Find

"Sometimes I wonder why we have a bike when we don't even use it," Riley commented as she tried her best not to trip over anything.

"Firstly, it's my bike and also, we're not using it because the noise might let 'em know that we're visiting," Sam explained dodging an overhanging tree branch.

Riley pouted but didn't complain any further.

Sam was in the process of leading them through a part of the forest which will allow them to intercept one of Vision's transports. He was in front, guiding them and searching for other heat signatures and traps that could have been set up there, Cody trailed slightly behind him with Riley hot on his heels. Sabrina and Archer lingered at the back, watching their blind spots.

"What do you think we'll find?", Cody asked them all.

"I don't know, actually," Archer admitted.

Sabrina pondered the answer. She too, had also been wondering what lies in that truck.

"I'm not sure. I just hope that it's something that will help us," Riley answered.

"What do you think, Sam?"

Sam slowed down a little, his eyes still on his tracker and spoke slowly as if he wasn't giving them his full attention, "Probably some food supplies or weapons or even troops. The latter is unlikely, though."

And then he sped up again.

The Sun peaked through the leaves which covered them like a canopy. Sabrina looked around warily, listening for noises that sounds like extra leaves crunching or literally anything that could mean an intruder. While Archer did the same thing, he enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere that nature gave him.

Archer looked down and saw that Sabrina was a little jumpy. His eyes softened and decided to voice his concerns.

"You okay?", he asked her.

She turned her head to him, surprised that he spoke as he was silent for most of the trip.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm cool," she said, not knowing whether she was convincing the older boy or herself.

"Clearly," he scoffed. "What's wrong?", he asked, checking his surroundings once more.

She hesitated and it looked like she was having a full on debate in her head.

"I just-", she started, trying to choose her words, "-I guess. I don't know. I'm just worried."

Archer stopped and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"About what?"

She turned towards him, "What if Sam's connections refuse?"

Oh.

"If they refuse, then we can't get those people out. If they stay there, they're going to suffer and if we get them out without a place for them to go to, they'd be more at risk," she rambled.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Focus on what's happening right now. I need you to watch my back," he said looking away and starting to walk again.

At that, Sabrina gave a little smile and followed him.

"You got mine?", she asked him.

Still looking away, he smiled, "Always."

"We're close," Sam said as the two caught up.

A low rumbling caught their attention and as they drew close. The hulking figure of a truck was the source as it appeared in the road, farther behind them.

"Didn't expect it to be that big," Cody commented as he hid behind a tree, the other's following suit and ducking behind their own.

"It's a good thing. They usually use bigger trucks to deter people from stealing their cargo, but there's no more than six guards," Sam told them.

"So, do the big trucks usually have good stuff in them?", Riley asked.

"Usually there's just basic supplies, but sometimes, there's a bonus," he answered with a smirk and then proceeded to vault over the fallen trunk he was hiding behind.

Sabrina looked to Archer who just shrugged and followed, making sure to keep to the shadows that the forest provided. They stopped and Sam threw a little device onto the middle of the road. He and Riley then exchanged a look and darted back, deeper into the forest. Sabrina, Archer and Cody took up their positions, which were a bit wide from the device. Archer and Cody were on the right and Sabrina was on the left.

The truck made its way over and then abruptly stopped, the driver attempted to restart the vehicle and yelled curses when it didn't work. He yelled something else and banged his hand against the trailer. The driver and passenger then got out, guns securely strapped to their backs and four other soldiers filed out from the back.

"What's the problem? Why did we stop?", Sabrina heard one of them ask, with an orotund voice.

"Dunno. Stupid thing just stopped. Tried restarting, but she just won't go," the driver replied annoyed.

"We're going to check the engine, just stand on guard. Don't know what's in these woods," the guy who was in the passenger seat instructed.

Sabrina could have laughed at that.

He didn't know how right he was.

Screaming was heard coming from the forest. Archer, Cody and Sabrina all looked at each other and nodded.

That was the signal and it caught the attention of the soldiers.

Perfect, Sabrina thought.

"What was that?," the one from before asked.

"I don't know," another one said sounding slightly nervous.

"We should check it out," a third one said, and they all nodded.

"Hey!," they screamed at the driver who poked his head out from the engine, "we're going to check what the noise was."

The driver gave a nod and the soldiers left, passing the three hidden rebels and ventured deeper into the forest.

Archer looked around to see if the coast was clear and Sabrina watched him, waiting for his mark as she got a little closer to him.

He held up three fingers, then one went down, then the last one. They ran quickly to the truck, and surprisingly the other two guys didn't hear anything. Archer creeped along one side of the truck and Sabrina circled around to do the exact same on the other side.

They both shot up and knocked both the driver and the other guy unconscious before they could even lift their heads.

"Nice," Cody complimented, cheerily skipping to the trailer. Sabrina smiled and followed with the older boy in tow.

"Hey man, could you--y'know?", Cody asked gesturing to the trailer.

Archer looked at him and then at the trailer door, "Oh yeah, hold on."

He climbed up and after a little of finding the best position, he pulled the lever down and turned it to the side. The door opened easily and the three looked up to see what was being delivered. Their mouths fell open.

Archer quickly ran in front of them, ready to protect his friends while Cody and Sabrina's eyes sparkled.

"It's- it's not attacking?", he said, trying to confirm it for himself.

"No kidding," Sabrina joked, nudging him on the arm, "It's disabled. It was probably being sent to outpost to up their security or something."

"But since it's not shooting at us, we could learn something from it," Cody said already climbing into the trailer to go the sentry.

"Hey, hey! Be careful bud," Archer caught Cody by the foot, halting him, "We don't know if it's safe."

"I'm pretty sure it is," the younger boy blinked.

"Archer," Sabrina soothed, "It's powered down."

"I know, but it could have like an alarm system or something to power on if anyone gets close to it," he said letting go of the blond boy's leg.

"Oh- um- yeah. Lemme just—", Cody began rummaging through his bag before retrieving a scanner similar to Sam's and scanned the bot.

"It's all good," he reported. Sabrina grinned and jumped in as well while Archer stood guard outside.

Couple minutes later, two familiar figures emerges from the treeline. "We're all good here!", Riley called out when she saw Archer. He waved and waited for them to come to the truck.

Once Sam caught sight of the bot, his brain was also taken over, and he scrambled toward it to get a closer look while Sabrina and Cody kept exchanging utter gibberish after finding something new in the robots wiring.

"Sooo," Riley drawled looking around the inside of the truck, "Looks like a pretty good catch?"

"Yeah, can't you tell?", he smirked looking at the other three run around like excited puppies.

"Nerds in their natural habitat," Riley said dryly.

That earned a chuckle from Archer as he turned around to look at them again.

Riley followed his gaze and saw that it was locked on a specific brunette girl who was talking animatedly with the other two, her voice failing to hide her excitement as she bounced on her heels.

She smirked to herself as she hoisted herself up to sit on the lip of the trailer, her legs dangling over its edge, just missing the road.

She studied Archer's face and saw a certain fondness there that she'd never seen before. Sure, he'd looked at Cody and herself with a face similar to that, but she knew this meant something different.

"How long?", she asked.

Archer snapped out of his daydream and looked at her confused, "What?"

"How long?", she asked again as her eyes flittered over to the girl in question.

He followed her eyes and then snapped his attention back to her, "How long what?"

Riley scoffed, "I'm not stupid. You're so obvious!"

Archer looked around nervously to see if anyone heard, and luckily no one did.

"Nothing is obvious," he said lowly.

Riley raised an eyebrow.

"It's not like that. Just drop it," he said and turned around.

Riley knew he wouldn't talk if she pressed on so she gave up... For now.

"These guys are idiots," she said offhandedly.

"Who?"

"The soldiers. To think Vision is keeping this place captive with these people, it's kind of hard to believe."

The tension faded from Archer's shoulders as he snickered.

"Yeah, it is hard to believe."

Riley grinned.

"Guys," Cody called and the two turned to face them.

"I think I can reprogram this thing," he grinned.

It turned out that he could not, in fact program it.

Well, not completely. He made it walk. And that was it.

It had to do though. They had a new companion walking home with them.

"We're not naming the robot," Sam said.

"Why!?" Cody sounded genuinely upset.

"Because it's a robot?"

"You named your bike!", Cody rebutted.

"Hey!", Sam said turning around, "You must know that Sally and I have been through a lot together. This... thing here hasn't even been with us for two hours," he said gesturing to the robot.

Cody gasped in horror and the other three were very amused with the current happenings.

"You take that back! That is offensive, he has feelings too!", he said waving his arms towards the robot who didn't look at all offended for being referred to as a 'thing'.

Sam and Cody glared at each other before they both started cackling and soon the others joined in too.

They made it back to the bunker without any issues. Well, mostly. The robot could not fit through the vending machine door that led to their hideout, so they did the next best thing and hid it in a building nearby. They'd taken out the tracker earlier in the truck. It was easy to find after Cody's scan.

The young boy was itching to begin tinkering with it.

They all sat down to eat, talking about the mission and how easy it was.

"I mean, I only expected like two other soldiers to be with them, not four," Sam confessed.

"You should have seen how confused he was when they came by," Riley laughed.

"You should have seen how we took them out," he corrected.

"Yeah, how did you guys do it?", Sabrina asked curious.

Riley put down her bowl and sat up straight, her face set conspiratorially.

"I think this guy is a ninja."

Everyone stared at her.

"What?", Cody asked, his mouth full.

"He had sleeping gas on him. Who just casually has sleeping gas on them?", Riley asked and Archer looked completely baffled.

"A ninja," Sam teased having another bite.

Riley shook her head, "I don't know, man."

"I know that talking, joking and laughing is all good for morale, but can we discuss our next move? It's kind of time sensitive," Sabrina pointed out after the laughter subsided, and they all nodded.

"I was thinking that we should leave tomorrow to negotiate with my guys," Sam proposed.

"Tomorrow?", Archer asked.

"Yeah. As she said, this is kind of time sensitive," he answered and Archer just barely resisted rolling his eyes.

"I wanted to start working on Clank tomorrow," Cody protested.

"You really just named the robot," Sam said.

"Yes," Cody answered.

"And you named it 'Clank', of all things," Sam said slowly.

"You named yours 'Sally'," Cody retorted.

"Fair point," Riley commented.

"Why would you do that?", Sam asked, choosing to ignore the last two statements.

"You said that I couldn't, so I had all the more reason to do it," Cody smirked and high-fived Archer.

Sam groaned.

"Well, you can still do that. We all don't have to go,"Sam pointed out.

"Wouldn't it be safer if we all went?", Archer inquired.

"Yeah, but they get jumpy around too many people," Sam answered.

"We need to be on their good side," Sabrina agreed.

"I'll stay back with Cody," Riley volunteered, "I don't really feel like going anywhere after today."

Sam nodded. "Okay, so the three of us will leave tomorrow morning," he said looking pointedly at Sabrina and Archer who nodded back.