CHAPTER 10
Sanctuary and Collective II
1
It was almost midnight. Cyrus' laboratory was shutting down their lights for bed. Cyrus and Trevor have already been in deep sleep while the hedgehog triplets were putting away the black gear they had on. All three now bore two-piece cotton pajamas as they approached the guest bedroom where they expected Ryan was already sleeping. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic entered in the guest bedroom where they immediately noticed that the guest bed, where Ryan usually sleeps in, was empty. They found the covers undisturbed, meaning Ryan never actually got in bed.
"Ryan?" Sonic called.
"In here," Ryan called from a room down the hall. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic entered the room where Ryan called from and saw Ryan on the computer. He seems attached to what he is looking at. The three stood behind him to see what was on the screen.
"What are you looking at?" Manic asked.
"I hacked into Robotnik's main computer. Sleet was right, it appears that he has taken me to Mobius through the Dimensional Matter Displacer," Ryan said.
"What exactly is this Dimensional Matter Displacer?" Sonic asked.
"It says it's like a portal that opens up between worlds. In this case, Mobius and Earth," Ryan said.
"Can you open it?" Sonia asked. Ryan replied by shaking his head sadly.
"Not from this computer. The firewall is too strong. I have to open it from the main computer or from a computer generator to the main computer," Ryan said. "But you heard what Sleet said, the DMD has to recharge fully before it can be used again. That is within the next few days."
"Does this mean that you could get home?" Sonic asked.
"I guess so but I don't think anytime soon," Ryan said.
"Well, we can talk about this another time, shall we go to bed?" Sonia asked. All of a sudden, Ryan went wide-eyed from what he saw. "Ryan? You okay?"
"You know what, I'm not the only one who went through that portal," Ryan said.
"What?" Manic asked.
"Look at this. There's another cartoon of yours, Sonic. It's called 'Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' and it says some woman, about a year ago, was sent into that cartoon through the Dimensional Matter Displacer," Ryan explained.
"How many cartoons do I have?" Sonic asked.
"Five. The first one is 'Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'. The second is simply called 'Sonic the Hedgehog' but the fans call it SatAM. Your third cartoon, this one, is called 'Sonic Underground'. You also have a Japanese Anime of two episodes called 'Sonic Anime', which is basically the movie. Finally, you have a recently new show called 'Sonic X' which is another Japanese cartoon," Ryan said.
"Wow, I must be famous," Sonic said happily about himself.
"You are. You also have over 200 comic issues from the company of Archie comics and another 200 in the Fleetway Comics Company. Plus, you have a whole lot of games from 2D to 3D," Ryan explained.
"What about us?" Manic asked while pointing at his sister.
"Sorry. You two are only in 'Sonic Underground' and only one issue of the Archie comics," Ryan said. With that, Manic and Sonia slumped, looking down.
"Ah, come on," Ryan said getting up. He stood in between them and put his arms around their shoulders. "Sonic, could you leave us?"
"Okay," Sonic said as he sped out the room leaving Ryan with Sonia and Manic.
"Chin up, you two. The companies haven't thought of giving Sonic a brother and sister until this show was aired. In fact, you two are the favorite characters of the show. Sure, there are some fans that like other character better and some fans that despise you two. But majority, Sonic Underground fans like you two a lot more than Sonic," Ryan said.
"Really?" Sonia asked.
"That's right. I'm one of them. Although I hate seeing weak furries. I hate seeing my favorite characters get kidnapped or captured and all. You two have been captured by Robotnik many times," Ryan said.
"Tell me about it," Manic said sarcastically.
"I like seeing my favorite characters being the heroes and beating up the bad guys. You know, maybe someday, you two will save Sonic's life someday!" Ryan said happily.
"Wow, I hope soon," Sonia said.
"That's right. You two are my favorite characters and I'll do anything to see you two be rough and tough just life Sonic," Ryan said.
"Thanks!" Manic said happily. This was followed by a yawn. "Until then, I suggest we get some sleep."
Ryan nodded in agreement. He reached over and flipped the computer off and followed Sonia and Manic out to the guest bedroom.
2
FOUR YEARS AGO
It was dusk, but it felt like night in the middle of the woods. It was silent and dark, except for several individuals creeping through the place. All 17 recruits slowly crept through the dark woods. Only this time, none of them are wearing their gear. They all bore their untapped battle dress uniforms, boonie hats, and carried no weapons. Instead, they are using their hands as weapons. For the right handed recruits, like Ryan, they held their palms flat and vertical pointing forward close to their chest. Their left palms, flat, closed, and vertical, were held forward parallel with their right palms. For the left handed recruits, it was the exact opposite.
The recruits were not alone. Accompanying them are the instructors. Most of them are walking slowly behind them, watching their movements, the way they step, what they are looking out for, and the formation they are in. Two of the instructors are actually part of the patrol with the recruits. They are participating in the training as well, making 19 soldiers on the training patrol, being watched by the instructor staff.
"Contact right!" one of the instructors shouted at the top of his lungs.
Immediately, all 19 soldiers dropped to the ground and "aimed" their imaginary rifles to the right of them. Simultaneously, and scattered, various "pop pop pop pop" sounds emitted out of the recruits mouths.
"Stand by to peel," Lieutenant Falcon shouted loudly, although there was no real-life gunfire in the quiet woods. A peel is a defensive tactic which was a move and retreat coordinated movement. Its purpose was to escape from enemy hostiles and give the temporary appearance of superior strength. In a way, it is like the job of the mid-ranking wolves of a pack; their job is to howl in yaps to predators to make it sound like the wolf pack is 30 or 40 or even 50 strong when they are really less than 10 maybe.
"Peel one! Peel one!" a recruit shouted as he stood up, tapped another recruit's shoulder, and ran back. The recruit that got his shoulder tapped snapped up, tapped another recruit's shoulder, and ran back.
This move-and-shoot method continued on for quite a while. After about ten minutes of pretending to do a center peel, the recruits were getting exhausted. However, their adrenalin kept them moving faster and harder. The recruits peeled all the way to a dead river bank. Falcon had an idea.
"Peel left! Cover fire on the top of the bank!" Falcon shouted. The recruits did so, pretending to shoot as if they were kids at play, only they were taking this seriously. The recruits rejoined Falcon on the river bank and started peeling left. One by one, they all got up, tapped the closest recruit's shoulder, and ran off only to stop and pretend to shoot again.
This chain of action went on all night long. Although there was no sign of the recruits stopping, the instructor staff following and observing them were impress with their communication skills, their teamwork efforts, and Falcon's outstanding leadership.
Ryan personally was having the time of his life practicing this peel tactic. He felt like a little kid with his friends playing in the backyard. When he was young, he lived next door, on both sides, with other kids his age. They lived where their backyard was huge and it lead to woods. They used to play around, jump on each other, run like mad, and do all sorts of stressful stuff when they were kids, especially in the summer when it was dusk. To Ryan, those were the best days of his life when his age was still a single-digit. Practicing this center peel tactic brought back those memories.
3
PRESENT DAY
In the top main office of the main Robotropolis building, Sleet and Dingo stood before Robotnik sitting in his rotating mechanical chair. Sleet just finished explaining how Ryan escaped again. In addition, he also gave him the message Ryan told Sleet to give. Sleet explained that Ryan was going off to Sanctuary, and Robotnik has no idea where it is. This further angered Robotnik.
"I cannot let that Green Beret go off to Sanctuary," Robotnik growled.
"Sir, if I may make a suggestion, sir," Sleet said in a nervous tone.
"Very well," Robotnik replied with a sigh.
"What that guy did to me was just recent, and it's night out, where our SWAT Bots patrols are the heaviest," Sleet explained. "Even for a Green Beret, he wouldn't risk exposing himself in fear of getting caught. Even if he believed he wasn't, he knew he couldn't risk us following him." Robotnik understood where Sleet was coming from. Of course they could not expect Ryan to leave on that one second, in the middle of the night, where the patrols are the heaviest. The hedgehogs would have to move early in the morning, that was when patrols were light, and they would most likely take an alternative route, not straight.
"I understand, Sleet," Robotnik replied, finally grinning. "But, at the same time, we have no idea where he is. We knew he was at the home of those hedgehogs until we found out about it. I sent my reconnaissance robots at the base and there has been no living activity there in a while."
4
Little did Robotnik know was that he was being taped. Not too far away in an adjacent building, Queen Aleena stood crouched in a small abandoned room. The room looked like a cross between a haunted house and a ruble-wrecked building. The place is full of dust and cobwebs and dust, and most of the plastered walls are breaking away revealing the wooden frame underneath.
Besides some spiders and bogs, the only living being inside the building is Aleena herself. She bore a black robe with a shawl, almost mistaken to be a Muslim woman. Standing next to her is a tripod with an advanced digital camera mounted on it. Connected to the camera are a set of laptops and computer brains. Each screen displayed something different, such as a thermal image of Robotnik and Sleet talking not too far away, and a wave sound recorder. A laser microphone is attached to the camera. The laser is motion sensitive, it records vibrations on glass and walls emitted from the subjects voices and translates it into speech.
Aleena stood crouching still as the conversation continued. She listened to what the laser microphone was recording clearly, although most of it was static and the voiced did sound a bit distort. Overall, the voices came in clear and the video did pick up the thermal images of Robotnik and Sleet talking.
"Do you think it is at all possible that Ryan is still within Robotropolis?" Sleet asked.
"He wouldn't take the chance leaving just yet, exposing the hedgehogs," Robotnik replied, sounding static-like over the laser microphone recording program. "And we know he can't be at the hedgehog's home."
"That does limit our options," Sleet said.
Sleet thought back to the conversation he had with Ryan earlier. He remembered they did head northwest down a street, (the same street where Ryan met the hedgehogs) and yet the home of the hedgehogs was south of that position. He knew he would not be at the home of Bartlby because he saw how Ryan treated him both at the party and on the streets. Suddenly, Sleet remembered something. He remembered handing Ryan's gear bag to a robot. It was a lion robot. It was Cyrus' father, that was it, Sleet knew about the laboratory that Cyrus has on the other end of Robotropolis, just northwest of the downtown street.
"Robotnik, I think I know where that man is," Sleet said with a tone of glee. In response the two ran the short distance to the computers with a GLPS system on it. After activating it, a satellite photo of Robotropolis appeared. Sleet pointed his gloved finger on a large building complex which happens to be Cyrus' lab. "They were heading in this direction, I'm sure of it."
"How sure?" Robotnik asked.
"It's the only possible place he would be," Sleet said. "Far away from us, tough exteriors, and the streets are set up to escape on a moment's notice." Robotnik nodded. Everything Sleet said was true.
"What place is that again?" Robotnik asked.
"That's the lab of that guy you bribed, Cyrus," Sleet told him. Robotnik remembered Cyrus. He captured his father and threatened to robotosize him if he would not serve as a spy for the hedgehogs. On the way to Sanctuary, Cyrus destroyed the spy bug on him after he was told that Sanctuary was where the children are kept safely. Of course, this resulted in Robotnik robotosizing his father.
"Alright, let's assume you're right," Robotnik said. "I want SWAT Bot patrols on all possible escape routes on the roads, send in a stealth bot to provide recon, and a SWAT Bot element inside and eight more elements surrounding a four-corner perimeter around the building. Get to it now, daylight is wasting."
"Yes, sir, I'll go out if the field with them," Sleet replied with a salute. He spun on his heel and exited the war room.
Robotnik sighed as he leaned on the control board. There was one other option left if this fails. "If Ryan escapes and makes it to Sanctuary, I'll have to wait two and half days until the Dimensional Matter Displacer is fully charged again. This time, I'll grab myself a human with no military record."
That was enough information Aleena needed. She reached in her pocket and pulled out what looks like a palm PDA. She connected USB cables from the laptops to the PDA and used her thumb to press a connection button. After a short pause, her PDA connected to the laptops. She used the little pen on the pad and started writing in a message:
Robotnik enroute to your location, take non-street exits, get to Sanctuary fast, keep Ryan alive, enclosed are video and audio files of Robotnik's plan
–Aleena
Aleena finished by turning to her laptops and saving the video file of Robotnik and Sleet's conversation, syncing it with the laser microphone audio file. She then moved the video file as an attachment to her message. Once the file was loaded, she sent an address to Cyrus' laboratory via his beeper. Finally, she finished by tapping the tip of her PDA pen on the button labeled 'Send' and a loading bar appeared. Quickly, the bar reached 100 and it displayed that the message was sent.
5
FOUR YEARS AGO
Bangalore's date back all the way to World War II. On the morning of June 6, 1944, American unit raided the Normandy beach of Omaha. One of the units were the 5th Rangers. While heavy machine-gun fire was raining down on the Americans, so the Rangers had to get in low near the bunkers and plant Bangalore bombs, which were oversized long pipe bombs that takes a while team to construct and detonate.
Today, tradition still lives but technology has advanced. Bangalore's can now be made to detonate under water, which is what SEAL Teams use today. However, Ryan was not training to be a SEAL, he was training to be United States Army Special Forces, though in the near future he would operate along side SEALs.
Ryan, along with 19 of the recruits, were all helping on assembling a Bangalore bomb. They filled thick plastic plumbing pipes with gunpowder and sealing them with paper coverings. Falcon was showing excellent leadership when telling the recruits what to do, even the two instructor staff, playing as the Operations and Intelligence Sergeants, were impressed as well, and they did exactly as they were told from Lieutenant Falcon.
Davis and Ryan, as well as everyone else, were lying prone on their fronts as they quickly assembled the Bangalore mine.
"Davis, set the fuse on the front," Falcon ordered. "Perreault, hold it for him."
"Yes, sir," the two recruits said simultaneously. They rolled the short distance to the end of one of the pipes. While everyone else were tying the pipes together with wood from the trees, Ryan and his buddy Davis plugged up the end by topping it with gunpowder. Ryan used his palms to cover the end so as to not let any gunpowder lead out. David plugged up the end with the paper stopper. Once it was glued in place, Davis stuck the fuse in while Ryan grabbed the two rocks, ready for detonation.
"Sound off, tell me when you're done," Falcon announced. One by one, the recruits shouted their named loud and clear.
"Wire."
"Carpenter."
"Brick."
"Loren."
"Beta."
"Grimes."
"Nathanson."
"Perreault."
"Davis."
"Matthews."
"Roselyn."
"Nichols."
"Tanor."
"Adams."
"Rush."
"Samsung."
"Stevens."
"Fox."
Stevens and Fox were the two Master Sergeants given to them by the instructor staff to serve an Operations Sergeant, Stevens, and an Intelligence Sergeant, Fox.
"Stand by to ignite!" Falcon announced. Immediately, one by one, several of the recruits, one of which was Ryan, hit two rocks together and ignited a nearby leaf. They used the leaves to light the tip of the fuses.
"Fuses burned!" some of the recruits shouted in scattered tones.
"Fire in the hole!" Falcon shouted. Just then, the 19 soldiers tossed the Bangalore's over the side of the ridge they were on and dropped right near a fake cave building. They all ducked their heads with their hands behind them, and there was a loud explosion!
The explosion, since the recruits were shielded from the blast but still close to it, caused the recruit's ears to ring wildly. There was next to no noise going into their ears. They seemed to have been shell shocked by the blast of the bombs they just made.
However, nearly deaf or not, the recruits shown no sign of weakness. They all snapped up to their feet, just as dirt and debris rained all over them, and ran toward the source of the blast holding their palms in the same manor as their imaginary rifles. All 19 soldiers stormed in the small cave as if it were really deep.
Within a few minutes, they all got their hearing back just in time to hear the staff outside calling them out. The 17 recruits and two veterans exited the cave and met the staff. Colonel Moss stood in front of them with his arm across his chest with a stern look on his face. Suddenly, he started to smile and began to clap.
"Outstanding work, guys!" Moss announced to them. "Beautiful."
The recruits gave each other high-fives, pats on the backs, and even hugs. Even the two veterans joined in on the little celebration.
6
PRESENT DAY
Cyrus was awoken up almost rudely. He was lying in bed when he heard a beeping sound go off. It was not his alarm clock, but his beeper. Cyrus sighed to himself, thinking who would call him in the middle of the night. That thought shocked him a bit; no one would call in the middle of the night unless it was important. Cyrus snatched his beeper and looked at the number on it:
'138-1002 EMERGENCY'
Cyrus immediately knew that number. It was used as a spy code to those who are watching over Robotnik. Of course, Cyrus had many spies; it could be either one of them. Nevertheless, it was am emergency call. He dashed out of bed and ran to his computer. Luckily for him, he always puts his computer on stand-by mode rather than shutting it down. He jiggled the computer mouse and the computer activated, displaying a username and password dialogue box. Cyrus typed in his name as the user name and entered in his password, finishing off by tapping 'Enter' with his pinky.
The desktop screen appeared with a photograph of himself with Sonic, Sonia, and Manic together goofing around. The shadow on the ground in front of the photograph clearly shows that Trevor was the one who took the picture. Cyrus only kept a few icons on his desktop to enjoy that picture. He quickly double clicked on his beeper messenger icon which immediately displayed a dialogue box asking for the receiver number. He typed in '1381002' in the box and hit the enter key with his pinky again.
The message displayed shocked Cyrus. It clearly said what Aleena typed, that SWAT Bots are coming to the lab to capture Ryan. He noticed there was a video attachment, so he downloaded. As soon as the download was complete, the video started playing. It was a thermal image of Robotnik and Sleet having a conversation in the static-sounding voices.
"Robotnik, I think I know where that man is," Sleet said over the speakers. The two thermal figures ran to the computers. "They were heading in this direction, I'm sure of it."
"How sure?" Robotnik asked.
"It's the only possible place he would be. Far away from us, tough exteriors, and the streets are set up to escape on a moment's notice."
"What place is that again?"
"That's the lab of that guy you bribed, Cyrus," Sleet told him.
"Alright, let's assume you're right, I want SWAT Bot patrols on all possible escape routes on the roads, send in a stealth bot to provide recon, and a SWAT Bot element inside and eight more elements surrounding a four-corner perimeter around the building. Get to it now, daylight is wasting."
"Yes, sir, I'll go out if the field with them," Sleet said as he left.
"If Ryan escapes and makes it to Sanctuary, I'll have to wait two and half days until the Dimensional Matter Displacer is fully charged again. This time, I'll grab myself a human with no military record," Robotnik said over the speakers. The video ended right there.
Cyrus knew they were coming. In some ways, he felt amazed that Robotnik was going to activate the Dimensional Matter Displacer again, which is what Ryan predicted. Quickly, Cyrus used the mouse to click on the 'Print' button. Aleena's message printed out from the quick LaserJet printer. Before the sheet of paper was fully out, Cyrus snatched it and ran out. For someone who was just fast asleep a minute ago, Cyrus was now fully wide awake.
7
"Wake up, everyone, wake up!" Cyrus called out while running down the hallway, banging on the bedroom doors. All the doors, one at a time, opened up.
"Cyrus, what is it? It's two in the morning," Sonia said wiping the mucus out of her eyes.
"I got a message from Queen Aleena!" Cyrus shouted. That immediately woke everyone up.
"Mother?" Sonia asked in a daze.
"What did mom say?" Sonic asked. Cyrus handed the sheet of paper to Sonic. Sonic read the note and was shocked at what he read.
"Robotnik knows we are housing Ryan, we got to get him to Sanctuary, now," Cyrus announced. Immediately, the hedgehogs and Ryan ran to their bedrooms.
This was a familiar feeling to Ryan. Weeks ago, he was packing his stuff in his one-strap bag to get out of his own home when it was being raided by SWAT Bots. Now, it was happening again. Ryan stood on his knees as he packed his items back in his bag. He quickly swung it over his shoulder and grabbed his USP gun on the side table. Ryan slowly pulled back on the slide and saw a bullet loaded in the chamber. He closed the slide and ejected the magazine. There were still at leased a few bullets left in his magazine, along with one whole one to spare. He ran out of the bedroom where he met up with Cyrus. Cyrus motioned him to follow him to his bedroom.
Ryan followed Cyrus in his bedroom to see what he wanted to show him. He did not even speak, he just had his computer running and he began playing the video he got from Aleena:
"Robotnik, I think I know where that man is. They were heading in this direction, I'm sure of it."
"How sure?"
"It's the only possible place he would be. Far away from us, tough exteriors, and the streets are set up to escape on a moment's notice."
"What place is that again?"
"That's the lab of that guy you bribed, Cyrus."
"Alright, let's assume you're right. I want SWAT Bot patrols on all possible escape routes on the roads, send in a stealth bot to provide recon, and a SWAT Bot element inside and eight more elements surrounding a four-corner perimeter around the building. Get to it now, daylight is wasting."
"Yes, sir, I'll go out if the field with them," Sleet left again.
"If Ryan escapes and makes it to Sanctuary, I'll have to wait two and half days until the Dimensional Matter Displacer is fully charged again. This time, I'll grab myself a human with no military record."
The video ended. Ryan was thinking through his Special Forces brain.
"It's working," Ryan said happily. "We'll have to take a path away from the roads. We'll then have to zigzag toward our way to Sanctuary."
"Zigzag? Why?" Cyrus asked.
"If Robotnik does successfully follow us, his reconnaissance robots would be confused and lose direction," Ryan explained. "It was back in 1989 during Operation Just Cause in Panama. Navy SEALs from SEAL Team FOUR had to plant explosives on Noriega's escape boat. They approached the boat in zigzags to avoid being spotted by the Panamanian forces."
After Ryan was done, Cyrus quickly grabbed a box off the table. This box looks like some kind of a computer external hard drive, which is what it was. Cyrus plugged the USB cables in the computer just as Ryan looked at him confused.
"Cyrus, what are you doing?" Ryan asked. "We need to get out of here before the robots show up."
"This computer contains all of my data, including classified," Cyrus explained. "I can't let it fall into Robotnik's hands." Cyrus quickly uploaded all of his computer's data on the hard drive. "Under my bed's mattress, there is a laptop bag. Grab it for me."
Ryan did so without hesitation. He lifted the mattress up slightly and reached his hand inside. He felt his way until his hand gripped on what felt like a strap. In one swift motion, Ryan swiped the laptop bag from under the mattress. It was nothing different that laptop bags on Earth. It was heavy, meaning there was a laptop in it.
"Got it," Ryan told him. The screen then suddenly displayed that all the hard drive's data has been moved to the external hard drive. Cyrus unplugged it out and shut off his computer. He did not wait for the computer to be fully shut down; he jumped out of his chair. "Wait, what about the data on the computer?"
"I didn't copy the files, I just moved them," Cyrus explained. "All the data on my computer is empty. It's all here on this hard drive. Let's go."
Ryan handed Cyrus the laptop bag, which he put around his shoulder. The two ran out of the bedroom.
8
FOUR YEARS AGO
The sun was blazing hot, but none of the recruits shown any signs of weakness mainly due to being very used to harsh conditions that the instructors put them through. Within the compound of Fort Bragg lay a desert-looking area with nearly dead trees and dirt all around. The sun beat down on the recruits and instructors on this hot day.
"Who wants to go first," Moss announced to the kneeling recruits. The recruits, this time, were wearing black battle dress uniforms and Kevlar gear pockets. They do not look like soldiers; they look like police SWAT officers. Some of them, not Ryan, bore balaclavas, which are hoods covering the whole head with one large horizontal oval just to expose the eyes and nose.
"I'll go first, sir," Ryan said. Unlike last times, the recruits actually held onto weapons. In this case, they all had MP5A3 submachine guns with a tactical light for a grip and the retractable butt extended all the way.
Ryan got up and followed Moss to the first training marker. In this course, he has to run to certain markers and fire his weapon at targets. In addition, he would have to use his SOCOM sidearm pistol when his gun is empty or when he is told to. Moss led Ryan to the first marker right in front of a series of metal targets shaped like humans.
"Okay, ten military push ups and begin," Moss told Ryan. Ryan dropped down and did ten push ups all the way down and all the way up. On his tenth, he kicked his legs to his hands and stood up. "Okay, begin whenever you're ready."
Ryan raised his MP5 right up to the first targets. He flipped the selector switch from 'Safe' to 'Semi-Auto.' Ryan burst one round at a time on each of the designated targets.
"Good, move," Moss told him.
Ryan started strafing to the left, keeping his gun and face forward. He burst one round at a time on the individual targets. Once all the required targets were down, he moved on to the next station. He ran at near-suicidal speed, knowing he was being timed, to the next marker. Ryan burst several other rounds at the designated targets.
"Next marker, sidearm!" Moss announced.
Ryan swung his MP5 over his shoulder and kept his hand on his sidearm as he ran quickly to the next marker further back. At the marker, Ryan whipped out his pistol and fired several rounds at the targets.
"Reload," Moss ordered.
Ryan dropped to one knee and pressed his thumb on the magazine-release button. The magazine dropped with a bullet still in the chamber. He reached for another pistol magazine and slid it in the handle. Since there was already a bullet in the barrel, there was no need to pull on the slide and cock it. Ryan burst several more rounds at the targets.
"Next marker, rifle on full auto!" Moss announced.
Ryan holstered his sidearm and ran at suicidal speed while readying his MP5. While running, he flipped the selector switch from 'Semi-Auto' to 'Full-Auto.' By the time he made it to the marker, he was out of breath. Still, Ryan kept going. He aimed his MP5 at the targets and burst several rounds at the targets. One by one, they dropped. As soon as his MP5 was empty, he dropped it to his chest and whipped out his sidearm quickly. He burst several rounds taking down the remaining targets.
"Last marker, reload!" Moss announced.
Ryan holstered his sidearm and pulled out his MP5. He ran at mad speed to the last marker further away on the other end. As he ran, he pulled on the MP5's bolt and yanked out the magazine, dropping it. Once he reached the marker, he has already slid in another magazine and used his palm to slap the bolt down, putting a bullet in the barrel. Ryan aimed down the iron sights of his submachine gun and shot at full automatic on the remaining targets. The last metal target dropped with Ryan still with half a magazine.
"Okay, Perreault, take a breath," Moss said to him. Ryan bent over a bit with his hands on his knees, panting, out of breath. "Okay, Perreault, look at me."
Ryan got back up and looked up at Colonel Moss. However, he was shocked to see a stern look on his face. Ryan made the time really well and he did hit all the targets with the fewest misses and least number of rounds. Why was Moss staring angrily at him?
"Perreault, take a look behind you," Moss told him. Ryan slowly looked behind him in confusion. However, the second Ryan looked at the field, he understood why Moss was upset.
The desert field had dirt and dust kicked in the air. Ryan ran so fast, his hard boots pounding the desert floor and fast-paced winds caused a lot of dirt airborne, leaving a thick trail behind him, marking his path.
"Okay, looks at me," Moss told him. Ryan turned his attention back to the tall Moss. "Tell me what the problem was, Perreault."
"I ran so fast that I kicked up dirt, sir," Ryan replied.
"Why is that a bad thing?"
"The enemy would see the airborne dirt, thus compromising my position, sir."
"What was the phrase we told you about close quarters battle?"
"Fast is slow, slow is quick, sir," Ryan said back. It was true. In combat, move slowly due to better control. It was like when Ryan was being taught by his grandfather how to golf. He had to swing the golf club in one smooth slow motion, thus having better control of the ball. In the world of combat, moving slow and smooth will keep a soldier alive, not breath-taking speed.
"So, give me a good reason why you ran so fast," Moss told him. Ryan thought about it and had a good answer in reply.
"Because, since this was CQB training, I didn't think it would matter if I kicked up dust, because there is no dirt or dust indoors, and there the enemy wouldn't be able to see it from behind doors even if I did, sir," Ryan explained. Unfortunately, Moss was unimpressed.
"Perreault, whether it be CQB or desert warfare, the rules never change, understand?" Moss said to Ryan calmly. Ryan nodded his head in disappointment.
"Yes, sir," Ryan replied back.
"Overall, your marksmanship is outstanding and you conserved your ammo, just work on controlling yourself. This is not a race, Perreault," Moss told Ryan.
"Yes, sir," Ryan said.
"Okay, take a knee with your recruits," Moss told him.
"Yes, sir," Ryan said. He rejoined with his fellow recruits. The nearby ones all gave Ryan a pat on the back. This was a sign telling him that the recruits thought he did a good job. That was enough to bring a smile back on Ryan's face.
9
PRESENT DAY
The scorpion craft, driven by Sleet and Dingo, stopped at the entrance to the lab building. All five SWAT Bots ran out and toward the front door of the lab. They broke down the door making a bang. The SWAT Bots made entry.
Sleet and Dingo remained inside the craft waiting for the capture of the Ryan and the hedgehogs.
"They'll get them soon," Sleet said with confidence.
Noise emitted from the laboratory. There was the sound of clanging and metallic footsteps running through. However, there were no laser blast sounds, nor gunfire. Sleet checked on the surveillance monitors for updates. All he could see were SWAT Bots covering the four corners of the complex. None of the SWAT Bots shouted that they found contact with the hedgehogs or Ryan. Sleet was growing impatient.
"What is taking them so long?" Sleet asked furiously.
"Maybe they took a wrong turn," Dingo replied stupidly. In response to that, Sleet reached behind him and slapped Dingo behind the head like he always does. It has been a while since the SWAT Bots went inside. All of a sudden, one by one, the five bots come walking out. Even though they are robots, they do show a body emotion of disappointment.
"What's going on?" Sleet angrily yelled as he exited the scorpion vehicle.
"The place is empty," the lead SWAT bot told him in a robotic voice.
"Empty? What do you mean?" Sleet shouted back. Sleet did not wait for the SWAT bot to reply.
Sleet immediately ran past the SWAT bot and into the dark building. He whipped out his laser sidearm with his right hand and pulled out a flashlight with his left holding it in his fist downward like a dagger. He used his wrist to hold up his sidearm as he proceeded through the laboratory complex. Sleet ran through the main lab room full of tables and equipment, but no hedgehogs. He made his way through the hallways and checked each room, all of them were empty. All the rooms were clear; there was no sign of the hedgehogs or Ryan.
Sleet dropped to his knees, kicked back his head, and yelled loudly in anger. He saw signs that they were there minutes ago, but are now gone. The fact that everyone was gone was bad enough. The worst part was telling Robotnik.
10
The Sonic Underground, along with Cyrus, Trevor, and Ryan, were already miles away heading toward Sanctuary. Manic, driving, kept going in wide-zigzags but they really were not being tailed.
"Buckle your seatbelts, everyone," Manic announced like an airline pilot. "Next stop, Sanctuary."
TO BE CONTINUED...