Author's Notes: Hullo! Hope you are well! Thanks for your support! :)
"This isn't going to work, this isn't going to work… We're going to get blown to bits…"
"If you don't be quiet XR we won't get that far," Woody hissed to the robot at his side. They scuttled quietly along dull copper corridors far below the surface. The two passed other rangers who went about their duties, every now and then receiving odd looks.
XR was shaking so badly that Woody worried he'd accidentally fire the gun that was pressed into his back. However, the sheriff's main concern was that he was sweating off all the dirt he'd rubbed on his face as a makeshift disguise. The underground Star Command facility was nothing like the typical white tile well ventilated establishments in space, or even in other port towns. It was old, constructed of Earth materials. XR explained that the station had not been used in several years, and as consequence was still powered by fossil fuels instead of the Star Command standard crystallic fusion. That was why inhabitants of the town remained through the takeover; they were being forced to power the station by mining for resources.
Woody had concocted a plan in which XR would take him to the mines as if he were an inhabitant of the town. Past that, the two were mostly making it up as they went along, with Woody's arbitrary idea of utilizing the explosives used for mining. Usually the sheriff had more information to work with when he came up with his schemes, but every extra second they remained on Earth's soil was too long.
"Little bits and pieces. They won't be able to find a single screw," XR muttered when the hallway was empty.
The cowboy gave the robot a little kick, discreetly.
They arrived at the mines after traversing through the station. A few rangers took interest in the two, so XR played up his part and dug his blaster into Woody a little tighter. "Alright then! Go on with the others!" he said in his mock harsh voice which wasn't very convincing. The rangers weren't buying it completely…
Woody shoved the robot, sending him flying backwards and surprising all the people around them. They tackled the cowboy, slamming his face into the dirt. He grimaced. Anything to keep them from suspecting.
"Where'd you find this one?" the lead ranger barked, digging his foot into Woody's back.
XR got up and dusted himself up, clearly still in shock of what had just happened. "Uh… Um, in town. He'd been hiding out, trying to get out of doing the work."
The rangers bought it. "Human scum," spat one of the other men. "Don't know their own place."
"On normal circumstances we'd teach trash like you a lesson," remarked the leader, bending further down. "But it just so happens we're down some men, and our power isn't coming out of thin air." He removed his foot, allowing Woody to scrape himself up. The leader directed his attention to XR. "Can you handle him tin can?"
The robot shifted awkwardly. "Won't let him do that again, sir."
"Just so you don't have any trouble…" the leader grabbed Woody by the collar and drove his fist into the cowboy's abdomen. The sheriff sank to his knee, trying to breathe.
The other rangers laughed, turning away to attend to their duties. The leader gave one last look towards the cowboy, and then picked up the blaster XR had dropped and shoved it into his arms. "Take him to the lower mines."
XR approached Woody timidly, pressing the gun to his back again. The two began to delve deeper underground. Various of the townspeople were scattered throughout the caverns, dirty and forlorn just as they had appeared above ground. After enough distance had passed between them and the rangers, XR finally broke the silence.
"Why'd you do that?" the robot whispered incredulously.
"Had to be absolutely sure they didn't suspect you. It's not like I wanted to…" Woody replied quietly while tenderly touching the spot he'd been socked.
"Can you give me some sort of warning next time though?"
The cowboy shrugged and thought about what had been bothering him most. "The leader, what was his name?"
"Crocket. Rocket Crocket," XR replied while letting out a sigh. "He wasn't always the nicest guy to begin with, but he's never acted like that before. None of them have."
"We're going to change them back, XR. Starting with Buzz," Woody told him reassuringly. But inwardly he couldn't deny how at the moment the chance of getting all of Star Command back on their side seemed very bleak.
They arrived in the lower shafts, which were dark and musty. Only a few workers littered the caves.
"How are you gonna get out of here?" XR asked as they stopped
"Working on it. Focus on getting a ship and remember to try disabling the other ships. When you get the signal all hell is going to break loose and you've got to be ready to get out of here. If I'm not on board within five minutes, you're gonna have to leave without me," the cowboy told him.
"We never talked about that part!"
Woody bent down and put a hand on the robot's shoulder. "Jessie's the only family I've got left, XR. Her and Buzz mean the world to me. If they were in my position, I know they'd tell you to the same. They'd probably be able to come up with a better plan, or execute whatever we're about to do much better than me. But for now I'm trying to do what feels right, and if I fail then you've got to go after them. Please."
XR paused. "I truly understand why Buzz stayed on Earth now, Woody. You and your sister, you guys are something special. You're a lot like him, you know."
Despite the urgency of the situation, Woody half smiled. The space ranger and the cowboy had known each other for a long time, but he had never entertained the thought that the two were very much alike. In fact, when they first met they couldn't have been more different. But when they started working together, the two thought very much alike.
Woody's heart sank when he remembered their last fight before Buzz had been changed.
"I'll wait for the signal," XR said pulling the cowboy out of his thoughts.
Woody looked back down at the robot. "Thanks. Good luck."
Mechanical conveyors shuffled away, leaving the sheriff alone. Without the green glow that the Star Command suits gave off, it was much darker. He pulled out the matches he'd found in the abandoned home. There weren't many, so he used them sparingly.
The cowboy operated under the assumption that there were any explosives at all in the shaft. XR hadn't been sure but thought that he heard detonations before. Crocket had mentioned they lost some men, and the only speculation that Woody could come up with was that there must have been an accident. It wasn't much to go on, but it was all he had at that point.
Woody traversed through the caves, finding an older worker who looked as if he would crumble up into dust at any moment.
"What are you doing wandering about?" the older man said frantically. "If they see you they'll punish you, make you spend the night here."
"Something happened not too long ago, some sort of incident right? Some of the men were lost?" the cowboy asked.
The worker paused. "You're not from town, are you? Haven't seen you before..."
"No, I'm not. Please, I need to know what happened."
"We're not miners, you see," the older man finally replied sadly while scratching some of the dirty white scruff on his chin. "They demanded we work faster. Some of the men were forced to use dynamite-"
"Where is it now?" Woody interrupted.
"Probably not far from here. They wanted us to go deeper," the man told him. "What are you planning to do?"
"Listen, you've got to round up all the others and get them out of the mine as fast as you can. Tell the rangers there's been another explosion." Woody turned to leave but the worker grabbed his arm.
"What if they don't believe me?"
The cowboy half smiled. "They will when they hear it."
Bo didn't sleep much through the night. In contrast to the usual nightmares she experienced, she kept having a strange dream where she was in a room of all white. Her palm had been cut by a man who she recognized while asleep but it became fuzzy when she woke. Whoever he was, he frightened her enough that she was still shaking slightly as she pulled herself off the bed.
She had just gotten dressed when Slinky knocked at the door and poked his head in.
"Bo, you've got two people here who want to see you," he said nervously. "They forced their way into the house. Said they're old friends of yours."
The blonde felt her blood go cold. "You got a gun, Slink?"
Slinky revealed his right hand brandishing a pistol. "I can hold em off. You've got to get out of here-"
"No," Bo said firmly. She took the gun off him. "No more running. Let's see who these 'friends' really are."
Bo walked cautiously down the hall, with Slinky right behind her. After rounding the corner she was immediately met with the familiar blue skinned ranger Mira Nova, dressed as a bandit. Next to her was another man from Star Command that Bo had learned to fear. He extended a hand to shake.
"Hello Ms. Peep. I don't believe I've ever formally introduced myself. Former Commander Nebula."