Cooper slept through his alarm, so he was in a rush to get ready and be at school on time. His mom leaves early for work and his brother, Dave, is away in the military. His dad had disappeared a couple of years ago and nobody knows what happened to him. Most of the time Cooper spent his time alone. He quickly grabbed some clothes and made some breakfast. Before leaving the house he always looks at the note his brother had sent him before being deployed five months ago. In the note, Dave didn’t say what he would be doing, but he did say he will be in Iran. After reading the note he grabbed his breakfast and ran out the door. He barely made it to school in time and noticed his best friend, Darren, was absent. Cooper’s day was already off to a bad start and was only going to worsen. The only thing he had going for him was it was the last day before spring break. The first period seemed like a blur for Cooper because he was so tired. He nodded on and off for the whole day and nothing seemed to wake him up. School finished and he was so relieved about the break that was coming up. That was until he got back home and found a package at his front door with his name on it. This was odd because he hadn’t ordered anything recently. His mom didn’t get home for another hour so he had some time to himself. He brought the package inside and cut the tape just to find a flash drive. This flash drive confused him, so he checked where it shipped from. He was even more confused when there was no name or address of where it was shipped from. By this time his mom had made it back home and was getting settled in. He didn’t want to bother her because he knows she works long hours and is really tired. He went to his room and plugged the flash drive into his computer. A folder popped up that was titled “For Coops”. This was the moment he realized the package was from his brother because no one else calls him by that nickname. He then clicked on the folder and a video began to play. IT WAS DAVE! Cooper listened to the video and what he heard made his jaw drop. Throughout the video, Dave seemed on edge and scared. Dave had said, “If you received this video it means I have been captured and you are the only one I trust to save me. Find the button hidden under my mattress in my room and you will find what you need.” Cooper was completely astonished at what he just watched. He quickly snapped back to reality because Dave needed him and there was no time to waste. He hid the flash drive in his tissue box so his mom wouldn’t find it and immediately went to Dave's room. He lifted the mattress and began looking for the button. After about 2 minutes he found the button and pushed it. Nothing. He pushed it again. Nothing. He tried pushing it one more time and right after he did that the bed began to rise and a stairway was revealed. Dave’s bedroom was on the first floor and the house didn’t have a basement, or so Cooper thought. He took a deep breath and started walking down the stairs. After five steps the bed entrance began to close. He followed the steps until he reached a locked door. He needed a password, but couldn’t think of what it could be. He thought back to the video and if Dave had given him the password, but he couldn’t recall anything. He then remembered his brother saying that Cooper was the only person he could trust. He tried the word trust. Invalid. He tried his name. Invalid. He then tried his birthday and the door unlocked. What Cooper saw caused him to be flabbergasted. His brother had a whole mancave under the house. This room reminded Cooper of the Batcave. Dave had all this technology in one room and a whole different room designed for battle and gear. Cooper stepped into the room and looked at the big screen and saw a red blinking dot on a map. He walked over to the tablet and zoomed in. He noticed the dot was in Iran which could only mean one thing. It was Dave’s location. At this point, Cooper realized Dave wasn’t just a regular soldier. Instead, he held a higher ranking and had more intentions than just fighting in the war. Out of nowhere a robot walked into the room with Cooper and began to talk. Cooper had no idea what to think of this robot and how to react to what it was saying. The robot announced its name as GEAR. GEAR was a big robot and very high-tech. GEAR told Cooper he will be assisting him on his journey and will guide him toward Dave. Cooper was told to grab gear from the battle room and get ready for the rundown on his expedition. He grabbed a vest and other battle gear to best raise his chances of survival. GEAR then gives him the details of what is happening. He is told that Dave was captured by a group of rebel robots and is in grave danger. The plan was for Cooper to fly into a private base located in Iran and then have locals take him as far as they can toward Dave. Once they drop Cooper off he will travel the rough terrain of Iran and eventually reach the base of the rebel bots. From there he will sneak in and recover Dave and escape without being detected. The plan seemed good except for multiple problems. Cooper was barely 18 and still a senior in high school which means he hasn’t had any experience in battle. He was also very afraid of what was to come when he got to Iran. The next big problem was what to tell his mom. GEAR said he had that covered and said to tell her he will be visiting his grandparents in Texas for the week. Cooper, of course, asked what would happen if his mom calls his grandparents to check in and that’s when he found out his grandparents were in this plan too and they were already in Iran. With all of this new information, Cooper was ready. He knew that no matter how nervous and scared he was his brother was more important and needed to be saved. He went and told his mom where he would be going and she allowed it so he said his goodbyes and left within 20 minutes. He had about a 20-hour flight ahead of him so he studied the plan over and over in his head to make sure he didn’t mess it up. Once he landed his grandparents met him and took him to the headquarters on base. He met the locals that would be taking him toward Dave and the path he had to take in order to reach the rebel robots the quickest. He would leave first thing in the morning, but first, he needed a good night's sleep. He awoke to the sound of trumpets and got up and ready to take on this challenge. Time was running out so he grabbed his gear and put all of it on and got ready to go. His grandfather gave him some words to help him and then said their goodbyes as Cooper drove off with the locals. Although they would be talking to Cooper through an earpiece, it was still hard to say goodbye. The drive was about 45 minutes into northern Iran which gave Cooper time to prepare himself for what the world was about to bring him. After 45 minutes he was dropped off in the middle of the mountains and needed to stay north and take the path his grandparents had told him to take. The trek through the mountains was set to take about 8 hours. The sun was beating down on Cooper and he had to continue to drink his water and stay hydrated. He eventually made it to the next point in the journey and could see the rebel robot camp. He had to lay low and wait for nightfall before he was able to make any moves. The whole time he was able to talk to his grandparents but now he had to go offline because the rebel robots were able to scan for radioactivity. After taking his earpiece out, everything got ten times quieter. For the first time on this journey, Cooper actually felt alone. The journey was not completed yet so he continued down into the base. His grandparents had told him where the guards were stationed and how to get passed them. He saw the two guards at the front and continued down the mountain to the side entrance of the camp. He crouched down and walked towards the first tent, but before he got there he tripped on a rock and fell. The rebel guards looked back, but Cooper was able to dive behind the tent and out of their line of sight. Cooper lay down next to the tent and began to scan the base with his thermal night vision goggles. He located a heat signature matching Dave’s description and build about 4 tents over. He crawled down to the tent and slowly opened up the curtain to see what he was dealing with. He found one robot giving Dave a little bit of food before getting ready to leave. Cooper hid while the robot walked out of the tent and left it unguarded. Cooper ran inside to find Dave so dehydrated he could barely move. Cooper gave Dave his water and untied him hoping that he would gain just enough energy to make it out of the base. He helped Dave up and together they made their way to the door of the tent. Cooper peaked out and as soon as the coast was clear they crept toward the side entrance. Just as they thought they were going to make it Dave tripped over the same rock that Cooper did. This time the guards got suspicious and decided to check it out. Cooper was panicking and looking for a place to hide. He could hear the robot's footsteps getting closer and closer. Eventually, he found a boulder just outside of the base and they made a run for it. They jumped behind it just as the robot turned to corner to see the rock and nothing else. They had to stay hidden because the robot decided to do a scan of the surrounding area, but because they were hidden the scan didn’t catch them. They had escaped. Cooper really did it. He saved his brother and got out alive. The 8-hour trek back to the rendezvous point felt like nothing the way Cooper was feeling. He was so ecstatic over rescuing his brother and completing the mission that the time went by so fast. When they returned back to the camp they were greeted with a celebration and lots of congratulations. As soon as Cooper got back to his bed in his tent he fell asleep and slept for hours. When he woke his brother and grandparents were partying and celebrating so he decided to join them. They were having such a good time until the music stopped out of nowhere. Everyone looked toward the speaker and standing next to it was a man. It was too dark to see who the man was until he stepped into the light. Cooper and Dave were astounded when they saw who it was. All at once, they both yelled “DAD!!”..........(To be continued)