Chapter 12: Some Help

Footsteps were imprinted on the ground as Havoc's men escorted the two captured Rovers. Said two in question still held an angered look on their faces, they had given up trying to get their arms free since the rope was too tight for them to slip through. The two stumbled a bit as they walked; it was a reminder that they could run either. After their arms were tied their captors shackled their legs with the same rope, this also prevented Hunter from using his speed to escape. But even if they could get free they couldn't fair against their captors, since they were stripped of all their weapons and equipment. All they could do right now was bid their time and wait for a chance so they could escape.

All the while they were marched the men around them gloated, knowing that the two Rovers couldn't do anything about it, all they could do was just growl in response. They seemed to be walking for nearly an hour before they came into a large clearing, the base for Havoc and all of his men. Spread out were multiple tents and men, who seemed to be tending to duties they seemed to have. All eyes were on the Rovers as they were marched through the camp, smirks appeared on various faces, as cheers rang out. If their moral wasn't that high it sure as heck was now.

Being led to a larger tent in the center of the camp, both were roughly shoved into the temp, the rope tied to their legs caused them to fall on the ground. They tried and get back up but hands pressed down on their shoulders, forcing them to stay on their knees. As they looked forward their anger only rose as Havoc came into their view. Said man's head rose as his eyes lay upon the two captive Rovers, a devious smile crept appeared as he walked right at them. "Well, well look at who we have here."

One of the men who escorted them spoke up; he was out of their sight, "As you see sir your plan worked."

"Yes it did indeed," He responded, motioning for his men to stand Hunter and Axel up. They decided not to cooperate and didn't move for them, causing them to roughly stand them. Havoc just them moved closer into Hunter's face just to gloat more. "You both thought that you could come here and try to steal the plant from me, just to save your precious friends? I don't think so." The two didn't response; they didn't want to give him the satisfaction. "I bet you're wondering how we set this up, huh?" again no response, just angry growls. It didn't matter it pleased him regardless.

"Once my night team found you they radioed that you were here, chances were that you would best them so I sent word to one of my leftover teams to stage the whole thing you two heard. Yes I knew you two were listening in." Both Hunter and Axel's eyes widen at that, he knew all along and they were being played. They fell right into his trap. "I knew you'd somehow find them and the rest you all know." Just reveling his previous plan was exhilarating for the colonel, knowing he would final be triumphant soon. "I'm glad this happened, so now your friends are doomed, they could stay asleep forever for all I care, the world won't miss them."

That did it for Hunter, quickly drawling his head back he slammed his head right into Havoc's. The man cried out in pain as he clutched the spot that was in pain. The retriever felt some pride but it left as soon as one of the guards hit him on back, causing him to fall onto his knees, a bit pain flared but it was nothing he couldn't handle. 'It was worth it,' He thought.

The colonel quickly recovered, irate at Hunter's actions, moving back into his face he snarled, "You'll pay for that!" But nothing happened, making both Rovers think that he had nothing but empty threats. Havoc just turned and walked back to the table in the middle. "Unfortunately you two are lucky; I want no harm to come to you two…yet. I rather you are healthy for what I have planned."

Turning to look at them, the angry looks were replaced with smirks, what they were smirking about didn't really bother him. He knew how to fix it. "I want you two to be fully aware when I destroy that flower right in front of you both." That seemed to work as the Two Rovers faces dropped, that's something they couldn't let happen. Smiling again Havoc's decided to add more salt to the wound, "Once that is all over I'll personally finish you both."

They flared their teeth, both deciding that the time for silence had passed, "You'll regret this," Hunter said first.

"We'll get you for this," Axel second.

"I'd like to see you both try," deviously smiling at the two before looking up to his men. "Throw them into separate tents; make sure they have no contact with each other what so ever."

"Yes sir!" They all said as they began to leave, but stopped as another order was given.

"Oh, be sure to muzzle them, things will be quiet if they can't talk." The men smiled as they roughly pulled the two out of the tent, the Rovers ticked at this.

A couple of minutes later Hunter was thrown into an empty tent, landing face first, the retriever would have loved to have said something, but his mouth was tied shut. Yet it didn't prevent an angry snarl from escaping. After lying there for a minute he decided to shift himself till he was sitting down. Once situated he looked around his surrounding, the tent was voided of anything, it was just him and the fabric that covered everything inside. Looking in front of the tent he saw that the entrance flap was closed, and most likely there was a guard or two outside.

'How do we get out of this now?' Asking himself as he worked the ropes around his wrist again. His hands tried to wiggle free, but the rope was tied real tight and firm, there was no way he could get free without help. 'If only Axel were here to help,' his thought went back to his Stepbrother, curious to whether if he was currently doing the same thing. Having no contact would make it harder trying to make an escape plan. He would try running with his speed but they left the rope shackles on, there's no way he could even get two feet without tripping. 'If I could only get these off I could just run out of here…but yet I just can't leave Axel here.'

He just had to face the fact that he was stuck…for now. He needed to get free of his bonds, get Axel and escape, but how? Just then a feeling of fatigue overcame him, he was tired, no wonder since they barely got any sleep from before. And before he knew it he laid on the ground, shut his eyes and fell asleep. Knowing now wasn't the time but sleep ending up winning in the end.

In another tent Axel was on his back, recently have been thrown in. He would have loved to rant to his guards but the rope used as a muzzle prevented him from doing so. 'When I get out of here…' He thought, sitting up to take in the surrounding. An empty tent with only him inside, not much to work with, yet nothing to use to cut himself free. Blinking his aura sight activated, being able to see through the tent's fabric he could see the aura of two guards outside the tent, the only exit for him at the moment. looking around he could see more guards, no way he could escape like this even if his tent wasn't guarded. Blinking once again both eyes returned to normal, he then tested out the rope, hoping there was a chance he could free himself, but nothing budged.

'Great looks like I'm stuck here for now, I need to get free somehow,' He thought to himself, but then suddenly it felt like his eyes were made of lead. It then struck him that he nor did Hunter get that much sleep. He really wanted to laid down and get some shut eye but there was no time for that. 'I can't, not now; who knows how long till Havoc finds the plant? But still I can't help it…so…tired,' he mentally yawned, slowly giving into the fatigue. Head planted on the ground he let sleep claim him, might as well recover whatever energy he could muster.

Main Tent

Inside the main tent of the camp Colonel Havoc ended a radio transmission and marked out another spot of the map in front of him. Hearing the main flap move he looked up to see that Skeam enter. "Anything to report?"

The lieutenant saluted before speaking, "Nothing yet, but two more of our patrols came back, nothing on their end."

The Colonel nodded and picked the pen back up, "Which ones?"

"Teams one and five."

Havoc nodded as he marked the off the spots on the map, the areas left unmarked were small, so they were slowly starting to close in on the plants location. "It won't be long now."

Skeam then walked up to the table as he looked at the map also, "Sir I heard that some of the troops caught the remaining Rovers."

That just made a smile crept back onto the colonel's face, "Yes…they're detained for now, they won't have a chance of escaping."

"What are your plans for them?"

A small chuckle came from the man; it started off soft but then started to rise in volume before he started laughing in delight. "Oh…I'm going to enjoy finishing them off later."

"What do you mean?" Skeam asked, confused at his words.

"Once the men find the flower and bring it back, I'm going to destroy it right in front of those two. The looks on their faces once it happens will be priceless." Sitting down on a fold out chair, the colonel laid back. "Once that is over I'll finish them personally, they have been a pain to me all this time and I finally can end it."

Hearing the plan also planted a smile on the lieutenant's face, "Ah I see, that will be a sight to see."

Just then the radio on the table beeped, catching both of the men's attention. Reaching for it Havoc was the one to answer, "Yes what is it?"

"Sir team three reporting in, sir I think we may have found it, but I'm not sure."

While listening, the colonel traced around the map with his finger until he found the spot team three was sent to. "Ok the send some of the scientist to your location."

"Thank you sir, over and out!"

Once the transmission ended he looked up to Skeam and gave the order, "Inform some of the scientists, and send them out, this actually might be it."

He saluted once more, "Yes sir," Then turned on his heels and exited the tent. Havoc just lay back in his seat, happy to know that the event he's waiting for won't be that far out of reach.

With Hunter

Hunter was lying on his side, still asleep, but it was quickly ruined as his whole body started to shake. Coming out of his dream both of his eyes started to open, vision blurry for a sec but started to clear as the seconds went by. The anger from before returned after his vision cleared, showing one of Havoc's men right in his view. He didn't want to know what brought him here, maybe he just wanted to gloat to him more, a noticeable growl came out to show that he was unwanted here.

The man began to speak, surprising the retriever some, as he lifted the retriever till he was sitting, "Calm down, I'm here to help." Hunter didn't believe it, thinking it to being a trick. "I'm going to remove the rope from your mouth please stay quiet."

Slowly reaching up the guy started to untie the rope, unwrapping it from the retriever's mouth. Once it was fully off Hunter then snapped, trying to bite the man's figures, but he was unsuccessful. "I'd stay away if I were you!"

The guard seemed to be a little freaked with the loud voice, "Shh, please keep it down they'll hear you."

"Why should you care," Hunter responded, trying to move back. "You have us right where you want us, just say what you want to say and leave."

"But I want to help you and your friend," The man confessed, which raised an eye for Hunter. The way it was said almost sounded sincere. But then shook it off, remembering what happened earlier.

"No I don't believe you, this is just a trick Havoc made."

"It's not I swear to you," He pleaded as he moved closer. "Please hear me out."

Hunter did nothing as he heard this, it was then he fully took the man's appearance. He had some medium shaggy hair, with some tan skin. Like him his eyes were brown and from the looks of it he was starting to believe him, but still decided to be cautious. "Why would you want to help us?"

The man in question sat on the ground while looking the retriever in the eye, a good way of telling that his words were true. "I heard about what the Colonel did to your friends, and I can say that I wasn't thrilled at it…you see I'm not really like any other troops that Havoc has hired."

"What do you mean?"

"I only joined his army because I needed a place to go, and the money he paid me…I couldn't refuse. I don't really like going with the plans that we are sent to do, I hate it all and this recent bout with what he did to your friends…well that just did it with me."

Hunter was starting to lighten up to the guy; he started believing his words, forgetting about the suspicious from earlier. "What's your name?"

He blew out a sigh of relief, glad to know that he was getting through, "Tim…just call me Tim."

"Ok…Tim, if you say you're going to help us, what's your plan?"

He blew another sigh, as he shook his head, "I haven't got that far yet. But I needed to talk to you two and let you know that you have a friend here, but once I think of something I'll let you know."

"Can't you just free us?" Hunter questioned.

"Sorry but I can't, not till I have a plan, if you and your friend were to be spotted it would be disastrous. Just please bear with me, I'll help you guy in the end."

Hunter took it into consideration, the doubt from earlier came back, he wasn't sure if he should trust him with this, but it sounded like the only way he and Axel could get out of this. In the end he decided to go with it, "Ok I trust you…for now."

"Thank you," Tim said as he stood back up. "I'm going to talk to your friend now, but I'll be back." He then nervously picked up the discarded rope and looked back at Hunter. "Sorry but I'm going to have to put this back on, I can't risk anyone else seeing that your bonds were disturbed."

That just earned a growl from him; Hunter wasn't comfortable with it but knew he was right," Fine."

"Sorry," Tim apologized as he wrapped the rope around the mouth and tied it off. Hunter just looked on as the man turned and left the ten, hoping that his trust wouldn't be misled.

Axel was meditating the best he could, having woken up not too long ago he tried whatever it took to help himself think, so far nothing had come to mind. No one has disturbed him at all, which only put him more on edge since that could happen at any time. It was then his eyes opened as he sensed a presence approaching, backing up a bit he watched as Tim entered the tent. Axel just glared at the man, unaware of his intentions.

Tim looked on at the Akita, mentally sighing since he had to go through this once again, but he willed himself to do it. But then he saw his face lighten up for some reason, he didn't know why but decided to take that as a good sign. "Don't worry I'm here to help you," Tim said as he approached, the Rover in front didn't change expressions, which was still strange to him. "I'm going to remove the rope from your mouth, please stay quiet."

The more Axel looked at the guy the more he realized that no ill-intentions could be sensed within the guy. It was a bit of a shock when he was told that he was going to be un-muzzled but sensed that the guy just wanted to talk. So once the rope was fully removed the guy just jumped back, as if he was expecting Axel to bite him. "Why would you want to help us?" Axel was the first to ask.

"You…didn't try to bite me," Tim said, pleasantly surprised.

"I take it Hunter did that to you?" A nod was his response, as he sighed, but also glad that he talked to his stepbrother first. "I'm different, I can tell if you're lying or not, and I can't see anything bad within you."

Tim blew a sigh of relief, knowing that this could be a lot easier; he then took the time to explain everything he told to Hunter, including his name. The more Axel heard Tim's story he started to believe him, since he couldn't sense any deception inside him. "…I haven't thought of anything yet, but I will soon."

"Alright then how-"

"Wait, you actually trust me?" Time asked in shock.

"Like I said before I can tell if you're lying or not, and trust me I'm right all the time. I don't sense anything bad about your story, so you check out in my books."

"Well…that's a relief to hear, I guess," He responded, standing back up. "I promise I'll help you two out, just give me some time to think."

Axel nodded, knowing this was the only option at the moment, "Just be quick, who knows how long till Havoc finds that flower."

"Don't worry I'll have something," He then picked the rope up again. "Sorry I have to put this back on."

He nodded, understanding the reason, "It's alright." Tim then retied the rope muzzle, making it look like nothing has been disturbed. Axel then looked on as Tim turned and exited the tent, then resumed a meditative pose, without anything else to do but wait he had nothing better to do. He trusted Tim to help him and Hunter out, what he could do was still a mystery, but he knew that the man could be trusted.

A/N: Hope you like, tried thinking of what to do in this chapter, but I had to go with a new idea. This shouldn't be a problem to work with.