Chapter 1: Bombs Bursting in Air
The huge air filtration and AC fan shook the large, dimly lit industrial factory room. Such a noise as someone trying to communicate verbally to a person was audibly difficult, but it was still possible to carry on a shouted conversation. However, no such conversations were needed now, as this wasn't the final destination for two figure's journey toward the farthest corner in the room from their current position. The whole place was run down, not used for at least one hundred years, though still modern-looking. Large wires hung from the higher atmospheres of the factory, and snaked along the floor, leaving an inattentive victim prone to trip over. Strange containers of equipment created a kind of labyrinth to navigate around, some being as small as a VGA monitor, and some indescribable ones larger than a shed or even a small house.
The dark forms reached the corner they were heading to, and the first one stuck his foot into a hole in the wall that was large enough only for a foot. This action, lead to a whooshing noise, and a rush of light to infiltrate the darkness of the factory, revealing a hidden entrance. The light revealed the two forms as a porcupine following an echidna–two anthropomorphic animals living among others on an Earth three thousands years in the future.
Humans encountered a species of extraterrestrial life that visited this planet. Curious as some of them were, they captured an individual of this species, called the Xorda, to study their technology and anatomy, even resorting to dissection. Offended by this crude, inhumane behavior, the Xorda exhibited their destructive power by unleashing their gene-bombs which were designed to destroy every living organism on the planet, rendering the entire planet a naked wasteland.
What the Xorda did not expect to happen, was for the gene bombs to eradicate the whole of human existence, and enhance the evolution of all species excepting it. Not only enhancing the evolution of the Animal Kingdom did the gene bombs trigger, but also infused human DNA with that of many of the animal species of Earth. Presently, echidnas posses the minds of humans (perhaps a much larger one), hedgehogs and porcupines walk on two legs, squirrels and cats have thumbs, and one can find a human characteristic in any creature which walks the globe.
For many years, animals build their mental integrity developing communities, government, and economy, very similarly to their human ancestors. The differences are the rate of development in which all of this happens and the planet that they lived on they called Mobius. The apes, however, as developed as they already were, evolved into creatures uncannily resembling humans, given that they had four fingers instead of five, and a mental power many times that of their human predecessors. In a war between what they are called Overlanders, and the others, Furries, one overlander was captured by two hedgehogs after he fled his own kind for making a horrible mistake in experimentation. This overlander, Julian Kintobor, had a very high IQ and was technically skilled. He was positioned as warlord for the Kingdom of Acorn (the government of the furries was a monarch). With this power, the Kingdom of Acorn won the war with Julian's knowledge of the opposing side's motives and tactics.
However, Kintobor's intentions were far from friendly. With the war over, he initiated a coup, enslaving helpless furries, and turned them into mindless, witless, will-less, cybernetic constructs using a machine a hedgehog scientist created only to cure the fatally injured. Julian changed his name to Ivo Robotnik (Kintobor in reverse) to instate fear in his enemies, and with the aid of his also intelligent nephew, Snively, transformed the Kingdom of Acorn's home city, Mobotropolis, into an industrial, metallic, and constantly dark megalopolis he christened Robotropolis. Many escaped to form rebellions, making use of guerrilla tactics to cripple the evil scientist's production.
With all threat of Robotnik neutralized the hopeless task of restoring Mobotropolis to its original state was abandoned, and the Kingdom of Acorn continued in the village of Knothole, later a city. Until recently, Knothole was a megalopolis existing in harmony with nature, when an unexplained catastrophe reduced the planet to ashes and wasteland. Save for the occasional weed, bush, or insect, there's no life on the surface of Mobius. Those who could avoid or foresee the disaster fled to Angel Island, a huge mass of soil and real estate kept airborne by a giant radioactive jewel referred to as the Master Emerald. Much of the power of the gene bombs that the Xorda unleashed were absorbed by beryl deposits over time, and later crystallized into emeralds that contained vast amounts of power; this emerald being the largest one, it is the most powerful. There are more than one, smaller, emeralds with such power called Chaos Emeralds, but the locations of said emeralds are never as consistent. The smaller ones are palm sized, and the Master Emerald is slightly smaller than a very small car. It is known, universally, that there are only seven Chaos Emeralds, but recent breakthroughs in knowledge produce skeptics to this idea, believing that there may be more.
Our two friends are now in one of Robotnik's old, undiscovered factories that have been renovated to accommodate a hidden elevator down to an underground research facility. There, weapons are invented, tested, researched, and distributed to the official Island Special Offense Organization. They're descending that elevator, and the echidna, named Winter, was instructing the new recruit on weapons detail. Winter was in his middle ages, and although echidnas are usually a shade of red, Winter was a pale white as a result of chemical testing whereas he did not have sufficient lab-clothing on. The chemical compound that was spilled only contacted one place on his body; however on contact with his skin it caused him to grow white fur, ever since that accident.
"You ever seen a switch-blade?" The echidna asked in a hoarse voice.
The novice replied in a cool, controlled voice, inserting his hands into his coat pockets, "Of course I have."
Winter pulled out of his blue lab coat what appeared to be just a hilt and handle of a Japanese style, straight, single-edged, sword. Then he made an action as if to strike at Joe with a fake blade, and the friction of a metal against metal swishing noise struck the sound waves. Now, Winter's handle was a complete, bladed sword, pointing not half a foot from the novice's nose, who didn't move a muscle as this happened.
"Your primary weapon, the S-005 Collapsing Blade Sword," Winter repositioned the sword to his side, "the blade is divided into three fragments, each hollow, locking into place when extended using centrifugal force. It is made of the strongest, while lightest, metals known in echidna science and metallurgy, so these cost a hefty price to make.
"To collapse it…" he indicated a non-protruding, button on the handle, pushed it, and the blade retreated into its home, "this is the most current model. Newer models are being researched and tested, like the 006 featuring a blade that becomes super hot, or the 007 which adds two-way functioning spring system allowing for button extension and collapse."
"Any other model ideas?" The elevator dinged their floor.
"They have considered a double edged blade."
The elevator doors parted to reveal a small, ten meter long hallway. Winter handed the weapon to the apprentice, "What did you say your name was?"
The porcupine looked at the lab coat, decked echidna, sticking his hands in his pockets along with the sword, "Joe Porc."
Winter couldn't help not stifling a chuckle through his nose, "What kinda name–"
Joe only took a step out of the elevator, replying, "Don't forget what you just handed–"
"Sorry, sorry," Joe smirked, the white echidna regained his equanimity and continued down the hall ahead of Joe.
At about five feet eleven inches, clad in his favorite dark grey, thick cloth trench coat, Joe had spiked hair that leaned to the left (his left), and wore heavy, thick soled boots. He specified that look to possibly strike fear into the souls of the enemy, but all of his friends knew Joe for who he really was: a funny, nice guy who is normally closed up, but opens to his friends, who he trusts. He used to be an everyday local in the city of Angel Island, maintaining a job as a waiter for a casual restaurant, but due to exposure to high intensity wavelengths emanating from a Chaos Emerald he found, Joe's physical apparatus received an overhaul, allowing him to push himself beyond normal conditions. He also absorbed some Chaos powers making it a possibility for him to control the forces of the Emerald. Joe was twenty-three.
The hall led to a thick, metallic, sliding door which opened only after Winter had his eye, fingerprint, and identification card scanned. On the other side was a sight for eyes to feast upon. Gadgets, of all shapes, sizes, weights, and light-up LEDs, and weapons, guns of many calibers and styles filled shelves and tables strewn in aisles in a room of metallic walls, about the size of a classroom.
"Welcome to the Special Weapons and Tools room. The briefing room is just beyond this, however we must issue to you some tools based on your assignment," Winter said strolling over to a table. He picked up what looked like a kind of ray gun, "This tool, is not a weapon, but a Temporary Laser Wave Disrupter, the TLWD. Many, older, beta versions were tested, however this, the latest model, was tested and proved to be the most efficient.
"Using the most high-technical knowledge to date, the TLWD uses negative energy in an extruding, restricted dome, canceling out laser wave frequencies that come in contact with it. The dome lasts only about ten seconds in uninterrupted use then needs at least twenty seconds to cool the conducting metals in the machine. After twenty seconds it is used for another ten seconds, it will undoubtedly need forty seconds to make up for the overheating," Winter handed the instrument to Joe, "in essence, it is a device used most sparingly. The TLWD withstands a laser power output of no more than four hundred watts, so it will resist as much as a small, phaser-like weapon."
Winter, then, moved to another table followed by Joe, "Should you encounter a long range enemy," he picked up a weapon shaped like a one handed, fully-automatic gun, "firing this semi-automatic, scoping, silenced pistol ought to do it. The non-protruding, thumb button on the handle zooms the scope to five times from two, and back. It is also recommended that you unscrew the silencer, and store it, detached, with the gun in your pocket."
The two men moved to a shelf on the opposing side of the aisle they occupied, "My favorite and most simple trick of them all," The handed the rookie a small, cardboard box, "your being chased by a mob down a hall or confined place, and these tiny, metal spheres about the size of pearls are sure to keep them busy," Winter explained with a smirk, "Unfortunately, they are inefficient and–"
Joe went ahead and grabbed two additional boxes, sticking them into a couple pockets on his trench coat, "I get the picture."
During orientation, Joe learned most of what he needed to know about what kind of things he'd have to go up against on these missions. Sneaking, snooping, discovering, fighting and killing, and the sorts were all described. Over the years, much intel has been brought forth, giving a plethora of information for scientists (mostly echidnas) to analyze and render for their own purposes. Such advances in warfare technology that were based off of enemy systems were the TLWD and various kinds of laser and plasma based military hardware. However, with the generation of defensive utilities like the TLWD, laser and plasma arms may become obsolete.
Whatever amount of intel that has been acquired, none has really shown what the alien enemy looks like. The only thing that can be said is that the invaders have come to form an alliance with the overlanders who are in charge of ground operations. The Island Special Offense Organization (ISOO) has declared that the current main objective is taking out overlander field commanders and captains.
It smelled of overlanders and waste deposits as Joe snuck up to one of their sub-bases in the dark of the night. Avenues and streets crisscrossed his path that made grid patterns in the deep shadows of the tall Robotropolis buildings. Following directions he placed in his thoughts, Joe made it look so simple to expertly make his way to the top of the building he was infiltrating. To uncover an air ventilation duct with unmatched accuracy and stealth, penetrate the enemy's security systems using the Temporary Laser Wave Disrupter, and crawl through the tunnels of the ventilation system with such precision and silence was work of professionals.
The stolen base layout proved to be quite useful as Joe made his way to the conference room where the overlander commander and his generals discussed their next move against the furries. Joe was specifically told not to take out the overlander until Joe wrote down as much information as he could about their intentions.
"Oh great, another one of these boring discussions," Thought Drake, one of Commander Ice's many generals, "If he doesn't notice me, maybe I can rest my eyes a bit, and just listen."
Drake was one of the lower ranking generals, whose cockiness and arrogance restrained him from moving up in class. He even thought, on many occasions, that he would be a better commander than Ice. These briefings were held in a room with a large ceiling, decorative drapes, and military maps hanging about the walls. Commander Ice sat at the head of an oak table, and spoke of the army's current state and where they were all headed; many things that were important and in relation to all of the generals in the room. The other commanders in the Overlander Army spread across the globe had agreed that they should make an offensive move against Angel Island.
Drake, obviously not caring as much, made himself sit upright in his seat, not slouch, and try to rest his eyes. However, he could not help but advert his attention to the ventilation pipes over Commander Ice's head, once in a while, almost telling himself he had heard something incredibly faint from them.
"–General Drake!" Ice barked, "Is there something more important than my talking right now that you must look away?"
Now was the time to act.
Joe had noticed that one of the overlanders may have caught whiff of his presence, constantly darting his eyes up at Joe's general direction. Sensing he was in danger of being found out, or worse caught, Joe prepared himself for his series debut. He readied his sword in the right hand, and the TLWD in the left, after pocketing his notepad of course.
As if falling into a dream and in one movement, Joe kicked out the grating for the air flow, yelled a battle cry, unsheathed his katana in mid-air, and decapitated Ice. The generals froze for half a second, then bombarded Joe with laser fire. He easily shielded himself with his disrupter, but knowing the limitations of the machine, worked like lightning, slicing generals in half, and spilling blood on the military maps.
There was no doubt that one of the generals triggered a silent alarm system, so Joe took out the remote-detonated bombs that had been given to him to use on the building, armed them, and hid them underneath the oak table. Joe went through corridors of the base, slicing his way to the main stairwell to get to the top of the building.
Back in the conference room, two overlander officers entered, "A slaughter!" one of them said, gaping in awe.
They heard something that they thought they'd never hear among such a mangled group. One of the generals was sliced across the abdomen, spilling blood, but managed to gasp out at one of the officers in a hoarse, labored whisper, "…under…under the table!"
The first officer heard what was said and quickly dashed across the room to peer underneath it, "HOLY SH–"
Fireworks lit up the sky. Joe sat in the passenger seat of an ISOO military hovercraft behind the cockpit, flying away from the site. He had just activated the five-hundred feet range remote detonation, and the night's darkness was violated by the bright explosion. The vehicle darted away to avoid shrapnel and debris from the exploding headquarters.
"'And the rockets' red glare' eh?" one of the pilots, a white hare, cracked, twisting around in his seat, "How was your mission, huh?"
Joe responded, coolly, "Like pie."