Author's Notes
Are you all ready for this?... (DRUM ROLL)... AFTER THIS CHAPTER WE ARE INTO THE MAIN EVENTS OF THIS STORY!
That's right my fans, after nearly a year and a half of hard work and patience on your behalf we FINALLY have reached the most exciting and anticipated part of this story. It seems like it's been a long time coming (and really, it has been) but we're just about there. HOWEVER, we have to get through this chapter first.
Normally I try to keep my chapters to a length of 8K to 10k words, which seems about right to me. This chapter is just shy of 15K words, which now makes it the longest chapter of the story. Looking back now I really could have made the previous chapter a tad longer. However, the difference this long chapter has over the last length-leading chapter (Chapter 10) is that all the events go together, where as the previous one could have been split in two. I admit I do not like making chapters too long for you guys, but in addition to it being good practice for future stories with more advanced plots it also is appropriate to have a good run-up to the main events of the story. And since I threw in quite a few things that I hope were a bit unexpected, like a few plot twists as well as one of my OCs it makes the length worth it. That's my defense. I hope it's plausible.
Lastly, I just wanted to say that the round of reviews that came in a few weeks ago were amazing. Those are the kind that are so helpful to me because they let me know that what I'm doing is not only enjoyable but also effective and proper. Information like that motivates me to keep doing the best I can and lets me know I'm keeping you happy too.
All criticisms/suggestions/reviews welcome.
Chapter 21 - The Autokrieg (Part 2) - The Gathering
It seemed like it took an eternity for the three block run to finish, especially considering Sonic's gift of speed. Approaching the bullet-holed vehicle the two hedgehogs came to a surprise halt when Antoine stepped out of the car by himself, seemingly like nothing was wrong.
"Zat was fast!"
"Dude, are you alright!"
"What are talkeeng about? Of course I am beeng fine."
"But what about your message?" Sonic asked.
"What of eet?"
"It sounded like you were in trouble, and from the looks of your car, something had to have happened."
"Oh, zat? Eet eez of no concern."
"No concern! Dude, you already piece of shit car looks like a hunk of Swiss cheese!"
"Conseedereeng zee trouble zis theeng 'as geeven me, I don't really care."
"Then how the hell did this happen?"Manic asked
"And where you even there when it happened?" Sonic added.
"No. Long storee short, Zis eez zee first time I 'ave been outside and 'ave used zee car. Een between zis morneeng and now Robotneek brought een sombodee, I don't know who, for some sort of deel. Apparentlee zee deal went very zour and 'e threateened to exzpose Robotneek unless he got 'ez way. Robotneek lied and said he would geeve zee client what he wanteed, but he was reely goeeng ot keel heem. Zis guy caught on to zat and tried to eescape by stealeeng zis car. Judgeeng by zee damage, you can feegure out what happened."
"But.. where's all the blood and shit? Surely with that many holes the guy got hit." Manic asked.
"Oui, zee eentereeor was covered een eet."
"Then where's all the... well, you know," Sonic hesitantly said.
"Remember 'ow I said zis was zee first time I've been outside today? What do you theenk Robotneek had me doeeng seence zis eez my car?"
"Uhh... I'm gonna quote our sister on this one, dude... EEEEEEEEEEEEW..."
The truth was obvious. Antoine had been put on clean-up duty and had to clear the vehicle of any "evidence" remaining from the morning's execution. Even so, they still didn't have answer to why Antoine needed help.
"Then if you're not hurt, why'd you text us saying you needed help right now?"
"I'm out of gas. I theenk zee gas tank was heet by a bulleet."
"You mean to tell me I just had a heart attack over an empty tank of gas?"
"Don't get so mad yet, dude. If there's stray gas from a leak it could hit something hot and catch on fire. Give me a minute."
With his wealth of mechanical knowledge Manic checked over a bunch of things and places where gas could have been lost or trapped. The weird thing was that even with all the holes, the gas tank and fuel lines appeared to be fine. Also, looking inside the car Manic couldn't smell any gas. Right before getting out, however, he finally found the issue.
"A bullet went through the back of the gauge cluster, destroying all the wiring. That's why the gas meter still read a half tank despite being empty."
"Oh, so zat would explain why zee gaugees weren't workeeng! Good, at leest eet wasn't sometheeng more serious. But we can't leeve zee car 'ere. I tell you what, you two push zee car and I'll steer, yes?"
Both hedgehog's gave the coyote a "WTF" look, for the both knew that this was not going to be fun, especially given that they hadn't had a say in the matter. Even knowing the good news that Antoine wasn't hurt didn't make having to shove such a heavy car down the street didn't make the situation suck any less.
Back at Mina's place the two girls were currently on the phone. Sonia had called real quick to say that Tails and Cosmo had arrived there and were helping out for just a bit. Meanwhile, Mina was talking with Silver about everything she'd need to know about negotiating a record deal tonight for him. Amy's call ended first and she came in on the end of Mina's conversation
"Right, so going over this one more time. Your song "Dreams of an Absolution" is to be used as your first single, your trance album is meant to be played straight through, the remix tracks all have proper permission from their artist to be recorded, and don't settle for anything less then the figures you gave me?... I think I got it then. So you'll be over ASAP... Got it. Then I'll head to where you were gonna meet with the record producers... Actually, I'll probably take the train... Yeah, my car was in a little accident today... No, I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about. Trust me. You just bring over everything I need, okay?... Alright, I'll see you soon Silver. Bye."
"So on a scale from one to ten, how hard you think this is gonna be for you to get a record deal for him?" Amy asked.
"I'd probably say about... a thirteen, actually."
"That bad, huh?"
"It'd be a lot lower if I knew what the hell I was dealing with. I'm a singer, not an electric-music artist."
"Well, it's like Sonic said. No harm in trying."
"Yup."
The land-line phone for the building rang. Mina's hunches were answered after hearing what it was for. "That was the main desk. Your ride is here."
"They didn't happen to say who it was, did they?"
'"No."
"Hmm. This is freaking me out a bit. All I know is that this is some friend of Rouge's or something like that. I'm guessing that means it's somebody she knows back from her thievery days."
"Possibly. Which makes it all the more strange Rouge didn't invite her to help tonight if that's the case. But I guess she wanted somebody she trusted to run her club along with you."
"Yeah, I guess. Well, only one way to find out. Guess I'll head on out of here. Good luck tonight, Mina. And be careful."
"Thanks Amy. You too."
After sharing a quick hug Amy left the penthouse while Mina went to get a few of her things together to make the trek to the train station to go meet Silver. Arriving down in the lobby Amy asked where the person that had asked for her was and she was told in the parking garage. After taking the short elevator ride down to the garage Amy looked around for whoever she was supposed to meet. Out of curiosity she decided to go find Mina's Corvette to see what kind of damage had been done to it. Spotting the car's bright yellow paint she approached it, noting the damage was mainly to the front left. Since the car was made of mostly of fiberglass the body wasn't dented, rather it was scraped and snapped open. Pieces of the front bumper and left fender were broken off, the left headlight fixture was dangling in pieces, and the front left tire looked a little damaged, probably from sharp car fragments that had broken off. She also noted the broken pieces were sitting inside the car.
"What a shame," Amy said out loud.
"You got that right."
Amy's flinched at the sudden appearance of another being. She could have sworn she was alone, despite being told to meet the contact in the garage. Turning around Amy was met by somebody she'd never seen before her whole life. Standing before her was an all black female cat, save for her pink nose and inner ears. She had a fairly decent body build, although not nearly as well as Rouge. Her black hair was pulled into a tight pony tail and she had long bangs, both of which had bright green highlights on the tips and were held in place with a green head band. Also bright green was the cat's mascara on her eyelids and eyelashes, both of which equally complimented her naturally bright green eyes. Currently she was dressed in a combination of what could be considered a "goth-emo" attire. She had long, black, baggy jeans and green Converse-style shoes paired with a green top and a black leather with green-highlights sleeveless leather jacket that she had slung open.
"Hmph! You could have at least introduced yourself, ya know! Instead of sneaking up and scaring me like that!"
"Don't raise your voice to me! I'll fuck you up if I have to!"
"WHAT!"
"Hmm, deaf and dumb. Like a lot of other people out there."
"What the hell is your problem! And just who the hell are you, anyway!"
"What did I just say about raising your voice to me?"
Amy summoned one of her hammers to show she meant business. The feline, however, only smirked and crossed her arms.
"It's a neat trick, but I ain't scared by that. So what is that, anyway? You're little bitch hammer?"
"Bitch... Hammer!..." Amy grunted through her teeth.
"Quite a fiery little attitude you got there, girlfriend. Tell me something... Your name Amy?"
"Whose asking?" Amy asked threateningly.
"The one that's gonna give you a ride to Rouge's place. That is if you stop being such a little bitch, first."
"You're the help Rouge hired?" Amy said incredulously.
"Hired? Girl, I've known Rouge a long time and a hell of a lot better than you do. Rouge doesn't hire me to help her, she asks me to help her. And if you keep this shit up it's gonna be one long night 'cause I'll not only leave your ass here but I'll give you hell when you do get to Rouge's club. Now you gonna drop the attitude or what?"
"Fine, whatever. Let's just get going. I want to get this night over with."
"What's the matter? You scared?"
"Of course! A lot of my friend's lives, including my boyfriend's, is on the line. And you should be worried too since Rouge is helping us tonight."
"Worried about Rouge? Please! That girl can look after herself. Hell, she could do the whole job herself, I'll bet."
"And since we're talking about her, can we please get going and get to her place."
"Pushy girl! I'll bet your boyfriend loves that about you. The sex must be terrific. But if you wanna go, that's fine. My ride is over here."
Although her blood was boiling from the onslaught of insults and derogatory comments that had just gotten thrown her way, the night was going to be complicated enough as it was and she didn't want to take it further. Hurling her hammer up into the air and letting its power fade and dissolve away she slowly let her heart rate come down. It didn't stay down long, however. Her heart began to beat rapidly again when she saw the "ride" the cat had. It was a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, fittingly for its owner in a black and green paint scheme. Although far from an expert on motorcycles, Amy could tell just by looking at the machine it was fast. But what made things worse was that Amy noticed a certain lack of helmets for either her or the driver.
"Uhhh, pardon me for asking, but don't you have any helmets for us?"
"Helmets are for pussies. And coming from me, that's saying something."
Amy hesitated. The idea of riding a motorcycle was bothering her to begin with. She was bothered even more by the fact that she wouldn't have a helmet or any other protective gear for that matter. But lastly, despite having been talking to her for a few minutes, Amy still didn't know the name of Rouge's helper.
"You gettin' on or what?"
"I just wanna know one thing."
"Yes, I'm a good driver. I've been riding motorcycles probably longer that I've been walking."
"That's good to know, but it's not what I was gonna ask."
"Then ask already, dammit!"
"I just wanna know... what's your name?"
"Why do you care? What's it to you?"
"Well, considering that Rouge picked me to work with you it would at least be courteous if I knew what I could call you!" Amy snapped.
Although bugged by the attitude, the feline paused for a moment, considering the request. "You can call me Avarice."
"Avarice... What kinda name is that?"
"Hey, you asked dammit! You got all up in my business and then you give me an attitude? The hell's wrong with you?"
"Would you relax already! I don't have any problems with you. I just meant was that you real name or a nickname?"
"Yeah, it's a nickname. And that's all you're gonna get from me. Now..." Avarice stated, starting the motorcycle's engine. "... do you wanna talk some more, or are we gonna ride?"
With a knot in her stomach, Amy attempted to mount the motorcycle. It was a tough task considering the rear seat was so high up and there was barely anything to grab onto. She finally got up by basically jumping up onto and pushing off of Avarice's back and sliding up onto the seat.
"Damn! Trying to push me off or something!"
"Uhh, I can't really keep my balance on this little seat! What do I do?"
"Shit... another rookie bike rider. You gotta lean forward and hold onto me."
"You mean around your torso?"
"No, my boobs! What the hell do you think! Although... riding that way might get a lot of attention from the guys, don't ya think?""
Not wanting that conversation to go any further, Amy did as she was told. Avarice then put on a pair of black-with-green-lenses cat's eye sunglasses. She then offered a pair of similar glasses with an opposite color scheme to Amy.
"You may want these. It'll keep shit from getting in your eyes."
Although disgusted by the provocative glasses she put them on anyway. Amy's heart skipped a beat as she watched Avarice pull on the clutch lever and clicked the bike into gear with her foot.
"Alright, hang on girl. I'm gonna take you on one of the best fuckin' ride of your life."
Straight off the line the feline opened the throttle all the way, leaving a rubber patch where they had just been. Had she been holding on just a bit less Amy may very well have slipped right off. Clamping onto the brake lever the bike slid sideways and positioned itself for the exit ramp which they took at full speed. At the apex of the ramp they caught a few feet of air and landed in the middle of the street. Another power slide sent them on course for the nearest entrance ramp for Route 280. Amy only held on for dear life, wanting nothing more than the seconds-old motorcycle ride to be over.
Meanwhile, back up on the thirtieth floor in Mina's penthouse she too was ready to go. She had all the things she'd need to spend a night outside her home as well as some things to possibly help her with the record deal negotiations. The only thing left she could think to do was go get Sally. She figured by now she probably felt better and would be able to leave. However, when she got to the room where Sally was staying she found the door slightly ajar, which it had not been just minutes before when she went to get herself together.
"Hmm... Sally? You alright?" Mina said as she opened the door.
A lightning bolt shot through the mongoose's gut once she'd opened the door. The room was empty. Somehow Sally had managed to sneak out without being heard. Mina was about to rush to the building phone to ask if Sally had been seen when she saw a small note left on the pillow. It was brief, but what it said made Mina terrified.
Mina,
I'm sorry for everything I did today. I will repay all damages I have caused.
I'm also sorry for leaving without telling you. I've made a decision and I'm sticking to it.
I'm doing what I have to.
Sally
There was only one thing Mina could possibly imagine Sally was off to do. Realizing there might be little time at all she instinctively reached for her cellphone and dialed Manic's number. Normally he would answer no later than the third ring. However, after six rings, it was clear that something wasn't right on the other end. Fearing the worst, Mina dialed again, but the same result. Dialing once more she prayed she would get through this time.
"Come on Manic, answer!... Oh God, I hope they're not... Where are they!" she thought frantically.
It was now just a little past five-thirty, the time when everybody was expected to show up. Fortunately, Antoine had run out of gas about three blocks from Manic's house so the task of pushing the vehicle to his garage wasn't as bad as it couldhave been.
"I guess this was bound to happen... sooner or later," Sonic groaned to his brother.
"I swear... this car... is without a doubt... the biggest piece of shit... I have ever seen... on four wheels!" Manic grunted.
"Well, what would you expect?... It's got over half a million miles on it..."
"An engine that runs worse than somebody's bowels with the flu..."
"An interior less inviting than a swamp..."
"Non-functioning gauges, including the fucking fuel gauge," Manic swore, diagnosing why the car had run out of gas.
"And a cartridge with a spare key," Antoine added from behind the steering wheel.
Despite their vexations, both hedgehog's collapsed with laughter against the trunk of the car after hearing Antoine murder another common saying.
"That's partridge in a pear tree," Sonic barely managed to gasp out.
"Whatever. You were knoweeng what I was meaneeng."
By the time they finally got there both brother's had built up a bit of a sweat and had to take deep breaths to get enough air into themselves.
"Well, that was mondo-uncool."
"I hear that dude."
"Merci beaucoup, guys. I'm am appreceeateeng zee 'elp."
"Yeah yeah yeah, mercy bucket yourself," Sonic said, pushing his hands against his back to crack it.
"Hmph! And you geet on my ass for sayeeng theengs wrong."
"Whatever. Let's just get this garage shut and get back inside."
Manic tried to pull the door shut, but just like last night the door was stuck. Giving it everything he had Manic only managed to pull the garage door an inch or so.
"Shit! Can you guys give me a hand with this?"
All three of them pulled down on the door with all their might, but years of rust and lack of lubrication didn't make the job any easier. In the end the trio ended up crashing down to the ground when the door handles broke off and, ironically, the door shot backwards into the fully-open position.
"What zee fuck! Eez zis a treek door or someseeng?"
"Great!... Well, there's no closing that thing anymore."
"But what about zee car? Eef Robotneek knew I'd left eet een zee open he'd keel me! Leeterallee!"
"What about that tarp over there?" Sonic asked, pointing to a blue plastic car cover.
"That's what I use for my Camaro. Or used. Might as well, I guess. Put it to good use."
The two hedgehog's got the tarp while Antoine removed both a large bag with food form a local fast food restaurant and a garment bag that surely contained another choice of attire for the night. With the car covered the three headed inside. Sonic wasted no time emptying the bag's contents and picking out a chill dog to eat.
"I feegured you'd go for zat."
"Damn right!... Manic, you gonna eat somethin' or what?"
"Ehh, maybe just a little bit... Hey uhh, dude? You seen my cell phone?"
"Nope."
"Oh shit. Where'd I put it?" Manic said, beginning to frantically check all of his pockets.
"You left it in the house by your laptop," Sonic answered.
"What? No I didn't. I left it in on the couch, I thought."
"You left it with your computer."
"No I didn't."
"Wanna bet?"
"How much?"
"Ten bucks."
"Make it twenty."
"You're on."
Antoine only shook and snickered his head at the way the two grown brothers were acting. Sure enough Manic's phone was right where Sonic had said it was. With a bummed look on his face Manic took a twenty-dollar bill out of his fanny pack and held it up to Sonic.
"Keep your money, bro," he said, swatting the bill away. "You need it more than I do. Besides, I only did that to prove a point."
"Let me guess. To trust what you say."
"Pretty much."
"Alright, point taken... What the?... Damn! I got ten missed calls on here!"
"Ten? Do you theenk sometheen eez wrong?"
"I sure as hell hope not. We've already had enough drama today with-"
His sentence was cut off by the phone ringing again. Looking down at the display he saw it was Mina's number. He decided to put it on speaker phone.
"Mina?"
"Oh thank God! I've been trying to reach you like crazy!"
"Yeah, I noticed. About ten times at least. So what's up?"
"Manic, we've got a problem! Sally's disappeared!"
The two hedgehog's threw each other a concerned glance while Antoine looked on in confusion.
"Sally? As een Preencess Sally?"
"Who was that?"
"Eet's me, Antoine."
"Is he the only one that there!"
"Aside from me and Manic, yeah," Sonic answered.
"Nobody else has showed up!"
"Well, Tails called and said he'd be here shortly because he was dropping Cosmo off at Sonia's place. He also said our sis would be here here in a bit too."
There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Nobody really knew what to think or expect at this point. With Sally's location and intentions unknown, they could only hypothesize as to what was going to happen next.
"Sonic, I'm so sorry... I should have kept a better eye on her."
"Don't say that, Mina. I don't want anybody's minds elsewhere tonight. You did nothing wrong."
"But... what should we do now?"
"Exactly what we've been doing... Getting ready to get through this night."
"You mean... you want us to keep going... despite the fact that Sally is out there doing who knows what?..."
"Yes."
Once again, a very long silence. Each of them knew this could already be over before it got started. All, however, except for Sonic. Although he was concerned about Sally's whereabouts, he wasn't quite as worried as one should be in the given situation.
"... I trust you, Sonic... I'll keep to my plans."
"Okay. Be careful, Mina. And good luck."
"And to you... especially..."
The line went dead, leaving them to ponder the rest of the night. The fact that they'd reached the critical hour and barely heard from anybody, let alone seen them save for Antoine, was concerning. Their concern, however, was short lived. A bright red flash erupted out of thin air and two very familiar echindas dropped into the room.
"Yo Sonic! Sup!"
"Knux! Right on time, my man!" he answered with a round of knuckles punches.
"How 'bout a bit of lovin' for the ladies?" Julie asked.
"Hey, that's my job," Knuckles commented.
"Pervert," she answered.
"You got that right. Anyway, good to see you guys. Glad you could make it."
"We the first ones here?"
"You got that right, dude. You and Su beat everybody, except for Antoine here. His damn car ran out a gas a few blocks away and we had to shove it into my garage."
"Man, that sucks. I say when this is all over you guys let me have my way with that car. I'll give it a treatment it'll never forget."
Manic began to go into a wild fit of the snickers, so much so he fell to his knees. "What are ya gonna do, Knux... fuck the tail pipe?"
The ensuing chaos of Knuckles and Manic engaging in a non-serious wrestling match ensued for several minutes. Unsurprisingly Knuckles was winning, his strength far too superior for Manic to overcome. And as fate would have it, Sonia and Bunnie showed up right in the middle of it all.
"Like, get a room you two. Ew!"
"Oh grow up," Manic growled, getting to his feet. "So sis, how is it that you got here before Tails did if you had to get everything at your store set up?"
"Because Tails had to go get Uncle Chuck! DUH!"
As if on cue, a yellow light announced the arrival of Tails and Uncle Chuck.
"Oh... yeah."
"Hi there Sonny-boy!"
"Unc! Good to see ya," he said, giving his uncle a tight hug. "How ya feeling?"
"Well, after about eight cups of coffee, I'm wired and ready to go!"
"I think you're a little past wired there, Unc. More like jittery. Oh, by the way, where's Rotor? I know you shacked up with him. Everything cool?"
"Uh-huh. He was just getting some last minute gear together. Silver was there when me and Tails left. They were gonna go to Min'a real quick then they'd be here."
"Speaking of which..."
Sonic approached Tails who was in a deep conversation about technical stuff for the night. He felt the need to thank Tails personally for allowing Cosmo to help that night.
"Yo, Tails..."
"Hmm?"
"I, uhh... Well, I just wanted to say thanks for letting Cosmo help us tonight. It really is a help."
With a kind grin, Tails play-punched Sonic's shoulder. "Don't worry 'bout it. Me and her had a little chat and agreed it was... well, I don't wanna say the right thing to do, but it was a thoughtful decision that we both agreed on."
"I just want to make sure there's no hard feeling between us or between you and Cosmo. I know you weren't really happy about this in the beginning, so..."
"Like I said, Sonic. Everything's cool. Let's just worry about tonight, a'ight?"
"More like concern ourselves with tonight. Worryin' never did any good."
With that issue taken care of, the only thing left to do was wait for the remaining team members to show up. It took a little while for silver to show up becuase he was waiting for Mina's train to drop her off. Once she'd arrived at his building Silver and Rotor teleported there to make sure she was squared away and then showed up at the H.Q. at about ten minutes to six.
"Sup guys!" Rotor announced.
"Heeeey, Rotor! You got all your little toys for us tonight?"
"Yup. I've even improved upon a few things since last time to make the job even easier."
"Sweetness!... Woah, Silver! What's up with the long face?"
"Huh?" Silver asked, his mind returning to reality. "You say something?"
"Uh, yeah! I asked why the long face. Something on your mind?"
"Well... yeah. But I don't wanna talk about it."
"Well that's too damn bad. Rule number one tonight is that I want everybody's mind on the task at hand. If we don't focus tonight something will go wrong and then we'll be in big trouble. So unless you can assure me you tell me what's on your mind, I'm not gonna feel comfortable with you being on the team."
Taking a deep breath, Silver came up with an answer that was the closest thing to the truth he could come up with. "I'm just worried about Blaze being alone on hat island. I feel like we're deserting her out there. It just bugs me because I care about her so deeply and I don't want to lose her for some reason."
"You got nothing to worry about," Knuckles chimed in. "You shoulda seen the show she put on! I mean, holy shit! She created this fire tornado thing from her hands and made it swirl around the emerald shrine, then shot this big fireball up into the air and made it pop and rain down without burning anything! Trust me, Blaze has nothing to worry about. She'll be fine and I'll bet she'll jump right into your arms once this is all over."
"There, you see?" Sonic finished. "Nothing to worry about."
"You're right," Silver lied, putting on a fake smile. "I'm cool."
"Cool. Well, I guess that's everybody then."
"Woah, wait a sec dude! A certain black hedgehog and sexy bat haven't shown up yet."
"EEEEEW!"
"Oh shut up, sis!"
"Shadow and Rouge running late? Never thought I'd live to see that day!" Uncle Chuck admitted.
"I hear that. I woulda thought they'd be first to show up," Tails admitted.
"Well, they got about ten minutes to get their asses here on time. If they don't then I'm not gonna be to thrilled," Sonic added firmly.
"I am wondereen what eez keepeeng zem, anyzeeway." Antoine voiced.
Atop the roof of Rouge's club Shadow stood overlooking the skyline, his ears perked up as they scanned through the various sounds of the city. Rouge had requested he go up there to see if he could hear or see Avarice coming. Although it was a ludicrous possibility that one would be able to see or hear a single motorcycle approaching on the nearby Route 280, Shadow decided to do it anyway. Although he did so to please Rouge, he also took the liberty of taking care of another issue. Leaning against the banister of the rooftop facade Shadow took an inhalation of a cigarette he'd had in his trench coat from earlier. By now there were only a few puffs left and he'd planned on making them last as long as possible. That, however, was not to be the case. As faint as it was, Shadow was fairly certain he heard the sound of an approaching motorcycle from the highway. Of course, it could have been anybody since there were hundreds if not thousands of motorcycles in the city. Nevertheless, he had to acknowledge that it could be Avarice and Amy.
"Damn... Once again my enjoyment is being cut short" he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath he inhaled the last bit of the dried leaves and held his breath as long he could, then released, even managing to blow a smoke ring as the last of the fumes exited his lungs and into the atmosphere. A slight grin crossed his lips at having performed such a trick, but he found himself wondering what to do with the smoldering butt of the cigarette. Not wanting to leave any burn marks from smashing it against a surface he cautiously retreated back down the roof staircase to the living quarters and then the bathroom. Not but a second after he'd tossed the evidence into the toilet bowl Rouge also entered the room, having come from the basement laundry room where her wardrobe for the night was.
"Anything?" she asked from the doorway.
"WHA!" Shadow yelped, spinning around and blocking the view of the tell-tale sign of his secret habit. "Oh Rouge, you caught me off guard."
"And at a bad time, apparently. Pardon me," she answered, giving him his privacy.
"No apology needed" he answered suavely. "I think your friend might be here soon. I'm fairly certain I could hear a motorcycle approaching."
"Good! But I'm still gonna smack her when she does get here! I can't believe how late she's made us! I swear she does this just to irritate me! With all the gloating she does about the expensive watches she likes to buy you'd think she would actually use the to tell time! BUT NO, OF COURSE NOT! I'd bet my wings that she probably pulled over half a dozen times just to flirt with some guy that doesn't give two shits about her in the hopes of either getting his money or action in bed! If it weren't for the fact that I knew she was well educated in mixology I wouldn't have even thought about calling her for help!" After pausing to take a breath, she added "DAMMIT THAT GIRL CAN PISS ME OFF!"
Shadow couldn't help but chuckle at his girlfriend's rant as she paced back and forth across the room setting out all the components of her dress for the night's mission. Her chosen attire was her "Riders" outfit, consisting of a black with white lining belly shirt, black bell-bottom pants with white floral designs at the bottom, pink and white sneakers, and short-length versions of her pink and white gloves. The quiet snickering made Rouge's fog of irritation lift and she noticed Shadow eying her fervidly. Only then did she seem to realize that the whole time she'd been venting and setting her clothes out she'd been doing so in nothing but her rather revealing lingerie. She knew all to well this had all been rather entertaining for him.
"I gotta try to talk my way out of this one..." she thought. "Did you hear a damn word I said? Or were you just enjoying the view?"
"Both... but more so the view," he admitted, approaching her. "You don't know how sexy you get when your angry."
"Oh? Do you like that side of me?" she said seductively.
"Oh yes," he admitted, his arms encircling around her lower back and pulling her close. "Nothing like a little bit of spice in your attitude to liven things up."
"Spice? I'll give you spice." After twirling one of her legs around Shadow, she asked "That spicy enough for you?"
"Hmm... not quite. But how about..." he added his own moves by grabbing onto her leg with his left hand and pulling her into a deep kiss with his right. "That?"
"Shad... you're so naughty when we're alone."
"I know."
The two returned to their romance just for the hell of it, Shadow's right had traveling ever further South down Rouge's spine. But just inches from Shadow's desired destination, a loud engine rev and horn blast outside announced Avarice and Amy had finally arrived. A deep growl crawled out of Shadow's throat at yet another interruption.
"Aw, is the little hedgie upset?"
"Yes. I liked where we were going with that."
"Me too. But work comes before play, my love. You go greet the girls so I can finally get some clothes on, otherwise I'll be doing this job in nothing but my panties."
"I wouldn't mind that," he added with a smirk.
"Oh, would you get out of here already!" she yelled playfully, pushing Shadow out of the room and closing the door.
Realizing it was time to get into character, Shadow went into "serious" mode and went proceeded to the back door. Unlocking and opening it her found Avarice standing by her motorcycle, grooming her hair like a cat would. Amy, on the other hand, looked a little green in the face and was walking a bit bow-legged from not being used to riding a motorcycle.
"Ahem!" Shadow spoke seriously.
"Hi there, you sexy hedgehog," Avarice said alluringly. "Been a long time."
"It has."
"Did you miss me? Be honest."
"No."
"Damn, do you have to be that honest!"
"Yes."
"Oh, don't be like that," she continued in her sexy tone, approaching Shadow while swaying her hips and batting her green eyelashes. "You know you missed me just a little. I know I certainly missed that serious demeanor of yours. That debonair attitude melts my heart into a quagmire of emotion that ferments into a tonic of avidity that I can't help but wish to use to quench the concupiscence that a bachelorette such as I lives with as each lonesome day befalls me."
Shadow only crossed his arms defiantly, unimpressed by the overly-dramatic monologue. "I praise your knowledge of vocabulary, but that damsel-in-distress routine was pathetic. Even a scoundrel wouldn't have fallen for that, so I can assure you that your chances are non-existent for trying to seduce me."
"Your loss," Avarice answered, shrugging. "Here I am, offering myself to you at no cost, and your turning me down. It sad to think that somebody as sexy and available as you would so willingly turn down an opportunity like this. I mean, if you're not into women, that's cool, but-"
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" Amy screeched in white-hot irritation. "Shadow's too decent a man to want to be involved with a skank like you! Why don't you just leave him alone and start thinking about somebody besides yourself!"
"Oh no you didn't just call me a skank!" Avarice yelled, baring her sharp teeth.
"And you called me deaf and dumb! You're not only deaf and dumb, but you're also a whore!"
That was the last straw. Letting out a loud hiss, the feline threw off her gloves and let her sharp claws extend from her paws. Amy likewise drew not one but two of her signature hammers and was more than ready for a fight. Taking fighting stances the two girls were ready to take out their stresses when Rouge literally flew out of the above living-quarter's window and landed in between the two of them now dressed in her "Rider's" gear.
"If you two wanna beat each other into submission, that's fine. But you're not going to do it on a night like tonight and you're certainly not gonna do it on my property. If anybody wants to fight me on this you're welcome, but it's the wrong choice."
"Get out of my way, Ro! I'm gonna slit that hedgehog's fuckin' throat for callin' me a skank!"
"Wrong choice," Rouge said quietly and quickly.
Though Avarice tried to charge at Amy, Rouge performed an amazing low-spin kick, sending the cat tumbling and falling flat on her stomach, face-down in the driveway. Before she could get back up Rouge pinned her "friend" down with one of her feet.
"Ow! That hurts!"
"You always were a weakling when it came to pain. Oh sure, you act all bad-assed with your claws and you can dish out a decent hit, but one hit and you're down. Now... are you gonna play nice?"
"NO! NOT TILL THAT BITCH IS TAUGHT A LESSON!"
Rouge flipped Avarice over and wrenched her up to her feet with her fists clenched to her shoulders. "The only lesson that's gonna be taught is the one from me to you about being a pain in my ass. I'm so pissed at you right now that I could give you a worse beating than Amy ever could with those hammers! Now you better get your act together, Av, or you're gonna have to answer to my dark side! GOT IT!"
"But Rouge!"
"WHAT DID I JUST SAY!" Rouge screamed, pulling Avarice right up to her face.
"BUT... Alright, fine! I'll let the little pink pin cushion off this time. But if she starts her shit with me again, it's on!"
"So long as it's not on my property," Rouge added, letting her feline friend go. "Now if the drama-shit is over, you and me gotta talk about tonight. I've got some special people coming with some special orders and you're gonna have to be not only at the top of your game but also your best behavior."
"Hey, when it comes to running a bar I'm good. Not as good as another skill I have, but pretty good. Lead the way, Ro."
Still visibly irritated by her friend's actions, Rouge and Avarice proceeded into the building. Amy relinquished her hammers and followed close behind. Before entering, however, she flagged down Shadow.
"Something wrong, Amy?"
"I just wanted to know... Is she always like that? Avarice?"
"Hmph... Unfortunately, yes. And since I'm sure I know what you were going to ask next, yes, she and Rouge do get along like that. Not all the time, but they certainly do have their tiffs. It's just the kinda relationship they have."
"Hmm. I think I'll skip asking just what kind of relationship that is."
"A wise choice. It's a hell of a long story."
A faint BEEP-BEEP broke the momentary silence. Glancing down at her digital watch Amy made a slight "uh-oh" expression, peaking the black hedgehog's. Motioning to see the watch, Amy held up her wrist and showed the time. Shadow scowled and winced at what the numbers said..
"Dammit..."
It was six o'clock precisely. They were now officially late.
About fifteen minutes later Sonic stood with his arms crossed, his foot tapping, staring at his watch. His irritation-level was quickly climbing as the seconds flew by and still no Shadow or Rouge.
"C'mon Shadow, we're waaaaaaiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiing," Sonic said out loud.
"Chill, dude. Come over here and get something to eat. You begged for it, now you're just standing around," Manic noted, indicating the spread of fast-foods to choose from.
"You'd think it wasn't a lot to ask for everybody to be here no later than six. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOO! And of all people, Shadow's the one that's late! I would have bet vital parts of my anatomy to Antoine being late thanks to his piece-of-shit set of wheels giving out, but Shadow's the one keeping us up!"
"Hey y'all, look!" Bunnie shouted.
Right on cue, a brightly-colored light indicated the said couple was just seconds away arrival. Sure enough Rouge and Shadow came out of the vortex and were situated amongst the rest of the crew. Shadow looked fairly agitated, which was saying something considering he always looked that way, at least to the others. Rouge also seemed to have a few sour feelings going on as well. However, Sonic stood with his arms crossed and his eye-brows arched in displeasure.
"You're late."
"Thank you, sir obvious," Shadow retorted. "Care to tell us something we don't know?"
"Oh, there's plenty of that. But first, care to tell me why a ninety minute notice along with a thirty minute grace period wasn't enough for you to arrive on time?"
"We overslept. We felt it would be better to be fully rested for tonight's mission," Shadow answered in a concealing lie for the real reason they'd overslept.
"And my stand-in for my club's bar took her good-old-time getting to my place. I take full responsibility for our tardiness, Sonic. We were ready to go despite oversleeping. If I'd stressed for my connection to get Amy and arrive at my place faster this wouldn't have happened."
Upon such a bonafide confession, Sonic decided to back off a little. After all, Rouge was one of their most skilled theifs for the night and to lose her in any way, shape, or form, would spell potential failure for the mission.
"Forget about it. You're here and that's all that matters. You're both important members of this team, you Rouge for your experience and Shadow for your intelligence. I'd rather have you here late than never. And I really mean that."
"Thanks Sonic," Rouge said.
"Much appreciated. However, I must ask something. As I look around the room I'm noticing the suspicious lack of another I thought was supposed to be with us tonight. Is there something we don't know about?"
Sonic's toes curled in annoyance at Shadow's observation. Nobody, not even Sonic's siblings, knew about the fact that Ray wouldn't be there tonight. Suddenly everybody had caught onto this and looked to the blue hedgehog for an answer.
"Thanks for the observation, Shadow."
"My pleasure. Now how about an answer?"
"Yeah, seriously dude. Where's Ray?"
"Taking a deep breath, Sonic had to tell them the truth. "I was going to save this for the pre-mission briefing, but I guess I'm gonna hafta tell now... Ray won't be joining us tonight. "After a round of surprised responses from the crowd, Sonic raised his hand for silence. "I know you're all wondering why this is the case. How many of you heard on the news today about the incident last night that ended the reign of Bark, Bean, And Nack, AKA Fang?"
"Sugah hog... are you sayin' what I think think you're sayin?..."
"Yes Bunnie. Me, Manic, and Ray were involved with that last night. That buck-toothed bastard tried to gun me down right outside this house last night because me and Shadow showed them what's-what at Rouge's club. After a quick chase we ended up running into those guys as they tried to escape. Literally, hence the lack of Manic's Camaro in the driveway. Nack killed Bark and Bean for failing him, then he took about a dozen doses of cocaine and started shooting at anything that existed. Long story short me and Manic fought Fang off just long enough for Espio to shoot an arrow right threw his throat. I don't remember anything after that since I passed up after being beat to hell by that miserable prick. I was taken to the hospital for safe-keeping and precaution."
"WHAT!," Sonia screeched, reflecting the shock of everybody else. "You couldn't, like, even tell your own sister you were in the hospital!"
"It's like I said, it was more for safety-sakes and keeping the media out of my face then anything. I was fine. But the important thing is this. Manic stayed long enough to plant an old version of our car list amongst Fang's stuff to make it look like he was responsible for the failed operation a few nights ago. After talking to Vector earlier today not only did he not suspect us at all of being up to anything, but a freight-train of things Fang did in the past made it seem like he really was responsible for what happened."
"That's quite an entertaining story, Sonic. But it still doesn't answer the question of why we're short one team member tonight."
"Maybe if you wouldn't interrupt I could get to it."
"Maybe if you wouldn't keep avoiding the issue we'd all get an answer."
"Maybe if you two would both stop fighting like a bunch of little kids we'd get somewhere!" Sonia said affirmingly.
"Thanks sis... I think... The reason why Ray couldn't make it is, ironically, due to our success in redirecting Vector's attention. Since we turned him onto Fang's path the amount of things they had to look into went through the roof. Also, according to Ray Espio wasn't working today. Knowing Espio, he probably got all distraught from having to kill Fang and Vector let him have the day off. I think you can see where I'm going with this. Since Ray was in training to join the Chaotix, Vector thought he couldn't have picked a better time to give him some on-the-job training. Sadly for us it was the worst timing ever."
Needless to say, this information came as not only a surprise, but also a disappointment to everybody. Knowing they were both going to be a man down for the night and the fact that it was their friend Ray, who'd willingly decided to lay his life on the line for them, couldn't made good on his promise.
"Congratulations, Sonic..." Shadow said coldly.
"Excuse me?"
"I said congratulations. Not only did you keep your whole team in the dark about what happened last night, but you also failed to keep us up to speed about what you did today, which while beneficial in a way, was incredibly reckless and potentially dangerous to blowing the mission's cover wide open. And, to top it off, you failed to foresee your actions would cost us a team member. I would say it's a pity, but coming from you, it's not a surprise. Your tendency to act before thinking and to take the easiest route possible to the final destination has caused problems in the past and here, once again, in the present, it has done so again. I therefore can see only one course of action from here."
"Enlighten me, " Sonic answered, his eyebrows arched with anger.
"With pleasure..." Shadow retorted, stepping up to and getting face-to-face with his rival. "You are not fit to be the leader of such an important operation as this. You poor decision making skills and brashness will only lead us to failure, which is not an option."
"So what'cha sayin'. Gonna challenge my authority?," Sonic said coldly.
"More than that... I'm relieving you of your duties..."
It seriously looked like Sonic could kill Shadow right then and there. The same could be said when Shadow about-faced and took his position beside Rouge. To the black hedgehog's surprise, Rouge didn't have an approving look on her face.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"More like what am I doing. And what I'm doing is renaming a new leader and assistant to that leader to replace the reckless blue hedgehog that's been calling himself our leader without being worthy of such."
"Your a real creep, you know that! Like, not only are you a creep for trying to kick off my brother from being our captain, but where do you get off naming yourself and Rouge our new leaders without a vote! Not that I'd support your choice anyway!"
"When did I say I was going to name myself? You only assumed that. Don't worry, Sonia, because along side Rouge I am naming your other brother as her assistant."
"Screw you, dude. My brother started this operation and I'll be damned if you take that away from him."
"You should be grateful I even considered you, Manic. After all, you did fail the first attempt. If it were up to me, I'd throw you and Sonic off right now. But that's no longer my decision. We'll have to turn to Rouge for that."
Despite her tough exterior, Rouge looked not only shocked out of her mind, but also speechless. Not only was she unprepared for Shadow's drastic actions, but she also did not desire to be put into such a situation in such a forceful way.
"What do you think Rouge? Should we drop those two from the team?"
"I... I... I CAN'T MAKE THAT DECISION!"
"Sure you can. I have faith in you."
"NO! It's no that I can't! I DON'T WANT TO!"
"Alright, that's enough!" Sonic shouted, taking a step forward. "The last thing we need less that two hours from the start of this mission is a civil war between team members! Rouge, don't listen to him! Shadow, you step any further over the line consider yourself off the team! I will not stand here and let you do as you please!"
"Well that's too bad, Sonic. You're already finished. And I know full well you're not about to fight me for the position because you know damn well you need both Rouge's and my help to get this job done tonight. So unless you do want fight me right here, right now, I'm afraid there's not much you can do."
"... You're right, I'm not about to attack a teammate..." Sonic admitted, a hint of defeat in his voice.
"I thought so. It's like I said before... you're through."
"You wish."
It was a new voice that uttered those final three words. Shivers shot down the spines of everybody in the room, even Shadow, for none of them had been aware that another was present. The voice had been closest to Shadow, causing him to spin around on the spot.
"PREENCESS SALLY!" Antoine exclaimed.
"That's the name they gave me."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Shadow spat.
"Taking a stand for what's right."
"Is that so?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Well, I don't really care what you're standing up for because I'm in charge here and I want you gone. Now."
"Now is that any way to talk to a Princess?"
"Save it. I don't even have to think twice about whose side you're on. Your reaction to Sonic's announcement about this mission a few nights ago told me everything I needed to know."
"And the way you're acting tonight tells me everything I needed to know. Face it, Shadow. You only what to be the leader because you're scared and if you don't have control over this situation then you'll feel insecure. Quite frankly, I think you're acting like a little kid."
"Fascinating hypothesis. Sadly, your words mean nothing. You are not part of this team, you are not part of this operation, and most importantly, you're not part of this city's government. The end result? You have no reason to be here."
"Maybe so, but I am here, aren't I?"
"Speaking of which, how the hell'd you get in here? I didn't even hear you come in!" Manic stated.
"You wouldn't have. I got here right as you and Sonic went running up the street after Antoine. Since I figured I wouldn't get another chance to sneak in unnoticed I took advantage of the opportunity and hid outside amongst the jungle of a lawn you've got around here and would listen in on what was happening. Once I heard Shadow here taking things into his own hands I snuck in threw a window and... well, that brings us to now."
"You got a lot of nerve!" Sonia shouted, jumping to her feet.
"If you think I was going to let Shadow continue on the path he was going you're crazy."
"You're just up to no good today, aren't you! First your little stunt at Mina's house, now this!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shadow inquired.
Sally took a position that allowed her to be seen by everybody in the room. "Earlier today I staged my own operation. I held Mina Mongoose against her will and made it seem as though I was searching her apartment for clue as to what you guys were up to. As luck would have it, both Sonic and Manic showed up so I held them as well. I tried to convince them to surrender and tell Vector what they've been up to, but they resisted. Shortly after Sonia and Amy showed up and foiled much of my plans. I was reduced to trying to steal Mina's vehicle and escape, but that too was foiled. After that Sonic convinced me tonight was going off no matter what. Between then and now I've been doing some thinking and I decided I had to take an action. And so I did."
"Sally..." Chuck said, getting his feet. "You know I respect you, but if ratted us out, I don't think I could ever forgive it!"
"I understand your concern Charles, but I did not tell the authorities. Instead, the action I decided I had to take hasn't happened yet."
"And what might that be?" Shadow added cruelly.
At that point she turned her focus back to the group. "The truth is that... I'm after Robotnik too."
It took a minute for all the shocked looks and reaction to cease, but once they did, Sally continued. "I've been in this city for several months now, trying to find out whatever I could about Robotnik. You see, after the war I set up a system that would keep track of those on the world's most wanted list. For a while it worked just fine. We were able to track our targets just fine. Then, in more recent times, the system seemed to start going foul. Leads were shaky, patterns were erratic, and information seemed to be harder and slower to get. Something inside told me something was up so, several months ago, I took it upon myself to take a leave of absence from my kingdom. I made it appear I was going on a tour for peace, but in reality I wanted to try and find out what was going on."
Sally took a breath so that all of this information could sink into everybody's mind. Needless to say, it was a surprise to all that all of this time Sally had known far more than they did.
"I started following the strongest of the weakest links I had to find out who or what was affecting our system. After months of jumping form location to location with next to nothing to go on I ended up here, in Station Square. Once I got here I found some of the most solid evidence I'd had in a long time. I suspected I was close to the source, but I couldn't be sure. I was starting to lose the trail again when I heard the news story about a failed large-scale grand theft auto operation. When I saw the news story somehow I knew that it was your handy-work, Manic."
"You serious?"
"Yes. Somehow it just felt like something you would do. It didn't exactly have your name all over it, but it just felt like a plausible lead. Sure enough, after just a few days of digging and following, who else shows up but Sonic. I knew there was no way that Sonic would get involved unless it was something that serious. However, I could never have dreamed how deep this all went. I could never have prepared myself to hear Robotnik was trying to regain power, nor the fact that he was into black-market business, that he was rebuilding key elements of his old empire, and most of all, that he'd killed Antoine's father. I knew right then and there that I had to do something. "
At this point Sonic had finally decided to speak up. He'd figured it all out. "You were testing us all along... weren't you?" Sonic asked.
Sally looked into Sonic's querying face. Though she did not speak to him at first, she didn't have to. That look that Sonic had seen in her eyes earlier was back. No longer did she try to kill him simply by looking at him. She looked at him as if they depended on one another. It was the same look that used to be in her eyes back during the war when the Freedom Fighters were about to set out on a mission.
"Yes Sonic... I was."
"What the hell does that mean?" Shadow interrupted.
"May I inform him, Sal?"
"By all means."
"What I mean Shadow is that Sally's known a lot more than us all along. That's why once she learned I was around and what we were up to she wanted to try and scare either me or all of us out of doing what we were going to do because she knew this was a way to get the answers she was looking for. But, she had to be sure that we were sure we were committed to this mission, despite the dangers. If we backed out because of her actions it wasn't safe to use our plans to go after Robuttnik. If we stayed true, then she felt our plans would most likely works. Am I right?"
"Spot on. Plus, when you mentioned to me earlier today that Robotnik's reach may very well be beyond this city I realized that was probably why my tracking system broke down. I'm certain Robotnik has gotten to people in Mobotropolis. That means his influence is spreading and nobody knows about it. He has to be stopped. No matter what, we can't let that bastard rise again."
Sonic approached the Princess, slightly apprehensive as to how she would react to what he had to ask. "I agree with you, Sal. Once we get through this mission and get Manic and Antoine's lives off the line, taking down Robuttnik becomes priority one. But... after hearing you say everything you just did, there's something I have to ask you... You wouldn't have gone through all the trouble you did for the past few days without a reason. And now I think that reason is clear. Sally... are you in, or out?"
Sally took a step closer to Sonic, looking deep into his face. "I want something to be clear, Sonic. Nothing's changed between you and me. I'm not doing this out of love for you and I certainly I don't agree with your method of attack. I never will. But I accept that, given the current conditions, there's no other choice. Something has to be done, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna stand aside and not doing anything about it... I'm in."
Sonic half-looked like he could cry. Sally offered her hand to show they were on equal grounds for the mission, but Sonic couldn't contain himself. He pulled her into a tight embrace, and despite their past, Sally found the will to do so as well. At that point everybody came to terms with the fact that Sally was now on their side. There was even a round of applause and whistles of approval from the rest of the team, save for one black hedgehog. He turned to Rouge and lowered his voice so as to not be heard.
"Do you believe this? You and I would make far superior leaders to this team than them!"
"I don't care about that."
"What? Why?"
"Because what I don't believe in how you just acted! What were you thinking!"
"I was thinking of you. You know we've got far more to offer than they ever will! I was just trying to-"
"To what? Assert your male dominance? Prove that you care about me? Take control of a situation where control is only an illusion?"
"But-"
"There's nothing to say. That was uncalled for. I never asked for what you just tried to do and I damn sure didn't want it either. And you'd better hope that you can redeem yourself not only in the team's eyes, buy mine as well."
"...Rouge, I-"
"YO!" Manic interrupted. "You two dudes up with Sally joining the team, or what?"
Rouge wasted no time voicing that she was all for the move. She then looked to the hedgehog next to her, giving him a barely-noticeable scowl. Defiant as he was, he could not deny the fact that Sally was their new teammate and that she had helped secure Sonic's position as team leader.
"To use your words, I do not agree with the decisions made. But, I will accept them because the only thing that does matter is getting through this night alive and being able to go on to stop Robotnik once and for all. Princess Sally... welcome aboard." Shadow dropped to one knee and crossed an arm in front of him in a bow of respect.
The night wasn't getting any younger at the rate things were going, so Manic got to his feet to make an announcement. "Well dudes, I think we've got a full team back. I hate to break up such a touching moment, but we still got a lot to do and just over an hour and a half to do it. If we're gonna start on time, we gotta get it in gear, and right we gotta do it right now."
The group silently agreed. It was time to get things going. In just ninety minutes the freshly-strengthened team would embark on their task, ready to get it done. Though the team was grateful for Sally's contribution, nobody was more grateful than Sonic. For the first time all week he finally felt as though he take on the job without any doubts.
Things moved fairly quickly from that point on since a lot of time had been lost in all the commotion. Over the course of the next hour topics of discussion included the routes best to take and not take take with the vehicles, with such factors as complexity of the route, police activity, surveillance, and basic overviews of certain systems, equipment, and devices the team may find in the cars they encountered throughout the night. There was also a brief discussion on the various transmission types and how they worked in the various cars, as well as a few general driving tips for certain vehicle types as well.
There was also a brief explanation from Antoine about what would occur when somebody would deliver one of the cars to the dock Robotnik had designated them to go to, a topic Sonic was already familiar with. While Antoine had been on the spot Manic posed the question of whether or not Robotnik could assist them any way with the difficult extraction of fourteen Italian autos from one space. Although Antoine couldn't reach Robotnik at that time, he did promise he would bring it up at the first drop off, for Robotnik had informed him he'd be there and wanted to meet the entire team personally.
Lastly, one of the most important discussions was of the gear and equipment everybody would receive for the mission. Manic went into detail about the "basic thief toolkit," which mainly consisted of basic tools that the group was familiar with, though it did contain some special items, including the classic "Slim Jim" pick for older car locks, as well as store-bought mini-binoculars and hammers specialized for breaking windows with a single strike. Rotor had a more mechanical-type kit that was mainly concerned with more advanced tools that could be used to complete tasks Manic's basic tool kit couldn't complete as well as more environmental issues, like getting around un-pickable locks on doors and parking structures, prying open garage doors/gates and parking-lot barriers, and even a custom-built tool for removing parking boots, and all too familiar sight in a city full of traffic violations. Next was Tails with his electronics package that included such devices and frequency finders the open garage doors or disable car alarms/security systems, mock transponder keys that would send the correct ignition signals to cars with more complicated start-up systems, mini-computers that could bypass kill-switches and electronic engine-disabling systems, along with a whole list of updates for the software on the MARIA communicators Tails had given everybody a few days prior. Finally, Manic took stage once more for he had thought ahead and procured fourteen sets of black gloves and, if needed, ski masks if things really got sticky.
By the time all of that was done nearly an hour had passed and the only thing left to do was to get dressed and grab the gear. Some were already set to go such as Manic, Sonia, and Sally, who wore their normal attire while Rouge had already come in her "riders" outfit and Bunnie in her cow-girl attire. Tails and Rotor, both having piloting experience, chose brown bomber jackets, although Tails had a pair of standard driving goggles while Rotor a pair of prescription yellow-lens night driving glasses for his sensitive eyes.
Much of the remainder had some sort of leather attire. Sonic had his black Saleen jacket, Julie-Su wore a black jacket over her traditional black and green vest, Knuckles had acquired a brown vest to go with his brown fedora hat, and Silver, much to the distaste of the group, had chosen a white jacket with that seemed to go against all practicality and style-cues for him. It didn't come as a surprise that Shadow had chosen his black leather tench coat to wear. However, what was a surprise was that Antoine had switched up his blue royalty jacket for a black leather trench coat that he'd brought in the garment bag from the trunk of his car, although his only went to a little above his knees while Shadow's went to his shoes. Lastly, Chuck had donned his old blue denim coat that he'd had for years.
With just twenty minutes left distribution of all of the gear began. No sooner had they started when Sonic spotted a red flag. Under Shadow's trench coat he noticed the hedgehog had not one but two 9mm Beretta 92FS pistols with spare magazines on a shoulder holster. A quick look around showed Sonic that Antoine had a similar set up while Bunnie had her Smith & Wesson Model 627 .357 magnum revolvers attached to hip holsters and Julie-Su had her double-barrel proton gun in a side holster as well.
"Woah woah WOAH! Hold on a nano-second! I don't recall our instructions requiring people to bring guns with them tonight!"
"So what?" Shadow answered coldly.
"So what? I'll tell you what! No guns! NO EXCEPTIONS!"
"Why?"
"Do I really need to answer that?"
"Yes."
"Fine. I think I've made it fairly clear that tonight is about getting through this damn mission as smoothly and easily as possible. Part of that is we're not to hurt, or kill, anybody!"
"Who said I would use it to kill somebody? Haven't you ever of scaring somebody?"
"Haven't you ever heard of the police? They see you with those things and you're screwed!"
"He's right. Ah'm sorry, sugah-hog. I guess I kindah grabbed them outta force ah habit, ya know?"
"Yeah, same here," Julie added.
"That's okay. I understand. Better to try and prevent a problem now then after it's happened, right?"
"If only you'd done that before we wouldn't be in this mess," Shadow stabbed.
With an angry glare Sonic held out his hands and, very reluctantly, Shadow handed over his firearms. However, when he turned to Antoine, the coyote shook his head.
"I can't do zat, Soneek."
"Excuse me?"
"On Dr. Robotneek's orders I am to be armed at all zee times. That goes for tonight more so than zee ever."
"I don't really give a damn what that fat ass said. Hand over the guns now."
"I can't do zat! Deedn't you 'ear me say eet was an order from Robotneek? Eef I go against heez weeshes zen eet eez blinds for me!"
"Curtains, Antoine. Curtains," Manic stressed.
"Whatever."
"Can I at least see what you're carrying?"
Sonic soon regretted that question. From one of the dual holsters Antoine pulled out a handgun that made Manic's, Rotor's, Chuck's, and Tails' eyes light up. Sonic knew that these were the engineers of the group so whatever this gun was wasn't good news.
"Dude... do you know what that is?"
"Do I want to?"
"It's a Glock 18C," Tails stated.
"Which is a fully-automatic machine-pistol," Rotor added.
"That's not available to the civilian market," Chuck further added.
"And that'll own anything or anybody that's on the wrong end of it," Manic finished.
Rubbing his forehead with disbelief, Sonic asked "Ant... maybe I don't wanna know, but what are you doing with something like that?"
"Well, Robotneek wouldn't want me to goeeng eento detail, but, let's just say eet's part of a deal weeth one of heez top conneections."
"G.U.N.?"
"Oui."
Once again, Sonic could only shake his head at the realization that one of his team members was armed with a deadly and illegal military weapon. More over, there was nothing he could do about it. Shadow caught onto his stress and wanted to capitalize on it.
"Bet you wish you'd let me be leader now, eh Sonic? Wouldn't have been such a big deal if it were up to me."
"Can it, bone head... Ant, the last thing I want to do is piss off Robuttnik because, let's face it, he's already furious with us. If he wants you to have a gun, then I guess there's nothing I can do about that. BUT TO THE REST OF YOU... this night is about paying a debt, nothing else. I don't want violence to come into this, got it? If there's trouble I want you to just turn and get the hell outta there... okay?"
At this point tension and nerves had gotten to everybody and only silent nods or gestures answered the question. After Manic safely hid the weapons in hidden compartment in the wall behind a faux ventilation grate there was only one thing left to do.
"Alright guys, time to get into teams. Judging by what's happened so far I think I can tell who's paring up with who. Toss over the emeralds and I'll distribute them accordingly."
"According to what?" his brother asked.
"I'm color-coding the teams. Whoever can harness chaos-powers in the team will get a emerald that corresponds to them."
"Uhh... okay. Any reason why?"
"Nope. I guess it's just easier that way. I guess."
"Damn fool..." Shadow muttered under his breath.
"I'd better get that purple emerald," Sonia instructed.
"In your dreams. It's mine" Rouge informed her.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes."
"You wanna bet?"
"Sure. How much?"
"Enough" Sonic said, not wanting another argument to break out. "I'll flip a coin when we get to the purple one, alright?"
This was satisfactory for everybody. Most of the choices were fairly obvious. Knuckles and Julie-Su got red, Sonic chosen blue for himself and Sally, Tails and Uncle Chuck got yellow, Manic and Antoine green, and Silver and Rotor got white. That left purple and cyan emeralds left. Much to Sonia's disappointment she lost the proposed coin toss and watched as her favorite-colored emerald went to Rouge. She was even more upset when she was handed the cyan stone, wrinkling her nose and lips as if she'd just been handed a chunk of coal.
"I think that's it. And we've got... fifteen minutes left. I guess everyone should just take that time to... prepare themselves," Sonic instructed.
"Isn't that what we've just been doing?" Shadow asked coldly.
"Use your head just for once, Shadow. Please."
"And if anybody has to use the bathroom you'd better do it now. Trust me, I've made that mistake before" Manic mentioned.
The house took on an eerie silence at that point. Some took to fumbling with their belongings, like Knuckles running the brim of his hat through his fingers or Rotor twirling his glasses about. Others were making final checks on their gear, like Tails checking things on his communicator or Chuck looking over the vast piece of technology he knew his mentoring had gone into helping make. Still further some weren't doing anything at all, like Shadow and Silver who stood around, just trying to clear their heads. Antoine and Manic had the most on their minds since their lives were on the line, although Antoine felt a little better since Bunnie with with him. This prompted Manic to try and call Amy, but he didn't get through, so he had to settle for a text message. All of them, however, did have one thing in common. In one way or another they were all thinking about the mission that was about to occur and the effects it was going to have on them. They knew they'd chosen this path freely and that nothing had been forced upon them. Even so, they all knew their lives would never be the same after the next twelve hours.
The only two members not present were Sonic and Sally. The two of them had retreated to the front porch and were gazing up at the sky which seemed to be clouding up a bit. For a while they said nothing until Sally broke the silence.
"Looks like a storm might be coming in..." Sally commented.
"Yeah... Maybe... Hope not, though."
"Yeah..."
"You're not having second thoughts... are you?"
"No... I'm just thinking about how much this reminds me of the last time we went up against Robotnik. When we stopped his Doomsday Project six years ago. Still feels like yesterday we did that. I can remember everything..."
"Me too. I just wish it was a similar mission we were going on now. Instead we're going on this little trip..."
"The only thing is I don't know if I'm more scared now or back when we took down Robotnik."
"Don't be scared, Sal... I don't care what's happened in the past with us or what's gonna happen tonight. I'm still here for you. Remember that."
"I know..."
"...Sal?"
"Yeah?"
"...For what it's worth coming from me... thanks for being here."
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
"Just like old times?" he said with a bit of a smile.
"Just like old times," she returned with the same reaction.
Glancing down at his communicator it informed him that it was three minutes until the top of the 8 o'clock P.M. hour. Sally saw it too. A quick exchange of looks told them it was time. The two headed in to find the rest of the group sitting in silence. His presence told them what they already knew.
"Juice time," he said in the most reserved manner he ever had for that particular sentence.
A final quick rounds of checks spread throughout the room as everybody made sure they had everything they needed. There was also a quick farewell exchanged between Bunnie and Antoine since they weren't on the same team for the night. With the checks done Manic ran around the house real quick to make sure all doors and windows were locked, as well as if there seemed to be anybody loitering around. Seeing he coast was clear he then turned off all the lights so that the house wouldn't call much attention, not that anybody normally came around Manic's way anyway. Now the team stood in the dark, hushed house, save for the slight glow from Manic's computer that would run all night as the central information database for everybody in the field. Closing the laptop screen the room became even darker, the only light coming from a dim streetlight outside.
"All set, dude. Everybody's got their first assignments. The rest can be accessed from the field."
"Cool. Everybody get with your partners."
Without words and only minor glances, the fourteen veterans formed into seven teams of two, each with their chaos emerald to take them to their locations with ease. However, they all knew that the chaos emeralds would only take them where they needed to go. The cars would actually have to be driven in, for the power required would either be too attention-getting or would be too difficult for those less experienced in chaos powers.
With the teams prepared and just over a minute to go, Sonic wanted to say one more thing. "I just wanted to say thank you... to all of you... for doing this. We do this right, we do it fast, and we do it without hesitation, we'll set everything straight. We will save Manic, we will save Antoine, and we will stop Robuttnik. I know that this is the last thing we all thought we'd do in our lives, but this isn't about us. If Robuttnik rises again he's not gonna hold back. If this is what we have to do to prevent that, then there's only one thing we can say..."
Without even saying it, the entire group, Shadow included, shouted "LET"S DO IT TO IT!" At that point only seconds remained until the start of the new hour. The seven Mobians gifted with the ability to harness chaos powers lifted their magic emeralds into the air, their soft luminescence casting slight shades of color upon the faces of the group around the room. Then, the teammates that did not have such powers held onto either the hands, arms, or both areas of their partner and waited to be transported to their first location. The few seconds that were left felt like they lasted an hour a piece, for time had slowed down upon the assembly to give them a placebo-effect to rid themselves of any last bad feelings they had about the night so they could give it their full effort.
At some point during this seemingly endless string of seconds Sonic thought he felt Sally's grip tighten on him. He also thought that perhaps he felt her move ever so slightly closer to him. However, his mind dismissed it, instead accepting the answer that she was merely preparing for her body to undergo the radical act of teleportration. In that moment the infinite time sequence ended and a simultaneous resounding of fourteen double beeps from everybody's communicators announced that eight o'clock P.M. had come. On cue, the seven brains of the holders of chaos powers sent a message through their nerves to shout out the incantation to initiate their mission. With the chorus of seven cries of "CHAOS CONTROL," the room was ablaze with the full color spectrum as the seven individuals powered up and their team mates held on tightly, the power seeping into them as well to take them to a space between spaces without moving.
For a moment the room was filled with a brilliant incandescence not unlike a that from the flash of a bolt of lightning, then went dark, barren of any living beings in it. All that followed was a slight rush of air and a wave of dust being tossed up from the atmosphere disturbance. Only the central laptop made a noise, a low, hypnotizing hum as its electronic brain transferred all the vital information to the Mobians who were surely settling amongst the city, just like the dust that now settled among the house.
To be continued...
Avarice the Cat © to me, R0cknR011. All rights reserved to me. Don't use without permission.
Author's Notes
I hope that above rights claim wasn't a bit over the top. Somebody suggested to me a while back I should do that since she is entirely of my creation. That DOESN'T mean other authors can't use her. All I ask is that YOU ask and I'll gladly work with you.
Other than that, I only have one thing heads up for you. I have no idea how long the next chapter will be (NOT THIS LONG), but don't be surpised if it's only about 5K of 6K words. Reason being is I don't wanna drag these chapters out and drain them of thier energy.
ALSO, the upcoming chapters are going to get very into car stuff. I realize that not everybody is going to have an understanding of the technical and/or mechanical things I'm going to go into detail about. Just know that I do this because this really is the only part where the cars get the spotlight, thus I feel they should be regarded as if they were characters and developed as such.
And speaking of the cars, what I'm going to do at the beginning os all chapters that include the car thefts is a list of each car a character is going to get. The reason I do this is so that you can look up what the cars look like an an image search engine (Google image works well). Although you don't HAVE to I HIGHLY SUGGEST THAT YOU DO THIS. I figure that since this is where the cars become the most important you should at least know what they look like so you can appreciate what's going on more. But like I said, it's your choice.
Alright, I'm sure you're all sick of reading by now. I'll have the next chapter up ASAP. See you then.