So I may have gone overboard with this beginning mission ^^:
Also, I have the need to mention I don't like this website's UI. But that's a me problem.
00
Rouge takes a moment to catch her breath. She'd been too lax getting to her vantage point. She'd nearly tripped an alarm and had to take care of one of the robot guards. She hoped they didn't ping their location regularly because then the mission would truly be compromised.
She gets into position and activates her comm unit. "TL to Team: I'm in position," she says quietly. "Status."
Omega's halting words soon reply. "In position."
"Same."
Rouge grins. Everything's going without a hitch. At this rate, they should be home within eighteen hours. She glances at the metal scraps of the robot she destroyed. She brought them with her in case it's route overlapped with another robot's, but that still wouldn't matter if it got pinged.
She purses her lips as she pulls out a pair of binoculars. This is an old base, it shouldn't have any of the newer models that do ping their statuses regularly.
She takes a deep breath as she activates her comm again. "Alright, stay alert. I had to take out a guard on my way up," she reluctantly explains. "It's unlikely to ping, but be ready in case it does."
"Yeah, whatever," Shadow replies. Rouge can practically hear him rolling his eyes.
After a short pause, Omega replies. "Understood."
She scans the surrounding area. The patrol looks light, but she can't afford to underestimate it. She spots Shadow's and Omega's hiding spots but doesn't see them. Good. They're well hidden.
"Hold positions," she continues. "It shouldn't be more than a few hours to get their patrol fully catalogued."
Shadow merely grunts in respond while Omega gives another affirmative. With that done, Rouge settles back to watch.
00
It's been nearly three hours and Rouge is cursing herself for not at least bringing a nail file with her. The mission had seemed simple, if a bit long, but she didn't expect it to be this boring. The dang robots repeat their patrol routes every seventeen minutes. That all but confirmes that this is an outside occupation of an Eggman base. Well, that and the few mobian driven trucks that had entered and left the facility.
"Alright guys, this is a non-ronotnik base," Rouge sighs into her comm unit. "Shadow, head to the north north-east road and tail the next truck that drives out. Omega, that'll be your weapons free ten-counter signal. Once the commotion starts, I'll go in and gather further intel."
"Ten minute signal delay set," Omega replies.
"En route."
Rouge stands and stretches her legs and wings. Sitting in one position for too long always leaves her muscles feeling tight.
She's about to pocket her binoculars when a small blur catches her eye. Quickly crouching back down to stay hidden, she scans her surroundings. She's about to move again when she sees the movement again. Using her binoculars, she focuses on the movement.
Keeping her eye on the movement, she activates the comm link. "Be careful. The Kid's here which means Big Blue's nearby. Keep your eyes peeled for him," she instructs. "For now, our tasks still hold."
"This isn't even an Eggman base," Shadow gripes. "Why are they here?"
Before Rouge can reply, Omega starts speaking. "Hypothesis: they are likely here for the same reason we are," he says. "An old abandoned Eggman base becoming active after being abandoned for two years is suspicious."
"You don't say," Shadow replies drily.
Rouge ignores them as she continues to follow Tails with her binoculars. "Shadow, hold position!" She snaps when she realizes he's heading towards the road Shadow's supposed to wait at.
"Heard."
Tails lands in the middle of the road much to Rouge's annoyance. She has no idea how far Shadow is from their position.
"Do you have eyes on the Kid?" She asks.
"Negative."
"Omega?"
"Negative."
"Shadow, ping your comms. Omega, rendez-vous with Shadow," she orders.
"Mobilizing."
Rouge frowns as she watches Tails just stand around. He stands there long enough to tempt her to her old plan. "Shadow, Omega, retrace to Omega's previous position," she hesitantly instructs.
"Why have Omega come to me in the first place, then?" Shadow asks.
"I'm playing it by ear okay!" Rouge snaps. "And no need to stay hidden, just don't purposely–Stop! Big Blue spotted!"
"Great," Shadow growls irritably, "so we really are stuck cleaning up his mess."
"Unacceptable!" Omega adds. "I should be the one to eliminate Eggman's Robots!"
Shadow's snort is audible over the comm link.
Rouge frowns, this is not the time for Omega to get pissy. "Omega, remember the mission," she says tersely.
Taking a calming breath, she turns her attention back to Sonic and Tails. "Kid's taken flight again; Big Blue's charging up," she says. "I think he plans to hit the base from the north north-east road while the Kid takes my job."
"So what's the plan?" Shadow asks.
"We're revising the first plan. You're still trailing the first truck that crosses those gates," she instructs. The sound of alarms jars her attention for a moment. "Omega, get in there and make sure Blue Boy doesn't destroy every tuck that tries to escape."
Rouge doesn't waste any more time. She runs to the ledge and jumps.
"Inquiry,"
"Yes, you can destroy the robots!" She yells over the sound of the alarms. Not ten seconds later does a small explosion ring out.
Rouge snorts at the alarmed shouts of Sonic and Tails. She takes advantage of the heightened alert of the robots to draw their attention. Their shots are easy to evade. She almost forgot how laughable these older models were.
She smirks when she sees the base's anti-air defenses engage. She flaps her wings to get extra speed and beelines to Tails. "Hi, honey!" She calls grabbing his ankle. "I'm sure you won't mind taking care of things out here for me."
Tails barely gets a sound in before Rouge folds her wings and yanks his leg down. He let's out a startled and disoriented scream as he's spun through the air and hurled towards one of the turrets.
Rouge quickly extends her wings to reorient herself. She glanced over at Tails who scrambles out of the way as one of the ground robots shoot at him. She smirks again as the other turrets lock onto him.
That should keep all the defenses trained on him. It's not like he can't handle it after all; he wouldn't trail after Sonic like he does if he couldn't.
Rouge turns her attention back to the building and looks for a way in. She spots a large window on the lower level. She takes a deep breath and readies herself. She starts her dive towards the window, and half way down, she folds her wings only to use them to push herself down. She grits her teeth at the twinge of pain such an unnatural movement causes.
Her spiked heel hits the window and shatters it instantly. She shields her face from the glass but still feels the sting of cuts on her shoulders and ears.
She shakes off the impact and quickly disposes of the opposition.
She runs through the halls in search of the central control room. She occasionally spots other mobians duck into side rooms or run in the opposite direction.
A loud crash behind her causes her to stumble. Rouge quickly whirls around and reflexively flares her wings.
She blinks in surprise at the sight of Amy Rose.
"Hey, Rouge," Amy greets with a friendly smile.
"What are you doing here?" Rouge blurts.
Amy hefts her hammer onto her shoulder with a prideful grin. "Thought you could use some help."
Rouge relaxes slightly and eyes the pink hedgehog. "Sorry, hun, but I don't think you can help," she dismissed. She quickly glances around herself before picking a hallway. "Unless, of course, you know where the control room is," she tosses over her shoulder.
She's barely taken a step when Amy's words knock her off balance. "I don't know that," she starts off innocently, "but I do know where the guy in charge is."
Rouge is dumbstruck as she looks at Amy's faux innocent look. "What," she says dumbly.
Amy's smile broadens. "Come on, I'll show you!" She motions for Rouge to follow her.
00
Rouge stares dumbstruck at the tied up bison mobian. He'd clearly been beat up before he was captured. She turns back to Amy and notices she's scuffed up as well.
Amy gives her a sheepish smile. "I figured since this wasn't Eggman's doing, I could hand him over to the cops," she explained nervously.
"Amy," Rouge says placing a hand on the her shoulder. "You've just made my job a whole lot easier. Thank you."
Amy's whole face seems to light up. "Really?!"
Rouge nods.
Her comm crackles drawing her attention from the energetic girl.
"Sonic has left the designated area," Omega alerts.
"Dammit, Omega!" Shadow snaps. "You were supposed to keep him occupied!"
"This unit would like to remind Agent Shadow that it has limited mobility and maneuverability."
Rouge snorts earning her an odd look from Amy. She points to her ear were the earpiece is carefully tucked out of view.
"Oh, you're here on G.U.N business!" Amy says.
Rouge presses a button on her wristwatch that pings her location. "Why don't you boys stop arguing and come meet me inside the base."
"But what about the–,"
"It's fine," Rouge dismisses. "I've discovered something far more useful with the help of a certain Pink Rose."
"New directive received."
There's a slight pause before Shadow's curious voice says, "Amy Rose is there?"
"And she brought us a gift!" Rouge replies happily. "So hurry up."
She turns back to Amy. "I hope you don't mind waiting here for the boys," she says. "I still have a control room to find."
"Oh, uhm. Sure," Amy says awkwardly as she watches Rouge leave the small room.
00
Amy glances around the room. She picked it to store the bad guy in because of how plain it was, but now she's cursing it's lack of places to sit. With a sigh. She slides down the wall to sit on the floor.
She's glad that Rouge is there on G.U.N business though. She'd been worried about how she was going to get the bad guy to the authorities and explain exactly how he got like that. Now that Rouge was here, she didn't have to worry about that!
The wall beside her explodes causing her to shriek and jump to her feat. She hefts her hammer only to sigh in relief when she sees that it's just Omega.
"Omega! You could have seriously hurt me!" She huffs.
"Not possible," Omega replies plainly as a black blur rushes into the room. "I calculated my attack before execution to prevent excessive harm of mobians inside."
Shadow looks Amy up and down with a critical look in his eyes.
Amy tries not to shift under the totally not intimidating gaze of Team Dark's less than friendly members... Okay maybe it's a little intimidating.
"Omega, be more careful around Amy Rose," Shadow instructs turning away from her. "It's one thing if you accidentally hurt me and Rouge or even dumbass and the Kid. She's more civilian than them–,"
Amy crosses her arms definitely "Hey! I can handle myself!" She snaps angrily.
Shadow's raised eyebrow is the only indication he heard her as he continues without pausing. "And she doesn't actively work against us."
Amy let's out a surprised "oh" as her arms drop back down to her sides.
"Understood," Omega says turning to fully face Amy. "Agent Rouge said you had a gift of use to our mission."
"Oh right!" She brightens up considerably now that she has a chance to show just how capable she it.
She moves around Omega and Shadow to the tied up bison. She cringes as she notices him starting to stir. "Tada!" She says with an exaggerated flourish. "I present to you, the baddie leader!"
Shadow walks over to the two of them and examines the tied up man. He let's out a low thoughtful hum. "Omega, recalibrate your attacks when this is over. You almost knocked him out."
"Actually that was me," Amy interjects, "and he's just waking up."
As if to prove her point, the bison snorts angrily. "You damn bitch!" He roars. "When I get–,"
Amy yelps as Shadow's foot connects with the bison's temple knocking him back out. "Omega, grab the prisoner and contact our field ops-oh for extraction coordinates."
"Understood," Omega says. He grabs the unconscious bison and leaves from the same way he came.
Amy shifts awkwardly. With all that said and done, she doesn't know what to do next. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around?" She says awkwardly.
Shadow merely grunts and... walks out the hole Omega made...
She cringes as she follows. She'd said her goodbye only to end up going the same way as him.
She's instantly relieved when she hears Sonic's voice. Even if he does sound really angry.
"Shadow! I should have known this was your doing!" Sonic accuses rushing at them.
Shadow simply steps out of the way. "For once, I didn't actually do anything this mission."
"Yeah?" Sonic challenges. "Is that why you let Amy get hurt?"
"Hey!" Amy shouts.
Shadow glances back at her. "She was like that when I found her."
Sonic narrows his eyes at Shadow before dashing to her. "Amy what are you still doing here?" He asks sounding equal parts worried and exasperated. "It's dangerous!"
She can't help the smile that makes its way onto her face. "Aw, I didn't mean to make you worry so much," she says bashfully.
"You don't give her enough credit," Shadow cuts in drily.
Sonic's look of exasperation turns to irritation as he looks away from Amy. Not that she can blame him, even she feels a little annoyed at the interruption.
"What would you know," Sonic challenges with a smirk. "Like you said, you didn't even do anything."
Shadow rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "That's because Rose snuck in undetected and captured the one in charge by the time any of us got into the base."
Amy guesses one of his teammates contacts him by his sudden shift in focus. His attention briefly returns to her and he says. "Rouge appreciates your aid on the mission." With that, he disappears in a flash of green.
"Hey, I'm not done with you!" Sonic dashes at him but barely misses before he disappears. Sonic sighs and returns to Amy's side. He holds out a hand to her. "Come on, let's get out of his dangerous place."
Amy squeals and grabs his hand. She's instantly hoisted into his arms as he takes off running.
After a few short minutes, Sonic says, "You really should be more careful."
"It wasn't even an Eggman base," she says rolling her eyes.
"I'm talking about Shadow and the rest of Team Dark. They're dangerous."
"So are we!" She counters.
"That's not what I mean," Sonic shakes his head. "They do shady stuff and they're willing to hurt others to get what they want."
Amy frowns thinking back to how Shadow told Omega to be more careful.
She knows Sonic and Shadow have some stupid rivalry going on, but she knows for a fact Sonic didn't talk about Knuckles like this before they became friends.