Morning, her alarm beeps as always and she turns it off as usual. She gets up and walks into her bathroom, as she washes her face she notices a boredom in her gaze. She smiles and says, "Today that is a thing of the past." She puts on her clothes and boots and heads out her door. She is greeted by the usual fanfare of shouting and moving equipment as the Legion runs its normal shift. She walks down the path and is immediately greeted by her commanding officers' yelling, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN JULIE-SU, YOU'RE FIVE MINUTES LATE!"
She ignores him and gets straight to work repairing her Hover Bike. The officer starts to say something then thinking better of it starts yelling at some rookies who are supposed to be moving a jet engine. She thinks to herself, "Today is the Day, finally get to test this things new engine!"
As she is just about to replace a panel an announcement rings over a loudspeaker, "Julie-Su, report to Grandmaster Kragoroks' office At once!" She sighs and gets up and heads to the Grandmasters' office. "Why?" She thinks, "What did I do this time?" She nervously rings her hands as she approaches the building she knew all too well. The last time she was here was when she tore a legionary's' Mechanical arm off for insulting her hair. She reaches the two grand Oak doors and prepares for the worst, but the worst never comes. Instead she is greeted by Kragorok in a manner best suiting old friends who have run into each other for the first time in years, "Ah Julie-Su, come in have a seat. Wine?" Julie-Su looks at the glass of red liquid in front of her, "No thanks, I don't drink wine." Kragorok laughs and says, "Ah yes, you always were into the homemade stuff, I can have a bottle sent up if you want." Julie-Su shakes her head, "No thank you, I don't want to impose." Kragorok again laughs and says, "Yes best not to dull the nerves before a mission, especially a big one." She feels an immediate sensation that could be joy or doubt and asks, "Really, Me? A Big Mission? You're joking aren't you?" Kragorok laughs and says, "I've been going through your records and you have shown much improvement. I thought now would be the perfect time to give you this." He holds up a mission file, labeled Project: Ace, and hands it to her. She reads the contents of the file, "Ahem 'Your mission is to infiltrate the stronghold and sabotage the guardian by killing him. This mission will require both Brain and Brawn.' Something I have plenty of! I'll do it!" A wicked smile passes Kragoroks' face but she is too excited to notice, Excellent, now here is your equipment, a hooded robe to disguise your face, one standard issue Plasma rifle, and one grappling attachment." She takes the gear and notices a lightness to the rifle, but wanting to be kind she takes it and exits. When she exits Kragorok smiles and says, "If all goes according to plan, the minute the rifle fires, not only will the guardian die, but Julie-Su as well."
She returns to her home and opens a secret compartment of her closet and pulls out a pair of large, Mechanical looking Boots. "With these," She thinks, "Not only will my kicks be powerful, but I'll have a trusted friend with me." She then opens a secret hatch on the back of her right boot, revealing a plasma pistol. She smiles and puts the clunky boots on. She slips the cloak on and heads to the airfield, where she plans to rent a ship, unfortunately the ship master is no help, "Ah Julie, the damaged ships are over there. I remembered to get a forklift this time." She is not amused by his attempt to be funny. It was bad enough being a member of the lowest sector, the utter lack of respect had started to get to her. She speaks slowly trying not to go off on him, "No. I am actually here for a working ship." The ship master laughs and says, "You and the rest of your rag-tag brigade, I'm surprised how many of you junkies we need. You people have no work ethic, I mean I'd have more ships if you did your jobs better." As if the entire brigade was speaking through her she yells, "YOU DON'T MAKE OUR JOBS ANY EASIER! IF YOU DIDN'T GO GIVING SHIPS TO INEXPIREIENCED PEOPLE FOR KICKS YOU'D HAVE ALL THE SHIPS YOU NEED! Ahem… Besides if I don't get a ship, you have to answer to Kragorok." She waves the official mission documents in his face and his expression goes from a joking one to a panicked one, "One small cruiser with the works, coming up!" She smiles and follows him to a small ship named 'Black Charity' and takes the starter chip without a word. She eases into the pilots chair and takes a breath, she is in her element, outside she is no one, a number, behind the wheel she is the best pilot in the legion, they just refuse to see it. She begins the take-off protocol and eases back on the throttle, "You are clear for departure." The cold metallic voice says. As she leaves the encampment her mind races with excitement as she is free in the air. She does many complex maneuvers, thinking to herself, "This day just got better, I'm finally getting recognized for my skills and not as a grunt or as the only female pilot. But I can't help wondering, why me? Out of all the Legionaries that have extensive training in the field, why me, a pilot that barely passed the entrance exam?" As she ponders this the Cold Metallic voice chimes in, "Approaching target." She clears her mind and sets the ship down in a grove and raises her hood. As soon as she leaves the ship a strong sense of doubt enters her mind, "What am I doing here? I'm not stealthy, I'm not entirely sure of myself and I have no idea where I am! But I know one thing, I am NOT a quitter!" With only a slight hesitation she moves out, towards the target and her destiny.
She moves through a dense forest till she comes across a lake. She decides to stop and refill her canteen here. "GET OUT OF HERE!" A strange voice shouts, "You guys ain't welcome round these parts!"
She turns around just in time to block a punch from an enraged Crocodile. She blocks another blow and says, "Have you no honor? You never attack a person with their back turned! You are extremely annoying, now why don't you give me a break?" She flips the crocodile over her back and tazes him to make sure he stays down. "Strange." She thinks, "I expected a little more resistance, I mean he only threw two punches. Probably just protecting his lake, poor idiot." She caps her canteen and moves on. She comes to a temple and upon entering she is greeted by a red echidna with a white sideways crescent on his chest. She tries to leave but he has already seen her, "So you're the poor soul they decided to send on this suicide mission? I pity you, but I have to kill you now." She is too caught up in moment to remember her Plasma weapons, so she does the first thing that enters her mind, RUN! He follows her as she tries to shake him but he always seems to be one step ahead of her. Near the edge of the forest she trips over a root and falls to the ground. Not noticing her hood falling off she prepares to defend, but no punches come. Instead she sees his hand extended as if to help her. He smiles and says, "Don't just lay there, take my hand." She reaches up and with the touch of his hand she feels all her troubles melt away, like he was the only one who mattered to her. He is obviously feeling the same way as he is blushing and nervously saying, "My name is Knuckles, what's yours?" She stares into his eyes and says, "Julie-Su, My name is Julie-Su." The moment she gets this sentence out all the stress of the situation melts away. Knuckles smiles and says, "I like your name Julie-Su. It's beautiful like you; I have a feeling that when I am with you I am complete." At this moment the years of torment and being put down blow away like the wind and she realizes who she is, Julie-Su. Not just a number, not just a solider, a person. Julie-Su blushes, smiles and says, "Thank you Knuckles, you don't know what that means to me." Julie-Su then started thinking, "I don't know why but I HAVE to be with him! Forget Kragorok, forget the legion, Forget ALL of them!" Julie-Su turned towards the forest and said, "I have to go, but I'll be back!" Knuckles was confused, "Where are you going?" Julie-Su yelled back, "To quit the Legion to be with YOU!" And so Julie-Su ran back to her ship got in turned around and headed back to the encampment, flying close to the Grandmasters' office she yelled, "KRAGOROK! I QUIT!" Kragorok walks out and says, "Well, I'm very disappointed, not only did you fail the mission, but you brought shame to the family name. Shoot her." Julie-Sus' eyes widen in terror as the Legionaries next to Kragorok take aim at her. Thinking quickly Julie-Su turns the ship around and raises the blast shields. As she flies off the two legionaries ask, "Shall we pursue?" Kragorok raises his hand and says, "No, she's as good as dead anyways, might as well give her the memories that we stole from her." Kragorok walks over to a console and presses a button. Meanwhile Julie-Su is flying at a great speed wondering why Kragorok would order her dead when a surge of memories come rushing back to her, causing intense pain that makes her release the wheel. The ship goes into a spiraling nose dive to the ground, luckily for Julie-Su her back hits the eject button and she flies out of the cockpit seconds before impact. Landing hard on her right arm, breaking it, she gets up and feels immediate pain, "AAAUGHH! Must find Help." Julie-Su starts walking in the direction she was flying with no idea where she is. About five miles later she sees the lights of a vehicle approaching her, "HEY OVER HERE! AUUGHHH!" The vehicle approaches her and stops in front of her; the driver gets out and is revealed to be none other than Knuckles. He smiles and says, "Are you up for a fun ride? Let's get you to a hospital."