Chapter 5: The Meetings
Rotita opened the door quickly in the hopes that it would be someone else than it really was. "Bluehawk? What're you doing here so early?"
"Sorry to drop in like this. I take it you haven't seen the news." The purple hedgehog girl shook her head. "I need a place to sleep for the rest of the day. Somewhere I won't be expected, and I figured here would be as good as any." Hawk saw the look on Rotita's face. "The couch will do, and it's only for the one day, I need to move around heaps." He added quickly. Rotita nodded slowly. Kao probably wasn't going to like this.
"Need anything to drink?"
"No thanks, I'm fine." Hawk muttered as he took his shoes off and lay down on the couch. "Don't…fuss over me, okay? Just wake me up if I don't before six." Rotita nodded, and Hawk went straight off to sleep.
Phantom nodded as Solorfrog left the room, closing the door with a slam. Finally. Even though it was only a few minutes since he knocked on the door, it seemed like it had been hours. The town had a few problems now, it seemed. One, whatever it was the attacked city hall would probably come back in greater numbers. Two, the mutants that Hawk had been after…what had become of them? The answers would have to wait for a bit…
Stryke sat in the bushes, still watching for any recovery cruisers. He only had one emerald…where the hell had the other one gone? Ah yes, attracted to his foul brother's energy. That must have been it, he had been told of the relationships between the orbs and the emeralds, they were both created for similar purposes…but only the children of darkness seemed to know this. His younger brother probably didn't even remember again gripping the emerald, probably completely forgot he had lost it, and then recovered it completely by accident…Bloodhawk, also known as Stryke, suddenly turned around to the noise of rustling bushes and an unfamiliar drone…the thud of artificial feet…the slight sense of electricity nearby…a clunk of metal hitting metal. That was no ordinary metal…NO!
"Urthdigger, have you heard from Hawk?"
"Not since this morning. NK! Don't worry! He hasn't been caught…yet. He's probably staying where he won't be expected. Like you should."
"What are you doing?"
"Haha…they'll never find me. Not here, no way."
"Suit yourself. Don't forget the meeting…and there's someone else who I'm going to try to get in on this…"
"Make that two people. I'm going to make sure Hawk's friend knows…"
"What!?"
"Don't fret. He probably already knows. Just making sure."
Phantom picked up the phone, still a little on edge about the things that had happened earlier in the day…he had probably almost teleported just now, too… "Be at the Reload Centre, 6:30 tonight." The person on the other end hung up immediately. Not a bad show…but not good either…Who cares? Phantom thought to himself. If it's anyone hostile, I can take 'em out easily…
Bluehawk rolled over and hit the floor as he heard his name called. He groped around, trying to find his sunglasses, everything was suddenly so bright…a red blur combined with the roof colour…
"Ahem." The voice said.
"Just lemme find my glasses." Hawk mumbled.
"A-HEM." The voice coughed again…Hawk saw the dark green shape dangling from a gloved hand.
"Ah, thank you. What's the time?" Hawk said, putting his glasses on in proper place.
"Five. What's going on?"
"With what?"
"I've seen the news." The red fox stated.
"And let me guess, you think I'm guilty?" Bluehawk said as he began to get up and walk slowly toward the kitchen, looking for the toaster, a powerpoint, anything that some form of cutlery would fit into…he was about to be forced to fight. That much was certain. No, he still had the emerald in his hand. Head for the door.
Minutes later, Hawk was standing in the alleyway, in hiding from the teeming masses of people along the streets. Kao had called the police and virtually let Hawk get away. Maybe it was deliberate, a double-siding, maybe a loyalty tussle of some kind. But this was as good a place as any to hide for now, the police probably expected him to be a long way from here by now, so they wouldn't even be searching, they'd be waiting for the next report on his location…which would be between here and the Reload Centre, between six and six-thirty. Perfect view of the central clock tower, five thrity. Whoa, time had flown…Hawk looked up, around the buildings and at the street through the shadows, headed for the brick wall in front of him, turned around to look at the opposite one, then boosted forward and up.
"What's that yellow light?"
NKLS got up to peer around the corner of the brick wall to see this 'yellow light'. Sure enough, among the building lights, another, slightly dimmer light of a differing colour moved among them, hitting the tallest building, it faded, then suddenly flashed back, falling toward another building…
"Judging by its location and manner, that's Bluehawk. But the behaviour…"
Bandit Dorian gave NK a puzzled glance.
"He picked the right spot." NK continued. "I don't think anyone at all who would go talking to police, save Bluehawk himself, would come around here on a regular basis."
The raccoon girl nodded. "I can see why." Just as she spoke a hooded stranger passed by, glanced at the duo and continued walking, muttering under its breath. NKLS examined its PSI field…"Urthdigger."
"What?"
"It's Urthdigger in a hooded-hedgehog disguise. Very nice touch."
NKLS walked casually over to where the hooded figure was leaning against the wall. It pulled back its hood and sure enough was a brown hedgehog that looked up to the Inchadeena. "It's time anyway, might as well show yourself." The hedgehog nodded, and NK looked away to inspect the surroundings, by the time he looked back and Bandit strolled onto the scene, he was again a mole.
"Where're Hawk and Phantom?"
"Looks like Hawk's on his way. Phantom…Hawk's mentioned him before."
"If he responds to my call, he'll join us for sure."
"Don't you think Hawk would have told him?"
"He may not have had time. And he may have thought that this was going to be like the Goop Zombies escapade. Perhaps Zyborg should have been-"
"Never mind that, he was only in to take down his own enemy. And Bluehawk's nearly-"
Suddenly there was a screech as Bluehawk hit the bitumen hard with his shoes in an effort to stop, slid a hundred metres down the road and stopped right in front of the Reload Centre, just as the clock above the building ticked '6:30'. There was a loud humming noise as the glider touched down behind him.
"We're all here." NKLS nodded. "Let's go somewhere more private. The TDK warehouse."
Hawk blinked, still approaching the group on the corner of the dimly-lit concrete-pillar shop.
"You gotta be kiddin' me! I ain't goin' down for break and enter!"
"We're already 'criminals' anyway, might as well have a little fun." Urthdigger chuckled. Phantom and Bandit both said nothing.
Stryke struck the cold, ruthless steel of the derelict almost limply and with a sickening thud. The emerald still in his hand powered him enough for protection…the merciless teal droid stared him down with glowing red ellipses, the whites of its eyes black and one of its arms, pointed at Stryke, was a permanent fist with spikes on the knuckles. Stryke dropped to the ground and crouched, the Flash Blades not coming out this time. Instead he rose to his feet, arms outstretched to the air as the robotic eyes stared, lowering the knuckle arm and going into a relaxed pose, meant to throw his opponent off guard. Then the teal steel was blasted back by six tiny pulses…they had a lot of drive in them, and Stryke unleashed more of them before disappearing to the roof of the cruiser. "Come, we shall create a spectacle to lure my allies to us!"
"…Bring it on." The mechanical voice whirred.
They didn't need a key, NKLS easily disengaged the lock with his mind and the five strolled in, taking care not to sit on anything that might attract attention to its use. Everyone naturally seated themselves at the dining table. "What we need to do." Bluehawk started. "Is find out what the hell these 'shadow men' are. They're deadly, they're robotic, but they seem to have a lot of one-minded personality…"
"Yeah…those pikes were-" Phantom put his hand over his own mouth.
"Don't tell me that was all on TV." Urthdigger groaned.
"Luckily, the mayor was on vacation in Station Square at the time." Phantom said, mimicking the newsreader's voice and almost-cockney accent.
"I've just realized something…" Bluehawk started again. "I never noticed it before…when we were captured by them…Myself, Phantom and Sama…we woke up in chimera prison cells. Either they're allied in some way, or the chimeras…"
"Created them?" Phantom finished his sentence, Urthdigger, NKLS and Bandit paying close attention. "It wouldn't surprise me. The only question is why."
"But…you're one of them, right?" Urthdigger asked. Bandit's eyes widened slightly. He's a chimera…?
Phantom nodded. "Even I don't know too much though. I'm familiar with the basics and their technology and all, but I don't actually remember anything pre-Terras saturation."
"Terras saturation!?" NKLS asked, just before anyone else could do the same.
"The earth elemental, the Terras Ball. The chimeras got their hands on it and tested it on selected subjects…I was one of six. Anyway, like I said. I only know their basic history and technology, not how or why they would create something so…evil."
"Basic history, you say?" Bluehawk said slowly. "Like what that you haven't told me already?"
Phantom looked down, almost guiltily. "Like I said. I don't know all about it. But we were once a peaceful tribe on a peaceful planet, then we were banished along with our technology and the power source we were banished for. That's about all I know, they roam the galaxy in search of a decent home, and it seems this planet is the safest place they've found."
"And they'll do anything for their own survival." Bandit groaned, fiddling with a bottle of salt.
"It seems so." Bluehawk muttered. "They seem to be trying to go it slow though."
"Of course they would, with you guys around." Urthdigger chuckled.
"The shadow-men!" Hawk cried.
"Yeah, them. But there's nothing we can really do, is there? You can't 'look for them', as far as you've told us they always come to you!"
"The derelict Cruiser. We might be able to find evidence of further construction…the new model."
Bandit, NKLS and Urthdigger exchanged glances. Phantom simply looked at Hawk with a grin. "Even I didn't think of that…if you're right…"
Suddenly there was the noise of someone yelling to someone further away from the door. Everyone froze. Bluehawk went for the back door and Phantom teleported.
A white hedgehog stepped into the room, seeing all the signs of the building's use. If only he had tested to see that the building was locked before he entered, instead of spending a minute unlocking it, realizing he'd just locked it, and unlocking it again. There was a salt bottle on the ground. He and the gang didn't use salt bottles like that. "Someone's been here. It might have been…them."
The Squall buzzed slowly over the infinite masses of trees, as he realized that this was almost a good thing that he was using it to get out there. After all, if the authorities found that he had left his plane far from the city, they would think he had left. The sky positively glowed blue except for the occasional whiff of cloud, but that wasn't worth noting, he had to be on constant alert. Nowhere was safe until he had cleared his name. Then the cruiser loomed out of the shadows of the trees on the border of the rock sheet, the huge teal mass of metal ellipses…with three massive holes in the roof. They would make for easy entry…Hawk dove down toward the flat rock, which seemed to be sizzling in the sunlight already, it was virtually a desert. The plane bounced once, then came down a second time fairly smoothly. Hawk jumped out, holding the side of the seat for balance until hitting ground zero. One of the holes was smoking, and from here…the edges almost looked charred. Bluehawk used his emerald to jump up high enough to reach a platform and scrabble up to the only apparent safe hole, the one torn outwards.
The cruiser inside was cold, which was Hawk's first thought. Of course, all of the communications and lights had been knocked out, so the Lazuli Blade did quite nicely. Now to find the info centre…then Hawk whacked himself hard on the forehead. He had used EMP…wouldn't the chimeras have kept their records electronically? They wouldn't have their research on paper, no way!
"Hawk, you there?" Urthdigger's voice, coming from the watch…hey, why was the watch working, anyway?
"Yeah, and I got a question. Why, if my watch was deactivated my EMP, does it work now?" Buehawk waited a few moments before the reply came.
"That's…weird, I would think EMP would wipe it out permanently."
So it wasn't normal EMP…and those Shadow-men he deactivated with it… "I knocked out two shadow-men with this EMP stuff…they probably came out of that unscathed!" But that would mean…the research is unscathed too! "You timed that call well, Urthdigger. See if you can contact everyone else and tell them we're meeting at my blown-up apartment Okay?"
"Got it. Over and out."
"Out with the formalities." Hawk muttered, walking cautiously along the corridor, wondering how the heck he would recognize the research lab door. It was creepy with absolutely no noise except for the occasional electrical buzz and his footsteps on the thin steel floor, and there were signs only of guard quarters. It was obviously the wrong floor…a deactivated teleporter seemed to be in the place where an earthling would use an elevator, and there were nearby stairs going both up and down in a spiral which Hawk tried to use too fast, almost falling over multiple times from dizzyness afterwards…but there was a different air about this floor…he had skipped two, no matter. This almost seemed to be what he was looking for. The strange smells definitely merited some kind of chemical research. One room that Hawk walked past had lights on, as if it had a backup for everything electrical. There were huge neon-tubes attached to the back wall which seemed to be viewable from the room on the other side of the room, but that was definitely where the light was coming from…it was where Sierra and Jason had been taken. That much was certain.
"NOOO! DON'T DO THIS! I WILL BE SOUGHT AND AVENGED!" Stryke struggled frantically against the mechanoid forcing him into the chute, down into the liquid-filled neon green tube. But it was hopeless…his fingered hand had an iron grip.
"Avenged?" The mechanical voice cackled. "P'ah. You will not be harmed, Mykol…only out of action for a few days…or months. Once my own creation has your memories, collecting your other half will be a piece of cake. You want him destroyed, do you not?"
"Yeah, I do. But this ain't the way I want to go about it!"
"Really?" Droned the mechanical voice of the second mechanoid, which stood on an upturned table. The metal hedgehog gave a last shove of Bluehawk's brother into the tube, and he hit the slimy liquid with a loud splash, sinking quickly down to the next floor down. The abandoned chameleon ruins were perfect for his creation. The devices still worked…the memory tuner buzzed into action as tubes attached to Stryke, copying all of his knowledge onto a super-computer.
"Once the process is complete, my friend, and I must say it is very fast now thanks to me, we can upload it all into your memory banks to help you seek out the pure half…once you are complete, nothing will stop us again!"
The foxbot clicked and whirred.
The computer buzzed to life the moment Hawk entered the room, startling him. The characters were almost earthly…yes, that definitely said 'metal', that word there…ocean…
It is the 64547629th hour of the 391533rd Chimeran year. A strange substance has been discovered, its radiation sensed from the sky and its presence lurking deep in the ocean, on the opposite side of the planet to where the traitor and HT-4 escaped us. It is metallic, but it pulsates and writhes as if it were alive. We managed to harvest some while fighting off the metallic sea creatures in the area which proved deadly…our shots passed right passed them as the metal bent them evasively. If that is what this metal does, then if it could be used, we could upgrade the shadow-men again, very quickly…and they would be unstoppable.
Bluehawk squinted at the characters, his expression turning to horror…a living metal? For a minute he had almost thought they referred to the mechanoid he had fought with Mini, KK, Rack and Grey. Come to think of it, he hadn't visited those two chameleons in a while. But now wasn't the time to think of-suddenly there was a loud thoom, a vibration through the floors. Hawk gripped the emerald, drew the Lazuli Blade. Something, someone was alive in here still. Hawk turned, hoping against hope that this would not be a creature of the metallic substance…a voice tore through the air…it was muffled…but…Sama! His friend was in here somewhere…in the corridors…unless it was that clone, if so then he was spoiling for a good fight…Hawk raced through the corridors, but no voices could be heard…nor was there another vibration.
The shop clerk yelled out in alarm as he realized that that heavily-clothed guy was making off with some clothes and hadn't paid yet…he ran outside and looked along the street only to find his thief had already gotten away on some kind of strange motorbike. Urthdigger rode away grinning, using the congested traffic to get some air time on his hoverbike. He was already a 'criminal' after all, so why not have a little fun? The life of a crim wasn't so bad, he could live it up however he wanted now and not really get in any worse trouble. The bike suddenly went straight for the boot of a halting car, leapt straight upward, and Urthdigger turned it left for the landing at which he'd go in a new direction. Phantom looked on from above a rooftop on his glider. Not a smart move, Urth. He thought to himself. You'll just make it harder to clear our names…Phantom glanced back at the whirring helicopters and made haste outta there. They would question him about Hawk…and know when he was lying.
The city streets darkened quickly, twilight didn't last long at all. The helicopter patrols still buzzed around, searching for the criminals who killed everyone who happened to be in City Hall at the time. Bluehawk darted between buildings and shadows, avoiding being seen as much as possible. The meeting at his ruined apartment was soon, so he made utmost speed to its location. The outer wall was being held up by long wooden planks and half of the floor was done, so it seemed the meeting would be in Phantom's place…Hawk saw from a distance and made sure to raise his altitude with a different building, then leapt between buildings using his emerald. "You're late." eNKay chuckled. Bandit Dorian sat on the somewhat charred floor, rocking back and forth with boredom.
"What about Urthdigger and Phantom? Heard from them yet?"
"No."
Bluehawk got out his communicator (which looked more like a child's walkie-talkie) and held down the talk button. "Phantom! Where the heck are you? Over!"
They all waited a few seconds for the response. Then suddenly there was a loud explosion a few streets away, its location pinpointed by green flashes of light…
Phantom half-cowered against the wall, hoping desperately that he wouldn't have to resort to anything violent.
"Surely you're in contact with that mass-murderer! He is your…friend…after all."
Phantom shook his head. "I've been betrayed many times in my short lifetime, officer." The police cars behind the officer flashed the entire street with red and blue. "I don't associate with traitors…I only hunt them down and-"
"Phantom! Where the heck are you? Over!"
Oh shit… The grinning officer pushed Phantom harder against the glass wall…there was only one thing left to do. Suddenly the 'black hedgehog' was gone…there was a muffled scream as one of the police cars suddenly launched into the air, Phantom having tossed it upward from underneath, and it flipped over, as if it were dangling from an invisible rope, and dropped upside-down on the other car. Phantom leapt onto his glider and was off in an instant, leaving behind a green shockwave which threw everything away from its core. "You idiot, Hawk! Now I'm guilty of association and assaulting police!"
Urthdigger burst in the door, still carrying the bags of materialism he had stolen during the day.
"Been shopping, Urthdigger?" Hawk joked lamely.
Phantom's glider hummed outside the wall of planks. Urthdigger nodded with a grin. NK frowned.
"Not the smartest of moves, Urth. You're making it worse for all of us."
Urthdigger shrugged. "We're already criminals, why not have some fun?"
"Because if we kept quiet, they may begin to realize that we may be innocent." Phantom scowled.
Bandit raised an eyebrow at Urth. There was a crunch from above. A crash of glass. Everyone looked up at the sound of a piercing scream…
"Let's get up th-"
Suddenly the entire roof of Bluehawk's ruined apartment caved in…six tiny green lights attached to mere silhouettes dropped in amongst the glass and wood shards…Bluehawk lashed out with a vicious kick as one hit the floor, Bandit allowed her staff become a glaive spear and pierced right through another shadow's armor plating.
"What's going on in there!?" Phantom called.
NK and Urthdigger sent a foot and a claw right through another mechanoid's stomach as Bluehawk took a volley of punches and kicks to the head…there was an explosion from the wooden wall as it tore apart to show Phantom the scene…he was instantly greeted by a flying shadow-man, flung out the window by Urthdigger, the glider flipped over as Phantom grabbed it desperately, the shadow-man sat on top of the underside, trying to keep balance as Phantom attempted to flip it again, another tripped over backwards as it stepped over the edge, being pierced multiple times by Bandit's bladed spear. It hit the ground with a metal-sheathing sound as Urthdigger ripped the last one off of Bluehawk whom it held to the ground, throwing it straight into NK who blasted it at the hole with white light…before collapsing to the ground shivering, his mind interrupted…It fell on top of the other fallen one as Phantom swung himself upward and upon his own attacker, gave it a swift punch to the front of the neck before it could attack, and let it drop to the road where it was instantly hit by a car which screeched to a halt. Bluehawk lifted himself up, puffing, as a dark figure loomed from the hole in the roof. "You guys okay?" The dark hedgehog asked, showing his skewer of two shadow-men. "What are these things you just flung from the window?"
Everyone looked up, still enraged and puffing from their unexpected fight. "Who the hell are you?" Bluehawk asked…this hedgehog reminded him of something. His voice and attitude.
"Forte Kenshin is my name, that it is." He said, dropping upon the destroyed apartments. Phantom watched from just outside as a buzzing helicopter became louder than ever. "I saw your battle from down there, that I did, and you're wondering how I got up here so fast, that you are."
Hawk's eyebrow twitched. Phantom seemed deep in thought, too.
Bluehawk looked up suddenly. Of course. "Shadow Gunner."…who killed multiple innocents a few weeks ago, while the Stormeye trio was away looking for the orbs. "Yeah! You're Shadow Gunner, aren't you!? Nice disguise."
"It was an accident, that it was. And I want to help you kill these fiends who mercilessly killed many people in city hall, that I do."
Everyone looked around, wondering whether to trust this individual. Helicopter so loud it was difficult to hear oneself think. Then suddenly something dropped in through the holes in the roof. A tiny canister. Everyone stared at it in horror before even thinking to react…but the gas it expelled overcame all of them quickly, as the most powerful one of them was curled up in the corner, pale and shivering. Phantom watched in horror as they collapsed, one by one. Bandit Dorian first, followed closely by Bluehawk and Urthdigger, then Shadow Gunner last of all. Men in gas masks dropped in and carried them all off on stretchers, being sure to attach them with steel chains…Phantom flew off without being seen.
