Dynamic Patrol: Gel-Squad (Remastering!)

Chapter 32: Savior

The next time D1 came back online, she was partially dismantled and parted out. She seemed to be alone in this dark room. After static observation, she realized it wasn't a room... it was a cave, a rather furnished one at that. Her body was some workbench, propped up by rocks on one side as one of the legs was broken off. The wood was old and rotting away. There was a lamp that illuminated the bench with a yellow glow, with a bulb that flickered now and then as it threatened to burn out. It was powered by a small electric generator, which was brilliant because it emitted no sound or deadly gas. Whoever set this up didn't want to be found. Perhaps another 'deserter?' D1 reset her memory banks to get herself back on track. Her head was removed from her body and placed on top of the workbench in a nest of wires; there were various other items in the space that the unknown person owned: a bucket, perhaps for resting.

She was still learning about this species, but what she did know, she'd learned from Tommy and Russell. Maybe that's what this bucket was for, resting; among the other items, there were some old displays, a bunch of empty crates, a couple of tool chests, and a secondary compartment of the cave, which held a colossal object concealed by a worn tarp, what a mystery. D1 used her peripheral vision to see around the area, and it seemed like her captor was awakening. She heard the tale-tell squooshing and squishing sounds that the Omeocoon made whenever they were in the process of altering their forms. When he became solid, she saw that this one was feline-shaped; he was white with gray accents and the most lovely-looking red eyes, but the eyes reminded her of the hostile Omeocoon in the woods, the one who terrorized her friends and had her thrown off the side of a waterfall.

The new one rubbed his eyes as if waking up from a long nap, his thick, fluffy tail swishing from side to side as he regained his footing. He then moved over and retrieved something similar to Russell's bag, which was strapped over his chest as he got ready for the day. D1 figured it was time to signal his attention and tell him who she was. She went to engage her vocal subroutine, and that's when she was shocked to find her speaker was removed and disconnected, placed among the array of parts on the workbench; she couldn't make any noise; she was trapped. But perhaps... if she moved ever so slightly, she could stop him.

The kitty was heading out of the cave quickly; D1, with her motors still connected to her body, triggered the treads to move; they were slow, connections probably corroded from her little swim in the waterfall. At first, he didn't notice, but then she made it move more and more until she made a screwdriver roll off of the side of the table from the vibrations. The tool stumbled and clunked pretty loudly as it collided with many things on its way to the cave's surface, which finally caused the gel cat to look over his shoulder. But instead of curiosity, which D1 was expecting, she got a facial expression of annoyance. He moved over after shouting something D1 couldn't quite hear. He snatched up his screwdriver, tossed it back onto the bench, about-faced, and carried on exiting the cave.

She would not let him leave, and not before she was seen, she moved her motors again; this time, the cat was facing her. "Must be broken." The stranger said, this time at a volume she could easily hear. His voice was surprisingly mature for someone who looked like he was eleven or maybe thirteen. D1 moved again and derived some sort of Morse code. Her motors spun periodically, and although the cat couldn't quite understand, he could see that she was indeed a thing of intelligence, which meant she was still using her CPU, and that meant she was still alive.