"Okay, why do I have to keep wearing this thing again?"
Silver squirmed under his silk-like covering adorned with strange green lights, it a shade grayer than the time-traveler himself. Angela was inspecting her handiwork as Matt stood beside her, arms crossed and very bored. They were in the spare room he'd slept in which was now actually his…for the time being.
"I told you. This cloak is the only thing I could really come up with to hide you on such short notice."
Silver grimaced. "This thing looks gaudy. "
Matt nodded. For once, he agreed with the hedgehog fully. "Did you really need the lights for your 'invisibility cloak'?"
Angela actually looked offended by that remark. Her hands flew to her hips. "Talk about ungrateful! Look, it took me an entire day to whip up this thing!"
"…and she's off again," Matt took out a book from a puff of smoke in literal thin air and started reading. Silver wasn't sure what to be more shocked at, frankly.
By now, Angle was making hand gestures with reckless abandon. "…takes years. Not to mention the countless hours of R&D! You think this stuff just materializes overnight?"
Silver shot a look at the ninja. "So, uh, when does she usually stop?"
"As soon as something else distracts her," he answered, barely batting an eye at the issue at hand.
"Like what?"
"Like this." He closed his book and cleared his throat. "Hey, Ange! Wasn't there another reason we came outside of your whole blanket gizmo?"
As if someone had flipped a switch, the gadgeteer suddenly snapped out of her rant. "Yeah, there was. There's something the commander wanted us to see." She abruptly began to walk out of the room, expecting the other two to follow. "Come on!"
It didn't take a genius to realize just how insane Dr. Eggman Nega was. He'd torched wholecities on a whim, and endangered hundreds more. Yet, the video that was playing right in front of their faces still served as a chilling reminder of that fact.
"I believe you know what to do about this," Commander Blake said after the video had finished. The two agents nodded in affirmation, with a hidden from view Silver doing the same.
"What puzzles me is how he managed to burn down entire desert in secret. Somebody should've known about that."
"That's the thing about that creature," Blake responded, struggling to keep an official tone as he said the word "creature". "He diverse our attention with little fires that he makes for us to put out. Then without warning, he drops this raging inferno on top of us."
"Still…" Angela's eyebrows fluttered, a sign that she was deep in thought. "One has to wonder, is there something else up his sleeve other than the usual anarchy and destruction for no real reason this time?"
"That's precisely what I'd like you to find out. Angela, Matthew, sort this out. Sort it out as quickly and quietly as possible. The last thing I want, and the last thing anyone needs, is that maniac getting his kicks watching the global pandemonium that would ensue. Get on it."
"With all due respect sir," Matt interjected. "What about the Chaos Emeralds? Gathering those is crucial, too."
"Of course! Get them before him at all costs. If he gets his hands on the gems first, it'll be the end of the world as we know it." Blake's gaze softened for a moment. "Look, we don't have many options. GUN's stretched thin with the 'small fires' I mentioned and agent Shadow hasn't been seen in ages. As far as we can gather, you're our only shot. If you need any briefing, my desk's a phone call away. Otherwise, get going." With that, the prematurely graying young GUN Commander signed off to clean up his massive plate.
Red hot flames of determination shown behind the girl's sunglasses. "Whatever he's planning, he's not gonna get away with it! Let's get to the ship. I'm in the mood for some scrambled Eggman!"
Matt smirked. "Aren't we always?"
"Yeah, now let's go find Silver and shove off already!" A few unanswered calls of the hedgehog's name later, the duo realized they were once again alone. The boy shook his head, more in exasperation than anything else.
"Just great. It seems like our little houseguest took off during the briefing. Got any ideas as to where?"
"Let's see…" Angela looked around, not spotting the cloak she made it anywhere. A smile grew on her face as an idea formed in her head. "Thankfully, I put a hidden tracker in everything I invent. Can't ever be too careful, you know." She dug out her special tracking device dedicated to locating her own items by serial number. It was one of her earlier inventions, but it often proved more useful than one would think, especially to one as scatterbrained as she was.
"You got a lock on your latest toy?"
Whatever offense she took to one of her inventions being called a 'toy' barely showed on her features, buried under an expression of pure focus. "Yup. Our newest serial number, the 'Stealth Master', is headed straight toward the desert region to the south. Thank goodness he never took it off, or we'd never be able to find him."
Within a few minutes, they were both prepared and off for the Rhodesian Desert Quarter.