It was 5:00 PM on the eastern coast of the Kingdom of Mobius, and Annalisa Jensen was leaving the headquarters of HEXAeco in Ruby City, the second-largest city in the country. A mink with brown fur, brown eyes and three white stripes on the top of her forehead, Jensen was the envy of most any man, and she enjoyed the end of the workday just like everybody else. The one thing she wasn't looking forward to, however, was the rush hour traffic she'd have to contend with on the way back to her home in the southern part of the city. Nevertheless, as she hopped in her Alabaster Silver 2014 Honda Civic sedan, she took solace in the fact that the trip would be over and she could relax with a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon over tonight's supper once she got home, away from the cool mid-October air.
After buckling up like every other responsible adult would do, Jensen started the car, the radio being tuned in to KPR – Kingdom Public Radio, the national public radio station of Mobius. Unlike her contemporaries, she preferred to have a drive home free of the clatter and saccharinity of Top 40 or rap radio. Besides, KPR was good for talking about local and global news in as non-incendiary a fashion as possible. Thus far, as she pulled out onto 43rd Street, her drive was going quite well. Then, when her eyes darted to the fuel gauge, she noticed it was reading a little below the ¼ mark, so she pulled into a nearby HEXAeco gas station and went to fill up. Thanks to her company-issued credit card, she got a nice 25-cent discount on every gallon of fuel she put in her tank, and at 3.75 Mobiums per gallon, it cost her 31.85 Mobiums to put 9.1 gallons of the lowest-octane fuel in her car and fill the tank. Pressing "YES" on the pump when asked if she wanted a receipt, she took her receipt and was about to get back in her car when the craving came over her. Thus, she went inside the attached Foodson convenience store and grabbed a Hershey bar with almonds at the counter.
"Hi, Anna," said the cashier, a blue fox.
"Hey there, Steve!" said Jensen.
Steve Harrelson rang up the candy bar. "Is that gonna be everything?"
"Yep!"
"1.37, please."
Jensen handed Steve two one-Mobium bills and got her 63 cents change.
"Thank you, have a nice day," said Steve.
Jensen waved at Steve. "You too!"
Jensen wasted no time in unwrapping the Hershey bar and taking a bite before driving off. Much to her surprise, when she pulled onto Zone Route 43, traffic was at an acceptable volume, so she was more easily able to keep her eyes focused on her immediate surroundings. That glass of Cabernet Sauvignon was going to taste that much better tonight. Then, her eyes darted to the windshield-mounted mirror, and she caught sight of a Twin Beacon Ray lightbar with two red lights and a roof-mounted siren speaker, no doubt belonging to a Ruby City PD patrol car. Though Jensen prided herself as a cautious driver, knowing that a cop was following her gave her anxiety. Nevertheless, she played it as cool as she possibly could, and the blue-and-white Chevy Biscayne passed her soon enough, the officer behind the wheel deciding that there were better fish to fry.
Soon enough, Jensen was approaching Exit 4B, the closest exit to her home. She put on her right indicator to signal that she was getting off the highway and not only looked in her right-hand mirror, but also physically turned her head to the right to check for oncoming traffic. In doing so, she got a nasty surprise: a black 1974 GMC Vandura was accelerating rapidly and not only pulled up alongside her, but interdicted her from getting off that exit.
"HEY!" Jensen attempted to wave the van driver out of the way and even honked her horn a couple of times. "HEY!"
It was no use.
"JERK!"
Though not ordinarily one to fall prey to road rage, Jensen rolled down her window and flipped off the van driver, rolling it back up as she desperately searched for another exit. However, her little act of fury had proven to be a bad move: rather than exiting the freeway, the van elected to follow her, rather closely, too. Within that moment, Jensen's enjoyment of public radio was disrupted by a loud bass booming from the van. As it turned out, the driver had popped in a cassette tape of electronic music that sounded like a sad attempt at dance music using the sound of a robot cat being thrown in a blender.
Not a fan of so-called "boom cars", Jensen attempted to get off the highway at Exit 4A, but this time, not only did the van block her from getting off the highway, but it slammed into the right side of her Civic a couple of times.
"WHAT THE…!?" exclaimed Jensen.
Knowing that this van was bad news, Jensen made no attempt to confront the driver about the alleged accident; she just floored it as best as she could and made attempts to evade the van and its mad driver. Unfortunately, her Civic's 1.8L four-cylinder engine was no match for the Vandura's 350 ci V8. The driver of the van elected to taunt her for a bit by ramming her Civic's rear end for a bit.
"OH MY GOD!" exclaimed Jensen. "STOP!"
Jensen kept her foot on the accelerator as far down as it would feasibly go. For a brief moment, she found relief when Exit 2B came up. Unfortunately for her, such relief was fleeting when the Vandura gave her one hard push, thereby sending her car out of control and causing it to ram into a light pole. Jensen survived, but the van got away.
Within minutes, an ambulance from the Mobius State Hospital System was on scene to tend to Jensen, as was a fire engine from the Ruby City FD. More importantly, a couple of patrol cars from the Royal Mobian Constabulary – the national military state police force of the Kingdom of Mobius – were on scene. While these emergency personnel were going about their business, a Shadow Gray 1970 Chevy Camaro RS/SS pulled up. This was one of the high-speed unmarked Interceptor units that the RMC used. Out of the car stepped Corporal I Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the top – if not the top – pursuit men on the force. Though only 3'3", Sonic carried an imposing presence with his fall/winter uniform, which included a navy blue long-sleeve shirt with navy blue clip-on tie, navy blue breeches with black/silver braiding and black Dehner leather patrol boots. As if that wasn't imposing enough, like other sworn members of the RMC, he also had a submachine gun in addition to his Para P14 service pistol, in this case an Uzi in a DeSantis rig. Combine this with the fact that his headgear was a midnight blue Super Seer riot helmet – optional for most Constables, but mandatory for guys like him in the Interceptor Squad – he looked like somebody straight out of RoboCop. As he approached the scene, Constable II Knuckles the Echidna approached him.
"Hey Knux, what it is?"
"The victim said she was driving home from work when this black van attacked her," replied Knuckles.
"How's she doin'?"
"She's still alive, but she got pretty banged up. Her car's pretty much totalled, too."
"Mind if I ask her a few questions?"
"Go right ahead!"
Without question, Sonic made his way over to Jensen, who was now in a neck brace and being prepared to be loaded onto the ambulance.
"Hold it, you two," said Sonic. "I'd like to ask her a few questions."
Thus, the ambulance attendants stopped short of loading Jensen onto the ambulance.
"Miss, what's your name?" asked Sonic.
"A-Annalisa Jensen, but my friends call me 'Anna'."
"Mm-hmm." Sonic was taking down notes on a waterproof notepad. "Where do ya live, Anna?"
"124 Rolfe Street, Ruby City."
"OK, now in your own words, tell me exactly what happened."
"I…I was driving home from work…a-and I tried to get off at my usual exit, and then this…this van cut me off and ran me off the road!"
"Can ya give me a description of the van?"
"I-it was a black van, I…I don't remember anything else about it."
"What about the driver? Can ya give me a description of the driver?"
"N-n-no; the windows…they were too dark to see through!"
"It's OK to be scared, Anna. Just take a deep breath, and if anything else comes to mind, don't be afraid to tell me."
Anna obeyed Sonic as best as she could.
"Wait…I remember…the music…"
"What kind of music?"
"I don't know what it's called, but…but…it was this weird…like…electronic music. Please, Constable…this man was trying to kill me!"
"What makes ya think the driver was tryin' to do that?"
"The way he drove, I just…well…I never saw anybody drive like that before! Look at what he did to my car!"
Seeing that Jensen was on the verge of tears, Sonic put his notepad and waterproof pen away before putting his hand on Jensen's.
"Anna, I just wanna let ya know that we're gonna do everything we can to bring this guy to justice. In the meantime, I wish ya a speedy recovery, and me and my fellow Constables are gonna pray for ya, ya dig?"
Sonic cracked a slight smile. Though it hurt seeing such a promising young woman in such pain, he had to comport himself well at all times as per the Constable's Code of Conduct. Jensen nodded as best as she could, and the attendants loaded her into the ambulance before it drove off. Just then, Sonic looked at his notes, and he frowned as his Hedgehog Sense tingled. He walked over to Knuckles.
"What's up, Sonic?"
"Knux, I got a bad feelin' about this…"
"How so?"
"I remember Amy…she said she was wrapped up in some crap like this. I'm thinkin' whoever did this to Anna was the same guy who tried to wreck Ames."
"But what if it's only a coincidence?"
"It might seem that way now, but the way I figure, this cat's probably gonna try to wipe somebody else out, and we gotta stop him before he does."
"Look, Sonic, I think you're a really good Constable, but I don't want ya gettin' in trouble with Klerx or the rest of the brass!"
"Hey man, if I'm right, then I won't get in trouble."
Sonic turned around and headed for his Camaro, while Knuckles stared at him, wondering just how far he would go in this case.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.