A/N: See my profile for new info about chapter postings.

Chapter 4: Bombing Mission

'11:00 pm, that's when the last train should have pulled into the Sector 1 station,' Cream thought, glancing at the flat-paneled tele-crate screen mounted on the wall next to her. It was another packed night for her at Vanilla's Haven. Her mind on the mission her friends were on, she kept busy by serving drinks and making small talk to customers both familiar and new.

One of her regulars, an Overlander with long auburn hair swept back, wearing a black, unopened vest, a thin, white t-shirt and faded black jeans waved her over, grinning lopsidedly. "Hey gorgeous, can I get another round?"

Cream rolled her eyes at his obvious flirting and smiled at him. "Johnny, you keep that up and I'm cutting you off!" She continued working, serving up drinks and warmed food to salivating customers, keeping the pouting Overlander in the corner of her eye. After letting him stew for a few moments, she slid a bottle of a particular lager down his way.

The man easily caught the bottle in his hand. He beamed heartily at the barmaid. "Aw, thanks Cream!" he shouted gleefully over the crowd. He took a pull from the bottle, relishing the bitter taste, before continuing his conversation with another patron sitting beside him. "So anyways, I was saying…"

Cream turned away from the conversation and was about to queue the next customer at the counter, when she heard sniffling nearby. She rose her hand up to indicate that she'll be right back and walked to the source of the whimpering near the back hallway – a tiny Overlander girl, with straw coloured hair and wide blue eyes, her tiny lower lip trembling. Wearing a set of pink pajamas that were a size too small, she clutched a ratty, brown teddy bear with a missing left arm tightly around her. The little girl looked up to the taller Mobian in front of her. "It's too loud," she said plainly. "I can't sleep."

The rabbit kneeled down, looking softly at the toddler. "I know sweetie," she replied, smiling gently at her. She hoisted the little girl in her arms and brought her back to the bar area. Placing her on a stool behind the bar, she looked at her in the eye. "Now, I want you to stay here and keep an eye out for anyone suspicious," she said in mock seriousness. "If you can't go to sleep, then I'll put you to work, OK?"

The toddler smiled. "OK Cream!" she said, eager to help out.

Grinning, Cream turned back to the crowd. "Alright, listen up!" She hollered, catching everyone's attention. "Hope here is gonna keep an eye on you guys, so you all better be on your best behavior, understand?" She pointed at the little girl sitting behind the counter on the stool, scouring the crowds with a steely gaze and watching for troublemakers.

Stricken with mock fear, Johnny stood up and looked at Hope, clasping his hands in front of his face. "Oh, please Hope," he pleaded, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "We'll be really, really good, honest we will." He turned back to his fellow patrons. "Right guys?"

A chorus of cheers, acknowledgements and shouts of "We promise!" answered back.

The toddler blushed at all the attention. "OK," she said, nodding shyly.

Another raucous cheer broke out and Cream had to bite her lip hard to prevent herself from cracking up. She returned to the counter and spoke to her patiently amused customer, apologizing for the wait.

Suddenly, the nightly newscast on the tele-crate flashed a large 'Breaking News' banner, catching the attention of those nearest to it. One of them, a zebra, called out to the barmaid. "Hey! Can you turn it up for a sec?!"

Hastily grabbing the remote on the liquor shelf, Cream pumped the volume up to its maximum. The near-deafening crowds quieted to a hum as the brunette haired newscaster spoke.

"This is Scarlet Garcia, reporting from the Kintobor News Network desk in the Sector 2 studio," the woman behind the news desk said primly. "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a breaking news update: We have reports of an incident at the Sector 1 Train Station this evening. Just after 11:00 pm, several assailants attacked the security detail guarding the station. Two MP's were knocked out, while another three have been brutally murdered. We will provide an update on the situation when we obtain more information." The screen then returned to its normal broadcast.

Cream felt her fists tighten reflexively at the news. 'So, it's started,' she thought, returning to her work. 'Here we go then…'

Sticking to the shadows, TORNADO made their way through the winding passages that made up the security checkpoints leading into the reactor, stealthily dispatching the skeleton crew acting as security detail along the way. They moved quickly and efficiently, mowing down each Kintobor grunt one by one with sheer numbers. Tails trailed behind, killing those the group missed in their mad dash through the passage.

'You got to give it to them,' the two-tailed fox thought, watching TORNADO's movements as they progressed. 'Despite their amateurism, they seem to know what they're doing. Colour me impressed.'

Dashing through the security checkpoints, the team emerged onto the wide catwalks leading into the plant interior. Suspended sixty meters above, the walkways connected the main entrance from Sector 1 to an emergency exit leading to Sector 8, with another catwalk in the middle running perpendicular into the reactor proper. The reactor itself, a towering mass of metal, was physically separated from the plates. This was done to prevent or reduce damage to them in the event of a plate collapse.

Biggs and Bark made a right at the T-junction, running into reactor entrance, Wedge ran to the opposite end to secure the emergency exit leading into Sector 8, hiding in an alcove, while Jessie and Tails brought up the rear. "Go blow this place to hell!" Wedge shouted as the first two passed him by. As soon as the fox was through, the woman slammed a button on the nearby wall. With a hiss, a steel door slid into place preventing access from the oncoming security forces that were likely to follow. She then pulled out her sidearm and shot the controls before continuing on.

Once inside, the three TORNADO members and Tails caught their breath. Bark straightened up, his massive chest heaving. "OK, the easy part's done. Biggs, go enter the codes."

"You got it boss!" With a grin, Biggs strode up to the access door at the far end of the room. Hastily pulling out and unfolding a sheet of paper, the man scanned the writing before inputting commands into a control panel next to the door.

While this was going on, Tails surveyed his surroundings. The interior was simple and industrial: thick metallic panels covered the floors while the walls consisted of reinforced concrete. The surfaces were caked with yellow and grey grime caused by the fumes within the reactor. The hallways were filled with an adequate amount of lighting necessary for workers to traverse through with no problems. Exposed pipes crisscrossing along the walls and ceilings made the space feel narrower than it really was. The fox's eyes then landed on the Overlander manipulating the door controls, muttering to himself as he did so.

The Ex-SOLDIER's gaze was broken by his employer, who walked into his line of sight. "Is this your first time in a reactor?" Bark asked, eyeing him warily.

"No, I've been in plenty before. I did work for Kintobor, you know," the fox replied, running a gloved hand through the fur on his head.

Gritting his teeth at the mere mention of the company, the polar bear continued. "Well I'm sure you know what these things do then. Energen isn't just a convenient, cheap energy source; it's the source of all life on Mobius. And these bastards keep sucking it all up with their weird machines and converting them into RINGTEK…"

Tails shook his head. "Look, I'm not here for a lecture," he interrupted. "Let's just get this over with."

Fed up with his lack of understanding, Bark snapped at the mercenary, pointing his Gun-Arm at him. "Fine then, you want over with? Then YOU can lead us down to the bottom of the complex, while I stand right behind you with a bullet ready to blow your brains to bits if you make a wrong move."

Tails quickly adopted a defensive stance, his namesakes raised up, a hand on his sword and electric blue eyes glaring daggers at Bark. 'Screw employment,' he thought, his teeth bared. 'I've had enough of his shit. I'm taking him on, here and…'

"Code deciphered!" Biggs shouted triumphantly as the door rattled open loudly. Turning to the others, his face went chalk white at the scene in front of him. "Um… I miss something here?"

"Shut it Biggs, and give that here," Jessie snapped, snatching the piece of paper from his hand. "You're too damn slow. And boss?" She said, turning to Bark. "We need to get going; don't you remember what's at stake here?"

Bark broke his gaze from Tails at her words. "Hmph, yeah," he muttered, lowering his weapon before turning his attention again back at the fox. "Ex-SOLDIER, you take point once Jessie breaks through the next set of doors."

Tails nodded in response, his body relaxing and his face returning to a more neutral look. Inwardly though, he was intrigued. 'Hm, despite his temper, at least he has his priorities straight.'

Jessie hurried towards the access panel for second set of security doors. Without hesitation, she riffed open the sheet she swiped from Biggs and started punching commands. It took only moments before she cracked the code and the doors opened. "Code deciphered," she announced.

Biggs walked up to her with his hand held out, his lips set in a grim line as opposed to his constant grinning. "Ok, I'm up," he said. "Hand me the bomb and I'll head into the manufacturing plant."

The woman dug into her satchel and handed him an object wrapped in brown paper. "Here it is. Once you set it, make sure you get back to the rendezvous point." She gave him a concerned look. "Look, be careful with this, it's delicate. Oh, and don't forget to use that data device I gave you too."

Biggs raised an eyebrow at her, cracking a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I won't forget. And am I not careful as it is?"

Jessie shoved him, returning his smile. "Oh shut up and get going," she said. "And take care of yourself too."

The man nodded. "Same to you all," he replied before heading into the manufacturing area.

"You two done?" Bark asked, impatiently waiting by the lift. "Let's get going."

As the trio entered the lift, Jessie looked at the two-tailed fox, pointing to a switch on the far wall. "Hey can you push that switch over there?" she asked.

Tails walked to the back of the elevator car and pressed the green switch pointing downward. The door behind them slid closed and the car began its descent towards the bottom level.

Bark decided to give Tails another chance to understand the significance behind this mission and its implications into the future. "Look man," he addressed the mercenary. "All I was saying before was that sooner or later, these reactors will suck out ALL the life force keeping this planet alive. Once that happens, that's the end of all of us."

Shrugging in response, Tails responded. "It's not my problem."

The polar bear slammed his fist against the car, rattling it. "For fuck's sake Tails, the planet is dying!" he roared.

"And I'm telling you that the only thing we should be worried about is finishin' this job before this place is overrun by Robians and Roboguards," Tails responded coolly, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. 'Well, I was wrong about his priorities,' he reflected.

Bark shook with rage at the warrior's words. 'I should've figured,' he thought angrily. 'Of course the survival of Mobius takes a back seat to what's really important in this world: money.'

"Hey, are you sure that Robians are really gonna be here?" Jessie asked, eager to change the subject.

Tails opened an eye, which glowed in the dim lighting of the elevator car. "Positive," he responded. "You guys may have reduced the security detail here down to a skeleton crew, but these are their stomping grounds. They don't need breaks or get paid. Guarding secure, classified locations like these and the more dangerous areas within the slums is their only function in life now. We'll definitely encounter one at least." As he spoke, the elevator stopped, with the panel on the side displaying the words, 'Refinement Plant' and the doors opened.

Putting aside his anger for now, Bark peeked out to check their surroundings, Gun-Arm raised. Seeing that the coast was clear, he motioned to Tails to take point while he brought up the rear, with Jessie in between them. As they descended several staircases and ladders towards the mission objective – the main conversion chamber, Tails' supernatural hearing started picking up sounds of mechanical rasping hidden amongst the industrial noise. After entering the door leading into their main target and crossing over another catwalk to a platform, he brought up his hand, motioning them all to stop. "I hear something coming," he said, gripping the Buster Sword hilt.

Bark swung his arm around wildly. "What do you mean?" he asked, aiming at nothing. "I don't hear shit all. Quit trying to scare –"

With a screech sounding like nails on a chalkboard, three Squirrel Robians; normal Squirrels with bodies and minds transformed into merciless, weaponized killing machines, dropped from above in a pincer formation, with two in front of Bark and Jessie and one in front of Tails. The warrior drew his sword and swept the blade across, cutting the roboticized Mobian facing him in two before it could land. He turned around to see Bark gunning down the remaining Robians, his bullets barely penetrating their metallic hides. The swordsman placed a hand quickly on the second green jewel on his sword, drawing out blue energy from it. Sheathing his sword, he collapsed the magic into a ball in front of his chest, focused on the robot currently enduring Bark's assault and pushed his hand outward, calling "ICE!"

The energy shot out as a beam from his hands, barely scraping the polar bear's right shoulder, and hit its target, super-cooling the Robian's body and making it brittle enough to allow Bark's bullets to breach its shell and destroy it. Tails repeated the process for the other Robian, for which Bark destroyed in the same way. Finally, Tails lifted his boot and stomped hard behind him, crushing the skull of the first Robian he took down, crawling up to ambush him.

"What the hell was that?" Bark cursed, his chest heaving.

"Trouble," replied Tails, his eyes narrowing as he picked up more unnatural sounds. "And there's more of it coming!"

Two more Squirrel Robians skittered along the walls, jumped off and landed in front of them, hissing. The one closest to the three lashed out wildly and tore a gash in the polar bear's left arm. Bark roared in pain and grabbed the robot on instinct. Shoving his Gun-Arm down its throat, he pumped its insides full of lead and then threw its lifeless husk over the catwalk and into the glowing silver-gold pool below. The Ex-SOLDIER then leapt over Bark, bringing his sword behind him. At the apex of his jump, he brought the massive blade forward, using the momentum of his vertical slash and the forces of gravity to cut the other Robian in two. Landing in a crouch, the fox's eyes widened in alarm as his ears picked up the sounds of mechanical legs stomping up behind them. The unknown mechaniloid whirred and then hissed; noises that the two-tailed fox were very familiar with. "Sweeper's behind us, everybody duck!" he shouted, dropping to the floor.

The Mobian and Overlander hastily followed suit as bullets whizzed past them. Clenching her teeth, Jessie dug into her satchel and produced a grenade from it. Pulling the pin out, she counted to three in her head before lobbing it in the vicinity of the Sweeper. The grenade landed right near its spiked feet and exploded, cutting short its barrage. Tails got up from his prone position, his hand already charged with yellow-white energy. He thrust the hand holding the charged energy outward and called "BOLT!"

The burst of magic shot out of Tails' palm, into the damaged legs and the rectangular shell of the machine. The lightning danced around, short-circuiting it and leaving it nothing more than a hunk of scrap in its wake.

Jessie got up first, shivering at the sight of the mechanical remains. "Ugh, those things give me the creeps," she muttered, staring at the Sweeper's metallic grill. She turned to Tails, flashing a small smile to the Mobian. "Thanks. If it weren't for you, we'd probably be dead by now."

The fox shrugged. "No problem." He looked around and piqued his ears, using his enhanced senses to detect any more unwanted encounters. "I don't hear or see anything coming our way, so we better use this to our advantage and carry out the mission. They'll be more of them eventually."

Bark rose up afterwards, his arm bloodied, and walked over to Jessie. She dug his hand into the pack, pulling out some medical tape and a thin phial filled with blue liquid, with the label 'KPI Medical Division – Potion' stamped on the side and handed it to the bear. Popping the top off and holding it with his teeth, he haphazardly poured half of the solution on his wounded arm, yelping in pain as the liquid made contact. The antiseptic components of the Potion reacted and formed a paste around the wound, sealing it. Taking the phial out of his mouth, he downed the remaining contents and retched at the bitter taste before discarding it. Sticking one of the barrels of his Gatling gun through the roll of tape and using it like a dispenser, he bandaged his arm before returning it back to the Overlander. He nodded at the fox, becoming more and more convinced that he was truly on their side. "Yeah, you're right, let's go," he said, walking forward. "We're almost there."

While the pathway leading conversion chamber was heavily guarded with Robians and Roboguards, infiltrating the RINGTEK manufacturing control area was a much simpler task to accomplish. After splitting from the group with the second bomb, Biggs snuck past plant operators and light security detail, heading for the main control room. As he went, he noticed the heavy use of security cameras, all reprogrammed thanks to the Mobian Ex-SOLDIER. Biggs smiled to himself, thinking about the hardened warrior. 'It's a damn good thing we have that guy on our side, without him, this mission would've gone south long ago.' He soon found himself in front of the control room, its door wide open. He peeked inside, seeing three Overlanders – two dark haired men and a blonde woman - and two Mobians – a male canine and a male toad - dutifully observing the monitors in front of them and taking notes of production quotas. Each wore the same uniform: a light blue, short sleeve work shirt, dark blue denim overalls with beige gloves tucked into the front pocket and dark brown work boots. Seeing a nook where he wouldn't be seen by anyone, Biggs stealthily entered the room and tucked himself into it. His heart racing, he observed the scene in front of him.

Beyond the windows looking outward into the main manufacturing plant were several dozen rows of machinery, which all formed an assembly line. The bulk of the assembly line consisted of machines used to cast the Energen into RINGTEK. Inside each shape, a thin, ionic charged solid ring was inserted. The ring was made up of different alloys that caused slow, but powerful chemical reactions with the Energen once bonded. At the end of each ring and exposed outside of the die was a socket, used to insert the RINGTEK into machinery in order to power it. Pipes from the refinement chamber transported refined Energen into the manufacturing plant, where various nozzles injected it into the molds, which were then sealed. The molds themselves came in multiple sizes, from large fuel cells to install in vehicles and mechanisms to tiny cells used to power small appliances. Once closed, the molds were then subjected to liquid nitrogen, flowing through tubes crossing the doughnut shaped die. The heat from the extracted Energen exchanging with the liquid nitrogen caused it to harden and bond with the inner ring, creating the powerful, self-contained battery. Once casted, a mechanical arm extracted the rings and inserted them into specially designed containers to cool the rings further, increasing their durability. Once cooled, the rings were transferred to another department for packing and shipment.

Biggs sighed as he looked on at the automated process in front of him. 'All this technology helped to advance and modernize our world, but at what cost? The destruction of our only home and of our people? I can't let that happen.' He checked the watch on his wrist: the digital display noted the time as 11:29 pm. The man chuckled to himself. 'How ironic is it that I'm using a device powered by the very thing I'm going to destroy to advance our plans?'

A minute passed and a loud buzzer emitted from a speaker in the wall, indicating the end of the shift. As the conversing plant workers left the control area, Biggs slowly got out of his hiding spot, crouched down and headed over to the main control console. Knowing that he only had about ten minutes before the next shift entered, he quickly extracted a thin, rectangular data stick and inserted it into the terminal in front of him. The programming inside the stick automatically executed its subroutines, discreetly searching for and downloading critical data. While that operation was in process, Biggs then pulled out the explosive Jessie gave him. Peering underneath the console, he spotted an area where he could place the package without it being seen. After adhering it to the spot, he extended a thin, flexible antenna and pushed a black button, activating the bomb.

'Done,' he thought, getting out from underneath the console and looking at the screen in front of him, the words 'Download Complete' showing up in a popup in the left hand corner of the screen. 'And so is this thing too.' Pulling out the stick, he placed it in his pocket and looked at the time. It read 11:38 pm. "I got two minutes left," he whispered to himself, adjusting his headband. "Time to blow this pop stand." He crouched down again and slinked out of the room, unseen by the midnight shift workers entering shortly after.

They had no clue of what was about to unfold.

After hopping over to another platform and climbing down another ladder, the three stopped at a wide walkway suspended above a glowing pool of raw Energen. At the very end of the path lay the extraction chamber; the heart of the reactor. The entire apparatus consisted of an oblong, eight foot tall control structure jutting out of the concrete wall and covered in switches and gauges. An array of pipes, both thick and thin, sprouted out of the top, going upward like web from the current level they were on to the refinement plant ten stories above. On the bottom, a series huge pipes that were used to extract the raw Energen, led down from the machine and into the pool of gold and silver below. A large hand wheel in the centre of the structure operated the set of enormous, eighteen inch valves controlling the flow of liquid entering it.

Jessie handed Bark the second, much larger explosive, before drawing out her 9 mm pistol from her pack and waited by the ladder, her alert, hazel eyes watching for incoming enemies. "I'll wait here," she said to the two Mobians, her mouth set into a grim line.

Bark nodded and motioned the fox to follow him. Tails started, but paused when an object on the floor caught the corner of his eye. It was a tiny, brilliantly cut green jewel, similar to the ones installed into the slots of his Buster Sword. He walked towards it and picked it up. "An Emerald," he said softly. Energen further condensed beyond the RINGTEK state would crystallize and become an Emerald; a jewel containing incredible powers. From granting powerful magic to improving the body itself, Emeralds became a necessary tool used by Kintobor to ensure their reign. Peering closely at the gem, Tails saw a soft and warm green light emanating from it, eliciting a smile from the warrior. "Looks like Restore magic." He was about to switch it out for the Ice Emerald in his sword when Bark lumbered up, clearly annoyed.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, snatching the item out of Tails' hand. Looking at it in confusion, he shook his head and pocketed the jewel. "C'mon man, we got a job to do here! Once we're done here, this place is gonna be nothing more than a hunk of junk!" He held out the bomb and Jessie's instructions to the fox. "Tails, you set the bomb."

Tails raised an eyebrow, his glowing eyes staring coldly. "And why do you want me to do it?" he questioned. "Shouldn't you do it?"

Bark glowered wearily at the quizzical fox. "Just do the damn thing already. I'm watching you so you don't pull anything."

The fox rolled his eyes. "Whatever, fine," he huffed, snatching the package. He approached the mechanism with the polar bear behind him, Gun-Arm aimed at his back. As he was about to place the bomb, he froze as a high pitched buzz erupted in his head, like it was signaling him. He suddenly heard a childlike voice pop into his head.

'Watch out! Something's off about this reactor!'

Bark watched the Mobian stop in place for a few moments and then shoved him out of his stupor with his gun. "What's wrong?" he asked, glowering at him.

"Huh?" Tails blinked in confusion for a few moments, processing what he just heard as he returned to reality.

The impatient bear growled. "What's wrong, Tails, hurry the hell up!" he demanded.

Tails shook his head and cleared his mind. "Yeah, sorry," he apologized. He set the charge against the main control board on the reactor, observing it. The bomb that Jessica of TORNADO developed was an ingenious device. The main unit consisted of a powerful explosive with a tiny control board mounted on it. Tails extended the two, flexible wires that worked as a high powered transmitter, enabling a signal to pass through concrete and steel. He then pressed a red button on the top corner to initialize the control board. The RINGTEK-operated device activated a small, rectangular LCD display on the top left corner of the charge. Upon startup, the screen flashed the words 'CONNECTING' for a few moments until it displayed 'OK!' on the screen. Before Tails could push the black button to arm the device, an alarm activated with klaxon blaring out loudly and strobe lights flashing red emergency beacons.

Bark furiously pressed his Gun-Arm against the fox's head at that instant. "What the hell did you do?!" He bellowed.

An intercom beat out the two tailed fox before he could speak. "Warning! Unidentified tampering detected at conversion chamber!" the female voice announced. "Dispatch Roboguardian designate E-89 'Guard Scorpion' to eliminate threats! Field shall be modified to accommodate!"

With that, the railing on the walkway detached, falling into the Energen pool. Two thick, steel plates slid out from the walls on either side of the chamber. Each plate was lined at the incoming edge with tapered tabs like gear teeth which connected to the path, the teeth meshing with strategically placed holes in the walkway and forming a single, seamless platform. On the left hand wall, a large, twenty foot tall by fifteen foot wide panel slid open, revealing the Guard Scorpion.

Created to emulate the look of an actual scorpion, the red mechaniloid swiftly moved to the centre of the platform on its six, segmented legs, each the size of a tree trunk. Atop its legs was a heavily plated, oblong torso. In its centre, concealed beneath thick, bulletproof glass, was a set of large, mechanical lenses, acting as its eyes. The lens reflections casted an eerie golden glow on the glass. Its head consisted of a round dome with several antennae jutting out from it and a small, pivoting rectangular scope, used by the guardian to obtain environmental and targeting data. In place of pincers was a pair of long, red plated arms, each equipped with 20mm Vulcan cannons. The most fearsome part of its body was its tail; a multiple segmented, flexible mechanism with an enormous spike at the end of it. The joints of each leg, arm and tail segment, along with its torso, were covered with a black, flexible polymer shielding. The robotic monstrosity vented grey-yellow exhaust fumes out from ports along its body before moving towards the two Mobians, its legs stomping thunderously on the metal platform.

Bark turned his gun away from the fox and towards the Roboguardian. "OK, well there's my question answered!" he yelled as Tails stood beside him, sword drawn. "Head's up fox boy, here it comes!"

A/N: Apologies again for the wait, hope you enjoyed it! Stick around, more will come sooner than before; see my profile for details.