Chapter Fourteen: Chaos and Havoc
Shadow hit a button on his wrist-communicator, and another miniature map appeared. A red light appeared in three different places on the map; one on the bridge, one on the core-room, and on the hangar bay.
"Right... well, I've uploaded your destinations onto your wristbands" Shadow said. "Hit the small green button to view the map, and again to turn it off. Okay, let's move!"
Shadow drew his pistol, Rouge readied her sniper rifle, and Omega readied a gun on one arm. Then the three of them hurried off with excellent stealth towards the bridge.
Sonic looked at Knuckles, and shrugged. "Well, let's go!" he said, but Amy tugged on his arm.
"Sonic... wait..." Amy said and kissed Sonic on the cheek. "For good luck."
Sonic blushed a little, but smiled and nodded at Amy, and then took off with Knuckles towards the hangar.
Amy sighed, shouldered her hammer, and faced Kaynyx. "Well, let's go!" she said.
Kaynyx raised a hand for silence, sniffing the air intently.
"Amy, get down!" he growled. Amy had barely comprehended this and ducked her head when Kaynyx swung his fist, and it collided with solid air... until a camouflaged Black Alien materialized and collapsed.
Kaynyx faced Amy, frowning. "Contact the others" he said, already starting to walk off. "Tell them we may have been overheard, and to be on extra-high alert."
Amy was now half-jogging alongside the tall, massive wolf. "You think he heard our destinations?" Amy asked, carrying her hammer in both hands.
"I don't know" Kaynyx replied, now running so that Amy had to practically sprint. "But if he's reported that we're here, we're in trouble..."
Aero Fortress: The Throne Room
Mephiles sat on the black marble throne just now, meditating behind his normally-open green eyes, pondering exactly HOW he was going to get that weapon...
The weapon that could change everything, and be the key to rejoining with Iblis...
Mephiles hit a small datapad, and a miniature hologram of a vast, three-story temple arose from it. The temple dated back almost as far back as the Gizoid itself, whose remains whirred under the armor of the two Havocs near him.
Mephiles examined the temple's exterior, knowing that every entrance was guarded by at least three platoons of heavily armed and armored G.U.N. troops, but that wasn't what concerned him...
The problem was, the reason the G.U.N. troops weren't guarding the inside was because the stone doors couldn't be breached, or opened, due to strange technology created by the brilliant, ancient civilization said to be the forerunners of inter-dimensional travel, and according to vague chronicles, the time of this civilization was about the time the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald were first discovered.
Mephiles wondered if there was a reason for that... if perhaps the origin of the Emeralds, the Gizoid, and the weapon he sought were all connected to the ancient civilization's fall...
But what did he care? So long as he had the weapon the people had placed within the temple to be protected, Mephiles' thirst for manipulation over chaos and time would be filled, and Iblis and him would finally be reunited and stronger than ever...
Suddenly, however, Mauve came into the room, interrupting Mephiles' thoughts.
"What is it, bat?" Mephiles snarled. "It better be good news..."
"My lord... Rouge and Shadow... I've lost their coordinates" Mauve said reluctantly, looking ready to leave twice as quickly as he came. "They must have warped away, or gone too far underground for me to detect..."
Before Mephiles could even begin to scream or curse, or growl or attack Mauve, however, Shade came running into the room as well.
"My lord... a patrol found one of our perimeter monitors dead" the echidna said, panting slightly. "We've found no evidence of the intruders, though."
Mephiles looked at Mauve, then at Shade again, then back at Mauve and then Shade again, thinking quickly.
"Mm... Mauve, I think I'll forgive you this time... you and Shade shall scour the fortress for the intruders" Mephiles said. "If its Shadow and Rouge or any of the other Mobians, weaken them and capture them however you like, but do not kill them. I'll send a Havoc mech with you... one who won't fail you."
Mephiles flicked his hand slightly, and the strongest of the Havocs - Zarox (if you recall) -, stepped towards Shade and Mauve.
"The three of you, search the ship and find them, hold them so that I may finish them myself" Mephiles said, and stood up. "I'll rally the other Havocs to me, and then we shall drive the vermin from my castle!"
Shade, Mauve, and Zarox bowed, and they left the throne room.
Mephiles faced the lesser, remaining Havoc mech. "You, put all Black Arms soldiers and Metarex on full alert" he ordered. "Burn their hides!"
The Havoc made a small bow. "Yes, my lord" it said in a monotone, metallic voice. Then it hurried over to a console and furiously typed in commands.
Mephiles, satisfied, went over to his throne and hit a summons button, which locked onto every Havoc in the fortress – fully built or not – and sent it to where the signal emanated.
Mephiles closed his eyes and sighed contently, although is sounded more like a cross between a purr and a snake hissing.
"Now, Shadow... your end has come" he hissed to himself, and chuckled.
With Team Dark
Shadow, Rouge, and Omega had so far been able to avoid detection and quickly dispatched a few small Metarex and Black Arms patrols. Omega had nearly been sighted once or twice from his bulk, but he had learned the art of silence well, despite Eggman's barbaric programming.
Shadow now hid behind several stacked weapons crates. Rouge was about thirty yards ahead of him, and fifteen to the right, hidden well and her sniper ready. Shadow kept one pistol out, safety off. Omega was hidden behind a small observation tower, the Metarexs' who ran it now dead by Rouge's rifle.
Shadow peered around the corner, seeing no movement. "Rouge?" he asked over the com. "Any contacts?"
"Negative" Rouge replied. "Wait... yes, a Black Arms Elite and two Metarex... Omega, prepare to move in. I'll take the elite down..."
Omega quietly moved forward, and Shadow edged away from his cover a little.
There was a crack! of a sniper rifle, and the Black Arms Elite fell dead. Before the Metarex could register what had happened, Omega picked them up and smashed them together, knocking them into scrap.
Shadow left his hiding spot and approached Omega. "Good work" Shadow commented, giving the Black Arms Elite a kick in the ribs. Then he whispered into Rouge's link; "You too babe."
Rouge, who was hidden above them by multiple crates, smirked. "Charm me later, big guy" she said. "Hold it... take cover, I think there's more coming..."
Shadow and Omega darted behind some more crates, and took a quick peek beyond them...
Two Havoc mechs had entered the room, taken a quick look at the fallen Metarex and Black Alien, and then left through another door.
Shadow exchanged a puzzled look with Omega, and then jumped out of his cover, his pistol ready...
Nothing moved.
Shadow raised his thumb in a sideways position and jerked it slightly; the all-clear signal. Rouge leapt down from her cover, her sniper rifle showing a little over half-full on ammo. Shadow approached her. "You see those mechs?" he asked. "I wonder why they didn't attack..."
"Probability: they have higher priority than to engage possible intruders" Omega said suddenly. "Perhaps Mephiles needs them for something else."
Shadow frowned. "If Kaynyx was right about us being spotted earlier, then they might be trying to organize a counter-attack for us... if so, we need to hurry" he said.
Rouge leaned against a crate, examining her rifle's settings. "I thought we were already in a hurry?" she asked, loading a fresh clip into it.
"We'll have to hurry some more, then" Shadow said, and they followed him out of the opposite door the Havocs left in.
"Team Sonic, what's your status? Over" Shadow asked over his com-link...
With Sonic and Knuckles
"Fantastic!" Sonic replied to Shadow, smashing a Metarex guard right in the head. Knuckles, nearby, picked up a Black Alien by the leg, spun it, and let it fly into another one.
"In fact, at this rate, we'll be in the hangar in just a few more minutes! These guys are even weaker than the last time I saw them!"
"Just shut up and hurry along, Sonic" Shadow growled. "The Aero Fortress is on full-alert now, so be careful and disable the hangar and ships quickly so they can't send for help!"
"I hear ya, Shadow, calm down!" Sonic said, rolling his eyes, and then closed the link.
Knuckles quickly destroyed the final Metarex, and then he and Sonic moved on.
After about five minutes, they found a large, wide building that, according to their schematics, was the hangar, which deployed ships from the side of the Aero Fortress.
The hangar only showed one story on the fortress's surface, but under it, three more stories resided, holding over two hundred fighters, four cruisers, six destroyers, and two frigates.
Many power generators, bunkers, weapon caches and weapons factories lay beneath the surface also, along with the Havoc factory, but only Kaynyx and Amy were ordered to go under; the bridge being right in the center of the fortress's surface, most heavily-defended from aerial attacks.
Sonic looked at the tall door that led inside, and he and Knuckles quietly jogged towards it. Knuckles darted over, peered around the walls, and nodded at Sonic, who activated his wrist band.
"You ready bud?" Sonic asked Tails over the link.
"Yeah, just hook it up!" Tails said.
Sonic smiled slightly, and pulled a cord from his wrist band and attached it to the key-pad on the door.
"One second..." Tails said distractedly, as if thinking hard on the code. "Yes... got it!"
The door snapped open, and Sonic and Knuckles carefully tread inside...
What they saw was something like a mine shaft: a large, gaping hole that was dimly lit by the occasional red light in the walls was all that took up the area of the first two stories. Catwalks ran all the way down, patrolled by groups of two or three Black Aliens, and down below, dozens of Metarex guarded and managed the ships.
Sonic peered over the edge of the railing of the catwalk he and Knuckles stood on. "Damn..." Knuckles muttered. "That's not going to be easy..."
"We can't take the catwalks down, and we can't just jump down..." Sonic said slowly. "We'll be up to our necks in trouble before we could seal off the hangar... Tails, can you give us a way down there without being spotted?"
"Working on it..." Tails replied back at G.U.N.'s base.
Knuckles glanced around the room, apparently deep in thought. "What if I soared over to the other wall, stayed in the dark areas, went down and shut off the lights?" he said suddenly.
"That'd be great... if we could see in the dark" Sonic said with a small sigh. "Tails, when we get back, ask the commander to have some drinks ready... this is hurting my head way too damn much..."
With Kaynyx and Amy
This team was now four stories under the surface of Aero Fortress. According to their map, the main power core was located near the center, though not quite enough so as to line it up with Mephiles' throne and the bridge. The reason for this was in the case that a powerful enough weapon hit the bridge and destroyed it and the throne room, the core would only suffer slight damage and still be functional.
Kaynyx and Amy were now crawling through an air duct so as to avoid the weapons and mech factories below them. Amy was easily able to crawl through, but as Kaynyx was about as tall as a human and about twice as bulky, he had to take extra care not to bump around too much or get stuck in the tight corners.
They were passing over one air duct, however, when Amy suddenly stopped and peered through it. "Hey, aren't those the robots that attacked G.U.N.?" she asked.
Amy scooted over and turned around so Kaynyx could get nearer the vent and glimpse down. Sure enough, two Havoc mechs stood down there, one of them still missing an arm and some final adjustments to the torso.
"Hmm... I wonder how many they're capable of producing" Kaynyx muttered softly. "Regardless, Amy, we must move on. I'll-" There was a whirring below, and the completed Havoc suddenly darted out of the room.
Kaynyx's normal frown deepened slightly in worry. "I pray they aren't searching for us... even one of those mechs is a worthy opponent" he said quietly.
Amy nodded, not saying anything. "Well, let's go blow that core!" she said in a slightly-louder whisper, and she crawled on.
Kaynyx chuckled, and followed after her.
'Determined, brave, confident, and a soul that burns with passion... it is no wonder Sonic chose her for a mate' Kaynyx thought to himself with a bitter smile, knowing he'd probably never get a mate at this rate.
With Team Dark
Shadow, Rouge, and Omega were now in a short hallway that led to the bridge of the Aero Fortress.
Rouge had hacked into a wall panel and disabled the few security sensors there, leaving only four Metarex and two Black Aliens to guard the doorway, which Omega quickly gunned down and stomped flat.
Shadow, both of his pistols out, scanned the hallway, Omega and one of his chain-guns standing right next to him, ready to shoot any on comers. Rouge was furiously typing away on a keypad to release the lock on the bridge's door.
Suddenly, the door on the other side slowly started to slip open. Rouge grabbed Shadow and they flew to a darker area on the ceiling. Omega activated a stealth-generator upgraded into him by G.U.N., and stood flat against the wall.
Over a dozen standard Black Arms soldiers with shields and pistols, about twenty elites with rifles, and thirty Metarex with swords all walked down the hallway.
"This many soldiers to secure the bridge... that really necessary?" the lead Metarex with blue armor asked a green companion.
"Yes, you dolt!" the green Metarex said, annoyance apparent in his buzzing tone. "You heard what the echidna said; master suspects that Shadow person and some others are here on the fortress; the bridge has to be defended!"
Shadow, meanwhile, being held in his hiding spot by Rouge's firm grip, allowed himself a smirk at how Mephiles seemed to fear him by putting the place on full alert.
"If Shadow's here, we won't do much more than slow him down" another blue, although of a slightly duller hue, Metarex said.
"Shade said he'd send more soldiers as soon as we reached the bridge" the green Metarex said, rolling its head as one would roll their eyes. "I hope it's those Hammer-bots or whatever he calls 'em. I heard they almost beat a couple of those Mobian creeps during the last major engagement."
"Yeah, I saw one tear up one of our misbehaving giants" a Black Arms elite commented. "The others have stayed in line ever since."
"Yes... still, I think I could personally hold them off a good while" a red Metarex said, being the largest and bulkiest of them and carried a large, multi-edged sword. "I would probably take at least two of them before I-" But the Metarex bumped into Omega's cloaked figure, and stumbled forward onto Omega's feet.
Shadow prayed they'd think it was only the Metarex's own feet he'd stumbled on, but a Black Alien standard troop raised his pistol and aimed in Omega's direction...
But Shadow leapt down, pulled out his pistols, and started firing rapidly.
The Black Aliens all drew their rifles and pistols and returned fire, the standard troops ducking behind their shields.
Omega, however, rose up, seized the red Metarex's sword, and heaved it right through the Metarex's torso, pinning it deep into the ground.
"Insufficient calculations" Omega mocked. "You cannot beat two of us, not even one." Omega then readied a missile gun and a chain gun, and returned fire alongside Shadow.
Rouge heaved a bomb over the Black Aliens, blowing up two of them and forcing them to thin their cover.
Shadow unloaded one gun, and while he reloaded it, he emptied his other gun, managing to kill three elite Black Aliens and one standard. Then Shadow tossed his pistols aside, and drew the ancient dagger, the golden blade reflecting the savage glow of the laser and bullet blasts.
Rouge, meanwhile, went to the key-pad and sealed off the door on the other side of the hall so the sounds would be muffled and no help could come for their foes. Then she flew up, and landed a drop-kick on the lead Metarex.
Shadow warped about the Metarex, the small dagger somehow easily parrying their blows as if it were as large as they were. Then, while dueling the green Metarex, Shadow knocked its sword out of its hand, grabbed its right wrist, and quickly twisted it back, snapping it clean off. The Metarex howled in agony, but Shadow still rammed the dagger into its chest, and then threw the dagger straight into the head of the dull blue Metarex.
Rouge meanwhile, had taken the shield of a dead Black Arms standard, and was throwing it like a Frisbee into the chests of the elite Black Aliens, killing them with her Mobian strength. A Metarex was able to run past Shadow, however, and had its sword poised to slice Rouge in half...
But about eighty-six rounds of double-titanium armor-piercing rounds tore through it as Omega gunned it and the remaining Black Arms down with rapid bursts.
Shadow, facing the remaining Metarex, suddenly slowed time with his Chaos Emerald, leapt in the air, spun around, and sliced through all of the Metarexs' heads in one sweep.
Shadow was walking towards his teammates before the Metarex even hit the ground.
"Nice work, Shad" Rouge said with a wink, and turned to face the keypad again, furiously typing in the access codes.
"Affirmative. We kick ass" Omega said matter-of-factly.
Shadow chuckled a little, and the door to the bridge slid open. Shadow loaded his final clip into one of his pistols, stood firm, and scanned the dimly-lit room...
No movement...
"Omega... switch to heat-sensing vision" Shadow whispered.
Omega's eyes suddenly went from bright red to a dull mauve, and he scanned the room... just some slight heat from the consoles on the bridge, and Shadow and Rouge, but nothing else. "All clear" the mech stated.
Shadow and Rouge lowered their guard, and stepped in...
All the consoles were currently on autopilot, receiving and sending data to the needed locations. The glows they emanated were the only current source of light in the room. Well over a hundred different consoles lined the edge of the room, and one, big console with a screen about as big as a garage door stood before it.
Rouge flew over there first, sat in the main chair, and started clicking away.
"Hmm... the Aero Fortress is en route to Westopolis" Rouge told them, her brow furrowed in concentration. "But I only have one or two codes to bypass before the controls here unlock for-"
Suddenly, three large lights on the ceilings lit up, and Shadow, Rouge, and Omega turned to see Shade the Echidna, having just turned on the room's main power.
"Well, well... if it isn't the sorry excuse for my predecessor, Shadow" Shade said with mock politeness. "This time, you won't get out of it so easily..."
"Easily? Please, I kicked your ass" Shadow said, putting away his pistol and drawing his dagger.
Shade laughed. "We'll find out this time" he said. "I have something that shall even the odds..."
Suddenly, the door flew open, and a larger, faster Havoc than the team had seen before hurried up beside Shade, a gun whirring at full-readiness on one hand. The word "Zarox" was printed in blood red across the dark metal chassis.
But then, a window was smashed open, and Mauve the bat entered as well, his extendable katana drawn at full length.
Rouge glared at him and readied into her battle stance while Omega aimed his chain-gun at Zarox.
And to complicate things further, Shadow's com buzzed.
It was Kaynyx, the wolf's end full of static.
"Shadow... near the static encountering he - might be break- up, respond-" and the link went dead.
It had sounded like Kaynyx has exhausted.
Shade smirked, and his claws were extended. "Well... no cavalry from the dog now, Shadow" he said. "You man enough to win one-on-one for once?"
"Done and proven" Shadow replied, and his golden blade collided with Shade's silver claws, sending sparks flying.