Gypsy had managed to force open the locked footlocker with her head. The sound of splintering wood echoed loudly in the storage room, but it didn't draw any attention. The patrolling soldiers were all too far away to hear. Gypsy poked her head through the crudely formed escape hole and looked around the dimly lit room, her bright flashlight eye illuminated the room with an intense beam of yellow.

"Servo? Crow?" She called for her friends as she glanced about the dark room. "Where are you?"

"In here!" Crow responded as he banged his claw against the side of his box. "Help me!"

"I'm coming!" Gypsy honed in on the large footlocker a few feet away and put her big mouth on the strong lock and crushed it with impressive strength.

The lock fell away from the trunk and allowed Crow to push open the lid from the inside. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome!"

"Me next! Me next!" Tom called out. "I want out!"

Gypsy turned around and realized that Tom was locked in the footlocker behind her. "Roger!"

Crow climbed out of his box and approached the closed storage room door. He turned the knob but the door remained shut. "Locked!"

A loud 'crunch' echoed in the room as the second lock was broken away by Gypsy. "I'm on it!" She went for the door but was stopped by Tom.

"Wait Gyps'!" Tom's gumball machine head abruptly popped up and flung the lid of his box open. "If you break that lock they'll hear us for sure! We need to be stealthy, quiet, sneaky..."

Crow liked the sound of that. "Sneaky sounds fun!" He wrung his gold claws together anxiously. "How do we start?"

"Hmm..." Tom pondered the notion as she scanned the room. "I can't see a darn thing in this room! Gypsy, give us a sweep of the room, would ya'?"

"Right." Gypsy slowly shined her bright light across the floor of the room, illuminating and casting shadows on the various boxes, crates, cases and shelves that filled the room. She then lifted her light and scanned the walls and the ceiling. Something metallic on the ceiling glinted in the light.

"Hey, wait!" Tom had an idea. "Go back a little!"

Shining the light back in the direction Tom indicated Gypsy focused on the vent grate that leads into the air duct.

"A-ha!" Tom hovered up to the vent and peered through the grate. "It's big enough for all of us to get through! Let's move, move, move, bots! Go, go, go!"

Joel pulled his car to the side of the road a few yards away from a very large industrial looking building. He rolled down his window and stared at the ominous structure for a moment. "Here we are Cambot. Gizmonic Institute's storage facility. This place is more secretive than Area 51."

Cambot, who was dangerously low on power, didn't respond.

Joel put his hand on the small robot and patted softly. "Hang on buddy, I'll get you hooked up."

Pulling the car off the road and into a small clearing, Joel put the car in park and turned off the engine. He unfastened Cambot's seatbelt and carried the spherical robot to the hood of his car. "I'm going to hook you up to the car's battery, it should be able to give you enough power to function."

After carefully attaching the appropriate wires from Cambot to the battery Joel popped open the trunk of his car and began fumbling through the toolbox. He pulled out a flashlight and his old Gizmonic red jumpsuit. "Never thought I'd have to wear this again. Glad I held onto it. And got all the sand out of the pockets!"

Slipping the jumpsuit on over his jeans and Metallica t-shirt, Joel slipped the flashlight into the pocket and grabbed a small metal object from the back of the toolbox. To finish things off he also slipped on his thick black rimmed glasses, looking exactly as one would expect a Gizmonic employee should.

"Okay Cambot, I'm going inside. Don't move from this spot until you're at 100% power. Then I want you to enter the building through the building's exterior air ducts. Try to find Mike and the bots, but don't stay inside for more than an hour. I'll meet you back here."

With a small boost in his power Cambot had the strength to nod his body and chirp at Joel.

"Good boy! I'm going in..."

Mike was starting to fall asleep from pure exhaustion. Even the uncomfortable cot and cold cell wasn't enough to keep his asleep. He closed his eyes and tried to convince himself that the satellite falling out of orbit was all a dream. A really bad, really realistic, incredibly vivid and painful dream.

The door to his cell creaked open and Dr. Jones slipped back inside. "Hi."

"Hi." Mike was happy to see Dr. Jones' lovely face.

The doctor, with short dark hair and warm brown eyes sat on the edge of Mike's cot and smiled. "How do you feel?"

"Usually with my hands." He quipped.

She laughed at the lame joke. "C'mon Mr. Nelson, be serious."

"Only if you call me Mike."

"Okay, Mike," Dr. Jones couldn't help but grin at Mike's overall kind demeanor, even in the face of danger. "how are you feeling?"

"Lousy."

"Headache?"

"No, it's passed believe it or not."

"What about your other injuries? Need something for the pain?"

"Nope. Those weird little pill things are still working."

"Tired?"

"Very. But that's not why I feel bad."

"Hungry?"

"No- well... a little."

"Here." She slipped a candy bar from her pocket. "I brought this for you."

"Chocolate! Thanks, you're a great doctor." Mike slowly sat upright on his cot, Dr. Jones helped him to move by supporting his shoulders and neck. "Thanks again."

Dr. Jones shook her head. "You know, you don't seem like the crazy, satellite hi-jacking, saboteur, terrorist, 'MacGuyver wannabe' my higher-ups are saying you are."

"Cuz I'm not."

"I believe you."

"Just curious, what do I seem like to you?"

Dr. Jones blushed a little. "You act more like a game show host."

"'Ghostbusters'! I love that movie."

"So do I!" Dr. Jones suddenly looked away from Mike, not wanting to become too friendly with the seemingly doomed man.

Mike read her expression perfectly. "I take it you still can't help me, right?"

"Right." She sympathetically patted his leg. "I'm here to treat your injuries. Not act as a character witness."

"Well..." Mike crumpled up the empty candy wrapper. "will you at least let me tell you my story?"

"Story? Not excuse?" She smiled playfully. "This wasn't some macho fratboy dare, was it?"

"I wish." Mike rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "So... want to know what really happened?"

Moving quickly but calmly Joel made his way across the lengthy parking lot of the secret building and toward the enigmatic structure. Multiple armed guards were posted outside the main entrance of the building, while four soldiers patrolled the perimeter. Ducking behind large vehicles and using the shadows to his advantage, Joel maneuvered to the rear of the building where only a single guard was posted.

Joel leaned against a large transport truck parked nearby as he began mentally rehearsing his story to the guard. Just as Joel was about to step out from behind the truck and approach the lone guard, a second guard appeared and whispered something to the first guard. Kneeling low to ensure he was completely in the shadows, Joel did his best to read the lips of the two dialoguing guards.

'Weird...' Joel thought to himself.

The two guards began laughing and actually walked away from the door and toward the front of the building together.

'Perfect!' Joel stealthily made his way to the exposed door and pulled the small metal object from his pocket. The door's security was not as advanced as the main entrance, leaving only a deadbolt as the bulk of the security. Using the sharp metal device Joel easily, almost expertly, picked the lock. He used the cuff of his sleeve to cover his hand and finger prints as he opened the door, slipping inside the building unnoticed.

Making sure to cover his tracks and keep his presence undetected, Joel made sure to lock the door behind him. "Like I was never even here..."

The rear of the building had virtually no sign of human life, let alone robots! Using his experience as a former Gizmonic Institute custodian, Joel grabbed a cleaning cart used by the actual staff and wheeled it down the hall, hoping that no one would look twice at just another face in a red jumpsuit.

"Hang on guys. Help is here."

...to be continued...