Chapter 1 – Routines
"Samus?"
Cerulean eyes opened and turned to take in the driver of the car. A young man in his mid-twenties, clad in the dark blue and slate gray uniform of the Deelburg Police Department, gave her a warm smile. She knew she recognized that voice!
"Sorry, Marcus," she apologized to her partner.
"No sleep?"
"Maybe too much..." Samus admitted, her gaze still fixated on him. Marcus Wilson had been assigned her partner for a little over a year and a half now. She remembered when she had first gotten the news that she would be working with a partner; quite frankly, she hated it, but the first day he walked in...a man close to her in age, mahogany eyes, smooth brown skin...a strong jawline and short hair cut into a fade...clean-cut, professional, and nice to look at.
She hated the idea a lot less.
"We got a call down to the FBD," Marcus said, stirring Samus from past memories.
"Who's robbing it this time?"
Marcus gave a side glance and grinned. "I believe it's 'a large armadillo equipped with bionics,'" he recited.
"Hotspur again?" Samus sounded exasperated. "What's the point of breaking out just to repeat the same mistakes that got you there in the first place?"
"Old habits die hard," Marcus murmured with a shrug. He noticed his partner wasn't too thrilled with that answer. "Look, this is a guy that willingly calls himself Hotspur. I think we've already established that he's not the brightest bulb. Maybe if he sees the two of us again he'll have second thoughts."
The conversation died as Marcus turned on the siren and continued the drive to the bank, weaving through traffic as the drivers of the other hovercars reacted awkwardly to sudden police presence. Samus let her surroundings and situation sink in. She was out of the dream, no longer that amazing bounty hunter Samus Aran, bounding through the infinite reaches of space. No, she was just Samus Crowe, another cop in a metropolis, and she would have to put those dreams behind her. It was silly to dwell on something unrealistic like that.
"Oh, it's very real. And I'll open the door to truth, if that is what you seek."
...She didn't recognize that voice from any of the dreams, and she had experienced them frequently for longer than she would like to admit. Was there some iota of truth in those words?
...Did it even matter?
Before she knew it, they had arrived at the First Bank of Deelburg. The squad car hovered to an abrupt stop behind the police barricade.
Samus went through the routine of checking the equipment strapped to her own blue and gray uniform. Charged baton, tazer, spray...even the plasma pistol seemed futile, considering that they had dealt with Hotspur twice before. You didn't exactly tackle him to the ground.
"Do we have disruptors?" she asked, feeling ill-prepared.
Marcus flashed the silver grenade and tossed it to her. "Last one."
Samus smiled. Having a partner wasn't so bad.
She climbed out of the car and into the crisp air of the spring morning, throwing her blonde ponytail to her back. Only three other squad cars were on the scene; did they get here quickly, or had no one else bothered to show up?
An older officer, a bulldog known as Hendrickson, stood behind his own car with a megaphone tightly gripped in one hand. His unending scowl and the little brown patch of fur over his right eye that contrasted his cream color fur were trademarks Samus would recognize anywhere.
"Crowe, Wilson," he greeted them. "Your boy's done quite a number this time."
"No hostages, right?" Samus asked for confirmation, fighting the urge to protest Hotspur being referred to as 'their boy.'
"Everybody got out just fine," the bulldog responded almost nonchalantly. "Hotspur's holed up in there, probably tryin' to figure a way out of this mess."
"Knowing him, he won't," Samus remarked. "Bursting through the front door is the only style he knows."
Hendrickson nodded knowingly, and gave a quick signal with his free hand. Two armored cops with riot shields flanked the sides of the bank's entrance. Its glass doors were large and clear, but the view eft much to be desired of the interior.
"That's not going to be enough manpower!" Marcus warned.
"We can't afford to wait for more backup," Hendrickson said solemnly. "He's gonna hightail at any minute. We need to stop him now before he goes on a rolling rampage, got it?" There was an added gruffness to his tone that suggested that he had no intention of being questioned further.
He got his wish when the bank's doorway exploded outward; shattered glass showered the stairs below and the cops in riot gear were blown off their feet. A brown and silver sphere shot out of the remains of the entryway; a small pang of familiarity shook Samus at the sight.
The sphere unfurled, revealing the self-named criminal, Hotspur. Samus briefly forgot that Hotspur was indeed a large armadillo. He stood no less than six feet tall, certainly the largest armadillo citizen she had ever encountered in the city. Silver battle armor adorned his chest and legs. A dark sienna shell, pleated and shiny on the surface, covered his back. His snout pointed outward, his small but expressive eyes taking in every detail of his immediate surroundings. The pointed, oval shaped ears atop his head flicked about, and his tail lashed the pavement of the street in anticipation.
Under other circumstances, Samus would have found him somewhat cute and cuddly...circumstances that didn't include robbery and putting lives in danger.
"You won't take me again, coppas!" Hotspur screamed suddenly.
Marcus couldn't believe his ears. "Did he just call us 'coppas'?"
"Drop the money and put your damn hands on your head!" Hendrickson barked, having long since traded his megaphone for a rifle he trained on the armadillo.
"Well, y'asked so nicely 'n all." Hotspur let the sack of money drop to the ground and slowly raised his hands to his head, wearing a cocky, defiant grin all the way. There was sudden movement from the armadillo's back: two silver cannons emerged from within the uppermost region of his shell.
The bulldog fired first.
A green energy blast dissipated against Hotspur's armor; he barely flinched from the impact. The twin cannons focused on the ground near Hendrickson and opened fire. The force from the resulting blast was enough to send Hendrickon's car teetering onto its side. The dust made it hard to see where Hotspur was, or wasn't, or exactly how far Hendrickson had been thrown. He was pretty close to the point of impact and most likely needed help, but Hotspur was still an immediately threat.
Samus took cover behind Hendrickson's car; the lamppost it leaned against had caused it to stay lifted on its side. Marcus had apparently had the same idea, as they arrived at the same time with guns drawn.
"Are you okay?" Marcus asked. Samus nodded.
"You?"
"Yeah..." her partner responded. "What's he thinking?"
Samus had the same train of thought. Hotspur should have fled while he had the chance; instead, he purposely chose to engage them, showing off in the process. This confrontation was out of character for him. She found it unsettling.
"There's something else he wants," she said in realization.
Sudden shade was cast upon them, accompanied by the squeak and shifting of metal from the car. The duo slowly looked up to find Hotspur leaning into view, his face beaming with the giddiness of a child.
"Well if it ain't officers Sparrow and Watson!" Hotspur declared delightfully, his high voice a contrast to his size. "I gotta bone to pick with yous..."
His eyes flickered across them both, and he almost looked offended. "Not even a promotion, after catchin' me twice? Your department must really suck..."
"Hey, third time's the charm," Marcus joked, "right?"
"Maaayyybe for me," Hotspur murmured cheerily. The cannons on his back slowly turned to target the two cops individually. His face contorted in shock from a sudden impact that slammed against his back, forgetting all about Samus and Marcus as he whipped around to find the culprit.
"Hitting a guy in the back while he's conversatin' with others!" the armadillo complained. "I oughta teach you some respect!"
"Tch, tch!" a blue hedgehog complained, waving his finger scathingly at Hotspur. "I don't take lectures from criminals."
Hotspur was taken aback and his complexion whitened. "You...you can't be that Sonic freak, can you?"
"I can and I am!" Sonic proclaimed proudly, pointing at himself with a gloved thumb. "But I'm not the freak with guns installed in his back!"
"Gonna wish y'did when I'm through with ya!"
Sonic crouched low as the cannons targeted him. "Let's dance!"
Sonic is back, and has officially crossed paths with Samus. Is this a fluke or the start of a chain of events? All I can say is, he will be a bit more involved here than he was in Minuet of Link.
Oh, and something I felt needed to be noted: Hotspur is not related to Dillon (of Dillon's Rolling Western) in any shape or form. The fact that they're both armadillos is just a coincidence! To be perfectly honest, I actually had this scene fleshed out in my head before that game was ever announced.
