Swatpod Refueling Hangar- 7S

[Whip the Rabbit]

Though the tension in the air was thick, and with Omega, amusingly anxious, Whip acted a little less than impressed. Combining his familiarity with flying in crafts and his anxiousness to get into the field, he didn't react much, and just watched, detached, as they continued the plan.

[Gail Strafer]

[Skipping Ji due to absence rule]

For several seconds, the computer system on the other end made no response to Chadin's reply. Never before had Gail felt so vulnerable before. If this didn't work, they were all in deep trouble, and there would be nothing he could do about it. At long last though, the computer finally responded.

"Roger SwatPOD EZ-1407. Report to repair bay 7 in the tower directly ahead of you. I am also making a support log to have your voice chip repaired."

Looking across the top of the hangar bay's entrance, Espio would see numbers stenciled above each slot. Number 7 currently sat empty.

Gail breathed a short sigh of relief, but this only meant they were now truly descending into the lion's den. A frown crossed his lips as he thought about this.

Why am I scared all of a sudden? This is supposed to be exactly what I wanted! Action!

He'd wanted to do this because of how much fun it was battling Robotnik's forces on Angel Island. But it only just now dawned on the young teen that this mission was not going to be like that. On Angel Island, they only fought part of Robotnik's forces, and it was on neutral ground at that. But Robotropolis was the doctor's home town. He'd have all of the terrain advantages and the full force of his entire army. It just never registered with the wolf until he saw Robotnik's entire domain from the air.

Regardless, Gail resolved to put on a strong front for the others and put on a determined-looking scowl as they descended downwards. He inwardly hated himself for being so afraid and promised that he'd keep up his bravado as much as possible. He needed to prove to the others he wasn't afraid. At least Vanessa wasn't around still to call him 'Scaredy Wolf'...

[Espio]

Espio hovered his right index finger over the weapons controls during the period of silence, as the Swatbot's intelligence was put to the test. Fortunatly they bought Chadin's impersonation, and he slowly piloted the ship into bay seven. He silently gave Chadin the nod, unsure if they could also hear them inside.

He landed the hovercraft with a slightly shaky landing, cutting the engines a few inches off the ground to give the impression of an emergency landing. He waited a second or two before opening the hatch, making a silent suggestion with his right hand for Chadin go scout the exterior. He drew a shuriken from his bag, preparing to follow suit...now the mission began proper.

[Chadin]

With the Swat-bot's response, I visibly let out the breath I'd unconsciously been holding for those past, tense few moments. But as Espio set our ship down and signaled for me to take point out the door, I nodded back while my ears folded back and once more my focus was laser sharp on the mission at hand.

I first carefully poked my head around the corner to check to see if the coast was clear. If past experience was any indication, the bay would soon be swarming with maintenance bots; if it wasn't already. Trouble is you could never be sure if these bots were programed to sound the alert if they spotted you, or just go about their business in blissful ignorance. I'd rather not take the chance of either just yet.

Either luck was on our side, or Robotnik didn't think anyone would be so brazen as to break into his base using the old Trojan horse ploy, because I didn't see or hear anything in the bay just yet. I quickly motioned to the others to quickly follow me and mad a fast sprint across the hangar floor to a large stack of fuel barrels of some sort. Hopefully everyone would follow along behind without tipping us off, but even if they did, once I was at the barrels, I set myself up to cover the one large door in case any uninvited guests decided to walk through.

[Alpha Omega]

Once Chadin was safely behind the barrels, Omega crouched low and made a mad dash to join him. He peered around the barrels, looking into each corner of the room to be sure they were alone.

[Whip the Rabbit]

In contrast to his more tactile comrades, Whip decided that stealth could take a back seat to his leisure, and he simply strolled across the bay, his arms casually wrapped around the back of his head. The others could have passed him by, but he wasn't particularly worried about being caught as he made his way to the impromptu hiding place Chadin and Omega now inhabited.

[Jijeka-Te]

As the ship touched down, Ji and Anu took position. Ji carefully glanced out the door, then took a running start and silently glided up to the rafters or whatever substitute happened to be around. Anu opened his wings and followed.

Back home, the pharaoh had on many occasions managed to sneak by the royal guards by hiding on the ceiling, as they seldom thought of looking up for intruders. She didn't see any reason why the guards here wouldn't be of similar psyche.

[Gail Strafer]

[You know guys, I think you missed some parts of my earlier description. In my first description, I said two SWATbots were watching over the whole room from a control booth above the floor, plus there are maintenance bots already in the bay servicing other craft. But anyway, I'll be forgiving...this time ]

Fortunately for the group, one of the SWATbots in the control booth was fitted with a particular power cell. This power cell had accidentally slipped past the quality control program earlier in the day, due to glitches caused by excessive network traffic. It was highly unstable and ready to blow at any time...and thankfully for the freedom fighters that time was now.

A shower of sparks burst out of the back of the SWATbot as it stood in front of the control panel. Its red visor blinked on and off repeatedly, as the head wobbled back and forth like a bobble head. Finally, the SWATbot just shut down and stood motionless with its head down. Meanwhile, the second SWATbot was distracted from watching the repair room, as it made a call for more maintenance bots to arrive.

---

Gail was one of the last out of the SWATPod, and he'd been watching that control booth very nervously as they'd descended into the bay. But strangely no one else seemed to notice it. In fact, they just took off running for cover across the bay once they were down.

Gail however was not so hot on doing that, so he'd continued to watch the bots as he prayed they'd look away for a second. But even as he waited he wondered if they would do that at all. A flesh and blood guard certainly would. They got tired and bored and distracted, but machines did not. Robots, computers, machines, whatever...they only ever focused on what they were programmed to accomplish until their batteries ran out, and that was that.

So he stood flabberghasted when one SWATbot had a big malfunction right when they'd decided to make a break for it. The wolf couldn't believe their crazy luck. However, Gail knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth, and promptly joined the others behind the fuel barrels. The wolf gave a particularly dark glare to Whip, who'd just casually strolled across the hangar like he was on the beach or something.

"Okay..." he whispered to Chadin. "So what do we do now?"

As he said this, a door opened nearby as a group of five maintenance bots arrived. Similar to the other bots in the room, they were smooth and cylindrical shaped and moved about on small hover jets. Silently, they started moving towards the SWATpod, and various tools began to pop out of compartments on the sides of the cylinder metal.

Espio would need to get out of the ship quickly before he was seen.

[Espio]

Espio took the precaution of ensuring he shut down the systems; no need to draw suspicion. As the hum of the craft died down, he turned his head to the back of the swatpod. "Okay everyone. Follow Chadin's lead while I take out the guards in the wat-", he said as his eyes bugged open. They were already gone, right under the eyes of the swatbots!

He could spot the egyptian-esque pair up top; a wise choice to stay hidden and scout out from the rafters. Chadin and Alpha ran for cover, and then there was the "ninja", taking a casual stroll through the hangar bay; in plain sight with Gail preparing to leave. He was about to warn Gail to ready for combat, due to Whip's likelyhood of getting them all spotted when...

BOOM! A loud explosion came from the watchtower, sheer luck preventing their early detection. Already Gail was gone. He let out a hollow sigh, facepalming. It was as if he were on another standard mission with Vector and Charmy. Brash tactics, a screw-up here and there with a dash of sheer luck to get through. "No need to stay here any longer. Be it an explosion from me or a malfunction, others will be here soon." , he reasoned. A soft clack would be heard as his feet touched the metal floor, Espio blending in with his metalic surroundings. Just in time too as the doors opened ahead, with said reinforcements arriving.

He made a break for cover, sprinting as he took the liberty to attempt to grab Whip by the scruff of the neck on the way and pull him to cover admist a stack of crates and shipping boxes a close distance away from Chadin's position, and halfway between their Swatpod and Ji and Anu's position. If he did indeed grab Whip on the way, he would give him a quiet, but very stern lecturing in sign language that he failed to adhere to ninja logic101: The shadows are your friend! He was steaming at the moment, but had not the time to act on it.

EDIT: A minor timing fix at the start.

[Chadin]

[eh, sorry, it's been so slow, I forgot all about the previous post.]

I Couldn't help rolling my eyes as I saw Whip come sauntering out of the pod with all the urgency of cow chewing on it's cud. 'Yep, that one is going to get us killed.' I thought with a resigned groan.

"Okay..." Gail whispered to Chadin. "So what do we do now?"

"There are only two exits out of this hangar. Out the front where we flew in from. Of course, it looked like a long way down and I doubt we have enough room to rappel down. That just leaves the main door. We just need an opening or distraction so we can slip out without anything spotting us. I could try picking off a bot across the room silently, but I'm open to suggestions.