Chapter 9: A Step Further, One Step Under
The Rovers gathered in the briefing room of Mission Control. They stood in a row as the Master spoke to them, all of them curious and eager to know why the Master summoned them to the briefing room. Perhaps an emergency or maybe the Master has new information on Exile's ailments.
"Rovers, there's someone whom I'd like all of you to meet."
They were a little surprised when the Master introduced them to a new face on the team. It wasn't a human but a dog, a Cano-Sapien much like themselves. His fur color was of a sesame color with some white fur on the sides of his muzzle, on his cheeks and neck. His fur looked thick enough to give him good protection from the cold.
Cool, an Akita Inu, Hunter concluded, but no pun intended.
"Hello, everyone," the Akita Inu began with a smile as he held his hands behind his back. "My name is Aki; I'm a Road Rover from the Road Rovers Japan Branch. It's a pleasure to meet you all."
Hunter blinked as he had to remind himself. A year or so ago the Road Rovers became much bigger as the world grew more aware of them. With bigger trust and requests from the Government and the United Nations – Not to mention a bigger budget – the Master extended the protection of the Road Rovers to different countries of the world to cope with the increasing demand and work force they've been getting.
Today, there were now three Road Rover Mission Controls in the world. There's the America Branch – Hunter and his team's home base, and the original Mission Control – the Japan Branch – Aki and his team's home base – and the Europe Branch.
"From the Japan Branch? Hahah, wow, it's great to meet someone from the other branches again," Hunter said. He smiled and pointed a thumb to his chest. "Name's Hunter," he introduced himself, then motioned his hand to the others. "And this is the rest of the team."
"My name's Colleen," Colleen introduced herself. "Always a pleasure."
Blitz was just about ready to open his mouth to introduce himself, but someone else took the pleasure to do so.
"And this is Blitz, and Shag," Hunter said, motioning his hand to the two of them.
Blitz sighed as he was robbed of the moment. He shrugged his shoulders in retaliation and folded his arms over his chest. He looked at Aki and just said "hi."
Shag let out a content mumble, which could be translated as "pleasured to meet you" or so.
Exile took a step forward to introduce himself. "Welcome, comrade. As for me, my name is-"
"Exile, right?" Aki beat him to the punch, recognizing the Husky anywhere.
"Eh?" Exile was a little more than surprised learning that Aki knows of him. He looked at the others and saw the signs that they too were surprised. Well, at least he can't blame his memory loss this time. "…Uh-huh, that's me," Exile rubbed the back of his neck.
"Wait, you know of him?" Hunter asked the question they all wanted to ask.
Aki nodded in response. "I've heard of him, yes."
Everyone wondered if the news about Exile's dilemma spread to the other two branches. As far as they were aware each branch kept their missions and problems separate, only banding together when there was a crisis that needed all of their combined efforts. Sure, they trade vital information every now and then on a need-to-know basis, but their operations were usually separate.
"Aki's here upon my request, Rovers," Master said, explaining the point of the meeting. "I've gone over the files with him. He'll be assisting me in the lab studying and analyzing Exile's condition and getting to the bottom of this mystery."
Hunter blinked, "You mean, he's here to help us?"
"To help…Me?" Exile pointed at himself.
The Master nodded. "Yes, with his help I'm sure we'll reach a firm conclusion in no time. We'll be able to find out exactly what's wrong with you, Exile. And hopefully discover a possible cure."
The Rovers beamed. Just when things looked grim Lady Luck smiled upon them and gave them a new ray of hope. They knew they could count on the Master to find and develop a cure for Exile eventually, but hearing that he called another Rover for assistance they just knew the wait was just going to be a lot shorter.
"Really? You mean it?" Colleen said, hope shining in her eyes.
Aki nodded in return. "That's right. I've been told quite a bit about Exile's condition and went through the Master's notes. I promise I'll do my best to help a fellow Road Rover in need."
Exile was overwhelmed at seeing the distance his friends are willing to go to save his life. He was at a loss for word that could express his gratitude to them all. He felt every worry and fear just leaving him. He finally felt that spark of hope that he'll survive through this, and return to normal once again. He didn't have anything to fear after all, not with these kinds of friends.
"You hear that, buddy?" Hunter grinned as he wrapped an arm over Exile's shoulders. "Everything's going to be all right! You're in good paws here."
Exile smiled at Hunter, making a little grin as he did. He couldn't begin counting his blessings for having such good friends. "Heheh, I…I really don't know what to say, comrades. But I really am thankful for coming to my help. It is like proverb from Russia." He paused to clear his throat. "Drug poznayotsa v bede."
Hunter went on to agree with the saying, enthusiastic about Exile's much improved spirit. No sooner did he opened his mouth to speak he closed it back when he caught himself that he had absolutely no idea what Exile just said. The words were in Russian, and he had no clue how to speak or understand the language. "Could you uhhh…Repeat that in English?"
"Or in Dog?" Blitz added.
Exile shrugged his shoulders and translated. "You get to really know your comrades when trouble comes."
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Colleen said with a warm smile.
"Yeah, it sounds like a good proverb," Hunter pointed out with a nod, agreeing with Colleen.
Exile smiled and nodded. It was a proverb that came to him not too long ago as he sorted through memories of Russian words he knew, and it rather stood out for its meaning. It's true after all, when there's big trouble headed your way you can truly see who your friends are and how they react and watch your back. Exile couldn't ask for better friends; for a better pack to belong to.
"It won't be anything complicated," Aki began to explain what they're going to do with Exile. "We'll be basically running some tests on Exile. Blood work, analysis, examinations, comparing data and studying any changes during the process. Nothing too complex."
Aki paused as he noticed the Rovers wincing and twitching from mentioning each of them. They were all most likely imagining the most terrifying medical procedures they could think of. He arched an eyebrow, not too amused. He understands anything to the equivalent of a doctor's appointment isn't the most pleasant experience in the world. "It won't be anything too bad," he told them. "So please stop doing that."
The Rovers realized what they were doing and immediately recovered. Some of them whistled while throwing their gaze all over the room while the rests held their hands behind their backs, trying to make it look like they didn't do anything out of line.
Aki sighed and rubbed his forehead. "They're just like my team back home."
The Master cleared his throat, intending on pressing on to the most important situation at hand. "If there aren't any more questions, we would like to press forward with this as quickly as possible. Exile, if you wouldn't mind coming with us to the laboratory."
Exile looked back at the other Rovers, hesitating much like a child who just got called into the doctor's office. The Rovers gave their best reassuring smiles and gestures, letting him know that everything is going to be all right.
"It's all right, Exile," Colleen reassured him. "We'll be right with ya."
A nod from the others gave Exile some comfort. He gave as brave a smile as he could and stepped forward, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves as he approached both the Master and Aki. This was it. If anything were to go wrong here he could pretty much say goodbye for good this time. As he got closer he took note of Muzzle, who was never far from the Master's side. He tried again to remember anything about him, but nothing new came up.
Muzzle began to growl, and for a moment Aki thought the Rottweiler was angry with him again, at least until he realized he began to growl the instant Exile was three steps away from him. He wasn't growling at him. He was growling at Exile.
Everyone in the room was taken back by Muzzle's reaction toward him, like he didn't know him. Exile noticed how the Rottweiler's animosity was set at him. His ears lowered and he inched back away from him, refusing to come any closer to the intimidating dog. He wasn't one to scare easily, but there was something about Muzzle that told him to keep his distance.
"Muzzle?" The Master blinked, caught off guard by Muzzle's reaction.
Exile gulped and tried to calm him down himself. "Easy, comrade. It-It's just me, Exile."
That did little to calm him down. Exile flinched and got back when Muzzle began to bark at him like a rabid dog. It startled everyone in the room. Shag jumped to hide behind Blitz, cowering in fright.
"Muzzle!" Hunter ran over to the Rottweiler the instant he began to bark at the Husky. It unnerved them all. Muzzle was always so calm and friendly with them, yet he was reacting as if Exile was a complete strange, barking and snapping at him. Hunter reached him and held him back, trying his best to calm him down. "Down, boy! What's the matter with you? It's Exile, remember? He just looks a little different!"
Colleen was just as shocked. "Blimey, what's gotten into 'im?"
Muzzle stopped barking, but that didn't mean he would stop showing aggression at the Husky. He kept growling at Exile, just one step away from foaming at the mouth. It was something that just surprised everyone.
"Maybe he just didn't recognize him with his fur looking like it does?" Blitz said as he kept his distance. Even after all this time he still wouldn't dare getting near the Rottweiler when he's this riled up.
Aki held his chin as he watched Muzzle's reaction and behavior toward Exile. Muzzle wasn't a Cano-Sapien, but it was just that that made Akita think. In his current state as a regular dog Muzzle must still be sensible to other levels of his senses they themselves must've lost touch on during the Transdogmification process. This could mean a lot of things. He could probably just sense Exile's degraded canine strands in his DNA, making him 'feel' less of a dog than usual to him, or something else entirely.
"Interesting…" Aki made a mental note of it. This outburst could mean something.
Muzzle's reaction toward him only made Exile feel worse. He felt that slowly he was losing touch on himself, on who he was, and Muzzle was already seeing him like a total stranger. It hurt him; he wanted this nightmare to end already.
"Please, let's just get this over with," Exile pleaded to the Master. "I want to be feeling better again and to remember everything. I want to get better!"
The Master saw the hurt and plea in the Husky's eyes and nodded. He has a point. Best to make haste. "Of course. Please, right this way, Exile."
Exile gulped and followed the Master out of the briefing room. He looked back to the Rovers one more time before leaving the room. He saw Muzzle looking at him, still growling while Hunter held him back. It stung, seeing a supposed friend react in such a way toward him.
Before he left to join them Aki asked one question to the Rovers. "Muzzle, was it? Does he behave like this often?"
Hunter looked at Muzzle and rubbed his head, finally getting him to stop growling. "No way! I mean, he can be pretty wild when let loose, but he's always so well-behaved."
Blitz's brows burrowed. "Well-behaved? He's crazy! A loose cannon and a total hot-head! He'll bite dhe head off of anyone."
"Not with us he does," Colleen countered, giving Blitz a look that made the Doberman inched back in fright.
"Hmmm," Aki hummed as he held his chin. He shook his head. "Anyway, I'm sure it's nothing. Muzzle probably didn't recognize him or felt something was off and freaked out a little. He kind of gave me the same welcome too, before the Master calmed him down."
"As for Exile," Aki continued. "We'll do everything we can to help. I may not look it, but you could say I'm the brains on my team back in Japan. Everyone there calls me 'Braniac' or 'Brains,' I'll do my best to help Master with Exile's condition. You have my word."
Aki held out his hand to the Rovers. Hunter looked at Aki and smiled, recognizing the Akita Inu's desire to help one of their own. He's proud that the Road Rovers are full of team mates who care for each other, willing to reach out and help one another. He couldn't fully express the gratitude for that. Hunter reached out and grabbed Aki's hand, sealing the hand shake. "He's in your capable paws, buddy. We trust you. Help Master as best you can."
Aki smile and nodded. "I will. I promise."
And with that Aki took his leave. Now the Rovers had nothing to do but wait. Wait for the good news. Wait for the bad news. Wait for something else to happen.
They prayed Exile would be okay, that everything would turn out fine in the end. They knew they could count on the Master to come through for them. And this Rover from the Japan branch, Aki, certainly looked capable enough to lend a competent paw to the cause. They just had to wait and see for the results.
Hunter sighed and turned to the remaining team. "All right, Rovers. While we wait let's take a look at that desert with the Rover Satellite and find ourselves a hidden base."
According to Exile he escaped from Parvo's hide-out from right under the sand in the Sahara Desert. Somehow Parvo got his base built right under the Sahara, and used the strategic location to avert the Rover's eyes and dognap one of their own from right under their noses. Hunter will give Parvo some credit. That was some smart thinking on his part. And it annoyed him how well it worked.
They just had one thing to do: find where exactly in the desert this base is hidden, and how to get in there and catch them.
Hunter blinked as he stared at the main computers in Mission Control. He was always impressed at how big the computers' monitors were and how handy they were when it came to display maps of the world and cities. But no matter how many times he's seen the Master use them he could never figure out how to even turn them on, let alone use them to find, say, a hidden base in the middle of a desert.
"Do you know how to work this thing?" Hunter asked as he leaned over a seat, watching Colleen take a seat in front of the computers.
"Sort of," Colleen replied as she cracked her fingers.
Hunter was immediately surprised as Colleen's fingers began to work on the keyboard, furiously tapping and typing away at the keys. With no effort from the Collie the computers were already booting up and loading the programs for the Rover Satellite, getting them ready to sweep over the perimeter of the Sahara Desert to begin the search.
"Whoa-ho!" Hunter exclaimed in shock as his eyes were just on the Collie as she worked. "You call that a 'sort of'? Colleen, that's amazing!"
"It's really not that hard, 'untie," Colleen said with a smile. "You just gotta learn a few little things and away you go."
Hunter was in awe. "Whoa, you really gotta teach us how to use these."
"I'd be happy to, 'unter. But right now, how about we focus on finding our good friend Parvo 'ere, shall we?"
Hunter shook off the initial shock and nodded, burrowing his brows as he allowed Colleen to get to work. "Right."
"I'll be loading up some other data we can look into. You don't mind taking care of 'em, do ya, Blitz?"
Blitz, who was half-listening to the conversation, overheard and jumped when he heard Colleen actually referring to him with his actual name. No mistakes, no misspelling, just his actual name. He perked and beamed with a wide smile. To say he wasn't happy about this would be lying. "Hey! You actually said my name!"
"Did I?" Colleen paused for a second to recap what she just said. "Huh, imagine that. Anyway, be a dear and go through them, would ya, Blister?"
The Doberman flinched and dropped his shoulders. A sigh of defeat came from his muzzle, not at all surprised she didn't get her name right the second time. The first time was probably pure luck. "Okay..."
Blitz marched himself to the remaining monitors to get to work on his share of the load. Shag followed him, pulling out a map and pencil from his fur coat to take notes of any discoveries and information they could use. Hunter took note of Shag's initiative and smiled. "Huh, good thinking, Shag."
Shag barked, appreciating the compliment from their and went straight to work. Hunter turned around and set his eyes on the monitor as Colleen began to work.
He watched as the monitor began showing the Sahara Desert. Good, the Rover Satellite is already in position. As Hunter looked on Colleen began limiting the searching perimeter according to the data from their last mission there. From the satellite's point of view Hunter could already recognize the spot where they parked the Sonic Rover, the spot where they were attacked by the Cano-Mutants, and of course the spot where he found Exile.
The imagery was a little too nostalgic for Hunter's taste. He could already see himself riding the Cycle Rover through the terrain, the scorching hot sun beaming down on them. He winced and tried to forget how he felt when he heard that loud booming explosion, followed by finding Exile's Cycle Rover totaled, and Exile himself missing.
Before Hunter knew it the monitor was full of many windows, some that show maps and pictures of the desert, and others showing graphs and programs running that Hunter couldn't decipher. Needless to say he was a little lost.
"Say, Colleen?" Hunter began as he glanced at Colleen. "Exactly what are you doing here? You kind of lost me already."
Colleen didn't pause from her work as she answered. "I'm preparing the Rover Satellite to take a closer look of the desert. It's a big place, after all, so it won't be easy."
"Think you can narrow it down to that rock formation you just passed? That's around where I found Exile."
"Already done. We'll take that spot as the center of our search perimeter and work our way out from there."
Hunter rubbed his chin. "Sounds good. But you know we won't get anywhere just by looking at the surface. We gotta get our eyes way in there under the sand."
"I'm way ahead of you, 'untie. I'm already working on that."
"Really? How?"
"I think the Rover Satellite has quite a few radars we can use. If I remember right one of them could see things underground. That's how the Master helped us find that bloomin' underground oil well on our last mission."
"Oh yeah, I remember that mission." Hunter couldn't help but grin. "That was so much fun. So much digging! I loved it! ...Well, except for the part where we got covered in oil. That stuff reeks!"
Colleen's face distorted in disgust as she remembers. "Don't remind me."
Hunter giggled. The conversation died down after as Colleen continued her work. Hunter glanced at Blitz and Shag for a moment, curious by what progress they may have done with their side of the work load.
"Say, 'untie," Colleen began after the silence. "What do you reckon' got into Muzzle that got him so aggressive toward Exile?"
"I don't know," Hunter replied. "But Aki did say he probably didn't recognize him. I mean, you did see how Exile looked, right? He kind of looked terrible, and his fur color was going away. I don't think you'd even recognize him either at first if you saw him like that."
"Maybe, but I don't know. It's one thing not to recognize 'im, but to bark and growl at 'im like that? It was awful."
"I know, but what else could it be?"
"And poor Exile. Did you see how sad and scared he was? I've never seen 'im like that since that incident with the werewolves."
"Werewolves?" It took Hunter a second before he remembered. "Oh yeah! The Werewolf Incident back in London! I remember that. Exile totally freaked out and worried when he thought he got turned into a werewolf. He was so scared that he would end up hurting us. But, it turned out he wasn't a werewolf. He was so relieved!"
"Yup," Colleen nodded. "He really dodged a bullet there. Of course, I was the bloomin' werewolf to begin with."
Hunter flinched as he remembered that. Right. Exile wasn't the werewolf, it was Colleen all along. She didn't have any recollection of it, at least until he and the rest of the Rovers told her and showed her evidence of the claw marks all over Mission Control, including the one behind Exile's door.
"The Werewolf Queen, at that."
Colleen gave Hunter a playful look. "You tryin' to flatter me?"
Hunter blushed. "Just putting it out there."
"Right," Colleen gave him an amused look before going back to work. "But anyway, right now he's in kind of a similar situation, but instead of being worried about being a werewolf he's worried that he's…Dying."
Hunter's eyes lowered, his hands slowly curling into fists. He still hasn't forgotten that little scare on the way back home from their last mission.
Colleen paused from her work and looked at Hunter. "What do you reckon' Parvo did to 'im?"
Hunter's eyes shot back up to Colleen. He gave a quick thought to the question before answering, "Easy, genetic experimentation of some kind. Exile mentioned a tank, right? Those things are kind of always involved in that kind of stuff. I mean, what else could it be?"
"Maybe," Colleen said. "But didn't Master say there weren't any mutations in his genetics? How can that be if there was any genetic experimentation on 'im?"
Hunter shrugged. He didn't have the first clue how science worked. The explanations they give usually gives him a headache, no matter how hard he tried to understand. He pretty much gave up on that and just let the Master handle the complicated stuff.
But what she said was true. The Master did say there weren't any mutations or alterations to Exile's genetics. That's a clear contradiction to what he believes happened. So then, what really happened? Hunter would like to know and hoped the Master could enlighten them soon.
"Anyway," Colleen resumed with her work on the computer. "I do hope the Master and this Aki fella' can help 'im. I would really love to put all this bloomin' worry behind me and have everything back to normal."
"Hey, everything's going to be just fine, Colleen," Hunter said, placing a hand on Colleen's shoulder. "I'm sure of it. I mean, when has the Master ever let us down? I'm sure he's in his lab right now with Exile hard at work looking for a cure. And with this Aki guy's help, I'm sure they'll be done in no time!"
Colleen smiled at Hunter's positive outlook on the situation. She knew deep down he was just as scared and worried as they all were, but his upbeat and positive front gave them all hope and eased their worries. That's just how the leader of the pack always is. They knew they could count on him to keep their spirits up.
"You'll see," he winked at her with a smile. "By the time we finish here and see Exile again he'll be good as new and ready to get back at Parvo for this. We'll be a team again!"
"You're abso-bloomin'-lutely right, 'untie. We can't give up hope just yet. Everything's goin' to be just fine."
"Of course they will! Exile's going to pull through, and Parvo's going down!"
"Not until we find that base," Colleen added as she stopped typing and took a hard look at the monitor. She nodded to herself as a few responding beeps came from the computer. "I got the radar up and runnin', but it'll take a while before the Rover Satellite finds what we're looking for."
Hunter looked at the monitor as he watched the Satellite do its search over the perimeter. He had little idea at what he's staring at, but he'll assume the Satellite's doing a thorough job of scanning the soil, both above and underground.
"Cool," Hunter said as he looked back at Colleen. "In the mean time I'm gonna go see how Blitz and Shag are doing. Let me know if and when the Satellite finds anything."
Colleen nodded. "Sure thing."
With a smile Hunter departed from Colleen's side. He took a moment to rub his eyes, let out a yawn and out a heavy sigh. He hasn't slept at all since they returned from the research facility, none of them could. His thoughts went back to Exile as he wondered how he was doing. Were things going well with the Master? Was Aki being a good enough help to cure him? It made him feel awful that there was nothing he could do other than sit back and wait.
Tossing those thoughts aside for the moment Hunter went to the other monitors just a few steps away. There he saw Blitz hunched over in his seat, his chin on his hands as he stared his eyes out to the screens. He was lost in the sea of data displayed onscreen, and Hunter wouldn't be surprised if the Doberman had little to no idea on what to do, or what to look for. He moved to sit on the seat to Blitz's right, and as he made his move he noticed how little attention Blitz paid to him. Whether he was too absorbed in his work or just plain out ignored him was a little hard to tell.
Hunter picked something to say, even if he already had an idea of what the answer might be. "How's it going on your end over here, Blitz?"
It took Blitz a second to register his question before responding. "Huh? Oh, oh it's ummm…Great, I think."
Hunter chuckled. "Heheh. Great, you think?"
"Well, no. I don't even know where to start here! Dhere are just so many things to go through. If you really think I'm gonna go through every little thing in here, you got another thing coming!"
"Relax, Blitz, you got me to help. Now, let's see what we got here." Hunter took a good look at the data they have to work with. Hundreds – Perhaps even thousands or up to a million – of satellite images were being displayed onscreen. Folders and dividers separated and organized them into dates, times, and world regions for easy browsing. Being common sense and the first thing you should do, only the images of the Sahara Desert were open.
For the most part Blitz already did the initial work and just begun sorting through the images starting from two weeks ago. Now it was all a matter of going through them all up until today. But Blitz was right. There's just so much data to go through with just two weeks worth alone.
"Well, from the look of things, it looks like the Master already did half of the work, see?" Hunter said as he pointed out to a separate folder sitting all by its lonesome in a corner. "He must've been doing the same thing when Exile was missing."
Blitz nodded. "Yah, so we just have to go over the things he didn't touch, which is still a lot."
"Maybe, but we gotta do it. Come on, I'll help you through 'em."
Blitz rolled his eyes. "My hero."
The two of them worked together to sort through the satellite images. Hunter tried to find some fun out of the monotonous work by trying to make it look like they were sorting through the many pieces of a poster-sized puzzle of the desert, trying to find the corner pieces.
Shag would every now and then check if there was anything new to add to the notes. "No," was one answer. "No," was the next. "No," again, and "no" again. Eventually Shag gave up and just lied on the floor making doodles in his notepad.
Back with the pictures there was nothing out of the ordinary as they went through them all one by one, nothing but sand and emptiness. Rarely would they find something in the many images, but they were always wildlife or random travelers or locals traversing through the harsh desert. Hunter would try to make a joke or caption about them as they see them, but the punch lines were usually lost on Blitz.
"Hunter?" Blitz interrupted Hunter in the middle of another one of his jokes.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Well, I've been thinking…"
"About what?"
Blitz looked at Hunter. "About dhe time we went to the desert, where Exile went missing."
"Oh." Hunter found himself avoiding eye contact with the Doberman by the mere mention of 'that' mission. "What about it…?"
"About if things would've been different if I was out dhere too."
Hunter's eyes darted back to Blitz. "W-What do you mean?"
"Think about it. I made a big deal about me not going out dhere in the hot sun searching the desert. I practically pushed away my duty just to sit back in the Turbojet to keep myself out of the sun to protect my perfect skin."
Hunter had to resist rolling his eyes at that last statement. He wouldn't admit it in his face, but Hunter wasn't planning on letting Blitz out on the field with them in the first place. His idea from the start was going into the desert with Exile and Colleen while opting to let Blitz and Shag stay in the Turbojet. Blitz's insistence on staying in the Turbojet just kept Hunter away from a guilty conscience.
But Blitz had a point. What if he was there with them? Would it have made a difference?
"Maybe if I was out dhere, Exile wouldn't be in dhis mess," Blitz continued, his eyes sinking to his feet. "Maybe I could've saved him, or it…Or it would've been me instead of him."
"Now hold on there," Hunter held a hand up at Blitz. "Maybe things would have been different if you were out there with us, but don't go there wishing it would've been you instead of him. Let's not get into that, all right?"
"The way I see it we all kind of screwed up," Hunter turned the seat around to face Blitz. "Maybe I shouldn't have decided to make all of us go alone. Maybe you being there would've helped. And maybe we weren't careful enough. But what's done is done; we can't change anything by wishing and hoping. But we got Exile back, and that's the important thing now, right?"
Blitz sighed as he rubbed his head. "Yah, I guess you're right."
"Of course I am," Hunter said, giving off a smile. "So don't worry yourself too much about that. Now, what we really should be doing is finding that hidden base and stop Parvo's latest scheme, for the world's and Exile's sake. That sounds good to you, right?"
Blitz perked and looked at Hunter. The thought of getting some payback on Parvo and his Cano-Mutants for what they did sound good to him. Blitz was always eager to roll whenever Parvo was involved, as that usually meant Cano-Mutants to fight. But right now, after what Parvo and Groomer did to one of his friends, he's now more eager than ever to get out there and sink his teeth into them. He wasn't going to back out from this one.
"You're darn right dhat sounds good!" Blitz said as he slammed his fist into his open palm. "I can't wait to find dhat base and commence dhe biting of the tooshies! Parvo has got dhis coming for a long time, but dhis time it's no more mister nice doggie."
"Hahah, all right," Hunter agreed with a smirk. "Now, how about we find that hidden base?"
"Yah," Blitz nodded in agreement. "But I promise. Next time I won't be selfish and stay behind. Next time, if one of our team mates needs help, I'll be dhere."
Hunter smiled, approving of Blitz's mindset. "Hey, that sounds good. More power to ya, buddy!"
With that said Blitz turned his seat back to face the computer monitor, returning his eyes on the photo they were looking at a moment ago. His eyes set on a specific spot in the photo, just as if he was called to look there. He almost immediately spotted something that looked off a few seconds later.
"Hey," Blitz said as he pointed to the spot in the photo. "Look dhere. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Hunter looked closer at the spot in the photo. What appears to be an out-of-place black dot in the middle of the sand next to a rock formation turned out to be an object in shape of a square, the texture of it looked like it was something made of metal.
"What is that?" Hunter zoomed on the photo over the thing. "It kind of looks like a…Like a machine or something?"
"Eureka!"
Hunter and Blitz were startled from Colleen's outburst. They looked at each other for an instant before turning their attentions to Colleen, who was at the moment sporting a very satisfied smile and gesturing to the boys to come over. Without wasting another second the boys jumped from their seats and made their way back to Colleen, eager to see what Colleen found that had her so pleased with herself.
"What did you find?" Hunter asked as he stood to Colleen's right.
Colleen smiled and held her hand to the monitors and said, "Pretty much everythin'."
All eyes were moved to the computer screen. There was a bunch of data on display, from thermal scans to up-close zooms of certain areas of the desert. One window in the monitor came up and downloaded data from a recently finished scan. What they saw was nothing short of awesome.
"Whoa…!" The boys were in awe.
"It wasn't easy," Colleen said. "I had to practically force the poor machine into its highest sensitivity setting and at full power. I think I almost bloomin' broke the poor thing finding this."
What displayed onscreen was the result of ground-penetrating radar and thermal imaging. The data was little, but it displayed what appears to be a hidden underground facility. Some heat-sources made it clear there were people underground, confirming the suspicion. Another window soon came up and displayed more data, resulting in a very rough but incomplete outline of the supposed facility hidden underground. We found it, Hunter thought
"This is it," Hunter exclaimed with a big grin on his face. "This is it, Rovers! Haha, we found it!"
The Rovers all jumped and cheered as their search paid off. Parvo's hidden base has just been found, hiding under the Sahara Desert's abundant sand all along, away from prying eyes. At last, the search is over.
"Now we can go after Parvo," Colleen said in triumph.
"Yah," Blitz clenched his fists and growled, "and give 'em dhe most painful bite in dhe tooshie that they deserve!"
"Think you can print that?" Hunter asked.
"I already did you one better, 'untie. I uploaded the data into our PDAs."
"Really?" Hunter reached to his belt and pulled out the PDA they were all equipped with. Scrolling through data he found that Colleen actually did sent the location to the desert's map in their devices. He smiled. "Oh you're too cool, Colleen!"
He toyed with the data. One layer showed a black and white outline of the base, another showed a half-opacity image of the Sahara Desert over the base's layout, giving them a rough estimate of where it could be hidden under in the region. It was the best they had on short notice.
He moved his eyes away from his PDA to the other monitor for just one second, something catching his eyes. He looked back at the satellite image he and Blitz were eyeing a moment ago, once again taking note of the strange metallic…thing in the desert near a very distinct rock formation. Connecting the dots Hunter looked back at the map in his PDA, playing a game of 'Where's Waldo?' with the rock formation. He found what he was looking for, and it matched perfectly with the map of the hidden base.
"Whoa…" Then it hit him. The metallic object was an entrance to Parvo's hide-out, capable of hiding under the sand, only popping out when they need to get in or out. They now have a point of access to get inside. It was good news all around. Now the only thing missing to make it all perfect was…
"Hm?"
"Huh?"
A faint pulsing light startled them, the low beeps coming from around their necks. Speak of the devil. Their collars were blinking, emitting a faint light. The Master was calling them, and that could only mean one thing…
"Exile," Hunter whispered, grasping his tag. Finally, after so many hours, they were gonna be a complete team again. He turned back to the team, all of them up from their seats looking at their leader. "Everyone ready?"
Everyone nodded. "Yes, let's go and see," Colleen said.
"Right," Hunter nodded.
The team then left the computer room and made haste back to the medical ward. With every step they took Hunter could barely keep his excitement. He trusted the Master; he knew if anyone could find a way to help him, it would be him. They'll see, when they walk through those doors Exile will be livelier than ever, in perfect health and more than willing to join them on the field again and fight the opposition.
"You think dhey really cured him?" Blitz asked.
"The Master wouldn't have called us if they didn't," Hunter responded, never slowing his steps. "Just you wait, Exile's gonna be good as new!"
"I hope so, 'untie. It would be nice to see Exile back to his usual self again," Colleen said.
"He will be after today, Colleen. I'm sure of it."
"You seem to be really sure dhat he is," Blitz said, a bit surprised by Hunter's unwavering optimism.
"Well, yeah! I mean, he's the Master! He can do anything when he sets his mind to it," Hunter answered. "Now, less talky, more runny. The sooner we get to the Medical Ward the sooner we can get out of all this tension."
The doors leading to the Medical Ward were just within their sights. Each of them took a deep breath and through the doors they went. The room inside was nothing short of familiar, having just been in there hours ago themselves.
"You called us, Master?" Just when Hunter asked he witnessed one of the doors to medical machines opened up. From inside someone stepped out, stripped from the waist up of his armor, just catching him coming out from a recent examination.
Exile leaned against the wall, feeling weak and dizzy. He brought his head up and lazily opened his eyes, seeing the others just coming in as he was just coming out of another body scan.
Hunter's eyes widened in horror, his gasp caught in his throat. He wasn't staring at a healthy Exile, full of life and ready for another mission. He was looking at a tired and weak husky, seemingly out of breath again and, unbelievably, his blue fur almost as white as snow.
He looked so different Hunter wasn't even sure if they were staring at Exile at all.