Ryan opened his eyes, spotting a black moving sack a few meters away. He tried to stand on his feet, but he couldn't, he was still too weak. How can I recover faster? Ryan asked the red bar which could also be called his AI.
There is only one way for you to recover faster. You have to completely shut down and go into sleep mode. You might even get some upgrades after you have fully recovered. Do you want to go into sleep mode now?
"Tell me who's inside the sack," Ryan asked his AI; he didn't fully trust it.
Lynnette, Christoph, Allan, and Dianne. I fired the fireproof sack at them in order to protect them from the blast. They're safe and I've scanned the surrounding area up to six miles. There are no threats for now. Do you want to go into sleep mode? If you do not go into sleep mode now, I'm afraid you would not be able to access it again.
"And why is that?"
If I do not shut down this feature, you might go into sleep mode unexpectedly and it might take even more time for you to fully recover. Do you want to go into sleep mode now? I would prefer it if your answer was 'Yes.'
"Alright," Ryan nodded and immediately he did, all his systems went offline and he fell asleep. The fireproof sack opened up and the rescue team walked out of it. Lynnette was the last person to get out of the sack. She spotted Ryan lying on the ground, motionless and lifeless.
"Ryan!" Lynnette ran towards him and tried to get him to wake up, but it was of no avail.
Ryan is currently on standby. He will not be able to interact with the outside world during this period. If I do sense that he is in danger, I would be forced to trigger the security parameters which would result to a massive explosion that would cause the death of countless people.
The rescue team heard the voice loud and clear. They understood the message immediately, therefore, they planned to abandon Ryan. Lynnette also heard the message and was relieved to know that he was still alive. She carried him on her back and approached the rescue team.
Christoph was the first to criticize her actions, "What are you doing? What if he suddenly explodes?"
"Don't worry, he's not in danger when he's with me; he won't explode." Lynnette assured them.
"It's dangerous to bring him along." Allan spoke.
"And it is dangerous to leave him here. If Maekun gets his hands on him, he'll add him to his army of terrifying machines!" Lynnette said.
Dianne approached Lynnette, "Your father asked us to protect you and we will do just that."
"There would have been nothing for you to protect if Ryan hadn't saved me! He put his life on the line just to ensure that I was alright!" Lynnette tried to convince them, but she couldn't because they all ignored her. Dianne kept on moving towards her. "Stop right there! He just saved all of you!"
Dianne paused, "What if he's a spy sent to infiltrate our headquarters? We can't just bring back Terrorists technology back to HQ!"
"He's not a spy!" Lynnette replied.
"And how certain are you?" Christoph asked.
"If he was a spy, why would he shoot down the Terrorist fighters? And they even tried to kill him multiple times, why would they do that?" Lynnette frowned.
Christoph, Dianne and Allan all exchanged glances before turning to face Lynnette. "You mean only him took down all the Terrorist fighters?" Christoph asked. Apparently, they had stumbled across the crashed fighters earlier.
"Yes! Just him!" Lynnette retorted.
"Then, is it also possible that he was responsible for taking down our fighters too?" Dianne moved towards Lynnette slowly.
"We only encountered enemy fighters not yours. I don't remember him taking down any other fighters apart from the enemy's." Lynnette moved away from Dianne and the rest.
"We cannot risk it. We have to leave him here." Allan turned away and left.
"Can't we just take him back to the engineers at the RCA (RCA > Robotics Control Agency)? They'll want to know about his existence and how he works." Lynnette suggested, "It's a win-win for the both of us."
Christoph thought for a while, "Maybe she's right. We can take him to the RCA; they'll know what to do with him. Also, it might be beneficial to us if he stands on our side in fighting the Terrorists."
Lynnette smiled at Christoph then turned to face Dianne, "See! Even Christoph now sees how important Ryan is!"
"Ryan? Is that his name?" Dianne asked.
"Yes. It's his name." Lynnette nodded. "I did not give him that name if that's what you're thinking."
The group walked past the trees, holding their weapons as tight as they could. They had no idea what could jump out of the corner any minute and so, they were on alert. Christoph and Dianne guarded the rear with their flashlights on their helmets, while Allan walked at the front of the group with his flashlight in his hands. They decided to rest in the safest place they could find in the forest before resuming their journey when it was daybreak.
When they were fully away from Terrorist borders, Allan made a call to the headquarters and requested a chopper. He also told them that they've gotten the President's daughter out of the Terror zone safely. The chopper arrived in about 10 minutes and successfully took the four people back to base. The President was very happy to see his daughter – so were the rest of her family.
"What is that thing you're carrying?" The President noticed Ryan and immediately threw him away from his daughter.
"Dad!" Lynnette wanted to pick Ryan up again, but her father pulled her back.
"Sir, it's Terrorists' technology—" Allan tried to explain the situation to the President.
"It's Terrorists' technology? Someone destroy that thing immediately!" The President ordered and several guns were pointed at Ryan. Ryan's defense system went online and the timer on his head started counting down from 60. "What's that?"
Lynnette glared at her father, "That's a bomb, dad! It will come online if Ryan feels threatened! And you threatened him!"
"Well, tell him to turn it off! We won't harm him!" The President replied. After discovering that the beeping sound was coming from the bomb's timer, he felt afraid.
Lynnette approached Ryan slowly, "Ryan – It's me, Lynnette, and I'm not going to hurt you." The timer turned back to zero and the beeping stopped.