The (*) symbol used once signals the start of a new scene while the (*) symbol used TWICE signals the END of a scene.

Chapter 9

*W and W.L stood on the boardwalk, unsure of what to do. The virus sample clipped to W's belt felt cold and heavy all of a sudden. He looked nervously at his brother who was trying really hard to find an opening to lash out at Rouge, who stood tauntingly in front of them. Finally, Rouge lashed out with a long dagger.

"Wait!" W tried stopping W.L, but his brother was already away from his side and meeting Rouge in combat. He had a dagger as well, and the two fought their way down the boardwalk and back toward the storage facility.

"I've seen better moves than that, handsome!" Rouge mocked as she continued to desperately defend herself. W stood watching helplessly. He couldn't get into a tough fight, for fear that the sample clipped to his belt would fall off and do something that could affect him or his brother. He watched Rouge flip and kick W.L backward in midair, then run over to the control panel next to the door of the storage facility. She slid her I.D in, allowing the door to slide open.

"Oh no, she's not doing what I think she's doing," W groaned partially to himself. Unfortunately, W.L didn't wait long enough to think. He ran in after her. W couldn't just stand there and see what would happen. He had to go after his brother, who had obviously completely lost his mind. Curse the Heroes of Today for this! Curse the G.U.N. forces! Curse that egghead Ivo! He was going in after his brother even if it meant jeopardizing the entire mission that had started out so smoothly, but was doomed from the start. W began running toward the facility where the two psychotic combatants continued their way into the facility. But before he could get to the door, it slid shut and locked itself. Frustrated, W grabbed his stolen I.D card and jammed it into the slot, and the door willingly slid back open. Inside he could see Rouge and W.L jumping from crate to crate, returning fire at each other with plasma pistols. Landing on one crate which wobbled underneath him, W.L jumped and kicked Rouge off her crate, sending her flying down and hitting the floor below.

"W.L! That's enough! We can't stay in here!" W shouted, signaling his brother to get out. He heard Rouge laugh.

"Silly boy! You must stay! I've only just now gotten started," she sneered, her voice transitioning into one of determination and frustration, which made W feel uneasy. She got on all fours and sprang for W.L, who was a bit taken aback at the move, but recovered quickly as he dodged another swing from the bat's dagger.

"I've had enough of this!" W muttered in disgust, and ran forward, pulling his plasma pistol out of holster, ready for action. But Rouge had noticed him, and spun around, her foot flying against W's chest, sending him soaring backward and crashing against the desk with the tubes full of the lethal virus. Then, W felt a terrible impact. He felt himself get thrown forward, feeling a violet heat embrace his back as he fell. He could feel the back of his helmet explode, the back of his head felt as if it was on fire. When he opened his eyes, he could see a red smoke raging in front of him, blocking his eyesight.

Oh no, this is not good, W thought to himself, as he felt himself finally collapse face first onto the floor so hard, the glass visor on his helmet cracked. His mind was screaming at him to throw his helmet off, but W had a very sick feeling that the damage had already been done.**

*W.L gasped behind his helmet when he saw his brother go down, a red smoke engulfing W's helmet.

"Well, well, it looks like somebody was being a little too clumsy," Rouge taunted. Furious, W.L lashed out with his own fist this time, intending to hurt the stupid bat, very badly. Her wings sprouted out on her back, ready to take her away.

"We'll have to play another time, handsome. Looks like the damage has been done. I'm out of here," Rouge said, and before W.L could attempt to lash out at her again, she was off and out of the storage facility. Bringing his attention back to his brother, who was still sprawled out on the ground, he ran over and knelt down beside him. He thought he saw blood underneath W's waist, but as he lifted him just a bit, he realized that the glass bottle containing the virus sample had shattered on one side, spilling its contents out onto the floor.

"How are you doing, buddy?" W asked, his voice so weak and pale. W.L put his brother back onto his back, removing the shattered glass bottle. He removed W's helmet, shocked at how white his brother's face looked. It was red-rimmed and dark around his eyes.

"So this is what I get for trying to save your sorry butt," W joked. W.L chuckled, which was something that he normally did not do.

"Shut up," he replied. He was alarmed when W started to violently cough. He realized he had to get back to the ship, but how? The entire base knew they were there and could open fire on them any time. Was W getting infected exactly what the enemy wanted? Of course. A test subject to see just how powerful this virus was, but they didn't want the two of them to steal a sample either. That's where Rouge was supposed to come in. The terrible realization that the enemy had won this one washed over him like bitter, icy water. W.L looked at the desk, where tubes of the virus had spilled out everywhere. Broken glass littered the desk now, and pools of the scarlet liquid ran over the edge of the desk and dripped down to the floor. Red smoke drifted upward, filling up the room more and more.

"I could walk," W coughed, and W.L helped get him back to his feet and lead him out of the room and onto the boardwalk. All the way to the ship, no one bothered them. The base even seemed completely deserted. No one was patrolling the boardwalks, and there was no sign of Rouge. W.L was surely looking forward to the time when he would get his fingers around that bat's neck. He felt angry towards the Heroes of Today for not being able to be relied on, and now they had fallen right into a trap that could possibly cost his brother his life. One thing was for sure, that there was a spy among them in the Heroes of Today.**

*"What happened?" Chairman Neeko demanded as he pushed through the doctors that were getting to work to save their patient. The Chairman realized in shock that he was looking at the face of W on the cot. It looked so pale and drained of energy.

"There was an incident during his and W.L's stealth mission to steal a sample of the virus, sir. W here was infected by it," the lead medic explained. The Chairman looked at W.L, who was staring straight at him with his arms folded. Though he had his helmet on, the Chairman could tell that he was not happy at all.

"W.L, I'm sorry. I hope…" But a terrifying growl erupted from W.L's throat, and he stormed out of the room with his hands tightly clenched.

Not good, Neeko thought.**

*Sonic was only awake for one moment more inside the ship that he had flown in to get to Chun-Nan, where he was told about an ancient prophecy that was still yet to be fulfilled. Everybody had believed that he was the One in the prophecy, but he had turned into a Werehog for a short time, and now he was cursed to transform into a Werehog again. What had happened after that? He remembered reflecting on the fact that Knuckles was not the real spy that he was looking for. He remembered finally admitting to Amy that he had learned that there was a turncoat among the Heroes of Today, but as he was thinking about it, everything had gone suddenly black. Doubtlessly, he had been knocked out cold. By whom? Surely not Amy, surely not…

"You have Project 60?" A cold voice sneered from somewhere. Through blurry vision, Sonic could see a transmission screen with the face of someone he had seen before. Yes, Ivo Robotnik. And he was speaking to Amy. But before he was able to hear anything else, everything went black again.**

NOTES: Now we see another side of W and W.L that I had hinted at earlier. They are brothers that care very deeply for each other and look out for each other, thus emphasized by W.L finally speaking, which is unusual for him. W getting infected was an idea that wasn't originally going to be put into the story, but I wanted to put something in that would escalate their distrust towards the Chairman.