. And when we get out, all of those possibilities from that collection will collapse into one, single reality we have to face." As she said that, she continued moving on. "Let's keep going, Chase!"

"So that's what you meant by us being 'trained'. If the world has fallen into an apocalypse, they are putting us to test to face the new world, in this shelter...?"

She nodded. "But then again, the evidence only changes the expected probabilities of something to happen. It doesn't produce that collapse of possibilities."

Chase gave out a nervous smile. At last, they reached the end of the hallway. As expected, they saw a door. It had no plate on it, and it couldn't be open. But they didn't expect finding something very peculiar.

A DUD was placed somewhere close to the end of the hallway. What could that mean?

"Let's not dive into discussions yet. We have to report what we saw to Rubble." Said Everest, to which the Shepherd agreed.

They rushed to get back to the hallway, where they met up with the beefy dog. "Hey guys, what did you find?"

"Well... We found a door, but it was locked up tight." Reported Chase.

"The strangest thing is that we've found a DUD close to it."

"What!? But we haven't entered any door besides Door [0]!" Replied Rubble. He sat down in confusion.

"My best guess is that the door at the end of that long hallway is a Numbered Door. We just happen to be on the other side of it..." Deduced the German Shepherd.

"Then how can we open it?" asked Rubble, which got a quickly reply from Chase: "We can't. Someone else has to open it from the other side, then unlock it again with the DUD."

"Anyway. What have you found, Rubble?"

"The hallway wasn't as short as yours, but I found a couple of doors. One said 'Control Room', and the other one didn't have a label on it. Neither of those could be unlocked, so I went back and searched the boiler room."

He described the room in deep detail: It was a very hot, noisy and tight-packed room, with tons of pipes, advanced machinery that looked like coal boilers of some sort, with gauges that read out pressure and temperature, and a small computer with a touchscreen. When he touched it, the screen went completely white. Apart from that, he didn't find anything particularly interesting, other than the wooden chair and table weren't very comfy and burnt up notes that he couldn't read at all.

Since they had nowhere to go other than the boiler room, they decided to step in and check the room for themselves. It was just like he described it. To their direct left was the chair and desk, three coal boilers, and a network of pipes that seemed to connect to other rooms.

Upon stepping into the room, the screen on the computer turned off, and after a second, a sinister figure appeared on the monitor. The figure they wanted the least to see again. The pups quickly approached it.

"It seems the entire team has cleared the emergency incinerator chamber." Y's voice resonated into the pup's ears. "Congratulations on your successful escape. How are you feeling?"

"Do you really need to ask that? Fuck off." Growled Rubble.

"We've got some questions-" Chase's question was interrupted by Y's speech.

"Please, do remember that these are pre-recorded footage. I will not be able to provide you answers to your questions. With that clear, I must say that this is not the outcome I expected. Remember that the X Door will not open unless six of you die." The trio stayed silent, as they continue hearing Y's explanation. "You must be dying to know whatever happened to the other pups. So, I will provide you a light to that question."

A noisy static footage suddenly appeared on the screen, and after a while, a camera feed was being displayed. The heads-up display showed the location of the video camera on the facility: "SECTION D / -45 meters / Sewers". Three pups were in the shot. They looked like a chocolate Labrador, an artificial looking puppy, and a dog whose breed was hard to identify.

"I'll grab two of these! I might be able to light this up..." Said the mix-breed dog on frame, grabbing some rubble stones and approaching what it looked like a coil fuse. A small spark caused by the contact of the stones lit the fuse, and the frozen pipe that was right above it started melting.

An announcer's voice cued a few seconds later: "Gas current has reached sufficient temperature. Incineration process will begin now according to the protocol."

The three pups were very confused about what did they meant with the incinerator. However, their answers would be provided very soon.

The footage transitioned to another static noisy image, followed by a completely different video feed. The HUD displayed: "SECTION A / -30 meters / Incinerator". There were two rooms. The rightmost room looked like an incineration chamber, in which a female Cockapoo was trapped in. On the other side of the room, a male Chihuahua was seated, or rather, restrained within a strange chair. Close to him was another male Dalmatian, holding with his front paws a weapon. The Shepherd quickly identified the firearm as a Smith & Wesson Model 22, although it was slightly modified. Perhaps it's a new model? Smith & Wesson Model 23? That number really started to stick up on Chase's head.

"Pull the trigger, and the door to the incinerator... Will automatically open and halt the incineration process the moment it detects the sound of the revolver's discharge." A distorted announcement echoed the room in the footage.

A gunshot flash, followed by a large explosion sound cued right after. Suddenly, another static clip cut the footage happened. The trio were shocked: Marshall had shot Tracker!

The video footage didn't end there, as another clip was displayed with the HUD "SECTION A / -45 meters / EDC ". This time, it was a cylindrical shaped room, with various piles of black dust, and three dogs that looked familiar to them: It was them, just some moments ago.

The female announcement voice from before cued once again: "Incineration process has been terminated. The exhaustion valves will open now."

Rubble couldn't be more surprised, and confused, at the same time. "What?" Chase had a very bad feeling.

The video footage made another static cut for about half a second, and displayed the same room, only a few moments later. The trio were knocked out, close to the door that was opening besides them. The door seemed to have opened seconds after Chase fell unconscious. The clip made a final noisy transition before showcasing once again the scary figure of Y.

"As you can see, your actions have endangered the lives of others." Said Y in a lower tone. "So, I will give you a chance to bring justice to those who have tried to kill you. Whether if they have succeeded, or not."

"But why...?" Asked Everest, still shocked. "Why would they do such a thing?"

The screen switched to a window displaying two options. The upper one displayed "Team M", while the lower one displayed "Team R".

"The team names of your newfound enemies should be displayed on the touchscreen monitor." Explained Y. "Choose the team you've decided to... Eliminate. Each team gets one vote. The leader must submit it for the group. You have 23 minutes to send the vote; any team that hasn't voted before the time limit is up shall be penalized two votes. The group with two or more votes will lose, which means that every member of that team... Will be penalized with the injection." The sinister person reiterated the situation by mentioning the following: "Of course, if a pup who is already dead is penalized, the injection will be pointless."

Nobody said anything, as every pup were either completely submerged in a moral dilemma, or shocked by the feeling that they had to try and kill somebody. "Without further ado, let us begin."

Image 1. Killing Vote

"What should we do?" The bulldog had to ask.

Chase moved from side to side of the room, pondering what would the others vote. He thought he would be able to ascertain this thanks to the video footage, even though they had no means of communication from one another. "Should we consider that Team M is going to vote for Team R?"

"What makes you think Team M is going to do that?" The Husky questioned his reasoning.

"Well, it was them who drove them into the incinerator starting up, right? It'd be logical for them to say that they were the ones who killed Tracker, even if they hadn't done anything directly."

"We could say the same for Team M making us have to search for that freakin' keycard." The beefy dog growled.

"True... But then again, we could also say they almost killed all of us." Responded Everest. "Voting for the guilty one won't do anything."

"But you've seen Marshall shooting Tracker! There's no point in denying that!" It seemed like Rubble was trying to heat up the discussion a bit more.

"...Maybe they had no choice. I mean, if they wanted to spare Skye's life..."

"Over Tracker? My ass is going to buy that!"

The two pups suddenly started quarreling about how dirty was the bulldog's language, but Chase got a chance to interrupt their talking. "What if they had been forced to play Russian Roulette?"

"Huh?" Both pups said in unison while tilting their heads.

"Russian Roulette. You put a certain number of bullets in the cylinder of any kind of revolver, spin it, aim at yourself, and shoot. If nothing is shot, you live. If a bullet is shot, however, you die."

"What kind of game is that...?" Rubble was getting more shocked by the minutes.

Chase simply shrugged, but continued speaking. "Maybe they were forced to play that game to save Skye. Which means that they could have had a chance to save both pups!"

Could have had? That didn't sound good to Everest. "Wait, you mean he's...?"

"Alive? No. Tracker's pretty much dead. You heard the banging sound."

"...Fuck..." Uttered the bulldog, punching the floor. "But... What about the bracelets?"

Why didn't they think it sooner? If Tracker had died, that would've meant an X-Pawss would have been revealed. The German Shepherd quickly looked at his wristband clock device and pressed the button on its right side. But they weren't responding.

The display showed a time tag, which was little by little counting down. A countdown. "Damn, it's stuck with this... Countdown. It must be the deadline to vote." The clock displayed 20 minutes and 3 seconds remained.

"...It's obvious which team should we vote for..." Said Rubble. "Team R, right?"

"What? No! We're voting for Team M! Right, Chase?"

"Uhm... Hold on for a second." The police suited dog wanted to have some moments to think. "Let's consider Team R's situation. They will most likely think that Team M is going to vote 'Team R'. The problem is that we have no idea who to vote with. We have four possible outcomes out of this."

Outcome A:
Team R votes for Team C.
If we vote Team R, Team R will be executed.

Outcome B:
Team R votes for Team C.
If we vote Team M, nobody will be executed.

Outcome C:
Team R votes for Team M.
If we vote Team R, Team R will be executed.

Outcome D:
Team R votes for Team M.
If we vote Team M, Team M will be executed.

"For them, it really doesn't matter who they vote. They have 50% chances of making this voting through alive. It's the same for us. As long as Team M doesn't vote for us, we are going to make it through the voting." Pointed out Everest.

"Exactly. There's no use in thinking about themselves. It depends on their purpose: Are they willing to kill Team M?"

The trio pondered this question. Rubble thought that even though it was fine to try and spare Team R, they tried to kill Team M, and The Game would never end if everybody else kept surviving, he would never escape.

Everest, on the other hand, wished for a way out with all nine pups alive, so she was expecting to go for Outcome B. She thought that as well as Team M, Team R had no choice but to put the lives of others in danger.

Chase knew both perspectives, and that they both seemed perfectly valid. "This is just like the Prisoner's Dilemma."

When he mentioned that, Rubble gave out a confused look once more, almost like he was being called out by what he just said. Everest opened her muzzle in surprise. "Do you know about it, Chase?"

The café Shepherd gave out a nod. Rubble was even more confused. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you guys talking about?"

"It's an analogy for a type of game. Not a game like the ones we use to play, but a game in a mathematical sense. It also has other purposes... The story often goes like this..."

Two members of a terrorist organization have been arrested for a minor crime and put into two separate cells, with no means of communication between them. Let's call the prisoner's Alpha and Omega. Both have been sentenced 2 years for the crime.
The police have received some intel about the two of them having a relationship with a major crime, but they don't have enough evidence to convict them.

One day, the detective who's working on the case shows up on both cells, and tells them the following offer:
If you spill the beans and tell us about the relationship of your partner with this big crime, we'll reduce your stay here by 12 months, so you'll spend here just one year. But your partner will stay here four years.
Of course, this is only if they don't confess.

If your partner confesses, and you don't say anything, we'll double your stay, and you'll get 4 years of your life to spend on jail. Also, your partner will be pardoned 1 year.

If you both spill the beans, we'll think you're messing with us, and we'll add 1 year of stay to both of you, so each of you spend 3 years.

And of course, if both of you don't say anything at all, everything will stay the same.

"Now, try to stick onto Alpha or Omega's fur." Explained Chase. "What would you do?"

Rubble thought about it for a while. "Well... If I were Alpha, and Omega is going to keep his muzzle quiet, then I'd definitely spill the beans... But what if he confesses, too...? Spilling the beans seems like the best option, either way. Because if I didn't, I'd get to spend 4 years... By talking I can shave one year off that."

Chase put her paw on her jaw. "Interesting. But you're forgetting something important: Omega is going to think the same way. He'd spill the beans, and you'll serve three years in prison each."

Everest continued her explanation: "The most logical choice is the one that leads to the worst desirable outcome for the common benefit. In other words, if you cooperate with each other, you'll spend a total amount of 4 years. If someone of you acts of their own self-interest, the grouped amount is 5 years. And if both of you do, the combined time you'll spend on jail is 6 years. Also, you're risking yourself for shaving off one year if you try to betray your partner. That's why it's a dilemma, because your mind will be split in two when trying to decide one."

The Shepherd continued as if they were in sync: "Back into The Game... We have two options. Either we trust Team R, and vote for Team M, or betray them and vote for Team R. Of course, this considers that Team M is voting for Team R." He grabbed the marker and draw a table containing all the possibilities.

"See? It's pretty much the same. If we trust each other, nobody will be executed. If they betrayed us, however, we'd end up killing Team M. If we betray Team R, we'll kill Team R. And if we both betrayed each other, not only we'll kill them, but also we'd end up tagged by Team M as pups who tried to murder Team R, even if we end up being alive."

"It really is a dilemma..." Said Rubble. "Then... What should we choose?"

Everest planted her proposal of trusting Team R and vote for Team M, since that way there could be a chance of nobody getting executed. Rubble made another counterargument explaining that you'd never know when you'll encounter a door with a number larger than [0]. If it does and nobody has died by then, they'd be stuck.

The Husky then pointed out that there could be another test before the next numbered door, in which the death of one or maybe could be guaranteed. It sounded somewhat morbid to both Chase and Rubble, but Everest retaliated by explaining that Y would have prepared The Game in such a way so that we'd able to open at least one door after each one of those wicked tests.

When it seemed like the debate was going to turn into a fight by Rubble's action, Chase asked for them to stop.

"Guys, please! Seriously, we all have to calm down. I've already made up my mind."

Both pups were shocked after hearing the last line, and shut up. After a few seconds, Everest stopped Chase from touching the screen. "Aren't you going to say who are you going to vote for?"

"Nope!" The cappuccino dog turned sideways, and as his front paw reached the touchscreen, he requested for their assistance. "So please, close your eyes." There was silence. "C'mon, guys. I said I won't be telling you so that you don't argue about what I pick. Sooo, close your eyes."

Both sighed out of frustration, and firmly closed their eyes. As Chase was glaring at them to make sure they were closing their eyes, he carefully placed his paw on the "Team M" button. When he heard the sound, he quickly turned his eyes to the screen. But it was too late for him to check if he picked the option he wanted. Although he thought he picked it. The screen displayed something different this time.

Your vote has been recorded.
Thank you for your participation.
A reward will be dispensed after the results of the voting.
Results will be automatically displayed 24 seconds after everyone has voted.

"Alright. We should be waiting for the rest now..." Said Chase. "By the way, I don't have any idea what I picked."

The bulldog and the Husky roared in surprise. "What the fuck, Chase!?" Uttered the manly dog.

Chase simply jiggled. "Just joking. I think I got my vote right."

"You better do, Chase..."

STATUS
(According to Team C's perspective)

Team M:
Marshall (ALIVE), Skye (ALIVE), Tracker (DEAD)

Team R:
Rocky (ALIVE?), Zuma (ALIVE?), Robo (ALIVE?)

Team C:
Chase (ALIVE), Rubble (ALIVE), Everest (ALIVE)

Author's Closing Note:

David, thanks for pointing out the typo of Skye being a cockapoo and not a cockatiel!
I really appreciate reviews like this one.