"Okay, come on!" Said the officer as he nudged Mel and her siblings into a pet carrier. Mel was exhausted; she and her siblings have had an eventful last few days, and they barely received any time to catch their breath. The pups reluctantly climbed into the carrier, and they locked the door. "Alright, let's go." The officer said. The next thing the pups knew, they were in the passenger seat of a police car. While the policeman drove, they all thought about what had happened to them over the past few days. The fact that they would never see their mother again was a popular thought. Mel had never been too emotionally attached to her family, though she did rely on her mother for support and comfort quite often. She was sad, but she could learn to let go. When the officer parked his car and he got out, they all felt the carrier being lifted. None of them could see much, but they suddenly felt much cooler, as if they had entered a building. "Alright, well, thanks for taking them." They heard. They also began hearing muffled voices. Their carrier was picked up once again and the door soon opened. They were emptied into a large outdoor kennel surrounded by a chainlink fence. They soon came to realize that they were in a dog pound, and they had no idea what to do.
Tera and Ty woke up, inside individual cages. They were on a tall shelf in a small, dimly lit storage closet. Once Ty completely regained consciousness, he asked, "Where's Mel?" They heard a voice from the shelf across from them. "I'm over here!" Shouted Mel. She was lower than them, keeping her out of their sight. "Where do you think we are?" Asked Ty. Tera looked around the room before answering. "My guess is the research department of that man's dog-catching facility. We heard them say that they didn't know what to do with us, since there's no room for us in the shelter. So, maybe we'll find out what will happen when we break out of here." She answered.
Ty suddenly became confused. "Break out?" How on earth are we going to... " He heard a loud noise coming from Tera's cage, and when he looked over, he found the door open. He gazed at her, amazed. Tera smiled. "Please; padlocks are easy!" She laughed. She carefully walked along the small pathway between the edge of the shelf and the cages. When she got close enough to Ty, she reached over and unlocked the lock on his cage, too. "Follow me!" She said. Ty opened the door and stepped out. Tera gradually made her way downward by gently jumping onto the shelves below. Once she was on the cold tile floor, she could finally reach the lock containing Mel. Once she reached it, they heard the doorknob to the closet twist. They quickly hid behind the shelf.
They heard a couple sets of footsteps walk in as a pillar of light was cast onto the back wall from the open door. "It's the boss, Mr. Smith. He says he wants me to tell you what to do with the cyborg." They heard a man say. "Excellent. Maybe next he can tell me what to do with those extras I found with it." He said as he grabbed Mel's cage. Tera and Ty squeezed themselves closer against the wall, trying hard not to be seen. The men began to walk back to the door with Mel. Tera peeked around the corner to see where they were. Once the men reached it, Tera whispered, "Come on!" She ran as fast as she could and followed them. The men exited the room and gently pulled the door to shut it. Tera dove and caught it before it could close. Ty smiled and marveled again at how smart she is.
Tera gently pushed the door open just wide enough for them to be able to slip through. Once they got past, they shut it completely. She looked around the room, and finally spotted the two men heading through a set of double doors. They quickly pursued them, being careful they weren't spotted. Eventually, the men stopped in a room where they left Mel, and they exited. Tera and Ty looked around, and eventually concluded that it was safe to walk to her. They both approached her cautiously, when Mel finally noticed them. "You came!" Shouted Mel. "Of course! It's why we're here." She responded as she immediately started unfastening the cage lock. Soon after, Ty suddenly nudged Tera and pointed toward the door. She stopped working on it, and they could hear the men's conversation in the adjacent room.
"Alright. The boss told me what to tell you. He says the engineers will be here soon with the deactivation code. They will then study, dismantle, experiment, and discard the cyborg. He told us to leave it on the counter in here. As for the other two, just put them to sleep. He says that there's no use sending them to another shelter." They heard. Suddenly, they became a lot more concerned about escaping. Tera immediately went back to undoing the lock. As Ty began hearing footsteps coming toward them, he began getting more nervous. "Come on, hurry up!" He urged. Annoyed, Tera responded. "I'm going as fast as I can!" She shouted. She finally opened another lock once again, and they began to hear voices approaching them from behind. The three of them hurried out of the room in the opposite direction.
"Alright, everyone! Right now, we're here live once again with Mr. Smith, who claims he had captured the elusive dog-cyborg!" Said a woman's voice. A female anchor, followed by a cameraman, Mr. Smith, his boss, and two engineers, walked into the room. As the camera was pointed at him, Mr. Smith smiled and said, "Alright, everyone! The animatronic canine I have caught is right here!" He shouted as he pointed to an empty cage. The engineers became impatient, as Mr. Smith began searching around the room for it. The anchor and cameraman looked confused, while the boss only looked furious.
Mr. Smith's smile quickly turned into a frown. "But, I promise, we contained it, and brought it here!" He claimed. The anchor quickly signed off and left. "Sir, I..." He began. But, his boss wasn't ready to hear excuses. "Smith, you incompetent idiot. I should've known this was all just a hoax. Get out of this place. You're fired!" He shouted. Mr. Smith angrily marched away. The boss turned to the engineers. "I apologize for wasting your time. You can leave." He said. They each turned and headed for the exit. The boss, however, started walking toward the storage closet to finish the job. "Ugh. I have to do everything around here." He muttered to himself.
When he arrived, he opened the door and quickly walked in. Ready to grab the two puppies, he walked to the back of the closet, only to discover two empty cages. He gasped and stepped back. "Smith might have been telling the truth!" He realized. He then pulled out a communication device. He walked out of the closet and found the engineers about to leave. "Stop! We may still need you!" He shouted to them. They eventually reluctantly agreed to help.
"Security! There's been a containment breach! The cyborg might have escaped as well. Lock down the exits and get a few officers to search the building!" Played a voice over an intercom over the whole building. "Did you hear that? We need to get to the exit. Hurry!" Shouted Tera. They had found a sign that led them to the only exit if there was a lockdown: the front entrance. They began running faster through the numerous hallways. They finally came upon the sliding glass doors just past a short, narrow opening.
Mel began to head towards the opening, but Tera stopped her. "Don't walk through there! It's a security radiometer; it detects radiation and radio waves. There's no doubt it will set off an alarm and automatically lock that door if a large enough source passes through. Due to your electronic components, you'd be a pretty big one." She shouted. Mel backed up from it in surprise. "Well then, how is Mel going to escape? There aren't any other ways out!" Asked Ty. Tera gasped and looked up at it. She hadn't thought about that problem. She sat, thinking for a short while, with the others watching in angst. However, she eventually gave up. "The machine is too high up for me to reach, so I can't disable it. I'm sorry, but there just isn't a solution this time." She answered. Tera, Ty, and Mel looked down, sadly, thinking on what to do now.