RJ woke up to cold, hard ground. And you better believe him when he says that it is not the best way to get up from being shot with a tranquilizer dart.
The raccoon groaned as he pushed himself up to look around. Just as he suspected, he was in the men's office. In a cage. RJ groaned again as he pushed himself on to his feet to go and inspect the door and lock. Hopefully it would be able to bust open so he could escape.
One look and RJ inwardly sighed.
It was a code lock.
You know, the ones that you had to insert the code and it came undone? Yeah, those. RJ called them code locks because he didn't know what they were really called, but don't tell that to the gang. It would make RJ look dumb. And that was never a good thing.
The raccoon decided to start fiddling with it, and resorted to sitting down on his haunches, with his paws out of the cage holes, fidgeting with the lock.
If only I had my bag, he thought, as he gingerly started to turn the numbers.
1, 1, 1. RJ tugged at it, but it didn't budge.
1, 1, 2. Invalid.
1, 1, 3. Invalid.
1, 1, 4. Invalid.
1, 1, 5. Invalid.
RJ sighed out loud in irritation. This was going to take forever! And naturally, he wasn't very patient to get out of his cage prison. He was tempted to smash the lock against the door, but that wouldn't do anything.
So he kept his calm and kept going. He had to get out of there after all, and losing your patience didn't get you out of these things, as RJ had learnt in the past.
His fingers were freezing off by the time he reached number 5, and dang he was tired.
Just, sleep, for a sec, he thought tiredly, yawning and rubbing his eyes. RJ looked out the window, and could nearly see the light of dawn. That was actually just his eyes playing tricks on him, because it had only been around fifteen minutes. The raccoon briefly wondered where his family were. Hopefully they would come to try and break him out, but it wasn't definite.
RJ's eyes sagged, as said raccoon wondered how he had gotten so tired so quickly. It could be that the aesthetic in the dart was taking over again, but what did he know? He hadn't gotten a scientist degree, and was far from it.
Another yawn, this one bigger than before. RJ was still sitting down, but suddenly there was a bang, and he was wide awake.
His head shot up to meet the sight of the guards from before trudging into the office, the light of the lampposts reflecting a silhouette on the wall. RJ growled slightly, catching Fred's attention. The human frowned deeply at the raccoon who was sitting at the door of the cage.
"Whatcha up to?" he asked, walking up to the captured mammal. Bob sighed behind Fred, as he tucked his hands in his pockets and started to stare around the place.
RJ just growled in reply, a little louder than last time, as he leaned down on to all four paws and backed away from the door. This just made Fred laugh, as he bent down and shoved his face into the cage door, making RJ tense.
"Come on, Fred, stop scaring the little critter. The animal control will arrive soon anyway, we bett'r not work 'im up beforehand," Bob said, just as Fred was about to poke RJ on the head.
"Mm, yeah I guess you're right. Dumb raccoon might not even know what's up for him," Fred teased, getting back up and walking over to his friend.
But, the two of them were very, very wrong when they thought RJ didn't know what they were talking about. He knew very well what animal control was, and what would happen to him if they took him away. Being a loner and a wanderer, he had had a few run-ins with them every now and again, always being able to escape before they cornered him. He had also watched as they had caught other unfortunate animals, and once watched as they had taken one to their strange building. The raccoon never saw that poor squirrel again.
So, when Bob had mentioned 'animal control', RJ's ears had immediately pricked, as he shrunk into himself, trying to appear smaller by instinct.
"We better do one last round of 'em grounds, then we can go," Bob finished, Fred nodding in agreement. RJ sniffed as Bob walked up to the cage, holding a finger to point at him.
"Now, no mischief ya hear? I ain't in no mood to chase after you, and I'm sure you don't want another one of 'em tranqs. Deal?" RJ shook his head, trying to get the message across. However, Bob thought he was just shaking his fur, so he took it as a yes. Nodding, he walked back up to his partner, getting ready to leave on their last patrol.
"Good raccoon. We'll be back, to hand you over to 'em animal control. See ya," Fred cried over his shoulder as he walked out the door. Bob pulled it shut, and RJ heard an audible click, telling him Bob had locked him inside the small office room.
The raccoon sighed, as he sat back down, trying to think of a way out. He absentmindedly stared out the window, trying to figure the code out. His tail tapped the cage floor quietly, as he thought and thought and thought, until he felt like he didn't have any hope of escaping. He shifted his position, to that he was staring at the door, trying to figure out how high it was, and if he had a chance if he tried to drag himself across the bench, along with the cage, and then launch at the handle. It was risky, but it was his only plan if he couldn't undo the lock. That, or he would try and unlock the window, and then drag him and the cage out of it, and then hope the drop wasn't too high so that he could survive.
RJ groaned, as he realized both options would involve him either getting mortally injured, or possibly even dead. He looked out the window once again, to see the moon had started sinking below the horizon, and the first tiny rays of the sun had shrunk slowly upward, staining the sky peach.
Then, he noticed a small, grey smudge on the side of the window, and saw that it seemed quite like a small mammal, something small and Hammy sized.
"Hammy!" the raccoon cried in recognition, standing up and running to the far right side of the cage, which was closest to the window sill.
"Oh, hey RJ, whatcha doing in that cage?" the squirrel cried out, as if he didn't remember any of the events that had just happened.
"Uh, long story. Look, do you know where the others are?" RJ replied hastily, not really wanting to waste time reminding Hammy about everything that had happened.
"Oh, they're just trying to find a way to break into this room, which I can't quite remember why, or the reason, but y'know, now that I found you, you can open the door and let everyone in to get whatever they wanted to get!" the squirrel bounced up and down at that proposition, making RJ wince.
"Uh, Hammy, I think I'm the thing they need to get, since I'm, you know kind of trapped," the raccoon reasoned awkwardly, making Hammy perk.
"Ooooooh, rrrright! Now I remember why I'm up here! Verne told me to tell you that they are just thinking of a way to bust you out, and not to worry. And now that I think about it, I understand why you are in the cage, so no need to explain," he nodded, making RJ sigh. How can he be this stupid at a time like this? I better warn him about the guards and animal control.
"Um, yeah Hammy, I need you to go back and tell Verne something," RJ called through the bars of the cage, "I need you to tell him that he better get a move on, since the guards have called animal control, and they are already coming,"
"Move, guards, animal cont-whatsit?" the squirrel asked confusedly, putting a finger to his chin.
"Yeah, umm -"
"Oooooh, ok, the guards are moving to throw the animals a big party! Yeah I'll tell him,"
"Wait, not that! Just tell him, to hurry up, because animal control his coming," RJ yelled at the squirrel, before Hammy could hop down.
"Ooooooooooooh. That makes more sense," Hammy nodded thoughtfully, then without another word, jumped down on to the grass below, and sprinted off in search of the gang. RJ sighed, sinking down in the cage as he waited for the arrival of the gang. He tapped the ground with his foot, staring around the room every now and again, suddenly slightly interested in what was inside it. He put his snout to the air, and took a small sniff. Suddenly, a small glint caught his eye, and as he looked over, he saw a box of spilt paper clips.
A glint came into his eyes as a plan started forming in RJ's mind. If only he could reach the paperclips…
The raccoon edged towards the box, and took a closer look. They weren't the average sized paper clips, more of the ones that were slightly larger, used to hold large amounts of paper between the arms. This must have made them quite strong, which only enhanced RJ's confidence in his plan.
He gingerly reached out a paw through the holes of the cage, hoping that he wouldn't get stuck. Thankfully, his paws were small enough. Or, the holes were big enough…
Either way, he was able to reach the clips, and pull the box towards it, scooping a decent amount of paperclips along the way. He sat down as he started at his work, connecting a paperclip to another, and bending the wire so it was successfully clipped on, preventing it from slipping. He continued this, for a long time, as the sun crept up, peeking over the hills. RJ kept going, until he had a fairly long paperclip rope, and when he felt it was a decent size, he undid one paperclip, and bent it into a kind of hook. He repeated this process with another paperclip, and then a third, then a fourth. The raccoon then attached these all together, to form a sort of miniature grappling hook.
RJ stared down, impressed at his handy work.
"Now all I have to do is- "he said to himself, cutting short as he stuck the grappling hook out of the cage.
The raccoon eyes the window sill, and then, when he locked in his target, started to swing the paperclips, around and around, until he let go, sending the rope flying through the air. RJ's eyes looked on with hope, when suddenly-
Clang!
"Shoot!" RJ exclaimed. The paperclips caught on to the bars of the cage, sending the grappling hook to a halt. The grey mammal looked at it, frustrated. He quickly undid it from its place on the bar, and thought again.
"Maybe, I just need to get the whole rope out of the cage," he murmured, staring down at the glinting paperclips, as they seemed to say 'Yes, throw us outside and let us pull you to freedom,'. So he, placed two paws outside, one holding the grappling hook, the other to help pull the rope out of the cage. RJ set back to work, yanking the rope out of the cage hastily, as he realized the sun was nearly completely up.
Where are they, and what's taking them so long? RJ subconsciously thought, referring to his family. They really shouldn't be taking this long, and it had been a while since Hammy had left. He shook the thought off, knowing that if anything happened to them, he would have to get free himself to save them.
He tried swinging the rope again, once it was completely out of the cage. He swung it, always conscious of not letting it catch on to the top of the cage.
Then, he let go, allowing the grappling hook to go flying through the air once more, airborne. RJ held his breath, watching it go, as it soared, all the way over, over to the window sill.
And then-
Clang!
It had caught on to the window sill, making RJ jump up in excitement. He gave the rope a good tug, and found it to hold firm. Suddenly, he started having doubts, doubts about how strong his homemade grappling hook actually was. He eyes the cage wearily, realizing it must be pretty darn heavy, and including him, the rope may not hold. I should have doubled the paperclips.
"Oh well," the raccoon said to himself, looking back at the window. "I might as well give it a shot,"
So, he started to pull, and pull, slowly inching towards the window, and freedom. He kept yanking at the rope, hoping that it wouldn't break, and that the weakest link wouldn't give way, (considering there was always a weakest link in ropes).
He was finally within paw reach of the window sill, when he felt the paperclips starting to slowly come undone.
"Hold!" he whispered loudly to them, as he tried to make his way up a paper stack, in a kind of cliff-climbing manner. The stack was quite high, and that gave the paperclips even more weight to hold as gravity was against them. He huffed as he nearly lost his grip on the clips, hissing as a sharp edge of a paperclip cut into his paw. Maybe paperclip grappling hooks weren't the safest ropes to create…
"Nearly there…" he muttered, as he neared the top of the stack. You have to understand, it may not have been a high paper stack to us, but to RJ, who was pulling a cage and himself up it, using only his own strength and a paperclip grappling hook, it must have been tough.
"Come on," he groaned, trying to reach one paw out to grab the edge of the stack, as he felt the paperclips begin to slip, and crack a little under the weight.
"Just, a little, more," RJ grunted, fingering for the edge. He, huffed, knowing he would need two paws to reach the edge. So he quickly hooked the other end of the rope onto the bars of the cage, wrapping it around hastily. He returned to trying to grab the edge, as the paperclips gave a groan.
And then, all too quickly-
Snap!
The paperclips gave way, letting the cage topple back, sliding down the counter top.
"NO!" RJ gasped, as he tried to grab hold of something, anything that might support him and the cage, before they were thrown over the edge of the bench-
Too late, was the raccoon's last thought, as his cage slid off of the bench top, crashing to the ground.
The Hedgies were having quite a hard time getting to their captured friend. It did seem like fate was against them, as they ran around outside, trying to get away from the guards who had just returned from their patrol.
"Everyone stay calm!" Verne tried to yell over the screaming of everyone. But no one was listening.
Heather just managed to jump out of the way of a grabbing hand, which issued a curse from Bob. Ozzie quickly grabbed his daughter by the hand, yanking her underneath the broken vending machine, just out of reach of Fred. However, Fred wasn't looking for the opossums, as he advanced on Hammy, who was trying to find a way out of the corner in which he was, well, cornered.
"Hang on Hammy!" A voice cut of Verne's, and he turned around to see Stella stalking up to Fred.
"Alright human, I'm gonna give you exactly five seconds to step away from the squirrel!" she yelled up at Fred, making the human turn around. His pupils dilated, as he saw Stella.
"One!" Fred, backed away, making Stella smirk as she approached.
"Two!" she backed the human against a wall, as Hammy hurriedly hid behind Verne.
"Three!"
"Fred, you might want to get out of there!" Bob shouted at his partner, completely forgetting about the animals, as Stella turned around and stuck her tail in the air.
"Five!" the skunk yelled, skipping four entirely as she released a bomb of really bad smelling gas.
"Yuck!" Fred gagged, holding his throat tightly as he was covered with the green air. "Run away!"
"Already ahead of ya!" Bob yelled over his shoulder, heading for the van. Fred raced after him, still coughing into his fist as he waved the other arm, trying to get rid of the cloud surrounding him.
"Alright Stella!" Heather cried happily, as she and her dad made their way out from the safety of the vending machine.
"Yeah, great job Stella!" Hammy said happily, bouncing on the spot.
"It was nothin'," she replied in embarrassment, suddenly remembering their friend. "And, we need to remember why we are here. RJ is still trapped in there, and from what Hammy said, the animal control should be here any minute. Let's go!"
"Arg," RJ groaned, rubbing his head with his paw gingerly, trying to see if there was any blood from the crash. Fortunately, there wasn't. Unfortunately, the cage was smashed, right on the door, bending the bars in all sorts of ways, making it nearly impossible to open. RJ just hoped it was possible.
"Greeeeat. I'm even more stuck than I was before," he sighed, trying to make the door budge open.
It didn't.
Of course it didn't.
"Weeeeeell, if that doesn't work, then how about…"RJ started to finger the bent wires, hoping to be able to bend them open now that they had already been bent, making them weaker. He heaved at them, leaning back hoping his momentum would help the bars to move, but to no avail. He grunted and groaned, as the best the raccoon could manage was a small opening that only the porcupine triplets could fit into, but not him. Still, RJ tried to stick his head through, only managing to give himself a headache as he yanked his head back out.
"Urggg!" He moaned, putting a paw to his head. A sticky substance met his hand, making RJ pause. He brought his paw back down, to be met with the sight of blood. Okay, so maybe he hadn't escaped without a scrape.
There wasn't a large amount of blood, it was just a small cut. Thankfully, or else his family would freak out. Not like they weren't already freaked out enough as it was… RJ continued at his efforts of opening the bars to the cage, but it would not budge. So, he sat there, trying to come up with another plan. However, all his plans ended with needing either someone else to help him, or a hammer. Sometimes both.
The raccoon sighed, tapping the bent bars irritably.
"Come on, think RJ! You need to get out! This isn't the cosiest home," he vented his frustration on the bars, pounding the with his hind legs. They just didn't want to oblige in moving, however, and resulted in RJ having sore feet.
The raccoon proceeded to try and barge through the bars, stepping back and then running into the door, shoulder first, slamming into it again and again as his patience quickly seeped away. It was no good.
"Arrrrg!" he slammed into the door one last time, with a mighty push off the opposing wall.
He hit the bars hard, so hard he felt like he broke his shoulder. RJ seethed in pain, gripping his shoulder as he sunk down onto the floor, leaning against the damaged door. Stupid cage! His conscious cried, as his head and shoulder throbbed from the onslaught of his continuous escape plans.
"RJ? RJ!" At first the raccoon thought his mind was playing tricks on him, but after a third call of his name, he opened his eyes. RJ turned his head over his injured shoulder, to see the foggy figures of animals stepping through a now opened door.
Blinking, he cried "Who's there?"
"RJ it's us!" the voice cried, as a red blur zipped towards the encage animal.
"…Hammy?"
"You're alright! I think," the red squirrel yelled in glee, trying to hug his friend through the cage.
"Yeah, I guess," RJ chuckled, touching Hammy's shoulder through the cage.
"RJ!" the others came up, not being able to reach Hammy's supersonic speed. "What happened?"
"Eh, it's a long story," the raccoon grinned, just happy at the concept that he had help. He soaked the feeling in, as the others gathered around the cage.
"It looks like a long story," Verne stated, taking in RJ's state, from the cut on his forehead, the shoulder he was still gripping lightly, to the bashed cage. "A long story for later. Right now, we have to get you out,"
"Yeah, but like, how?" Heather asked in uncertainty, voicing everyone's hidden fear.
"We can't get him out before the humans come back!" Ozzie yelped, creating chaos.
"They'll capture all of us!"
"What if no one escapes alive!?"
"We won't be able to say what happened!"
"Can we just-?"
"WE WON'T LIVE THROUGH THIS!"
"SCARY CLOWN!"
"Just-"
"They'll be on us before we can ru-"
"There's no way-!"
"JUST STOP!" RJ cried, having enough of the panic Ozzie had initiated. "I do have a plan. I couldn't do it before you all came, but I think it might just work. We just need to co-operate, okay? Okay," the raccoon sighed, standing up in his cage.
"What is it?" Verne questioned, thankful had the situation under control after his failed attempts at breaking the commotion up.
"I need some sort of tool, like a hammer or-"
"A spanner! The spanner yo had in the vending machine!" Stella broke in, making RJ's face light up.
"Yes! Hamsquad, could you go and get that for me?"
"Sure thing RJ!" the squirrel saluted, speeding off back to the vending machine.
"Verne, can you and everyone else try and get this cage away from the bench? I feel like something is going to fall off of it after the cage fell,"
"The cage what?" the turtle shrieked slightly, as RJ squirmed uncomfortably.
"Like I said, long story. Can we please just continue?"
"Alright,"
It took Hammy a while to retrieve the spanner, considering that he started to chase a butterfly, and then when he lost the creature, he couldn't remember what he was supposed to be doing. It took some time wandering around, when he came across the vending machine, and saw the spanner glistening inside the slot.
"OooOoooOo, shiny! I'll keep it!" he had murmured, and took the spanner, walking back in the direction he had come.
"Hey look everyone, I found a shiny thing! Can I keep it Verne, can I? Hammy pleaded, walking back into the office where everyone was anxiously waiting for his arrival. They had just been debating whether to go out and search for their family member when Hammy popped back in.
"Finally!" Verne sighed in relief, taking the shiny from Hammy and walking back to the cage, not without Hammy's indignant squeak of 'My shiny!'.
"Here,"
"Thanks," RJ quickly took the tool from the turtle's outstretched hands, and started to bend the wires, by bending the spanner against them, prying the cage wires apart. He kept on doing so, until the door was just big enough for him to squeeze out of.
"Thank goodness," Ozzie and Stella sighed at the same time.
"Now, we better get out of here," the raccoon stated, rushing over towards the door.
"Agreed," Verne said, ushering their family to follow. RJ raced outside of the office, grateful as the sun coated his face and the warm summer air brushed his fur. It was good to be free once again.
"RJ, where are you going?" Hammy asked, as the raccoon raced towards the vending machine.
"Just getting my bag," he cried over his shoulder, skidding to a halting front of the machine. He hastily reached a paw inside, grabbing the strap of his beloved blue golf bag. Gotcha! RJ thought to himself, pulling the bag to his chest possessively. He quickly looped the strap around and over his head, when he suddenly heard a cry of warning and surprise.
He whipped his head around to see Heather squirming in Bob's grip, and just rolled out of the way as Fred pounced.
Heart beating, RJ looked back up to see the human regain his balance. The raccoon looked back at Heather who was trying unsuccessfully to gnaw at Bob's hand, Ozzie trying to scramble up the human's legs. Verne looked on, huddled in his shell, hiding Hammy from view, as Stella made her way to try and distract Fred. She succeeded in backing the human into the vending machine, once again having the power thanks to her stench.
"Hang on Heather, I'm coming!" RJ yelled, as Bob kicked Ozzie to the side. RJ bit his lip, as he quickly approached behind the night guard, trying to think of a plan.
Come on RJ, this is your fault. You have to do something, you're the one who wanted a midnight snack and now you get the punishment for your selfishness! He told himself, leaping onto the human's back. He gripped onto Bob's shoulders, successfully distracting the human's focus on the possums. But he didn't stop there, as he bit the guard right on the ear, receiving a piercing scream. RJ may have small teeth, but raccoon teeth were sharp. Deadly sharp. Maybe he gets rabies from my bite? RJ thought hysterically to himself, as he scurried over Bob's shoulder, and then bit his wrist, effectively allowing Heather to slip out, into her dad's awaiting arms.
"Let's go!" RJ yelled above the din, letting Stella know to leave her post. The skunk obliged, as Verne quickly led Hammy and the opossums away. RJ sprinted after them on all fours, leaving the guards behind swearing profusely, making the raccoon chuckle slight.
"Are you alright kiddo?" RJ panted in question, once they reached the safety of the hedge.
Heather managed a weak nod, leaning against her father for support, knees shaking slightly. To be honest, RJ found the concept of collapsing there on the spot very welcoming, but that was soon to come. Right now, he needed to make sure his family was alright.
"Hammy, Ozzie, Stella, Verne, you all okay?" he asked, receiving more tired nods, as everyone sat promptly on the grass. It was now the middle of the day, and the sun shone strongly over their heads.
"In that case, I would like to say thanks for saving my sorry hide from there. I really deserved to rot in that cage," the raccoon apologised (in a way) fiddling with the strap of his golf bag.
"No problem, that's what family's for," Stella was the first to say.
"Yeah, and you better get used to it, with all your problems," Verne joked, making everyone laugh.
It was good to be this carefree again, after all the events of the night. RJ sighed in relief, thankful that his family wasn't going to kick him out, or anything extreme.
"Welp, I want my shiny thing back," Hammy said firmly, as if nothing but him finding the spanner had happened. Everyone looked at him in dismay, and then once looking at each other, burst out laughing, rolling all over on the ground. Poor Hammy didn't know what he did, and continued to whine for his shiny thing, just causing more commotion between the laughing hedgies. It was a pleasant way to end the heist.
"Here ya go Hamsquad," RJ eventually said, throwing his spanner over to the squirrel, who continued to smother it with nuzzles.
"I think we need to go and tend to that cut though, RJ," Verne said gently, after everyone had walked back to the log to inform an anxious porcupine family and cat that they had arrived.
"Yeah," RJ grinned back at him.
"And RJ,"
"Hmm?"
"No more vending machine,"
"Okay mildude, ok,"
