One month. One whole month. Complete silence. The Raptors sat on their skimmers and stared at the looming building, the Terradon labs, and it did was seemingly sit and stare back. Noiseless. No peepholes or periscopes. No signage. No entry. Repton in particular took this as a personal offence, sitting on his skimmer and holding a megaphone, 'We know you're in there' He teased, before immediately yelling 'Open the gates!' The building still did nothing. He gazed over to Leugey and quietly instructed him to 'Get the ram', before speaking into the megaphone once more. 'If you don't open the gates, we will open it for you!'
Leugey, now off of his skimmer, bumbled about holding a massive piece of wood, so large and heavy it seemed to lurch and swing at its own will. losing control, it hit the floor with a loud thud. Hoerk and Spitz both dismounted from their own skimmers and grabbed the ram, too. All three of Repton's team each held on to the ram and psyched up to charge. Hoerk looked up to the top of the lab's walls, and saw a small periscope emerge from the top, watching what was about to unfold.
inside the labs, one of the Terradons had decided to peek at the commotion, and seeing the ram about to charge, the Terradon held its finger over a large red button. Sure enough, the ram started its charge, and once close to the gate, the Terradon pressed the button. Two large turrets, one on each gate post, emerged and shot a single bolt each. Both bolts hit the Raptors and forced them into a convulsing shock, This deterred the three into retreating away from the gate and drawbridge. 'Hey, boss, that hurt. maybe we should come back tomorrow...' Leugey whined.
'Yeah, these brain boxes need a smarter way to be cracked' Spitz agreed.
Repton growled whilst pulling a foul expression. 'Fine, we will come back tomorrow, I'll have a couple of guards here just in case they come out of their shells'. With all the team back onto their skimmers, Hoerk happened to glance over to the trees to the west.
'Umm, Boss, I'll have to meet the rest of the team later, I have some business' Hoerk nervously said.
'And just what business could that be?' Repton asked, in a snappy and confused tone.
'Uhh' Hoerk treid to think on his feet 'Weevils. I heard about tree eating weevils in the woods west of here, just wanted to see myself'
'Well. once you're done tree hugging, make sure you're back before nightfall' Repton warned. The Raptors, with exception to Hoerk, all revved their skimmers and rode them into the distance. Hoerk turned westward and slowly started to move to the woods.
once inside the woods, Hoerk scanned his surroundings spuriously. the general topography was a gentle, noticeable rise to the north as well as the west, until the westward rise would suddenly stop, and sharply drop until level with the ground outside of the woods. cresting this hill, Hoerk looked over one of his shoulders, and found a cave, the same cave he found whilst working with Beaker when they were putting up the Terra's defences.
Staring into the dark maw of the cave, Hoerk's curiosity got the best of him, and he decided to enter on foot. The cave was unusually flat, and only had the one tunnel, without any deviations. The tunnel stretched for a semingly endless distance, until he finally saw light. Approaching the light, Hoerk let out a gasp at what he found.
The end of the tunnel stood a nearly round door, guarded by two large tesla coils, and a sizeable bolt of electricity arcing from one to the other. Reaching the door, he could hear the hums and crackles from the defence measure. Now as close as he could safely get, he reached out to the door, and knocked on the metal door.
After waiting a few second, part of the door slid open to reveal a set of goggles staring back at him for a second, because yelling out 'Raptor! Intruder! They found our secret entrance!'
Hoerk immediately pulled an apathetic face and spoke over the Terradon, silencing them 'Calm down, I'm not here for that. I'm here to speak to Beaker' The Terradon froze in place for a second, trying to understand what was happening. 'Well?' Hoerk broodishly asked. The Terradon stepped away from the door.
On the other side of the door, the Terradons spoke amongst themselves, panicked in tone. One said they can't trust him, another mentioned how it seemed like he came alone. During the frantic conversations between themselves, Beaker valiantly walked to the door herself, and whilst keeping the coils activated, opened the door.
'Squeaks!' Hoerk recognised, a face of relief and happiness washed over him. 'It's good to see you again, I thought that after the gate was sealed that was the end' He explained.
'Keep it down, I thought we were keeping this secret' Beaker responded, looking over her shoulder and peering at the Terradons all bunched together and staring at her.
'I can try to keep it secret from Repton for a little longer, he's busy coping with his last trip to Cyclonia to meet its new ruler, you may have heard she launched an attack on Terra Atmosia. Anyway, I think everyone in here now knows about us' Hoerk leaned a little to make eye contact with the group behind the door before giving a small wave. 'Sorry'
Beaker huffed and looked down for a second before looking at him again and speaking, 'So long as you don't bring anyone here, you're welcome to be around. Sadly I can't open the coils, but I think Oppensaur can make an allowance to you being here' Hoerk nodded in understanding. 'and yes, it's good to see you, too, it's been difficult during the past month, but, hopefully Repton will lay off the seige on us, hmm?' Hoerk stared blankly at her, wanting to speak in disagreement, but waited for the right moment. 'He... isn't going to, is he?'
'Not for a little while yet. Cyclonia using its army more has Repton on edge. He wants better weapons, which he isn't getting' Hoerk summised.
'Well, he has to pay us before we work again, and besides, what if we don't want to anymore?' Beaker harshly replied.
'I know, I'm not here as his whip, I'm just saying what's happening' Hoerk defended.
'Okay. I'm sorry. I just, I want to leave, too. Funny how I only want to go when I don't have the chance to anymore' Beaker somberly admitted. Hoerk hummed in agreement.
'If I could help, I really would. But being the middle man looks like it's out of the question' Hoerk consoled. Beaker nodded slowly at him. 'Thought so. Speaking of which, I made a bad excuse to be here, I think I need to go. It's, ummm. It's good to see you again Squeaks. Great, actually. I'll try to sneak in again soon' Beaker giggled to herself at Hoerk's awkwardness.
'Go on Muscle, get out of here before you get in trouble, I'll see you again soon. I lo-' She cut herself off, and her face seemingly filled with red. Hoerk tilted his head obliviously. She chuckled awkwardly herself. 'Sorry, you best be going now. Come back though, yeah?' Hoerk agreed, and started to walk away, the door closing behind him. Beaker leant her back on the door and groaned as she slipped down the door and onto the floor.
'What a secret to keep!' Oppensaur piped up, excitement in his voice. 'Why didn't you use that to our advantage?' He pestered.
'Because that would risk Hoerk and his well being. I can't put him in any more danger' She replied, still sat on the floor.
'Well, if we can't use him to lift our seige, we need to arrange a rescue mission' Oppensaur walked away from the door and towards the table 'Remember the feast? When Repton mentioned taking out all but one Interceptor? That last one is actually still serving, as a Sky Knight under the name Starling, if we can get her to hear our plea, she may help us escape. Yes, now we just have to send the call, and wait'
Beaker, still sat at the door, contemplated the effects of a daring escape. And quickly realised that Hoerk could not know. Not that they were leaving, not even where they were going. This apparent deadline on their relationship filled her with dread, but at least she knew there was still time they could spend together, assuming Hoerk could keep visiting.