I got another student. He's Josky. Say hi, Josky!
Josky: *flips everyone off*
Good boy!
Characters (C) Respected Owners
Ch. 3: Team-Up! Detectives and Thieves
"Man, can you even drive, Storm? That last corner you took was pretty rapid!" Vector demanded. He was criticizing Storm for his wry movements on his board as Vector clutched onto him for dear life. Storm had a vein throbbing on his forehead, keeping his cool as Vector continued to ridicule him. "I mean, seriously, dude! Learn how to ride!"
Storm rubbed his forehead, glaring over to Jet. "I so deserve a raise for putting up with this...idiot."
"Hey! Take that back!" Vector ordered, putting some gum into his mouth. Snapping it loudly, Vector blew a few bubbles before it snapped...and got all in Storm's ponytail.
"That's it! I've had it!" Storm shrieked. Reeling his fist back, he was ready to clobber Vector until Espio, Jet and I restrained the enraged albatross. "Come on, let me go so I can ripe his throat out!"
"Storm, cut it out!" Jet commanded, gripping his right arm while Espio and I got his left.
Sighing, Storm dropped his rageful stance, relaxing. Rubbing the back of his head, Vector apologized while Storm just glared over at him once they were back on his board. I immediately knew that this was a bad, bad idea.
We pulled up to our old airship that was shaped strangely like a hawk. Jet pressed a code into the side of it, and the doors flew open. Instantly, I zoomed past anyone to my old room. Surprisingly, my room was still the same: orange walls, small bed, locker room-like drawers. Flopping down onto my bed, I noticed that I had grown slightly since my feet nearly reached off the bed. Two years really have gone by so quickly...
Storm peered inside my room, smirking. "Boss is giving your buddies the old tour. Espio seems way too enthralled by the controls on the airship."
"Espio? He's a little freak when it comes to computers and stuff," I replied, lying back onto my bed. "He's like a male version of Wave sometimes!"
"That bad, huh?" Storm sighed, sitting down onto my bed.
"You alright?" I asked, leaning up towards him.
Storm shrugged. "Well, let me just put everything on really light terms: Today, so far, sucked. Really badly."
I started laughing. "That's putting it really, really lightly!"
The two of us had a good laugh together until the ship started moving. I asked where we were headed, and he replied Babylon Garden for some obvious clues. He added that Jet had a sneaking suspicion Rodrigo's children and Tagio from Wave's files. Before he could say anything else, we lurched off the bed, and Storm landed on the floor while I used my wings to stay afloat. Vector suddenly plowed into the room, wobbling slightly.
"Uh, you two gotta see this," he sputtered, pointing down to Jet's command center.
The command room was where Jet usually piloted the ship with his pirate's wheel as we called it. However, Espio seemed to be ridiculing Jet's unorganized panel of levers and pulleys that controlled the ship. Espio pulled a random lever that swerved the ship sharply to the left until Jet knocked his hand away. The chameleon glanced over to the hawk with aggrivation in his hot stare.
"You know, you should try to label your devices," he stated monotoniously.
"Label?" Jet repeated darkly. "Ha ha ha! You really are a laugh riot! You know, none of this would even be happening if you had just stayed dead and not be so eager to come back to life through Rodrigo."
Jet's voice grew cold and cruel. A deceitful air flooded the room, and Espio's normally highstrung, prideful composure fell instantly. Taking in a hard breathe, Espio's eyes wandered to the floor, and he solemnly walked out the door. Vector tried to comfort him, but Espio just waved his hand lackadaisically. Vector paused, glaring back at Jet while he just blinked in confusion. Storm placed a hand to his forehead, shaking his head.
"Nice going, Jet!" I snapped, crossing my arms at him. "It wasn't Espy's fault! Maybe if you had been kinder to Wave at your wedding today-"
"How's that a factor?" Jet interjected.
Suddenly, a punch was issued to Jet's face. Espio lurched back forward to retaliate with a follow-up punch, but Vector restrained his arms while Storm did the same for Jet. I covered my attenaes as the two cussed back and forth at each other with abnormal glares that made them seem like demons.
I flew out of the room since I couldn't handle their idiotic brawls. Storm called back out to be, trying to hold Jet back from killing Espio, but I was too far away to hear them. I dashed up the stairs and into the attic. It was still dusty with boxes cluttered against each other in rows. I sighed, coughing out toxic dust which reminde me of the Chaotix' attic. I sat on one of the boxes before my stinger ruptured it open, and I fell in. Grumbling to myself, I felt something brush against my muzzle so I snatched it.
There was Jet with his father and mother. Accel had his arm on Jet's shoulder with his arm around his wife. They all had smiles on their faces which utterly stupefied me to no end. Gently touching the glass that held the photograph in place, I flipped it over and rad their ages: Jet, age six; Accel, age twenty-seven; and Rosalie, age twenty-six. Rosalie, what a beautiful name.
I couldn't help but ponder over why Accel killed her. Asking Jet would just make him miserable, and I knew Storm and Wave would just sweep right over it. Their parents died from Rodrigo and Cannon, but the falcon was brainwashed by him at the time with his fake beliefs and dreams. My parents were killed in the Babylonian invasion that was led by Accel when I just six months old. Accel was a brutal man, ambitious and demanding, but also calculating and spiteful. He would just breeze after good times, replacing them with horrid scrawls of decimation.
Placing the photograph backside the box, I carefully folded it back up. Thankfully, the shouting of Jet and Espio seemed to bleed out. Glancing around the darkened room, I felt a strange source of comfort in the eerie blackness. The only sound was my buzzing from my eloquent wings, but a sudden rumble clumped to the corner of the attic.
"Who's there?" I demanded, taking out my kunai.
A shadowed figure escaped from a random box, parrying my kunai with a long metal sword. Cesare the Crow bowed to me, showing utterly no emotion. Before I knew it, the Chaotix and Babylon Rogues surged upstairs.
"You!" Jet shrieked, pulling out his Babylonian fans. "What have you done with Wave?!"
"First of all, it's rude to wave those toys around," Cesare sniggered, waving a finger.
"Toys?!" A vien popped up into Jet's forehead, exhalting his fury. "I'll show you toys, you son of a-!"
"Honestly, you really are aggrivating to listen to." Cesare waved his hand at him, a sign for him to shut up. "Anyway, I've come to give you a mere warning."
"Why would you even have the nerve to helping us?" Espio questioned, removing his shurikens from his cufflits.
Cesare lowered his sword to his sheath, mindlessly wiping it clean like there were infections or germs on it. His gold eyes pranced over to Espio with a gleam darkness hidden in them. Espio placed a hand over his eye, glaring at him. I could tell Espio was having another one of those headaches.
Could this guy be the cause of Espio's pain? I thought, staring over to Espio curiously.
"For one, I didn't come to dilly-daly or anything, but just watch out," Cesare warned with a tone of superiority.
"For-for what?" Storm stammered, clenching and unclenching his fists subconsiously.
"The Wave you once knew is nothing more than a mind and soul." Cesare's eyes suddenly slited, eerily changing his whole easy-going demeanor to bloodlust. My eyes bugged out when I noticed a heavy black aura surronding him with hauntings of death. Raising his palm, the aura suddenly surronded him, and in a flash of black, he was gone.
"...What's that mean?" Vector questioned once the awe had died down. "Nothing more than a mind and soul, strange."
"Who cares?" Jet growled, eye twitching with rage. "All I care about is finding Wave and getting that guy for insulting me!"
"Seems like you really cherish Wave," Espio stated, earning a glare from him. The glare softened when he realized what Espio had said. "Look, I apologize for me saying you are disorganized, but you really seem in love with Wave, am I wrong?"
Jet instantly shook his head in bewilderment.
"I won't stand in your way, Jet. You're the one that has to convince Wave to come back to you."
"What's that mean?" Storm curiously asked.
Espio's tone lowered to a haunting whisper. "I think Rodrigo-"
The ship took a sudden sharp right turn that threw us off balance. Well, not me; I was hovering. Espio's reply was long gone as we rushed back down to Jet's pilot room. Glancing over my shoulder, I stared at the photograph of Jet's family and sighed deeply. The sudden turn had thrown the picture out of the box, literally, so I threw it back in. This time, I placed it behind a few others so Jet wouldn't get anymore pessimistic.
Hearing Vector call out my name, I flew back downstairs. A sudden swarm of about twenty Slifers, a type of demons created by Rodrigo and his cohorts, had attacked the ship. The broke through the glass and shrieked inhumanely, a shrilly sound like shredding glass. All of them had sharpened talons with red tips. Blood maybe from a feast?
Vector sucked in large breathe and flames spewed from his snout, burning several of them, but Jet blew away the flames with his fans so nothing would catch. Some had burned to death while others were heavily scarred. Storm fought some off with his powerful fists while Espio and I hacked away at them with our kunais. One managed to snatch my throat from behind until Espio performed a handsign.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Like Vector, Espio spewed a large torrent of flames from his mouth, obliterating the Slifer.
"Thanks, Espy!" I jeered, slicing one that was ready to stab him in the back.
"What goes around comes around, thanks," Espio said vigorously.
On the contrary, Jet wasn't looking so hot. In fact, he seemed nearly asleep. Storm tore the Slifers with his hands, breaking them apart to get to Jet. Jet wobbled over, collapsing onto Storm's chest. Muttering to himself, Jet was ready to pass out, and sweat dripped down his face. Glancing over his shoulder, Storm shouted for some assistance as the Slifers started to haul onto them. One managed to scratch Storm across the face as he attempted to defend Jet with one arm and fend them off with the other. Vector dashed over, chomping down on a few of them in his mouth.
"...That's...that's d-disgusting," Storm murmured, a look of utter distraught vivid.
"Get used to it," Vector grunted, wiping the violet blood away.
The Slifers were defeated, but Jet instantly became our new victim. Storm set him up against the pirate's wheel, brushing shards of glass away from him. Vector poked him in the side of the face until Jet grunted. Jet's head rolled a few times before stationing at the floor. Storm glanced over to us worriedly. We tried everything: shouting, firecrackers, punching him (which resulted in Storm smacking Vector across the face for each hit he issued.), and even forcing Espio to make faces with his long tongue. Espio attempted to stangle me with his tongue since it was my idea. Bright idea, right!
Jet's head slowly faced upwards. Storm's face brightened when Jet re-opened his eyes, but instantly died back when he noticed that Jet wasn't speaking or even moving. It was like he was an emotionless, motionless, a little doll. In an instant, Jet hopped to his feet with a large demented grin on his face. Refusing to stop smiling, the hawk glared over to us with that sickening smile. His eyes turned slitted with a deep green hue to match his feathers, and he began to speak.
"Hello...long time, no me trying to kill you..." Jet stated in a voice that wasn't his own.
"Are you..." My voice broke off, and I gulped, "Is that you, Rodrigo?"
"Yeah, but I'm merely controlling Jet from my Babylon Garden castle," Rodrigo said through Jet's body.
"Okay, ew, that sounds like some Michael Jackson would say!" Vector cried, jabbing a finger at him. "Even though his music is pretty good." Everyone turned to stare at him horrifically. "Not that...I would know."
"Ooookay, anyway, let me just tell you all that you can't stop me, blah blah blah, evil laugh..." Rodrigo paused with a disgusted sigh. "Get that crocodile to a psychologist, sheesh! I'm outta here! Later, losers!" In the background, someone called him a retard, but let Jet go with some awkward swears.
Jet shook his head, and his eyes returned back to teal. Shaking his head, he glanced up to us. Casually, he wearily asked what had happened, and Storm filled him in. Usually, Storm would maul our boss with a hug, but I guess he was just too shaken up. Jet covered his beak in terror. Sullenly, he looked over to Vector.
"Vector, you like Michael Jackson?" Jet whispered, beak gaping.
"Darnit, guys! We don't have time for this!" Vector shouted with a slight blush creeping onto his face.
"For once, Vector's right," Espio agreed with a forced frown.
"Hey! I'm right way more than just once!" Vector snapped, growling at his chameleon companion. "Who was the genius, sexy-" Storm and Jet stifled laughter that Vector ignored."-one that figured out our client was Eggman when we were versing the Metal Overlord?"
"Vector, that was four years ago," I pointed out snootily.
"...I swear, Charmy, I'm going to eat you."
Jet adjusted his steering wheel back onto a steady course. Tapping a few buttons, a holographic screen popped down in front of him showing Babylon Garden. Jet explained that Wave had inserted a few cameras on their last visit with me two years ago. The screen divided itself into four separate parts. One showed the inside of the ancient Babylonian castle while the other three should sections of the marveled island. Jet tapped the one showing the inside of castle, growing larger.
There was the priestess and daughter of Rodrigo, Lucrezia with Tagio. Tagio was walking with her inside the room while Lucrezia seemed to be complaining about something. Tagio replied to nothing of what she said, angering her. Lucrezia stopped in mid-sentence rant to find her brother, Cesare, approaching them. She joyfully hugged him while he embraced her back. Tagio bowed his head at him kindly.
"Master Cesare, may I ask you a question?" Tagio asked respectfully.
"Oh? What is it, Tagio?" Cesare asked with mild interest.
"Why did you bring me back to life in the form of my pathetic ancestor, Cannon?" The way he spoke about Cannon was enough to make my blood boil. Jet's eyes narrowed onto the screen. Being the one who killed Cannon in his Shadow form, I wondered what was going on through his head.
Cesare merely stared over at him than to Lucrezia. "Simply because your body was completely mutilated with scorch marks. It wouldn't do to see my best friend so...disfigured to place it on light terms." His head whirled around when the doors crashed open, and Rodrigo stormed in outraged. "Father, what brings you here?"
"Do not play games, Cesare!" Rodrigo roared, jabbing an accusing finger at him. "What happened to the Arks of the Cosmos?"
"Arks?" he repeated playfully. "Oh, those bracelets. I just used my creatures to decimate them."
"Creatures? You mean that peculair aura around you?" Rodrigo fearfully questioned, noticing the aura was directed at him.
Cesare's eyes slitted once more, turning violet like Rodrigo's. "You're the one playing games now, Father. You caused the aura to embrace me when you sold your own son's soul to invent those gravity bracelets out of pure hatred. Mother was very...displeased on that."
Rodrigo flinched. "Vanozza, you...Silence! I created those for peace, but Stolen ruined everything!"
"How so, sir?" Tagio asked.
"Well, before I start..." Rodrigo's clever eyes diverted quickly onto the camera. "We're being watched by some rather ignorant brats."
"I'll take care of this," Tagio proclaimed, pulling out his sword. He leaped into the air and sliced the camera in half, but I noticed that Tagio didn't have the white flames on his wrists like Rodrigo and his children.
Our holographic screen fizzled out, and I pointed out Tagio's wrists. Espio suggested that Tagio probably didn't follow their beliefs. Vector thought all Babylonians were just whack-jobs until Storm, Jet and I took turns bopping him over the head. Espio rolled his eyes at our antics, and Vector's pleas of forgiveness. To which made Storm even more angry so he just threw Vector out of the room and shut the door.
"No dice," Espio stated as we finished beating Vector up. "They probably figured out that we are coming from a direct vantage point to strike."
"So, what now?" Storm asked. "We just lay low, and wait? What about Wave?"
"Perhaps I can assist!" Our heads turned around to see Psycho standing at the doorway with a beaten Vector in the background. "After all, I was trained by Freddy Krueger himself to be a dream killer. What'd you guys do to stupid here?"
"Psycho, how'd you get onto this ship?" I asked, swapping his question so no one could get upset.
"For the record, my name is Psyko, with a KO at the end," PsyKO said. "With these babies right here, I can just slice those crows up in their sleep." He showed us his wrist. There were four long knives that appeared to be attatched to his gloves or skin on him.
Skeptically, Jet crossed his arms rather unsure of what to say. "...Fine, but only if you communicate with Wave, and only Wave."
"Why not the others?" Psyko demanded. "I can injure or even kill people in their dreams like my twin Somatic. With one blow, I can probably take that Tagio guy out since he can't take his sword with him into his world of nightmares."
"No, I want Tagio for myself," Storm suddenly proclaimed. Everyone stared up at him, surprised at his statement. Cracking his knuckles, his composure fell to that of an angry mongrel as he growled, "Tagio's using Cannon's body, and Sis loved Cannon. I'm not letting him get away with it."
Psyko sighed, scratching behind his ear. "Well, whatever to that. I'll just go see Wave, but I can only speak to people when they sleep. Later." Psyko flipped us off with his knife and ran out before Jet could catch him. His laughter could be heard until he suddenly leaped off the ship. At least we had someone helping us. Psyko didn't even have to help, but offered his services out of kindness. Maybe he wanted money or something, likliest choices coming from him.
Jet screamed some profanity at the freefalling wolf before sighing. Slapping himself in the forehead, he muttered, "Why did we let him join?"
"To get information on Wave's position," Espio answered with nobility rising.
"That was a rhetorical question," Jet quipped. "Now that Rodrigo and his newest gang now we'll be arriving, I guess all we can do is just wait for Psyko's report."
Vector crossed his arms, seemingly disliking the move. "Than we should've asked Psyko to get some info on the his children: Cesare and Lucrezia."
"No, we've got Wave's technology to do that,," Storm replied, pointing down to Wave's room. "Wait...anyone know the passwords to her computer? We can only get in if we know her passwords, and they're pretty long..."
Nobody said anything, not even Jet. With no technology, we had no leads on Cesare and Lucrezia. We couldn't turn to Armand since his watch might've fizzled out again, and he'd definately stab us to death all if we broke it. Which I probably would've. Rubbing my temple, I glanced over out the window. The sky was still that vampant Skittles rainbow, but darker shades were starting to filter in. Night was falling too quickly than I expected in the spring, and I knew trouble was going to start.
"It's getting late, we should have dinner right now," Jet stated, consiladating us together into the kitchen. We had simple pasta, even though Espio kept raving on how much ramen was better. Storm backfisted him across the face to shut him up while Jet roared with laughter. Not surprising that it was Storm who made us the food since...we didn't know how. Aren't girls supposed to make food? That's what Jet and Vector told me! Blame them!
Once dinner was finished, Jet gave Espio and Vector the spare bedroom that Kiba used to sleep in. Storm gave a longing look to the room and sighed before heading to his own. Saying my goodnights, I flew back down to my old room and laid down. Staring at the crisply darkening ceiling, I kept a firm grip onto my light.
This'll be a long night, I thought, turning the light off and shutting my eyes. An instant later, I was asleep.
---
OC HOUR
STARRING: GEMINI, DAMIEN, CANNON, and PSYKO.
In a hospital room somewhere in Metropolis, Gemini stood over the cursing Damien as he stared at his newly broken arm Cannon gave to him. Cannon was suffering from back injuries and a sprained wristm courtesty of Damien.
"So, yeah, let's just get this over with," Gemini muttered, facing Cannon. "Are you emo, Cannon?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? I am not emo!" Cannon shrieked.
"Yes you are, and you claimed to not be emo at least four times," Damien interjected. "Which clearly states emoness to the maxium!" A syringe was thrown at his head, but missed and hit Gemini in the arm.
Gemini made a gurgling noise before falling over on his face. "Who got the winning lottery ticket, Mommy...?" he murmurmed just as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Damien and Cannon both stared at the unconsious hedgehog, well, they hoped he was unconsious. Damien knelt down to the fallen host and felt for a pulse on his neck. Cannon peered over at him, somewhat horrified at his actions.
"...You killed him!" Damien screamed, jabbing an accusing finger at the falcon.
"No, no I didn't!" Cannon defended, feeling for a pulse on Gemini's wrist. "...You moron! He's alive."
"His neck doesn't say so," Damien retorted. Cannon grabbed the dog's hand and placed it on Gemini's neck again. "...He wasn't three seconds ago!" Facing the camera, he added with a smirk, "Once Gemini wakes up, hopefully, we can get this interview over with! See ya!"
"...I swear to God, I need to write this on MySpace..." Cannon muttered.
"EMO!" Psyko shouted before running out the door and onto the streets with a handle of Tomo's delicates in his hands.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU PERVERTED CANINE!" Tomo screeched, chasing Psyko onto the streets with her katana waving wildly into the air.
"...That was a different ending than I was expecting," Damien stated, blinking. "I gotta get me some of those!"
"You're an idiot," Cannon sighed, covering his head with his usable hand.
---
Next: Slumber Meeting
Can the two completely different groups work together? What's Psyko going to do to help? Can Storm get revenge on Cannon's death? Will Gemini wake up? Stay tuned for the next Rogue's Bee and review, please!
HI, READ THIS: THIS STORY WILL NOT BE UPDATED UNTIL JANUARY 2009. WHY? BECAUSE...DRUM ROLL PLEASE! *drum roll*...I'M MAKING Y'ALL PRESENTS! START KISSING UP, LIKE, NOW. :D
~KIBA SNIPER