Team Chaotix – On the News

Chapter 6 – The Omega Code

Blackness had covered the city, and the world around it. The sun had vanished beyond the horizon, its light no longer visible in the distance. The moon revealed itself brightly in the night sky, reflecting the light shone by the sun onto the planet below. The portion missing from it replayed the tragic event that occurred little more than a year ago—visible only when the moon was positioned just right.

Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat got a room for a late night stay in the Dynasty Hotel. The cost was all paid for by the GUN Federation Forces. Knuckles, not wanting to have to make his way back to Angel Island this late, decided to stay with Shadow and Rouge.

Rouge did question his reasoning for coming to the city, but Knuckles just shrugged it off. "I just felt like I needed a little break," he stated.

Truth be told, it was a stupid answer, and neither Shadow nor Rouge bought it, but neither questioned it. The problem was his own, and none of their business. His reasoning for wishing to stay here did not matter.

Quite awkwardly, the room had a large, full-size bed, and a smaller twin-sized bed, as well. However, unlike the Chaotix's suite, this room was small and had no couch. Regrettably, it was clear that one of them would have to take the twin, and the other two would have to sleep on either side of the full.

Shadow never found sleeping a thing he often enjoyed doing, but he realized that if he did not then he grew weary, and would eventually fall asleep, anyway. Clearly, not even powerful research projects could get out of sleep.

Knuckles scratched his head, a bit frustrated. "Oh, great... Now what are we going to do?" he asked.

Shadow sighed. "It looks like two of us will have to stay in the full."

The echidna's face turned red. Not an embarrassing red, though. "What?!" Knuckles lashed out, instantly turning to the black hedgehog. "Hey, if I knew that'd I'd have to put up with this, then I immediately would've went straight back home!"

The black hedgehog chuckled, slightly. "Sorry, but I can't help it. Regardless, why'd you come in the first place?"

Knuckles' face now officially turned flush. His anger turned to embarrassment; the red to pink. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Er, heh, I… well, I really don't want to talk about that…"

Rouge leaned in to the conversation, examining both of them. "Something happen?" she asked, slyly.

The echidna shook his head. "Nope, everything's perfect," he explained.

The batgirl glanced at the two beds. "Hmm… well, logic dictates that two of us will have to stay in the same one. To prevent any sly thoughts, perhaps I should just take the small one."

Rouge snickered. Now both Shadow and Knuckles were beginning to regret this. Ultimately, it appeared that one of them would have to be with Rouge, and…

Shadow turned around and started heading out the door. "I'm just going to go stand guard with Omega, in case he needs a little backup."

As his hand reached for the handle, someone else's hand grabbed a tuff of fur at the back of his neck. "Now where do you think you're going?" Rouge asked.

She dragged him back into the room and stopped. Turning to him, she opened her mouth. "Shadow the Hedgehog, you have been out and about the last few days without rest. You are going to get a good night's sleep!"

Shadow snarled. "I'm just fine," he stated.

Rouge shook her head. She pushed him down onto the twin-size bed, still persistent. "Come, now. You've fought super villains, destroyed rampaging robots, and stopped an entire alien race from conquering the world. Still, though, when it comes to getting a good night's sleep, you're just like a little kid!"

The bat turned away, and Shadow regrettably obeyed her. Knuckles watched as Rouge walked passed him and entered the restroom, anger on her face. "Men," she stated, a harsh tone in her voice.

Knuckles sighed. Great, so he got stuck with her. Perfect. Just perfect, he thought.

Rouge got out of the restroom after a couple minutes, having changed into a black, skin-tight night gown. The echidna tried his best not to look.

"So, having trouble figuring out what to do?" she asked. Rouge wasted no time to wait for an answer. "Well, then, how about this. You take the bed, and I'll sleep in the corner. I'd rather not sleep in that musty thing, anyway," the bat stated.

She quickly flew off toward the corner, and Knuckles stared in bewilderment. "Wait, what…?!" he stated, turning toward where Rouge had gone.

What she did put him into a state of utter disbelief. Well, until Knuckles realized exactly what was going on. Rouge flew up into the corner and hung herself down from the ceiling. Knuckles did recall hearing how bats often slept hanging from the ceiling, but didn't consider the idea that Rouge may ever do such a thing.

XXXXX

Clouds formed overhead. A light rain began to pour down to the ground. Two figures stood broadly in the night sky, overlooking the five-story building in front of them. The elder of the two stepped forward.

She was a female—tall and proud. Two large clumps of feathers blew in the breeze of the wind behind her, like ordinary hair. She surveyed the situation. "Doesn't look like much," she stated. "So long as we're quiet, this should be a breeze."

The other nodded in reply. He kneeled down at the edge of the rooftop, glaring out at the building. A large, metal object stood and overlooked the western part of the building, on the left side. "He will be the only problem. The others will be no match in their sleep, but if he spots us and alerts them, we'll have problems," he stated.

The girl nodded in reply. She snickered, slyly. "Oh, don't worry, I've got that taken care of. Barrington managed to get his hands on an override code, which will ultimately allow us to control him. He'll be our ticket to victory," she proclaimed.

The male glanced up, and then back at the robot. "Interesting. I wonder how he knows so much about this," he stated.

The female shrugged her shoulders. "Who cares? The money's all I want."

The other nodded again. "Yes, of course. With all that cash, we'll be swimming in gold!" He called out. He even imagined it, too. Himself, legendary wind master Jet the Hawk, swimming through a pool filled with pure, solid gold! He stared up into the air and laughed, excitingly.

The female slapped him upside the head and pointed down to the robot. It had begun to turn and look around. She quickly pulled Jet to the ground and waited for it to turn back around. She glared at Jet and scolded him. "What were you thinking?!"

Jet crossed his arms. "Ah, Wave, you always ruin everything!"

They stood back up again, brushing themselves off. Wave sighed. "When do we begin?" she finally asked, anxious to get this over with.

Jet nodded. "As soon as Storm brings us the word," he stated.

Wave frowned. Great, so she had to rely on Storm to get the job done. Perfect. This was just perfect.

XXXXX

Janelle glanced out the window, suddenly realizing how dark it was. She slid up the sleeve on her right arm and glanced at the object sitting beneath it. 'Ten-thirty?! That late?!' she asked herself.

The cat sighed. She'd been here all day, but had found nothing. There was nothing to go by, and no links to anything. Those detectives hadn't been much use, either. She sighed. 'I suppose I'd best turn in,' she decided.

Janelle stood up and glanced around the office. Most of the lights were off, and only a few people were still in. Most had already gone home for the evening, and those left were all on the nighttime shift, anyway. Everyone on the nighttime shift was probably out on patrol. Hers was technically the daytime shift, but she often stayed in all hours of the night, anyway.

Finally feeling beat, not gaining any further information, and feeling a little down, Janelle marched toward the exit. As she was leaving, though, the phone at her desk rang. She put it off a couple seconds, but then couldn't help it any more.

Janelle ran back to her desk and grabbed the telephone. "Hello?" she called out.

Much to her surprise, it was the crocodile. "Is this the chief of police?" the caller asked.

The cat sat down. "Vector?" she asked.

"Affirmative," Vector proclaimed. "You are Janelle, correct?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you got some info for me?"

Vector grinned slyly. The crocodile nodded his head, even though she could not see. "Yeah, I got somethin for ya. Actually, I've got a lot of somethins for ya," he proclaimed. "You might want to get a pencil; it'll be a little while."

XXXXX

The echidna slipped out of the small café and sighed. Well, that wasn't so bad for a first night, he had decided. Regardless, it would be tough keeping up for this, and even then, it would be barely enough to get by. Oh well, it would be worth it, Flame told himself.

He turned left and started to walk down the street. He went across the street straight ahead, then turned left. He walked a couple more blocks then found an alleyway off to the right. He glanced forward and noticed the street sign. The sign read 'Bullet Street.' The street that he was on now, as he recalled, was named 'Station Square.' He had known where the place was, but never paid attention to the names. Perhaps he'd best remember it for future use.

Flame entered into the alley and into the first door on his left. He turned the knob and it slid open, leading inside a raggedy old room. This was, as he remembered, a "low-income housing" apartment complex, whatever that meant. Clearly, it didn't mean much. Wait, wasn't income money from a job? Ah, that explained it. It was a housing unity for poor people. Grand.

A guy at the desk looked up from behind it. He was short, fat, stubby little mole. His fur was brown in color, and his eyes were sapphire. The guy's nose stuck out in an unusual manner for most, but that didn't really matter much. He wore a raggedy, black jacket. His head only just barely peeked out over the two and a half-foot counter.

The guy looked up at Flame, startled. He then shouted out angrily. "Didn't I already talk with you? You can't stay here unless you've got some--"

Flame smiled and lifted his hand down. He showed the guy the wad of cash, and then opened his mouth. "Money?" he asked.

The mole raised an eyebrow. He quickly swiped the cash and looked it over. "20, 30, 50, aye! 75!" he proclaimed, speaking in a rather strange accent that Flame didn't quite understand. "How'd you get so much cash in such a short while?" he asked.

Flame rubbed his head a little. "Er, well, I got a job and asked for some pay in advance…"

The mole narrowed his eyes. "Well, what's someone like you going around trying to get a place to stay with no money, anyway?" he asked.

The echidna shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, but I'd rather not talk about it. It's a long story, and you probably wouldn't even believe me if I told you." 'Like anyone would believe that I plucked out a sword which sent me to the future,' he told himself.

The mole nodded. "Ah, fine, but just wait a bit while I get a place ready for you. I'll call you when it's done."

Flame nodded in reply. He didn't bother saying a word. Instead, he left back out the door again and stepped out into the alleyway. He didn't like much attention, so he decided to sit outside, instead.

He walked down the alley a bit and decided to sit and wait beneath the shadow of an old stairwell. He just sat there a while, for about twenty minutes or so. Finally, he'd had enough.

The echidna walked back through the alley and up to the door. Just then, a trash bin crashed onto the ground. Flame instantly spun around. "Who is there?!"

XXXXX

"Shadow…" the voice called out of the darkness.

Shadow opened his eyes and saw something… a face!

It was that of a young girl. She had long flowing blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a blue garment covering her torso, and a skirt around her waist that reached her ankles.

The hedgehog reached out his hand. "Maria!"

Maria pointed into the darkness, signaling something. "Go to her, Shadow. You must save her!"

"Who is it?" Shadow asked.

The girl ignored him. "Danger strikes. Hurry, for if you fail, she's doomed!" she spoke.

A wind blew in the blackness. Suddenly, Maria began to vanish. Shadow called out to her. "Maria, wait!"

He ran after her, but to no avail. "Go to her…" she said at last, and then was gone.

Shadow blinked. His eyes opened wide and saw a flowery texture ahead of him. He suddenly sat up and realized that he had fallen asleep. Where was he, though?

Glancing around the room, he remembered it. 'Of course, I'm still in the Dynasty Hotel!' he told himself.

The black hedgehog turned aside and processed the information in his mind. 'What did she mean?' he thought.

'Nothing, it meant nothing. It wasn't real; it was all just a dream.' He told himself.

"Wait a second…" Shadow said out loud. He quickly jumped to his feet and glanced around the room. Knuckles lay in the second bed, fast asleep. Where was Rouge, though?!

A garbled transmission came in through the transmitter on his arm. "…ack, re...t, und… att… …sting ...medi… ass…nce," the voice stated.

Shadow suddenly glanced to the window. An unusually wild rush of wind was outside. He narrowed his eyes. "Omega!" he called out, instantly rushing out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

XXXXX

Espio's eyes shot open. He could feel it. Something bad was happening.

The chameleon quickly jumped to his feet. He ran to the couch and shook the bee lying there. "Charmy, get up! Something's moving."

Well, it was quite obvious that something was moving. Also obvious, though, was that it wasn't Charmy. He refused to even move an inch. Espio snorted. 'Well, so much for that,' he decided.

The chameleon rushed over to Vector. The crocodile was fast asleep, but was still rolling around in the little bed. Espio poked him a bit. "Vector, something's not right here. We've got to get moving."

Vector rolled around in the bed. He stretched his hands out into the air. Espio nodded. 'At least someone's listening,' he stated.

The crocodile stretched a bit and licked his lips. Then, he muttered something out loud. Espio watched as Vector said "Just a few more minutes."

That wasn't the answer he was looking for.

Espio walked to the end of the bed. Vector rolled over onto his belly, which gave this ninja an idea. He pulled out one of his throwing stars and walked back through the room. He headed toward the door, but as he passed Vector's bed, he launched the ninja star at his bottom. That made one nice wake-up call.

XXXXX

A loud scream echoed out. Suddenly hearing such an extremely loud and obnoxious noise through her ears, Rouge lost her balance and crashed into the floor.

This then woke up Knuckles, whom was surprised to see Rouge now on the floor. He rushed over to her and helped her up. "Hey, what just happened here?" he asked.

Rouge shook her head. The noise was still ringing in her ears. She placed her hands at the side of her head and closed her eyes.

"Something wrong?" The echidna asked.

Rouge looked down at the floor, and suddenly shook herself back to her senses. "Ugh, what time is it?" She asked.

Knuckles shook his head. "I don't know. I'm just wondering what the hell's going on around here!"

Rouge stopped. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Wait, a scream! I heard a scream," she proclaimed.

The bat looked up, but noticed something strange. She looked stunned. Instantly, she ran off to the door, leaving a bewildered Knuckles left behind.

He called out to her. "Wait, what's wrong?"

The echidna rushed ahead, but paused for a second. 'What was she staring at?' he asked himself.

Knuckles glanced back at the corner. There was nothing there, so why was she so… "There is nothing there…" he muttered, suddenly realizing what Rouge had seen.

The echidna quickly ran after Rouge, failing to shut the door behind him. He had to find her!

XXXXX

Shadow slammed the roof door open. "Omega!" he called out, charging onto the rooftop of the building.

He found Omega lying on the ground. The android had taken some heavy damage, but seemed to be alright. His eyes were black, though...

Shadow lifted the robot up and slid open the back panel on the robot. He examined everything, but everything was in a working order. Wait, though, what was this…? "0, 4, 3, 9, 4," Shadow read. This was programmed into Omega's memory banks, but…

A talon latched around his arm. The next instant, Shadow found himself sent flying through the air. He crashed onto the ground on his side, rolling a bit, until coming to a stop. He was still feeling the energy loss from yesterday, and was unable to get up properly. Regardless, slowly but surely, Shadow used his hand to push himself up.

A missile detonated in front of him. Shadow flew backwards and rolled up to the edge of the roof. He watched helplessly as the battle android approached him, eyes read. Suddenly, it came to him. 'It must be some sort of override code!' he told himself. 'Omega is unable to control his own actions, because someone programmed that code into him. There's only one person who could know that code, though…'

A sudden thought came to him, but it couldn't be possible… it just couldn't! 'No, that couldn't be it, he's… he's in Station Square!' Shadow told himself. Truths don't lie, though. No one else could know that code, so that must've meant that he had something to do with this!

Omega took one more step forward, then stopped. Shadow looked up in curiosity. The robot had stopped not three feet away, but he did not move. Actually, he didn't do anything. What was he do--

"Well, well, what a pleasant surprise," a voice stated from behind him.

Still too weak, Shadow was only able to get onto his knees. He turned away from Omega and saw what he had dreaded.

Jet the Hawk stood there, balancing on his Extreme Gear just past the edge of the rooftop. On his right was Wave the Swallow, and to his left was Storm the Albatross. "And I thought they called you the ultimate life-form," Jet proclaimed with a snicker. "Such a pitiful performance."

Shadow rolled forward and jumped to his feet. It was more like a hobble, though. This was only going to worsen his current condition, but he had no choice, he had been out-numbered.

He skated back to the entrance, but Storm raced ahead and jumped in front of him. "Where do you think you're goin'?" he proclaimed.

The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes. He ducked away and darted in the opposite direction. He stared at the building across the alleyway ahead. If only he could jump to it…

Wave quickly darted in front of him, blocking the way. Shadow slid off and dashed toward the front of the building. There was only one way out, and he had to get there.

XXXXX

Rouge slammed the door open. Shadow was trapped by the three Babylon Rogues, with Omega standing behind. The black hedgehog quickly darted toward the edge of the roof, but then Omega shot two missiles out at him. The explosion threw Shadow forward and over the edge of the building.

She entered into a panic. Suddenly, she couldn't help herself. Rouge ran forward. "Shadow!" she called out.

The three Rogues turned to her. Wave snickered. "Well, well, look at what we've got here," she stated.

Jet grinned slyly. "Looks like the fun's just getting started!" he called out. Jet then motioned towards… something. It was quickly obvious what it was, though. "Go get 'er, Storm."

Rouge backed away. She quickly ran towards the entrance into the building, but the bird cut her off. "Sorry, but you ain't going nowhere. You're little friend made the same mistake," he proclaimed.

The bat backed away. There's no way she'd be able to fight all three of them, and also Omega. It was hopeless. Surely, she'd turn out the same way that…

Storm instantly went flying into the air. He crashed into the ground, landing head-first. Knuckles brushed off his hands and walked out of the door leading downstairs. He chuckled to himself. "Sorry I'm late," he stated. "I just had a little, eh, business to take care of."

Knuckles ran out to Rouge. He grabbed her hand. "Are you okay?" he asked.

The bat shook her head. She looked at the ground in sorrow, not saying a word.

The echidna realized what happened. He sighed. "Is there anything I can do to--"

Suddenly, Rouge wrapped her arms around him and cried. Knuckles instantly stopped. He said nothing.

"Sorry to break up this little romancy-smazz, here, but shouldn't we be worrying about them?" a voice called out.

Rouge's tears stopped, and both glanced back to the entrance. Vector charged out, Espio and Charmy right behind. A few seconds later, Bean and Bark exited, as well, the duck juggling a few bombs in his hands.

Jet stared them down, annoyed at the whole situation. It just took a turn for the worse. Still, they had their gear, and the robot was also under their control. Storm also pushed himself off of the ground, grabbing his gear and running back to the others.

The leader stared them down. Though they didn't have the advantage in numbers, Jet knew that they still had the upper hand. He snickered broadly. "Just try and take us down," he called out. "I'll show you the true power of the Babylon Rogues!"

XXXXX

Flame put his sword up and deflected the bullet fire. This sure was one handy weapon. It was light and durable, but still powerful.

The shadow escaped to the left. It climbed up and along the wall, then jumped down right behind the echidna. This time, though, it pulled out a dagger.

Flame quickly ducked to the side of the crazy figure. It dived toward him again, but he rolled to the right. The figure stared him down. It was one persistent person, he'd give that much.

The figure dived again, slamming his dagger down on top of the echidna. This time, though, Flame put his sword up. The blade of the dagger dug into the sword, but they didn't budge. His attacker was wearing a completely black outfit, so he was unable to tell exactly whom it was. He stared into his eyes, those teal irises…

…

Those teal irises in the midst of eyes encased in white fur, with a cut across them. It was placed evenly between the right pupil and the nose.

Flame backed away in surprise, resting his sword at his side. "Ultima," he snarled.

Ultima ripped away his hood revealing his face. The hedgehog stared blankly at the echidna. "I failed last time. Tonight, though, you die," the mercenary proclaimed.