Exile melted a section of fence with his heat vision, the Rovers entered the yard and hid behind a trash dumpster. "Ok DJ" Hunter said, "we need a diversion, can you make something happen with those trucks?" DJ smiled, "I think I can make those guys hate life." "Ok, we'll get you in." said Hunter. He turned to Shag "You got any tennis balls Bro?" Shag fished around in his fur and produced a tennis ball for Hunter. "Hunter this is no time for a game of catch." said Blitz in a slightly annoyed tone. Hunter just grinned. "On the contrary, it's a perfect time to play catch." With that, he threw the ball as hard as he could. It sailed through the air, over the two trucks, and landed near the far end of the loading dock. The workmen stopped what they were doing and went to investigate the noise. Hunter handed DJ a small laser pistol. "Ok DJ, you're on."

DJ sprinted across the yard and dove under the tractor section of the nearest truck. After a quick look to be sure nobody would see him, he rolled out and heisted himself up into the cab. He had never seen a truck from the driver's seat before, but he'd seen Keith do it enough times he figured he could handle it. Knowing time was of the essence he quickly looked over the controls. Clutch, bakes, accelerator, gears, trailer brakes, differential lock....... He found the parking brake and released it, the air operated brakes hissed and DJ knew he had probably just drawn attention to himself. He shoved the clutch to the floor, flipped the switch on the gear shifter to Low-Range and put the truck in first gear. "Here goes nuthin'." he said aloud, and released the clutch. The engine lugged down, black smoke rolled from the exhaust stack and the truck shuddered and moved forward.

"Hey you!! Stop!!" yelled a workman. DJ gave two sharp blasts on the horn "YEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAA!!!" He floored the accelerator and shifted to second, then third. All the workers gave chase. "Good lad DJ!" exclaimed Colleen. Hunter pointed to the loading dock and now unattended door. "Ok Rovers, let's roll!" DJ was watching his mirrors and saw the Rovers enter the building, as soon as they were inside he downshifted and allowed the pursuers to catch up. Just before they overtook him he slid out of the driver's seat, across the cab and out the passenger door. As he went he saw a hammer laying on the floorboards, he grabbed it, then jumped from the slow moving truck, allowing it to continue, driverless. "That'll keep at least a couple of 'em busy." he thought, and ran for the building.

One of the chasers leapt onto the truck's running board and into the cab. After stopping the runaway big rig he and his partners tried to figure out where the driver had gone. One of them glanced back towards the loading dock "Hey there he is!" Once again everyone gave chase, this time in the other direction. DJ had planned on this, he stopped beside the second truck, raised the hammer and with all his strength hit the fitting where the fuel line joined the tank. The fitting broke clean off and diesel fuel began to spill out onto the ground. DJ leapt up onto the loading dock and fired the laser pistol at the puddle of diesel, igniting it into a raging inferno. This sent the hapless workers scurrying to find fire extinguishers. DJ grinned "I could get to like this." he thought to himself, then dashed into the building to join his friends.

Once inside DJ shut the door and used his laser pistol to melt the door lock, then reset it to 'stun' and headed down the hall way to find the others. He caught up with them in the storage room where he had been confined. Exile was standing watch at the door and the others were inside inspecting boxes of wire, resistors, terminals, and other electrical supplies. Colleen looked worried. "We should have been harassed by now, it's too quiet. I was expecting all kinds of trouble, one would think they'd have seen us coming.

Hunter put down the roll of wire he was holding. "Well" he said, "standing here poking through boxes isn't putting this place out of action, let's go make a mess.' The Rovers headed down the hall. At the end of the corridor was another door, Colleen kicked it open and leapt inside, ready to give a bashing to whoever she might meet. She met no one. The place was empty. The Rovers cautiously proceeded into the room. Colleen couldn't believe what she saw. They had found the factory. The place was full of partially assembled heavy duty laser cannons and rocket launchers. A huge metal door was open to a loading dock like the one on the other side of the building. Just as DJ had reasoned, there were small delivery trucks backed up to the dock. "Blimey DJ you were right. A whole factory hidden right here in this old warehouse." "I don't like this Rovers, we should have at least walked in on somebody working in here." Hunter said nervously. "Let's rig the place and get out. Pass me some charges Shag." Shag pawed through his fur and removed several grenade-like devices with magnetic bases. He passed them out among the Rovers who began attaching them to various things around the room.

Within minutes they had set enough explosives to blow the place into the next lifetime. Hunter was eager to get out before something happened. "Come on Rovers, let's move." The Rovers hurried down the corridor the way they had come, as they ran Hunter pulled up the antenna on the remote that would trigger the explosives as soon as they were clear. When they reached the door DJ had welded shut Shag raised a heavy bazooka type gun. "Whoa!" yelled Hunter, "Just a second." He turned Shag's weapon around and stepped back. "Ok bro, do your thing." Shag pulled the trigger and the door exploded. The rovers ran towards the opening but when the smoke cleared there stood a giant of a man with a robotic arm and about two dozen huge canos behind him. "Parvo!" growled Colleen.

DJ took a quick, but detailed look at the man, so this was General Parvo. He was quite large and muscular, he wore a black sleeveless T-shirt and brown pants. His right arm was artificial, a metallic robotic appendage that closely duplicated a human arm. He wore a metal helmet and sported a long yellow mustache. Kinda tacky as far as DJ was concerned. "Rovers, so nice of you to stop by." said Parvo in a sweet voice.

Hunter shook his head. "Sorry Parv, but I'm really not in the mood right now, maybe some other time. Let's muzzle 'em!" Shag and Colleen released Muzzle who let out a fierce growl and leapt at Parvo and his mutants. "Now!" yelled Parvo. One of the cano-mutants tossed a metal ball on the ground in front of Muzzle, it exploded and emitted a thick cloud of purple gas. DJ recognized it as the gas he'd been drugged with and signaled the others not to breathe, but Hunter was standing too close and got a waft of the gas. He and Muzzle collapsed on the ground, fast asleep.

Parvo laughed. "Drop your weapons Rovers, I'd hate to see your friends get hurt." The Rovers raised their hands, but when DJ, who stood at the back of the group began to raise his, Colleen gave him a gentle kick in the shin. "He hasn't noticed you yet" she whispered "he doesn't even know you're a Road Rover, he was only expecting the six of us. Get out the back way, you're our only chance." DJ nodded "Yes mamm." Keeping low and quiet, DJ raced for the factory and back entrance.

Back on the front loading dock Parvo took the remote from Hunter's hand. "He won't have much use for this now." laughed the sinister general. The Groomer stepped forward from the group of mutants. "Make our guests uncomfortable." she commanded. As three of the mutants stepped forward Parvo looked at Exile. "And don't try your little eye trick Rover... or else." He pulled a gun from his belt and aimed it at Hunter. The husky shook his head. "Bummer."

DJ reached the back loading dock and stopped. The Road Rovers had saved him, now it was his turn to save THEM, but how? He remembered what Hunter said just before they had entered the factory. "Let's make a mess." Good idea, but where to start. Surveying the back lot he noticed a garage set away from the main building. That must be where they service the trucks. The beginnings of a plan started to brew in his mind, but he had to work fast. The workers could be coming back any minute.

It wasn't much of a plan, but it might be crazy enough to work. He hadn't heard vehicles pull up with Parvo and his assault force, so they must have flown in and landed someplace close. Someplace like... the roof! He leapt off the dock and ran along the side of the building until he came to an access ladder to the roof. DJ shot up the ladder like a squirrel up a tree, upon reaching the top he discovered his suspicions were true. There was a large air transport, guarded by two cano-mutants. Dang! He needed to get to that transport. Using his pistol to stun the guards was an option, but Parvo would know something was amiss if he came up and discovered two unconscious mutants. DJ quickly thought back to the conversation the night before, from what the others had told him about cano-mutants they sounded like they were somewhat lacking in the intelligence department. Hopefully they were as dumb as he thought, or else he'd be in trouble. Whatever they lacked in brains they made up for in muscle, and if one got a hold of him.... well, he just wouldn't think about that.

Ducking behind a ventilation stack DJ removed his boots, he needed to do this as quietly as possible. Now he needed something to draw their attention away from the aircraft. Hmmm.. Oh his kingdom for a tennis ball right about now! Wait, his old collar, it was still in his pocket. He balled the collar up and tossed it over near the corner of the roof, it landed behind an air inlet similar to the one he was using for cover. The two furry thugs looked at each other, then stalked towards the corner to investigate the noise. That trick had worked twice today. Taking his boots in one hand DJ swiftly and silently made his way towards the transport and entered through the open hatch. His heart was going a hundred miles an hour, "Ok wise guy" he whispered to himself "now that you're here, what're you gonna do?"

Down inside the building Parvo and the Groomer stood over the Rovers who were now hand cuffed and sitting on the ground. Parvo was grinning from ear to ear, visibly pleased with himself. He addressed the Rovers, "For years you pesky mutts have foiled my plans for world domination. But this time the last word will be mine. Take time to enjoy your last hours with each other, because none of you will live to stand in my way again." The Groomer put her arm around Parvo. "This calls for a small celebration General." Parvo smiled evilly "That it does, and the Rovers will be our guests." The two villains left the room leaving the Rovers to sit and ponder their fate.

"Do you really think that kid will get us out of this mess?" Blitz asked with both doubt and fear in his voice. Colleen didn't even look up. "He's a smart lad, let's just hope he's quick witted enough to figure a way out of..." she was interrupted by Hunter groaning. "Uggh." He tried to sit up but found his hands secured behind his back. "I would not have predicted this." he said as he attempted to make eye contact with his fellow Rovers, one was missing. "Where's DJ?" Exile shook his head. "Hopefully alive..."

DJ was alive, and hard at work in the cockpit of Parvo's troop transport. He lay under the control panel with a small pair or wire snips he'd found in a tool cabinet at the rear of the cockpit. The uneasy saboteur cut every wire he could get at. All this high tech stuff was confusing to him, but he knew commands couldn't pass from the pilot to the aircraft's systems if he severed the connections. After destroying the innards of the control panel DJ replaced the cover and headed back to the hatch where he'd entered. This part was going to be difficult. With the two mutants standing right outside DJ carefully removed the plate which covered the hatch mechanism. There were two buttons on the wall, one labeled "OPEN" the other "CLOSE". DJ snipped the wires that ran from the "OPEN" button to the motor which raised and lowered the hatch. He slipped the cover back into place and prepared to make his exit.

Hunter was back to back with Blitz, trying to pick Blitz's handcuffs with a stray piece of wire, it was no use, he couldn't see what he was doing and the wire just wasn't stiff enough. He sighed and hung his head, "I messed up this time." Colleen was surprised by Hunter's words. "Just what is that supposed to mean?" Hunter looked up at her. "Just look at us" he began "and it's all my fault. I should have known better than to fly directly over any installation operated by Parvo, common sense should have told me there would be radar. We should have gone out the back way, we should have fought Parvo instead of trying to get out of it by turning Muzzle on him. I made all those decisions, and they were all poor ones." Colleen smiled in spite of the situation. "Huntie, you've always told us never to give up, to go on against all odds, and it's always saved us." Exile joined in "Dah, you've been a good boss man." Even Blitz couldn't argue, even though he hated the fact that Hunter was leader of the Rovers and not him. "Yaw." was all he could stomach saying.

"Hands up!" DJ commanded, firing a shot from his laser just to get his point across. The two cano-mutants guarding the transport raised their hands. "Now lay on the ground." Again they obeyed. "Now close your eyes and count to a hundred." The mutant dogs began counting. "1 2 5 3 9 6... uh....11.... 8....uh..." DJ smiled, this could take them all day. He sprinted across the roof to the access ladder, slipped his boots back on, and scurried down. At the base of the ladder he paused, this place was bound to be crawling with mutants by now, this uniform would be his death warrant if he were seen. There was only one thing to do, disguise himself, maybe he could pass for a small cano-mutant, if there was such a thing.

Ray Crampton walked the factory removing all the charges the Rovers had set, he piled them in a box and set them and the detonator aside with the completed weapons, ready for transport out. So, his employer had captured the famous Road Rovers, wow. It was an interesting feeling, working for the one who had finally brought the canine crime fighters to their knees. It was a feeling Ray liked. He stepped out on the loading dock and thought some more about the operation he was part of. Today was the first time he'd seen Parvo's cano-mutants, he was quite impressed. With the Rovers out of the way and an attack force like that surely the General could achieve his ambitions.

DJ felt like a fool and was sure he looked like one. Since there wasn't a bin labeled "DISGUISES" anywhere to be found he'd been forced to make his own. He started by removing his armor and ripping the sleeves off his uniform and ripping the legs at the knees. Rolling briefly on the ground mussed his fur and dirtied what was left of the uniform. He discarded his Road Rovers belt and tucked his red collar safely into his pocket. Ok this was it, he strutted towards the loading dock and open door to the factory with his pistol crudely holstered by jamming it through two holes he'd ripped in the right leg of his jump suit, if it could still be called that. He maintained a look of bold confidence on the outside, but inside he was terrified. Not so much for himself, but for the other Rovers, his whole plan depended on Parvo desiring to take the Rovers elsewhere to dispose of them, if he was wrong then it was probably already too late. DJ put the thought out of his Mind and kept walking, then he noticed something. There on the loading dock, was it...? It sure was, this could make life a lot easier.

General Parvo sat back in an armchair in an office located across the hall from the room where the Rovers were being held. The Groomer handed him a glass of champagne. She congratulated him. "You've done it sir. After all these years you've beat the Road Rovers." Parvo downed the champagne and grinned. "This will be a day long remembered Groomer. After the Rovers have had a chance to sweat it out we'll take them for a little ride, to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, HA HA HA HA HA." Parvo's laughs gave way to a fit of coughing. The Groomer looked at the general with a concerned expression. "Lozenge?" she asked. Parvo coughed a second longer and recovered, "No thanks."

As he turned to go back inside Ray noticed a cano-mutant approaching him. This one was smaller than the others he'd seen, and for some reason he looked familiar. The mutant approached him and spoke in broken English. "You Ray?" Ray nodded. "Parvo General want see you. You come." Ray was taken aback, would he finally get to meet the General? Without questioning, he followed the cano off the dock and around the corner of the building. Suddenly the mutant grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall.

"Howdy, remember me?" growled DJ as he held a frightened Ray Crampton against the side of the building. "N... n.. no." Stammered Ray. DJ was almost enjoying this. "Well maybe I can refresh your memory. Last Wednesday night, rest area, trucker with a dog named DJ." Rays' eyes grew wide, "I knew I'd seen you before." Smiling wickedly DJ slowly drew his pistol. "Yep, you have, and I aim to make you regret ever laying eyes on me, you didn't know it but you dog napped a Road Rover. You're lucky my master is ok, otherwise I'd kill you, and If anything happens to my friends now, I'll still kill you. So if you like breathing I strongly suggest you play it cool and do EXACTLY what I tell you, understood?" Ray nodded, too scared to say anything.

DJ's heart was beating just as fast as Ray's was. It was all a bunch of show he was putting on. At the time he and Keith were hijacked he was not yet a Road Rover, and he didn't think he could bring himself to kill, even if he had to. Luckily Ray didn't know that. "Good." said DJ. "Now this is what I want you to do..."

"You're not going to get away with this." Ray declared as he carried an empty fifty-five gallon drum to a utility room adjacent to the factory. DJ just shrugged. "You're probably right, but if I go down, you're going with me. They can drop both our coffins in the same grave." This silenced Ray. DJ's tone was one of dead seriousness and Ray wasn't taking any chances. Ray set the drum down and DJ began to pour in a mixture of motor oil and diesel from a large plastic bucket he was holding. His original plan was to sneak into the garage and swipe some fresh oil and mix it with fuel drained from a truck, but somebody had been nice enough to leave a bucket full of drain oil laying around after an oil change. He instructed Ray to step back, and ignited the mix. The oil and fuel began to burn, giving off a thick black smoke, perfect.

The Road Rovers sat together along the wall in the storage room. What had become of DJ? Would he be able to help? What were Parvo's plans for them? All were silent, nothing any of them could say seemed to help the morale of the others, the situation seemed hopeless. The silence was broken when the door opened and there stood Parvo and the Groomer. "It's time to hit the road Rovers." said the general with an evil smile, "For the last time." He stepped into the room followed by two cano-mutants who grabbed Colleen and Hunter and began to drag them toward the door. Parvo was somewhat disappointed, he'd hoped to hear pleas for mercy, but instead the Rovers just glared defiantly. Oh well, it mattered none, he was finally about to be rid of them and well on his way to world conquest........ was he smelling smoke?

"FIRE!!!" came the cry from the factory. A workman came running down the hall. "Sir! Sir! Fire in the utility room and no full extinguishers. We used them all putting out that truck earlier!" Parvo was quiet for a few seconds. Fire.... That was it, fire! He couldn't have planned this better himself. He turned to the worker. "Get your crew and get out." he ordered. This place will go sky high when the flames reach those explosives the Rovers left us. "Yes sir." his subordinate responded, and ran back towards the factory. The Groomer was confused, "You'll not try to stop the fire sir? But what about the factory and the weapons here?" "An unfortunate tactical loss." said the general. "However this way we can rid ourselves of the Rovers and it will look like an accident." He ordered his mutants to tie the Rovers' legs and then head for the transport.

"Well guys" said Hunter in a shakey voice "DJ'd better come through quick or were toast." Exile shook his head. "I fear our poor comrade is no more, and we'll soon join him." "It's been a pleasure serving with you gents." Colleen said, seemingly resigned to her fate. Blitz screamed "Noooooo! I'm too young and beutiful to die!!" Hunter mannaged a smile, "I'm surprised at you all, what did you just tell me about never giving up?" His smile quickly faded as smoke began to enter the room.

On the roof Parvo, the Groomer, and the cano-mutants boarded the transport. Parvo would have enjoyed disposing of the Rovers himself, but it felt good to have them out of the way, even if it wasn't his hand that brought their ends. Ohh this was a good day, sure he was loosing his weapons plant, but with the Rovers gone he probably wouldn't need it. "General!" yelled the Groomer. "The controls are not responding!" Parvo suddenly felt a twinge of fear, this whole place could go at any second. "What? How?" "I don't know sir, but NOTHING works!" Parvo stood. "Let's get out of this thing, we can still make it to one of the vans!" They raced back to the hatch, but when Parvo hit the "OPEN" button nothing happeded. He pushed the button again... and again. No response. "AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!" screamed Parvo, he pulled his laser and prepared to blast the door. "No!" the Groomer stopped him. "It's too close to the fuel tanks!" Parvo lowered his gun, "How could this happen? A complete electrical breakdown, these systems are supposed to be fool proof!!." The Groomer took his arm, "There is still one way out sir, you'll loose two dozen of your best troops but they can be replaced, YOU can't."

Down inside the building the smoke was becomming intolorable. Hunter and the Rovers were saying their prayers when the door opened and there stood... "DJ?!?!?!" they all yelled in unison. "Great to see you in one piece bro." said Hunter happily. "Great to be in one piece." DJ replied. He stepped foreward with a cordless drill in his hand, popped a small grinding wheel into the chuck and knelt behind Hunter. "You'd better work fast." Hunter said as DJ set to work on his handcuffs, "If our charges are still in this building and that fire reaches them..." "It won't." DJ interrupted. "I set it. It's just oil burning in a metal barrel. I played the part of the fox hunter, smoked them out." Hunter laughed. "I like the way you work DJ."

DJ and the Rovers walked through the factory resetting the charges and preparing to finish what they started. Exile clapped DJ on the shoulder, "That was a pretty slick trickski comrade." "Yeah" said Colleen "you even had us fooled." Even Blitz was impressed, "Tank you for saving my pretty hide." Shag expressed his feelings too. Hunter smiled, "Too bad Parvo got away, this day would have ended perfectly." DJ gave him a sly look, "Then get ready to have a perfect ending, I did a little rewiring on Parvo's plane, he aint goin' anywhere." Hunter's eyes widened, "How did you mannage....?" DJ stopped him, "It wasn't easy and the whole time I was messing around up there I was hoping against hope that he wasn't killing you guys down here. I'm just glad it's over."

The Road Rovers climbed to the roof, looking forward putting Parvo away for good, but when they got there they saw a section of the aricraft that should be above and to the rear of the wings was missing. DJ gasped, "Oh no, an escape pod?!?!" Hunter nodded, "I'm afraid so, Parvo always leaves himself a way out, even if it means leaving his troops behind." DJ cursed to himself, he should have looked for something like that while he was aboard earlier. "It's ok lad." Colleen reasured him, "We've still got ourselves a load of cano-mutants." "Dah" said Exile, "and nowski we can change them back to their true forms and see each gets a good home." And with that he set to work on the hatch with a cutting torch.

After rounding up and securing the confused mutants in one of the delivery vans Hunter turned to DJ and asked "How did you get in and out of that garage and utility room without being caught? Even with your uh.. new look surely you couldn't have passed for a cano-mutant for very long." DJ grinned, "Oh I had some help, it's amazing how motivated people become when you hold them at gunpoint." He led the other Rovers to the garage where they found Ray securely tied and waiting to be picked up, "This was one of the guys who hijacked us, it would be a perfect day for ME if I could have gotton a chance at the other two." DJ grabbed Ray by the arm and began to lead him towards the van.

As DJ and Hunter were driving down the road away from the factory Hunter pushed the button on the detonator and the building disintegrated in a huge ball of fire. The others had hiked into the woods to get the Air Rover and would meet them at a landing site a few miles away. DJ leaned back in his seat, he was tired, it had been a rough day. He pulled his collar out of his pocket and was fondeling his pet tag when something ahead of them caught his eye. It was a semi truck, but no truck would use this road unless it was headed for the factory. Hunter must have been thinking the same thing because he turned the van so that it blocked both lanes and stopped. The two Rovers got out and stood in front of the van, weapons drawn. As the truck pulled to a stop DJ thought the driver looked farmilliar, he walked to the drivers' side and opened the door. There in the cab of the truck were the Sandavald brothers, Barry and Allen. This day had ended perfectly after all. DJ raised his pistol, "Gentlemen, won't you please join us?"

Conclusion...