SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Knight of the Night Sky. Well I was able to bring my laptop down to California and I can sometimes work on my fanfic if I'm not busy helping relatives. I was in SoCal up until August 2nd, which is when I flew back to Utah. Any chapter updates will happen as soon as I complete them and have them readied for postings. Well let's get going.
[Non-Administrated Planet #97, "Earth]
[Uminari City, Japan]
[Midori-ya Café]
[Time: 0740]
[BGM: "Luca" Final Fantasy X]
The Midori-ya café had just barely opened up to cater to the morning wave of their youthful and mostly female customer base. The business day was off to a slow start, which allowed for the Blue Team of the Time-Space Administration's project group, Special Mobile Force 97, to gather in the living quarters of the café with little issue.
Alicia and Fate were already hard at work with the computer; they had wanted to analyze more of the information gathered from the G.U.N's computer left at the apartment. First thing they wanted to determine was a fixed location for a certain bat thief-turned-spy Rouge. Sonic, Reinforce Eins, Nanoha and Hayate took the time to look over the pictures and documents the G.U.N had also left behind to see what they were after.
"Anything new?" Miyuki, Nanoha's older sister asked as she walked in, carrying table of freshly brewed ice-tea for her sibling and her friends.
"Well we know that the G.U.N is very interested in all of us." Sonic noted, politely accepting a glass, trading it for a paper he gave to the older teen "and not just Nanoha-chan."
"Interested enough to get a warrant for your school records, it seems" Miyuki noted after taking a brief skim through the paper; she paused for a moment when she saw the signature on said warrant, "This was signed by a judge?"
"Yes, from the looks of it he works for the courts in Station Square" Reinforce nodded, "You recognize his name?"
"Yeah.." the brunette teen frowned, "Kyouya-onii-chan and I used to work with tou-san as bodyguards for some very important people such as royalty. This judge had a reputation in Japan for being very easily bought by mobsters for favorable rulings. He almost got disbarred when it came out to the public, but he dismissed himself before they could make a case."
"Station Square's courts must have reached out to him." Nanoha thought out loud, "G.U.N uses his past as blackmail, and he'd obviously like to keep it under wraps so he'll agree to sign off on anything they want?"
"And if anyone like our school, who's very protective of their students, asks" Hayate added, "The G.U.N just says they have a warrant and threaten to jail them for interfering."
"All this for just us" Alicia groaned a bit, "What did we ever do to them?"
"Do something they couldn't" Fate noted, "Beat Eggman. If they're as prideful as they appear they won't let anyone strange show up their own members."
"At least that's one conclusion…" Nanoha noted, "I think our next lead though is tracking down the bat-lady and asking her"
"Exactly, Nanoha-chan" Alicia commended the brunette, "You're getting good at this."
"Nyahahaha" the cyborg blushed in embarrassment, "So um.. anything?"
"Looking" Fate responded, continuing the typing of her keyboard, her efforts were rewarded by a loud beeping noise; the artificial mage gazed at the screen and smiled, "Ah! Alicia-chan!"
"Eh?" the other blonde took a look at the screen and instantly smiled to match her clone/younger sibling, "We found her!"
[OP: "Eternal Blaze" Nana Mizuki]
Sonic: Knight of the Night Sky
Chapter 50
To Catch a Bat
[Earth Orbit]
[TSAB Investigative Ship "Arthra"]
[Admiral and Commander of Special Mobile Force 97]
[Lindy Harlaown]
[BGM: "The Four Kings" Final Fantasy IV]
Lindy Harlaown was enjoying one of her more quirky tastes in earth delicacies in tea. Unlike most Japanese customs, she took her tea with not only sugar, but also some milk, much to the usual shock of one of her mages, Nanoha Takamachi. Her light breakfast had to be put on a bit of a hold in favor of accepting a update call from the Blue Team of her squad.
"Yeah? Reinforce?" the teal-haired woman inquired, "Got something to report?"
"We've tracked down the location of the bat thief/spy Rouge" the silver-haired unison device replied, "We were able to get it from the ankle bracelet the G.U.N has on her"
"Where?" Lindy asked, eager for her squad to get another lead to work off of.
"Outside of a shopping mall to the north of the café" Reinforce replied, "Sonic, Nanoha and Hayate-ojou-sama are going there now to track her and when the time is right, capture her."
"See if they can convince her to come willingly at first" Lindy suggested, "Don't use force unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I'll inform them. We've got a plan already laid out for dealing with her." Reinforce acknowledged the order, "I'll call back with an update"
"Thank you, Reinforce" Lindy nodded, "Harlaown out"
The transmission ended, leaving the teal-haired admiral to once again return to her tea. The woman took a long sigh before returning to her breakfast.
'The Bureau really seems set on their plan with this planet' Lindy thought to herself, 'I just hope this doesn't turn bad with the kids'
[Non-Administrated World #97 "Earth"]
[Uminari City, Japan]
[Northern Shopping District]
[BGM: "Fly in the Freedom" Sonic Adventure 2 OST]
For Rouge the Bat, despite how well she looked, being able to turn heads of males in attraction and some females in jealousy, life wasn't exactly all sunshine and smiles. She certainly had some naughtiness to her person, and the G.U.N has relentlessly gotten after her case for it. Whether it be bribing her with her weakness of pretty jewels or threatening to jail her for her nighttime thievery, she's often had to do favors that often test her skills. Despite her reservations for this particular case, involving children who weren't even entering puberty yet, she still had to do her job.
The bat-lady just sat around, fiddling a bit with her ankle bracelet, G.U.N's required jewelry. Wasn't fashionable by any stretch of the word, but it was necessary and she didn't have much other choice other than to wear it. As she fiddled, the bat caught sight of a female brown-haired pre-teen human in a wheelchair. The girl appeared to be heading her way.
After a few seconds of time passed, Rouge had figured out that the pre-teen, having not deterred from her course, was heading right for the mid-teen bat. Somewhat curious as to what her intentions were, the bat sat and patiently waited.
Hayate sure took her time, but with a wheelchair that runs gears from slow to slowest, there wasn't much she could do. She casually approached the bat.
"Well hello young lady" Rouge, doing her best to keep a regal and elegant tone to her, "May I help you?"
"You wouldn't happen to be Rouge the Bat" Hayate asked, "Would you?"
"So you've heard of me?" the teen bat raised a curious eyebrow, "I'm impressed"
"Hai" Hayate beamed, swiftly putting on a very convincing fangirl act, "One of the most prettiest teens in Japan.. a model of beauty that a lot of girls my age strive to achieve."
"Oh stop, you'll make me blush" Rouge couldn't help but buy into the act a bit, unaware of the brunette's true intentions, though she had a lingering doubt that the handicapped girl would come all this way just to talk to little old her.
"Gomen gomen… I didn't even say my name yet… Yagami Hayate" the brunette softly said, making no effort to hide her "embarrassed" face, "I also have heard about your reputation. You gave many jewelry stores a bad time"
"So you know about those too?" Rouge's smile was slowly turning in the wrong direction. She did not like where the conversation was heading.
"Oh yes, and the circumstances behind the metallic anklet you're wearing" Hayate added, she had a bit of a confident smile to her expression now, "I know a bit about those too"
"Well honey, if you're looking for an autograph or tips" the bat lady stood up, readying herself for an escape, she wanted no part of getting her job mixed with her supposed "off-time", "Afraid you caught me at the wrong time."
The bat teen did not go far at all as she was quickly cut off by Reinforce Eins. The silver-haired late-teen stood in front of Rouge with her arms folded, a confident smirk faintly showing on her face.
"Well if it isn't the little fish again" Eins quipped, and very quickly she was backed up by Sonic, Nanoha, Fate and Alicia, "You don't mind coming with us, do you?"
"You probably shouldn't argue, Rouge-san" Sonic politely advised, addressing the bat-teen with some shyness in his tone, "You don't have anywhere else to go"
"Well aren't you a polite boy" the bat half-commented, half-teased, attempting to lure the hedgehog in with her attractiveness and her wiles, trying to capitalize on the young boy's shyness, "You don't mind convincing your friends to let me go. I'll make it up to you personally"
"Eww! Cradle-robber!" the hedgehog quickly declined, frowning a bit.
"Hai! He's only 14" Nanoha added, half-mockingly sticking her own tongue in disgust
"W-well I.. I'd never do anything like "that" Rouge stammered, definitely losing her cool, "What were you think-gah!"
The bat's ramblings were put to a stop by several chains of purple mana constricting her tightly. Reinforce had casted the chain bind spell to ensnare the bat while she was trying to retort the accusations and conclusions by Sonic and Nanoha.
"You tricked me.." Rouge frowned at the mages in disgust, her main frustrations vented on the silver-haired woman, "I thought you said you'd throw the little fish back to the sea"
"I did" Reinforce replied, "But you should probably also be aware that one can use the little fish to lead them to the bigger ones. You're still the little fish here. We're just going to use you to get the bigger catch"
"So who are you using me for?" the bad rose an eyebrow while asking, "G.U.N?"
"You're smarter than you look." Reinforce almost acted surprised, "We are after the G.U.N"
"Reinforce-san.." Sonic interrupted, his finger pointing out a few figures in the distance, the only thing that they needed to see were the G.U.N badges to tell that they were trouble, "We better hurry up, they're coming our way"
"Right." Reinforce nodded then with Rouge in the middle of her group, a belkan triangle surrounded them all, the unison device called out on communication, "Dimension Transfer for 6 and 1 suspect. Destination, Arthra"
The belkan triangle emitted a purple glow and flashed. The Dimension Transfer spell was activated instantly and the group of 7 warped out of the shopping square just before the G.U.N agents could arrive to back up their bat-associate.
[Earth Orbit]
[TSAB Investigative Ship "Arthra"]
[Landing]
[BGM: "The Four Kings" Final Fantasy IV]
Rouge just gasped at what she saw after arriving on the other end of the weird portal thing. Though before she could take in the sights, she quickly found herself on her knees, making a hard effort to restrain herself from losing a snack; the bat felt queasy, almost sick to her stomach.
"W-what the.." the bat gulped, swallowing a bit.
"Dimension transfer" Sonic quipped, "The first time around doesn't feel too good."
"You get used to it after going back and forth a couple of times" Nanoha noted in some attempt of playfully consoling the bat-thief.
"Or you just get more sick" Hayate countered with a shrug, impassively as if just talking about the weather.
"Ugh.." the teen bat grunted a bit.
"Welcome, Rouge the Bat" a new voice interrupted the rumblings, Rouge turned to the source and found herself greeted by a teal-haired human woman, wearing naval uniform of a blazer, shirt, tie and short skirt. The woman held an aura of importance to her, "I'm Admiral Lindy Harlaown"
"Okay… didn't ask" Rouge groaned, finally losing that sick feeling, "But thanks for that.. now for the question I want to ask. Where the hell am I?"
"Outer space" Lindy replied, smirking a bit at Rouge's surprised reaction. The admiral didn't give the bat a chance to ask anything further on that note and quickly gave an order to her mages, "Take her to interrogation. I'll be down with you shortly."
"J-jotto matte!" The bat cried as was tugged back by Reinforce and Sonic, struggling futilely against their grip. The other four pre-teens quickly followed the duo back.
[Interrogation Room]
The interrogation room for the Arthra had the appearance and layout of the prototypical investigative agency's interrogation room. Small room lit by a set of ceiling lights held by a fan; The odd window to the other room that if one were to try to look through, they'd see a reflection of themselves; and a table with chairs across from one another.
Rouge the Bat, bored, frustrated and a bit annoyed, sat at one of these tables with Sonic and Nanoha opposite her. The duo, to her increasing annoyance, didn't pay her much mind for the moment, rather instead focusing on the local newspaper they somehow had attained before entering.
"Well, Nanoha, look at this" Sonic pointed out a section, "The Midori-ya's being ranked as one of the top cafes to go to in Japan."
"Hai" Nanoha nodded, "And if I'm reading this right, we're jumping up those rankings fast. I think last week we were in the top 100 up to the top 20 in ranks."
"Reviews are just raving too" Sonic added, "The atmosphere, the service, food, the positives just aren't stopping"
"Hello?" Rouge attempted to get their attention, "Aren't you supposed to interrogate me or something?"
"Huh?" the blue hedgehog looked up, playing a bit of the dumb act, "Interrogate? You? Don't know what you mean there"
"Don't play dumb, I'm not an idiot" Rouge barked, "This is an interrogation room, right? Interrogate me. Your boss said she wanted some information from me?"
"Eh.. We already know you won't cooperate with us" Nanoha shrugged, "Our friend told us that you were anything but cooperative a few days ago."
"What if I told you that I would cooperate?" Rouge asked, her mind working in so many ways to figure out a way to get herself out of this mess, she didn't care if she'd be throwing the GUN under the bus, she didn't appreciate their frame-up, blackmail tactics. In addition, if what she observed from the Perfect Chaos battle wasn't a fluke, she'd be messing with people who could probably kill her without breaking even a small sweat.
"Talking to the wrong person" Sonic shrugged, "We're just here to babysit you"
"I don't need a babysitter" Rouge deadpanned, "I'm well older than you both"
"Maybe so" Nanoha shrugged, "But our "boss" has heard of some of your abilities in regards to stealth and agility. We're not going to take any chances. You also won't be able to charm your way out of this one either."
"Figured that the hard way" Rouge muttered, "A cradle-robber I am not.."
"Could've fooled us" Nanoha countered.
The "interrogation" came to a pause when Lindy Harlaown entered the room. The admiral held a few documents in her hand and also appeared to be a bit neutral in emotions, but whatever she was thinking and holding did not get unnoticed by Sonic and Nanoha, who also put on a good act of ignorance.
"What is this, incompetent cop, bad cop?" Rouge questioned, "Will either of you mind telling me what's going on, you take me up to this weird place. Claim it as "outer space" which I'm still skeptical of…"
"We can show you proof of that one" Lindy offered
"No thanks" Rouge quickly declined, "I'll probably still remain in denial even after you show me."
"Suit yourself" Lindy shrugged, "Now… let's get down to business"
"Finally!" the bat said out loud, showing a bit of impatience.
A third chair was rolled in and Lindy sat down, flanked by Sonic and Nanoha to her sides. The admiral stared across at the bat, who stared back just as equally to meet her gaze.
"First off, don't try to deny that you're part of the G.U.N. We've found files on you from their safehouse computer" Lindy set down a folder, opened it and started to read out the contents, "Rouge the Bat, age 17; arrested for suspicion in taking part in multiple jewel heists; got no contest pleas in exchange for community service and probation"
"So you've done your homework" Rouge noted, "I'm impressed that you got so much information so fast."
"We have a few tech geniuses with too much time on their hands search every file the GUN has on you" Lindy smirked, "I wonder, how could a thief like you, who's been linked to just about half of the heists reported in Station Square, could get such a light sentence. The files indicate that any criminal cases they could have pursued would've been an easy conviction, and at least two years of prison would've suited the interests of justice more."
"G.U.N came to me, they offered a plea deal for a reduced sentence and a no contest plea in exchange for favors" Rouge explained, "They call upon me and enlist my skills. And I do as they ask. Be it spy missions or sometimes combat"
"And the recon you performed the other day?" Lindy asked
"G.U.N saw a bunch of people entering your café and was curious" the bat honestly answered, "At least that's what they told me."
"They got curious of civilians entering a café that sees its popularity grow by the day?" the admiral quipped, "I guess they're looking for tips."
"She was there as well" Rouge pointed to Nanoha
"Because I live at the café?" Nanoha deadpanned quickly
"You're usually accompanied by your friends" The bat retorted, hoping to lure the pre-teen girl into slipping, "They were not with you in this case"
"One of our employees called in sick and I had to fill in" The brunette did not bite and her response was calm.
"And her friends were with her" Lindy added to the response, having caught on to the bat's subtle ploy, and had one of her own in mind, "They stayed at the café in a sleepover from the previous night."
The statement was half-true, as she herself stayed over with Hayate and Reinforce Eins at the Café to prepare Nanoha's parents for the interviews that occurred the following day. She spoke the half-truth to the bat in order to gauge on how much the G.U.N really told her about the incident she was part of. If Rouge called her out on the half-truth, then Lindy would know that the G.U.N had kept her in a close loop. If the bat did not, then it would still give the admiral leverage to work with.
"Alright" Rouge shrugged and gave in quickly, her "employers" were never really too forthcoming with her on information, "Is that all?"
"Odd how the GUN doesn't keep all of their agents in the loop" Lindy quipped, the bat had fell into the second option of her ploy, but nevertheless it still worked, "I wonder how much of what you say will be worth to us"
"Probably not much" Sonic shrugged and began to stand up, playing along with Lindy's plot
"Hai" Nanoha also began to stand up.
"Let's leave her then" Lindy turned around and signaled for Nanoha and Sonic to follow. They both had turned to leave, or at least making Rouge think that. It was really a tactic to "encourage" cooperation, "I'll get the paperwork going to press the charges. She'll be arrested for attempted espionage"
"Wait hold on!" Rouge pleaded, "I may not know much about what they were telling me for this assignment but I did find out something else while I was at their headquarters."
"And why would we be interested in this?" Lindy asked, her head turning in some interest.
"Because it has to do with Eggman" Rouge only had to drop that name to get their attention. The bat, having been put on the spot due to Lindy's trick, watched as the trio sat back down.
"Alright you have our attention" Lindy said, "What is it?"
"While I was in the G.U.N HQ, I heard about them investigating a "leak" regarding the Mystic Ruins." The bat told them, "Coincidentally the beast identified as Chaos showed up in Station Square"
"You just happened to hear this?" Lindy asked skeptically
"I can't help it" the bat shrugged, gesturing to her large ears, "I've got good hearing… Sure I may have to wear a pair of readers sometimes, but who am I to complain?"
"And Eggman appeared to have, at the time, control of the monster" Lindy noted, "So there's the connection to him."
"Everything that the G.U.N knew about Chaos was leaked to Eggman supposedly" Rouge added, "They claimed to have found the leak and are seeking a court martial.
"We'll you have been very useful" Lindy smirked, "Thanks for your help"
"So.. are you gonna let me go?" Rouge asked
"Maybe.." The admiral answered, "See there is a little problem here. We can't trust you, and your reputation doesn't inspire much either"
"So I'm stuck here unless you deem me not to be a threat?" The bat asked, feeling a little bit of Déjà vu from her first meeting with government peoples, "What if I go hungry?"
The admiral casually placed an apple in front of her and turned to leave with Sonic and Nanoha in tow, "You won't, I don't know how the G.U.N handles you, but to us you're more of a "Material Witness" than a suspect. It's also for your protection. I don't think they would take kindly to people telling their dirty little secrets."
The bat, dumbfounded, just stared and watched as the trio left the room.
[Admiral and Commander of Special Mobile Force 97]
[Lindy Harlaown]
[No BGM]
Lindy sat at her familiar office chair again, she called the rest of the blue team up to her office and served them cups of tea to quench the inevitable thirst.
"How much do you think we can trust what the bat asked?" The admiral asked Reinforce, looking to see if she had some insight
"She fell for just about every trick you put on her" Reinforce noted, "So either she's being honest or she deserves a medal in acting."
"Either way, the TSAB will be notified of this update" Lindy said firmly, "You've all done a great job on this case. Go on and spend the rest of the day on the ship. You can train, study, whatever. I'd prefer you stay up here in case the GUN decides to get any ideas should you go down to the planet."
"Hai" the team saluted in acknowledgement.
"Good" Lindy waved her finger off in a dismissal gesture, "Dismissed"
"Arigatou" everyone nodded and left to go about their ways.
The admiral, all alone in her office, pressed a few keys on the computer screen and made a few calls.
[To Be Continued]
[Ending: "Spiritual Garden" Yukari Tamura]
[End of Chapter 50]
Author's Note: sorry again for the long delay.. just could not get the time to work on the fanfictions lately with all that has been going on; and with community college classes back, I've gotta split time
