GUN's Hilltop Base: The Great Escape

[Rix]

Resson held on to Rush with all his might; his legs and arm were wrapped around Rush's torso, his free hand clasping a blue ring he happened to find laying around. Hm, running from lava in a secret underground base after murdering the man who killed his son? Yeah, it's introspection time.

He had always thought that if he killed the man responsible for killing his son, he'd be happy. But he wasn't happy. Sure, he gained a sort of sick gratification, but for some odd reason he felt guilty. He closed his eyes and imagined his first son's face. He didn't have an expression of contentedness or gratitude. He wore a mask of disappointment and sadness. Resson recalled some of the last words spoken to him by his son...



"No, father... I'd rather die than live my life as a weapon..."



Resson kept his eyes shut tight. He wanted to make a world with no need for weapons; a world where he and his children could live in peace.

He began to make plans to remove his children's battle capability when this occurred.

[Stoney]

Rush powered through the hallways as rapidly as he could, feeling the heat from the lava recede behind him but not letting that soothe him in the slightest. They had only a few minutes before the entire base was destroyed, and their chances of escaping the blast radius in that amount of time were slim to none; but that didn't mean he was gonna just sit there and let the fire take his dad without a fight.

For the first time in his life, he was actually thankful for his small size and quick speed; he was able to maneuver himself and Resson through partially-collapsed hallways and around debris that would have hindered a larger person such as Bash.

The corridors were shaking harder now, imposing an even stronger sense of urgency upon them. Every second was precious...

Which was why Rush felt his annoyance spike when something slammed a hole through one of the walls ahead of them, blocking their way.






The large obstruction was none other than one of G.U.N.'s manned walker tanks; and inside of it sat a bee struggling to fight down panic.

Charmy breathed heavily, his body trembling as he leaned over to clutch the mech's controls in white-knuckled fists. A small trickle of blood dripped from his forehead -- he'd earned that wound the last time one of the robotic drones following him had gotten a lucky shot in and destroyed his radar. Now he was lost and fleeing frantically through the facility in search of the exit, all while the polite computerized messages over the intercom informed him that he had less than five minutes to live.

Conclusion: this was no longer fun for him.

Oh snap, those drones weren't still behind him, were they? Charmy swerved the robotic mech in a circle and looked back the way he'd come; the way was clear. He let out a shaky breath of relief and began searching the new area he was in, wondering which way to go.

...Hey, wait a sec! There were other people here! Charmy's hopes rose at orbital velocity -- now he could ask which way the exit was!

The bee frowned as he looked around the cockpit. Which button turned on the mech's outside speakers...? Maybe this one?

The Bigfoot MkII fired a rocket into the opposite wall, blowing a hole in it to rival the previous one. Charmy winced. Okay, maybe this one then?

A crackling of static emerged from the mech, as a small compartment in the control board opened to extend a microphone towards Charmy's mouth. The bee grinned. "There we go!"






Rush frowned at the robot...that was one of G.U.N.'s Bigfoot models, wasn't it? But this one seemed to have gotten a few upgrades...

Kaboom.

Like new missiles. Oh joy. Rush slowly let go of Resson and moved to stand in front of the professor, arming his plasma buster.

Though, something was off about this encounter. That voice coming from the speakers did not sound at all like what he'd expect from a G.U.N. pilot. In fact, it sounded like a little kid...

"What do you want?" He demanded evenly.






"Hi there!" Charmy waved in greeting, even though the canines couldn't see it. "Um, listen, I'm sorry to barge in like this, but, uh, I'm kinda lost. Could you guys tell me which way the exit is? I'd, er, really appreciate it, kthnx!"






Rush stared. Yeah, there was no mistaking that tone -- this was a kid he was talking to. What the hell...?

It didn't matter, he reminded himself. They needed a fast route out of here and one had presented itself. There was no time for anything but to accept this good fortune and hope for the best.

Rush deactivated his buster. "I'll tell you...if you take us with you."






The bee blinked for a moment. Now that he thought about it, these two probably needed to get out of here just as much as he did. Huh.

"Oh, okay, sure! It's just that, erm, I think this thing only seats one guy..." Charmy frowned. "...Uh, you can ride on the arms, I guess? Just hang on and try not to fall off."






The corgi sighed. How very reassuring this boy sounded.

"Okay dad, hang on." Rush turned to gather Resson into his arms again and leaped up onto the robot's left arm, where he located some good handholds to latch on to. He pointed them out to Resson before grabbing on to a few, himself.

"All right, we're ready."






"OKAY!" The bee's cheerful nature seemed to have returned with the comforting presence of allies. "Which way, Captain??"






Rush paused -- he had an internal map of all the areas he'd currently been to in this place. In a few seconds he had accessed it and determined the route back up to where he'd blown those holes in the ceiling.

"Take a right here and keep going straight on until you reach the elevator."






"Yes, SIR!" Charmy swerved the mech around so fast that he nearly threw his passengers off. "Aheh...sorry. Hang on!"

They took off, the mech using the rockets in its backside to launch them forward at alarming speeds.

[Rix]

Resson lamented that he wasn't somewhere more comfortable.

[Stoney]

"Uh...are you SURE this is the right way?"

They were standing in front of the elevator -- or where the elevator should have been, that is. The doors refused to budge at first, and after Charmy pried them open, they revealed an empty shaft and the snapped end of the elevator cable.






Rush frowned. "It was."

He inspected the ceiling for a moment, wondering if he should just blast a hole through it again. But no, they didn't have enough time for him to melt through the steel now.

"...Guess we'll have to detour," The corgi finally admitted. He checked his map again; it didn't include the areas of the facility that he had not personally visited, but he was able to guess from the layout that there was an alterrnate route to their destination a floor above. Hopefully the mech would fit inside of a stairwell...

"The nearest set of stairs is back down the hall and to our left, through the prison area. it shouldn't be far."

Good thing, too -- they had three minutes left.






"Right! I'm headed there now!" The bee spun them around and fled around the turn he was directed to, smashing through a couple sealed blast doors with the Bigfoot's missiles.

A long, straight hallway greeted them, lined with cells on both sides. At the opposite end was another door.

"Objective sighted!" Charmy announced, even though Rush and Resson could see it just as clearly as he could. The bee slammed a fist down on one of the console's buttons, activating the Bigfoot MkII's jets again.

And they were off!

[Rix]

Resson clung for dear life onto the machine, tears welling up in his eyes. "I AM NOT HAVING FUN!!", he shouted, rather uncharacteristically. "Why can't I drive!?"

[Stoney]

The corgi turned to give his father a cockeyed look. "If YOU wanna try hopping up to the cockpit and prying it open while we're going a hundred miles an hour, be my guest, because we are NOT slowing down for anything."

Rush promptly felt those words get crammed down his throat to burn in his internal incenerator as he saw a flash of color through the windows of a glassed-in cell.






"...Hey, there's someone in there!" Charmy had seen the person too. It was hard NOT to -- the white yellow practically glowed under the red emergency lights. He screeched the mech to a halt and stuck its glassy cockpit right up next to the window so he could see inside. "Hello??"

[Jamie Lee]

Inside was a massive lemon yellow figure. Held down in thick chains and kept in a semi-drugged state, the polarbear known as Bark gulped greedily for air, his fur utterly drenched with sweat so that he seemed he might have just emerged from a swimming pool. His cell had been special, kept air conditioned for the special specimen he was, but as the building faced destruction the systems had failed. Heat from the lava seared through the air like a and he found the conditions unbearable.

Wait, he heard something. Was it a voice? It sounded so vague and distant he could barely discern it... Did he even hear it all or was he only hallucinating? He looked up at the hazed world, his unfocused eyes unable to lock onto the door's small window.

"Huh-who..." he barely managed to get out before he gasped, his dry throat refusing to permit further sound.

[Stoney]

". . . . . . ."






"We don't have time for this. Leave him," The corgi snapped. Cruel as it sounded, time was indeed of the essence and he viewed their own survival as top priority.






"...But he's hurt," The bee protested. His conscience tugged at him -- he couldn't just leave someone behind to die like this.

Making his decision, he called out: "HANG ON MISTER! WE'LL GET YOU OUT!"






Rush slapped his forehead, powerless to stop the mech as it surged forward. "Dammit, boy, you're gonna kill us all!"






Charmy ignored the fatalistic prediction as he studied the security mechanisms on the cell. It was quite an elaborate setup; one needed no less than a hand-scan, eye scan, voice print match AND a card key to open the thing.

Charmy frowned and punched the door with the mech's fist. It bent inwards noticeably. He did it again, and again.

Finally, after a solid kick, the door flew inside the cell to bounce off a wall and lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Charmy extended one of the mech's arms into the cell through the now-open doorway...but was unable to reach the prisoner with it.

The bee turned to look at his passengers.






Rush bristled. "You are NOT dragging me into this. Get moving again or so help me we will continue without you."






The bee frowned again. "You need me," He replied stubbornly. "You won't make it out in time by yourselves."






"....Rrrrgh!" The corgi growled in supreme annoyance. He knew Charmy was right, of course -- he didn't have much choice here. WHY did this boy have to be so caring? His sympathy for this individual may very well doom them all.

However, there was no more time to argue -- they'd already wasted too many precious seconds just standing here. Rush leaped off the mech and dashed into the cell, blasting away the chains with pinpoint plasma shots.

"Come on," He grunted, grabbing the surprisingly large bear around the torso and lifting him with ease, "it's time to leave."

[Jamie Lee]

BANG!

What was that? A loud sound... Definitely not a person's voice... It was echoing off the walls of his confinement chamber.

BANG!

So loud... what was making that noise? Bark strained for all he was worth to will his eyes to focus.

BANG!

It... it was coming from directly in front of him? The polarbear gave a halfhearted tug at his chains, just that much energy zapping him as he continued to pant. So hot... he couldn't take it...

CRASH!

With a final blow the door flew away, and in poured light from the emergency systems outside. Bark could barely distinguish the blobby figured of the mech outside and the smaller body who'd just run in toward him. Before he was able to comprehend what was going on, he felt the weight of his chains drop, and - surprisingly - he found himself being hefted up.

Bark shook his head, desperately trying to clear his confused and delirious thoughts. He tried to speak, but the dryness of his throat only caused it to stick and merely groan at best. He could the blob below him speaking... What was he saying...? Even in such close contact he found himself unable to understand. What in the world was going on?! Who where these people?!

In such a disoriented state he wasn't able to decipher that these people were his benefactors, or just how dire the situation they were in was. All he could focus on was the heat. That blasted heat! It was closing in on him from all sides... no matter what... he couldn't get away... and these people... what were these people doing...? No... no... he didn't want to go... he had to get out! He was suffocating!

The extreme conditions and the drugs used to keep him in a sedative were obscuring his ability to think rationally, and so, he began to struggle weakly while continuing to groan.

[Riyami]

It was around this time that Rush suddenly got a notice of an incoming transmission.

[Stoney]

Thank Chaos for multi-tasking. Three things were happening at once; a mere organic might have been unable to process them all, but for a machine like Rush it was quite easy to do.

The corgi hit his internal "hold" button on the incoming signal -- this was NOT the time for radio chatter -- while tightening his grip on the struggling polar bear.

"Calm down," He whispered angrily in Bark's ear as he tossed the bear over one shoulder in a fireman's carry, much like he'd done with Resson mere minutes ago. It was an awkward setup since Bark was at least twice his size, and the polar bear's hands dragged on the ground behind them -- but it was the best Rush could do at the moment. He began running at full speed back towards the hole in the cell wall.






"C'mon, hurry!" The bee cried, watching the temperature gauge on his control board slowly rise. "It's not safe here!"






Rush felt like slapping the boy. Of COURSE it wasn't safe here -- that's why he'd insisted they continue without this prisoner! They could have been out of the base and home free by now if they hadn't stopped for this.

With a snarl, he kept his angry comments to himself as he leaped up onto the arm of the mech -- but he forgot to compensate for Bark's added bulk and almost fell over backwards immediately.

Luckily, his free arm found a handhold to latch onto long enough for him to deposit Bark onto one of the mech's massive shoulders. He switched the handhold for a more secure one as he maintained a grip on one of the polar bear's arms, just in case.

"GO! NOW!" He yelled in the direction of the cockpit.






"WE'RE GONE!" The bee yelled back as the mech lurched back into motion, resuming their previous route without hesitation.






Rush squinted his eyes to avoid damage to his optical sensors as once again he and the other passengers were engulfed by the wind sweeping past the mech.

"Up those stairs and right at the t-intersection!" He called out to the cockpit before turning his attention back to the incoming signal he'd received. The stupid alert warning for it still hadn't stopped beeping and it was getting on his nerves.

He removed his hold on the signal. Sure, why not, he thought. If these are to be the final few moments of my operational existence, why SHOULDN'T I spend them on the phone?

'Course, it wasn't a phone in any sense of the word...but Rush could care less about the accuracy of his analogy at the moment. Finally accepting the call, he snapped over the radio line, "What."

[Riyami]

There was a small amount of static before EVE's voice came over the encrypted frequency radio line to Rush.

"Enemy Transport Unit detected approaching commanding Unit and Unit Rush's Current location, Use of Caution upon Departure advised."