December 12, 3237
The bell rang for the last class before the Holiday Break and the front doors were flooded with excited Mobians. Two hedgehogs, one blue and the other pink, set on their way home through the light snowfall. It had arrived sooner than expected today so Amy clung to her boyfriend in hopes that he would keep her warm. Maurice pulled her close, enjoying the warmth that her body provided. Before long Scarlett joined them and pressed up against Maurice as well, obviously wrestling Amy for him. The blue hedgehog sighed as the two girls fought over him on their way home. Eventually they reached Maurice and Amy's house and Scarlett headed out towards her place. Maurice made a note of the black hovercar parked just down the street from them and he couldn't help but smirk a little bit before closing the door behind him.
A skunk and badger sat in the car in their civilian clothes keeping an eye on the house they'd been ordered to. They'd been at this post for months now and they had yet to find anything useful on this 'Maurice' kid.
"It's Friday isn't it?" the skunk asked as he bit into a sandwich.
The badger nodded before adding, "And they aren't working this weekend."
"Which would mean..." He pointed to the receiver and almost on cue they heard heavy breathing come through on one of the bugs they had planted. "By Aurora do these two do anything but screw?"
"Have you taken a good look at her?" the badger asked and the skunk ceded the point. After another moment the badger reached over and turned off the receiver. "Okay, I can't listen to that with you here. It's just creepy."
The skunk chuckled as he finished off his sandwich and pulled out his tablet. This most recent round of bugs had stuck unlike the others. He didn't know if it had something to do with the neighborhood or just bad luck but all the others had gone dead within a couple days. These had been in place for almost two weeks but all they had learned was that these two teenagers were very...athletic. He connected the keyboard and booted up the tablet. He began going through the security logs when he noticed something was wrong.
"I think we were hacked," he said nervously showing his partner the screen. On all of the logs pertaining to Maurice there was a small pink heart-shaped bat in the corner. "But what the hell could they want? It's not like this kid knows anything."
"The Director is not going to be happy with this," the badger agreed. "Not like he doesn't have enough on his plate right now. I still can't believe the Regent thinks he's selling information to whoever's been killing all these people."
"Don't forget that Boomer's on the list too," the skunk reminded him. "That kind of accusation can ruin a career in no time." He sighed as he stared at the logs. "We have to report this you know. No choice really."
The badger sighed as he turned the car on and drove away from the house. Sonic and Amy watched them leave from the bedroom window, both of them fully clothed.
"You'd think after over six months they'd have caught on by now," Amy commented as the heavy breathing continued in the background. "And can you turn that off? It's getting distracting." Sonic tossed her the remote to the sound system and she hit pause. "So what do you think made them leave early?"
"Don't know, don't care," Sonic admitted as he opened up a panel in the closet. He typed a command into the keyboard and a whump! sounded through the entire house. The lights shut off and came right back on. The clocks briefly flashed 12:00 before reverting back to the correct time. "Now we just need to find those bugs for the umpteenth time. How much money do you think they've wasted on us with these things?"
"Well hopefully they have a good record of our 'sex life'," Amy said using her fingers as quote marks. "By the way, we have another invite from the Princess." Sonic sighed and asked what it was. "She said there's someone she wants us to meet in a couple weeks. Also that she wants to have a snowball fight."
"We spend more time with her than we do working anymore," the blue hedgehog muttered as he fell onto the bed. "This meet-and-greet she wants to do sounds interesting though. Any idea who's coming to town?" Amy shook her head. "Well we can't accept one and turn down the other. Let her know it sounds like fun."
"She's your sister. You tell her." Sonic scoffed and Amy sat down next to him. "Seriously, I don't see why you just tell them the truth. They're your family."
"And that means they'll just believe me?" Sonic retorted. It wasn't the first time they'd had this argument and he knew it wouldn't be the last. "If someone claimed to be your blood would you just accept it without proof?"
"What about your pendant?"
"It's a piece of jewelry that any two-bit jeweler could make knock-offs of." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Besides, I don't want to be a prince. Manic can play that all day for all I care. My job is to get justice for what was done to this city. Being its leader would only get in the way."
"Guess you can't have the Crown Prince killing people left and right," Amy admitted. "What about when this is all over?"
Sonic was silent. "I haven't thought that far ahead," he said truthfully. "I want to focus on the task at hand without any kind of distraction."
"You make it sound like this is a suicide mission." Sonic was silent. "Is killing Julian so damn important that you'd throw your life away for it?"
"Do you even need to ask that after seeing everything that bastard has done?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice as he stood up. "Would you have us sit back and do nothing while that son of a bitch gets what he wants?" Sonic took several breaths as he attempted to calm down. "I don't want to die," he told Amy, "but if that's what it takes to stop him once and for all then so be it."
"Dying for what you believe in isn't justice, Your Highness," Amy said mockingly as she stormed out of the room. Sonic sighed as he flipped open his phone to see the invitation from Sonia. He started a reply saying they could make it to the snowball fight, also making a point to ask if they could bring some friends along. With regard to the meet-and-greet he gave her a tentative 'yes' but that they'd have to check their schedules to be sure they could make it.
With that done he headed downstairs where he could hear Amy searching for the surveillance bugs. He turned on the news to see them talking about the internal investigation within the Security Department and he smiled a little. Leave it to Rotor to cook up a scheme to move up the political ladder. Then again it had been part of their original agreement: He provides them with inside information and they help him rise above his station to a place where he could do some good. He pulled his laptop from underneath the couch and began going over the information they currently had.
"I think I know who the Princess wants us to meet," he said to Amy, prompting her to come into the living room. He showed her the screen and she nodded.
"Well it's definitely a big deal to be meeting with them," she admitted, "but I don't see how it would involve our civilian identities."
"I think it's more about having friends there with her." Amy scratched her chin and agreed after a moment. "Besides, I don't think that they're coming here for her sake. If I had to guess then they're here to meet with the Lord of Lard himself."
"Lord of Lard, huh?" Amy laughed. "Eh, I still like 'Eggman' better. But this definitely lends some believability to those plans we found. They're the only ones with the weapons to make it an effective army. Do you think we can stop the meeting?" Sonic shook his head almost immediately. "Okay, then what's your plan?"
Sonic opened another file so they could see a portly crimson fox in a, mostly decorative, military uniform adorned with jewelry. "Antonius Marseilles, the so-called Duke, told the Palace staff that he'll be visiting about the same time," Sonic revealed. "We can't stop the meeting without it looking suspicious. But we can show that Julian can't be trusted to protect those in his inner circle. We'll need to take a page out of Crepuscolo's book and go for the dramatic flair."
"I see one major flaw in that plan," Amy pointed out. "How are we supposed to kill someone when we'll be visiting with Sonia? There won't be any conveniently dressed 'Assassins' like at the Masquerade." Sonic pulled up a floor plan of the Palace and she could see several areas highlighted. "Oh."
"My family's been with the Assassins for a very long time," he reminded her, "so of course they made sure that several escape routes and secret passages were built into the Palace at one time or another."
"So we convince some Guards to report an incursion forcing them to keep us and the twins apart," Amy guessed and Sonic nodded. "Once we have solid alibis we use said passages to find and kill the Duke. When Julian comes to check on us we'll be back in the room and the Guard will say that we never passed through the doors."
"Simple enough, wouldn't you say?" Sonic asked. "I was hoping that the Duke would have been back in the city much sooner but this is much better in the long run."
"And his daughter?" Amy said crossing her arms across her chest. Sonic was one of the craftiest Assassins in the Order but he had a tendency to overlook collateral damage. Truth be told it was what made him as good as he was but it was also a major reason he had never risen above the rank of Seguito (Follower) until the Condottiero tests.
"I have no interest in harming her," Sonic replied. "The worst she has against her are a few drug possession charges. In all likelihood she'll inherit her father's estate and die of an overdose in a couple months. Happy?" Amy muttered her approval before continuing with her sweep of the house.
That night a figure clad in black watched their house from atop a telephone pole. The regent seemed absolutely sure that this boy was the "dead" Crown Prince but hadn't been able to find any proof. Everything he'd tried had only proven more and more that Maurice was simply Maurice.
Then again, the Regent wasn't a former Assassin nor did he have access to the tools that Veleno had.
She looked at the black hovercar parked beneath her belonging to the Security Department. The fools were incompetent at best but she knew there was something they could do to help. She pulled a small brick of plastique the size of her palm and, after making sure it was set up correctly, dropped it onto the roof of the car. She could hear the two men inside arguing briefly before she pressed the detonator, sending the car up in a plume of fire and smoke. The houses closest to the explosion had their windows shattered by the force of the blast and, like she had been hoping, the door to Maurice and Amy's house opened and the blue hedgehog stepped out.
Time to see what this so-called Prince can do, she thought as she jumped and glided down towards him, planting her feet in his chest. He flew back into the house and across the floor as Veleno came at him swinging. She quickly learned that while he had some decent skill in self-defense he was far from the level of even a low-ranking Assassin. He would block punches and kicks with both hands thereby leaving himself open to another attack, he used grabs that even a child could escape and when he did attack he telegraphed his attacks like a bad martial arts movie. She slammed her open palm into his chest and he dropped to the ground, coughing violently as he tried to regain his breath.
"I'm disappointed, Your Highness," she mocked him. "You'd think that someone of your lineage could put up a better fight."
"What the hell...are you talking about?" Maurice asked, struggling for breath.
Veleno narrowed her eyes at the boy. There was no way that he was feigning ignorance or faking his skill. If the Prince had truly survived the night of the coup he would no doubt be planning some sort of revenge and considering being an Assassin ran in the family she'd be shocked if he hadn't sought them out. "You are Prince Sonic Hedgehog of the Royal Family, are you not?" she tested him.
"The prince?!" Maurice exclaimed still coughing. "What are you, some kind of idiot? The prince has been dead almost twenty years now. What on Mobius would make you think that I'm him?"
Veleno's glare didn't let up. Either this boy was an exceptional liar or was telling her the truth. And with sirens already sounding not far from them she knew she didn't have time to grill him further. She dashed forward, hitting him in the chest again before tossing him over the couch and onto the coffee table. As she raced for the door she saw the pink hedgehog coming down the steps with a baseball bat but Veleno was long gone before she could use it.
"Maurice! Are you okay?" she asked dropping the bat. She helped her boyfriend up and confirmed that he wasn't bleeding and didn't have any glass shards in his back.
"She's good," he said quietly. "Like Assassin-good. And she was under the impression that I'm the dead Prince."
"You're thinking Julian sent her?" Amy asked as she glanced towards the door. Sonic nodded as the City Guard and fire department arrived on the scene, putting the fire out and gathering information as to what happened. While Sonic was speaking with them about Veleno, claiming that she was attempting to rob them, Amy put in a call to their "insurance agent". She subtly told the other Assassin that they'd been attacked and they promised to pass it along to Maestro Spada. When she was done Sonic was returning from the basement with a hammer, nails, and several boards to cover the shattered windows in the meantime.
"To think that he'd be so blatant about wanting me dead," Sonic said as they bundled up. "I'm a little curious to know what he has on me that he feels it's appropriate to kill his own staff for."
"Well the danger as Sonic is obvious enough," Amy pointed out. "If he knows about Silenzio then it's tenfold. At least." This last she added when Sonic glanced at her curiously. "But even as Maurice you've managed to sway the Princess' heart. If he's not careful he won't be able to force her to abdicate once she turns twenty."
"And if she gives up her title before that it goes to Manic who will no doubt marry that Sally girl," Sonic added. "Then Julian kisses his ambitions goodbye unless he pulls another coup."
"What the hell were you thinking?!" the Regent asked as quietly as his fury would allow him. "You not only killed two crucial agents but you didn't find out anything about the boy. Why not just firebomb his house while you're at it?!"
"Crucial agents?" Veleno sarcastically responded with her arms across her breasts. "Please, I did you a favor killing those incompetents. How many surveillance bugs did they waste trying to catch the conversations in the house? They've been on those two ever since the Debutante Ball and they've given you nothing. Besides, I did learn something." Julian took several deep breaths and asked her what it was. "Maurice is a dead end. If he is the Prince then he has done a fantastic job building a completely new life for himself. Anyway, don't you have a big meeting coming up that you should be focusing on?"
Julian growled but accepted the point all the same. "If you feel that he's a dead end then fine," he said. "Have you had any luck in finding out who this assassin in white is?"
"I know several dozen people like that," Veleno replied, "but I'll talk to my contacts and see if there's someone that's targeting you above all others. This is, however, going to raise my fee quite a bit. I'm not exactly welcome among them anymore and my life will be in considerable danger." When Julian asked how much she held up two fingers.
"Double?!" he nearly roared.
"That is unless you don't want the information they can provide," she taunted him. "I'll need that much just to convince them not to kill me on the spot. So either pay me what you owe me and I'll be on my way or agree to the new terms."
Julian clenched his fists until his palms hurt. "Fine, I'll pay you double what you're currently getting," he finally said. "But don't think that means I'll pay you double again for finding his name." He opened a drawer and handed her a slip of paper. "After the fiasco at the Masquerade Ball that message was passed to one of the Black Dogs to be given to me. I don't know if this 'Silence' is an assassin or just a general threat but it might help you get started." Veleno looked the note over before handing it back to the Regent. Satisfied with her new terms she exited through the window, the same way that she had entered.
Once he was sure that he was in the clear he pulled up the schematics for his new bots. Of the three new units the SWATbots were right in the middle in terms of firepower and defense. The Shadowbots were almost literal tanks where the Combots were designed for stealth and sabotage. Unfortunately Mobotropolis lacked not only the space to build such an army but also the technology. He already had plans in motion to make the necessary space but the weaponry was another matter entirely. The SWATbots and Shadowbots would be adequate with what they had but there was only one group on Mobius that would be willing to give him the upgrades he needed.