24. Bat on the Wall
Rouge the Bat backed quickly away from the wall of the President's office, one hand giving her microphone's cable a sharp jerk. The tiny device, designed for listening through walls, retracted into her glove and the bat froze, clinging to the ceiling with both hands as the guard paced though the hall again. As always, he completely failed to check the ceiling, scanning only the walls and floor of the corridor for signs of possible intruders as he passed beneath her. Once he was past the office door and away, she scuttled backwards to a clump of tropical potted plants and dropped down behind them. Crouching behind the palms and crotons, she saw the GUN Commander stride out of the President's office radiating outrage. His mismatched eyes swept the hallway, left to right and floor to ceiling, then he all but stamped down the hall after the guard.
Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Rouge emerged from her hiding place and walked briskly in the other direction. Concealed behind the plants was a rather risque magazine that would serve as her excuse if anyone ever caught her back there. Being caught on the ceiling would be far harder to explain - especially if caught while listening in on the President's conferences - but with the notable exception of the GUN Commander humans never looked up.
The white bat pushed open a door and stepped into one of the several GUN offices in the President's Mansion. The uniformed young woman behind the front desk looked up, and grinned when she recognized her visitor.
Rouge grinned back. She didn't find humans as a whole to be particularly interesting, but this one she liked very much indeed. "Hey Ambergris," she teased, "anything new going on?"
The other gave her a mock scowl. "That's Amber Grison, as you very well know. I cringe to think what you'll make of my married name. But no, nothing new at the moment, if you're talking about the black sheep. The black aliens, on the other hand..." As her voice trailed off, she looked grimly at her friend.
"Rouge, if you can get clear, I suggest you go. Now. The enemy ships are dropping small groups of aliens all up and down the roads leading to Central City, and they're clearing out any resistance as they come this way."
Rouge was tempted; there was little profit in being caught in a city under siege, and much danger. She was unlikely to gain any useful knowledge; and here in the capital city the police and army patrols would be particularly on the lookout for looters, so no profit in a little gem hunt either. Still... "If they're patrolling all the roads in and out, and flying that many ships in the area, I probably won't be able to get out myself," she pointed out. "I'm good at sneaking around, and I can fight; perhaps I should stay here and lend my services to protecting the President."
"Lend?" repeated Amber skeptically. She'd known Rouge since the bat had joined the spy corps, and they both knew that Rouge rarely did anything free of charge. Then she shrugged. "Okay then, I just wanted to warn you.
"Did you find anything interesting in that 'magazine' I don't know you're hiding?"
Rouge sighed. "More of the same, I'm afraid. Some people just seem to get fixated on an idea regardless of the evidence."
"Hmm," was the only reply. The two women exchanged a look. Rouge tended to work directly for the President, while Amber was an assistant to GUN's Commander. She was well aware of her superior's prejudice against Shadow, though she had no idea what had caused it. The blonde human shook her head. "Well, I got word from Turtle. He's sent the 'special label' crates out with rest of the supplies."
"Oh, good." Whether Shadow would use the contents of the special crates or not, Rouge didn't know, but she felt better knowing they were at least out there. And unlike ordinary weapons, most were uniquely suited to his peculiar talents and could not be used against him by anyone - except possibly Sonic. The bat rubbed at her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "Thanks, Amber. Now I think I'd better go find some aspirin before the aliens get here. See you around."
Rouge left the office and headed to her own temporary quarters. She had been at GUN Headquarters when the whole mess with the aliens started. By stretching the President's orders to learn more about Shadow the Hedgehog to the breaking point (especially given that they dated to before the ARK had fallen), she had fast-talked her way in to access the facility's computers. Her security clearance was high enough to access quite a lot of information, and her computer skills were good enough to access much of the rest. So she'd been in the base when the invasion began, and the fact that the first reports came in from Westopolis had been a nasty shock.
She'd been sitting down in the pit, where row after row of computers stretched below the observation balcony in back to the enormous video screens on the front wall. The GUN Commander, as was his wont, was sitting in his chair scanning the working soldiers and technicians below with his mismatched eyes. Suddenly an alarm had gone off, and the main screens had switched from routine status and security monitoring to scenes of an alien attack on several cities. The main focus of the invasion seemed to be Westopolis, according to the data coming in. That wasn't good, Rouge knew. Personally, because that was where Shadow was, but also professionally, since she was privy to the fact that much of Westopolis' usual garrison was halfway across the country on a training mission. The city was hardly likely to be attacked under normal circumstances; its location dictated that any invaders would have to cross a significant portion of the county to get to it, so there had seemed no reason not to send the troops as a unit for training. Of course, usual policy presupposed enemies coming in a lateral fashion rather than straight down from the sky. Rouge tucked herself quietly into a dark corner near the ceiling as the room went berserk, with soldiers and techs frantically giving commands and relaying orders. After an hour that seemed to last forever, a soldier quick-marched into the Commander's booth up on the balcony. Rouge remembered the subsequent conversation quite clearly.
The soldier had saluted and made his report: "The black aliens have hit six major cities around the world, and every city is reporting significant damage and casualties. Among them, Westopolis has received the heaviest casualties, due to its weakened defense system. Downtown Westopolis has been almost completely destroyed. Unconfirmed sources have also reported seeing a black hedgehog in Westopolis."
The commander had looked progressively grim during the recital, but started at the soldier's final comment. His expression shifted swiftly from surprise to fury. "Shadow? Deploy the troops, NOW! And if you find Shadow with the black aliens... then kill them all."
"But sir," protested the trooper, "isn't Shadow on our side–"
The commander cut him off fiercely. "I gave you an order, soldier! He's evil and he's the enemy!" As the appalled trooper ran out the door again, the commander turned back to the turmoil below, not noticing the bat in the shadows. Clenching his fist, he vowed grimly, "You can't fool me, Shadow. This time, you're mine."
Rouge shivered involuntarily at the memory. She had rarely seen such implacable hatred, and never without being able to find out why. There were humans who hated or feared the dokan, for a variety of reasons - there were dokan who felt similarly about humans - but the commander was not one of those. He was as fair and even-handed in the treatment of dokan civilians as human ones, and had several good friends that Rouge knew of in the dokan military. He had never been stationed on Prison Island, or even ARKauai - he'd only been six or seven when the latter was destroyed anyway- nor had any relatives that Rouge could identify. The commander wanted Eggman caught for the explosion that had destroyed the Prison Island base, but there was none of the hatred he showed towards Shadow; the latter amounted to a personal vendetta, but Rouge had not yet managed to get into the man's personnel file to locate the connection. Then there had been his meeting today with the President.
She had actually been in the presidential office first, preparing to give her report on the damage done to the CIA's mainframe. Somehow the notification had been late - the President was only just receiving the report that there had been an attack on the computer mainframe when she was permitted to enter. Her ears were sharp enough that she'd heard the secretary at the other end of the phone from across the room. "– reports that the CIA's mainframe has been compromised. We're investigating the incidents now. It is a strong possibility that this was also committed by the black aliens."
"Tell the Commanding Generals that the United Federation will never surrender to terrorists," answered the president firmly.
"Yes, Mister President," came the faint reply, followed by a click as the call ended. For a moment the President seemed unaware of the dokan in the room, and Rouge did nothing to draw his attention to her as he hung up the phone. Looking at a picture on his desk, he said softly, "This planet was once saved from tyranny and annihilation by you two heroes. Now mankind must protect this peace, at all costs." He turned and strode to the balcony. "We must stand united to defend our world against these invaders!"
Rouge had waited a moment more before clearing her throat to remind him she was there, and giving her report. Essentially, the CIA had no idea how the aliens had gotten access to the computer, but the invaders had somehow introduced a virus that was destroying the main processing centers. She had done what she could to help them isolate it, but it was beyond anyone's skills to stop so far. She'd barely finished before the President was informed that the GUN Commander wished to speak with him, at which point she was quickly dismissed. That was when she'd taken up her listening post on the ceiling. The Commander had been furious that no one had caught Shadow yet. He insisted that Shadow was siding with the aliens and had been all along; that any heroics in the past were merely to lull suspicions; and that the aliens had planted Shadow on the ARK specifically to aid them in their invasion. He had been infuriated when the President maintained that Shadow was a hero who had helped save the planet from the ARK as well as preventing Doctor Eggman's most recent takeover attempt; and even more so when the President refused to issue orders for the black hedgehog's death or capture. That was when he had stormed out of the office.
Rouge pulled a bottle of aspirin out of her carry-all and filled a plastic glass from the tap. She'd barely swallowed the pills when the alarms went off, almost making her choke on the water. She tossed the glass towards the vanity as she ran for the briefing room.
She squeezed into the room with everyone else and found a spot near Amber. The general in charge of the immediate defense of the Mansion stepped onto the stage. "We have just received reports that large bombs have been placed in several areas of the city by the invading aliens. They are threatening to detonate them if we do not surrender immediately. The President has given orders to begin evacuating all non-mandatory persons through the tunnels. As yet there are no indications that the aliens have detected or penetrated these. The following individuals are ordered to report to the President for further orders: ..." Rouge only half listened to the names that were being read off, after all, only one interested her - and there it was "...Rouge the Bat...". She nodded to her friend and squirmed her way out of the crowd, wishing she could just fly over it. But it would not be a good idea to get people in the habit of looking up.
Once out of the room she did take wing, although she stayed at about shoulder height to the humans running up and down the halls. In the current chaos, she was afraid of getting knocked down if she stayed on the floor; being half the height of most humans had disadvantages as well as benefits. Reaching the presidential office, she stepped in, and was almost immediately sent out to the balcony with a camera in her hands. She strapped it on and prepared to do an aerial patrol, noticing two other dokan doing the same. One was an aide to a visiting dignitary, trapped here by the attack; another bat, but with quiet and self-effacing personality at the other end of the spectrum from Rouge's own. The other was a flying squirrel that was actually a librarian. Ha, I always said he'd do anything to protect his precious archives, she thought. The other bat joined her as she climbed higher into the air. By mutual consent they left the nearer streets to the librarian, since he could only glide from wall to wall. Briefly Rouge wondered what Knuckles was doing; he glided the same way the squirrel did, albeit without the skinflaps on his limbs. Had the aliens attacked Angel Island? The Master Emerald held some pretty potent powers... The brown bat indicated the area she would cover; Rouge nodded and turned in the opposite direction. Flicking her camera to record, she flew rapidly out over the city. It didn't take long to locate aliens, although she didn't see any civilians alive or dead. GUN patrols were out of course, and she noted their positions automatically and avoided them. There were flying aliens as well as the ground-bound ones and she had no wish to get shot by accident. She located two of the massive bombs, with intense battles going on between GUN and aliens at each location, and a number of smaller ones that could still do plenty of damage. And then she spotted him. Speak of the devil. She paused the camera briefly and dropped down beside Knuckles the Echidna.
"Hey Rouge," he grunted as he KO'd one of the red-armed aliens. He then snatched up a chunk of concrete and hurled it unerringly at one of the flying creatures. Scanning the street as he spoke, he continued, "That's all for the moment... What're you doing here?"
"Surveying the damage," she tapped the camera strapped around her neck. "Why are you here? What about Angel Island?"
"Parked it," he said shortly, scanning the sky and surrounding street for more aliens. "Figured a flying island might be a little obvious, so I set it down in the ocean and it'll stay there til this is over."
Rouge stared at him in disbelief. "You left the Master Emerald unattended–"
"Of course not!" He looked shocked that she could even consider such a thing. "It shrinks, you know; I brought it with me. Anyway, while I was flying to the ocean, I spotted the aliens all massed around some old temple so I went back to look after parking the island. And guess what? I ran into Shadow. He gave me some weirdo gun that heals things and disappeared, and then - believe it or not - the whole bunch of buildings just took off into the air like a fleet of Eggman's battleships or something! I got the GUN soldiers to give me a ride back here, and figured I might as well knock down a few more of these Black Arms guys."
"Their arms are red," Rouge corrected automatically. Knuckles was a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, but she hadn't thought he was color-blind.
He waved the comment away. "According to Shadow, they call themselves the 'Black Arms'. He doesn't know why either. There're some more! See ya!" He ran off in the direction of a new patrol of aliens.
Shaking her head, Rouge returned to the air, switching the camera back on as she sifted through what the echidna had said. First: we have a name for them now, the 'Black Arms'. Second: they converted an old temple for flight? I wonder where. Not to mention 'how?' and 'why?'. Third: I'd better warn the military about Angel Island being 'parked' so they don't panic about an unknown landmass.
But he saw Shadow at the temple, and Shadow left, so he was safe at that point. So he did get out of Westopolis safely. She'd guessed that from the Commander's rage, but hadn't known for certain. And he gave Knuckles a heal cannon, so he used one of the boxes. The boxes - the 'special label' crates - were something she had turned up in the GUN stores catalog long before she'd even heard of Shadow the Hedgehog. There were a couple hundred of the things in storage from fifty-odd years ago, marked with an imperative to retain - which meant the military would never throw them out - but also marked never to be used. The brief listing assigned them to G. Robotnik, and the contents had peculiar names like Egg Vacuum and Heal Cannon. She'd managed eventually to get hold of a crate but been disappointed to discover that most of the weapons inside were non-functional; it was only later that she'd learned they mostly required Chaos energy for power, or at least to activate them. Essentially, for someone who could not utilize Chaos energy the guns had permanent safety locks. The heal cannon was an exception to that, and she'd often wondered why the military didn't at least use that one; it seemed to have obvious benefits for a fighting force since it could heal even major injuries with incredible speed. It was those crates that she had conspired with Amber to get added to GUN supply shipments as they went out; the master of the supply depot was an old friend of Amber's father and doted on her as if she were his own child.
Rouge dropped lightly onto the balcony of the presidential office and switched her attention back to the invasion at hand. The President was already there; staring grimly at a night sky discolored by flames and smoke. Rouge took the paper he handed her in exchange for her camera, then jumped back out of sight as a trio of soldiers entered the office. Two took positions near the door while the third, the Commander, advanced rapidly to the President's desk.
"Sir, your transport is ready. We must go now! Sir, please!" The bat perked her ears, she couldn't recall ever hearing the Commander sound desperate before.
The President merely sounded defeated. "Once again... I have failed my duty to protect our nation."
"Sir, it's not over!" encouraged the Commander. "We can continue to fight. The black aliens may have rendered us unable for now, but we will rally, sir. You must keep your nation strong and together."
The President seemed to give himself a mental shake. "Yes, keep the nation united." He at least sounded more determined and less hopeless. "No matter what happens, we'll never surrender to these creatures. This much I learned from them." Rouge, peeking into the room from the balcony, noticed a picture of Sonic and Shadow on the desk. It was clearly from the ceremony the President had held for Shadow, and showed both hedgehogs' trademark expressions: Sonic's cavalier grin and Shadow's scowl.
"Sir, please hurry," urged the Commander.
The President sighed. "Okay." He left the room, preceded by one soldier and followed by another. Rouge ducked back again as the Commander strode forward to glare out the French doors at the burning city.
"The black creatures will feel their own bloody Hell!" he snarled, and left the room. Rouge confirmed that the room was empty, then opened the paper the President had given her. Apparently one large group of aliens had been pushed back into a jungle region; her assignment was to ferret out any hiding places and gather any other useful info, while liaising with the GUN troops to be sure the creatures were all terminated. She grimaced. Terminated. Military-speak for hunt them down and kill the lot. On the other hand, the President seemed to be right to label them terrorists - for the most part their goal seemed to be to terrify people by destroying everything they could for no discernable purpose. It was night, and dark in spite of the light from the fires, but she wasn't a bat for nothing. She could fly just fine at night, and locate the ruins by morning, if she could get back to her plane without being intercepted by Black Arms. She took wing and set off towards her jet.