CHAPTER 2
Breakout and Airborne
1
FOUR YEARS AGO
It was a medium spring afternoon at the home of Ryan Perreault. The sun is bright and shining on everything. Warm weather is practically here, which will soon cause the remaining small piles of snow left around to melt away soon. Outside of Ryan's house is a taxi cab waiting for him.
Inside, a young-looking red-headed woman followed Ryan into the living room with the look of fear and nervousness on her face.
"Ryan, it's not like you were forced into doing this," the woman said to him. Walking through the room is Ryan Perreault, though he looks less muscular than before and his red hair is nearly all shaven off, leaving a slightly tinted shade of dark red on his scalp. He is wearing the U.S. Army's battle dress uniform with the brand new ACU Digital pattern. On a strip hanging down his center gig-line is an insignia pin showing two upside-down V chevrons, ranking him as a Corporal (E-4). In his hand he is carrying a standard Army-issued duffle bag.
Ryan stopped at the door and looked back at the woman following him.
"Yes, mom, you're right," Ryan said to her, "I was not forced into doing this. That's why it's an all-volunteer unit."
The woman, claiming to be Ryan's mother, shook her head.
"No, I don't believe it. All they're going to do is brainwash you, turn you into some kind of a robot, and you'll come home a completely different man."
Ryan sighed hearing that. He knew his mother was against his decision to join the Army right after high school to begin with, but it did help them out in the long run.
"Mom, listen. I love my job and I love what I worked so hard to do. Besides, I never had any problems during Basic Training like you said I would. You said I would get raped by rednecks, but it turned out Basic was full of kind people with the same goal as mine, and that influenced teamwork in the end," Ryan explained. "Hey, look on the bright side, we've got our health care paid for, they're paying for my sister's college, they've also helped me become a greater man than before. But I want more, mom. That's why I signed up for this."
"Oh, Ryan, I didn't want you to do this because my cousin was assaulted when he was joining the Marines," his mother said.
"Mom, that was back in 1973. Pretty much everything has changed since then. In fact, things changed in 1974. They don't allow criminals in the Army anymore. Besides, when I heard that joining the Army was a punishment for cons, I felt offended. To me, joining the Army is a high honor and society finds it as cruel and unusual punishment? That's fine, but I don't want you to think that way as well."
"Ryan, I just want you to be okay. I don't want you to get hurt out there, that's all. There are a lot of sick and crazy people in this world."
"Yes, I know, but not all six billion people on the planet are sick and crazy."
"But most of them are in the Army."
"No, they're not!" Ryan snapped. "Mom, the Army is three words, honor, integrity, and respect. Every person I met truly holds onto those three words for dear life." Ryan sighed. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, but things have changed over the decade. The Army is no longer a punishment for cons. In fact, you steel a candy bar or got a school detention, they won't take you."
That was when Ryan's mother bowed her head. In some ways, Ryan was right, things have changed. She just does not want to see her baby getting hurt.
"And if the Army wont take you for simple stuff like that, imagine how much good will is a pre-requisite for the career path that I want to take," Ryan said like a happy announcer style. His mom chuckled a bit at that voice.
Ryan slowly approached his mom and looked at her in the eyes.
"Mom, please relax. I told you about these guys and what it takes to become one. They have a failure ratio of at leased 70 to 80. With any luck, I'll be back home this time tomorrow. But I will 100 fail if I don't even try. Our country needs strong brave men to undertake these jobs. I know how dangerous they are, but it's like being a surgeon. The job is dangerous but it's also extremely important."
"Really? With my luck, you'll be back soon?" Ryan's mom asked. Ryan nodded. "But I don't want you to feel bad if you fail." Ryan led out a hearty laugh.
"No way. It's like applying to Harvard or Princeton or Yale, those colleges are hard to get into and you shouldn't cry for not getting accepted, because your chances of getting in are so limited. You understand where I'm coming from, mom?"
His mother nodded her head.
"However, with the 20 chance I've got and I do end up passing; will you at leased come to my graduation?" Ryan asked.
"Oh, Ryan, of course I will!" his mother said happily and hugged her son. She planted her face in his uniform with the digital pattern in it. "I know how much this means to you and I know the things you've done to yourself all last year to prepare for this."
"So, can I go?" Ryan asked like a little child. In reality, Ryan had no option because he already enlisted for this and was too late to cancel, but Ryan wanted his mother to have one last feeling of power again.
"Oh, of course you can, sweetie," his mom replied. Then the taxi outside honked its horn.
"The cab's waiting. I better get going now," Ryan said. He kissed his mother on the lips like he might never see her again, which turned out to not be true.
"Bye, Ry-guy," his mom said as Ryan turned to leave out the door. Just before Ryan walked out the door, his mom called out again. "Hey, Ryan!"
"Yo?" Ryan asked freezing at the door frame.
"At maximum, how long will you be gone?" she asked. Ryan looked up at the ceiling thinking of the numbers.
"Oh, the training lasts for 60 weeks. Check the calendar I left for you, you'll know what I'll be doing each day. And don't worry, I'll still be the same son you've always raised. Sure, I'll be more observant, more productive, more physically fit, but I will always be Ryan Michael Perreault and he is your son. I will always be the same. I love you, mom."
With that, Ryan walked out the door wearing his U.S. Army battle dress uniform in the ACU Digital pattern. Ryan placed his duffle bag in the trunk of the cab and got in the back seat.
Ryan's mother looked out the glass screen door as she watched her oldest child, her only son, being driven away in a cab to become a completely different man. What she fears is, will he be the same if he completes? Ryan's only worry is, will he complete. Only time will tell, and that time is in 60 weeks and counting.
2
PRESENT DAY
A hovercraft is driving and inside is Sleet, Dingo, SWAT Bot's, and a handcuffed Ryan. Ryan just starred at the two evilly. What surprised Sleet and Dingo was that, even though he was taken from his home dimension, he seemed cool under fire.
"So, you two must be Shit and Fucko," Ryan said.
"Actually, I'm Dingo and this is Sleet," Dingo said. Sleet hit him.
"May I ask where I am? What is going on? And where you are taking me?" Ryan said.
"You seem to ask a lot of questions," Sleet said.
"That's true. Do me a favor and answer them, fuck-head," Ryan said rudely.
"First, work on your language," Sleet said.
"Fuck you," Ryan replied back. After a slight pause, Sleet decided to answer Ryan's questions.
"Well, you are in a special prison hover truck on your way to mete Doctor Robotnik for robotosization. That means we are going to turn you into a mindless robot slave. Or, in your case, a warrior. Robotnik would be so pleased having someone like you on his side," Sleet told him.
"That's very interesting. But may I ask why me?" Ryan asked.
"We needed a human from the planet Earth. One that speaks English, has an average build for his weight and size, and had to be male. However, we found out you were part of the United States Army, one of Earth's toughest militaries next to the British, Russian, and Israeli just to name a few. Once we checked your profile and found out you were just a simple aircraft mechanic, we didn't have to worry about resistance" Sleet said. "Though I still don't know how you were able to wipe out our entire team. I thought about it and I decided that you just got lucky. I mean, all soldiers have weapons and self-defense training. Doesn't matter, because we got you."
"Nice work, jerk-off," Ryan said smiling. "But why would you want to robotosize humans? They're no different from animals. And how did I end up here?"
"We told you, we used a Dimensional Matter Displacer. We can travel to your world and grab new humans for our army," Sleet continued.
"A Dimensional Matter Displacer, eh? Did you grab any other humans?" Ryan asked.
"Nope, first we must give it a test. After we test it on you, then we will go back to Earth and grab more."
Suddenly, the huge hovercraft stopped and a voice on the intercom spoke.
"We're at the site, ready to unload," the voice said.
"Understood," Sleet said in the intercom.
Sleet and Dingo stood up and picked Ryan up by his arms. Dingo carried the bag Ryan had with him, including his gun and knife. The large doors opened and they escorted Ryan out of the hovercraft and into what looks like the main building of Robotropolis.
As the three walked through, Sleet and Dingo paid no attention to Ryan's expressions. Ryan kept looking around the entire building complex. He quietly counted his steps as he walked, counted the number of security cameras and how much they rotated, number of SWAT Bots on duty, corridors, weapons cache, defensive positions, and much more.
Sleet and Dingo forced Ryan to stop at a large bulkhead door with a keypad on it. Neither of them paid attention as Ryan stared his eyes at the keypad as the code was being pressed. The bulkhead door opened and they entered in another corridor where there seemed to be a watch station.
Dingo stopped and handed the robot at the watch station Ryan's bag. The robot behind the counter appeared to be an elderly lion. It was Cyrus' dad.
"Lock this up," Dingo told Cyrus' dad. The lion robot took the bag and walked to a locker. Ryan kept his eyes fixed on the locker as the robot grabbed the dial. Ryan stared as the dial turned clockwise to ten, counter-clockwise to twenty, and clockwise again to nine. Ten-twenty-nine. 10-20-9.
The locker door opened and Cyrus' father slid the bag inside and locked it in shut. Then Ryan was moved further in down the corridor to the prison cells.
3
FOUR YEARS AGO
Ryan Perreault is on a bus traveling through the beautiful landscapes of Georgia. The bus he is on somewhat made him feel uncomfortable due to the chicken wire bars on the windows. It felt like a prison bus. Ryan asked himself why would they put these wires up, he does not even want to leave. In fact, the other passengers on the bus feel the same way. All the other passengers are all wearing U.S. Army battle dress uniforms with the ACU digital patterns. Each of them are wearing different squadron patches on their shoulders and all are wearing American flag patches. They all also had one thing in common, they were all active duty; none are in the reserves or the guard.
Finally, the bus slowed down to a stop as it entered in the gates of a military base. The doors opened all the soldiers, including Ryan, were called outside. Obediently, they did as they were told and they all stood at the position of attention in one long line carrying their duffle bags.
Standing in front of them are a group of Army soldiers, wearing the same uniforms as the recruits. One of them, appearing to be an office due to the two-bar symbol on his collar, stepped forward and addressed all the recruits, which appeared to be about fifty of them.
"Welcome to the United States Army Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia," the officer announced. "Some of you have different goals in your mind as to where you want to go after this, but most of you are here for one purpose only. That purpose is to turn yourselves from an average soldier to an Airborne soldier. What you want to do with this training afterwards is up to you. Now, realized I said most of you. I wont lie. A small percentage of you men will not make it past this course. I had recruits quit after the first week."
Upon hearing this, Ryan gulped, but he has prepared himself for this. The instructor continued.
"Now, Airborne School is divided into three weeks. The first week, starting today, is called Ground Week. During Ground Week, we will work on the fundamentals from jumping from an aircraft and preparing you for hitting the ground. Next will be Tower Week. In that week, we will attach you to 10 foot, 34 foot, and 250 foot towers and drop you in a simulated combat Airborne jump. Finally, we will move on to Jump Week. There, you will jump from an aircraft, specifically a C-130 or a C-141, at different altitudes and in different conditions. Once you pass this course, you will move on with further advanced training that you signed up for. If you fail, you will be returned to your home unit. You can try again here some other time. Speaking of which, I do see some familiar faces. I hope none of you screw it up badly last time. Alright, when I say 'sound off, tell us what you want to be,' you say 'Airborne.' Alright, sound off, tell us what you want to be!"
"Airborne!" the recruits, including Ryan, shouted.
"Good," the officer said. He then turned to another instructor. This other instructor is huge and has chevrons on his collars indicating he is enlisted. "Sergeant Major, take over."
The Sergeant Major stepped forward and began his announcement.
"Okay, I want all of you guys to grab your bags and head to that white building over there by the dorms. You will be issued your gear from there. Then I want you to take a seat in the classroom in an orderly fashion. Is that understood?" the Sergeant Major asked.
"Yes, sir!" the recruits shouted.
"Dismissed," he said.
Ryan, as well as the others, grabbed their bags and casually jogged to the white building that the Sergeant Major announced. Once inside, Ryan was given a set of parachute gear and ordered to take a seat in the classroom. The classroom was just a large room with a podium, a projector with a sheet on the wall, several tables, and chairs. Ryan sat in the front row almost directly ahead of the podium, waiting for an instructor to stand up to it.
Ryan Perreault thought to himself that he could not believe he was actually here. He hated his regular job in the Army and he hated how he was not more than he wanted to be. Coming here was his dream and his true passion in life. He worked out and mentally stabilized himself for such a harsh training, but he was prepared for it. He remembered in Basic Training that he was granted the Expert Rifleman badge and graduated with high honors of his class, even though it was only nine weeks. Ryan also took a grueling physical in hopes to pass and he did. He also remembered those hard tests he took such as the ASVAB and the GET, both in which he was lucky to get a high score on.
All that Ryan Perreault could hope for was that he would not be one of the 80 to fail and be sent home. Well, he just started his first week. Get through this week of training and he has only got 59 to go.
4
PRESENT DAY
In a different room, Robotnik was typing stuff down on a computer. The computer screen showed a program called "DMD." He pressed the enter key and a file download box appeared. It quickly downloaded something. Then the screen showed a circle closing. Once it was closed, a box showed, "DMD closed."
Robotnik smiled at this. He turned off the computer.
"I just hope the resistance doesn't know about this," Robotnik said to himself.
5
In the dungeon, a cell opened and Ryan was thrown in it after his handcuffs were taken off. The cell door closed and locked. Ryan got up and saw that Sleet and Dingo, the ones who threw him in there, are walking away. Soon, they were gone and Ryan realized he was the only prisoner in the dungeon.
"Son of a bitch," Ryan said amazed. He instantly realized that he is in a cartoon world. Sure, seeing cartoon characters was amazing enough, but actually being in a cartoon world was amazing. He turned around and looked out the back window and saw ruins, robots and hovercraft.
Ryan then believed that the cell he was in could be monitored, so he sat on the prison stool and sang some random songs from his favorite artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Billy Joel, and other random classic rock songs. That way, any monitoring listening devices in the cell wont pick up and background sounds as to that Ryan is really doing.
"Robotropolis?" Ryan thought to himself through his songs. "Holy shit, I'm on Mobius! Wait, if this is Mobius, and that was Sleet and Dingo, it must also have Robotnik, then somewhere in the city must also have..."
He gasped in thought. Ryan jumped up onto the bars on his windows just as he switched to the Eagles song, 'Take it Easy.'
"I hope they know I'm here and they come save me," Ryan thought to himself. Then he realized that the portal going in and out was pretty silent, he ended up on Mobius far away from the boarder of Robotropolis, and if he can recall how the ride felt on its turns, he did not feel anything of turning toward the rebel hidden base nor herd Sonic's running sound.
"I'm probably going to have to do this by myself!" Ryan thought.
Then, he got down on his knees, picked up a rock in his cell and began carving designed into the floor with his back facing the cell door. He knew there was a camera on the wall facing his cell, so he turned his back to it so the security of the place would not see what he was doing.
Ryan carved out lightly what he remembered seeing and possible escape routes. Lightly so he can brush it away if guards are coming. There was no way he would escape from the cell itself and he remembered passing by an interrogation room. He figured that Robotnik would want to ask him some questions about his performance before turning him into a mindless robot. Robotosizing him would be like unplugging an arcade game, all the scores will be erased. He knew Robotnik would want to interrogate him before robotosizing him, which means that would have to be his escape point. From there he must make his way to alternate or fire escapes to get away for the time being. After that, he had to make up what he was going to do next.
6
Sleet and Dingo entered the main control room where Robotnik was. Robotnik, hearing them enter, spun his chair around to face the two bounty hunters.
"Doctor Robotnik, we have captured the kid you wanted us to. He's in the dungeon, cell 138," Sleet said.
"Good, I bet it was no trouble at all," Robotnik said.
"Actually, he destroyed all of our SWAT Bot escorts and nearly ran half a mile away. He also threw me to the ground five times!" Dingo said. Sleet cringed because he believed they almost got away without telling Robotnik they lost the whole team. However, at the same time, Robotnik would have asked where the SWAT Bot team was.
Upon hearing this news, Robotnik was furious!
"What? He destroyed your entire SWAT Bot team? You two couldn't even catch a fish out of a fish bowl!" Robotnik yelled.
Sleet gave a nervous laugh.
"Well, we both did eventually capture him," Sleet said. Robotnik sighed.
"Okay, I give you credit for that. But I don't understand. He's just a 24-year-old man with a simple aircraft engineering job in the Army, how could have he destroyed SWAT Bots and threw Dingo to the ground?" Robotnik asked.
"My best guess is that he took some martial arts classes when he was young or something," Sleet suggested. Robotnik shook his head.
"No, those classes are for human against human, not human against machine. No, he's something more. I want that interrogation room prepped and well-guarded," Robotnik ordered.
"Want us to interrogate him, sir?" Sleet asked.
"No, I'll do it myself. Just get the room ready," Robotnik repeated. The three left the room.
7
Meanwhile, in the cell, Ryan was taking small steps around the cell doing slow fighting moves. Due to Ryan being right-handed, he brought his left fist in front of his face and his right fist on the right side of his face. His left leg stood out in front of him. Slowly, Ryan took one step forward with his left leg and he dragged his right foot behind him. This is a moving method called the step-and-slide.
Slowly, Ryan performed various hand-to-hand combat tactics in the air. He threw a lead punch, an elbow strike, and always ended each one by step-and-sliding backwards away from the invisible target.
Soon, Ryan heard a sound of a door opening from down the corridor. Quickly, Ryan dropped to his knees and wiped away the carvings on the ground. He completely thought of his escape plan, thought it out vigorously, took out the bad traits, left in the good, and now was the time to execute it. First, however, he needs them to take him to that interrogation room if that is where they will take him.
Sleet, Dingo, and a few SWAT Bot's are walking to Ryan's cells. They stopped right in front of him.
"So, you just came to show me a fat dick?" Ryan said rudely.
"Shut up," Sleet ordered. He unlocked the cell and opened it. "Robotnik wants to personally question you before we put you in the robotosizing chamber."
"And you're not even going to buy me dinner," Ryan said with a chuckle. The two SWAT Bots entered in the cell and grabbed both of Ryan's arms. They escorted Ryan down the halls and toward the interrogation room they passed earlier.
8
FOUR YEARS AGO
It has been almost two weeks since Ryan Perreault first stepped in the United States Army's Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia. He passed the tests well, but only a small few of recruits have been sent home already. He went through various zip-lines, air pressure chambers, and was dropped from a ten-foot and a 34-foot tower. Ryan learned the posture to be in when parachuting, keeping his knees tight together and bent, flair his chute within five feet of the ground, and roll on the ground. Doing all of that is called a PLF, or a parachute landing fall.
Today, Ryan is now going to be in a tower far higher than the past ones. This tall tower is 250 feet high. Ryan stood on his knees, next to his other classmates, wearing a T-10 parachute and a realistic-weight pack of his gear. The instructor stood tall in front of them with the 250 tower behind him.
"Okay, Airborne, this here is the 250 foot drop tower. With the exception of the prop-blast and opening shock, a drop from this tower is similar to jumping from an aircraft. Remember to flair your parachute and perform a perfect parachute landing fall in the same manner as you will when you make your qualifying jump next week," the instructor announced. "First jumper, time to get in your rig."
Ryan Perreault's parachute was strapped to the crane of the tall 250 foot tower and ready to raise him. The instructor held out a megaphone so Ryan could hear him.
"Jumper going aloft. Assume a good led-up position with that T-10 parachute," the instructor reminded him over the megaphone. "And remember, as you are approaching the ground, keep your knees bent, flair, turn your body 90 degrees in the direction of your movement, and roll. Check canopy, check canopy, check canopy, look up and execute a good 360 degree check of your canopy."
Ryan looked up and saw the canopy of his parachute. He was checking for rips in the cloth, tangled cords, or any holes where there are not supposed to be any. Besides the holes already in the parachute, his parachute was fine. As he was looking up, he was shocked to feel his boots leave the ground. Ryan quickly realized the 250 foot tower was raising him above the ground.
"Alright, sound off and tell me what you want to be," the instructor called up.
"Airborne!" Ryan sounded off as loud as he could as he was being pulled up the tower.
"How's the view up there, Perreault?"
"Outstanding, sir!"
Ryan kept getting lifted up the tower slowly. The reason they do this is because they want their recruits to withstand overwhelming stress levels. If a simple recruit could not think on their feet and multitask in high levels of stress beyond human limits, they will be sent home or back to their home unit. Ryan, however, enjoyed being up this high.
"Only one way down now, Perreault," the instructor called up. "I hope you were paying attention during training, Perreault. I do not want to have a hole in my field."
Ryan kept getting higher and higher up the tower. He can easily see a flock of birds flying along the horizon. Ryan looked down and he felt like the way he felt when looking over the mid-section of the Statue of Liberty while on a school trip to New York City. Thing was, Ryan was still being pulled upward.
"Alright, Perreault, you are approaching the six-foot-stop. And you are there," the instructor called up.
Indeed, Ryan finally stopped and the crane holding his parachute locked in place. The crane held his parachute and his parachute held him 250 feet in the air. Ryan looked down and grinned at the sight. He felt like he was flying a Cessna with no canopy.
"Knees tight together, knees bent," the instructor reminded through his megaphone. "Sixty-nine times, sixty-nine times, sixty-nine times!"
Suddenly, without Ryan knowing, the hooks holding his chute released and dropped him. Ryan kept his knees bent and tightly touching each other. Even though he was wearing a parachute, he was dropping faster than expected. The ten-foot and 34-foot towers did not seem so bad, but this 250-foot tower was powerful!
Ryan dropped all the way down to the ground in a matter of seconds. He reacted quickly near the bottom but pulling on the straps of his chute, which faired his parachute to a near stop. He knew flaring too late would be ineffective, and flaring too soon could cause the chute to collapse. Ryan flared at the right time and hit the ground feet first softly. He let the rest of his body drop on the ground and rolled. As the parachute fell in a big bundle next to him, Ryan unclipped the chute off of him and stood up in front of his awaiting instructor.
"Perreault, your overall parachute landing fall was satisfactory. Good job," he said. Ryan let out a huge sigh of relief. All that was left is for him to jump out of the aircrafts next week. Hopefully, then, he will pass Airborne school and move on to his passion. His passion could have already started if he accepted Airborne school years ago when it was offered to him. The best thing was, he is doing it now and it is fresh in his mind for when the real hard tests come.
9
PRESENT DAY
The interrogation room was something Ryan has expected to see. A perfectly square room with a single heavy door, no window in case of escape, a chair bolted to the ground, a table with equipment on it, and a single lamp hanging over the chair.
The SWAT Bots forced Ryan to sit in the chair as they placed a long set of handcuffs on his wrists to the front. They locked the long chain underneath the chair's arms keeping Ryan in place.
"SWAT Bots, leave," Sleet ordered. The SWAT Bots left the room, leaving Ryan with Sleet and Dingo. Sleet took a few steps up to Ryan and glared down at him. "This is for what you did to me back on Earth." Next thing Ryan knew, Sleet rammed his fist in Ryan's gut. Ryan keeled over gasping for air. Ryan's eyes peeked up and he noticed a small three-pin key clipped to his belt. That was the key to Ryan's handcuffs.
"Go to hell," Ryan mumbled.
"What?" Sleet asked bending over to his face.
"I said go to hell," Ryan repeated. Sleet responded to this by punching Ryan in the gut again. Again, Ryan bent forward gasping for a breath.
While Ryan was bent forward, he heard the large metal door unlock and open. He looked up and, for the first time ever, Ryan Perreault saw Doctor Ivo Julian Robotnik. He looked scarier than on television, but Ryan saw things a lot worse than this in his time. If Ryan was able to stand up, he would have been taller than him.
"Sleet, Dingo, you two leave," Robotnik ordered. Robotnik voice however, just like in the cartoons, did not sound so scary. With that, Ryan got some leverage to resist his interrogations. "Look at me."
Ryan, without thinking, lifted his head up and stared coldly at Robotnik's eyes.
"I'm sure my companions told you that I wanted to have you robotosized. What that means is literally turn you into a mindless robot," Robotnik explained. Ryan knew what being robotosized was very well.
Ryan just glared at Robotnik.
"But before I do that, I want to know what is on your mind. Once I turn you into a robot, my first human robot, everything in your mind will be erased. Firstly, I want to know a few things, let's start off with some simple basic stuff. You are Ryan Michael Perreault, is that correct?"
Ryan said nothing. He was somewhat please to realize Robotnik was able to pronounce his last name correctly. Most people can never get it right on the first try, which is how his family is able to detect telemarketers with great ease.
"I'll assume you said yes," Robotnik continued. "We picked you but we realized you are in the United States Army, one of the toughest militaries on Earth. What is your current rank?"
Ryan said nothing. He stared at Robotnik angrily.
"Um, your file says you are an aircraft mechanic, where are you stationed?" Robotnik asked.
Ryan said nothing.
"One thing that puzzles me is that you wiped out my entire SWAT Bot squad. How is it possible for a mechanic to do that?" Robotnik asked.
Ryan said nothing.
"Why wont your answer me?" Robotnik snapped. Ryan did not even flinch. He just kept his eyeballs focused on Robotnik. "Don't you realize you're going to die? Don't you realize you have absolutely no hope of escape? Huh? Do you? Why won't you talk to me?"
Ryan said nothing.
Robotnik was furious now. He reached on the table and grabbed what looked like a scalpel with some kind of a miniature saw blade and a motor on it. Robotnik got directly in Ryan's face with the device and pressed his thumb on a button on it, spinning the blade.
"You will tell me everything or I'll make you bleed it out!" Robotnik yelled. Robotnik brought the device down toward Ryan's leg. Fir the first time ever, Robotnik heard sound come out of Ryan's mouth, but they were just heavy breathing. Ryan panted harder as the saw blade moved down to his knee.
Suddenly, just before the blade actually touched the material of Ryan's pants, the door unlocked and was shoved open, emitting a loud creaking sound.
"Robotnik," Sleet called inside.
"What?" Robotnik shouted back impatiently without looking at Sleet. He froze his hand in place, with the blade hovering over Ryan's right knee-cap.
"You've got a phone call," Sleet responded. There was a pause. "He said it was urgent."
Robotnik paused for a few seconds. His first response was deactivating the device. He placed it back on the table, spun on his heel, and headed to the open door.
"This better be important," Robotnik rudely said. "Dingo, stay with Ryan. Don't kill him, okay? We cannot robotosize a dead body."
Robotnik and Sleet walked down the hallway, leaving Dingo standing at the open door where Ryan sat.
10
In a separate room full of communications equipment, Robotnik was led to one of the radios. Sleet picked up one of the radio phones that was off the hook and held it to Robotnik.
"It's Stealth-Bot 27," Sleet told him. Robotnik took the phone out of Sleet's grip and placed it to his ear.
"Stealth-Bot 27, this is Robotnik. It better be good," Robotnik said in his same rude manner.
"Stealth-Bot 27 to Robotnik, I have good news. Queen Aleena has been spotted," the robotic voice over the other end said.
Suddenly, Robotnik's face dissolved from angry to pleased. "Queen Aleena? Are you telling me Queen Aleena is found?" Robotnik asked.
"Roger."
"Did you catch her yet?"
"No, I reported to you first. I wanted your permission first."
"Oh, good. Where is she?" Robotnik asked.
11
Ryan sat impatiently in the interrogation chair. He had his plan all thought up while in his cell. Memorized all the codes, all the passages, locations of weapons, and he is now in the situation to execute his plan. His escape begins now.
First, Ryan shook wildly while making extensive sounds while drooling. He made choking sounds from his throat and vibrated his limbs loudly so Dingo would hear.
Sure enough, Dingo heard Ryan jittering out of control. Dingo may not be intelligent in the long run, but he knows when someone is having a seizure. The large orange creature ran inside, leaving the door open behind him, to check on Ryan. Dingo could not let Ryan die or they will not have a human to robotosize. Dingo placed his hand under Ryan's chin and forced him to look at his eyes. That was when it hit Dingo.
Ryan rammed his knee in Dingo's crotch. Dingo keeled over singing a muffled opera tune. Guess it goes to show that even cartoon characters can get hurt in the groin. Next thing Dingo knew, Ryan wrapped his legs around Dingo's neck and squeezed hard on it. Unlike in the movies, it is not possible to break someone's neck with your legs, but it is possible to render a person unconscious. Ryan squeezed his thighs together hard to cut off the oxygen supply to Dingo's brain. Within seconds, Dingo felt light-headed and dropped. Due to having an extremely huge muscle build, his weight dropped and slipped out of Ryan's leg grip. Dingo lay on the hard floor unconscious.
Ryan then bent over his head down to Dingo's belt where the handcuff key was. He gripped it with his teeth and yanked it off of his belt. So far, Ryan has looked at cartoon characters, touched them, touched the grounds and structures, and now he has put his mouth on a cartoon object. His adrenalin to escape did not make him notice that bit of detail though.
Ryan slipped the key into the keyhole of his cuffs and held it in place there. He then used his two fingers to turn the key and the cuff released him free. Ryan was free out of the chair.
12
Back in the communication room, Robotnik was in all smiles after hearing the news on the other end, completely unaware of what has happened in the interrogation room.
"Good, just stay out of sight while I get a battalion of SWAT Bots there. I want to personally lead the capture. Speaking of which, I got to get back to another person I captured," Robotnik said. "Keep me informed on any updates."
Robotnik hung up the radio phone and motioned Sleet to come with him. Robotnik and Sleet started walking back to the interrogation room to find Dingo no where in sight. Worse thing was the door was closed.
"That Dingo is dumber than a sack of rice," Sleet growled.
Sleet gripped the handle to the door but it would not turn. He whipped out his key to the interrogation room. However, the key would not even go into the keyhole. Something was in the hole preventing the key from getting in.
"Open the door, Sleet," Robotnik said impatiently.
"I'm trying, but the key won't go in!" Sleet replied. Sleet gave up and decided to find out what the problem was. He bent down on his knees and looked in the keyhole. Sure enough, there was a piece of metal in it, almost like a folded-up paper clip.
After a growl from Sleet, he reached in his gear and pulled out a tiny magnet. Instantly, the piece of metal slid out of the key hole and attached itself to the magnet. Impatiently, Sleet slid the key in and unlocked the door. After he threw the door open, they were shocked to see the empty chair, a missing torture tool, and an unconscious Dingo lying on the floor.
Sleet dropped to his knees next to Dingo and patted his face.
"Dingo! Dingo, wake up!" Sleet yelled. Dingo slowly came about and looked around.
"Oh, my head hurts," Dingo moaned.
"Something else will hurt if you don't tell me where the man is," Sleet growled pointing to the empty chair. Dingo soon noticed and grew worried.
"Whoa, he's gone, Sleet," Dingo announced. Sleet and Robotnik replied by giving Dingo a look that says 'no shit.'
13
Meanwhile, Ryan was running back to the check-out department desk where all of his gear is locked away. In Ryan's hand is the scalpel device Robotnik was going to use to torture Ryan with before being called away. The blade has a chip missing, which is where he got the metal piece to slip in the keyhole.
Ryan ran to a large metallic door where Cyrus' robotosized father was behind. He panted and caught his breath at the door before banging it a few times. There was no answer except the opening of the door. Naturally, Cyrus' father opened the door. In a second, Ryan grabbed the half-robot half-lion, body slammed him, and pinned him to the wall.
"You move, you die, so sit down and stay where you are, got it?" Ryan harshly whispered. Surprisingly, the robot nodded. Ryan threw him to a chair and used the handcuffs he kept with him to chain the robotic lion down.
After Ryan locked Cyrus' father to the chair, he used the scalpel device to remove a panel underneath a super computer on the desk. Once he cut away the thin metallic panel, he threw it to the side revealing a whole forest of wires in different colors. Ryan was amazed at seeing Robotnik's technology was very similar to Earth's. In this case, that was a good thing. Ryan used the tool to cut away a few wires and was picky as to not touch certain others.
After that, Ryan ran for the locker with his bag in it. He remembered the combination. 10 left, 20 right, and 9 left. Once he turned the lock, it clicked and sprung open. Inside was his green bag untouched since he last saw it. He grabbed the strap and flung it over his shoulder.
Just as Ryan stepped out of the room, passing the chained robot-lion, he noticed Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo running down the hall after him.
"There he is!" Sleet called out.
Immediately, Ryan whipped his arm back and tossed the scalpel at them. Unlike in the movies, people do not toss knives and it never goes to where anyone wants it to. The three bad guys ducked when they saw the blade being flung at them, only for it to hit the floor, spin, and roll towards them. However, when they looked back up, they realized Ryan's goal was not hitting them. Ryan's goal was to get Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo to duck their heads and take their eyes off of Ryan. It worked. When they looked back up, Ryan was no where to be seen.
Robotnik knew it did not matter. He and the two bounty hunters ran to the department desk. There, they noticed the lion chained to the chair. Now they know what happened to the handcuffs from the interrogation room. Robotnik ran to the radio on the desk.
"SWAT Bots, we have a security—" Robotnik began to say when he realized he did not hear his own voice over the PA system. Robotnik clicked on other channels but each one is dead. "Sleet, check the system."
Sleet first noticed that the metallic plate has been removed. When he shoved it aside and looked at the wires, he noticed most of them were cut.
"Robotnik, he disabled the systems," Sleet said, but his tone of expression was more fearful than that.
Upon hearing that, Robotnik dropped the radio and started fiddling with the systems. He tried to sound the alarms, nothing. He tried to beep all SWAT Bots of a hostile presence, which did not work. He even initiated a lockdown, but that system was disabled as well.
"Sleet, can you fix this? Connect the wires?" Robotnik asked.
Sleet shook his head. "No, sir. Not only did he cut the wires, but he cut away a few inches in between them as well. I can't get them to touch together."
Robotnik growled.
14
Meanwhile, Ryan was casually walking down the corridors, keeping at alert of everywhere he goes and everything he sees. He has already equipped his Heckler and Koch USP sidearm in hand and is ready to use it should he encounter a SWAT Bot. Ryan kept passing the security cameras without fear because he also disabled the camera systems.
As Ryan walked, he kept snapping his head back, front, side, front, side, front, back, and back to front. Nervously, he kept moving forward down the hall to get back outside. Suddenly, as he turned a hall, he came across two SWAT Bots.
Instantly, Ryan whipped out his pistol and harshly whispered, "Hands! Hands up!"
At first, Ryan thought that, since they were robots, they would not feel hostile at being gun pointed. But this was proven wrong when both SWAT Bots raised their hands, keeping their imbedded laser guns aimed at the ceiling.
"You," Ryan said pointing at the SWAT Bot to the right, "put him on stand-by mode."
Slowly, the SWAT Bot did so. It pushed a button behind the SWAT Bot's neck and it collapsed to the ground.
"Okay, tell me where the exit is and I promise I'll put you on stand-by as well. Lie to me, and I'll come back and kill you both, helpless," Ryan growled. Ryan was right, the SWAT Bot could easily lead him deeper in the complex, but what if he found out on the way and retraced his steps back to here? What if Ryan came back to us right before any one of our fellow members could get to us? In any way, it is a lose-lose situation. So, the SWAT Bot pointed down the adjacent hallway to the left.
"Take the elevator to the first floor and follow the signs directing you to the lobby," the SWAT Bot told him in its robotic voice. Ryan glared at the robot. Since it was a robot, there was no way he could look at the facial signs of lies or the tone of voice.
"If I find out you're lying, I'll come back and kill you and your partner," Ryan replied harshly. "Turn around, hands behind your head, get on your knees, and cross your ankles." The SWAT Bot did so. Ryan quickly approached the kneeling bot and slammed his palm on the stand-by button clearly visible. The bot collapsed and fell forward on its face.
Ryan spun around and ran down the corridor at top speed. When he got to the elevator, he also noticed a door leading to the stairs. Ryan decided that the staircase was safer. He ran and rammed his body in the door causing it to open. He whipped his pistol around, pieing every corner. Once he was sure the stairwell was safe, he proceeded to run down the stairs, staying along the walls and avoiding being in the center.
15
Meanwhile, the three dictators, Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo, ran to the elevators. Dingo was constantly tapping his finger on the recall button.
"There are only two ways out," Robotnik said. "He disabled the automatic system controls, but we can still lockdown the place manually."
The elevator arrived and all three of them quickly pilled inside. Once in, Sleet quickly tapped the close door button and pressed the first floor button. The elevator slowly made its way down.
"Hurry, hurry, he saw our path," Robotnik whined to himself.
Just then, the elevator made a ding sound. They arrived on the first floor.
16
Ryan ran at a screaming pace down the stairs, bobbing his bag front and back several times. Soon, he saw a door with the number one labeled on the wall. The stairs continue down leading to the basement. Ryan quickly peeked through the small glass window and overlooked the lobby area. There are only a few SWAT Bots.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine," Ryan whispered to himself counting the bots. Nine should not be that big of a problem. He is doing his best to avoid a firefight, so he thought of staying along the side of the walls where it is dark. Then he will make a break for it in the large loading gate at the end.
First, Ryan released the magazine from his gun in his hand and saw he had eleven bullets in the magazine, plus one in the pipe, making it twelve. Ryan locked it back in the gun and stepped outside slowly.
Just as Ryan stepped outside, the elevator dinged right next to him. Instinct made him snap his head to the elevator. The doors slid open and out stepped Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo.
"Get back in there!" Ryan snapped while snapping his gun at them. All three noticed Ryan after he shouted at them. What Ryan did not realize was that he got the attention of the other nine SWAT Bots in the room.
Zap! A laser blast hit the wall barely missing Ryan.
Ryan was compromised. He had to quickly think of what to do and fast. He could turn and fire on the SWAT Bots, but that would make him vulnerable to Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo if they had weapons on them. On the other hand, he could fire on the three and then battle with the SWAT Bots, but that would give the SWAT Bots a few extra seconds to get a second chance to hit Ryan. Besides, if Ryan were to shoot the three enemies with their hands empty would be an act of terrorism by an inhumane execution rather than self-defense. Ryan decided to execute his only remaining option.
Ryan quickly jumped off the platform he was on and dove behind a pillar, taking cover. Sure, the SWAT Bots, and even the three getting out of the elevator, were firing on him, but because he dove behind cover increased his chances of survival.
The entire cargo bay room engaged in a battle. Ryan peeked his sidearm around and executed a blind-soldier's shoot. That means Ryan poked his gun around the corner of his cover and aimlessly shot his gun several times without exposing the rest of his body. At the same time, he could not looks down the sight so he just did a 'spray and pray.' This should never be used if hostages or unarmed civilians are in the room, but none were present so Ryan was okay.
Once Ryan's magazine was half empty, he paused and waited for the laser fire to stop. Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo quickly made their way to the control panel to lock the wide-open bay doors, sealing Ryan inside. Since they were running in the center of the room, the SWAT Bots held their fire temporarily. Ryan, hearing no more laser fire, popped out of his cover, aimed his sidearm down the sight with both hands, and burst a few rounds at the statue-still SWAT Bots.
One SWAT Bot fell back and broke down due to some components damaged by the bullets. Ryan moved side-to-side slowly while firing his USP, making his way to the large open bay door.
Little did he realize was that Robotnik ran to the control panel on the side of the door and activated it. The large bay door slowly came sliding down its hinges. Ryan jerked his head to the closing door and realized his chance of escaping is fading away. In a mad, suicidal-like dash, Ryan dove for the door, completely ignoring the laser pluses blasting behind him.
By the time Robotnik noticed Ryan was moving quickly, he already saw Ryan drop on his front and literally slide underneath the closing door just seconds before it slammed shut and locked. Ryan Perreault was now on the other side of the large fortress-like building commonly seen in the television series.
"Open the door! Open the door!" Robotnik yelled. He was not really giving the order to anybody, more like he was yelling at himself to motivate him to hurry.
17
Ryan, on the other end, rolled on his back with his Heckler and Koch pistol in his hands. He quickly noticed a control panel very similar to the one on the other end, inside the cargo bay. Ryan lifted his USP and aimed his right-eye down the rear sight, aligned it with the front sight, and allowed the front sight to line up with the control panel. Ryan focused on the sight, not the target, and squeezed the trigger. The control panel blew up with a small bang. The control panel tiny explosion was louder than the gun's bang. Speaking of which, Ryan noticed the slide on his sidearm was locked in place backwards, held by the little notch on the slide-release lever.
As Ryan slowly got to his feet, he reloaded his gun. He pressed his thumb on the magazine release button, which dropped the used magazine on the ground. Before it hit the floor, Ryan already reached in his pocket for another 15-round magazine and slid it in the gun's handle. As soon as it locked in, he pushed down the slide-release lever, which caused the slide to spring back forward with a clicking sound.
Ryan stood up and kept his aim on the large door for a while in case it was to open. After several paused seconds, Ryan grunted to himself, spun on his booted heel, and made a dash down the streets of Robotropolis.
18
Back in cargo bay room, Robotnik could not do anything with his side of the control panel. No matter what controls he did, the panel just sparked or did nothing.
"This isn't working!" Robotnik yelled.
"Robotnik, sir," Sleet interrupted. "You heard that bang as well as I did. We have to assume he hit the control panel."
Robotnik, being forced to agree, punched the wall angrily, leaving a tiny crack. Robotnik brainstormed as to what happened. First, he learned that Ryan was in the United States Army as an aircraft mechanic, and then he was told by Sleet and Dingo that their entire SWAT Bot squad was wiped out by Ryan, and then Ryan made a near-perfect escape managing to keep him alive. Robotnik suggested that Ryan was more than what he thought.
"Where does this man live?" Robotnik asked.
"Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, sir," Sleet responded.
"I want you to hack into the Feeding Hills Town Hall and get this guys profile. I want to know everything about him!" Robotnik demanded.
"Yes, sir," Sleet said as he ran out with Dingo following.
19
Down in the streets of Robotropolis, Ryan ran in jogging paces down the roads. His large man bag swung over his sounder waved back and fourth with each running step he took. As soon as he came to an alley, he sat down by a large dumpster and collected his thoughts.
Ryan could not believe was actually in a cartoon world. First he saw cartoon characters, and touched them, and even put his mouth around a cartoon object, yet they all felt real. Even he cannot believe himself he is standing on a cartoon floor which was created out of some artists' imagination with pens and paint. He looked up and realized the sky looks exactly the same as his world. The sky, moon, and stars look realistic, not cartoony like the rest of his surroundings are. At the same time, Ryan was very familiar with this world, the characters, and even what the bag guys are capable of.
"Okay, calm down, Ryan," he said to himself, collecting his thoughts. "Obviously, Robotnik knows I'm in the Army. I got very lucky. If he knew what my profession was, he would've added extra security on me. Damnit, once he finds out who I am, I won't be lucky next time."
Ryan realized he was talking to himself, but he did not care. So many things were happening to him. Now that he has escaped, he now knows where he needs to go next. Problem is, Ryan is unfamiliar with the layout of the city, so he must get lucky again.
Slowly, Ryan got to his feet after a small rest and started jogging down the streets again. In Ryan's life, he has seen scary things and been to scary places, but he has never been this scared before in his entire life.
20
FOUR YEARS AGO
After three weeks, Ryan Perreault is still in Fort Benning, Georgia. Only this time around, he is currently flying high above it. Along with a plurality of the Airborne recruits with Ryan (a small few are gone), he is wearing his Army Combat Uniform with his combat gear. Attached to his gear is a T-10 parachute ready for release. Ryan and the rest of the recruits are flying 15,000 feet above ground level in a C-130 Hercules troop-transport cargo plane. A single man stood in front of the class at the back of the plane's section.
"For those of you who were in La-La-Land during the classroom lectures, this will be your final qualifying jump," the instructor shouted over the plane's loud drone engines. "I want each of you to land within the circle of cones marked by the green smoke. If you miss, don't try to quickly scurry in the circle before we notice you because we got instructors on the ground waiting for you. They will know your exact spot."
Ryan nodded and understood. He has spent three weeks here and each day was more challenging than the next. The first week was basically lectures, the second was about being attached to towers and dropping. This week, he has jumped out of aircrafts at low altitudes during the day. He made several jumps a day and enjoyed every one of them.
Each jump did get challenging. First was a low altitude jump on a bright day and he had to land in a circle that was over fifty feet in diameter. The altitudes slowly became higher, the environment became darker, and the circle in which Ryan had to land on became smaller. Ryan was lucky to nail each test well, but was still nervous each time. This was the last time Ryan had to jump. If he makes this, then he gets his jump wings and crosses one hurdle toward his ultimate goal. If not, then he goes back home or back to his regular unit, the 104th National Guard, 29th Light Infantry Unit which was just down the street from his house.
Ryan's thoughts were interrupted when the instructor pulled a lever on the wall of the plane. Soon, the back bay door of the plane slowly opened, revealing fast-moving clouds in a dark night sky. Down below, at about 15,000 feet, was a runway strop lit up with lights.
"First jumper, get ready!" the instructor called out.
Ryan was the first jumper, so he stood up and clipped his static-line cord to the release rope hanging off of the ceiling. A static-line is when the plane deploys the chute for the jumper. When doing High-Altitude Low-Opening (HALO) jumps, the jumper himself is the static line. However, HALO Jump school was for specialized soldiers, who Ryan was not, so he gets the basic, but still effective and useful, airborne jump.
"Thirty seconds!" the instructor called.
There was a long pause. Ryan remembered his training. Control his cute with soft slick motions, keep his knees tight together and bent, once he is within five feet of the ground (which he realized comes up faster than what movies display) flair his chute by pulling on the reins hard, hit the ground, turn his body ninety degrees in the direction of his movement, and then roll. In a real-life situation, he would also have to bury his parachute, but that would be a waste of equipment for future Airborne students.
"Stand by," the instructor said again. This meant that he was about five seconds from jumping.
Ryan kept his eyes fixed on the lights above the open cavity of the plane. They were like a traffic light, red, yellow, and green. The light is on yellow, meaning the jump should be made in five seconds. It felt like longer until the light buzzed and flashed green.
"Go!" the instructor shouted.
Ryan dashed forward and leaped head-first out of the aircraft. He felt the static-line break away, releasing his parachute. The cute opened and Ryan stopped with a jerk in a vertical upright position. He felt a quick back draft of the planes prop-blast behind him. In a second, the wind was gone and the loud drone of the plane stopped as well. It did not fade away, it just seemed like it stopped all together. Ryan felt like he was never on a plane in the first place, and all evidence of the C-130 behind him was gone.
Ryan kept his eyes fixed on the fast-incoming ground below him. He was a slight hair to the left of the runway, so he gave the cutes right rein a tight pinch yank and shifted to the center of the lit runway. He soon saw green smoke and a series of traffic cones in a circle around it. He carefully aimed his chute to land in the center of the cones.
What felt like seconds was over. Ryan flared his chute and made a PLF (parachute landing fall) right in the center of the cones in the green smoke. He soon found out that the smoke came from a smoke grenade already discharged on the ground.
Ryan stood up and looked around. He saw an instructor rush to him on the runway. He turned around and saw other Airborne recruits landing in their coned circles as well. Ryan turned his attention back to the instructor who stopped right in front of him.
"Perreault, right?" the instructor asked.
"Yes, sir," Ryan replied.
"Outstanding, Perreault. Your parachute landing fall and overall grade was satisfactory, good job. Remain here until called back."
The instructor turned and walked up to the other recruits who landed right after Ryan. Ryan, however, sat on the ground in pure delight. He now realized that he passed the jumps. Throughout the three weeks that he was in Airborne school, he was giving good comments about his work and performance. Although he was not 100 sure he passed the school, he felt more confident in himself that he passed the whole thing. With the awaiting results, Ryan is one step closer to his achievement that only a small few could get.
TO BE CONTINUED…