Ch. 10
Invisible
Many people gathered at the Emerald Coast for Station Square's Annual Firework Festival. The sound of cheers echoed though out the area as citizens visited different concession stands for souvenirs, food, and fun games, all leading up to the grandest attraction, the Fire Work Show. Not far from the party, Rouge was enjoying the view of it from afar as she glided towards the action while keeping an eye on Shadow and Hope. She knew just how wild Shadow would get when he drove his motorcycle, especially at night. However, Rouge could tell that Hope was enjoying herself for it was her first time being on one. Hope screamed out of excitement as Shadow would speed across the main roads, drifting as he made quick turns, and popping wheelies. Rouge was surprised that Hope was having the time of her life. The last time Rouge rode with Shadow, he nearly scared her to death, and made her loose her lunch. Speaking of scared, Rouge gasped as she saw Shadow take an unexpected turn into the park. He swerved across dirt paths and used a hill for a ramp as he gained major air before landing. They exited out the other side of park and back on route to the festival.
"Yeah! . . . You're the man, Shadow!", Hope yelled.
Rouge sighed at Shadow's reckless driving. "Shadow . . . please be careful.", She thought out loud.
The tires grinded across the pavement as Shadow came to an erupt stop in a small parking lot area within the Emerald Coast area.
"Well . . . here we are. I assume you enjoyed the ride?", Shadow asked as Hope tried getting the helmet of her head.
"Shadow!", Rouge called out as she landed.
Shadow sighed, expecting a scolding from his bat friend, and of course, he was right.
"That was completely reckless! You could've put Hope's life in serious danger!", Rouge yelled.
"That was awesome!", Hope yelled.
Rouge gave her a 'what the heck' look as Shadow grinned at her.
"The way you cleared that hill, and we went so high up in the air! That was great! We should do that again on the way back!", Hope said.
Rouge sighed. "Really?", She said in disbelief.
"See, Rouge? She's completely fine, and she appreciates my driving unlike some people I know.", Shadow said.
"Oh, shut up! You got lucky, plain and simple.", Rouge said.
"Come on, you two, this isn't the time to be fighting. This is a time of joy! So, let's go have some fun!", Hope said as she ran towards the party with Shadow and Rouge following her.
They enjoyed some of the games the festival had to offer such as the test your strength where Shadow made all the other men look bad. Rouge put on a good show as she showed off her skills at dart poker. Lastly, Hope had a good time playing spill the milk. The food was also good. Rouge and Shadow chuckled as Hope nearly choked on a piece of funnel cake. Hope noticed how funny she looked and laughed along with her two friends. Little did they know, they were being watched by Gust.
In the mean time, somewhere within the city, Fiona was climbing the side of a building, which was G.U.N Headquarters.
"Fiona? Are you there? Over.", Gust asked.
Fiona took out her walky talky. "Yeah, I copy. Over", She responded.
"Is everything all set? Over.", Gust asked.
"We're good to go. Did you get all the info you need? Over.", Fiona asked.
"Yes, I did. You were right about this Hope, girl. Shadow and Rouge seem to share quite a connection with her. I thank you for telling me about her before we arrived in Station Square. This factor will make our job easier for us. Over.", Gust said.
"Good to know. I'm going in. Over.", Fiona said
"Very well, don't forget to lead them here. After that I'll do my thing, Over.", Gust said.
"Understood, Over.", Fiona responded.
Gust put away his walky talky as he kept a watchful eye on Hope without drawing attention to himself. He then recalled what Fiona told him about this girl.
Gust and Fiona made their way out of the Black Phantom, and proceeded towards the only mountain of Soumerca which led to the Hidden City of Ancients known as Station Square.
Fiona stopped as she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, before we continue with this insane mission, I'm willing to bet there's something you don't know about Shadow and Rouge.", Fiona said.
Gust stopped in his tracks, feeling curious as to why she would say something like that. He took pride in his work when it came to gathering any kind of information he wanted on anyone or anything of his interest.
"What is there not to know? Shadow and Rouge are the top agents of G.U.N., a well known military force in Station Square created and orchestrated by the President himself. The fact that the President holds Shadow and Rouge in such high esteem shows just how valuable those two would be to us.", Gust said.
"Did you know about a certain girl Overlander that works close to them?", Fiona asked.
"Hmm? Who exactly? Why wasn't she on the G.U.N. records?", Gust asked.
"G.U.N. keeps her info classified, but the Freedom Fighters know her as do I. Like I said, she's a girl Overlander, and she's even younger than you.", Fiona said.
"You've got to be kidding me. G.U.N. would actually hire someone that young to be part of their organization!?", Gust said.
"She may be a year younger than you, but the President hired her without a second thought.", Fiona said.
Gust walked up to her eager to find out more about this girl.
"You never told me her name. Who is it?", Gust asked.
"Her name is . . . Hope Kintobor.", Fiona said.
Gust's eyes widen in shock. "Hope Kintobor, as in Ivo Kintobor, Dr. Eggman!?", He asked.
"Yes, his niece, and intellect wise she's quite the prodigy.", Fiona said.
Once Gust brought himself back to the present, he smiled. "This is going to be a great day for us.", Gust thought to himself.
"By now, the Freedom Fighters have probably contacted G.U.N. about Sand Blast City, but they still don't know about us, nor do they know that the leader of the Underdogs is an Overlander. Based on this factor, I was able to sneak and blend in with the city's populace. I'm practically invisible to everyone else. However, the next objective is going to be a tricky one.", He thought before his smile faded.
Meanwhile, Fiona forcefully opened the covering of an air vent before climbing in. She quietly moved throughout the vent until she came to another vent covering. Fiona opened it and dropped inside a public restroom. She exited the restroom into a hall way, noticing there were no soldiers in sight, meaning the building was closed. She eased her way down the hall, and kept herself hidden. Fiona then, spotted from the corner of her eye a security camera on the wall. She felt irritated by this, because Fiona knew if there was one security camera then there are definitely more. Luckily, for her she brought EMP frags courtesy of Baron. She tossed one of the small frags near the camera before it went off, disabling it. Fiona ran quickly from hallway to hallway repeating the same action until she came across a high tech door with a key pad next to it, which contained a finger print reader. Considering, what she's searching for, she knew it would most likely be behind a door like this.
As Fiona was thinking of way to get inside, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She immediately hid herself inside a trash can before a security guard came by her position.
"What is wrong with that camera? Must have been a malfunction or something.", The guard said before pulling out his flash light to see if there were any intruders.
While the guard was inspecting the area, Fiona slowly removed the lid of the trash can above her. She then leaped out and tackled the guard. During the struggle, the guard dropped his flashlight, which Fiona instantly grabbed while the guard was down, and used it as weapon to knock him out. With the guard now unconscious, Fiona proceeded in her mission by dragging the lifeless Overlander to the fingerprint scanner on the door. Placing her body under his, she used a great ounce of strength to hold the guard up and pace his finger on the scanner. The security system acknowledged the finger print and the door opened automatically. Fiona walked inside as the lights suddenly came on to reveal her target, a chaos emerald, which lied inside a protective glass covering.
Many colors of sparks brightened the sky as many fireworks were ignited. The crowd was in awe from witnessing the sight including Shadow, Rouge, and Hope. The three of them smiled as their eyes were pleasured by the grand finale of the show.
"It's so beautiful.", Hope said to herself.
Shadow was glad that Hope enjoyed her birthday. She meant to him as much as Maria did during his days at Space Colony Ark. He would do anything to protect her and make her happy, and seeing her happy right now has brought peace to his mind to the point he wished this moment would last forever.
Then, suddenly, Shadow's "r and r" was interrupted by the sound of his communicator watch going off. The Black Hedgehog growled as he looked at his caller I.D. to see who it was.
"Hmm? It's . . . Commander Tower?", Shadow said to himself.
"Shadow, my communicator's going off. It's the Commander.", Rouge said.
"So is mine.", Hope said with a frown.
Shadow sighed as he answered, putting Commander Tower on display. "Yes, Commander, is there an emergency?", He asked.
"I know it's your team's time off, Shadow, but yes this is urgent! Someone broke into G.U.N. Headquarters and stole the chaos emerald we had stored!", Tower said.
"Where is he now? Is he on foot?", Shadow asked.
"Not he, but she. A security guard who was knocked out gave us a description of the suspect. It was a red vixen who's well trained in basic hand to hand combat skills. Our profile reports indicate that it's Fiona Fox. After knocking out the guard, she took the emerald and the guard's keys to his car. Officers just noticed that's she's heading East towards your location!", Tower said.
"Understood, Sir, we'll subdue her and recover the emerald. You can count on us.", Shadow said.
"Hurry, don't let her escape!", Tower said.
"We're on it.", Shadow said before ending the transmission.
"Hope, you go back the parking lot and wait there for us. Rouge, you come with me. We're going fox hunting.", Shadow said
"Wait, maybe I can help!", Hope said.
"No, stay here, we can handle this ourselves.", Shadow said.
"But . . ."
"Shadow's right, sweetie.", Rouge said, interrupting Hope.
"It's too dangerous for you. Stay here where it's safe. Don't worry we won't keep you waiting.", She said before giving her a wink.
Before Hope could say anything, Shadow had already zoomed off with Rouge following him by air.
Hope sighed as she did what she was told while kicking the dirt, feeling left out.
Gust smiled as he watched the action from where he was sitting.
"It looks like it's about time for me to step in. Everything's going according to plan.", Gust thought to himself before he disappeared into the crowd of people.
Shadow continued to blaze through the streets of the city until he spotted a police car moving recklessly through traffic. Fiona noticed the black hedgehog before he tried firing chaos spears at her. She steered quickly to evade the incoming projectiles until she heard something coming from roof of the car. It was then a gloved hand came through the driver's side window, surprising Fiona. Rouge was attempting to grab the steering wheel, but the crafty vixen managed to shake her off. However, she was distracted long enough by Rouge for Shadow to blow off one of the back tires. Fiona felt discouraged at the thought of getting caught too soon. She knew she had to complete her mission in order to help Gust carry out his plans and fulfill his promise to her. Suddenly, Shadow blew the other back tire causing the car to be dragged by its rear bumper.
"No!", Fiona yelled as sparks dispersed from behind the car.
Fiona began to lose control of the vehicle. Shadow and Rouge were now ready to capture her. The duo saw Fiona heading towards the Emerald Coast, back where they came from.
Hope was leaning slightly against Shadow's bike as she continued to wait on her friends to finish their business. She was fiddling with her fair from boredom. The loud sound of metal crashing then filled air, taking her by surprise. Hope turned as her eyes followed the loud commotion to see that a police car went off road into a tree. Noticing that there was no movement coming from the car, she ran as fast as she could to the car to see if the driver was alright. She looked inside to see a red vixen out cold in the driver's seat. Luckily, the driver's window was shattered for Hope to reach around and unlock it. She unbuckled the red vixen's seat belt, and dragged her out away from the car.
Shadow and Rouge followed the trail of the wrecked police car to see Hope carrying Fiona, who was barely conscious. The police car suddenly exploded as debris scattered towards Hope and Fiona.
"Hope, look out!", Shadow yelled before he quickly ran and picked her and Fiona up to avoid the raining, fiery, scraps.
"Hope, are you alright!?", Shadow asked.
"I'm ok, thank you.", Hope said.
Rouge flew over to them. "I thought we told you not to get involved. You could've been killed!", She said.
"She was in trouble. That could've been her inside that ticking time bomb! What did you expect me to do, just leave her to die!?", Hope said.
"We're just glad you're fine. What you did was crazy, but you did the right thing, Hope.", Shadow said as he smiled.
"Well . . . I guess you're right. Danger is part of the job. I just . . . didn't want to see you get hurt, Hope.", Rouge said.
Hope hugged Rouge. "I know, I'm sorry I scared you.", She said.
Shadow noticed Fiona trying to crawl away before he put his weight on top of her and placed her in hand cuffs. The Station Square police arrived at scene as he brought Fiona to her knees.
"Don't resist. We'll get you some help. Until then, you're under arrest.", Shadow said.