Captain Canine: The First Avenger

Chapter 4

Hunter is having the time of his life. Repairing vehicles, inventing new gadgets, and all with the help of his new crew. While Hunter has some difficulty leading, he thought it best to lead by teaching them how to improve their already impressive skills. In the one month Hunter has worked, Wires can now assemble a computer and wiring from memory, Cross is eager to learn everything he can about engineering. Wrench is the only one who hasn't changed much. He is someone who is happy the way he is. The more he hangs out with his group, the more comfortable he is about leading and teaching them. While his team helps a lot, Hunter sometimes works on personal projects to test his own ingenuity and intellect. Since starting, Hunter has been hard at work inventing and constructing a fully  functioning robotic dog. Hunter wanted to do his jetpack project, but was unable to due to lacking certain parts. The robotic dog requires all the parts Hunter had or can manufacture. The bot serves as a repair and maintenance bot in the shape of a dog. Cross wanted to name it after a Clone Trooper from Star Wars, but Hunter wanted a simple name for his creation: Robo-Dog. With permission, Hunter then sends Robo-Dog to Outpost 13, the lookout, as a gift to his family. Everyday, Hunter thinks about them. He misses Jeff, Max, Blaze, Rocky, Zuma, Rubble, and the pups. Even though Skye is an adult cockapoo, she still holds the innocence and energy of a pup, a factor that Hunter likes about her. Almost every week. He gets a letter from the pups, telling about their adventures and missions. Some of them are simple missions while others were dangerous and intense. One mission last year, Skye crashed her helicopter again, this time in the mountains. She sustained minimal injuries. Some adventures, Hunter can't tell if it's real or the pups' imagination. Nonetheless, it brings Hunter joy to know everything is well back home.

"Another letter from your Washington relatives." Wires says, holding the letter in his claw arm. Each of Hunter's team has a modified dog pack, fitting to each of their roles.

"Thanks, can you put in in the filing cabinet?" Hunter asks, not looking up from his second robot dog. After hearing about Robo-Dog, every outpost placed an order to get one, and Hunter and his team have been busy manufacturing them.

Cross comes into the office, "Finished welding the second Robo-Dog. Maybe this time we can name it a Clone Trooper name?"

Hunter almost laughs, he then says, "That won't be the last Robo-Dog. Every outpost wants one, and since you want to give them Clone Trooper names, you go ahead."

A smile creeps onto Cross's face, "Thanks." He is about to leave when Cross and Hunter hear the sound of banging metal. They look towards Wires, and the filing cabinet drawer on the ground, releasing papers everywhere.

"Apologies, Hunter." Wires says embarrassed, "The drawer was stuck and i tried to loosen it." Wires continues to fidget with the drawer's lock, which gives out a squeak of resistance. Hunter walks over and helps Wires pick up the papers. He stalls when he sets his eyes on a particular letter from Chase and Marshall. It was a letter that Hunter believes to be their overactive imagination.

"If you don't mind Hunter, May i request to know what you are reading that has grasped your attention?" Wires asks.

"Sure," Hunter clears his throat before saying:

"A letter from my nephews: Dear Hunter,

It's us again. You will not believe the night we had. There are dogs that live in the ocean, and they have fish-tails! We had fun swimming with them, rescuing one from a shipwreck, and just played with them all night. Everyone saw them. Well, except Jeff and our parents. They don't believe us. But we know you will. We miss you. Can't wait to see you.

Signed, Chase and Marshall."

"That is adorable." Cross says, "How old are your nephews?"

"This was back in 2014, so they are now..... 10? 11?"

"Really?!" Wires says with astonishment on his face, "They are still into magical cryptids that old?"

"They have a condition, making them age as slow as a human. So they are young children, technically."

"Fascinating how they come up with this." Cross muses.

"There is an old sailor that lives in Adventure Bay, always full of stories he swears are true." Hunter says. He then has a sinking feeling as he looks back at the letter, "I do feel sorry how they believe that I would believe them. It just sounds too wierd to be reality."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Wires says, picking up the other letters and putting them in the filing drawer, "In time, they will grow out of it, and they then won't care if you believed them or not."

The conversation is then interrupted by a loud smashing sound, followed by a swearing bark from Wrench. Everyone leaves the office to see what happened.

"No!" Cross exclaims when he sees the second Robo-Dog crushed under Wrench's forklift. The forklift is carrying metal beams, adding to the weight on the Robo-Dog below.

"Not Hevy!" Cross runs over to the pinned robot.

Hunter can't help but burst out laughing. Wires also cracks a smile.

"I thought it's name is Rex." Wrench says from atop of his ride.

"Well, it's Hevy now."

"Sorry, Cross. I didn't see him."

Cross looks up at Wrench, "Didn't you at least look before setting down your parts?"

"No, this is where I unload the parts. You see the line?" Wrench points to the black and yellow lines forming a square on the floor, "This isn't the build a robot place. That place is over there."

"Thank you Wrench." Hunter steps in, "Next time, look before setting down your parts. We don't want it to be another worker next time."

Wrecker nods, and grumbles something undiscernible as he lifts the fork back up. Hunter and Cross inspect the Robo-Dog for any damage.

"Not as much damage as it sounded." Hunter says.

"Then it should be easy to fix him." Cross breathes a sigh of relief.

"Yes, but do work on the bots in that corner. I have set that area aside for these types of projects."

"Yes sir, I don't have enough room to weld safely over there."

Hunter views the back left corner of the garage. In the corner are shelves full of spare and new parts, wires, circuits, and even a computer for incorporating code into their builds. It did seem too small to Hunter, too small for a welder.

"I will make a welding area so you can weld in safety." Hunter says, pointing to an unoccupied spot in the garage, "Put your welding tanks over there and I will set up the station."

"Yes sir." Cross leaves to do his task. Wires heads to the invention corner to work on the insides of the next Robo-Dog. Hunter heads back into the office.

Inside the office, Hunter relaxes. His leading skills are improving like Willow said. Every passing incident gets easier and easier to manage. Willow stopped assisting him two weeks into his job, and Hunter has since then been doing fantastic. Hunter wants to continue learning new skills as he always wanted to, even if his life is as busy as it is. Hunter sits at the office table, contemplating on what he should study next.

After a few minutes of deep thought, Hunter notices a silhouette outside of the garage door. The small, rectangular windows are ten feet off the ground, so someone would have to use a ladder to get that high. The face in the window is masked, hiding the person's face. The person stares through the garage window, through the office window, and right at Hunter. After Hunter maintains eye contact for a few seconds, the figure ducks out of view. An uneasy feeling rises within Hunter, which he shakes off. Maybe it's the stress from working, but why? He enjoys this type of work. He decides to let security know anyways, just in case. Hunter then finds a problem in need of a solution: How to better enhance a dog's ability to work? The dog pack is a massive step, but Wrench keeps complaining on how brittle the arms are. Cross has trouble as well when moving metal parts too heavy for the arms. A bright idea pops into Hunter's head. He looks down at the blueprints on the table. He moves them out of the way until he finds an empty one. Hunter calls out his sketcher pen and begins to put his idea on print. Should this idea work, it will be another huge leap in dog kind.