#1 The First Move

Bluehawk picked up the phone cheerfully. It had been mere weeks since he, SamaDaMana, Phantom Falcon, Minimaniac and KawaiiKitsune had returned from the battle with the elemental titans and the beast that was HT-4. But what the voice of Minimaniac said over the phone made his jaw drop. "I saw a dark blue fox! I think he's snooping about the city!"

Sama looked up from the documentary on the TV. "What wong?"

Bluehawk shook his head. "If it really was him, there's nothing we can do now. Just be on absolute alert…especially through the night." Minimaniac mumbled a small agreement.

"Not like any of us will be able to sleep anymore. Keep your emerald absolutely, completely secure."

"Like I don't do that already." Bluehawk rolled his eyes and hung up. But this was definitely dire…if there was a dark blue fox making his way around, then that could only mean one thing…his brother was around. That it could be anyone else was highly unlikely. It was possible…that was why there was no need to panic yet. But like he had just told Minimaniac, there was a lot of reason to be alert. Shrugging this off for the moment since nothing could be done, he picked up the pager and beckoned to Sama, who instantly jumped to his feet to follow Hawk out the door.

The streets were fairly active, as they always were even during the night. Sama said nothing, not even thinking aloud, and Bluehawk strolled along on the alert, but still casual. The blue sky was occasionally disturbed only by a twittering bird or a small or distant wisp of cloud. If Hawk didn't feel he had to stay so sharp, it would have been a beauty of a day. Nothing cliché like singing birds and happy faces everywhere, but cars drove past on their normal schedule (or late for) and the footpath was littered with hedgehogs, foxes, echidnas, cats, assorted kitsunes…all on their normal business like Hawk and Sama were. First stop was the Reload Centre; if Bloodhawk was back it was important to stock up on ammo a bit more than normal. The supplies in that regard were fine at home, but Bluehawk grabbed a few extra clips of the finest quality 9mm and led Sama out of the colourless store before he could steal anything. Next on the list was the groceries, they picked up all of the normal food items, and Hawk made sure to buy some chocolate to keep Sama happy. ("Look! Supermarket have two-use bullet! Chocolate AND gun!") Sama fumbled with the packet of chocolate bullets all the way home.

The receptionist at the apartment building typed away noisily, noting that there was no one in the room and quickly clicking the minimized window at the bottom of her screen, the e-mail to the 'friend' of hers whom her friends were always teasing her about. Reading between the lines of his email she almost got the impression that he felt the same way, suddenly she started in her seat as the whirring outside the door cut in suddenly. Phantom Falcon jumped off his glider and tapped a few buttons on the remote control, sending it back up to the point he had designated for its parking. Its personal generator in its engine certainly came in handy since he couldn't afford to turn it off, so he had it wait outside his window when he wasn't using it. The secretary relaxed, then realised that her email window was still open, this guy would know if she was goofing off. She managed to act as if everything was normal until he was through the door to the stairway, and then let out a sigh of relief as she glanced longingly at that picture of the Sonic the Hedgehog gang on the wall. Her boss had always questioned the money she paid for that frame, but why pay less for that hunky hedgehog? She looked at her watch, and finished off the email before packing up for the next receptionist to take her shift.

*****

That time of night had come. The right time for action. A shadowy figure knew what it had to do…its dreams were on the verge of realization. Wiping the face of discrimination and of those mindless experiments that drove him to be so in the first place…the apartment building of the first owner loomed right in front of him. Yes, one of the chaos emeralds was here…just up a few floors…in a flash he was up in the air, and the window he sought was almost tapping his nose…and with a flick of the wrist…

Bluehawk Dustorm suddenly sat bolt upright in his bed, beads of sweat beginning to form in his fur. That thoom…he had heard a big explosion in the distance. Immediately he got up, slipped on his shoes, red pants and blue vest, and ran to the phone, waiting by it with his hand ready to pick up…he grabbed it the moment it started ringing. "I know! What happened?"

"Someone who owned one of the emeralds lived there!" Bluehawk looked, seeing the flames out of his window. It was high up. Glass was probably everywhere. It was Minimaniac speaking.

"I'm there." Bluehawk dropped the receiver, not even bothering to replace it…he ran to the far wall, pressed a small button, and then, completely against his normal personality, leaped straight into the window, a high-pitched smash and glass flying everywhere around the falling fox, flipping through the air with his chaos emerald in hand, toward the rising seat of the Squall. A helicopter flew overhead, searchlights scanning…Bluehawk flipped forward as the seat rushed up to meet him, jamming the emerald's sharp end into the back of the seat, where it would power his vehicle, then still gripping it, landed straight on the seat, whacking a button with his finger, labelled 'road'. Instantly the vehicle packed in its wings, folding them over, and flipped out tyres and wheels in the right places, and the Squall was now basically a car. The engine started as Bluehawk prepared for the instant turn down the street. Boost button, and the vehicle was at full speed, leaving a trail of flames from the booster at the back.

Phantom Falcon watched out the window as Bluehawk zoomed off in the Squall. Lucky he had kept what he stole…the glider. He ran out the door and upstairs to the roof of the building and leapt onto the strange metallic board, feeling the rush of air as he steered its anti-grav upward and toward the flames of a distant building. Whoever it was was already fleeing…speed and a good viewpoint were vital.

Bluehawk weaved right and left, then right again, then a bit further to the right into the next lane, and then quickly steered back to the next and found a break in the nighttime traffic as he whooshed down the hill. This booster in the back was doing its job well, cutting him straight down the street even faster than he could run. He pressed the booster button again, deactivating it as he neared the site. Police cars surrounded the area…their lights flashing the building down with complete randomness. Police furries strolled about the area in groups, as if patrolling. Bluehawk turned and activated the handbrake, skidding up right near the barrier. "Did you see anything?" He called.

A female grey wolf walked up to him out of the mess of confusion. "There was a dark blue guy ran off in a flash…over that way." She pointed behind Bluehawk, who was gone in a flash after the wailing sirens, the sounds of pursuit. Damn, these upgrades made for a fast vehicle. Within a minute he was behind the police vehicles by a corner, then tearing down the street after them. The darkened, lightless windows raced past him as he slowed down to the same as the police cars, but eventually they skidded to a halt near a residential street, and the police got out of their vehicles, running toward a two-story building. Another emerald location. Bluehawk grabbed his own, running up with them, Uzana 32 at the ready, pointed up at the balcony with the police. Something made of glass smashed inside. Bluehawk grabbed the megaphone off the policeman next to him, knowing what he had to do. He flicked the switch with the end of his gun, holding it upright. "I know you're in there, bro! Come out with your hands up!"

The darkly tinted door slowly opened. A dark figure began to step out. "Ah, but Mykol Hawking, are you so sure I'm who you think I am?" That voice…NO!

Bluehawk's jaw dropped. It couldn't be. His friend…his old friend, who he had relied on so much at the orphanage in his preschool years…Black Eagle had turned on his own ways, stealing chaos emeralds in the night, causing chaos…

"Hahaha…I see your surprise…but things change. I am one of them…I am DARKNESS!" suddenly there was a flash of yellow light. Instead of the dark blue armadillo there was the same armadillo, glowing yellow where he had once been dark. Bluehawk's jaw trembled. He had never shown this power before. But…how could his friend…Bluehawk knew what he had to do as Black Eagle…or Darkness as he now called himself…suddenly zipped off in a blur of yellow down the road.

The bright yellow armadillo ran confidently, knowing that no-one could keep up, let alone actually capture him…there was a whirring behind him, like that of a car…then suddenly he heard the thump of a car hitting the ground…looked around as he ran full-pelt down the hill…Bluehawk's vehicle was right behind him, swerving about the road as it straightened up. No problem, just shake it off…Bluehawk muttered into the receiver, trying to reach Phantom…Darkness darted to the footpath, swerved around the tables and chairs of the restaurants as he struggled to find a straight path, while Phantom, riding a modified glider, dived after him from ahead…dive, then dive again from the same direction…he was beginning to master his teleport when it was really needed…and the glider teleported with him! The armadillo jumped into the air, the Squall pursuing closely…suddenly, at the intersection down the bottom of the hill, whining police cars screeched into positions to block him…in a flash he had jumped straight over them…Bluehawk was going to hit them…no? He was transforming his vehicle, and it took off into the air…Darkness saw the next emerald in his mind…there were so many of them in the city…funny that, how they weren't dispersed throughout the world…

Bluehawk looked down at the figure dashing around the corner and turned upwards, over the buildings…the yellow glow was enough of a guide as to where he was going, the plane could take shortcuts, but it would not be able to keep up and stop him, only keep track. Bluehawk steered himself into the road on which his new adversary was travelling…travelling high-above and watching through the blur of the propeller didn't help, but it was a start…Darkness turned left, into an alleyway…Bluehawk dived, low to the ground as he could get, as if landing…then flicked the button on the control panel again, and the wings and propeller began to fold in as before, the tyres folding out from the corners, the plane's tail becoming the shape that glass does in a kaleidoscope and creating more weight on the back end, revealing the booster. The vehicle thudded down, lifting Bluehawk from his seat as he swerved dangerously to the left, tipping the Squall over onto two wheels as it turned…Focusfocusfocus…Bluehawk tapped the boost button on the panel and quickly gripped the controls as he was thrusted backwards in his seat, a blast of wind hitting the sunglasses to his nose. The running yellow glow, racing down along the white lines, was getting closer, although it was still far distant…He had to be stopped. Now to make use of the propeller changes…Bluehawk gripped the primary buttons on the control stick, flashes emanated from the front of the vehicle, orange streaks tore through the air at the target…straight at his back…but what was this? The visual of him trembled slightly at the bullet went right past him…was he that fast to react? Suddenly there was the whirring of another Phantom dive, going straight over Hawk's head. Bluehawk fired the cannons again…Eagle's image swished, twisted and in a moment the bullet had hit the front of the vehicle…the tyre! Bluehawk steered to the right as far as he could so that it wouldn't go berserk on him, almost slamming straight into a street sign marked 'Pedestrian Crossing'. He quickly clicked the button that would sacrifice a lot of speed, but it was necessary now that he had no handling. The plane instantly soared into the air, following the yellow streak at a distance. Phantom pulled up beside Hawk, the glider he rode making its faint whirr. "What are you doing?"

"My tyre's punctured! My own bullet, damnit!"

Phantom shook his head. "Missiles?"

Hawk hesitated as he saw the yellow glow turn into a corner, slow down slightly as it dodged some cars and caused a pile-up, then keep on going toward its next destination. Red and blue lights flashed on the road behind it. "Only if absolutely necessary!!" Phantom nodded and soared downward, spoiling for a fight since his last successful bout with HT-4. Soon there were screeches, gunfire, the police vehicles didn't go any further and the yellow glow kept on moving through the street as Bluehawk could only see the light it created on the building walls from his position…Finally he was pulling into the street, and surveyed the damage. Cars were piled on top of each other, thrown straight through windows and one old bomb had been slammed into a traffic light pole. The glow of Darkness had come to a halt…glowing more and more intense…suddenly there was a blast of black and blue on the front of Hawk's plane and it pulled downwards…Bluehawk grabbed the emerald and leapt out, landing behind it and facing off at the attacker in the distance. Yellow glow of the emerald against the red glow of that of the attacker…but Eagle hadn't emitted any red lights…suddenly another dark blue blast came right for him as he leapt to the ground beside himself and it scraped past his shoulder, grazing it dangerously…if that had hit him…Bluehawk held the emerald outstretched in front of him and suddenly had an idea…if it worked…he held the emerald with one hand and aimed his Uzana 32 straight through it, and the emerald somehow stuck to the end of his gun…and with a pull of the trigger…another blue blast rumbled toward him, but the yellow blast that came out of his gun wiped it out in its path to Eagle…Hah, surely it wouldn't be powerful enough to-WHAM! Eagle shot into the air with the impact, his overconfidence in his own power becoming his downfall. His body turned back to its normal dark blue as Bluehawk jogged up to him, the yellow emerald's power exhausted for now. Darkness the armadillo looked up weakly, but determinedly…evilly.

"You…can't win…" He grunted. "Surrender now…this entire city will be spared. Resistance is the reason for destruction…we have no quarrel with you…"

"We?" Bluehawk questioned, pointing his not-yet exhausted gun at his old friend's face mercilessly. The emerald was darkened, his friend was darkened, but the light of Hawk's spirit showed no sign of letting up.

"Haha…yes…" Eagle tapped his wrist. And Bluehawk looked up into the distance in horror. Much higher-up on the side of a hill stood his apartment building…his exploding apartment. His apartment and Phantom's were demolished just like that, with the press of a button…all of his possessions…and even worse…Sama! And the chao! Sama might possibly survive…but nothing else would.

"YOU BASTAR-" Hawk was thrown back onto his rear-end as Eagle made his escape…Hawk shot the emerald out of his hand, but it was too late to catch him. Suddenly he heard a crackle. He had forgotten he was still wearing his headset. "Hawk! Eagle's gone…but there's something even worse…YOUR BROTHER'S RUNNING FROM THE VICINITY OF THE APARTMENT!"

"Affirmative. I'm in pursuit." Two emeralds in tow, one of which was charging, Bluehawk jumped up at the building, landing on the shade of a shop and bouncing up onto the roof. A dark blue glow was making its way up the hill and away…Bluehawk dashed forward, leaping onto the next row of buildings, taking a few steps and then again hurling himself through the air to the next one. His vehicle was down, but he was far from it. Within half a minute, he was passing the now burning apartment building which he would no longer call his own…he was going to get his own home so that if this happened again no-one would be harmed! But the dark blue glow tore through the streets unopposed, uncountered…until B. Dustorm was running up its rear…and it was the same guy he remembered…taller now, but the same guy he had had the chaos showdown with…who had responded to the beckoning call of the chimeras, unlike the younger fox in pursuit…he didn't notice the crackling electricity behind him, or the thudding footsteps twice the rate of a mouse's heartbeat. And he didn't realize his brother was right behind him until he was on the ground; face down, hands being pulled behind his back as a foot dug into his spine. He hadn't yet dropped his dark blue emerald…He was suddenly gone, standing in front of Hawk.

"Two enemies coinciding their attacks. Seems strange, don't it, bro?"

"He's allied himself with you…and…" Suddenly Hawk saw the flashing light coming over the horizon that could only mean one thing-chimera ship. "You're still in command!" Hawk growled.

His brother snarled.

"You goin' down, Bloodhawk!" Bluehawk lunged forward, and then was suddenly behind with an uppercut charged with chaos energy.

"Up I think is the word…and nice name, Mykol! I think it…suits me somewhat…" Bloodhawk flipped backward twice, slamming down on Bluehawk with full downward-force. Bluehawk executed his own backflip and threw his brother through the air in the direction of the forthcoming ship. He righted himself, bouncing off his hands and the blue emerald with ease, standing to stare each other down…a whirring noise came from behind, that of the glider, Phantom coming to his aid. Bloodhawk glanced up. "Your friend." He indicated.

Bluehawk nodded. What was he going on about now?

"MY FRIEND!" He suddenly cried…

"BLIZZARD!" That was from behind-and suddenly both Bluehawk and Phantom felt cold, so cold…the police cars drew up just behind where Phantom had landed in his block of ice. The culprits had both got away…what was that flashing light in the sky? A dark blue and a yellow glow thing entered it each individually on the horizon. Pursuit was now useless; although helicopters were now heading in the direction…within seconds they had been picked off by an energy beam weapon, and crashed to the ground with thooming explosions.

"Did your mission succeed, Master Stryke?" grunted the chimera general Lirash is his own language. Darkness didn't recognize the words, but Bloodhawk deciphered it instantly and snarled.

"We got one of them…the fox and our traitor got to us and it was all we could do to escape with this." Bloodhawk juggled the dark blue emerald as they walked down the corridor flanked on every side by uniformed hedgehog-like creatures. "Even so, thanks to our shrewd timing, tomorrow when it reaches the city destroying all in its path, they will think that we sent it, that we control it. They will fear us whether our mission tonight succeeded or not!"

*****

The warning reached the city hall in due time, coming straight from the sky to the post to the van to its destination. It would take a further three hours to safely thaw the two frozen by the pair of thieves, despite Bluehawk holding two chaos emeralds in his ice case and the craft Phantom had been using thawing out its own little bubble. The laser cutting was almost complete, and the liquid that they would properly thaw with was ready. But this letter…

"We'll know in advance when it's on its way…whatever it is they refer to. The people will see the ship approaching, ready to drop it off, and they will recognize it immediately and be willing to counter it. They cannot destroy the city. Not with any creature that they may use."

But the mayor wasn't entirely right. The letter came as a warning for if they did not give up the city's remaining emeralds, but the fact was that whether or not they did they would be attacked, because the ex-test specimen was outside of any chimera control.

The first thing that Bluehawk was cognizant of was that he was being seated and briefed on what had happened and what was about to happen. The chaos emeralds had recharged in the ice, but Bluehawk was none the wiser as they had been removed before he had. So the two he had pursued the previous night had got away…and now they were using some huge creature to attack? Cowards, both of them…all of them! Bluehawk thought to himself, shivering in his towel and shaking the dripping moisture off of his shoes as he walked out the door into the rain. The sky was full of grey, as if whoever was up there controlling it had a problem with what had happened the previous night. Phantom followed him out sheepishly, both of them somewhat subdued because of their being encased in ice. Basically all they could do is shuffle toward where they remembered home to be to check things out.

******

"Sir, we've found it and it's on its way."

"Excellent." Muttered the dark blue fox.

"And what of the humans?" Darkness growled at the chimera whose spine streaks were non-existent, but bright green went from his nose up and covered his whole top spine.

"They're in stasis, sir. They seem to be growing wolf-tails, similar to what was anticipated. We have no idea of whether they may be going mad or not, however."

"All the better if they are." Muttered Bloodhawk. "They would rampage the planet like the released test subjects."

The chimera shuddered slightly. "You need not remind me. While we remain in this atmosphere there is a constant danger that HT-4 may-"

"I am WELL aware thank you!"

******

The ex-apartment was still smoking, a gaping black hole in the side of the building. Sama was waiting in there, staring over the edge. He looked down to see Bluehawk and immediately ran out the blackened door. Bluehawk lazily rubbed his eyes-according to his metabolism it was the middle of the night. Suddenly Bluehawk shivered slightly…that wasn't from himself…then again, and then again at the same interval. Suddenly he heard a rumble, a thoom, like a huge explosion coming from the North. Phantom's eyes widened as they darted around, he stepped back slightly, looking around. It couldn't be. Not now…the chimeras had contributed with last night's attack…could they be sending this? But he couldn't even see it…surely it hadn't gotten that huge…then he saw it…all of those metallic scales, that huge yellow eye, perched atop the head that looked more like a bending horn, stomping through the trees and approaching what it seemed to recognize as a city. Sama finally burst out the door as Phantom looked back to Bluehawk uncertainly. Those metallic shines, all those plates of metal crunching, all of those metallic barbs wobbling with the plates…TR-7 had finally shown its huge ugly face. Bluehawk looked to Phantom, who was already flying off toward the creature on the glider as it reached the houses…but it was more interested in the power sources it saw…including the flying object which was giving strong heat signatures. It grunted, rearing a metallic grey arm for a punch, even though it had no fingers or knuckles. Bluehawk carried the two emeralds in hand as he walked powerfully, enshrouded by wind, atop a skyscraper. Phantom ducked and dodged around the huge creature, almost flailing about teasingly…then suddenly something struck it in the eye…Bluehawk looked at where he had seen the blur come from…Geez, KK had been on the scene fast…or was that where she lived? She half-hung out of a skyscraper window, bow raised with another arrow at the ready…but the huge creature fell over backwards. Phantom hit the ground on the glider, kicking forward off of it and landing on the fingerless, toeless creature's back. Bluehawk simply looked at him questioningly. "Whoever that was found its weakness pretty fast…although I had intended to hit it with a missile as soon as its guard was down from anger."

"It was KawaiiKitsune, from a tower window." She wasn't there anymore. Bluehawk wondered vaguely where Minimaniac was. "Tell ya what, that's pretty good aim."

The battle was over before it had begun, and miles away this very fact was being pondered.

"Mr. Dustorm, Mr. Falcon-"

"Hawk and Phantom, please." Hawk interrupted politely.

"…we've been expecting you. We've got that creature down in the underground laboratories for research, but we have concerns about the ones who sent it-"

"They didn't send it." Phantom interrupted. "They simply knew it was on its way. If they attack again, I'm sure the whole city will be up in arms within moments and they won't have a hope that way either."

The fox in the lab coat shrugged, dropping his clipboard onto the perfectly white desk that looked like it'd do better as a kitchen bench. "Whether or not the city worries about that is not my concern anyway."