Chapters Humdinger Strikes Back: The Rescue
After receiving a distress call from the PAW Patrol that they've been captured, Twilight Sparkle has led her friends and their ally fleet commanded by Mickey Mouse on a rescue mission. They reached the space station and have taken out the outer defenses before boarding. They have now restrained Humdinger's kittens and his nephew, Harold and locked them up on Humdinger's ship. It is now time to save Ryder, the pups, and the cats. Can they do it, or will Humdinger catch them too?
Humdinger Strikes Back: The Rescue
After meeting back up in the hangar, Twilight and Flurry started establishing a plan to save everyone and eliminate the station.
"How will we do that? We don't have a map of the space station.", asked Mickey.
"We snatched Harold's map when we restrained him. Also, we grabbed an access card and took a snapshot of his eyes. On the way to the ship, we passed doors locked by a retina scanner.", explained Twilight.
After everyone had taken notes on the map, Twilight searched for Ryder and the pups and cats. She spotted their radar signals, but had a feeling that their uniforms had been taken off. After sending a probe to find the pups and the cats based on body heat instead of radar, she spotted them all chained to the walls of a super-cooled room. After confirming they were still alive by using the probe's medical scanner, she and Flurry established how they would rescue everyone.
"Alright, here's what we will do. Donald and Daisy, I want you to find and activate the self-destruct for the space station. Take Harold's keycard and the snapshot of his eyes because I am sure it will be a restricted area. Also, jam the doors shut after you leave, because Humdinger may try to stop the sequence. Mickey, come with Flurry and I to save Ryder. Everyone else, go to where the probe is and unfreeze all of the pups and cats. Get them warmed up enough that they can pilot their ships.", Twilight said.
Everybody accepted their assignments and they split up to rescue everyone.
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
Humdinger Strikes Back: The Rescue
Defrosting the Pups and the Cats
Three minutes before the self-destruct alarm began sounding, Minnie found a closet where the pups' and the cats' uniforms had been thrown. She scooped them into a bag and joined the group at the door where Twilight's probe was located. The door was coated in ice, so they had to pry it open after entering the unlock code. Inside the room, they saw all of the pups and cats shackled to the wall and covered in frost. Goofy spied a control panel on the wall and set the thermostat to heat up the room and thaw everyone out. Hot air began flowing into the room in a heartbeat and melting the ice everywhere. Once the shackles were defrosted, the pups and the cats began waking up.
"We're saved!", cheered Skye.
Millie started opening the shackles and getting everyone down as Minnie and Melody started pulling everyone's uniforms out. As the pups and the cats were getting redressed, the alarm sounded and prompted everyone to get redressed faster. Once everyone was dressed, Minnie called out to them.
"COME ON! WE DON'T HAVE A SECOND TO LOSE!", she shouted.
It took a while to get back to the hangar, but they soon made it and started boarding their ships. As they ran, a second voice sounded over the intercom system.
"The option to override detonation procedure has now expired! The space station will automatically destruct in T-Minus: 5 minutes.", said the voice.
Arriving in the hangar, the pups and the cats ran to their ships and started getting ready to evacuate.
Humdinger Strikes Back: The Rescue
Daisy and Donald rushed through the station's hallways until they reached one that led into "Engineering". Inserting Harold's keycard into a slot and pressing the snapshot of his eyes over a scanner, they opened the door and hurried inside.
"Daisy, this is Mickey. We have Ryder and have gotten Humdinger onto his own ship.", said Mickey over headset.
"Good work, guys. Donald and I have reached Engineering. We are certain that the self-destruct mechanism is in here.", she replied.
As they looked around, Donald saw a red handle that had "Emergency Only" printed on it. Pulling the handle, he released a panel on the wall next to it. In this panel were two larger levers. He and Daisy each pulled one and they released a panel door in the floor. Opening this panel, they saw the words: "Emergency Detonation System" written on the inside of the door. Following the instructions for the "SCUTTLE" procedure, Donald entered a code and released four bolts that he and Daisy screwed into threaded holes. They pulled up on the bolts to extend the fixtures and then flipped switches behind small doors. Seconds later, a digital voice sounded over the space station's intercom speakers as an alarm began blaring and lights began flashing.
"Danger! The emergency destruct system is now activated. The space station will detonate in T-Minus: 10 Minutes. The option to override automatic detonation expires in T-Minus: 5 minutes.", said the voice.
"Twilight, this is Donald. Daisy and I have armed the self-destruct.", said Donald over radio as he and Daisy left the Engineering section and welded the door shut with a metal rod and an acetylene torch.
"We heard the warning over the speakers. Good work, you two. Now make your way to the hangar where we entered.", said Twilight.
Daisy acknowledged and they ran as fast as they could until they reached the hangar.
Humdinger Strikes Back: The Rescue
Humdinger was awakened by the second warning and by Harold kicking at him repeatedly.
"NO, NO, NO!", he shouted.
After waking up completely, he pulled the tape off of Harold's mouth.
"Uncle, it's too late. We have to abandon the station, or else we will die.", said Harold sadly.
Realizing his nephew was correct, Humdinger began powering up their ship and opened the hangar doors after depressurizing. Little did he know that Twilight had gone devious and removed his fuel crystal and smashed it.
**
Ryder was the last to board his ship. He closed his helmet and started the depressurization sequence to equalize the environment. After boarding his ship, he called out to everyone.
"Here we go everyone, we're getting out of here.", he said over headset.
The emergency hatch that had closed to keep the pressure earlier opened automatically when the sensors verified equal pressure. Once it was open, Ryder led everyone out.
**
Humdinger was about to start the engines when Harold noticed a warning symbol on the console.
"Uncle, the engines are not working. The fuel crystal is missing."
Humdinger was annoyed and he reluctantly disembarked to find a fresh one. He grabbed one from a storage barrel and put it in place before getting back on board and finishing the power-up sequence. They left the station just in the nick of time, but they were not fast enough to escape the destruct radius. When the station exploded, a piece of shrapnel hit their ship and sent them into a spin as they entered the reentry corridor. During descent, they passed out from the g-force before crashing in the ocean.
**
After Ryder had led everyone to a safe landing area, they took off their space suits and started watching for Humdinger's ship so they could confront him and his nephew. Millie spotted the ship through her binoculars and then stated bad news to everyone.
"I think they were hit. Their ship is spinning out of control and headed for the water."
Twilight took to the air and quickly calculated where the ship would land so that Zuma and Ryder could tow them to shore. Once the ship touched down, Ryder and Zuma attached tow-lines and pulled the ship to the beach and then opened the main hatch to extract everyone. They knew that the process after this would not be pretty.