Sonic: Impossible II
Prologue
Time: 06:20
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
The alarm on the bedside table bleeped loudly. Ash lazily rolled over and slapped the snooze button before falling asleep again. A few minutes later the alarm began its monotone drone once more. Ash groaned and pulled himself out of bed. He slapped the alarm off and yawned, scratching his chest. He got up and ambled towards the bathroom, his eyes still blinking in the early morning light. He turned on the shower and ran his paw under the water, waiting for the warm water to circulate. He stepped in, closed the door and stood under the hot stream, allowing the water to refresh him. Ash picked up his bottle of shampoo and began washing his fur. He was always keen to look his best, even on his day off. He lathered up his whole body and stood under the water once more, washing away all the soap suds. He treated himself to a few more minutes of luxury before he stepped out and dried himself off. He walked over to the mirror, his fur still slightly wet. He rubbed away the condensation that had accumulated on it, and picked up his tub of wax. He was famed for his immaculate look, as his quills were always perfectly groomed. He dipped his paw into the wax and smoothed it over his quills, working the wax into them so they stood up straight and proud. He checked himself a few more times until he was happy with the look. He gave a wry smile and exited the bathroom. Ash poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine. He always set the coffee maker for the morning. He may have been an international spy, but he still relied on good old fashioned pick-me-ups. He finished the cup and was about to pour another when his keen ears sensed something in his room. His never used a gun so he had to rely on unarmed combat. Keeping his guard up and moving stealthily, he peered into the room to see the window open and the curtain billowing in the breeze. He swiveled his ears to try and find the intruder. He picked up the faint sound of breathing near him. It was coming from behind the door. He grasped the handle gently, and with a lightning sharp movement he slammed it shut and pounced on the figure behind it. The figure ooofed as it was pinned to the floor. Ash was about to deal a KO blow when he stopped and looked at the person below him. It took him a few seconds to recognize the face.
"Sonique…….?"
The figure smiled,
"Hi Ash, Long time no see, huh?"
He helped her up and took her into the kitchen. He poured two more cups of coffee.
"What are you doing here?", he asked with genuine curiosity. She smiled and sipped her coffee.
"I was sent to deliver a message to you. It's from the ISF, they need you again."
Ash rolled his eyes and sighed,
"Great! And on my day off too!"
Sonique giggled and unclipped a small laptop computer from her waist. She put it on the counter and flipped it open. Ash watched as she inserted a disk into the drive. She activated it and they watched the screen. An image came into view, along with audio. It was Sonic.
"Ash, good buddy. Sorry to trouble you on your day off, but we need your help again. It seems "R" is back. We were sure we had taken care of him last time, but he seems intent to get revenge. This time though, he means business. The ISF recently received a message from "R" giving us his plans, and his demands. This is bad, Ash, real bad! "R" plans to destroy the entire city of London, UK. It sounds impossible, but then "R" never was a guy to aim small. He's serious about this, no questions asked. According to his message, "R" plans to destroy London in 36 hours. We received the message 6 hours ago today, so we have 30 hours left to stop him. Blowing up a city of this size won't be easy. We've ruled out all the alternative ways of doing such a deed, and we're sure we know what he's going to do. Blowing it up from below would serve no purpose. It would simply desecrate all surrounding areas and be a waste of time. An air strike is possible, but not practical. The only other way we can assume, is that "R" plans to destroy London from within. Taking the city down piece by piece. It's the only way to do it without destroying the entire country. By the time you read this message we'll be on our way over to meet you in London. We're gonna have to pull out all the stops on this one Ash, see you soon. Sonic out."
The message ended and Ash took another sip of his coffee. He swallowed hard. He looked at Sonique again.
"This guy "R" sure knows how to throw a party doesn't he?"
She nodded.
"Sonic's right though, he's going to blow London up piece by piece in less than 30 hours. We should get to Heathrow as soon as we can, and meet up with the rest of ISF."
Ash nodded in agreement, and they made their way outside to his car. Just as he was about to close the door, he turned to her again.
"Oh, next time you come to deliver a message to me?"
"Yes?"
"Use the door!!"
Section 1
Time 07:00
Location: M25, London
The Vauxhall roared down the motorway as Ash and Sonique rushed to meet Sonic and the ISF. Sonique looked at Ash and stifled a laugh. He glanced at her,
"What?"
"What's with those shades?"
He raised an eyebrow,
"I like to be able to see in this sunlight, I hate glare"
She nodded,
"Ah. Hey, we're coming up on the exit"
"Got it"
He turned the car towards the exit and drove down the sliproad. He guided the car round the tight turns of the main road towards the Airport entrance. Sonique pointed as she it,
"There, the main terminal"
Ash turned into the car park and parked the Vauxhall neatly. He took of his shades and flipped them into his jacket pocket. Sonique stifled another laugh. He glared at her,
"WHAT?"
She held up a hand,
"Nothing, nothing"
He sneered,
"OK, let's go"
They made their way towards the terminal where the ISF were landing. They found the passenger exit and waited. Presently, the familiar blue form of Sonic was seen and he nodded to Ash and Sonique,
"Good to see you guys, how ya been?"
Ash hugged his friend,
"Fine over here, how about you?"
Sonic smiled,
"Just great, apart from this damn "R" dude"
Ash hehed and patted him on the back. The other ISF members appeared from the exit, and joined the group. They all exchanged handshakes and hugs and Ash suggested a cup of coffee. They all agreed and sat down at the small café nearby. Sonic leaned to Ash,
"We can't discuss anything here in case we have some shadows. It's difficult to tell who they are in such a large area"
Ash nodded,
"I hear you Sonic. We'll be better off at my place, but for now, how was the flight?"
Sonic grinned,
"Awful! The in-flight movie was 'Gone with the wind'"
Ash winced,
"Ouch!"
Sally rolled her eyes,
"Typical males"
The two guys winked at each other, and they continued talking as they drank their coffee. Presently, Ash checked his watch. He drained his coffee cup and clapped his hands together,
"Everyone ready?"
They all nodded, and stood up,
"OK, let's go"
The Vauxhall was not quite big enough to hold all the ISF, so Sally ended up sitting on Sonic's lap, much to his delight. However, Sally was not so pleased.
"Don't get any ideas hedgehog, this is purely business"
Sonic grinned,
"Would I do that to you, Honey?"
Tails giggled quietly and Sally folded her arms and remained silent.
Section 2
Time: 10:00
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
Ash and Sonic were busy preparing some breakfast while Sonique sat idly chatting to the ISF.
"So, what have you got on "R" so far, Sonic?"
Sonic poured out cups of fresh coffee for everyone,
"At the moment, all we have is what you saw on the disk Sonique gave you. We'll be working round the clock to uncover more info. This is going to be a tough mission, we need to discover where "R" is hiding the explosives, then find a way to get to them, the disarm them. It's not going to be easy Buddy!"
Ash nodded, his face full of seriousness,
"You're right, but for the moment, let's concentrate of getting some food inside us, I'm starved!"
He and Sonic took the tray of food into the lounge and everyone began to eat. Sonic took a swig of coffee and turned to Ash,
"Ash, I believe you already know everyone. Sally, Knuckles, Tails and myself"
Ash nodded to each of them in turn, then he hesitated,
"Where's Rotor?"
Sonic sighed,
"Ah. I'm afraid Rotor is no longer part of the ISF"
Ash's eyes widened,
"He's not…..is he?
Sonic shook his head,
"No, he's not, he just felt he couldn't take the pressure anymore so he quit. I don't blame him, being part of the ISF is a tough living. Sometimes I feel like jacking it all in"
Ash put his hand on his shoulder,
"Hey, don't talk like that, we need you, you're the leader, remember? Besides, as co-leader, if you quit, I'd have to take over your job, and that's not something I'm ready for yet"
Sonic smiled back,
"Don't worry, I won't be gone for a long time"
Ash buttered himself a croissant,
"So, what have we got so far then?"
Sally took over,
"Well, as we all know, "R" is planning to blow up London. Now, we know how he's going to do it, and we know when, but we don't know exactly where. There are a few major spots in the city that would be perfect targets for destruction, so I suggest we target those areas first."
Ash spoke up,
"What areas, Sally?"
She continued,
"Mainly the powerful areas, Parliament, The Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. Blowing up these areas would cause a lot of chaos, just exactly what "R" is hoping for. I'm willing to bet we'll find explosives under some, if not all, of these areas."
Ash nodded again,
"Good work Sally. Now, how much of London would be left if these three bombs went off. If we can work backwards from total destruction we may be able to pinpoint the approximate locations of all the bombs."
Sonic opened his laptop, and brought up a map of London in intricate detail. He pressed a few buttons and turned to computer to face everyone. He pointed at the screen,
"OK, the three power locations are here, here and here. If these are taken out,"
He pressed another button and the screen showed black marks on the map,
"This is the area of destruction will be. Now, the main areas left are the outskirts and some of the city centre. We can almost safely assume that that the edges of London will be left alone. There is nothing of real interest to "R" to warrant destruction of these areas. Therefore, we must assume the other explosives are somewhere within the small city areas. We have 25 hours before the bombs go off. If Sally is right, and three explosives and located beneath the three power locations, then we can get to work on the city centre. That way, we will have a good chance of locating to remaining explosives."
Ash's face took on a look of grave concern,
"OK, we have our work cut out for us. Do we know if "R" has any hired help on this one?"
Sonic shook his head,
"We've not found any leads to discover an accomplice as yet. Sleet and Dingo were executed following their failure of "R"s previous attempt. I've checked out all of his previous accomplices to see if any look like they could be in on it, but none of them seem to fit this plan. He could be working on his own."
Sally shook her head,
"No way. "R" is notorious for his use of help. He's a dominator not a worker. He'd never do his own dirty work. Someone is helping him, I'm sure of it."
Ash sighed,
"OK, we have another agenda to cover then, discover and disable "R" accomplice. Knuckles, Tails, I want you guys to take charge of this matter. That OK with you Sonic?"
Sonic gave a thumbs up,
"Sure thing, you heard him guys"
Knuckles and Tails gave a respectful salute and went on their way. Ash clapped his hands together,
"OK, looks like our first stop is Parliament then"
Section 3
Time: 13:00
Location: Parliament Buildings, London, UK
The three friends stood outside the towering monuments as they gazed up at them. Ash give a reluctant sigh,
"They never looked the big before."
Sally turned to him,
"That's not the half of it, we have to locate the bomb that underneath this monster."
Ash gave another sigh,
"Yeah, don't I know it. Any ideas Sally?"
A wry smile crossed her face,
"Actually, yes. OK, Parliament is divided into two buildings, the house of commons, and the house of lords. Both buildings are joined together. What's the easiest way of splitting two joined objects apart?"
Ash shrugged,
"At the place where they join I'm guessing."
Sally smiled again,
"Exactly! That's where we'll find the bomb. Blowing up Parliament from the joined section will take out half of each building. The other halves will have no support so they will just crumble. Easier, and less expensive than using two bombs."
Ash's face lit up,
"OK! Nice going Sally! Now, all we have to do is find a way to get inside and locate that explosive without any disturbances. Sonic, can you do this?"
Sonic was already tapping the keyboard on his laptop,
"On it already good buddy. OK, I'm hacking into the Parliamentary administration sub-sections. I'm going to create a fake communications breakdown in the far right wing of the commons building. That's the furthest place away from the joined sections. It won't buy us much time, but it's all we're gonna get."
He tapped the keys a few more times, his finger now poised over the enter key,
"OK, once I hit this button, all the communications will appear to go down in this section. The staff and guards will be called there to try and fix the problem. As this is just a fake breakdown, they'll discover it pretty soon, so we'll have to be fast. Sally? Do you have a route planned for us?"
Sally nodded,
"I sure do, you guys ready to go?"
Ash and Sonic nodded in unison,
"OK, let's go!"
Sonic hit the enter key and immediately folded the laptop and slung it in his backpack. They all ran to the main doors and Sally disabled the locks. They burst inside, Sally leading the way to the joined section of the building. All around them the alarms were blazing, the building's guards and staff all in the far section. They arrived at the spot and Sonic took out his explosive locator. He turned it on and waved it over the area. Ash looked on intently,
"How does that work?" He asked intently.
Sonic keep his eyes on the scanner but spoke to him,
"Most bombs use a combination of volatile fluids to create the explosion. Usually the mixture will contain acetone, liquid hydrogen and hydrochloric acid. This scanner is programmed to detect any of these three fluids. I'm willing to bet this bomb contains at least one of these substances."
Ash he finished speaking the locator emitted a high peaked beep. Sonic punched the air with his fist,
"We got it!! It's here all right. Woah! This baby's a powerful one. It's using all three of these fluids plus chlorine!"
Ash looked at the locator intently,
"Is that bad?"
Sonic nodded,
"You bet! This is the mother of all explosives. It could easi…"
Sally grabbed both their shoulders,
"I hate to break this up, but can I please defuse it now?"
They moved out of her way,
"Sorry Sal", Sonic apologized.
It's OK," she said, "Just buy me some more time, we may need it. Defusing this won't be hard, but getting to it will be. I don't know how "R" got this thing under here, but whoever did it for him is one superb bomb placing expert!"
Sonic grinned,
"I never thought I'd hear you compliment a bad guy"
She looked over her shoulder at him,
"It's the only one he's gonna get out of me. Now buy me time, Sonic. I'm working fast, but I need a few extra minutes here!"
Sonic flipped out his laptop and began tapping the keys. A look of concern crossed his face.
"Damn!" He exclaimed, "The computer can't get a satellite link to create Net access. I'm going to have to find a computer terminal here and work from inside. Ash, stay with Sally, help her if she needs it!"
Ash gave a thumbs up as Sonic ran off down the corridor. He looked at his watch,
"Shit! 30 seconds till they discover the breakdown illusion. I need a terminal quick!!!"
He rocketed off down the corridor again scouring for any rooms nearby. He screeched to a halt as he found a secretary's office,
"Yes!!" he exclaimed as he began attacking the keyboard, "OK baby, let's see what we can do here."
He continued furiously typing away. He looked up as the alarms went silent, a sure sign that the breakdown illusion had been solved.
"Aw Geez!" He peered nervously at the terminal, still tapping madly at the keyboard. Suddenly, his face took on a grin,
"All right! This should turn a few heads!" He slapped the enter key and ran out of the room as the lights snapped off. He took out a torch from his backpack and ran off back to where his fellow comrades were working. He arrived back to find Ash and Sally still battling with the bomb. He leaned over them,
"How's it going?" he whispered.
Ash leapt into the air with a start,
"Jesus!! Don't DO that to me!!!" he panted.
Sonic shrugged,
"Sorry. Sal, how goes?"
She continued to work, while speaking,
"I'm nearly done here, Sonic. I've almost got the floor tile up. There we go!"
She prized the concrete block up to reveal the explosive. Carefully she located the two main wires and snipped them. The blinking display flickered a few times, then faded away and died. She wrenched the bomb from its hiding place and dropped the tile back into the hole. She placed it in Sonic's backpack and all three ran back to the exit. They reached the door and Sonic pushed it, expecting it to open, but it did not. He pushed it again, but still it refused to budge. Ash stepped forward,
"Let me!"
He took a few steps back and ran towards the door before leaping into a side kick. The lock cracked and split, causing the door to fly open and the sunlight to pour in. Ash wasted no time in running out the opening,
"GO! GO! GO!" he yelled to the other two. Sonic grabbed Sally and ran after Ash, guards pouring from the Parliament doors looking around in total bewilderment. Sonic glanced back and grinned before racing off at top speed.
Soon, they all arrived back at Ash's flat. Sally took out the bomb and set it on the table. Ash took a close look at it,
"It's safe now is it?" he asked with some concern.
Sally nodded,
"It won't go off now, but the liquids inside are still dangerous. The only way to defuse it properly is to crack it open and freeze the fluids inside. That way, they can't be ignited."
Ash nodded,
"OK, let's go to work."
Sally took out her tool kit and began unscrewing the casing. She was careful to work slowly to avoid spilling any of the liquid. After she had removed a number of screws she lifted the top of the bomb off, revealing a mass of coloured wires and a large clear case filled with fluid. She pointed at the case with her finger,
"That's the volatile fluids of the bomb. They're ignited by tiny sparks produced by these wires here. Now, the reason there are so many wires, is so the bomb can be placed in any position, upright, upside down, on its side, anyway at all. At least two wires need to be in contact with the fluid to create the explosion."
Ash looked at her,
"So what wires did you cut then?"
She turned over the lid of the bomb and pointed to the reverse of the LCD display,
"I cut these two wires here, the ones that control and power the timer. With no timer to count down, the bomb will not be triggered."
He ahhed and nodded. Sally loosened the screws near the liquid case and teased it out. She held it gently in her paw and turned to Ash,
"We need to put this in a freezer compartment. That way the fluid cannot be ignited."
He took the case from her, and carefully placed it inside the freezer in his kitchen. He thumbed the freezer,
"Will that be OK?"
She nodded,
"Yes, that'll be fine. We don't have to worry about that bomb now, it's perfectly safe. Now all we need to do is locate and defuse the other three bombs."
Ash groaned,
"Geez! I knew this job wouldn't be easy!"
She smirked,
"It never is, that's why I love it! Coffee?"
Ash closed his eyes and nodded,
"Yeah, I could use some. Thanks."
"No Problem."
Section 4
Time: 16:00
Location: M25, London, UK
Tails picked his mobile phone and dialed as Knuckles sat in the Vauxhall's driver's seat, weaving the car between the motorway traffic. Tails was in the passenger seat, the phone pressed to his ear.
Sonique was sitting on the sofa in Ash's flat when the phone rang. She picked it up,
"Hello?"
Tails replied from the other end,
"Sonique, it's Tails. Listen, we've managed to work out who "R" is working with on this operation. He's a creature called Chaos. He's a water demon who can change himself, and any object he's holding into water. In the wrong hands he's a lethal weapon, and you can't go much more wrong than "R"."
Sonique nodded down the phone line,
"I agree with you there. How did "R" find this Chaos guy, and how did you find out about him too?"
"It wasn't easy. We had to bribe a few choice people, and hack a few systems to get what we wanted, but we did it, right Knuckles?"
He turned to the echidna,
"You bet we did!" he shouted across from the driver's seat. Tails grinned as Sonique laughed down the line at them. Tails continued,
"We found out that "R" has what we can only describe as a vault of helpers. He sorta 'buys' them, then takes them when he needs them and uses them as he pleases. He found Chaos about three years ago, almost to the day when the ISF was created."
Sonique's eyes widened,
"Woah! That's spooky!"
Tails agreed,
"Yeah, I know. He's been keeping chaos for his biggest operation yet, and I think we can say this is probably it! Look, we'll talk more when we rendezvous back at the flat. See ya soon, Tails out!"
The phone clicked off and Sonique placed the receiver back on the hook. She scribbled down what Tails had said and rushed off to find Ash, Sonic and Sally. They were in the kitchen staring at Sonic's laptop computer.
"Guys!" she burst out.
"What's up Sonique?" Ash stood up and looked at her. She pointed to her piece of paper.
"Tails just called. It appears that "R" does have an accomplice on this operation. He's called Chaos, a water demon with the ability to transform himself and any object he's holding into water! A lethal combination if you ask me!"
Sally snapped her fingers,
"Of course! That's how that bomb was placed so well inside Parliament. Chaos was able to use his water form to travel through the sewer system and ventilation shafts to exactly the right spot! I KNEW he had to have someone working with him, I just knew it!"
Sonic swiveled round on his stool,
"Well, if Chaos can place a bomb that well inside Parliament, think how good he's gonna have been placing them inside the Palace and the Tower. We're gonna have our work cut out for us on this one!"
Ash groaned and rubbed his forehead,
"Oh man! I don't know if I can cope with this!"
Sally frowned and slapped his face angrily. He started and rubbed his cheek, his eyes wide with shock.
"What the heck was that for?" he demanded. She stared deep into his eyes,
"Listen here! You're the co-leader of the ISF. You can't bail out of this mission, your home town and the whole of the world is facing disaster here. We need all the man power we can get. Luckily for us, Tails and Knuckles have completed their first task so we have another two men to add to our team. That's six! Better than four but still a limited arsenal. We have…" She looked at her watch, "We have less than seventeen hours before those other three explosives go off! You pull yourself together, Ash, you hear me?"
He stared at her wide-eyed before nodding silently. She rubbed his cheek and kissed him.
"Good. Sorry to be so rough on you but we need you."
He nodded again,
"Thanks Sally, I think I needed that." He smiled a little, "You know, my cheek still hurts a bit, could you perhaps…."
He didn't need to finish. Sally placed her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his, kissing him deeply. He hugged her as Sonic and Sonique stared open mouthed at the spectacle that was going on in full view of them. They parted and Sonic spluttered,
"Hey! If he's just the co-leader, shouldn't I get one of those too?" Sally rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Very well Sonic Hedgehog." She performed the same act on him and he sighed as they parted lips.
"Thank you. Now, shall we get to work?"
Sally nodded,
"That's an extremely good idea!" She flipped open Sonic's laptop and brought up the map of London again. "OK, we've taken out the Parliament bomb, so that's safe, which location next?"
Ash hummed, and the other two turned to him. He wagged a finger at them,
"I have an idea that may give us the edge over "R" here, hang on." He left the room as Sonic and Sally looked at each other. Sonique joined them as they perused the screen once more. A rustle of paper signaled Ash's return. He placed a large scroll of paper on the table and unrolled it, holding it down with two coffee mugs. The paper was covered with plans of buildings and, more interestingly, many, many lines running from building to building.
"What the heck is this?" Sonic blurted out. Ash unleashed a large smile,
"It's a plan of the sewer, water and ventilation ducts of the entire city of London. This scroll here shows the three power buildings in detail."
Sally snapped her fingers,
"Of course! Chaos has to travel along these passages to avoid detection from above ground. All we need to do is find the routes that give the quickest and easiest access to the locations we want, and we should be able to locate the bombs in no time! Ash, you're a genius!"
He shrugged,
"Like you said, you DO need me."
Sonique tapped the paper with her finger,
"This is Buckingham Palace. I recognize the layout of the structure. I also know that there are very few water inlets and outlets in this place. A sewer can easily be traveled by foot, if you're brave enough."
Sonic shuddered as the thought entered his mind,
"Eugh!!!"
Sonique chuckled,
"Chill Sonic, we won't need to go down there. We can follow the route from here, like Ash said."
She ran her finger along a line on the map,
"This is the main sewer outlet. It's the biggest pipe from this location, so I'm willing to bet that Chaos will have used this route. If I'm right, the Palace explosive will be very near this outlet area."
Sonic raised an eyebrow,
"Why?"
Sonique tapped the scroll again,
Once the explosive goes off, the outlet will be showered with debris and most definitely blocked with rubble. If anyone wants to try and get down there to look for clues, it'll take them a few weeks to excavate all the crud that's filled the hole. Simple, but a highly effective way to cover your tracks!"
Ash patted her on the back,
"I like your style girl!" he laughed. She grinned at him,
"Thanks. So do I!"
Ash turned to Sally,
"How much time do we have left?" Sally checked her watch,
"About 16 hours, not much! We'd better get to work on the Buckingham Palace bomb now."
Sonic nodded,
"I hear ya Sal, let's go guys! Sonique, you come too. Your knowledge of Palace's sewer system will be invaluable to us."
She nodded in agreement and ran after them. Just as they closed the door of the flat, the Vauxhall screeched to a halt with Tails and Knuckles inside. The echidna rolled down the window and leaned out,
"Where you guys off to, anywhere nice?"
Ash opened the rear door and the four got in,
"Buckingham Palace, drive!!!" he ordered. Knuckles slammed the car into reverse and backed up before driving off in a screech of tyres and a shower of grit.
Section 5
Time: 20:00
Location: Buckingham Palace, London, UK
The Vauxhall skidded to a halt a short distance from the Palace grounds. Ash silently held out black uniforms to Sonic, Sally and Sonique and they all put them on. As Sonique pulled the top over her head she turned to Ash,
"What are these for?" she asked. Ash pulled his trousers on.
"Simple", he said, "So we can easily make our way through the grounds without being spotted by the cameras or the guards. Sonique thought for a few moments.
"Won't a place with such high security being using Infra-red too though?"
Ash blushed and looked at his feet,
"Ah. That's something I hadn't actually considered. Damn!" he pounded his fist on the seat in front of him. Knuckles turned to look at him,
"Hey! Watch it!"
Ash looked up,
"Oh, sorry"
Sonique gave a wry smile,
"I have an idea to combat any of those naughty infra-cams however!"
Ash looked at her pathetically,
"Yeah?" he asked, with no real feeling to his voice. Sonique pulled out something from her jacket, screwed a cylindrical object onto the front and pulled back the rear with a click. Ash's eyes widened with shock,
"An automatic! Where the heck did you get that? Guns are illegal here you know!"
Sonique grinned,
"True, but so are plans to blow up London. That's illegal didn't you know?"
Ash rolled his eyes,
"OK, you got me, let's go! Sonique, as you know the route of the sewage pipe that Chaos used to plant the bomb, you'll be with me and Sally inside. Sonic, I want you to remain outside and as soon as we get over the main fence, start creating diversions. Parliament was easy compared to this baby! The guards won't be so easily fooled. It won't take them long to work out what's going on. We'll need to be fast, very fast! Everyone clear?"
They all nodded. Ash turned to Sonique and motioned towards the building's exterior walls. She looked carefully at the security arrangement before turning back to Ash.
"From what I can make out, there's only one Infra-red camera that could pick us up from where we are."
Ash whispered,
"Take it out!"
Sonique aimed and fired at the security camera. The glass front smashed and the interior sparked as it was blown up. Ash waved his arm forward and they all ran to the wall. He, Sally and Sonique began to climb it as Sonic remained below, tapping away at his laptop. He gave a thumbs up to Ash and he returned the gesture. The three agents dropped onto the grass lawn and moved silently towards the huge structure. Immediately. The lights inside the building shut off, accompanied by screams and shouts from women and guards. Ash whispered again,
"Phase one complete, let's go! Sonique, lead us to the sewer outlet."
She ran towards the rear of the Palace, closely followed by the other two. The commotion inside was sufficient to cover any noise they made. Sonique took out a small pocket torch and carefully shone it to find the outlet. A large metal cover buried in the lawn's grassy surface signified success. She tapped Ash on the shoulder,
"Here it is", she whispered, "We have to open it somehow."
Ash gripped the cover and with a few grunts and heaves he slid the cover off. The stench wafted up from below and they all staggered back in disgust. Sally waved her paw in front of her nose,
"Eeeew! That is foul! Do we really have to go down there?"
Ash held out a gas mask to each of them,
"We can use these to breath as we walk through the pipe. There's a risk of sewer gas, so we need some protection just in case. Plus, it'll keep the smell out!"
Sally wasted no time in pulling hers on. They all dropped into the pipe and just as they did, the lights flickered back on inside the Palace. Sonic looked on from the outside and sighed,
"Guys, it's all up to you now!"
Ash peered into the darkness of the tunnel. He fumbled around on his waist and unclipped his torch. He turned it on and shone it down the tunnel. Green goo clung to the walls and water continually dripped down the sides of the pipe. He began trudging through the sewage, closely followed by Sonique and Sally. They walked until they reached a junction in the pipe. He turned round to the two girls and gestured, using the torch. Sonique nodded, and pulled out the map. She followed the line with her finger and located the route. She found the junction and the turning they should take. She held her arm out and pointed to the left. Ash gave a thumbs up and they continued through the grime filled sewer.
Soon, they came to a dead end. Ash shone the torch upwards to reveal a ladder, and a small cover. Light shone from above and Ash gestured to Sally to take a look. She climbed the ladder and inspected the grating. Through it, she could see what appeared to be the underground waste disposal section of the Palace, exactly the place where the opening was! She quickly took out her bomb detector and was about to turn it on when Ash grabbed her hand. She looked at him and he shook his head slowly. She shrugged suggesting she did not understand, so Ash held the torch between his legs and began using sign language: "We in gas filled pipe. No use that thing. Make spark. Ignite gas. Us die"
Sally nodded, fully understanding, and clipped the detector back onto her waist. She gestured to borrow Ash's torch, and she began closely inspecting the walls of the pipe. She remembered Tails' words.
"Chaos is a water demon, he can change himself and anything he carries into water"
She knew that he would have been able to seep behind a brick, place the bomb, and seep out again, returning the bomb to its solid state. She sighed inside the mask, glad that the others could not hear her. Without the detector, finding the bomb would be almost impossible. She sighed again and looked around for any kind of inspiration. She thought to herself,
"These pipes are filthy!! I'm surprised someone doesn't clean them more often!"
Just as the thought entered her head, her eyes widened as the solution struck her!
"Chaos is a water demon, water cleans things. When Chaos slipped behind one of the bricks, he must have washed away at least some of the grime and mortar that was surrounding it!"
She began rapidly checking every brick. Soon, she found one with loose mortar around it. She prized it away with her paws and the bomb stared her in the face. She took out her wire cutters and shone the torch onto the explosive. She located the two wires and in two swift snips the bomb was defused. She carefully pulled it out of the hole and replaced the brick. Ash gave her a hug and patted her on the back. They all ran back to the manhole. Ash pulled himself out and lifted the two girls out after him. He slid the cover back into place, and they all removed their masks. Unfortunately, the stench has not stayed in the sewer. Ash caught a nosefull of the foul odour and immediately had to turn away as his stomach rebelled against him. Sally, waving her paw in front of her nose again, had to laugh,
"I think we can allow you that one Ash"
He coughed and spluttered before turning round again,
"Thanks, I think", he said.
They trudged back to the car, pulled off their black uniforms and dumped them in the boot. Sally kept the bomb in her paws, holding it tight. As they got back in, Sonic waved his paw in front of her face,
"Phew whee! Boy, you musta gone deep underground!" he said.
Sally grinned at him,
"Yes, we did, but, we got the second bomb, and it's defused!"
Knuckles started the Vauxhall and began driving away,
"In that case, let's get back home so you guys can shower off that smell!"
Section 6a
Time: 05:00
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
The ISF were having a well deserved rest after their current hard work. Ash and Sonique were cuddled up together in his bed, Sonic and Sally were in the spare room bed and Knuckles and Tails were sharing the sofa in the lounge. Ash hugged Sonique closer to him and kissed her cheek. She smiled and rubbed up against him, brushing her face against his chest fur. He sighed and petted her head fur, and whispered,
"I love you"
She opened her eyes and stroked his cheek,
"What did you say?" she asked
Ash opened his eyes and looked into hers,
"I said, I love you"
She kissed his cheek,
"You know what? I love you too"
She rolled over and sat atop him,
"So? Wanna show me how much?"
He laughed and shook his head,
"Yeah, right! With all the other guys here? It wouldn't be the most romantic way to do it"
She nodded,
"OK, then I'll settle for this"
She lay down on top of him and kissed his passionately. He held her in his arms as she pressed her lips to his. Just as Ash was about to reach down and massage her rump, the alarm went off, signifying 6am, and time to get up! Ash rolled his eyes and groaned,
"Oh man! Sometimes I seriously hate this job!"
"Come on you!" Sonique pulled him out of bed, "As soon as we finish the mission, the sooner we can…"
"Start the next one!" he answered bluntly. Sonique swatted his face,
"I think someone needs a good strong cup of coffee!" She dragged him into the kitchen.
In the other room, Sonic was still sleeping alongside Sally. In truth he was awake, but he liked the way he was lying. He was positioned behind Sally, with his arms around her. He could feel her tail pressing against his stomach. He licked her ear with his tongue gently, and he smiled to himself when she flicked it. He licked it again, and she flicked it again, but this time a quiet murmur of "Stop it!" came from Sally. He grinned behind her and licked inside her ear. She squealed and rolled onto her back.
"Oooooo! You KNOW how I hate that!" she glared at him, trying not to laugh. Sonic lay on his back, his arms behind his head,
"You do? I never realized!" he said, another grin forming on his face. Sally narrowed her eyes and pouted at him,
"I hate you Sonic Hedgehog!"
"I hate you too!" he replied. Sally leapt on top of him and pinned his arms back against the bed. She pushed her groin against his neck, which caused him to give a small squeak. She looked down at her prisoner,
"Now, what shall I do with you?" she said, tapping her fingers on his chest. Sonic looked at the body that was holding him down,
"You know Sal, you look pretty hot from this angle!"
She gasped and rolled off him. She was about to give him a good scolding, when a knock came at the door. They both sat up,
"Come in" Sally called out.
Ash peeked in the room,
"There's coffee and breakfast in the living room guys" He looked at the extremely rumpled sheets and frowned slightly. "You guys OK last night?"
Sally blushed lightly and Sonic sniggered,
"Oh, um, yes, of course Ash, we were fine, how about you?" She tried to cover the redness in her cheeks. Ash nodded,
"We were OK. When you're ready, we'll be in the lounge"
As Ash left, Sonic sniggered again. Sally slapped his arm,
"How can you laugh at that?" she scorned, blushing again. Sonic grinned,
"Oh come on Sal! Like he didn't know already!"
Sally rubbed her arm in embarrassment,
"Well, maybe he did, but he didn't have to say it!"
Sonic laughed lightly, took her arm and stood up,
"Forget about it, look, let's go shower and eat something, I'm starved!"
She followed him,
"You always are!"
"Well, look what I do to work up an appetite!"
"SONIC!!!"
Soon, all the ISF agents were enjoying a hearty breakfast. Ash poured out more coffee for everyone and Sally stood up,
"OK, everyone. Well done on the past few days. We've stopped two of "R"s bombs, and we know who's helping him." She looked at her fellow agents in turn, gesturing to those who helped with what. She continued, "But, we still have two more explosives to find, and only twelve hours left on the clock. That's six hours per bomb. I suggest we divide the ISF into two groups. One group takes the City bomb, the other takes the Tower of London bomb. Tails, Knuckles and I will take the Tower of London, Ash, Sonique and Sonic will do the City." She looked over at Ash, "I'm choosing you here, Ash, as you know more about London than any of us". He nodded and gave a respectful salute. Sonic spoke up,
"Sally's plan is probably our only way of completing the mission in time. The City bomb is going to be the most difficult, which is why Ash and Sonique are on this one with me. Is everyone OK with their situations?" He looked around for any objections. None came. He gave a small smile, "Good! OK, ISF, split up and move out!" They were about to move when Knuckles stopped them,
"Hang on! We're in two groups, but we only have one car, how will the other group get to their bomb in time?" The rest of the ISF looked around nervously, apart from Ash. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small set of keys,
"I have another little motor I keep for special occasions" he said wryly. Sally clapped her hands together,
"OK, we have transport, we have plans, but we don't have much time, let's go!" Her group ran outside, and the Vauxhall drove away, a screech of tyres following after. Ash tut-tutted,
"He'll wreck my suspension doing that!"
Sonic grabbed his arm,
"Come on, we gotta go chill that bomb, where's the other car?"
Ash gestured with his paw,
"Follow me!" he ordered. They ran outside to back garage. Ash hauled up the door and revealed the shiny motor inside. Sonic's jaw dropped,
"A McClaran F1??? Where the heck did you get that, Ash?"
Ash grinned and leaned on the bonnet,
"It was a gift…..from an old friend. Beauty ain't she?"
Sonic nodded, still open mouthed. Sonique gave a growl and dug him in the ribs,
"I hate to stop you gawking at this thing, but we have a job to do!"
He rubbed his chest,
"Oh, yeah, of course."
They all piled into the car and Ash drove away, the turbo whining and the engine purring fluidly.
Sally's team pulled up outside the Tower of London. She checked her watch.
"We have eleven hours left in total. If we can defuse this bomb in less than six, we can meet up with Ash's team and help them out!"
Knuckles nodded,
"You're right, but first we need to take out this sucker, any idea where it could be?"
Sally tapped her nose,
"I think I know, follow me!"
Her team ran round the back of the Tower to what look like a rusty iron cage. Tails looked up at it,
"What's this?" he asked. Sally walked up to it and began inspecting it.
"It's an old service elevator that used to be used for moving valuable items under the Tower, for safety. The crown jewels were once hidden underneath the Tower, but thieves found a way in, so they locked them inside and keep them under 24 hour guard surveillance. I'm willing to bet Chaos has placed the third bomb directly underneath the Tower."
Tails looked puzzled,
"Why would he put it right underneath?"
Sally kept probing the cage,
"Because it would cause the centre of the Tower to collapse and therefore crumble inwards, and also, this is the only way he could have gotten under the Tower, there's no sewer or water pipes connected here, no need."
Knuckles bashed his fists together,
"OK, let's go!"
Ash's team were speeding along the M25 again, heading for the residential area of London. Sonic was scanning for the bomb at long range,
"Nothing here yet, Ash. You sure it's around here somewhere?"
Ash continued to concentrate on his driving,
"Yep, I'm sure of it. There's a whole maze of sewer and water tunnels here. It's perfect for hiding a bomb like this. We may be able to locate it on the scanner, but getting to it will be another matter. Hang on!"
He slammed on the brakes and turned the car ninety degrees left before zooming off down a narrow street, smoke and tyre rubber billowing into the wind.
Sally's team were making their way down the lift shaft. Knuckles was able to climb down using his spiked gloves, but Sally had to rely on Tails' helicopter style descent. They reached the bottom on the shaft and Tails swung his appendages back into their fluffy shape.
"Thanks for the lift" he said, smiling. Tails gave a salute,
"No Problem" he replied.
Knuckles took out a torch and turned it on. The inner tunnel was very small compared to the main lift shaft. Sally remembered her experience in the sewer tunnel below the palace. She bent down and felt the ground. A damp trail met her fingertips and she pointed down the tunnel,
"That way!"
The three agents disappeared down the dark passage, unaware of the figure hiding in the shadows behind them. It crept out and began scraping at the walls of the lift shaft, carving out huge lumps of earth. Soon, the walls began to crumble and totter, becoming unstable due to the creature digging away at the base. The iron cage at the top began to sway before tumbling into the dark void, bringing down the entire shaft with it. The figure simply stood and allowed the tons of earth to cover it, the exit to the outside world now completely caved in. At the top of the mound, a small wet patch appeared and continued to increase in size until the figure that was at the base of the shaft now stood on the crumbled dirt. The eyes of Chaos were dull and lifeless, no emotion shown in them, and no facial features to express any either. But the creature stayed no longer, instead flowing off down a nearby drain, moving towards the urban sector of London town.
Section 7a
Time: 10:00
Location: Urban London, UK
The McClaran sped down the narrow streets of the city, homing in on the signal of the bomb. Sonic kept his eyes glued to the screen as the radar pitch increased, signifying their nearing the explosive. The scanner emitted a continuous beep and Sonic shouted,
"STOP!"
Ash skidded the car to a halt and they got out where the scanner had led them. Ash looked up and his face fell,
"Oh Shit!!" he cursed. The other two looked up and their faces mirrored his when they saw what he saw. In front of them stood four huge tower blocks, each holding fifty or sixty flats. Sonic looked at his friend,
"You mean…..Chaos planted the fourth bomb right under this lot???"
Ash just nodded, unable to speak. Sonic's voice went up an octave,
"How??? How did he get it under here?"
Ash regained his voice,
"The same way he got it under Parliament and Buckingham Palace, via the sewers and water ways. Only this time, he's been able to use the small pipes, not the massive things we were able to walk inside."
Sonique piped up,
"So, in other words, we can't get to the fourth bomb then?"
Ash turned to her,
"Oh, we can get to it, we just need to rip up these apartment blocks first!"
Sonique sneered at him,
"You're not helping here."
He growled in anger,
"Yeah? Well, I'm sorry if I appear to be small minded, but I'm not currently able to shrink myself to a minute size and walk along those tiny pipes!!"
She was about to apologize when a thought struck her,
"Ash! How do they clean those large pipes we walked through?"
He shrugged,
"They have a team of guys walk through it armed with brushes and scrubbers"
She gave a sly smile,
"So how do they clean these little ones then?" she tapped her foot on the concrete.
He shrugged again,
"Same way, except they use this tiny, little, radio contr……." His voice trailed off as she grinned triumphantly. "Of Course!" he gasped, "We can modify a cleaner to find the bomb! Sonique, you're a genius!" He hugged her hard and kissed her cheek. She hugged his back, a little surprised at his actions.
"Woah there Tiger!" she said, still grinning. "Now, where can we get one of these motorized cleaners?"
Ash's sudden happy mood changed immediately,
"Ah!" he said sullenly, "I don't actually know"
During all this time, Sonic had been typing away at his laptop. He looked up from his keypad,
"I believe I know where." he said.
The McClaren roared off down the London streets once more, heading towards the city's largest sector, the arcades and shopping precincts. Sonic, again, was tapping his laptop keypad. Sonique looked at him,
"Now what are you looking for?" she asked. He didn't look up from his computer, but instead, spoke to her whilst still fixing his gaze on the screen.
"If we can't get hold of a cleaner, we'll need to obtain the parts and build it from scratch. We need to modify it anyway, so attaching the tracer will be necessary."
Sonique tapped her nose,
"What will we need to modify it with?"
Ash was the one to answer this question,
"We need the tracer, modified for short range, so we can locate the bomb exactly. Plus we need a radio controlled defusing system attached to the front of the cleaner, and also a VDU so we can see what we're doing. Quite a package I would say!"
Section 6b
Time: 12:00
Location: Unknown
"Where the heck are we?" Knuckles' voice echoed off the damp walls of the underground passage. Sally was getting a little steamed,
"I don't know!!! We just have to follow the damp trail Chaos has left and we'll find the explosive easily, now just keep calm and don't cause any earth tremors!"
Knuckles huffed and continued trudging through the dark tunnel. Tails, who had remained silent for a long time now, spoke up,
"Hey Sally, the floor feels a lot wetter than it did before"
She stopped and felt the ground,
"Yes, it does. That means Chaos must have stopped her for a while, either to check something or to plant the bomb!" She walked a few more paces further and felt the ground again, "It's dry here, the explosive is around this area here somewhere, be careful!" She shone the torch slowly across the wall, looking for any kind of faint clue as to where the bomb might be. Tails put his hand into the torch light. Sally scowled,
"Tails!! I can't see!"
He nodded,
"That's just it! Chaos put the bomb in this tiny tunnel as he knew we would have to use a torch to see where we were going. This light causes so many shadows that spotting any kind of fault in this wall would be down to pure luck!!"
Sally blinked, he was right! Using the torch WOULD mean finding the bomb would be lucky, but how else could it be done? She decided to put that question to him,
"So, how then, without the Torch, do we find the location of explosive number three?"
Tails took the Torch from her,
"First we turn it off, like so" he pressed the switch and plunged all three of them into complete blackness. Knuckles mocked him,
"Oh, this is working!"
Tails growled, but kept his cool,
"It's been scientifically proven that the other senses are increased in sensitivity when one or more are disabled. We can't see, so we rely on touch and sound more."
Knuckles mocked again,
"So what? We listen for the bomb to tell us where it is?"
Tails gripped the torch hard, his temper beginning to fray, but he kept control, just about,
"No!" he said, through gritted teeth, "We feel the walls and use our sense of touch to locate any substantial differences in shape, texture or temperature. This will guide us to the location of the explosive!"
Knuckles' mocking stopped,
"Hey, not bad kid, not bad!"
Tails removed his gloves,
"Now, let's find this bomb before it finds us! How much time Sally?"
She thought for a second,
"I'd say we have about two hours to find the bomb, get out, and defuse it. Let's get to work!"
Section 7b
Time: 12:30
Location: Urban London, UK
The McClaren screeched to a halt outside a warehouse in a small alley. Ash got out of the car, a bemused expression on his face.
"Sonic? Why did we drive here?"
Sonic exited the car along with Sonique. He closed his laptop up and spoke.
"I found that we can't obtain one of these cleaners through the normal channels, so we'll have to build one. I've downloaded the schematics, we just need the materials. This old factory should have loads of tat lying about we can use."
Ash turned to him,
"How long will it take us to build one of these things, and modify it?"
Sonic looked at his watch,
"We have ninety minutes until the bomb goes off, so it'll have to be under one hour, so we can send it down the pipe and defuse it. Let's go!"
He stepped up and kicked in the door. The three agents entered the warehouse. It was a huge building. Dusty, murky and musty, but it had all the parts they wanted. Sonic fired up his laptop again, and brought up the cleaner schematics.
"OK. Let's find all the parts we need!"
They set about rummaging through the piles of junk inundated around the warehouse. Presently, and quite quickly, they found what they needed. Sonic took out the tracer and separated it into two pieces.
"We have all the parts, we have the tracer set to short range, let's build ourselves a cleaner!"
They began cutting, screwing, soldering and bolting. Ash was able to understand the electronics, so he set about the soldering of the wires and circuits. Sonique took charge of the laptop, checking the cleaner against the schematics, making sure everything went well. Soon, they had constructed a crude, but working water pipe cleaner. Ash smiled proudly,
"A beauty ain't she?"
Sonic nodded,
"Yup, now we need to add the tracer, the defusing system and we're all set. How much time?"
Sonique checked her watch, and her eyes widened in shock,
"Oh my god! We've got less than thirty minutes before that thing blows!"
Ash snapped his head up,
"Holy Geez! We'll have to finish the rest of the modifications in the car. We have to get to the bomb!"
They all piled back into the car, and sped off towards the apartment blocks. Sonic was in the back, hurriedly working on the final adjustments to the cleaner. They stopped at the flats and got out of the car. Sonic was angrily tapping the VDU. Ash looked at him,
"What's up?" he asked nervously. Sonic gave a small growl,
"I can't get a colour signal from the VDU. We'll only be able to see in black and white!"
Ash took the cleaner from him,
"It's better than nothing, how much time?"
"Twenty minutes!" Sonique called out. Ash wrenched open a nearby manhole and slid the cleaner into the pipe. He switched the tracer on and the beeping began. Ash sent the cleaner off down the tunnel, staring intently at the VDU. The tracer's beeping increased in speed as the cleaner sped towards the target. There was a thunk and the tracer emitted a long, continuous tone.
"We're at the bomb!" Sonic cried. Ash activated the radio controlled defusing system and watched the VDU as two small mounted set of wire cutters came into view. Sonic stopped him for a second,
"As we can only see in black and white, we're going to have to try and locate the trigger wires. Flip open the top of the bomb casing."
Ash snipped the two wires on either side of the top and lifted the LCD screen of the explosive up. Inside was the familiar liquid bag, and the mass of wires. Ash and Sonic stared at the screen for what seemed like eternity before Sonic swallowed and whispered,
"I think it's these two here!" he pointed with his finger at two wires, one on either side of the bag. Ash turned to him, sweat running down his forehead,
"You sure?" he asked nervously,
"Only one way to tell" Sonic shrugged.
Ash sighed, and cut the two wires. He closed his eyes and waited for something to happen. The LCD screen on the bomb continued to tick, but then, in a flash, it died. He gasped in relief. Sonique hugged him hard and squealed,
"You did it!!"
Sonic grinned,
"You sure did! Nice going Ash!"
Ash just wiped the sweat from his brow and casually slid back the manhole cover. He turned to Sonic,
"How much time was left?"
"We had seven minutes, plenty."
Ash was about to reply when a thought crossed his mind,
"What about Sally's gang? We'd better get to the Tower and see how they're doing!"
The all jumped back into the F1 and drove off towards Sally's location.
Section 6c
Time: 13:53
Location: Data remains unavailable
Tails and Sally were still examining the earth surface where the bomb was hidden. They had been working for over an hour, and Knuckles' patience was wearing extremely thin.
"Where the heck is this damn bomb? We've been here for God knows how long and still nothing! We're all gonna be fish food if we don't do something!!"
Tails was having extreme difficulty keeping his temper down.
"Knuckles!! We have to remain calm! If we lose our cool, then we all die, and that's not something I rea…" He was interrupted by Sally's voice ecstatic voice.
"I think I've found it! Knuckles, did here!!!" She guided him to the point where she was standing. He moved into place and pressed his gloves up against the soil.
"Shield your eyes! A lot of dirt coming out!"
He began scraping away mounds of earth rapidly, carving chunks of the wall out. Presently, he hit something and pulled it out. The bright light of the LCD screen confirmed it was the bomb. But the numbers on the screen were the real threat!
5:00…4:59…4:58…4:57…
Tails screamed,
"Holy shit! We gotta get outta here!"
They ran back to the exit only to find the collapsed shaft. Tails screamed, crying and battering the landslide in tears!
"NO, NO, NO!!! We can't die here!!"
Knuckles shoved the bomb into Sally's paws and pushed the hysterical fox aside,
"Move it squirt!" he ordered. He began digging frantically, carving a tunnel to the outside. Sally looked at the blinking screen again.
3:35…3:34…3:33…
"Knuckles! You'd better move fast!" she yelled
He gritted his teeth, his fists flailing as he desperately tried to reach safety. His prayers were answered as he punched a hole in the soil to reveal the sunlight. It streamed in, blinding them all temporarily. They ran up the tunnel and into the open. They gasped as they filled their lungs with fresh air. Just as they escaped, the F1 screeched into view. Ash leaned out of the window,
"Get in quick! We've got less than two minutes before that thing goes off!"
They dived into the McClaren and sped off. Sally kept a nervous grip on the ticking bomb,
"Where are we going Ash?"
He kept driving, weaving his way through the traffic.
"The flat, it's the only place where we have a defuser. We used ours to take out our bomb, but due to circumstances we had to leave it behind. Time!!"
Tails forced himself to look at the screen.
1:03…1:02…1:01…
"One minute" he yelled hysterically.
"Hang on!" Ash ordered. He floored the McClaren, the engine screaming as it was pushed to the limit. All the agents were flung backwards as the car lurched forward. They zigzagged through busy streets, Ash's driving skills tested to extremes. He yanked the wheel, power sliding the F1 down his road. He screeched the car to a halt outside his flat and they rushed inside. Sally slammed the bomb onto the table, and grasped the defuser that was lying there. Her paws were shaking with nerves as she flipped open the lid. The bomb continued to tick!
0:10…0:09…0:08…
"Hurry!" Tails cried. Sally wiped her brow and cut one of the trigger wires.
0:04…0:03…0:02…
She panicked and cut the wrong wire causing the liquid bag to split. She frantically snipped all the wires on the right hand side.
0:01…
They all closed their eyes tight and prayed.
0:00
Sally opened one eye gingerly. The bag was still leaking, but the LCD screen was black. She had successfully cut both trigger wires! The ISF gave a huge sigh in unison. The colour returned to Tails' face and he promptly passed out in shock. Knuckles too wobbled on his feet, but he managed to stay upright. Sally just wept.
Epilogue
Time: 09:00
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
All the ISF team were fast asleep, exhausted from the terrifying ordeal they had recently encountered. Soon, they began to wake up, some earlier than others. Ash and Sonique were, as usual, the first to rise. She wrapped her arms around her lover's waist and hugged him tight.
"I'm sure glad it's all over"
Ash patted her paws,
"Yeah! Me too!"
The both got up, and went to the Kitchen. He turned to her,
"Extra strong coffee today?" he asked. She nodded,
"Please. I think we've all deserved it!"
He smiled and began preparing it. The scent of the brewing reached Sonic who woke up next. He began drifting towards the smell until he fell out of bed.
"Ooooof!"
He stood up and stretched. He looked over at Sally, who was still sleeping soundly. He smiled and covered her back up. She deserved to sleep in. He made his way to the kitchen where Ash and Sonique were engaged in some sort of embrace. He wolf-whistled and they flew apart.
"Hey, don't you ever knock?" she scolded him. Sonic grinned back.
"Only if there's a door in the way. Do I smell coffee? I could do with some right now."
A short while later, they were all fully awake and eating breakfast. Sally had recovered from the ordeal, and was sitting with her head on Sonic's shoulder. He was stroking her hair lovingly. A beeping caused her to awake from her light sleeping state. They all looked around for the offending sound source. It was Sonic's laptop. He pulled it to him and flipped it open. He pressed a few buttons, and gave wry smile. Ash noticed it,
"What's going on?" he asked inquisitively.
Sonic turned the laptop to face everyone, the familiar ISF logo had appeared on the screen. He took a sip of coffee and ran his fingers through his quills,
"We're on again!"
S:I-2 End
Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are © SEGA 1991, 1992, 1994
Ash is © Blaster Hedgie 1999, 2000
Sonique is © Sonique Hedgehog
Used with kind permission.
All characters and events depicted in this fanfiction are fictitious and any relation to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental.
Story: Blaster Hedgie
E-Mail: Blaster_Hedgie@furry-cup.co.uk
Prologue
Time: 06:20
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
The alarm on the bedside table bleeped loudly. Ash lazily rolled over and slapped the snooze button before falling asleep again. A few minutes later the alarm began its monotone drone once more. Ash groaned and pulled himself out of bed. He slapped the alarm off and yawned, scratching his chest. He got up and ambled towards the bathroom, his eyes still blinking in the early morning light. He turned on the shower and ran his paw under the water, waiting for the warm water to circulate. He stepped in, closed the door and stood under the hot stream, allowing the water to refresh him. Ash picked up his bottle of shampoo and began washing his fur. He was always keen to look his best, even on his day off. He lathered up his whole body and stood under the water once more, washing away all the soap suds. He treated himself to a few more minutes of luxury before he stepped out and dried himself off. He walked over to the mirror, his fur still slightly wet. He rubbed away the condensation that had accumulated on it, and picked up his tub of wax. He was famed for his immaculate look, as his quills were always perfectly groomed. He dipped his paw into the wax and smoothed it over his quills, working the wax into them so they stood up straight and proud. He checked himself a few more times until he was happy with the look. He gave a wry smile and exited the bathroom. Ash poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine. He always set the coffee maker for the morning. He may have been an international spy, but he still relied on good old fashioned pick-me-ups. He finished the cup and was about to pour another when his keen ears sensed something in his room. His never used a gun so he had to rely on unarmed combat. Keeping his guard up and moving stealthily, he peered into the room to see the window open and the curtain billowing in the breeze. He swiveled his ears to try and find the intruder. He picked up the faint sound of breathing near him. It was coming from behind the door. He grasped the handle gently, and with a lightning sharp movement he slammed it shut and pounced on the figure behind it. The figure ooofed as it was pinned to the floor. Ash was about to deal a KO blow when he stopped and looked at the person below him. It took him a few seconds to recognize the face.
"Sonique…….?"
The figure smiled,
"Hi Ash, Long time no see, huh?"
He helped her up and took her into the kitchen. He poured two more cups of coffee.
"What are you doing here?", he asked with genuine curiosity. She smiled and sipped her coffee.
"I was sent to deliver a message to you. It's from the ISF, they need you again."
Ash rolled his eyes and sighed,
"Great! And on my day off too!"
Sonique giggled and unclipped a small laptop computer from her waist. She put it on the counter and flipped it open. Ash watched as she inserted a disk into the drive. She activated it and they watched the screen. An image came into view, along with audio. It was Sonic.
"Ash, good buddy. Sorry to trouble you on your day off, but we need your help again. It seems "R" is back. We were sure we had taken care of him last time, but he seems intent to get revenge. This time though, he means business. The ISF recently received a message from "R" giving us his plans, and his demands. This is bad, Ash, real bad! "R" plans to destroy the entire city of London, UK. It sounds impossible, but then "R" never was a guy to aim small. He's serious about this, no questions asked. According to his message, "R" plans to destroy London in 36 hours. We received the message 6 hours ago today, so we have 30 hours left to stop him. Blowing up a city of this size won't be easy. We've ruled out all the alternative ways of doing such a deed, and we're sure we know what he's going to do. Blowing it up from below would serve no purpose. It would simply desecrate all surrounding areas and be a waste of time. An air strike is possible, but not practical. The only other way we can assume, is that "R" plans to destroy London from within. Taking the city down piece by piece. It's the only way to do it without destroying the entire country. By the time you read this message we'll be on our way over to meet you in London. We're gonna have to pull out all the stops on this one Ash, see you soon. Sonic out."
The message ended and Ash took another sip of his coffee. He swallowed hard. He looked at Sonique again.
"This guy "R" sure knows how to throw a party doesn't he?"
She nodded.
"Sonic's right though, he's going to blow London up piece by piece in less than 30 hours. We should get to Heathrow as soon as we can, and meet up with the rest of ISF."
Ash nodded in agreement, and they made their way outside to his car. Just as he was about to close the door, he turned to her again.
"Oh, next time you come to deliver a message to me?"
"Yes?"
"Use the door!!"
Section 1
Time 07:00
Location: M25, London
The Vauxhall roared down the motorway as Ash and Sonique rushed to meet Sonic and the ISF. Sonique looked at Ash and stifled a laugh. He glanced at her,
"What?"
"What's with those shades?"
He raised an eyebrow,
"I like to be able to see in this sunlight, I hate glare"
She nodded,
"Ah. Hey, we're coming up on the exit"
"Got it"
He turned the car towards the exit and drove down the sliproad. He guided the car round the tight turns of the main road towards the Airport entrance. Sonique pointed as she it,
"There, the main terminal"
Ash turned into the car park and parked the Vauxhall neatly. He took of his shades and flipped them into his jacket pocket. Sonique stifled another laugh. He glared at her,
"WHAT?"
She held up a hand,
"Nothing, nothing"
He sneered,
"OK, let's go"
They made their way towards the terminal where the ISF were landing. They found the passenger exit and waited. Presently, the familiar blue form of Sonic was seen and he nodded to Ash and Sonique,
"Good to see you guys, how ya been?"
Ash hugged his friend,
"Fine over here, how about you?"
Sonic smiled,
"Just great, apart from this damn "R" dude"
Ash hehed and patted him on the back. The other ISF members appeared from the exit, and joined the group. They all exchanged handshakes and hugs and Ash suggested a cup of coffee. They all agreed and sat down at the small café nearby. Sonic leaned to Ash,
"We can't discuss anything here in case we have some shadows. It's difficult to tell who they are in such a large area"
Ash nodded,
"I hear you Sonic. We'll be better off at my place, but for now, how was the flight?"
Sonic grinned,
"Awful! The in-flight movie was 'Gone with the wind'"
Ash winced,
"Ouch!"
Sally rolled her eyes,
"Typical males"
The two guys winked at each other, and they continued talking as they drank their coffee. Presently, Ash checked his watch. He drained his coffee cup and clapped his hands together,
"Everyone ready?"
They all nodded, and stood up,
"OK, let's go"
The Vauxhall was not quite big enough to hold all the ISF, so Sally ended up sitting on Sonic's lap, much to his delight. However, Sally was not so pleased.
"Don't get any ideas hedgehog, this is purely business"
Sonic grinned,
"Would I do that to you, Honey?"
Tails giggled quietly and Sally folded her arms and remained silent.
Section 2
Time: 10:00
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
Ash and Sonic were busy preparing some breakfast while Sonique sat idly chatting to the ISF.
"So, what have you got on "R" so far, Sonic?"
Sonic poured out cups of fresh coffee for everyone,
"At the moment, all we have is what you saw on the disk Sonique gave you. We'll be working round the clock to uncover more info. This is going to be a tough mission, we need to discover where "R" is hiding the explosives, then find a way to get to them, the disarm them. It's not going to be easy Buddy!"
Ash nodded, his face full of seriousness,
"You're right, but for the moment, let's concentrate of getting some food inside us, I'm starved!"
He and Sonic took the tray of food into the lounge and everyone began to eat. Sonic took a swig of coffee and turned to Ash,
"Ash, I believe you already know everyone. Sally, Knuckles, Tails and myself"
Ash nodded to each of them in turn, then he hesitated,
"Where's Rotor?"
Sonic sighed,
"Ah. I'm afraid Rotor is no longer part of the ISF"
Ash's eyes widened,
"He's not…..is he?
Sonic shook his head,
"No, he's not, he just felt he couldn't take the pressure anymore so he quit. I don't blame him, being part of the ISF is a tough living. Sometimes I feel like jacking it all in"
Ash put his hand on his shoulder,
"Hey, don't talk like that, we need you, you're the leader, remember? Besides, as co-leader, if you quit, I'd have to take over your job, and that's not something I'm ready for yet"
Sonic smiled back,
"Don't worry, I won't be gone for a long time"
Ash buttered himself a croissant,
"So, what have we got so far then?"
Sally took over,
"Well, as we all know, "R" is planning to blow up London. Now, we know how he's going to do it, and we know when, but we don't know exactly where. There are a few major spots in the city that would be perfect targets for destruction, so I suggest we target those areas first."
Ash spoke up,
"What areas, Sally?"
She continued,
"Mainly the powerful areas, Parliament, The Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. Blowing up these areas would cause a lot of chaos, just exactly what "R" is hoping for. I'm willing to bet we'll find explosives under some, if not all, of these areas."
Ash nodded again,
"Good work Sally. Now, how much of London would be left if these three bombs went off. If we can work backwards from total destruction we may be able to pinpoint the approximate locations of all the bombs."
Sonic opened his laptop, and brought up a map of London in intricate detail. He pressed a few buttons and turned to computer to face everyone. He pointed at the screen,
"OK, the three power locations are here, here and here. If these are taken out,"
He pressed another button and the screen showed black marks on the map,
"This is the area of destruction will be. Now, the main areas left are the outskirts and some of the city centre. We can almost safely assume that that the edges of London will be left alone. There is nothing of real interest to "R" to warrant destruction of these areas. Therefore, we must assume the other explosives are somewhere within the small city areas. We have 25 hours before the bombs go off. If Sally is right, and three explosives and located beneath the three power locations, then we can get to work on the city centre. That way, we will have a good chance of locating to remaining explosives."
Ash's face took on a look of grave concern,
"OK, we have our work cut out for us. Do we know if "R" has any hired help on this one?"
Sonic shook his head,
"We've not found any leads to discover an accomplice as yet. Sleet and Dingo were executed following their failure of "R"s previous attempt. I've checked out all of his previous accomplices to see if any look like they could be in on it, but none of them seem to fit this plan. He could be working on his own."
Sally shook her head,
"No way. "R" is notorious for his use of help. He's a dominator not a worker. He'd never do his own dirty work. Someone is helping him, I'm sure of it."
Ash sighed,
"OK, we have another agenda to cover then, discover and disable "R" accomplice. Knuckles, Tails, I want you guys to take charge of this matter. That OK with you Sonic?"
Sonic gave a thumbs up,
"Sure thing, you heard him guys"
Knuckles and Tails gave a respectful salute and went on their way. Ash clapped his hands together,
"OK, looks like our first stop is Parliament then"
Section 3
Time: 13:00
Location: Parliament Buildings, London, UK
The three friends stood outside the towering monuments as they gazed up at them. Ash give a reluctant sigh,
"They never looked the big before."
Sally turned to him,
"That's not the half of it, we have to locate the bomb that underneath this monster."
Ash gave another sigh,
"Yeah, don't I know it. Any ideas Sally?"
A wry smile crossed her face,
"Actually, yes. OK, Parliament is divided into two buildings, the house of commons, and the house of lords. Both buildings are joined together. What's the easiest way of splitting two joined objects apart?"
Ash shrugged,
"At the place where they join I'm guessing."
Sally smiled again,
"Exactly! That's where we'll find the bomb. Blowing up Parliament from the joined section will take out half of each building. The other halves will have no support so they will just crumble. Easier, and less expensive than using two bombs."
Ash's face lit up,
"OK! Nice going Sally! Now, all we have to do is find a way to get inside and locate that explosive without any disturbances. Sonic, can you do this?"
Sonic was already tapping the keyboard on his laptop,
"On it already good buddy. OK, I'm hacking into the Parliamentary administration sub-sections. I'm going to create a fake communications breakdown in the far right wing of the commons building. That's the furthest place away from the joined sections. It won't buy us much time, but it's all we're gonna get."
He tapped the keys a few more times, his finger now poised over the enter key,
"OK, once I hit this button, all the communications will appear to go down in this section. The staff and guards will be called there to try and fix the problem. As this is just a fake breakdown, they'll discover it pretty soon, so we'll have to be fast. Sally? Do you have a route planned for us?"
Sally nodded,
"I sure do, you guys ready to go?"
Ash and Sonic nodded in unison,
"OK, let's go!"
Sonic hit the enter key and immediately folded the laptop and slung it in his backpack. They all ran to the main doors and Sally disabled the locks. They burst inside, Sally leading the way to the joined section of the building. All around them the alarms were blazing, the building's guards and staff all in the far section. They arrived at the spot and Sonic took out his explosive locator. He turned it on and waved it over the area. Ash looked on intently,
"How does that work?" He asked intently.
Sonic keep his eyes on the scanner but spoke to him,
"Most bombs use a combination of volatile fluids to create the explosion. Usually the mixture will contain acetone, liquid hydrogen and hydrochloric acid. This scanner is programmed to detect any of these three fluids. I'm willing to bet this bomb contains at least one of these substances."
Ash he finished speaking the locator emitted a high peaked beep. Sonic punched the air with his fist,
"We got it!! It's here all right. Woah! This baby's a powerful one. It's using all three of these fluids plus chlorine!"
Ash looked at the locator intently,
"Is that bad?"
Sonic nodded,
"You bet! This is the mother of all explosives. It could easi…"
Sally grabbed both their shoulders,
"I hate to break this up, but can I please defuse it now?"
They moved out of her way,
"Sorry Sal", Sonic apologized.
It's OK," she said, "Just buy me some more time, we may need it. Defusing this won't be hard, but getting to it will be. I don't know how "R" got this thing under here, but whoever did it for him is one superb bomb placing expert!"
Sonic grinned,
"I never thought I'd hear you compliment a bad guy"
She looked over her shoulder at him,
"It's the only one he's gonna get out of me. Now buy me time, Sonic. I'm working fast, but I need a few extra minutes here!"
Sonic flipped out his laptop and began tapping the keys. A look of concern crossed his face.
"Damn!" He exclaimed, "The computer can't get a satellite link to create Net access. I'm going to have to find a computer terminal here and work from inside. Ash, stay with Sally, help her if she needs it!"
Ash gave a thumbs up as Sonic ran off down the corridor. He looked at his watch,
"Shit! 30 seconds till they discover the breakdown illusion. I need a terminal quick!!!"
He rocketed off down the corridor again scouring for any rooms nearby. He screeched to a halt as he found a secretary's office,
"Yes!!" he exclaimed as he began attacking the keyboard, "OK baby, let's see what we can do here."
He continued furiously typing away. He looked up as the alarms went silent, a sure sign that the breakdown illusion had been solved.
"Aw Geez!" He peered nervously at the terminal, still tapping madly at the keyboard. Suddenly, his face took on a grin,
"All right! This should turn a few heads!" He slapped the enter key and ran out of the room as the lights snapped off. He took out a torch from his backpack and ran off back to where his fellow comrades were working. He arrived back to find Ash and Sally still battling with the bomb. He leaned over them,
"How's it going?" he whispered.
Ash leapt into the air with a start,
"Jesus!! Don't DO that to me!!!" he panted.
Sonic shrugged,
"Sorry. Sal, how goes?"
She continued to work, while speaking,
"I'm nearly done here, Sonic. I've almost got the floor tile up. There we go!"
She prized the concrete block up to reveal the explosive. Carefully she located the two main wires and snipped them. The blinking display flickered a few times, then faded away and died. She wrenched the bomb from its hiding place and dropped the tile back into the hole. She placed it in Sonic's backpack and all three ran back to the exit. They reached the door and Sonic pushed it, expecting it to open, but it did not. He pushed it again, but still it refused to budge. Ash stepped forward,
"Let me!"
He took a few steps back and ran towards the door before leaping into a side kick. The lock cracked and split, causing the door to fly open and the sunlight to pour in. Ash wasted no time in running out the opening,
"GO! GO! GO!" he yelled to the other two. Sonic grabbed Sally and ran after Ash, guards pouring from the Parliament doors looking around in total bewilderment. Sonic glanced back and grinned before racing off at top speed.
Soon, they all arrived back at Ash's flat. Sally took out the bomb and set it on the table. Ash took a close look at it,
"It's safe now is it?" he asked with some concern.
Sally nodded,
"It won't go off now, but the liquids inside are still dangerous. The only way to defuse it properly is to crack it open and freeze the fluids inside. That way, they can't be ignited."
Ash nodded,
"OK, let's go to work."
Sally took out her tool kit and began unscrewing the casing. She was careful to work slowly to avoid spilling any of the liquid. After she had removed a number of screws she lifted the top of the bomb off, revealing a mass of coloured wires and a large clear case filled with fluid. She pointed at the case with her finger,
"That's the volatile fluids of the bomb. They're ignited by tiny sparks produced by these wires here. Now, the reason there are so many wires, is so the bomb can be placed in any position, upright, upside down, on its side, anyway at all. At least two wires need to be in contact with the fluid to create the explosion."
Ash looked at her,
"So what wires did you cut then?"
She turned over the lid of the bomb and pointed to the reverse of the LCD display,
"I cut these two wires here, the ones that control and power the timer. With no timer to count down, the bomb will not be triggered."
He ahhed and nodded. Sally loosened the screws near the liquid case and teased it out. She held it gently in her paw and turned to Ash,
"We need to put this in a freezer compartment. That way the fluid cannot be ignited."
He took the case from her, and carefully placed it inside the freezer in his kitchen. He thumbed the freezer,
"Will that be OK?"
She nodded,
"Yes, that'll be fine. We don't have to worry about that bomb now, it's perfectly safe. Now all we need to do is locate and defuse the other three bombs."
Ash groaned,
"Geez! I knew this job wouldn't be easy!"
She smirked,
"It never is, that's why I love it! Coffee?"
Ash closed his eyes and nodded,
"Yeah, I could use some. Thanks."
"No Problem."
Section 4
Time: 16:00
Location: M25, London, UK
Tails picked his mobile phone and dialed as Knuckles sat in the Vauxhall's driver's seat, weaving the car between the motorway traffic. Tails was in the passenger seat, the phone pressed to his ear.
Sonique was sitting on the sofa in Ash's flat when the phone rang. She picked it up,
"Hello?"
Tails replied from the other end,
"Sonique, it's Tails. Listen, we've managed to work out who "R" is working with on this operation. He's a creature called Chaos. He's a water demon who can change himself, and any object he's holding into water. In the wrong hands he's a lethal weapon, and you can't go much more wrong than "R"."
Sonique nodded down the phone line,
"I agree with you there. How did "R" find this Chaos guy, and how did you find out about him too?"
"It wasn't easy. We had to bribe a few choice people, and hack a few systems to get what we wanted, but we did it, right Knuckles?"
He turned to the echidna,
"You bet we did!" he shouted across from the driver's seat. Tails grinned as Sonique laughed down the line at them. Tails continued,
"We found out that "R" has what we can only describe as a vault of helpers. He sorta 'buys' them, then takes them when he needs them and uses them as he pleases. He found Chaos about three years ago, almost to the day when the ISF was created."
Sonique's eyes widened,
"Woah! That's spooky!"
Tails agreed,
"Yeah, I know. He's been keeping chaos for his biggest operation yet, and I think we can say this is probably it! Look, we'll talk more when we rendezvous back at the flat. See ya soon, Tails out!"
The phone clicked off and Sonique placed the receiver back on the hook. She scribbled down what Tails had said and rushed off to find Ash, Sonic and Sally. They were in the kitchen staring at Sonic's laptop computer.
"Guys!" she burst out.
"What's up Sonique?" Ash stood up and looked at her. She pointed to her piece of paper.
"Tails just called. It appears that "R" does have an accomplice on this operation. He's called Chaos, a water demon with the ability to transform himself and any object he's holding into water! A lethal combination if you ask me!"
Sally snapped her fingers,
"Of course! That's how that bomb was placed so well inside Parliament. Chaos was able to use his water form to travel through the sewer system and ventilation shafts to exactly the right spot! I KNEW he had to have someone working with him, I just knew it!"
Sonic swiveled round on his stool,
"Well, if Chaos can place a bomb that well inside Parliament, think how good he's gonna have been placing them inside the Palace and the Tower. We're gonna have our work cut out for us on this one!"
Ash groaned and rubbed his forehead,
"Oh man! I don't know if I can cope with this!"
Sally frowned and slapped his face angrily. He started and rubbed his cheek, his eyes wide with shock.
"What the heck was that for?" he demanded. She stared deep into his eyes,
"Listen here! You're the co-leader of the ISF. You can't bail out of this mission, your home town and the whole of the world is facing disaster here. We need all the man power we can get. Luckily for us, Tails and Knuckles have completed their first task so we have another two men to add to our team. That's six! Better than four but still a limited arsenal. We have…" She looked at her watch, "We have less than seventeen hours before those other three explosives go off! You pull yourself together, Ash, you hear me?"
He stared at her wide-eyed before nodding silently. She rubbed his cheek and kissed him.
"Good. Sorry to be so rough on you but we need you."
He nodded again,
"Thanks Sally, I think I needed that." He smiled a little, "You know, my cheek still hurts a bit, could you perhaps…."
He didn't need to finish. Sally placed her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his, kissing him deeply. He hugged her as Sonic and Sonique stared open mouthed at the spectacle that was going on in full view of them. They parted and Sonic spluttered,
"Hey! If he's just the co-leader, shouldn't I get one of those too?" Sally rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Very well Sonic Hedgehog." She performed the same act on him and he sighed as they parted lips.
"Thank you. Now, shall we get to work?"
Sally nodded,
"That's an extremely good idea!" She flipped open Sonic's laptop and brought up the map of London again. "OK, we've taken out the Parliament bomb, so that's safe, which location next?"
Ash hummed, and the other two turned to him. He wagged a finger at them,
"I have an idea that may give us the edge over "R" here, hang on." He left the room as Sonic and Sally looked at each other. Sonique joined them as they perused the screen once more. A rustle of paper signaled Ash's return. He placed a large scroll of paper on the table and unrolled it, holding it down with two coffee mugs. The paper was covered with plans of buildings and, more interestingly, many, many lines running from building to building.
"What the heck is this?" Sonic blurted out. Ash unleashed a large smile,
"It's a plan of the sewer, water and ventilation ducts of the entire city of London. This scroll here shows the three power buildings in detail."
Sally snapped her fingers,
"Of course! Chaos has to travel along these passages to avoid detection from above ground. All we need to do is find the routes that give the quickest and easiest access to the locations we want, and we should be able to locate the bombs in no time! Ash, you're a genius!"
He shrugged,
"Like you said, you DO need me."
Sonique tapped the paper with her finger,
"This is Buckingham Palace. I recognize the layout of the structure. I also know that there are very few water inlets and outlets in this place. A sewer can easily be traveled by foot, if you're brave enough."
Sonic shuddered as the thought entered his mind,
"Eugh!!!"
Sonique chuckled,
"Chill Sonic, we won't need to go down there. We can follow the route from here, like Ash said."
She ran her finger along a line on the map,
"This is the main sewer outlet. It's the biggest pipe from this location, so I'm willing to bet that Chaos will have used this route. If I'm right, the Palace explosive will be very near this outlet area."
Sonic raised an eyebrow,
"Why?"
Sonique tapped the scroll again,
Once the explosive goes off, the outlet will be showered with debris and most definitely blocked with rubble. If anyone wants to try and get down there to look for clues, it'll take them a few weeks to excavate all the crud that's filled the hole. Simple, but a highly effective way to cover your tracks!"
Ash patted her on the back,
"I like your style girl!" he laughed. She grinned at him,
"Thanks. So do I!"
Ash turned to Sally,
"How much time do we have left?" Sally checked her watch,
"About 16 hours, not much! We'd better get to work on the Buckingham Palace bomb now."
Sonic nodded,
"I hear ya Sal, let's go guys! Sonique, you come too. Your knowledge of Palace's sewer system will be invaluable to us."
She nodded in agreement and ran after them. Just as they closed the door of the flat, the Vauxhall screeched to a halt with Tails and Knuckles inside. The echidna rolled down the window and leaned out,
"Where you guys off to, anywhere nice?"
Ash opened the rear door and the four got in,
"Buckingham Palace, drive!!!" he ordered. Knuckles slammed the car into reverse and backed up before driving off in a screech of tyres and a shower of grit.
Section 5
Time: 20:00
Location: Buckingham Palace, London, UK
The Vauxhall skidded to a halt a short distance from the Palace grounds. Ash silently held out black uniforms to Sonic, Sally and Sonique and they all put them on. As Sonique pulled the top over her head she turned to Ash,
"What are these for?" she asked. Ash pulled his trousers on.
"Simple", he said, "So we can easily make our way through the grounds without being spotted by the cameras or the guards. Sonique thought for a few moments.
"Won't a place with such high security being using Infra-red too though?"
Ash blushed and looked at his feet,
"Ah. That's something I hadn't actually considered. Damn!" he pounded his fist on the seat in front of him. Knuckles turned to look at him,
"Hey! Watch it!"
Ash looked up,
"Oh, sorry"
Sonique gave a wry smile,
"I have an idea to combat any of those naughty infra-cams however!"
Ash looked at her pathetically,
"Yeah?" he asked, with no real feeling to his voice. Sonique pulled out something from her jacket, screwed a cylindrical object onto the front and pulled back the rear with a click. Ash's eyes widened with shock,
"An automatic! Where the heck did you get that? Guns are illegal here you know!"
Sonique grinned,
"True, but so are plans to blow up London. That's illegal didn't you know?"
Ash rolled his eyes,
"OK, you got me, let's go! Sonique, as you know the route of the sewage pipe that Chaos used to plant the bomb, you'll be with me and Sally inside. Sonic, I want you to remain outside and as soon as we get over the main fence, start creating diversions. Parliament was easy compared to this baby! The guards won't be so easily fooled. It won't take them long to work out what's going on. We'll need to be fast, very fast! Everyone clear?"
They all nodded. Ash turned to Sonique and motioned towards the building's exterior walls. She looked carefully at the security arrangement before turning back to Ash.
"From what I can make out, there's only one Infra-red camera that could pick us up from where we are."
Ash whispered,
"Take it out!"
Sonique aimed and fired at the security camera. The glass front smashed and the interior sparked as it was blown up. Ash waved his arm forward and they all ran to the wall. He, Sally and Sonique began to climb it as Sonic remained below, tapping away at his laptop. He gave a thumbs up to Ash and he returned the gesture. The three agents dropped onto the grass lawn and moved silently towards the huge structure. Immediately. The lights inside the building shut off, accompanied by screams and shouts from women and guards. Ash whispered again,
"Phase one complete, let's go! Sonique, lead us to the sewer outlet."
She ran towards the rear of the Palace, closely followed by the other two. The commotion inside was sufficient to cover any noise they made. Sonique took out a small pocket torch and carefully shone it to find the outlet. A large metal cover buried in the lawn's grassy surface signified success. She tapped Ash on the shoulder,
"Here it is", she whispered, "We have to open it somehow."
Ash gripped the cover and with a few grunts and heaves he slid the cover off. The stench wafted up from below and they all staggered back in disgust. Sally waved her paw in front of her nose,
"Eeeew! That is foul! Do we really have to go down there?"
Ash held out a gas mask to each of them,
"We can use these to breath as we walk through the pipe. There's a risk of sewer gas, so we need some protection just in case. Plus, it'll keep the smell out!"
Sally wasted no time in pulling hers on. They all dropped into the pipe and just as they did, the lights flickered back on inside the Palace. Sonic looked on from the outside and sighed,
"Guys, it's all up to you now!"
Ash peered into the darkness of the tunnel. He fumbled around on his waist and unclipped his torch. He turned it on and shone it down the tunnel. Green goo clung to the walls and water continually dripped down the sides of the pipe. He began trudging through the sewage, closely followed by Sonique and Sally. They walked until they reached a junction in the pipe. He turned round to the two girls and gestured, using the torch. Sonique nodded, and pulled out the map. She followed the line with her finger and located the route. She found the junction and the turning they should take. She held her arm out and pointed to the left. Ash gave a thumbs up and they continued through the grime filled sewer.
Soon, they came to a dead end. Ash shone the torch upwards to reveal a ladder, and a small cover. Light shone from above and Ash gestured to Sally to take a look. She climbed the ladder and inspected the grating. Through it, she could see what appeared to be the underground waste disposal section of the Palace, exactly the place where the opening was! She quickly took out her bomb detector and was about to turn it on when Ash grabbed her hand. She looked at him and he shook his head slowly. She shrugged suggesting she did not understand, so Ash held the torch between his legs and began using sign language: "We in gas filled pipe. No use that thing. Make spark. Ignite gas. Us die"
Sally nodded, fully understanding, and clipped the detector back onto her waist. She gestured to borrow Ash's torch, and she began closely inspecting the walls of the pipe. She remembered Tails' words.
"Chaos is a water demon, he can change himself and anything he carries into water"
She knew that he would have been able to seep behind a brick, place the bomb, and seep out again, returning the bomb to its solid state. She sighed inside the mask, glad that the others could not hear her. Without the detector, finding the bomb would be almost impossible. She sighed again and looked around for any kind of inspiration. She thought to herself,
"These pipes are filthy!! I'm surprised someone doesn't clean them more often!"
Just as the thought entered her head, her eyes widened as the solution struck her!
"Chaos is a water demon, water cleans things. When Chaos slipped behind one of the bricks, he must have washed away at least some of the grime and mortar that was surrounding it!"
She began rapidly checking every brick. Soon, she found one with loose mortar around it. She prized it away with her paws and the bomb stared her in the face. She took out her wire cutters and shone the torch onto the explosive. She located the two wires and in two swift snips the bomb was defused. She carefully pulled it out of the hole and replaced the brick. Ash gave her a hug and patted her on the back. They all ran back to the manhole. Ash pulled himself out and lifted the two girls out after him. He slid the cover back into place, and they all removed their masks. Unfortunately, the stench has not stayed in the sewer. Ash caught a nosefull of the foul odour and immediately had to turn away as his stomach rebelled against him. Sally, waving her paw in front of her nose again, had to laugh,
"I think we can allow you that one Ash"
He coughed and spluttered before turning round again,
"Thanks, I think", he said.
They trudged back to the car, pulled off their black uniforms and dumped them in the boot. Sally kept the bomb in her paws, holding it tight. As they got back in, Sonic waved his paw in front of her face,
"Phew whee! Boy, you musta gone deep underground!" he said.
Sally grinned at him,
"Yes, we did, but, we got the second bomb, and it's defused!"
Knuckles started the Vauxhall and began driving away,
"In that case, let's get back home so you guys can shower off that smell!"
Section 6a
Time: 05:00
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
The ISF were having a well deserved rest after their current hard work. Ash and Sonique were cuddled up together in his bed, Sonic and Sally were in the spare room bed and Knuckles and Tails were sharing the sofa in the lounge. Ash hugged Sonique closer to him and kissed her cheek. She smiled and rubbed up against him, brushing her face against his chest fur. He sighed and petted her head fur, and whispered,
"I love you"
She opened her eyes and stroked his cheek,
"What did you say?" she asked
Ash opened his eyes and looked into hers,
"I said, I love you"
She kissed his cheek,
"You know what? I love you too"
She rolled over and sat atop him,
"So? Wanna show me how much?"
He laughed and shook his head,
"Yeah, right! With all the other guys here? It wouldn't be the most romantic way to do it"
She nodded,
"OK, then I'll settle for this"
She lay down on top of him and kissed his passionately. He held her in his arms as she pressed her lips to his. Just as Ash was about to reach down and massage her rump, the alarm went off, signifying 6am, and time to get up! Ash rolled his eyes and groaned,
"Oh man! Sometimes I seriously hate this job!"
"Come on you!" Sonique pulled him out of bed, "As soon as we finish the mission, the sooner we can…"
"Start the next one!" he answered bluntly. Sonique swatted his face,
"I think someone needs a good strong cup of coffee!" She dragged him into the kitchen.
In the other room, Sonic was still sleeping alongside Sally. In truth he was awake, but he liked the way he was lying. He was positioned behind Sally, with his arms around her. He could feel her tail pressing against his stomach. He licked her ear with his tongue gently, and he smiled to himself when she flicked it. He licked it again, and she flicked it again, but this time a quiet murmur of "Stop it!" came from Sally. He grinned behind her and licked inside her ear. She squealed and rolled onto her back.
"Oooooo! You KNOW how I hate that!" she glared at him, trying not to laugh. Sonic lay on his back, his arms behind his head,
"You do? I never realized!" he said, another grin forming on his face. Sally narrowed her eyes and pouted at him,
"I hate you Sonic Hedgehog!"
"I hate you too!" he replied. Sally leapt on top of him and pinned his arms back against the bed. She pushed her groin against his neck, which caused him to give a small squeak. She looked down at her prisoner,
"Now, what shall I do with you?" she said, tapping her fingers on his chest. Sonic looked at the body that was holding him down,
"You know Sal, you look pretty hot from this angle!"
She gasped and rolled off him. She was about to give him a good scolding, when a knock came at the door. They both sat up,
"Come in" Sally called out.
Ash peeked in the room,
"There's coffee and breakfast in the living room guys" He looked at the extremely rumpled sheets and frowned slightly. "You guys OK last night?"
Sally blushed lightly and Sonic sniggered,
"Oh, um, yes, of course Ash, we were fine, how about you?" She tried to cover the redness in her cheeks. Ash nodded,
"We were OK. When you're ready, we'll be in the lounge"
As Ash left, Sonic sniggered again. Sally slapped his arm,
"How can you laugh at that?" she scorned, blushing again. Sonic grinned,
"Oh come on Sal! Like he didn't know already!"
Sally rubbed her arm in embarrassment,
"Well, maybe he did, but he didn't have to say it!"
Sonic laughed lightly, took her arm and stood up,
"Forget about it, look, let's go shower and eat something, I'm starved!"
She followed him,
"You always are!"
"Well, look what I do to work up an appetite!"
"SONIC!!!"
Soon, all the ISF agents were enjoying a hearty breakfast. Ash poured out more coffee for everyone and Sally stood up,
"OK, everyone. Well done on the past few days. We've stopped two of "R"s bombs, and we know who's helping him." She looked at her fellow agents in turn, gesturing to those who helped with what. She continued, "But, we still have two more explosives to find, and only twelve hours left on the clock. That's six hours per bomb. I suggest we divide the ISF into two groups. One group takes the City bomb, the other takes the Tower of London bomb. Tails, Knuckles and I will take the Tower of London, Ash, Sonique and Sonic will do the City." She looked over at Ash, "I'm choosing you here, Ash, as you know more about London than any of us". He nodded and gave a respectful salute. Sonic spoke up,
"Sally's plan is probably our only way of completing the mission in time. The City bomb is going to be the most difficult, which is why Ash and Sonique are on this one with me. Is everyone OK with their situations?" He looked around for any objections. None came. He gave a small smile, "Good! OK, ISF, split up and move out!" They were about to move when Knuckles stopped them,
"Hang on! We're in two groups, but we only have one car, how will the other group get to their bomb in time?" The rest of the ISF looked around nervously, apart from Ash. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small set of keys,
"I have another little motor I keep for special occasions" he said wryly. Sally clapped her hands together,
"OK, we have transport, we have plans, but we don't have much time, let's go!" Her group ran outside, and the Vauxhall drove away, a screech of tyres following after. Ash tut-tutted,
"He'll wreck my suspension doing that!"
Sonic grabbed his arm,
"Come on, we gotta go chill that bomb, where's the other car?"
Ash gestured with his paw,
"Follow me!" he ordered. They ran outside to back garage. Ash hauled up the door and revealed the shiny motor inside. Sonic's jaw dropped,
"A McClaran F1??? Where the heck did you get that, Ash?"
Ash grinned and leaned on the bonnet,
"It was a gift…..from an old friend. Beauty ain't she?"
Sonic nodded, still open mouthed. Sonique gave a growl and dug him in the ribs,
"I hate to stop you gawking at this thing, but we have a job to do!"
He rubbed his chest,
"Oh, yeah, of course."
They all piled into the car and Ash drove away, the turbo whining and the engine purring fluidly.
Sally's team pulled up outside the Tower of London. She checked her watch.
"We have eleven hours left in total. If we can defuse this bomb in less than six, we can meet up with Ash's team and help them out!"
Knuckles nodded,
"You're right, but first we need to take out this sucker, any idea where it could be?"
Sally tapped her nose,
"I think I know, follow me!"
Her team ran round the back of the Tower to what look like a rusty iron cage. Tails looked up at it,
"What's this?" he asked. Sally walked up to it and began inspecting it.
"It's an old service elevator that used to be used for moving valuable items under the Tower, for safety. The crown jewels were once hidden underneath the Tower, but thieves found a way in, so they locked them inside and keep them under 24 hour guard surveillance. I'm willing to bet Chaos has placed the third bomb directly underneath the Tower."
Tails looked puzzled,
"Why would he put it right underneath?"
Sally kept probing the cage,
"Because it would cause the centre of the Tower to collapse and therefore crumble inwards, and also, this is the only way he could have gotten under the Tower, there's no sewer or water pipes connected here, no need."
Knuckles bashed his fists together,
"OK, let's go!"
Ash's team were speeding along the M25 again, heading for the residential area of London. Sonic was scanning for the bomb at long range,
"Nothing here yet, Ash. You sure it's around here somewhere?"
Ash continued to concentrate on his driving,
"Yep, I'm sure of it. There's a whole maze of sewer and water tunnels here. It's perfect for hiding a bomb like this. We may be able to locate it on the scanner, but getting to it will be another matter. Hang on!"
He slammed on the brakes and turned the car ninety degrees left before zooming off down a narrow street, smoke and tyre rubber billowing into the wind.
Sally's team were making their way down the lift shaft. Knuckles was able to climb down using his spiked gloves, but Sally had to rely on Tails' helicopter style descent. They reached the bottom on the shaft and Tails swung his appendages back into their fluffy shape.
"Thanks for the lift" he said, smiling. Tails gave a salute,
"No Problem" he replied.
Knuckles took out a torch and turned it on. The inner tunnel was very small compared to the main lift shaft. Sally remembered her experience in the sewer tunnel below the palace. She bent down and felt the ground. A damp trail met her fingertips and she pointed down the tunnel,
"That way!"
The three agents disappeared down the dark passage, unaware of the figure hiding in the shadows behind them. It crept out and began scraping at the walls of the lift shaft, carving out huge lumps of earth. Soon, the walls began to crumble and totter, becoming unstable due to the creature digging away at the base. The iron cage at the top began to sway before tumbling into the dark void, bringing down the entire shaft with it. The figure simply stood and allowed the tons of earth to cover it, the exit to the outside world now completely caved in. At the top of the mound, a small wet patch appeared and continued to increase in size until the figure that was at the base of the shaft now stood on the crumbled dirt. The eyes of Chaos were dull and lifeless, no emotion shown in them, and no facial features to express any either. But the creature stayed no longer, instead flowing off down a nearby drain, moving towards the urban sector of London town.
Section 7a
Time: 10:00
Location: Urban London, UK
The McClaran sped down the narrow streets of the city, homing in on the signal of the bomb. Sonic kept his eyes glued to the screen as the radar pitch increased, signifying their nearing the explosive. The scanner emitted a continuous beep and Sonic shouted,
"STOP!"
Ash skidded the car to a halt and they got out where the scanner had led them. Ash looked up and his face fell,
"Oh Shit!!" he cursed. The other two looked up and their faces mirrored his when they saw what he saw. In front of them stood four huge tower blocks, each holding fifty or sixty flats. Sonic looked at his friend,
"You mean…..Chaos planted the fourth bomb right under this lot???"
Ash just nodded, unable to speak. Sonic's voice went up an octave,
"How??? How did he get it under here?"
Ash regained his voice,
"The same way he got it under Parliament and Buckingham Palace, via the sewers and water ways. Only this time, he's been able to use the small pipes, not the massive things we were able to walk inside."
Sonique piped up,
"So, in other words, we can't get to the fourth bomb then?"
Ash turned to her,
"Oh, we can get to it, we just need to rip up these apartment blocks first!"
Sonique sneered at him,
"You're not helping here."
He growled in anger,
"Yeah? Well, I'm sorry if I appear to be small minded, but I'm not currently able to shrink myself to a minute size and walk along those tiny pipes!!"
She was about to apologize when a thought struck her,
"Ash! How do they clean those large pipes we walked through?"
He shrugged,
"They have a team of guys walk through it armed with brushes and scrubbers"
She gave a sly smile,
"So how do they clean these little ones then?" she tapped her foot on the concrete.
He shrugged again,
"Same way, except they use this tiny, little, radio contr……." His voice trailed off as she grinned triumphantly. "Of Course!" he gasped, "We can modify a cleaner to find the bomb! Sonique, you're a genius!" He hugged her hard and kissed her cheek. She hugged his back, a little surprised at his actions.
"Woah there Tiger!" she said, still grinning. "Now, where can we get one of these motorized cleaners?"
Ash's sudden happy mood changed immediately,
"Ah!" he said sullenly, "I don't actually know"
During all this time, Sonic had been typing away at his laptop. He looked up from his keypad,
"I believe I know where." he said.
The McClaren roared off down the London streets once more, heading towards the city's largest sector, the arcades and shopping precincts. Sonic, again, was tapping his laptop keypad. Sonique looked at him,
"Now what are you looking for?" she asked. He didn't look up from his computer, but instead, spoke to her whilst still fixing his gaze on the screen.
"If we can't get hold of a cleaner, we'll need to obtain the parts and build it from scratch. We need to modify it anyway, so attaching the tracer will be necessary."
Sonique tapped her nose,
"What will we need to modify it with?"
Ash was the one to answer this question,
"We need the tracer, modified for short range, so we can locate the bomb exactly. Plus we need a radio controlled defusing system attached to the front of the cleaner, and also a VDU so we can see what we're doing. Quite a package I would say!"
Section 6b
Time: 12:00
Location: Unknown
"Where the heck are we?" Knuckles' voice echoed off the damp walls of the underground passage. Sally was getting a little steamed,
"I don't know!!! We just have to follow the damp trail Chaos has left and we'll find the explosive easily, now just keep calm and don't cause any earth tremors!"
Knuckles huffed and continued trudging through the dark tunnel. Tails, who had remained silent for a long time now, spoke up,
"Hey Sally, the floor feels a lot wetter than it did before"
She stopped and felt the ground,
"Yes, it does. That means Chaos must have stopped her for a while, either to check something or to plant the bomb!" She walked a few more paces further and felt the ground again, "It's dry here, the explosive is around this area here somewhere, be careful!" She shone the torch slowly across the wall, looking for any kind of faint clue as to where the bomb might be. Tails put his hand into the torch light. Sally scowled,
"Tails!! I can't see!"
He nodded,
"That's just it! Chaos put the bomb in this tiny tunnel as he knew we would have to use a torch to see where we were going. This light causes so many shadows that spotting any kind of fault in this wall would be down to pure luck!!"
Sally blinked, he was right! Using the torch WOULD mean finding the bomb would be lucky, but how else could it be done? She decided to put that question to him,
"So, how then, without the Torch, do we find the location of explosive number three?"
Tails took the Torch from her,
"First we turn it off, like so" he pressed the switch and plunged all three of them into complete blackness. Knuckles mocked him,
"Oh, this is working!"
Tails growled, but kept his cool,
"It's been scientifically proven that the other senses are increased in sensitivity when one or more are disabled. We can't see, so we rely on touch and sound more."
Knuckles mocked again,
"So what? We listen for the bomb to tell us where it is?"
Tails gripped the torch hard, his temper beginning to fray, but he kept control, just about,
"No!" he said, through gritted teeth, "We feel the walls and use our sense of touch to locate any substantial differences in shape, texture or temperature. This will guide us to the location of the explosive!"
Knuckles' mocking stopped,
"Hey, not bad kid, not bad!"
Tails removed his gloves,
"Now, let's find this bomb before it finds us! How much time Sally?"
She thought for a second,
"I'd say we have about two hours to find the bomb, get out, and defuse it. Let's get to work!"
Section 7b
Time: 12:30
Location: Urban London, UK
The McClaren screeched to a halt outside a warehouse in a small alley. Ash got out of the car, a bemused expression on his face.
"Sonic? Why did we drive here?"
Sonic exited the car along with Sonique. He closed his laptop up and spoke.
"I found that we can't obtain one of these cleaners through the normal channels, so we'll have to build one. I've downloaded the schematics, we just need the materials. This old factory should have loads of tat lying about we can use."
Ash turned to him,
"How long will it take us to build one of these things, and modify it?"
Sonic looked at his watch,
"We have ninety minutes until the bomb goes off, so it'll have to be under one hour, so we can send it down the pipe and defuse it. Let's go!"
He stepped up and kicked in the door. The three agents entered the warehouse. It was a huge building. Dusty, murky and musty, but it had all the parts they wanted. Sonic fired up his laptop again, and brought up the cleaner schematics.
"OK. Let's find all the parts we need!"
They set about rummaging through the piles of junk inundated around the warehouse. Presently, and quite quickly, they found what they needed. Sonic took out the tracer and separated it into two pieces.
"We have all the parts, we have the tracer set to short range, let's build ourselves a cleaner!"
They began cutting, screwing, soldering and bolting. Ash was able to understand the electronics, so he set about the soldering of the wires and circuits. Sonique took charge of the laptop, checking the cleaner against the schematics, making sure everything went well. Soon, they had constructed a crude, but working water pipe cleaner. Ash smiled proudly,
"A beauty ain't she?"
Sonic nodded,
"Yup, now we need to add the tracer, the defusing system and we're all set. How much time?"
Sonique checked her watch, and her eyes widened in shock,
"Oh my god! We've got less than thirty minutes before that thing blows!"
Ash snapped his head up,
"Holy Geez! We'll have to finish the rest of the modifications in the car. We have to get to the bomb!"
They all piled back into the car, and sped off towards the apartment blocks. Sonic was in the back, hurriedly working on the final adjustments to the cleaner. They stopped at the flats and got out of the car. Sonic was angrily tapping the VDU. Ash looked at him,
"What's up?" he asked nervously. Sonic gave a small growl,
"I can't get a colour signal from the VDU. We'll only be able to see in black and white!"
Ash took the cleaner from him,
"It's better than nothing, how much time?"
"Twenty minutes!" Sonique called out. Ash wrenched open a nearby manhole and slid the cleaner into the pipe. He switched the tracer on and the beeping began. Ash sent the cleaner off down the tunnel, staring intently at the VDU. The tracer's beeping increased in speed as the cleaner sped towards the target. There was a thunk and the tracer emitted a long, continuous tone.
"We're at the bomb!" Sonic cried. Ash activated the radio controlled defusing system and watched the VDU as two small mounted set of wire cutters came into view. Sonic stopped him for a second,
"As we can only see in black and white, we're going to have to try and locate the trigger wires. Flip open the top of the bomb casing."
Ash snipped the two wires on either side of the top and lifted the LCD screen of the explosive up. Inside was the familiar liquid bag, and the mass of wires. Ash and Sonic stared at the screen for what seemed like eternity before Sonic swallowed and whispered,
"I think it's these two here!" he pointed with his finger at two wires, one on either side of the bag. Ash turned to him, sweat running down his forehead,
"You sure?" he asked nervously,
"Only one way to tell" Sonic shrugged.
Ash sighed, and cut the two wires. He closed his eyes and waited for something to happen. The LCD screen on the bomb continued to tick, but then, in a flash, it died. He gasped in relief. Sonique hugged him hard and squealed,
"You did it!!"
Sonic grinned,
"You sure did! Nice going Ash!"
Ash just wiped the sweat from his brow and casually slid back the manhole cover. He turned to Sonic,
"How much time was left?"
"We had seven minutes, plenty."
Ash was about to reply when a thought crossed his mind,
"What about Sally's gang? We'd better get to the Tower and see how they're doing!"
The all jumped back into the F1 and drove off towards Sally's location.
Section 6c
Time: 13:53
Location: Data remains unavailable
Tails and Sally were still examining the earth surface where the bomb was hidden. They had been working for over an hour, and Knuckles' patience was wearing extremely thin.
"Where the heck is this damn bomb? We've been here for God knows how long and still nothing! We're all gonna be fish food if we don't do something!!"
Tails was having extreme difficulty keeping his temper down.
"Knuckles!! We have to remain calm! If we lose our cool, then we all die, and that's not something I rea…" He was interrupted by Sally's voice ecstatic voice.
"I think I've found it! Knuckles, did here!!!" She guided him to the point where she was standing. He moved into place and pressed his gloves up against the soil.
"Shield your eyes! A lot of dirt coming out!"
He began scraping away mounds of earth rapidly, carving chunks of the wall out. Presently, he hit something and pulled it out. The bright light of the LCD screen confirmed it was the bomb. But the numbers on the screen were the real threat!
5:00…4:59…4:58…4:57…
Tails screamed,
"Holy shit! We gotta get outta here!"
They ran back to the exit only to find the collapsed shaft. Tails screamed, crying and battering the landslide in tears!
"NO, NO, NO!!! We can't die here!!"
Knuckles shoved the bomb into Sally's paws and pushed the hysterical fox aside,
"Move it squirt!" he ordered. He began digging frantically, carving a tunnel to the outside. Sally looked at the blinking screen again.
3:35…3:34…3:33…
"Knuckles! You'd better move fast!" she yelled
He gritted his teeth, his fists flailing as he desperately tried to reach safety. His prayers were answered as he punched a hole in the soil to reveal the sunlight. It streamed in, blinding them all temporarily. They ran up the tunnel and into the open. They gasped as they filled their lungs with fresh air. Just as they escaped, the F1 screeched into view. Ash leaned out of the window,
"Get in quick! We've got less than two minutes before that thing goes off!"
They dived into the McClaren and sped off. Sally kept a nervous grip on the ticking bomb,
"Where are we going Ash?"
He kept driving, weaving his way through the traffic.
"The flat, it's the only place where we have a defuser. We used ours to take out our bomb, but due to circumstances we had to leave it behind. Time!!"
Tails forced himself to look at the screen.
1:03…1:02…1:01…
"One minute" he yelled hysterically.
"Hang on!" Ash ordered. He floored the McClaren, the engine screaming as it was pushed to the limit. All the agents were flung backwards as the car lurched forward. They zigzagged through busy streets, Ash's driving skills tested to extremes. He yanked the wheel, power sliding the F1 down his road. He screeched the car to a halt outside his flat and they rushed inside. Sally slammed the bomb onto the table, and grasped the defuser that was lying there. Her paws were shaking with nerves as she flipped open the lid. The bomb continued to tick!
0:10…0:09…0:08…
"Hurry!" Tails cried. Sally wiped her brow and cut one of the trigger wires.
0:04…0:03…0:02…
She panicked and cut the wrong wire causing the liquid bag to split. She frantically snipped all the wires on the right hand side.
0:01…
They all closed their eyes tight and prayed.
0:00
Sally opened one eye gingerly. The bag was still leaking, but the LCD screen was black. She had successfully cut both trigger wires! The ISF gave a huge sigh in unison. The colour returned to Tails' face and he promptly passed out in shock. Knuckles too wobbled on his feet, but he managed to stay upright. Sally just wept.
Epilogue
Time: 09:00
Location: Ash's flat, London, UK
All the ISF team were fast asleep, exhausted from the terrifying ordeal they had recently encountered. Soon, they began to wake up, some earlier than others. Ash and Sonique were, as usual, the first to rise. She wrapped her arms around her lover's waist and hugged him tight.
"I'm sure glad it's all over"
Ash patted her paws,
"Yeah! Me too!"
The both got up, and went to the Kitchen. He turned to her,
"Extra strong coffee today?" he asked. She nodded,
"Please. I think we've all deserved it!"
He smiled and began preparing it. The scent of the brewing reached Sonic who woke up next. He began drifting towards the smell until he fell out of bed.
"Ooooof!"
He stood up and stretched. He looked over at Sally, who was still sleeping soundly. He smiled and covered her back up. She deserved to sleep in. He made his way to the kitchen where Ash and Sonique were engaged in some sort of embrace. He wolf-whistled and they flew apart.
"Hey, don't you ever knock?" she scolded him. Sonic grinned back.
"Only if there's a door in the way. Do I smell coffee? I could do with some right now."
A short while later, they were all fully awake and eating breakfast. Sally had recovered from the ordeal, and was sitting with her head on Sonic's shoulder. He was stroking her hair lovingly. A beeping caused her to awake from her light sleeping state. They all looked around for the offending sound source. It was Sonic's laptop. He pulled it to him and flipped it open. He pressed a few buttons, and gave wry smile. Ash noticed it,
"What's going on?" he asked inquisitively.
Sonic turned the laptop to face everyone, the familiar ISF logo had appeared on the screen. He took a sip of coffee and ran his fingers through his quills,
"We're on again!"
S:I-2 End
Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are © SEGA 1991, 1992, 1994
Ash is © Blaster Hedgie 1999, 2000
Sonique is © Sonique Hedgehog
Used with kind permission.
All characters and events depicted in this fanfiction are fictitious and any relation to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental.
Story: Blaster Hedgie
E-Mail: Blaster_Hedgie@furry-cup.co.uk