Chapter 10 – It's all Fun and Games.
A/N: My condolences…:
HHH – Ow, been there, done that; mind you, not as bad as my sister; she's broken her nose three times playing basketball, twice playing netball, once playing baseball (don't ask how, please, just don't) and once playing with the dog!
TH – Just a question, but how did you reply to one of my mails at 5:30 am? People shouldn't be up at that time, it should be illegal!
The movement of a small pair of pads across the soft fur of his chest woke him the same way it always did; Froggy left his normal resting place to go and catch an early breakfast of drowsy morning flies and, as a consequence, his movement roused Big. In the normal morning tradition of his home, the cat waited patiently for the toad to leave his chest, moving only when the pair of mottled green legs disappeared over the lip of his bed. Taking a deep breath of the moisture laden air, inhaling the sweet scent of his home, Big mustered the energy necessary and lifted himself up, a few twigs crackling beneath his sturdy paws as he rose into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes, blinking them open as he tried to recall the extra errand he had today; he knew he had one, he was just a little hazy on the details of what it actually involved. He licked his lips and took another breath, the dampness around him now registering in his more aware state; it must have been quite heavy rain last night – he'd have to be careful getting around this morning. Especially; his mind suddenly clicked and he looked over at his extra mission, watching as Mighty snored on, oblivious to the rising sun as her dreams continued unabated; since I've got to get her to Mystic Ruins. Flipping to his feet, the reeds and moss of the floor muffling the sound, Big stretched off and decided to begin this job by getting breakfast; a light soup should do nicely; after that, I'll think about starting getting the armadillo awake.
XXX
Something tickled her cheek and she swatted at it, or would have if there hadn't been something pinning her arms down; she shuffled but this persistent annoyance followed, not letting her continue her lovely sleep, determined to irritate her to wakefulness. A slight snarl of annoyance creased her face and her struggles grew slightly,
"Shoo, s'early"; no good, it still feathered up and down her cheek, flicking over to glance her nose now and that really was the final straw; with a loud snort and half-sneeze, Mighty found herself catapulted back to the land of the living, eyes disorientated as she tried to recall where she was; it definitely hadn't looked like this last night, and what was the big purple thing in front of her again? Oh yeah, that is Big isn't it; the armadillo made to stretch as Big turned his back, just in case anything slipped by mistake, facing her once more only when he heard her speak again,
"Urgh, what time is it?"
"Morning", Big assured her, not really sure what hour it was due to his normal reliance on the sun and little things, like Froggy's movements, to tell him things like when to get up and so on, "you get dressed, your things should be dry by now; it's too early to eat and you're going to be flying soon anyway, so no breakfast I'm afraid". Mighty looked over to where her things were still hung where she'd left them the previous night and nodded,
"Sounds good, but nothing to eat?" She put on a plaintive, pleading face, "come on, I'll waste away". Big chuckled at her aggrieved expression,
"One missed meal won't kill you"; Mighty gasped and folded her arms theatrically under the blanket, trying to look offended and stop smiling as she demanded,
"Are you saying I'm fat?" Big smiled as he moved away, his parting words just audible as he moved away through the door and pointed at where she still sat swaddled in her blanket,
"Not sure; though I was wondering how much of that was actually blanket".
"You cheeky…"; the slamming door shut off the rest of her rant, cheating her of a decent comeback and leaving her raging as she pulled her clothes on bad-temperedly, thinking hard about what to do for her revenge.
XXX
The rain from the previous night left the swamp slightly damper than the day Mighty had arrived, but strangely the extra water seemed to have freshened the marsh up somehow; clean puddles of still water were everywhere, crisp and clear enough to see your reflection in, whilst the branches of the overhanging trees were pregnant with hanging dew droplets, the slightest movement enough to send them tumbling to the ground, sparkling in their final fall to destruction and absorbance by the somehow still thirty earth. Though this fresh, clear day, carefully skirting around the more treacherous areas of ground and the larger puddles, Big moved easily, intimately familiar with his habitat as he had been for most of his life. Mighty walked a little way behind him as she had to be a little more careful in her navigations at the same time as think of a way to teach him why joking about a woman's size was a dangerous thing to do. It was as she raised her eyes, looking away from examining the fauna that must have moved in overnight, seeing a diving beetle the size of a penny scoot into deeper water as her shadow fell over the water, that she saw it,
"Hey Big, wait up"; the cat stopped and looked over his shoulder as she put on a burst of speed, deftly dodging tree roots and sploshing through a small puddle as she carefully stood next to where she needed to be,
"Thanks", she panted softly as the cat waited for her to cat her breath and speak again, "anyway, you owe me an apology".
"Why?"
"Don't act dumb", she chided and warned in the same three words, "you insinuated I had a waistline; take that back", she just paused a fraction, just enough to see Big's smile start to flourish, before adding, "or else". It was harshly irresistible; try as he might to form words of penitence, he just couldn't resist saying it, desperate to know what the armadillo could mean by the fatal last two words,
"Or else what?" Gotcha; Mighty smiled sweetly and her eyes darted upwards; Big's followed suit and he felt the breath catch in his throat he saw the bombs of his doom arrayed there; before he could spring clear of the target zone, Mighty kicked the tree hard and sent them all falling towards her hapless enemy.
A shower of icy cold raindrops were jarred from their cosy perches and as a consequence were seized by gravity, falling to earth in a mini-replica of the rainstorm that had happened last night. Most of them hit the earth, but to Mighty's eyes a satisfying number splashed down right on top of Big's head and shoulders, flattening his fur to his skin and causing him to gasp in sudden shock. The cat panted as he glared open mouthed at his travelling companion, simultaneously cheesed off that she'd soaked him like that at the same time as realising, well, maybe he should have said sorry. His teeth chattered for a second and he moved his hands to sweep most of the drops he could reach out of his wet fur, a reluctant smile tingeing his lips as he snorted at the triumphant armadillo,
"Okay, maybe I deserved that".
"Too right you did" Mighty chuckled, glorying in her minor victory over her former host as he shook his head and grinned shyly right back,
"Oh well, at least there's no danger of a blanket making me look like a ball".
"You need a blanket for that"; it was out before she could stop it, but to her relief the cat laughed and patted his naturally wide berth,
"Nah, too far gone for that; now come on", he pointed the way and set off once more, "we've still got to get to Mystic Ruins and standing here insulting each other won't help".
"Okay", Mighty agreed, passing under the now dry tree as she got the last word in, "we can insult each other on the move hairball".
"You said it baldy".
XXX
She sized up the task in front of her and, unable to see a comfortable way to overcome it, turned to her travelling companion with a questioning air,
"Okay, question for you", Big looked down at her as she indicated the steep earth bank in front of her, twice as tall as Big and, due to the rain, now covered in a sheen of plastering mud, "how do we get over that without getting covered in mud?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were into that sort of thing", Mighty's mouth fell open, though there was no hint of a smile, sarcastic or otherwise as he finished, "after all, you seem to like swimming in natural water features". Still she couldn't find words; he'd just nailed her good and proper with that quip and she was helpless to defend herself. Seeing this and feeling his heart strings tug, the cat decided to end it there and speak the answer to her problem,
"Well I know how I'm getting up there". Mighty managed to shake off her haze and watch on as Big moved right up to the foot of the miniscule cliff and suddenly began to heave himself up it, moving with surprising agility for his bulk as he clambered from one hidden handhold to another with no effort. That's a touch impressive; the armadillo couldn't help but mentally congratulate the cat for that effort as he quickly flipped up and over the lip of the cliff. She shook her armoured head and smiled, placing her fists on her hips as she shook her head, calling up as Big looked down to where she was still standing,
"Okay, let me rephrase that question", she looked up with her hands shrugging, "how do I get up there without getting covered". For an answer, a thin piece of wood was extended down, forcing her to lean to one side as it jabbed down to where she would have been stood; she looked at it closely, just distinguishing the eyelets that studded it before Big roared,
"Grab on"; oh, his fishing rod; Mighty recognised the contraption at last; it sure looked different this close than when it had last night, leant quiescently up against one wall of the cats home. In fact, seeing the slenderness of the long wooden wand, she had her doubts,
"Are you sure it'll hold me".
"Perfectly; it's already done it once", Big called back, reminding her of the previous day as Mighty could have slapped her forehead; how could she have missed that one? With a sigh, she grabbed on as high as she could reach and held tight; a second later, there was an increased strain on her arms as she felt her feet begin to lift from the floor and she was dragged off the ground by Big's strength. Gotta give him credit, I'm not the lightest ever and he can do this, what!; she felt her eyes bulge as she looked up at the cliff-face top, where Big was slowly hauling her up despite the awkward angle and her not inconsiderable weight; he's doing this one-handed? This observation was still bouncing in her brain when there was a sudden jerk and she was quite literally left swinging in the breeze, Big seemingly content to hold her outwards, parallel with the cliff and grin,
"Right", he gave a small twang on the rod as Mighty risked a glance down; it looked a fair way up from here, "now after that little shower you treated me to, what's to stop me sliding you down this cliff?" Indignation rose up in her emotions, though she was shrewd enough to hide it and speak the truth,
"The fact that if you do, I will stand up at the bottom, scramble up this cliff and beat you to within an inch of your life when I hit the top, that good enough for you?" The cat laughed, seemingly seeing a joke she didn't; she was more relieved when he began feeding the rod in hand over hand,
"You know some people might have taken that beating as a good point"; is he flirting with me?; Mighty wasn't quite sure what to say as she was set down, reaching to fiddle with her shoes to disguise the fact Big had managed to wrong-foot her again. As she made up her mind what to do next, Big waited for her patiently to come to her feet and listened to her answer curiously,
"Believe me, people only get a beating from me once", she brazened, hoping she was making the right move with this peculiar specimen of a Mobian, "when they wake up in a nice white bed with nurses all around them, they never seem to remember much about who gave it to them". Big laughed and pointed at her arms as he clipped his rod to his back,
"Judging by those muscles I can see, I'll take your word for it", again she wasn't sure which way to take his words as he finished, "but anyway, enough of this; we've got to get a move one if we want to get to the Ruins soon". With that and her confirmatory nod, the cat set off, Mighty again slightly behind him, thinking hard about what was going on here; what was Big after here, and was she playing the same game he appeared to be, even subconsciously? At the minute, she didn't know.
XXX
"Wait a second", Mighty held up a hand and paused, her ears straining as she tried to work out if she'd just imagined that sound or if, praise to the Lord if it was, it was genuine. Oh thank you; the sound of the engine was real, faint but definitely real and a wide grin split the armadillo's face as she looked up at Big, eyes alive as he cocked his head, trying to reach the same conclusion she had,
"Come on, it's close by", excited energy racing through her, Mighty tore through the foliage in front of her, challenging over her shoulder, "race you there". She followed her ears as Big, caught off-guard by the suddenness of the gauntlet, began to crash after her,
"Hey, no fair", the noises behind her almost drowned out those in front, "you got a head start".
"It's there for those that take it", she shot back, speeding up as she vaulted over a large puddle, pulling away from the cat as the noises of blessed civilisation rang ever louder in her ears, the sweetest music she'd ever been privileged to hear, even if the concerto had died down now, she was still waiting for the encore.
XXX
Tails killed the power to the Tornado's engine, conserving fuel as he waited for the early pick-up; since Sonic's late call last night, the fox had set his alarm early and set off for an early pick up, packing the glove compartment of his mecha with a selection of puzzle magazines to make sure he didn't get bored. As he buried his nose into yet another puzzle, he felt a sudden pang of fatalistic regret flare up in his mind; typical Rouge; he filled in another square and made sure it didn't clash with his earlier work; she's turned me into a Sudoku nut.
She'd lent him a selection of the strange square puzzles once, left the magazine at his workshop and he'd taken a look, just out of curiosity's sake; it had appealed to his logical, linear ways of thinking and he'd had a go at one, then another, then three pages the next day and it had all gone downhill from there. He really liked the challenge of these logical yet so tricky puzzles, but as he just completed the three by three square he'd squared up to minutes before, he realised he'd have to delay this triumph a minute; there was a series of progressively louder crashes from in front of him and that meant only one thing; his pick up was coming closer. He timed them with his keen ears and mentally counted down; three, two one and…oh, okay, two one and…; there was a sudden explosion from in front of him, the bushed being mown down as a black shape hurtled through them, looking around and then directly at him as he masked a smile and put on an official voice,
"Mighty Armadillo I presume?"
XXX
"Tails", she felt her heart soar away, no risk of being lost here as she raced over, hearing his words even as she threw her arms around him and planted a genuine smacker on his cheek, "you've come to rescue me from this green and brown hell".
"Hey", Big's indignant voice filled the air as he looked at the pair of them haughtily, "I live here you know". Tails and Mighty shared a glance before she carried on her tirade of woe,
"help me, save me from this serpent in Mobian flesh", she thrust the fox forwards as a shield, Tails having a hard time not laughing as the fake terror in Mighty's voice came once more, "back abomination, to the pit where you dwell".
"If I remember rightly you were very grateful for that pit last night" Big countered, looking smug as Tails felt the grip on his shoulder loosen a touch, Mighty seemingly struck by the comeback, a fact she verified as her voice lost its light-hearted tone,
"Can't deny it", she moved past Tails and headed towards the purple cat, extending her had as she did; Tails couldn't see her expression but assumed it was a smile, "thanks for everything Big, the fish was delicious". Chuckling gruffly, his face more than visible over the crest of Mighty's shell, Big clasped the offered hand and shook gently,
"Not at all; any time you're around, give me call – shout and I'll hear you from pretty much anywhere in the swamp. Tails", the kit looked up at the mention of his name, "you taking her from here?"
"That's what that's for isn't it?" He replied, indicating the parked Tornado; Big merely glanced and smiled again,
"Hope you upgraded the seatbelts; she'll need reinforced bungee cord to stop her getting lost; from the station to the ruins, it's a straight line for goodness sake".
"I went in a straight line", Mighty argued, though she had to offer a slight concession in the form of, "it was a few degrees out maybe, but I would've got there in the end".
"Somehow I'm not convinced".
"I am, and that's all that matters"; realising this could go on for a while, Tails had to interject,
"What matters now is your interview", both older Mobians turn to regard him as he spoke, trying to break up their friendly argument, "they don't like to be kept waiting and we're already a bit behind as it is". Brought back to earth by the reminder, the armadillo started and ran full pelt to the passenger door, wrenching it open in a manner that made Tails wince as she shouted,
"Right, full throttle and don't spare the engine; see you Big, it was nice to meet you". As Tails entered his vehicle and fired the engine, Big waved them off, waiting until the Tornado disappeared into the distance before turning around, heading back to his home, already immersed in memories during the walk.
The drive to the ruins, and the resultant flight, were mostly silent; Tails occasionally darting sidelong glances at his passenger as she looked either ahead or out the window; he was smart enough to realise she was in deep thought over something and probably wouldn't welcome an interruption. Despite himself, Tails turned over the armadillo and cat's parting words to each other in his mind, and had to wonder just what had happened the night Mighty had been missing.
XXX
"I don't like this Vector", Espio spied the Tornado coming in on its final approach and stowed the star he'd been scratching the top of the rock he was sitting on with, face grim as he shook his head, "not one bit". Charmy looked down from where he was flying, arms folded as he made his views plain,
"Espio, the number of things you like could be written on a penny with a paintbrush; why don't you just give something new a chance?"
"I'm with Charm on this one", Vector switched off his stereo and looked at the chameleon, his eyes again showing the surprising shrewdness that he displayed from time to time as he elaborated, "Sonic as a reference's nothin' to be sniffed at; 'sides, not like we can tell them to turn around now is it?" Glancing up at where the two-tailed fox's plane was now clearly visible against the blue sky, the chameleon deferred to the majority vote, though reluctance was etched in every line of his body; seeing this and trying to keep group friction to a minimum, Vector tried to pour oil over the troubled waters,
"Look, she'll be here for what, couple o' weeks max; just long enough to get this stuff shifted an' the orchard pruned to size", the crocodile saw the chameleon flinch, moved in for the killing blow, "an' you know as well as I do we need all the help we can get for that – we'll be choppin' trees 'till Knucks gets back otherwise". Snarling as once again his gut feeling was overridden by crocodilian logic, Espio shook his head again and fell silent, raising a hand to cover his face from the small flurry of debris the landing of the Tornado caused, protecting his sight as Vector simply flipped his sunglasses over his eyes. Charmy, overhead and out the way of such flying clutter, flew over to now stationary vehicle and carefully perched just in front of the windshield, trying to peer through the tinted glass as he always did when the fox visited Angel Island; he had enough time to form a hazy picture before with a hydraulic hiss, the cockpit opened and he was met by the sound of polite chuckling.
"I've heard of bugs on a windshield", the girl in the passenger seat next to Tails spoke, shaking her formidably armoured head as she pointed at him, "but this is ridiculous". She looked up at where the bee was now sat, Charmy scanning her up and down, forming a very quick and pretty accurate guess of this being someone not to mess with before she extended her hand,
"You're Charmy right?"
"Er, yeah", he shook out of instinct, much as his next words were spoken from disbelief, "how'd you know that?"
"Tails filled me in on the way here", she indicated where the fox was now shucking off his restraints ready for a descent to the floor before looking at him square once more, "so, are the other two downstairs?"
"Yep, they're waiting for you; you've got to be Mighty right", she nodded and in familiar territory once more, the bee extended both his arms and offered, "grab on, I'll take you down". She laughed again, the continued mirth further breaking down the bee's idea of just hired muscle as she answered,
"I don't think that's a good idea, unless you like the idea of having eight foot arms by the time we hit the deck".
"Hey", mildly affronted, Charmy flexed his arms and a few minor bumps that might have counted as muscles on a good day grudging poked upwards, "I've handled heavier loads than you in my time; Vector after he hit the all-you-can-eat buffet in Station Square's pizza parlour outweighs anything you've got, no pun intended".
"Okay then; on your shoulders be it", she stood up and extended both her arms; Charmy hovered up and gripped her wrists, took a deep breath then pulled upwards into the air.
XXX
Mighty landed on the soil of Angel Island for the first time, possibly a little faster than she would have liked but, then again, having expected Charmy to plummet like a stone when he'd left the Tornado, she had to admit he'd done an awesome job in the first place.
"Nice one Charmy", the bee looked up at the praise, seeing Mighty smile at him as she traced the route with her eyes, "guess I was wrong; you must have done your fair share of weight-lifting to get me down from there". The bee chuckled as he swung his arms and then pointed,
"From the looks of things, nowhere near as much as you have"; the armadillo looked down at the arm he was pointing at and rubbed her triceps promisingly,
"Yeah well, these are going to make your life a lot easier in the near future".
"I sure hope so", the bee admitted, shuddering at the memory of the days they'd already spent trying to cut down all the trees Knuckles had indicated to them; so far they'd made precious little headway on the gnarled old behemoths, "I never want to look a hickory nut tree as long as I live". Mighty grimaced as though tasting something unpleasant,
"Me neither; I hate hickory nuts; ah, you must be Vector, I'm Mighty".
"So I gathered", Charmy saw the unofficial leader of the Chaotix saunter up, Espio slightly ahead of him but, as per usual, not saying anything as the crocodile raise a hand, "just a sec before we get going; Tails, tell me you've got good news for me". All eyes turned to the fox, Mighty in particular interested as Tails hadn't mentioned an ulterior motive for visiting Angel Island. For his part, Sonic's younger brother shuffled his feet and placed his hands behind his back,
"Well, they didn't stock the double A's you were after…" There was a groan from Vector as he was forced to contemplate the idea of life without his beloved music; his batteries were on their last legs and due to their use of hydroelectricity there was nowhere on Angel Island that stocked any variety of battery – he was reliant on Tails' frequent shuttle runs for his continued musical enjoyment and right now it looked as though he'd been dumped in the lurch. Until, of course, Tails grinned and drew a package from behind his back with a magicians flourish,
"…so I had to settle for four A's instead". The groan was shut off; Vector staring wide-eyed at the batteries as though disbelieving he was seeing them, walking up to the fox as though sleep-walking and reverently stroking the casing. A second after he did so, a wide, slow grin crept over his face and he snatched the packet, raising it to the heavens as if it were a trophy for all time.
"All right; six weeks of hardcore, sound-barrier blasting music action or your money back guaranteed", he stuffed the new batteries into his pouch and slapped the fox on the back, "how much do I owe?" The fox stood up with a pained smile,
"Twelve for the batteries and about three hundred for the hospital bills", he stood to his full height, the vertebrae of his back popping softly as Vector realised his mistake,
"Ah, sorry dude".
"No sweat", Tails assured him before checking his watch and brightening up, "right, I've got to get to Echidnopolis with the rest of the goods; I'll leave you to it from here. Okay Mighty", he tipped the armadillo a wink, "go have a ball". Charmy whistled from his position on high, rolling his eyes as Espio commented dryly,
"Cream, Lara-Le and now Mighty; you've got them lining up Tails – you aught to write a book". The answering smile was caustic,
"Put you down for a copy shall I?" The answering glare alone was enough to terminate that line of conversation; Tails shrank away from the misanthropic chameleon's look of anger and disgust, hastily commanding the Tornado to reconfigure to its jeep mode, he leapt aboard and, after shouting he'd drop the armadillo's bags off at the Chaotix new base of operations, roared off, Mighty waving her chauffer off before turning to the others and putting her hands lightly on her hips, smiling at them all,
"So, where's the job at?"
XXX
In the wake of his departure, Mighty span around to see her three new potential workmates, or were they her future employers, examining her whilst forming their verdicts just as she was them. The silence stretched into minutes before she could bear it no longer,
"So, what's the plan next?"
"Plan", Vector, the one she assumed was in charge, chortled and shook his head, "since when have we ever had a plan; we're walking to work from here and depending on how well you do we'll go from there". Sounds like a plan to me; Mighty fell into step with the crocodile as he beckoned her, asking one last question,
"What's the job for today then?"
"Same one it's been for the past two weeks", Charmy answered from above, "tree clipping; twenty eight down, seventeen odd to go". As he sighed at the back-breaking work that lay ahead, Vector shaking his head, both missed the furtive smile that flitted across the interviewee's face.
"So what do you guys mostly do then?"
"Us?" Vector quickly recalled the little speech he'd spent the previous evening making up; above all, he couldn't afford to give Mighty even a hint about the real new job of the Chaotix – far too much was at stake, least of which was the idea of permanent jobs for him and his companions,
"Well we used to be a detective team, P.I's after a fashion, but there's no money in it. So we came up here soon as we could; we're familiar with the rough areas of this patch of turf, so we just keep things tidy. Our boss is away at the minute, but he left us a list as long as your arm to keep us busy, hence why we want a bit of help".
"Your boss?" Mighty tried to remember what little information she'd managed to coax out of Sonic regarding the organisation she was now walking with and a name came back to her, "isn't that Knuckles?"
"Yeah", and the rest of his family; Vector cut off that thought, if all went to plan Mighty would never know about the Brotherhood's existence, "he's off on his honeymoon; should be gone another couple of months", a smile split his thick lips as he chortled, "and if Rouge has her way he'll probably need a few weeks off after that just to recover". There was an explosion of giggles from above them and both looked up to see Charmy's flight path wavering erratically as he fought to contain himself,
"Say that", Charmy gasped as he tried to make his words audible, "say that to her face I dare you". Mighty shook her head as Vector, though unable to go white, certainly lost a little of the colour from his cheeks,
"Do me a favour; do I look like I enjoy eating my own teeth?"
"Judging by the way you fought with her sparring, I'd have to say yes"; Mighty shuddered involuntarily as the voice came from close to her left shoulder; Espio's gift on invisibility was unnerving at the best of time, possibly lethal when combined with his ninja skills and biting sarcasm. As he showed his true colour once more, the chameleon turned his gaze towards her, face inscrutable as she didn't dare back down, despite his unflinching stare sending a shiver down her spine,
"Here's a question for you", she braced herself, "what did you do before you came here? And where do you know Sonic from; Shadow mentioned you knew him?"
"Me and the Smurf go back a long way", Vector chortled along with Charmy this time as he pictured the blue hedgehog's reaction to being called that, "met him at a dance school when we were about eight or so; yes I know I don't look like a dancer, but I wasn't too bad at it I'll have you know, and just for the record the first guy who makes a lewd reference to a tutu, or a leotard, will be unceremoniously dropped on his rear end, get it?" Tempted though he was to test her dare, Vector merely kept his face inquisitive as he pressed on,
"Cool, so what about your other work?"
"Oh, that", the armadillo's face fell as she remembered her previous employment with a pang of regret that it had finished so suddenly, "well I used to stack crates and load lorries at a haulage firm, Saracens, but it went bust about three months ago. I've been in the market since then, but there's next to nothing out there so far. It's all desk work and paper shuffling and I just can't do that, I get so bored and depressed it's not funny. I need a physical job, so what you're offering's a good start, though I hear it's not permanent".
"Fraid not", Vector shook his head, "only 'till the boss gets back, then we'll have to let you go, but keep your eyes open, there might be stuff up here for you, we'll certainly do what we can if you work well. And speaking of work, with perfect timing, we're here".
Mighty followed his arm and raised an eyebrow; in front of her was what looked like a small clearing punctuated by small holes, some more recently dug than others, slightly in front of the edges of a forest screen, the bark of some of the trees making up the wall of wood and leaves was marked with what looked like red paint. Her astute thinking let her grasp the problem straight away; all she needed was confirmation,
"Let me guess"; oh please, please say yes to this – I haven't had a workout like this in months; "you've been cutting them down, then digging out the roots right?"
"Yes, that's the normal way of doing things", Espio shot back, seemingly irked at her tone as she nodded sagely, a slight smile on her lips as she tapped her fingers together, "you have a better idea?"
"Yep; old family trick of doing this sort of job". The chameleon frowned for a second, thrown a little by her forthrightness, before sliding smoothly to the side and gesturing expansively towards the work site,
"Then please, a demonstration". He was backed up by Vector's less disbelieving voice; the crocodile sounded genuinely interest as he backed up his team mate,
"You got a faster way Mighty; we've been busting our butts on this for ten days – anything you can show us would be a bonus". The armadillo looked up and winked, moving towards her target tree as Charmy, descending to the floor, picked up and offered one of the axes they'd been using,
"Here, this one's still pretty sharp".
"Nah, not for me Charmy", she patted the bee on the shoulder as she declined the offer, though she did speak on as she moved closer to the tree line, "my old uncle taught me this little trick; you better stand back a bit". Mystified, the bee moved backwards to where his two team mates now stood, shrugging his shoulders at them as they looked equally as confused. This confusion only deepened as Mighty seemed to wrap her arms around one of the marked trees as though hugging a dearly loved one; there was a second of silence, broken only by the wind thought the branches, before Espio called over,
"We're not into conservation here; we need these ones got rid of"; there was no answer save the wind picking up; wait a minute, what wind? The air was still, so what was causing the branches to shake; the chameleon looked around again to see the tree Mighty was working on swaying and, he looked down and felt his surprise, no, that was too gentle a word, his shock deepen. He tapped Vector on the arm and pointed, hissing frantically at where the earth around the roots of the tree was beginning to rumple up. The crocodile looked at him disbelievingly,
"You don't think…?" Unfortunately, the rest of his question was lost as Mighty, deciding that was enough loosening of the soil, made the last move.
With a shout that echoed throughout the forest and sent the Chaotix jumping backwards, the armadillo unleashed the power of her back and arms, hurling them upwards, dragging the tree trunk up with them. There was a tearing sound as roots were ripped from the earth, covering her shoes in dirt and mud as she partially succeeded in her goal; some of the roots were exposed, enough to get a grip around the bottom of the tree and that was all she needed; dropping to her haunches, she quickly attained her handhold, concentrating for a second to ready herself. Her observers had just enough time to see her calves and thighs swell as they dug into the turf, her arm muscles writhing like living things as, with a second roar, she powered upwards, her legs, hips and upper body all combined in this effort; as she was showered in earth and dirt and her the characteristic tearing and crack of the taproot being broken, she allowed herself a slight smile as she realised she'd done it; now to make it look really impressive…
Okay; Vector's mouth hung open as he watched the spectacle before him unfurl; she's just uprooted a tree, with her bare hands, and on her own – nothing I can't handle – what the hell am I saying – yipe! He was paralysed by the suddenness of it all; he'd been chatting to this woman a few minutes before, now she was pulling trees out the ground like they were daisies and he was gawping like a fish as she did so. It was so far removed from anything he'd expected, so far out the bathtub for him, that his legs remained frozen, unable to move even as she turned around, the tree still in her hands like the world's largest pot plant as she managed to growl one word that, despite being muffled by the bark in front of her, still transferred itself quite clearly to the ears of the Chaotix,
"Move". He saw what she was going to do a second later and adrenaline was all that sent him hurtling to the side, shoving a still paralysed Charmy out the zone of impact at the same time as spin to land on his back to admire the sight before him; Mighty squatted a fraction before letting it go, hurling the tree away from her like a caber. Vector marvelled at its slow progress through the air; how often does a normal guy like me see a tree fly like that?; before it landed with a loud crash and rustle of falling leaves. The silence that followed the impact was clear as crystal as all three male Mobians turned to stare open-mouthed at where Mighty was now casually dusting herself off, beating away the mud that had streaked her top and shorts, apparently oblivious to their scrutiny.
"Err", she looked up at Charmy's voice, politely smiling as the bee managed a weak grin, "that uncle of yours, was he Scottish by any chance?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah he was", the armadillo agreed beneficently before dusting her hands and examining the flattened Chaotix with a barely hidden grin, "well, that's how I clear a garden; no digging, no chopping and most importantly no splinters going everywhere. So, whatcha think?"
A thousand questions surged into Vector's brain and demanded his attention, but luckily he was cool enough under pressure to ask the most important one first,
"Can, er, can you do that again?" The armadillo followed his shaking finger and smiled as she saw the other trees he was pointing at,
"Yeah, I reckon I can get rid of most of these; a couple are too big though, I'll need a hand with them".
"Right", a flicker of thankfulness rose up in Vector's mind; Sonic, you answered our prayers with this one; before he moved back to business mode and tried to sound official, "well, we best crack on then; carry on like that Mighty and you're a shoe-in for this job. We could get this done today". Mighty let her arms drop to the side and her eyes crackled with joy as she repeated,
"You mean I'm hired?"
"Like a shot" the crocodile replied before he'd even though of the words; this armadillo would cut their time out here into about a twentieth if she kept this up, and he for one really fancied just chilling to some tracks in his favourite coffee house rather than being stuck out here digging up trees. With this in mind, he walked over to the muddy armadillo and extended his hand, smiling as she shook it,
"Welcome to the Chaotix Mighty".
XXX
Those two trees Mighty couldn't uproot she pushed against until they lifted up a fraction, letting Charmy as the smallest slip his hands in to attack the tap root with a saw until it was weakened enough for Mighty and Vector together to break and push the tree over. Espio spent most of his time filling in the resultant holes they'd made; Knuckles had pointed out how dangerous that could be for a larger animal, the risk of slipping in and breaking a leg was too great for the holes to be left gaping, so the chameleon sealed them with the earth that had been generated from the newest member of the Chaotix's flamboyant removal of the trees Knuckles had marked for disposal, ensuring nothing could stumble into them. The work, despite Mighty's assistance, was still hard and taxing, and it was well past midday when they were finally done, the last great trunk having been added to the pile Knuckles had instructed them to leave for him to deal with later.
"Right, that's a wrap", Vector looked around the place with an air of satisfaction as he gathered up the last of the now mostly obsolete tools, checking to see he hadn't missed any at the same time as throw a set of keys to Espio, "go get the van here and we'll pack up".
"Wait", Mighty heard the words but hardly dared to believe them, "you've got transport?"
"Yeah, it's a bit battered and second hand but still drives like a dream", Charmy thought of the last car the Chaotix Detective Agency had owned and shivered, "runs basically on water, and it's a hover van, so no danger of flipping over on the drive back".
"Hover van?"
"Don't sweat it, we'll explain what we can on the way", Vector assured the mystified armadillo, remembering all to well how long it had taken him to come to terms with the new technology the echidna civilisation had brought back with them from the imprisonment imposed on it by the first guardian and his nemesis. Charmy cut in on the act as well, offering
"That and a tour around the city tomorrow as well".
"Sounds good", Mighty agreed before indicating her grime-streaked clothing and sighed, "but what I really want now is a bath and a change of clothes".
"Don't we all", Vector agreed, trying to wipe off some of the clinging muck as a van slid smoothly into view, Espio in the driver's seat as he parked up and then jumped out, throwing open the rear doors to let the others pack up the tools they'd brought with them. With a last look around the work site and a satisfied nod, the Chaotix, complete with their newest, if only temporary, member all boarded their transport, Vector gunned the engine and they set off for home. As Charmy chatted away gamely to Mighty, patiently explaining everything he could remember about life on the island, Vector gave himself a mental slap on the back; taking that call from Shadow was one of the best things I've done recently – this'll give Knucks a reason to be happy when he gets home. With that thought in mind, the crocodile steered his way for home, happy that he'd done his bit for the safety of Angel Island and its now absent guardian.
Far away, someone else had a reason to be happy, but it had nothing at all to do with aiding the guardian.
XXX
Lien-Da looked up from the computer image, watching as it rotated slowly to allow viewing from all angles; picking up a marker pen, she highlighted various areas as she finished the brief she and her team had compiled,
"Extensive work needs completing on the main housing and the CPU, along with the modifications you requested Lord Enerjak", the cyborg nodded once before the female echidna carried on, "but the information we need is, as far as we can tell, uncorrupted and possibly accessable".
"Then why is it not ours?" Lien bit back a sigh of impatience as her brother demanded answers; he was always so impetuous, wanting answers here and now, never understanding the virtues of the careful way of doing things.
"Because it's well-protected", she spoke simply, tapping the display to zoom in on a particular portion of the hardware her twin had been able to capture from the vault where it had been sequestered, "the programming we're after is incredibly well safeguarded; this is very impressive work, even the Dark Legion should pay respect to it. Though we're a lot better off than we were six months ago, there's nothing we've got that can safely break this sort of shielding down; I have a nasty suspicion that, if I tried, we'd be hit with a virus that would scramble our main network; whoever did this really knew what they were doing and really didn't want anyone poking around with it. We were lucky the CPU was damaged; without that I wouldn't have been able to gain access to the directives and modify them as you requested Lord Enerjak; even now I haven't finished".
"Lien", the mechanical growl pervaded the air as the Central Dogma's eyes glowed brighter, not usually a good sign but here was the exception; Dimitri was excited about something and made that plain with his next sentence, "that emotional development could be crucial; we must have it to advance our cause". His great-granddaughter smiled and decided to bring this to a head; shutting off the display, she faced the grandmaster of the Dark Legion directly,
"I know, which is why I ordered my team to begin a full structural repair of this unit".
"I fail to follow your logic Lien", Dimitri spoke after a short silence, "how does this aid us in gaining this software?"
"You've read the reports as well as I have, you know what this thing is capable of", she replied with a careless shrug, "we trade with it, certain restrictions will apply of course, but we can do it; I know we will have things it wants, things it'll need if that core directive was anything to go by". She saw those four words, blinking in vivid green letters on her screen, the menace behind them almost palpable and shook her head as though trying to drive them out. Her reverie was broken by her brother's voice,
"And since when has the Dark Legion traded with outsiders?"
"Since it was necessary to achieve true enlightenment", Dimitri surprisingly coming down on the side of his granddaughter as he rounded on Kragok, "this could take us one step closer to our goal of deliverance from death – there is no price too high", he turned back to Kommissar and she tried to look those red LED displays head on, "continue Lady Kommissar, you have done well; estimation of time until completion?"
"At current progress, two weeks, maybe slightly longer".
"Keep it up; now come Kragok, we must oversee the construction of the new firearm production facilities; they have been reconfigured correctly?"
"Of course grandmaster; in theory each blast gun generates enough charge to temporarily stun a normal echidna, there is no lasting damage. We have yet to move on to stage three testing however".
"Let us proceed then"; without another word, Enerjak, as Dimitri insisted on calling himself and being called in public, stomped out of the room; Kommissar tried to give her twin a supportive smile as he scowled his way behind the walking cyborg, but as his red bionic eye was off she doubted he saw it. Even if he had, she knew he'd never reply; he was always so serious.
When they were gone, she gratefully slid out of the robes that were standard uniform to each and every legionnaire; the heavy garment hid the body so you couldn't tell how heavily augmented one legionnaire was in relation to another – thus promotion was awarded in accordance with ability, not level of augmentation. The full uniform covered the whole body with a face mask and gloves and was adopted at all times by the lowest levels of the Legion, though the regulations relaxed a bit higher up the ranks; most officers could get away without their face masks, but only one as high as Lien, basically head of the research units, could disuse both gloves and face plate. And the rest of this kafuffle if I can get away with it; she kicked the heavy, chafing black material out the way of her footsteps, relishing the coolness even as she knew she ran the risk of being discovered breaking regulations yet again. Still, as she sat down and triggered the rotating display again, loving the feel of the leather beneath her, she couldn't help but feel that, given her recent good behaviour, she was due a little slack; speaking of which… Reminded by the thought, she looked at the digital display on the bottom of the hologram and smiled to herself; she had to get ready for her 'adventure' this evening. I suppose that's one good thing about the robes; she chuckled to herself as she dressed once more, however fleetingly, to get back to her private quarters; they turn Legionnaires into chocolates – you don't quite know what to expect until you unwrap them!
A/N: I promise, next chapter I'll tell you what the Legion's doing.