Humdinger Strikes Back: The Rescue

Twilight, Flurry, and Mickey followed Ryder's tracking signal until they reached a door that led into a hot room. Setting their suits to keep them cool, they opened the door and turned their headlamps on in order to see. Their lights fell on a dark-colored block of some sort that was hung on one of the walls. Running over to it, they looked at the block and noticed parts of Ryder's outline including his hands. His lips were wide open, his teeth were gritted, and his eyes were shut tightly as if he was either cold or in severe pain. Twilight looked at one side of the block and noticed what looked like switches, but she didn't know what to do. She had Flurry and Mickey look for clues and they found one in a flash.

"I've got something, Aunt Twilight. Ryder is encapsulated in a flash-frozen compound of carbon and some type of gas. This is apparently called "carbonite". Don't ask me where or how Humdinger got his hands on this. According to this schematic, the compound is held inside a frame with those switches on it. There are two switches that need to be moved. The first one is a lock that will allow you to move the second. The second switch will initiate a mechanism that will send high-frequency waves through the carbonite matrix to melt it. Mickey and I will stand ready to catch Ryder in case he is unable to stand on his own.", said Flurry as Mickey showed Twilight a schematic of the block.

Twilight nodded and Flurry got in position with Mickey to catch Ryder in case he collapsed. Twilight saw the first switch and twisted it to unlock the second switch. After sliding the second switch, some of the lights on the side of the frame went out. Seconds later, Ryder's outline began to glow orange.

"IT'S WORKING!", yelled Mickey.

Moments later, the membrane began to melt away from Ryder and turn to gas. Ryder felt the heat radiating around him and his hands were able to relax from the position they had been in. When his mouth was able to move again, he exhaled quickly and then took a deep breath in a relieved way as if he had just surfaced from water. His legs were tingly for a second and he fell forward but Mickey and Flurry caught his shoulders.

"Easy, Ryder. We've got you.", Flurry said as Ryder began to cough.

"I'm alright. I looked at my watch before I was frozen and took note of the time. I was frozen around 2:45 PM. Since my watch says 4:30 PM, I was only frozen for 1 hour and 45 minutes.", said Ryder as his legs woke up and he stood up.

"Do you know why Humdinger did this to you?", asked Mickey.

"He grew tired of being on parole and killed his officer. Before freezing me in that stuff, he said he was planning to kill us.", Ryder explained as the four left the chamber.

"HE DID WHAT?", Twilight shrieked.

"GOODNESS GRACIOUS!", yelped Flurry.

Mickey explained that Daisy and Donald were looking for the station's self-destruct mechanism and everyone else was freeing the pups and the cats as they went back to the hangar. Along the way, more sleep gas was released, so Ryder quickly sealed his helmet and drew his laser-handgun to set it for stun. They ran into Humdinger and got into a small shootout. Hiding behind corners, they would fire and try to hit him as they got closer to him. Several times, either Mickey or Ryder would grab something off the floor and throw it at Humdinger to force him back, but they missed and hit the walls. Eventually, Ryder was close enough that he jumped out and stunned Humdinger with a single shot without having to stall and aim. When Humdinger dropped unconscious to the floor, Ryder blew across the barrel on his laser-gun before putting it back in its holster on his belt.

"Point-blank range.", said Twilight in amazement.

"Good shot, Ryder.", said Mickey.

Ryder thanked Mickey and they dragged Humdinger to his ship where Harold was fighting to get out of his seat and strapped him in his own seat next to him. After closing the hatch, they ran to the main hangar where Ryder's ship was along with everyone else's