CHAPTER 1
ROBOTROPOLIS, 00:05 A.M. : THE SLUMS
The skies were smoky red, filled with contamination from years of pollution and mistreatment of the ecosystem. It was hard to tell whenever it was day or night, but by the heavy patrol during evening ours, it seemed more likely to tell the difference. Swatbots patrolled in pairs, walking and searching every corner of the robotic city, leaving no scrap of metal unturned, searching for any biological organism that would put a threat on their city.
Badniks were also walking around, either patrolling or directing themselves to the factories. Their emotionless glowing eyes looked at anything with a blank expression on their metallic faces. They had neither will nor a spark of life on their own after being roboticized by the tyrannical ruler Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Even the birds that flew the skies were badniks themselves. Everything on the city was like a barren technological wasteland.
A shadowy figure ran among the tall structures of the city, avoiding any source of light whenever possible, and eluding the ever-vigilant swatbots and their arm flashlights. It darted from alley to alley, and turned to the corner of a rust-covered building, just missed by a hoverbot camera that finished surveying the place. The hoverbot closed into an alley nearby, and hovered past the rusty walls of that building. The head of a female mobian feline peeped trough the wall, she was wearing a red beret along with a purple-hued visor, that covered most of her face and eyes. The feline pulled her head once more, standing flat against the wall as a large spotlight cruised by on the floor. At full view, she was wearing a brown vest with a red scarf around her neck; her fur was black, with white markings on her face and underbelly. A large, fluffy tail swished left and right calmly, passing by a pair of leather-linen boots that had spikes on the soles.
The feline female helped herself inside an open door of the building, making sure she was not being followed. Once inside the building, she walked cautiously, making no sound at all despite the kind of boots she was wearing. Crouching slightly, turning her head to the right and to the left, she walked a few steps more before a luminous spotlight beamed from above. She froze in place, looking upwards to the light, not even wincing to it thanks to the purple visor protecting her eyes.
"Lieutenant Hershey of the underground resistance, I presume..." said a deep male voice coming form the direction of the light," Indeed, your skills are most impressive, passing trough Robotnik's defenses and swarms of swatbots and badniks alike without any fear of getting caught. We are most pleased to see your progress."
Hershey narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms without saying any kind of reply to the voice.
"I see that small talk does not appeal to you, therefore we will commence our meeting. You may stay where you are, this shall not take long..."
A few moments later, another spotlight appeared on Hershey's left side, just a few steps from where she stood. She turned her head to see a closed laptop computer on top of a table. It had black-colored linings and silver chromed finish.
"In this computer you will find the objective of your mission, if you could please walk to it and open it up, you will find all the information you will need."
Hershey raised her left eyebrow, not moving an inch form where she stood. An eerie chuckle was heard from the man's voice. Herhey turned her head back up to the first spotlight, cocking her head to the right while her tail swished annoyingly form left to right.
"Trust is hard to achieve, isn't it?"
A humming noise came form the laptop as it opened, revealing a lime-green screen with digital encryptions circling in the middle of the screen. Hershey looked back at the computer, her arms settled in a defensive position. The screen beamed up a rectangular window about three feet from the ground where the laptop was positioned, and a detailed photo of Geoffrey St. John was shown, along with his vital stats. Hershey relaxed, crossing her arms once more.
"As you may already know, Captain Geoffrey St. John has been MIA for three months after his last mission here in Robotropolis. No information has been released about his whereabouts in your own group, nor reports of robotication on new Mobians have been found during that time. His mission has been classified to us from the underground resistance, denying any information we may of use of help them, but..."
The digital window's image distorted, and it formed back again, this time showing the high tower where Doctor Robotnik used to reside (and rule from) in. The image soon pointed out many escapee routes and chambers that were once used to roboticize Mobians and even experiment upon. Hershey's eyes dilated, having noted that these were the exact same plans given to Geoffrey to begin his mission with. She wondered just how this came out in the open and is owned by the like of these weirdoes.
"Don't bother trying to figure out how we got this information, Hershey. We are a group more secluded in secrecy than even the infamous militia group you have joined. Now, let us continue, shall we?"
Hershey's tail moved even faster, showing her irritation and mistrust on these individuals, however, if they knew where Geoffrey may of disappeared to, she would have to be patient and wait to see what was in demand form them. Thus, she kept quiet about it.
"With the fall of Robotnik, Geoffrey was sent to secure and disable all of the remaining rooms the mad doctor used to operate. The robotication chambers would be drained from all the data saved during the time they were used, and thus, use that same data as a tool-or shall we say cure?-for the effects of robotication on Mobians."
The screen once again switched, showing a log from a security camera inside a dark room, filled with robotic parts and cables laying down everywhere. Geoffrey was seen walking to the center of the chamber of it, followed closely by two more members of the resistance. Geoffrey crossed his arms and looked sideways, as if looking for something along the corridors of the technological place. Moments later, a large, white-furred wolf showed up, pacing slowly towards the trio. The wolf showed a few scars on his nose, red distinctively standing out from the black exterior of canid's nose. Hershey's eyes closed to a slit, baring her fangs and claws retracting form her paws.
"The former wolfpack member and world-renowned traitor, Drago. Aquantice of yours, we believe. The scars on his nose seemed not to have healed fully, you have done a good job on kicking his tail back then."
Hershey did not even flinched at what she was told. Her concentration was all inside the screen as Drago handed Geoffrey a mini-disc, then shook hands with him. Hershey's eyes dilated fully once more, watching in disbelief what was happening. What would the resistance need from someone such as him? Her questions would wait as more of the recording showed the meeting being interrupted violently by swatbots that were opening fire at the individuals. One of the members of the resistance fell as a laser hit his back, while the other and Geoffrey returned fire, running to the left side of the screen. Dragon jumped back where he came from, secluding himself in darkness. The recording was stopped as the screen went black altogether.
"That was the most recent activity shown of Captain Geoffrey, after this, he was not heard of for months. We will not tell any more until we have come to our agreement. You do know of our brief discussion with the resistance about the mission we have stored for you."
Indeed, one month after Geoffrey was declared MIA by the resistance, a meeting was set by an unknown source to find him, in exchange; they would help to find the whereabouts of the Captain. The question was still hovering in Hershey's mind as to who this source was, and why was Geoffrey connected to all of this. Hershey believed there was more than just the disappearance of St. John to set such an importance to the rebellion's attention. Something told Hershey that these individuals would not tell her much about it, however.
The screen came alive once more, revealing a Mini-Disk. "This minidisk is in fact information that was taken from us. We have hunted all over Mobius to find it, only to find out that it was in the wrong hands form the very beginning. Indeed, Drago was holding that disk, and it was handed down to the Captain you are searching for. We lost track of Drago, nothing more has ever been mentioned of him, but we have received information from our resources that St. John may be still alive and well be around the premises of Robotropolis."
"You will find more about his whereabouts and key elements for your mission's completions inside that laptop. But remember that you must find that disk for us, and meet us at a location only we will provide for you. We will also provide equipment for your ventures, we advise you be wise to take it."
After this was mentioned, a third light shone to the right side of the laptop, revealing a medium-sized backpack. It was brown in color and it had black markings on the side. Hershey walked reluctantly to both items, picking up the laptop and closing it, then walked to the backpack, picking it up with a free hand. It didn't felt as light as it appeared to be, giving Hershey a bit of a hard time to put it on her back.
"You have three days to find that disk and hand it back to us, Lieutenant. We expect you to be successful. If you fail, we will disregard any knowledge of your mission, or your own whereabouts to anyone. Moreover, this mission must not be divulged to anyone not associated with you have learned here. We don't expect you to confirm what we just told you, we expect you to execute our orders to the letter. Good luck to you, and we hope you find your missing comrade."
The spotlights turned off, and all was silent. Hershey walked towards a green-lit door, an exit to the old building. With nothing else on her shoulders other than the objectives of her mission, Hershey ran into the night, following the alleys of the slums towards the heart of Robotropolis.