Disclaimer: I own nothing!
A/N: Hey! Ever wonder where'd the name "Rakshasa" come from? Well, here it is: In ancient Hindu myth, they are a classification of evil spirits who, on occasion, can sometimes also be friendly. They often battle the gods and are thought to hurt people at night. The Rakshas are led by Ravana, their king, and are the eternal enemies of Vishnu, one of the foremost divinities of the Hindu pantheon. The Rakshas are the descendants of Rishi Kashyapa, a sage and a seer. They usually appear in the shape of a dog or a bird with a fat body, or as a skeleton.
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. Air Force One, on approach to Hickam Air Force Base. January 26, 2003. 0850 hours.
"That sonufabitch…" President Dugan muttered from his conference room. The only other occupants in the room were his Secret Service agents, and Staff Operations Officer Scott Dowell. "I can't believe this, Sonic and Robotnik both! Dowell! How the hell could you let them black op. like this directly against my orders?!" Dugan snapped.
"Mr. President, you should know full well to have faith in Sonic and his allies." Dowell responded. "Not to mention, I have my best field agent with them, along with a group of highly trained SEALs! I think I like our chances. Besides, you said it yourself after Robotnik made contact: you'd contact Sonic and his allies along with support." Five hours after Sonic and co. left D.C., Robotnik made contact with the White House. His demands in return for the safe return of Secretary of Defense Mark Cummings: the surrender of Hawaii. It's small, but according to Robotnik, it held significant strategic importance. They were also given the customary 24 hours to comply, and there were only two and a half hours until the deadline. Needless to say, Dugan wasn't going to surrender a grain of U.S. soil to the mad scientist, nor was he going to let a good friend be taken prisoner.
The President rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples. "That's not the point, Dowell. The point is you disobeyed a direct order! It's the principle of the whole thing."
Dowell reclined in his chair. "Yeah, well, looks like things are going to work out for the best, Mr. President."
"I hope so, Dowell. For your sake." Dugan muttered.
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. U.S.S. Los Angeles, helm. Same time.
Amy gasped into her headset. That cold metallic gaze of its red visual sensors, the jet engine on its torso. There was no doubt about it. It was Metal. "Oh, God no!" She gasped. Sonic had barely survived his last encounter with Metal at Floating Island. "Why now?"
Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Egg Carrier Rakshasa, atrium. Same time.
Sonic backed away slowly down the steps, gun drawn. It wasn't the fact that his robotic double was rebuilt, but the fact that it would be on this ship. "What the hell is Metal doing here?!" Sonic breathed. "I thought he'd be on a larger fleet carrier!"
Knuckles raised his weapon the best he could, what, with a round already in his shoulder. "I would think so, too."
"I cannot let you advance any further." Metal's modulated voice said.
Collins stepped up. "Like hell, we will! Take this!"
"Collins! Don't!" Knuckles shouted.
"Oh, shit!" Sonic dove out of the way as Collins charged towards Metal, gun blazing. Metal strafed to the left, then flew into the air in a blur amid a hail of tracers, doing a flip before landing on the ground and rushing Collins at full speed, knocking the Labrador Retriever anthropod into the wall with a sickening crunch. Sonic didn't even have to check for a pulse to see if he was dead. "He's had it." He murmured.
"I cannot let you advance any further." Metal repeated again. "You will all be neutralized."
Sonic quickly loaded a fresh clip into his rifle, getting between Metal, and the rest of the group. "Guys, listen up." He started slowly. "I want you guys to get to the flight deck. You should be able to get there from Hot Shelter." When he didn't get an answer, he shouted. "Move it! Now!"
Tails shook his head. "You expect us to do that?!"
"This bastard's gonna pay for wasting Collins!" Barnes shouted.
"That's an order! Get the hell outta here!" He sighed. "I'll find a way to destroy Metal, one way or another. Just trust me on this. Now move!"
"Goddammit!" Vasquez swore. Reluctantly, he followed orders. "Yes, boss." He turned to the rest of the group. "Alright! You heard the man! Let's move out!" With that, everyone boarded the elevator.
Tails froze after getting on for a brief second, and then moved to get out through the crowd. "No! I won't let'em fight alone!" Just when he was through the crowd, the elevator door closed on him. The last thing he saw and heard before they closed completely was Sonic firing his M4 rifle with a battle cry.
"You damned phantom!" Sonic cursed, shooting burst after burst of his rifle at Metal. Metal zipped around the room, avoiding Sonic's tracers. He landed on the ground level, and rushed the hedgehog in an attempt to do him in the way he did in Collins. "I ain't that easy!" Sonic yelled, and somersaulted up to the second level, completely avoiding Metal. He then fired his loaded grenade round at Metal's feet, but missed when the bot used his reverse thrusters to jump backward.
"Oh, please, original." Metal said, almost mockingly. "I am far superior to you, or Shadow, or Metal Sonic Mark I!" A small RPG launcher deployed from its arm and fired.
"Oh, shit!" Sonic somersaulted right before the RPG could disembody him, landing back on the ground floor. Another RPG followed, aimed for his feet, and Sonic back flipped to the top of the steps, firing three more bursts before the clicking the rifle was making told him to reload. All nine rounds connected, but did minimal damage, only dents if anything. "Dammit! If I could only put a grenade in him…"
Metal again charged at Sonic, who evaded left, and dashed along the top part of the atrium, with Metal not more than a couple of yards behind. Sonic loaded his last grenade round into his launcher. "I gotta make this count!" He suddenly turned around, ready to insert the grenade round into Metal's thrusters, but Metal strafed off the ledge. "Dammit!" Sonic cursed as he stopped. Metal's maneuvering was too fast to get a good bead on it. It obviously wanted Sonic to shoot the round and miss.
Sonic wasn't fooled. Instead, he took out his last chaff grenade, pulled the pin, and let it roll. It exploded…
Metal wasn't affected. Instead, it just crossed its robotic arms across its chest, as if mocking him. "Oh, come on, original. Surely, you'd think I would be much more resistant to electronic countermeasures!"
Sonic shrugged. "Now what?" Wait a second. Metal stopped. Then… bingo! Sonic lifted his rifle, bringing the grenade launcher to bear. Metal's CPU predicted it, and before Sonic could level it, the titanium-armored mech took off again. Sonic's eyes could barely keep up with his maneuvering, but before he could defend, he saw Metal barrowing down towards him, and smack the rifle out of his hands. Sonic instinctively went for his SOCOM pistol, but Metal grabbed him by the scruff of his BDU, and flung him over the railing, and to the ground below in a heap. Metal then brought his RPG launcher to bear and fired. "Oh, fuck!" Sonic quickly got up and tried to strafe/somersault away. He succeeded, somewhat. The RPG missed the direct hit, but the concussion of the blast threw Sonic a good seven yards into the steps back first.
Metal hovered to the ground. "As I said before, original. I am far superior to you, Shadow, or Mark I!" It boasted, leveling its RPG launcher.
Sonic tried to clear the cobwebs out of his head. His back was hurting. On his headset, he could hear Amy yelling at him desperately to get up, as if that'll help him any. "You damned phantom!" He cursed, as if that would help him.
Metal did his best imitation of a shrug.
Yet, before it could fire, a figure in black jumped down from the rafters, landing gracefully between Sonic and Metal. The figure wore all black gear: helmet, clothes, everything. Sonic never saw field gear like this guy's. Then, the figure spoke. "Sonic, get clear. I'll handle the rest."
Sonic tried to figure out the figure's identity through his/her voice, but there must have been a voice filter inside the helmet that gave it a cyborg-like quality. Sonic crawled up the rest of the steps to watch the possible battle. After a minute of staring between the two combatants, Sonic saw something that he didn't think he'd see again.
Metal rushed at the black-clad figure, looking for an easy KO. The black figure just stood there calmly, arms crossed over his/her chest. "You damned idiot! Move!" Sonic screamed. Then, at the last minute, the figure in black winked out of existence in a flash of light. "What the hell?!" He gasped. Impossible. That looked just like Chaos Control. And the only two people who's been able to do it were himself and…
…Shadow?! No! Couldn't be! He was incinerated in the atmosphere. Sonic saw him fall after they had destroyed Biohazard outside the ARK. But, still, this guy was using the ability with a skill only seen in himself and Shadow.
Metal slammed on brakes and turned around… only to get hit with a Sonic-like spin attack, and it stumbled back. "Who is this guy?" Sonic asked himself. "And why do I keep getting coming up with Shadow as an answer?!"
Metal stabilized itself, and with the black figure still in the air, launched an RPG at him/her. Once again, the unknown fighter teleported away and the RPG exploded harmlessly on the rafters. This time, Metal was hit from behind, sending the mech careening to the floor face first. Metal used its reverse thrusters to launch into the air, but was promptly knocked into the automatic opening and closing armory room by a Chaos Control assisted attack.
"Sonic, now! Use a grenade!" The black-clad figure ordered.
Wasting no time, Sonic took out a frag grenade, pulled the pin, opened the armory door, threw it in, and jumped away to the other side of the atrium. "Big fire in the hole!" He shouted, duck and covering. The ensuing explosion rocked the atrium, blowing the armory door completely off, taking out a large chunk of the surrounding wall, and second floor catwalk in a mess of burning, twisted metal. Sonic stood up to survey the damage. "Damn! What was in there? C4? Semtex (Sometimes called the terrorists' C4)?" After a while, Metal didn't emerge from the destroyed armory. He now moved to confront his unknown helper. "Alright, who are you? And how—"
"Neither friend, or foe. Don't move!" The black figure ordered, pulling out a SOCOM pistol. He leveled it toward Sonic's head. "Do you trust me?"
Sonic looked at him/her as if crazy. "What the hell?! Hell naw, I don't trust you!"
If the helmet and visor wasn't covering his/her face, Sonic could swear that a smirk would be on it. "But, you have no choice but to trust. Again, don't move!" Before, Sonic could react, the black figure pulled the trigger.
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, Hot Shelter Sector. January 26, 2003. 0902 hours.
Vasquez led the group through another door. "Hey comrade, are you sure this is the way to the flight deck?" He asked a random Russian.
"Positive." A Spetsnaz member replied. We remembered the exact way to and from the flight deck in the hopes of attempting an escape attempt."
Knuckles lifted his rifle a little, wincing in pain from the bullet wound in his right shoulder. Rouge strode up to him. "Hey, you okay?" She asked worriedly.
"Of course I am!" Knuckles snapped, exasperated. "You think that this flesh wound will take the fight outta me?!"
Rouge shook her head. "I just asked a simple question, Red. There's no need to get all worked up about it!"
"You two shut up!" Vasquez hissed, nearing a corner. "We're almost—oh, shit! Contacts!" There were three E-series Vasquez squeezed off a burst before ducking around the corner amid incoming tracers. The familiar noise of metal piercing metal let him know he scored a hit.
Rouge just pointed her HK MP5 around the corner, and shot off a spray, the sounds of metal piercing metal letting her know that some of her potshots hit. She peaked around the corner. "All clear. Let's go!"
"Good. We take the next left, and the flight deck is at the end of the corridor." A Russian soldier explained.
Vasquez nodded. "Okay, people. Let's form up." They crept down the service corridor and took a left, the defense heads far behind. At the end of the corridor was a full squad of E-series bots at a barricade. "Shit! They were waiting for us! Everyone take cover!" Amid heavy gunfire from enemy AK-74s, the group split between the right corner and left corner, with the defense heads not even rounding the corner. Two Russian soldiers got caught in the fire, and their torso's perforated by gunfire. They were dead before they hit the ground. "Shit! Now what?!" Vasquez shouted over rifle fire. "If this drags out, they'll most likely call in reinforcements!" He turned around the corner to shoot a burst before turning back to reload, the burst destroying one bot.
It was Rouge's turn to turn and shoot a spray of automatic fire, destroying three more before heavy gunfire forced her to duck back around the corner. Only half dozen troops separated the group from the flight deck, and extraction. "I hope Sonic's alright."
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, atrium. Same time.
Sonic could have sworn the boxers he was wearing underneath his BDU had just acquired a new dampness. Just how close did he come to getting brained? He looked at the direction the laser sight of the black figure's SOCOM was pointing to, and followed it just a hair off of his head, close to the left side of his face? Wait a minute, the camera! Sonic took off the headset and his suspicions were confirmed. His/her target was the camera. Sonic threw away the headset; it was ruined now.
"Throw your radio equipment aside." The black figure ordered. Not wanting to see if the next shot will just miss his heart, Sonic hurriedly tossed his radio aside. The black figure lowered his/her gun. "Now we can talk." A black-gloved hand reached up to the visor, lifting it up, revealing the crimson eyes of a hedgehog framed by… black fur?
"It can't be…!" Sonic gasped. When the helmet came off, his suspicions were confirmed. "Shadow! You damned phantom!"
Shadow smirked. "And I thought you'd be glad to see me alive." He quipped, his voice no longer modulated by the filter in his helmet.
"Let me guess: Chaos Control?" Sonic muttered.
Shadow laughed a little. "It wouldn't do for the Ultimate Life form to die in a battle as trivial as that."
"But where the hell have you been this past year and a half?!" He remembered something else, something about him neither being friend or foe. "And what do you mean not friend or foe? What's your stake in this?" Sonic demanded.
A beat. "My existence isn't even supposed to be public knowledge." Shadow said. "I'm just like you: on black ops."
"Who's orders are you following?" Sonic insisted. He didn't see anything on Shadow's field gear that indicated G.U.N. got a hold of him.
Shadow didn't answer his question. "Up ahead through the door at the top of the steps is helm control. By now, your comrades should be close to the flight deck. Get this ship in battle mode. You should hurry. Furthermore, there's a secret storage hangar one deck above the flight deck. You should be able to get there easily from helm control. You should find something interesting there. Sorry I had to scare you about the camera. Like I stated, my existence is to remain classified."
Sonic shook his head. "Classified my ass! Listen, the entire gang mourned your supposed death! They have a right to know you're still alive!"
"Not yet!" Shadow snapped. "Someday, yes. And I wouldn't advise telling your superiors about our meeting. I highly doubt they will believe you. For now, get going! I'll be watching you." Shadow stepped back a couple of feet.
Sonic bolted towards Shadow. "Oh, no you don't!"
"Chaos Control!" And the black hedgehog disappeared a fraction of a second before Sonic could reach him, and the blue hedgehog fell face first.
"Damn!" Sonic got up, assembling his radio equipment and rifle. He also picked up what was left of Collins' ammo. He remembered something. Amy probably thinks he's dead, what with Shadow shooting the camera and all. He flipped on his radio. "King six, this is Alpha 1. Come in, over."
A few seconds later, Speigal's voice came from the other end. "Sonic, this is King six. Are you alright? What's your status?" Amy's voice came from the background, also sharing Speigal's sentiments.
"Well, I'm a bit banged up, but I'm alive." Sonic answered.
"Did you get an I.D. on that guy in black?" Speigal asked.
Sonic was about to answer, but Shadow's words echoed in his mind. "Negative," he sighed. "No positive I.D. Anyways, I'm heading for helm control now."
"10-4." Click. With that, Sonic took off for the helm.
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, just outside the flight deck. January 26, 2003. 0906 hours.
Knuckles shot and destroyed the last sentry between the group and the hangars. "All clear. Let's go!"
The group didn't get far before they heard metallic footsteps come from the corridors behind them. "Damn! More of'em! Let's move!" Barnes barked, and the entire group hauled down the corridor, double time. Most of them were inside the hangar before the incoming bots were within firing range, and the last Spetsnaz soldier just missed having his skull ventilated as he stepped through the door and into the flight deck.
"Everyone! Get in a dropship!" Tails yelled, already heading towards one. "Sonic said during briefing that they were armed with a chaingun, right?"
"Right! Like you can actually pilot one of those crates!" Vasquez snorted.
Knuckles laughed. "I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you."
Everyone was into the dropship, with Tails at the cockpit, trying feverishly to start up the onboard computer. "Wait a second. Where's Sonic?" Rouge remembered. She switched on her radio. "Sonic, this is Rouge. Are you still receiving?"
A beat. "Yeah, Rouge. I'm still receiving." It sounded like he was running. "I've just gotten past Metal, and I'm on my way to helm to open up the flight deck."
"10-4, Sonic." Rouge responded. "We've just reached the flight deck, and have commandeered a dropship. We'll be waiting."
"10-4."
"Aha!" Tails exclaimed, pumping his fist in victory. "I got this thing going! Now, about that chaingun…" He figured out how to operate the VTOL (Vertical TakeOff and Landing) engines so that he could rotate the ship in place. The first wave of sentries entered the flight deck. "Sucks to be you guys! All guns, fire for effect!!" He squeezed the trigger. The seven-barrel chaingun began to spin, then fire its 30 mm depleted uranium slugs. The first wave of sentries was cut down in a matter of two seconds. A second, bigger wave came through, but met a similar fate. "We'll be okay." Tails said cheerfully. "We can just sit here and wait for Sonic."
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, helm control. January 26, 2003. 0906 hours.
The door opened. Sonic stepped in, with his SOCOM pistol at the ready. There were only a handful of tech bots manning the controls. Nonetheless, Sonic shot all of them anyway. Then, he heard a voice he didn't want to here.
"What's going on over there?! Helm, respond!" Dr. Robotnik's voice demanded over the comms channel.
Sonic strolled over to the comms panel. "Hi, mothafucka!" He greeted enthusiastically. "I guess a year and a half was too long without causing some shit around the world eh, Eggman. Or should I say, Rasputin?"
Robotnik was a little surprised to hear Sonic on the channel. "So-Sonic?! This can't be! I thought Metal Beta had dealt with you!"
Sonic clucked his tongue. "You just can't top the original. So what's the deal with snatching the Russian and U.S. Heads of Defense? Torture information outta them? Well, whatever you have planned, it's failed!"
Robotnik began to laugh a little. "True. That has failed. But," A countdown suddenly appeared on the monitor. It was counting down from four minutes. "I think eradicating you can't be that bad a consolation! See you in Hell!" Click.
"Oh, shit!" Sonic went to his radio. "Everybody, listen up! Dr. Robotnik has remotely activated this crate's self-destruct countdown! If we're not outta here in a little less than four minutes, we're dead! Stand by!" Sonic began nervously looking for the panel to transform the ship. "Now, where is it? … Where is it?" After about a minute of looking, he found it, and hit the switch. The ship shaking a little confirmed that it was transforming. Sonic looked at the countdown. It was approaching three minutes. He synchronized his watch with the countdown, and bolted for the flight deck.
"Okay, cargo area above flight deck," he muttered, sprinting.
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, flight deck. 0907 hours. Three minutes until self-destruct.
The chaingun fired its last round and its spinning eventually stopped. There was a veritable junkyard by the entrance to the flight deck now, what with all of the E-series bots destroyed. More came in, this time armed with RPG launchers. Tails gasped. "Oh, crap! Whoa!" He strafed the ship right to narrowly avoid one RPG. "What else is there?!" He frantically mashed at buttons on the flight stick until out of nowhere the dropship fired a rocket. "Oh. Here we go! Firing for effect!!" He strafed the ship left to avoid another RPG, then fired a rocket at the cluster of bots, destroying them all in a fireball.
Sonic's voice came through someone's radio. "Guys, listen up. Only a minute and a half left. Just letting you know."
Rouge grabbed her radio and switched it on. "Just get your ass here! Got it?!"
Secret storage hangar, 1:10 left until self-destruct.
Sonic gasped. Now this throws politics out of gear. "So, this is what Shadow was talking about?" In front of him was an entire division's worth of G.U.N. tanks, along with a few inactive platoons worth of G.U.N. infantry bots armed with M16 rifles. "I don't have time to think about this! I gotta go!" He exited the storage hangar, heading back to the path to the flight deck. He checked his watch. 0:41 remaining! He found the corridor leading to the flight deck, mostly from the trail of destruction left from his comrades. He saw more E-series bots coming down the hall from elsewhere on the ship. He didn't have time to deal with them now, so he bolted toward the hangar amid a hail of chasers.
"It's Sonic!" Tails announced. "Open the back hatch!" He ordered, turning the dropship around, and seeing for the first time the sky.
Vasquez was the first to see the incoming sentries and their gunfire, and immediately put up some cover fire. Sonic suddenly felt a searing pain in his right arm, and he yelled out. He'd been shot! He clutched it to stabilize it, and virtually dove into the dropship, Vasquez and Barnes closing the hatch behind him. "Ahh, shit!" Sonic cursed in pain. "Tails, go!"
"Okay, here we go!" With that, Tails set the main engines to full power, and the dropship flew out of the doomed Rakshasa, barely escaping the first explosions of the carrier's demise.
They were airborne for a good two minutes when Tails finally relaxed. "Whew! We did it!" He shouted.
"Tails, Sonic's wounded." Knuckles informed.
Sonic laughed, out of breath. "It's okay. It's just a flesh wound. Besides, I'm left-handed." Sonic tiredly got up and headed towards the cockpit. "Tails, try to login to the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system and see where we're at."
"Got it!" Tails tinkered with a few instruments, and came up with an answer a few minutes later. "Okay, the coordinates are 2S-177W."
"Okay, set coordinates back to Pearl Harbor."
"Wow! We're that far out?" Rouge wondered.
It wasn't for another ten minutes when a radar warning light blinked on the instrument panel. When Tails took a look at the radar, he paled. "Not good… definitely not good."
Sonic looked at the fox. "What now?" He asked.
Tails turned towards the group. "Hey guys. Heavy group hot! There appears to be five targets in the group.
Sec. Def. Mark Cummings stood up nervously, walking towards the cockpit. "Say again?" He whispered.
Tails breathed. "Five bandits (enemy aircraft) confirmed at vector 180 (directly south). Probably launched from the Ravana. I'd say in about half an hour, they'll be all over us."
All the blood drained out of everyone's faces. Now their means of escape has become an aerial steel coffin for fifteen corpses.
A/N: Oh, boy. The crew has now gone from the pressure cooker, straight to the deep fryer. Is there anything they can do to save themselves? To find out, stay tuned for the next (and maybe last) chapter. Peace!