And so on...
-Chapter 93: Loose Ends-
The next day Tails set up a sizemograph on the beach outside Sonic's old, but new and improved, beach shack.
Cream and Sticks sat at a nearby table and loaded skewers with veg and meat for a barbecued bunch.
Sonic lounged in a hammock nearby while minor construction went on.
"Done," Xaun said as he finished the installation of Knuckles and Jules front doors.
"Now no one else can make that dumb 'I had to say knock knock because you don't have a door' joke, ever again," Jules said with pride as Xaun demonstrated a functioning front door.
Sonic sat up, "Who made that joke?"
"Dixon," she said.
"He would," Sonic scoffed and laid back down.
Xaun pat the heavy wooden frame and gave a proud smile. "These suckers are solid oak. Draft proof and leak proof. In case the wind blows the waves up to the door, I double lined the weather stripping."
"Nice. Does that mean it'll keep the air conditioning in during the hot season," Knuckles asked from the nearby fire pit he'd kindled together in the sand.
Xaun suddenly looked exhausted, "It gets hotter than this?" He got a solemn nod from the group. He looked to the heavens for strength. "Aurora, save me. Yes; if it doesn't melt first."
"Fourty-seven degrees isn't hot enough to melt plastic," Tails assured them absentmindedly as he worked diligently.
"That's a relief," Knuckles said. He went over and examined Tails contraption. "This shakey thing pickin up any shakey stuff?"
"Nothing yet. If it wasn't for me bumping the table earlier, this needle wouldn't have moved an inch," he said with a sigh.
Cream rotated her ears and listened for sounds. "I can hear something moving around and making noise. Why isn't it picking it up at all?"
"There's a posibility it's lava chambers." Tails drew a quick diagram on a notebook he pulled from his toolbelt. "We're in a location with lots of volcanic activity. These large pools of underground lava cool and harden, but not all at once. Sometimes a long narrow chamber forms where lava can flow freely. They can stretch for kilometres. If Eggman's drilling around them, it could be the lava shifting and that's what we're all hearing. If it's that, we're fine..." He trailed off.
"...and if it's not that...what," Julie-Su rotated a hand to further the explaination.
"If not, then it's sizemic activity and we're in for an earthquake, or a volcanic erruption, or a tunami. Heck, if we're lucky, a combination of all three." Tails blandly said as he adjusted knobs.
"You say that so casually," Xaun wasn't thrilled. "Why did I come here? Why am I choosing to stay in this deathtrap of an island?" He briefly questioned his motives until he got a message from Staci. "Right. Rebellion."
"About that," Sonic sat up again. "How are the twins today?"
Xaun nodded. "Anne's hanging out with the girls and learning how to work at the daycare. Rolph borrowed a bit of cash from Eggman and he's at 'Velvet Sands' for the day."
"So much for healthy coping habits," Sonic laughed ruefully. "Either way; good job on getting the chaos tech back from Egghead. How'd you guys swing that?"
Xaun smirked, "We got lucky. It wasn't even in the lair anymore. The fleet of ships hovering around the lair were planning on shipping everything back to the Iron Kingdom tomorrow. We cleared them out and then some."
Sonic looked frustrated as he sat up in the hammock and put his feet on the ground. "The Lightening Bolts were only supposed to get the tech and nothing else. What did you guys take?"
He threw his arms in the air. "I got nothing. Two of the girls went into the main base and took a bunch of jewlery. That's all."
"Whatever," Sonic held his hands up and swatted them downward. "Maybe they won't notice until it's too late."
Over at Eggman's, the Doctor stormed through his hallways. "Where did you put all of it Snively!?"
Snively struggled to keep pace with his uncle's gait. "I told you I have no idea about any 'chaos technology'! We haven't taken anything of yours!"
"Then why is my bank balance so much lower than it was two days ago?!"
"We've been ordering furniture to make it livable for you. This place looks like a prison," he said with feigned superiority.
He whipped around and poked a finger on Snively's heafty nose. "You were trying to sabotoge my surgery so it'd take longer than a day, so you could make off with my chaos tech! I'm not an idiot!"
"No we weren't!" He lied.
"It's why you blacked out some of my cameras! You were trying to gain control of my base and start an arms trade with Duchad!" He assumed a second possibility.
"No!" He lied again.
"Fine then! It was both!" He swung a fist and popped Snively in the eye. "When killing them doesn't work, steal from them instead! Am I right?!"
The short man went sprawling on the floor. He held the injured optic nerve. "No! You can't go in there!" Snively yelled as Eggman put a pilfered code into the number pad that opened the door to the Iron Kingdom's fleet. "Stop!"
He went out onto the catwalk to access the hovering airship the Iron Kingdom's representatives arrived on. "Why's that? Something to hide?" He approached the door to the ship's cargo level.
"No!" A third lie. "Those ships belong to the Iron King. Civilians aren't allowed on them!"
Eggman ignored his nephew. The large green iron door slid to the side and revealed a short mostly rusty coloured hallway with six rooms on either side. A robotic guard held post at every second entrance. Metal grating stairs, coloured the same as the green door, led up to the second level and beyond. His search began.
"Guards!" Snively yelled as Eggman went into each room and scoured them without interruption. "What are you doing? Do something! Anything!"
The guards stood there. Two armed guards offered a glance to one another and shrugged. They continued to stand around while Eggman looked for his stolen technology.
At the end of it, Eggman huffed and folded his arms in frustration. He walked back to the entrance where Snively sat. He glared at him and saw a defeated expression, along with an ice pack. "This was the only ship it could have been on...I guess I owe you an apology."
Snively looked shocked. He went along with it. "I-I told you we didn't take anything. I understand we're all under a lot of stress right now. I'll talk to the king about this little indescression of yours and see if he'll look the other way. If the Iron King thinks you were trying to 'out' a traitor, he'll be...okay with you doing this," Snively hesitated with what he said.
Eggman pretended to not notice. "He better." He stormed back off into his lair.
Snively went to the upper most level of the lair and to his wife's side. "My dear, I've got some bad news."
Regina was the same as Eggman in her search for lost items. "I lost so much to these rats!" She searched through all her luggage for her bracelettes and earrings.
Snively laid his icepack down and revealed a black eye. "What was that, dear?"
She contained her rage and immedately went to his side. Regina examined her husband's puffy eye. "Did one of these animals do this to you?!" she asked and took his hands in hers.
"No. Uncle and I had a bit of a falling out. I think everything's okay, but...all the chaos tech we moved from the lair is missing. I played it up like it wasn't supposed to be there, but it's gone, dear."
Her eyes widened in anger. "As is my new necklace and your father's old gold chain! That lewd bat took them, I bet!"
"It was hers to begin wit-I-I told you, the walls have ears. You can't speak of Shadow or Rouge so harshly. We're safe in this room, but keep that fact in mind." Snively grit his teeth. "We need to cut our losses and leave this place on schedule."
Regina pouted and folded her arms, turned and walked away. "I wanted this island so badly."
"We'll get you an island. I'm afraid this place is a wash."
"Father isn't going to be pleased." She reapproached and hugged her husband close again. The catalogue she'd ordered furniture from sat on the nearby dresser. Mid embrace, she slid the thick magazine off the top and into a nearby bin. "What happened to sabotoging the surgery?" She distanced herself and sat at her vanity.
Snively placed the icepack over his eye once again, "I tried everything! He had failsafe after failsafe set up. Clearly, his oafishness was a ruse to catch us off guard. I'm certain of that, now." He shook his head quickly, "I want to stay and find out who took the tech but it would seem too suspicious. We'll return to the Iron Kingdom, report our findings and keep my uncle at arm's length, for now."
At Sonic and Amy's, Rouge and Shadow finished the last few piles of documents. More accurately, Shadow finsihed the documents while Rouge read romance novel after romance novel from Amy's stash(collection).
Shadow saw many more scribblers on the table that day than the day before. "These weren't in the pile, were they?" He spoke to Rouge over his shoulder.
She sipped a wine glass of red liquid as she read a purple coiled scribbler. "I finished the book last night and it said 'to be continued'. I had to see if she continued it." Rouge waggled her wrist and the book she held bobbed back and forth. "I found the sequel...along with a few others."
"You're supposed to be working," Shadow said with annoyance.
"What? We're practically done."
He turned around and leaned over the back of the couch. "Is that wine?" he asked as he finally noticed what state she was in.
Rouge had all the pillows and couch cushions in the house piled near the air conditioner. She sat atop them as she read and drank, what appeared to be, wine.
"How do you want to drink after the other night?"
She toasted to him, "It's cranberry juice."
"Really?"
"Of course, darling. I wanted to be fancy."
Shadow sat back down with a huff.
"There's no need to be anxious. We've gotten more than enough information from these papers and files than we anticipated. Between Amy's cryptic messages and the actual info on the documents, we've gained so much more insight." Rouge sat upright. "Did you give your report to the colonel yet?"
Shadow shook his head.
"Why not?"
He hesitated, "...can we trust the military?"
Rouge got up and rounded the couch. She sat down next to him. "Why are you questioning it now?"
Shadow shook his head again. "Not all of the military. Individuals may be informants to the Iron Kingdom. How else would Snively or his wife know about the tech we collected for Eggman? There's no way he'd let those kind of secrets slip willingly. Unless, no one informed them, and they discovered the hidden tech on their own."
Rouge held a out a hand, palm up, "Maybe Duchad told them. He could be trying to snub the doctor and cut a deal with the Iron Kingdom instead."
"All those posibilities are plausable." Shadow leaned forward on his knees. "We need to find out for sure."
Rouge brightened up. "Why not ask private Walker if he's heard anything? He's good to keep an ear out for shady dealings."
"Why? Afraid he'll miss out on something," Shadow snarked.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, ha-ha. You don't need to be mean." She pulled out her personal phone and made the call.
"Yo, what's up, girl," he casually said over the line.
"Private Walker, do you have a moment?" Rouge asked.
"Why are ya callin my personal line for work stuff? Or you're being weirdly formal. What's the deal?" he questioned with slight annoyance.
She became defensive. "We believe the military may be dealing with a mole." She backed down verbally. "I figured you'd be a trustworthy souce, since I know how much you dislike Duchad and his whole regime."
He spat. "Damn fat-cat, asshole thinks he can run the country like a factory. People aren't fodder, dude! Sure. What do you need from me, babe?"
"We think there's someone on the inside who could be feeding information to the Iron Kingdom. You and a select few know about our mission here, so see what they have going on." She gave him a list of names. "Those are the only people aware of our mission to Seaside Island."
He muttered as she spoke to him, which signaled he wrote things on paper.
"When you find out anything, if there's anything to be found out, only use your personal line to contact us about this."
"Yea, I suppose," he said distantly.
"Hmm? Are you busy? You seem distracted." She put a fist on her hip.
"Nah, everything's good. It's just...seein your number and ya callin me up on my personal line, while I'm off duty...I dunno, got my hopes up. I guess."
Rouge sighed. "What? Thought I was planning on flying back into your arms? I told you we were done, darling."
"Come on babe, I know I screwed up."
"Humph. That's putting it lightly. Twenty five years of manditory military is a huge turnoff, dear."
"I'm sorry!" He pleaded, "Give me another chance. I've been working on a way to fake our own deaths and start fresh in the Kingdom of Acorn."
"I don't think so," she said with disinterest.
"Fine, fine. We're done. I accept that. At the very least, could I ask a favour from ya?" he said solemly.
"I can spare a favour. What is it?" Rouge asked politely.
"Talk me off, one last time?" he asked with a serious tone.
"Oh my god, seriously?" Rouge facepalmed.
"Private Walker, I can hear you," Shadow said blankly.
Nervous laughter came over the speaker. "Sorry, sir! Won't happen again, Major Sir." He cringed. "You couldda said he was with you, geez." He made a throat clearing noise and spoke quieter, "...three minutes. It's all I need, babe."
Rough huffed in an exadurated way, "You're impossible! Do it yourself!" she raised her voice into the phone.
"I'm gonna be thinkin of you the whole time," he laughed and hung up the call.
"What a perv," Rouge said with a slight smirk as she put her phone away.
"To think, you let that catch get away." Shadow huffed out a single laugh.
"I knew the relationship would never last. At the time, we made a good team," she said and folded her arms. "You know...until you had us arrested."
"I'm baffled why you'd stick around him so long in the first place," Shadow asked as he laid his head on and over the back of the couch.
"He was fun. Handsome. Had a good sense of humor. And I always did find men with peircings attractive," she said and took up the opposite end of the couch Shadow was on. She kneeled down on the cushion and crawled toward him. She whispered when she got close, "Plus, the man could eat pussy like a fiend."
Shadow felt a pang of eletricity from head to toe. Her words were like his rings and stunned him momentarily.
"We're done with work, we have our own guy on the inside to watch for traitors and the resident superhero team is down on the beach for brunch. We have time to mess around."
Shadow smirked. "I suppose."
Rouge strattled him as she did the night they arrived on the island.
Shadow looked to his left at Amy, barely visible through the curtains. "At least she won't be able to hear or see anything this time."
Rouge kissed him deeply and then took his face in her hands. "I'm going to pretend she can," she said with a wide smirk.
The two enjoyed one anothers company once again, on the same couch.
Aww, workplace romances are cute and confusing ;D