The Mobius Code
Red Dawn
Chapter 7
The Bombardment
Mobotropolis
March-19-3456
20:22 Mobius Time
'Alexander Zednanref. Private First Class. Service Code: MECCA ISA.53-84. Explosive Search and Destroy team Alpha.' It was all the white echidna could do to keep himself from thinking of the pain.
He was dressed in tattered army regulation clothing that was all dyed black aside from his grey trench coat. He looked at his hands and noticed that where the gloves were torn, there was some kind of burn or scathe on his skin. His heavy clothing had protected him from the brunt of the explosion, but he still had minor injuries here and there. 'Thank god for ballistic vests.' He thought as he stood.
What he saw was not or the faint of heart. Everywhere, his comrades were strewn about, being either a bloody mess, or squashed to a pulp by building debris. The fact that he was still alive, with none to serious injuries, was a miracle in itself.
He looked at the gun that lay near his position. Assuming it to be his, he picked it up and checked it out. It was an FN SCAR-L that had red tiger camouflage painted on it. It still contained 30 rounds in its magazine. He walked over his team mates dead bodies, giving his respects before scavenging them for ammunition, and their respective dog tags. By the end, he had ten extra magazines for his assault rifle, as well as one of the other soldier's weapons, being an FN F2000 which he found ten magazines for as well.
All around the albino echidna were destroyed buildings. It looked like hell warmed over in all its fury and he was caught in the midst of the terror. With no commanding officer, he was technically left in charge of what was left of E.S.A.D.A, but since there were no survivors, he was all that was left. So, to commemorate his becoming a C.O, he started by giving himself the order to locate assistance.
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Oh the accursed blurriness that fogged her vision. Everything was blurry for a moment before she finally attained her bearings. Her ears rang as she held her head in her hands. When Alexa rolled over onto her back, she found that she had not any injuries, not even the slightest scratch. She was amazed by her luck, or so she thought it was, until she turned her head. To her immediate right was the quad-tailed kitsune whom, unlike her, was covered in various incisions and lacerations that blood poured from as if someone had turned on a faucet.
He was also covered in many burns, probably on account of the massive explosion. At his side was Cosmo, desperately attempting to heal his wounds, but making little process with the scalding and deep cuts. Healing the cuts and replacing the skin over the burns; that, she could do. However, they were so deep and plentiful, it would take more time then she would have liked. Even though she could replace skin and heal tissue, she could not substitute blood. This would leave him with conditions befitting those with major blood loss.
Cosmo remained hopeful, doing all she could to oppress the injuries. Moments later, Tails came out of his state of suspension and looked around with his foggy vision. He woke up to a disorienting migraine and clamminess. He even looked a paler form of yellow than he used to.
He looked around until he spotted Alexa on the ground and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"
She was surprised by the question, more worried about him than herself. That was when she remembered…
[FLASHBACK]
The explosion went off, enswathing everything in its path. Before the flames and debris managed to catch up with Tails and Alexa, Tails quickly tackled her to the ground, shielding her from the blast.
[END FLASHBACK]
She started to tear up from the act of bravery. "Why?" She asked, fighting to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. She lifted her head to see Tails grinning, despite his injuries.
"Because you're my friend." He simply stated, being rewarded by a confused expression. "Years ago, I lost Cosmo." His smile faltered, "Now God has twisted fate, and I'm being given a second chance. I'm not losing any more friends."
With difficulty, Tails stood while using his four fluffy appendages to balance himself. Even then, his figure still swayed a little from blood loss. As they carried on, Tails remembered an old war proverb. One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war-Albert Einstein. Based on the history books, he was probably a man of great intelligence, possibly even giving Eggman a run for his money.
But that was not the matter of importance, whereas finding the others was. It didn't take much walking to come across a lone survivor, with a gun in his hands and one on his back. Assuming a threat, Tails bellowed, "State your name!"
The soldier jumped in surprise at his voice. Once again, Tails barked, "State your name, or we will fire on you!"
Cosmo looked a little baffled. "Wait, we will?"
While Melodi quietly asked her surrogate sister what custody meant, the soldier answered, "I'm Private First Class Alexander Zednanref, of Explosive Search and Destroy team Alpha. Service Code: MECCA ISA.53-84, at your service!" He answered enthusiastically.
Tails responded with a cocked head and said, "What the heck kind of name is Zednanref?" Alexander only shrugged and said it was the name he was given.
Cosmo debriefed him of the situation, assuring him that the civilians had been evacuated. Melodi noticed a little shine in his eyes telling her that he was hiding something. She had that kind of perception that could judge one by looking in the eye you could say. She began to address it, "What's the matter? You look like…"
"Like death warmed over, I know." He finished, dropping his tone and quivering slightly. "All my squad members, my friends, their all dead." He sniffled a little before asking their reason for being out here in what he would technically consider a war zone.
This conversation continued, and before long they were well acquainted with each other. Being the polite echidna he was, he decided not to assess the three extra tails that Tails possessed, but he did find himself staring at them often. Tails noticed this and decided to speak up.
"It's the tails, isn't it?" He asked, at which Alex only nodded. Tails breathed a deep sigh before continuing, "Everyone seems to either persecute me or fear me when they see my tails."
Alex shook his head, signaling that he wasn't bothered. "No, I think it's pretty neat. It probably makes multi-tasking much easier." They shared a laugh at the joke while searching for the others. For several hours, they searched and found no one. It was a big city after all.
Instead, they found a platoon of robots rushing in from the distance. "Well, what have we here?" Alexa mockingly asked while changing her fur color from its original white to a green. She drew her weapon, which was a spike mace this time with a brown crystal in the handle.
Tails pulled out his sword and twisted the handle, putting it in its five bladed shuriken form. Cosmo reached onto her back and retrieved her Barrett M82 and loaded explosive rounds and attached an advanced combat optical gun sight, or ACOG scope if you want to shorten it.
Melodi had her two chakrams at the ready. They had odd looking spikes, like thorns almost. Alex stared at them and thought, 'Wow…' as he aimed his FN SCAR-L at the enemies after turning on the Holographic sight.
"Don't mind if I take the first shot." Cosmo said before putting a high explosive round in a group of robots, scattering metal in several directions, resulting in other robots short-circuiting due to strewn scrap metal. After having taken first blood or first kill since robots didn't bleed, Tails and Melodi launched their sword shuriken and chakrams respectively, while Alex fired 5.56×45mm rounds into the mechanical abominations.
Alexa then took her mace and slammed it into the rubble, causing a violent earthquake to occur just as Melodi and Tails' weapons returned. Stalagmites began forming from beneath the robots, skewering them in the process. Their numbers were too great and they had to start resorting to close range attacks.
Tails' arms became blades as the wind energy flowed from his pores. Using his insane speed, he advanced and brought destruction upon the army. By transferring energy to his tails, he enabled them to cut through the robots as if they were made of butter. Cosmo stayed back, continuing to fire explosive rounds. Everyone was using their own methods of fighting, creating what you might call a diverse group of soldiers.
They cut the robots number significantly, leaving only fifty. One of the robots got smart and fired rocket at a nearby building, sending debris down at our heroines. After having to relocate, they were vulnerable and the robots began reopening fire, forcing them to take cover in the remains of the building. It was your average ten story office building, was being the key word in that sentence. It was now only three stories tall; a shadow of its former glory, if it had any to begin with. They advanced to the second floor and put up some desks for cover from the bullets.
"Now what do we do?" Alex asked all the while he was sweating bullets. Tails was formulating a plan when he remembered the two emeralds in his tails. He pulled them out, revealing their luminous cyan and red glow.
He absorbed the energy of the emeralds, combining it with his energy. Plus the fact that he unlocked three inner inhibitors, turning him into Torrent Tails and giving him his unnatural blue coat of fur, he was a force to be reckoned with. "Well guys, today is a good day to die!" He said.
Alexa cut in anticlimactically, "You know, today is actually a good day to retreat. Can't we push dying to a week from Friday?"
"No. It has to be today." Tails reasoned before rushing out into the battle field, and giving a war cry. He decided to try his new move to take them out all at once. He gathered his energy, and moved above his enemies. He yelled, "CHAOS METEOR SHOWER!" raining down masses of energy unto the robots. The number was brought from fifty to zero in less than three seconds. 'Now if only I could get the X-Tornado to brake like that.' He though humorously.
In awe of the whole thing, Alex's lower mandible dropped and his eyes widened. "Who are you people?" He questioned in wonder. An official introduction was given then by all to the newbie. They worked their way through other robots and in the direction of the castle. It was in sight when Tails felt great tense in his muscles. He stopped shortly and knelt on the ground, forcing him to support himself with his arms.
He soon sprawled out on the ground. It was more intense than he remembered it. He had probably spent too much time in his Torrent state and was feeling the backlash of his abilities. A nervous Cosmo attempted heal him while moving toward the castle at the same time. She supported his arm over her shoulder and Alexa came to help her so they could assist him in walking, which he seemed incapable of.
"I thought you were going to be careful with that power Tails?" Cosmo muttered, to which Tails only smirked.
"I must've gotten carried away." He answered as they arrived at the entrance to the castle, one of the few standing structure left. It was a magnificent sight that would bring the Castle Bergedorf in Hamburg to shame. Around it was a large outer wall to protect it from attack and along the wall was several soldiers, standing at the ready to protect her majesties welfare.
They were immediately let in the castle at the will of the guards, disregarding the wait time to get in. They noticed on one of the walls that the city had been brought to DefCon 1, and they were already housing other wounded. Being in the well protected walls brought them a feeling of safety, one which Tails knew not to be trusted lightly. They made their way to the throne room to address themselves to Sally. When they were finally let in, after half an hour of waiting, they gave their report.
"Hello your majesty." Alex formerly greeted her. However, Sally was having second thoughts about that after seeing Tails, Cosmo, Alexa, and Melodi walk in with him.
"Just Sally will do. No need to be so formal." She regarded whilst hopping down from her throne to have a more comfortable conversation.
"Yes your maj… I mean Sally. The bombs Eggman planted around the city have indeed gone off, as you can see by Miles' scars here." Alex said while gesturing to Tails many scars. One would have thought him an old war torn fox had they not known him personally. One thing Sally really noticed was his fourth tail.
Deciding against bringing it up, she continued, "And who are you, might I ask?"
"I am Private First Class Alexander Zednanref, member of Explosive Search and Destroy team Alpha, or just ESADA, as we like to call it. My service code is: MECCA ISA.53-84." He stated. Sally gave him a skeptical glance.
"Where is the remainder of your squad?" She asked, bringing to light a few haunting memories.
"…They're all dead. They died in one of the explosions, and I'm the only survivor." He answered shakily. He seemed to be suppressing tears, and keeping himself from stuttering.
"Well, it looks like you've been through a lot soldier." Sally replied sympathetically. "How would you like to go on leave and reside in the castle for a short while?"
He slowly nodded and expressed his thanks before withdrawing from the room. "As for you four…" She addressed them, keeping them where they were. "What else did you find?"
Cosmo stepped forward, "Well, before the explosions, we ran across a large robot, probably five or six stories tall, that bore a remarkable resemblance to Eggman."
Tails then cut in, "You remember the Death Egg Robot from one of our earlier adventures?" Sally nodded curtly, "Well this is basically the same thing with heavier armor and more weapon upgrades."
"We believe it was protecting those bombs." Alexa continued.
Melodi followed shortly, "There were also a whole bunch of robots that we fought after the explosions went off."
Sally took it all in, and drew only one conclusion. "Guys, I think Mobius is being invaded. I've yet to receive word from any other groups, so I want you to go out and find them."
She received a clear "YES MA'AM!" from them before they ran out of the castle, Tails stumbling a bit behind them.
"Oh, and Tails..." Sally said. She began pointing at the fourth tail, "Is that new?"
Tails continued running off, confirming with a firm "yes" that told her that he probably didn't like talking about it.
"Wait a moment!" She yelled to them. "I got something you might like."
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Elsewhere in Mobotropolis
March-20-3456
1:26 Mobius Time
YAAAWN!
Sonic the Hedgehog had been awake since this morning and could have used some shut eye. The constant fear of attack and flow of adrenaline didn't give him that luxury though. He, Shane and Coral had been working their way back to the castle ever so slowly, much to the blue hedgehog's dismay. It appeared that there was a robot around every corner.
As if to prove that point, there were several robots waiting around the other side of a destroyed building. Acting quickly, Shane created icicle spears and hurled them at the three nearest robots, disabling them. Once that was done, Coral used the water in the ice to disable the final two that were in Shane's blind spot.
"You two make a great team!" Sonic complimented, "Who taught you such great teamwork?"
They looked at each other with nervous expressions. Coral shook her head, at which Shane proceeded. "We're not allowed to tell you." Sonic, now even more confused, continued on. Now tired of waiting he ran headlong forward… and into another robot.
"Whoops…" He muttered as robots began to crowd them. They were completely surrounded by the time they had themselves reoriented. "Well out of the frying pan and into the fire, eh?" Sonic spoke, attempting to lighten the mood.
Hesitating wouldn't get him anywhere though, so he charged and spin-dashed through several robots, making a Mobian sized hole in each of those robots. The robots began firing and they were forced into a fly or die situation. This was Sonics main area of offense and defense though, so he had no problem with curling into a spiky ball and ramming through a couple machines in the process.
In an attempt to protect himself from bullet fire, Shane created a dense layer of ice around his body to form armor. Armor which was melted in the presence of the robots flame throwers. He received slight charred fur on his stomach as a result. The air temperature around him dropped sharply and his hwandudaedo ice sword formed in his hands, which he began using to dice up the enemy. Coral had surrounded herself in a bubble of water, forming effective offense and defense. She shot out multiple tendrils of water that seeped into the robots' circuits, rendering them immobile. Soon however, they were being overrun. Sonics seemingly boundless energy was now keeping him running on fumes, having used it so quickly.
There were simply too many of them. Corals water shield was gone, seeing as she was having too much difficulty keeping it up. They were forced to retreat inside a building to assess their injuries. Sonic had a couple bullet wounds, but in non-vital areas and that was about it. As if the Gods of fate had shined a light down upon them, a V-22 Osprey helicopter/plane hybrid came out of the sky, carrying who knows what.
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Inside the Osprey, it was dank and dark except for a lone red light. Four beings were in the passenger payload bay leaving one to fly the hybrid air transport. "Sally, are you sure this armor will protect us?" One feminine voice said over a communicator.
"As sure as ever Alexa." The being known as Sally replied over the communicator.
"You've got this in the bag Alexa. Now wipe the floor with 'em." Melodi assured her. The Osprey set down shortly and opened its hanger to reveal Alexa walking out, wearing full blown juggernaut armor.
She was covered head to toe in very dense and very heavy metal armor that could resist all sorts of bullets and explosions. She even had a helmet with such protection. Due to the loss of speed it brought, and therefore the loos of her power advantage, she now carried a PKP Pecheneg Light Machine Gun. The robots sprayed her body with bullets, but they had little effect. She fired her Pecheneg machine gun and littered the robots with bullets, some even exploding and taking other machines with them.
It was utter obliteration, and the robots stood on the receiving end of Alexas rampage. This was no battle, it was a massacre. "What? Where's the spunk you had five minutes ago?" She joked as she continued tearing through metal with her LMG. The armor was limiting her to slow movement though, and she found it hard to move quickly.
That didn't matter when all the robots were quickly turned to shrapnel anyway. Some robots were lucky enough for their rounds to pierce the armor, just barely, but they had only fraction of the momentum they had when they were fired, so the bullets did little damage against the heavily armored Alexa.
The others were encouraged to fight again by the display of awesomeness she had put on, but they had little knowledge as to who it was. Sonic jumped in the air and spun into one of the distracted 'bots. He used that momentum to attack other 'bots in the same go, performing his signature Homing Attack.
As the battle wore on, Shane and Coral for their collaboration attack. Coral had gathered enough water for it to be done, and Shane had activated it. "Time for you to cool off you metallic mutts!" He shouted as he launched thousands of dime sized icicles at them. Each was as sharp as a hypodermic needle. They tore cleanly through every last robot, severing wires and control circuits along the way. Soon after, the robot squadron toppled over, no longer functioning.
"'Metallic mutts'? Is that really the best you could come up with?" Coral whispered to him, while he shrugged in response.
With the fight over, she took her helmet off and revealed her face to the others. "Surprised to see me?" She asked them, which they indeed were.
"I'd say I shouldn't be after your impeccably timed arrival in Tails' workshop a couple days ago, but you never cease to amaze me." Shane admitted. Alexa then received a call on her communicator.
"Alexa are you there? This is pilot four-seven-niner. Do you read me?" The voice said.
"I read you loud and clear. What's the SitRep?"
"I have other friendlies in need of assistance so I'm out. See you at the castle." Four-Seven-Niner finished, taking off in the meanwhile.
"Roger. Alexa out."
That said. They cut communications and Alexa announced, "Alright everyone, we're moving back to the castle. On me, move out!"
They then made double time back to the castle, not bothering to question the situation.
Nothing fancy here.
Remember to Read & Review
I am still doing a questions and answers service. If you ask, and with your concern, the question will be posted in the next chapter, along with the answer. Put your question in a review or in a PM.
