A/N: Heh heh. Sorry for the delay, folks. Just when I was about to post this one, my floppy disk decided flip me the bird, and corrupt itself. The good news is I only lost this chapter, and the next. After that, I'm back on schedule.
On a side note, I just realized that the Russian KGB went belly up in 1991. So, instead of the KGB Head captured with our Sec. of Defense, we have the Russian FSB (Federal Security Bureau) Head.
Ryan Perreault, if you're still reading this, thanks for the heads up.
One other thing. Since I forgot in the first two chapters, here are my disclaimers: Sonic and co. belongs to Sega. Halo belongs to Bungie Studios, which belongs to Microsoft. F/A-22 Raptor is owned by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
And for the sake of references, here are the ages once again:
Sonic: 20 ½. Will be 21 on January 27.
Knuckles: 21
Amy: 19
Tails: 13
Rouge: 20
And here we go!
McLean, Virginia. Central Intelligence Agency. George Bush Center For Intelligence. January 24, 2003. 4:24 P.M. EDT.
Rouge checked her e-mail one last time before heading home. She scrolled down her inbox. Junk mail, junk mail… commanche_156@yahoo.com? The subject line only had the words 'open it up and read it'. That e-mail address… "Wait, that's Sonic and Tails' e-mail…" she murmured. Then, it hit her. "Of course they'd want to know more about the situation." But, what good would she be? The top has been tight-lipped about it ever since it started. All information about the situation had been classified level Delta. As a field agent on desk duty, she only had level Rho clearance. The only information she was able to get had come from unofficial channels; she couldn't guarantee the authenticity.
Even at that, what if she was caught leaking unofficial information? Wouldn't that be espionage or treason? Surely, her own government would understand giving Sonic information about anything related to Eggman, right?
With that in mind, she opened up the mail. "Cam-chat at six, eh?" She heard footsteps coming down her aisle. Turning her head, she could see Staff Operations Officer Scott Dowell, or 'Boss' as she called him, a thirty-year-old anthropod bloodhound coming toward her. She quickly closed down her e-mail, not wanting to arouse suspicion. "Hey, Boss. Anything new yet?"
Dowell shook his head. "Nothing that has been declassified to your level yet."
In other words, she didn't need to know yet, or he for that matter. "Probably didn't go down to your level yet." Rouge smirked.
Dowell smirked. "Oh trust me, Bat. It's well within my level of clearance. There's nothing else that you can do here today. Take-off, kid. You're excused."
"Thanks, Boss!" With that, she shut down her Windows 2000-run computer, and headed home.
Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A. 'The Strip', hangar. January 24, 2003. 5:25 P.M. EDT.
Sonic studied the schematics and parts scattered around the hangar, then glanced at Tails, who was making some kind adjustment on the workstation nearby. "So, how's the Hurricane coming along?" Sonic asked.
"Everything's working fine so far. All I have to do is install the engines, and a few other things, and I'll have the bird flying in about a month."
Tails conceived the idea of the Hurricane a few months ago after Sonic went on a deep recon mission for the CIA and military R & D (Research and Development) to obtain data on the schematics and performance of Dr. Robotnik's new air superiority fighter, the Reaper. Tails knew that the Tornado 2/Cyclone wouldn't stand a chance against it; The Tornado 2 was more like an attack aircraft. He needed a new design, but he had nothing to base it on.
One day, while playing his favorite game on the PS2, Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, it hit him. As soon as he unlocked the X-02, his mind was set on making it a reality. His version of the X-02 would feature variable geometry wings shaped like wide 'V's. At high velocity, the wings would fold into the traditional sweptback position for less drag, and would unfold like a switchblade at low speeds to provide very high maneuverability during dogfights. It also sports canards (they're like mini wings) just behind the cockpit. Two Pratt & Whitney F100-119 afterburning turbofans, the same engines powering the F/A-22 Raptor, power the jet with thrust vectoring (the engines are able to control pitch and roll directly, along with the elevator). The jet didn't have the traditional separate rudder and elevator assembly; it had a marriage of the two aptly called the 'ruddervator' by Tails. Added to the design was a rear radar system, located in a large boom at the rear of the jet between the engine housings, allowing the jet to fire at targets behind it, and VTOL (Vertical TakeOff and Landing) capabilities. Weapons wise, the Hurricane has eight hard points (weapon loading stations), all internal to reduce its radar signature, can carry missiles and bombs of any configuration, and an internal 20mm Vulcan cannon.
A couple of questions came to Sonic. "I have two questions: where did you get the parts from, and why use an unproven design?"
Tails smiled. "First answer, the crew chiefs at Homestead said they had plenty of spares. Second answer, I did the math in my head. It will work. You'll see in about a month."
A celebratory shout from Amy, and a loud curse from Knuckles directed Sonic's attention to the lounge next to the office. Sonic walked in to see Amy and Knuckles playing a game of Halo. From first glance, he could see they were on the "Damnation" map, and he stood in the doorjamb to watch for awhile. A few seconds later, Knuckles' red Master Chief spun around and dropped dead by a headshot from Amy's sniper rifle. "Damn!" Sonic's eyes widened. He didn't know Amy was that good.
"Motherfucker!" Knuckles cursed, doing a good imitation of how Peoples off of "Shaft" cursed.
"Woohoo!" Amy whooped.
Sonic chuckled. "Ooooh, Knux, you gonna let her get away with doing you like that?"
Knuckles snorted. "Pshhhhh! That was just luck!"
"Oh?" Amy asked innocently. "You call three straight headshots luck?!"
Sonic's jaw hit the floor. Three straight headshots? It was impossible to get three straight hits with the sniper rifle. "Start a new game. Get me in. Same map." This, he had to see for himself.
Half an hour later…
Sonic's rocket launcher shot at Knuckles' feet, fragging him and sending him flying about thirty feet in the air. He held 'back' to check the score. Valkyrie (Amy): 24; 187man (Sonic): 24; Beast (Knuckles): 19. One more frag until victory for him… and for Amy. Sonic and Amy made a small friendly wager that if she won, they would have to kiss on the lips, for two seconds. Sonic knew that two seconds could be an eternity, as five seconds could be in a football or basketball game. For the sake of his pride, he could not lose. Hang on, Amy didn't have to go after him… "Knucklehead, hide! With my luck, you'll be her last frag!"
"Man, hell naw! I ain't pullin' back just because of you! I can still win this!" Knuckles snapped.
Sonic clucked his tongue. "Fine, but if she frags you, I'm kicking your ass!"
Amy laughed. "Oh don't worry, Sonic. I'm going straight for you anyways."
Sonic dropped down to the ground below to the rocket launcher, losing some shields. That's alright, they'll recharge later. He happened to look at Amy's screen, and saw something that scared the hell outta him: her sniper scope zoomed and centered on a head. The name above the sight: 187man. He's had it. "Aw, fuck!" He cursed ala Cartman. Amy pulled the trigger, Sonic's blue Master Chief spun around and fell dead, and the game announced "Game over." Shocked, Sonic's controller fell from his hands, clattering unceremoniously on the concrete.
"Yahoo! I won!" Amy pumped her fist in the air triumphantly. "Well Sonic? Time to pay up."
Sonic shook his head. Beaten at his own game, and during a bet. "Sonufabitch." He swore. He turned to her, took a deep breath…
…Then, at a most opportune (or inopportune for Amy) moment, Tails ran in. "Hey guys! It's six already!"
"Bet!" Sonic bolted up, and skirted for the office, to Amy's dismay. "Knux, turn off 'the brick' (My nickname for the X-Box. That thing weighs a ton compared to everything else)."
"Tails! I was this close!" Amy whined, holding her thumb and forefinger a millimeter apart. "Couldn't you have waited a few more seconds?!" Before getting up and heading toward
The twin-tailed fox blinked. "Did I miss something?"
Washington D.C., U.S.A. Rouge's apartment. January 24, 2003. 6:08 P.M. EDT.
The audacity of that hedgehog, Rouge thought. First, he tells her to be on the web-cam at six. Then, when it comes time, he isn't even there! Rouge kicked her boots off, exposing her pretty feet, and kicked them on top of her desk. She had already gotten out of the business suit she wore for desk duty, and gotten into her regular gear. Finally, the alias commanche_156 appeared in the private lobby. She sighed, and double-clicked on the name to start the chat.
Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A. 'The Strip', office. Same time.
"Oops, she's already here." Sonic cringed. "She's gonna warm our asses for being late."
Knuckles clucked his tongue from the corner. "Just go ahead and enter."
Sonic snorted. "Easy for you to say. You're not the first one she'll see on her monitor. Anyway, looks like we don't have a choice. She's pulled us in." He adjusted the web-cam at the top of the monitor, reclined in his office swivel chair, and waited.
A few seconds later, Rouge's video feed was on the monitor, and she looked a little miffed. "I hope you guys know you're not supposed to be late for something you schedule!" Rouge complained.
"Well, if it isn't our favorite contact in the CIA." Sonic said. "Surely you can live with us being ten minutes late, right?"
"I hope you know I'm doing you guys a favor by doing this."
Sonic smirked. "Actually, you're doing both the U.S. and Russia a favor by doing this, but that's not the point."
Rouge chuckled. "Yeah, true. So, how have you guys been? I haven't seen you guys in like forever!"
"Okay, I guess," Sonic shrugged, glanced over at Knuckles, who he thought was off camera, and an evil smile crept on his face. "And there's one person who's been dying to see you." With that, he abruptly turned the cam at Knuckles, who was caught badly off guard.
"Oh, uh… um… hey, Rouge." Knuckles blushed, which is pretty hard since he's already red.
Rouge smiled sweetly. "Heya, Red! Long time, no see. I see you still haven't learned to loosen up."
He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, whatever."
Sonic snickered, and then yelped when he felt the chair give way, as if it was going to tip over. He looked up to see Amy holding his chair back. "That was mean!" Amy chided.
Sonic regained his balance. "If I fall, I'll chokeslam you!" He threatened.
Amy giggled. "Don't forget that you owe me a kiss." She said before righting him.
Sonic turned the cam back toward him. "Okay, enough fun. Down to business. Any new intelligence on the situation?"
Rouge sighed. "Don't know how much help I can be. Anything news besides what's already public that I've gotten was through unofficial channels, so I can't guarantee its accuracy."
Damn! Just rumors, Sonic thought. "What the hell kind of intelligence work is that?!" He sighed, knowing that's the best they'll probably get. "We'll take it. Whaddya got?"
"Before I tell you anything, this feed is encrypted, right?" Rouge asked.
"Ha! How about my new and improved 128-bit encryption?" Tails boasted. "It'll take the best hackers in the world over an hour to break it."
Rouge smiled. "That'll work. What do you want to know?"
Everyone thought for a moment. Then Tails spoke up. "How about how Eggman's forces were able to get that deep into Russia undetected. If I'm right, Russia's developed a radar system that can detect a fart in the wind!"
"That's about right," Rouge answered. "The Russians are saying that a half hour before the raid, their western early warning radar failed. An hour after, they reported that everything was back to normal."
Sonic scratched his chin. "Hmm, maybe Eggman infiltrated the network?"
"Probably." Tails muttered.
"Okay, second question," Sonic began. "Do you know where the defense heads were extracted to?"
Rouge shook her head. "Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact location. Since it was stormy in Western Russia, our surveillance satellites couldn't get a lock. Survivors said they saw the dropships extract to the south."
"South, huh?" Amy grabbed an atlas off of a nearby bookstand. Flipping it to a map of Russia, she observed. "Well, to the immediate south of Moscow are two large bodies of water: the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea."
"And we found out a few months ago that egg carriers have amphibious capabilities," Sonic stated. "You might want to hint to your people to watch those two areas."
Rouge grinned. "Trust me, Sonic. They're covering all bases."
"Any word on a U.S. or Russian response?" Sonic inquired.
Rouge shook her head. "Zilch so far. You'd think they'd come to you first. You might want to check out CNN for any updates. That's all I can tell you."
"Yeah, that is strange," Tails thought. "It's almost as if they want to keep us out of it."
"But why?" Knuckles questioned.
"Who knows how this government works." Sonic commented. "For all we know, there could be someone behind the scenes who's actually pulling the strings."
Tails shook his head. "Somebody's been playing too much Metal Gear Solid 2."
"Well, it could happen." Sonic reasoned. "But, back to the topic, it looks like our only option for now is to tune into CNN. Thanks for the info, Rouge. We'll let you know if we find anything."
"No problem, Sonic. Signing off. See ya!" With that, a disconnection message showed up on screen. A few seconds later, the screen went back to the desktop.
Sonic sighed. "Well, that's just it. We gotta keep it tuned to CNN. Everyone stays together. We may have to act on a moment's notice.
"One problem," Tails said. "'The Strip' doesn't have cable."
"Well, we could go to my place." Amy suggested.
"Bad idea," Knuckles started. "Your place is only a one bedroom apartment. Ours is three, plus a couch. Not to mention, me and Sonic already stocked up on food."
"True," Amy admitted.
Sonic finished shutting down the computer. "Alright then, it's settled. Let's close down 'The Strip', and get back to Miami." With that, everyone headed out. While he was helping Tails close the hangar doors, he remarked. "Well, with CNN, who needs the CIA?"
A/N: Well, now that took a lot longer to draw up than last time. Just one more chapter, and I'll be back on schedule. Once again, leave a review, or e-mail me and let me know I still have an audience here. Next chapter, the gang watches enough CNN to last three lifetimes. Peace!