Chapter 4 – Thief
Mr. Avona stood straight as a drill sergeant as Sassy and Shadows walked in to the room, rubbing the fur on their sides together. "I see you two have made amends." Mittens said while Bolt frowned. "The idle chatter must wait, for now we must focus on the attack plan." the Neutrosian scolded, and turned to address the entire group as the two late arrivals took their places. "Bolt's plan to Syphoon the Warrior's Soul out of Dragoon is our best shot, however, Rhino has alerted me to some disturbing news." with that he waved his hand to the hamster, who rolled his ball into the center of the room and fiddled with the small computer he owned. A hologram of Dragoon appeared and began floating above him, "Dragoon in his normal state is almost as tall as Ferla, maybe even taller by almost three inches. With all three Souls absorbed into him, he is likely to transform almost completely considering we were all transformed slightly by the Souls we were given." pushing a few of the buttons on his computer, the hologram changed into what he believed Dragoon looked like, which happened to look very similar to what Dragoon looked now, except all of the armor was made of gold. "This is what I believe Dragon looks like now, with his overall size multiplied by ten or twenty times." Shadows whistled at the thought of someone that size, "Maybe acting now was a good idea after all." he whispered to a wide eyed Sassy, who slowly nodded. "The Syphoon canon I am designing will take almost a week to complete, but once it is, I need a volunteer to drive it into position." he told everyone, but no one lifted their hands. "Ugh!" groaned Clera, "I want compensation for this to, I have twelve brothers and sisters to feed remember." she called out. Mr. Avona turned to her with a thankful look, "I'll pay off all of your family expenses for the rest of your life for your help." he told her, Clera's eyes shot open wide, "You can count on me!" she said, unbelieving. "Shadows and I can help to get the parts you need, maybe we can help move your build along." Bolt suggested. "Yah, whatever!" Shadows said, only to receive a dirty look from the dog. Rhino simply smiled as he turned off his holo-computer and turned back to Mr. Avona, "The floor is yours commander!" he said and rolled his ball back into his spot. "Thank you Rhino. After the Syphoon is fully assembled, it and all of you will be transported thanks to the O-TIP back to Neutros, arriving in the front yard of my house, from there, you need to engage Dragoon and get him close to the Syphoon while protecting it, each other and my home, send my family back here for safety if you must but keep them safe." he told everyone. Shadows immediately turned to Bolt, "After we're done there, we can finish what we started in the street." he whispered. Bolt simply growled as Mittens gave Shadows her scariest look, making him shudder, "How does she do that?" he asked. Sassy saw the whole thing thanks to her good eye, and made sure to memorize the look on Mittens' face for future use.
It seemed like he was doing something wrong, Bolt knew that the parts they needed weren't exactly everyday things, but he'd hoped to just walk up to the army base and ask if they could borrow one of their tanks while Shadows took whatever else they needed, not steal the tank himself. "I don't feel right about this." he said into his headset. "You tried asking nicely already, blame that FBI agent stationed here if you want." Shadows responded from another place. On his back hung a black saddle style bag ready to place things inside it. Penny was next with some good news, "I just got in touch with the base general, he told me that he gives you covert permission to have whatever you need, and he also said the guns will be strictly for Bolt, because they know he can't be hurt by them. The guns are just to make it seem real for the Agent." "That makes me feel so much better." Bolt said sarcastically. "Wish I was there with you Wags!" he heard Mittens say over the communications, "Me to, we work so much better as a team." he said, and was awarded with a snarky comment from Shadows, "What am I, chopped liver?" "That can be arranged!" Bolt answered. "Focus boys, you aren't supposed to fight each other." Sassy called over the communicators. "Yes dear!" Shadows said, not wanting to repeat his mistake. "MOMMY IS A DEAR, MOMMY IS A DEAR!" they all heard as Mir shouted from the back of the room. "MIR, IF I CATCH YOU IN THE COMMUNICATIONS ROOM…" that was all that was said before the headsets were turned off for the mission, letting only the two of them stay in contact. "Sounds like Mir is very much like Wolf is." Bolt said, but it went unheard, because Shadows had removed his ear piece to try and rub out the ringing in his head. Placing the device back into his furry ear, he tried his best to respond, "Yup! Let's go dog!" Unknown to him, Bolt smiled and shook his head while gazing at the sky, before taking off towards the fence. About three feet from the army fence, he tensed his back legs as to their max, and let go with a mighty leap, clearing the entire fence easily and purposely getting the attention of every one there, armed and unarmed. Bolt never once stopped running as he weaved his way through the people causing as much of a scene as he could. The moment the guards left their posts, Shadows made his way like lightning into the actual building, ducking into the air vents. Using his claw, he turned on the eye visor and pulled up a schematic map of the facility, with a red blinking dot where he was to go. The large jet black cat smiled and turned his head to find the person he wanted to see, the FBI agent was running towards the commotion, leaving the inside of the building open and deserted. As the Agent passed by, Shadows used his speed to snatch his access card and duck back into the air vent before he was spotted or even noticed. "Let's hope this thing had storage access." Shadows whispered his concerns. Quietly he made his way to the room he saw blinking, making sure he remained unseen as he traveled. 'Man I wish the air ducts lead to the dang storage.' he thought to himself. Thanks to Bolt even the guards at the monitors were outside. The shots he heard were quick and rapid, with a hint or two of yelling mixed in, "Sounds like a war out there." he whispered as he approached the door leading into the room he needed to be in. The door was made of thick steel, with no window, but it did have a simple card reader device situated next to the door handle. With the Access card pinched between his toes, Shadows jumped up and slid the card into the reader, before landing on the handle to open the door. The buzz of the door told Shadows that the car was accepted, the green light and the fact that the door opened when he pushed against the frame wasn't any surprise. "I love doing this kind of job!" he said. "What does that mean?' he heard Bolt ask. Shadows let his eyes open wide as he started searching for, "Nothing in particular!" he said and began collecting his list of supplies, each one showing up on his visor so he knew what to look for.
Bolt on the other hand, ran as quickly as he could, letting the bullets lodge into his armor-like fur. When he was able to stop and exit the shower of lead, he shook off his fur, letting all of the bullets fall harmlessly to the ground. He quickly heard a voice, one he wanted to hear, but not what he wanted to hear, the FBI Agent was obviously not happy, "Stop taking all day about it. If you won't use the new Sonic Pulse Launcher on that alien dog, then I will!"
End – Chapter 4