The group had been walking for 5 minutes, in silence, when they finally came to their destination: a large, opaque wooden door, with "TPO" on it. "Here we are." Bane said.
"And where, exactly, is here?" Sonic asked, suspicious.
"TPO headquarters and dispatch. My Superiors want to have a word with you three, concerning your new status."
Bane opened the door for them, and Sonic, Tails, and Omega walked through. Beyond the door was a hallway; different from the hallways they had taken before, because it was totally opaque. Doors led off to either side, but Bane ignored them and led the 3 to the very end of the hallway, where there was a door, with the words, "TPO: Coordinator and Head of Anthromorphic Department".
Bane opened the door for them again, and followed them in. The room that they entered was much like a small legal office. There was a large oaken desk, and behind the desk was a high-backed leather chair, with its back turned to them. "Ah, Agent Bane…" a hoarse, ancient-sounding voice came from the chair. "I see you have brought them with you. Good… did you bring the other thing I requested, also?"
"Yes, Sir," Bane said, and took the seven Chaos Emeralds from his coat, and put them on the desk with a series of clinks.
Sonic narrowed his eyes. Why did Bane have the Emeralds? And why did this guy want them? "Sonic the hedgehog…" the voice from the chair said. "The fastest hedgehog in the world, age 18. Interesting coloration, perhaps a side effect of his speed, perhaps part of the cause. Came to Earth from Mobius some… oh, it would be about three years now, along with Dr. Eggman, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, and a lot of land, not to mention the Chaos and Master Emeralds."
The chair began to turn toward the group. Omega let out a short gasp. Sitting in the chair was an ancient and wizened gray-furred Anthromorphic fox, with 2 tails, just like Tails. "Miles Prower, AKA Tails, 11 years old," the fox continued, smiling slightly. "Born with a rare genetic condition that resulted in 2 tails. Came here with Sonic. Good with mechanisms and engineering, and incidentally, according to DNA testing, my great-great-great-great grandson."
Then, the fox turned to Omega. "And finally, we have Project E-150c, AKA Omega. Either aged 16 or 1, depending on how you measure it. Began life as an alley cat, and modified by Dr. Eggman by process of Anthromorphization. Changed sides after meeting Agent Bane and Sonic. Was dead, briefly, but was restored by the Chaos Emeralds. Now has new robotic arm, courtesy of the TPO's top research and development team."
The fox then sat back in his chair, and looked up at the ceiling. "And now you're all wondering who the hell I am, and what I'm doing here, not to mention why I wanted the Chaos Emeralds. I know I certainly would," he said, and looked back at the three. "My name is Lucas Prower, and I am head of the Anthromorph Division of the TPO. I was once a resident of Mobius, 200 years ago, with a wife and one male child. Like Sonic and Tails, I was a victim of Chaos Control. The difference is that the Chaos Emeralds didn't come with me. I was immediately picked up by the TPO, as an oddity. I lived here, in Atlantis, with nothing to do, for about 150 years. But then, more and more Anthromorphs began to appear, around 50 years ago. The TPO put me in charge of dealing with the problem, simply because I was the most senior of the Anthromorphs around. I don't know how I've lived so long… well, anyway, the dilemma was soon sorted out, and the Anthromorphs were living peacefully among humans. My current job is to keep it that way."
Again, Lucas looked at the ceiling. "These Emeralds are disrupting that peace. I need to get them away from you, because you can use their power naturally," he said, looking levelly at Omega. "And he appears to be able to do different things than the rest of you who have used them. He doesn't transform very well, because his body isn't designed for such a thing. But he can transfer the energy, once he has it, to someone else. And he can sense the direction of the Emeralds, in relation to his own position. Who knows what else he can do? Not me, not the Organization. We will take good care of the Emeralds. We'll seal them in separate vaults in this compound, where their specialized form of radiation will not escape."
"But-" Sonic began.
"No buts," snapped the old fox. "This is out of your hands, and so are the Emeralds. Dr. Eggman won't be able to track them here…"
"The Eggman is a very resourceful man," Omega said flatly. "He doesn't particularly even want the Emeralds, themselves. They are simply a means to his goal of the Eggman Empire. He'll find a way to do without them if he has to, though. And if Sonic's here, then there's no one in the outside world capable of defeating him. Except possibly Knuckles, and he's more concerned with guarding the Master Emerald than with the safety of the world."
Lucas sighed. "I have no intention of detaining you here. You may leave at any time. But the Emeralds stay here. Is that perfectly clear?" he demanded, glaring at Omega.
"No, it's not!" Sonic objected. "What authority do you have, to give you the right to take the Emeralds from us?"
"I have the authority and full permission of the TPO behind me, Sonic. Now, if you'll kindly leave my office, the Emeralds need to be hidden in the compound, regardless of whether you're willing to leave them behind or not!"
Suddenly, the air ripped open, and out of it stepped a large, sinuous green creature. It had huge claws on its limbs, and scales. 2 men and a gray cat shortly followed it. "What the hell…?" Omega asked as the rip in the air sealed itself.
One of the men, who had black hair, looked at Omega. "Oh, no, another cat…" he said.
The other man, a blonde one, looked at Lucas. "Excuse me, sir, but where are we?"
Lucas didn't look too surprised. He pulled out a file from his desk and scanned it carefully. "Ah, yes… Thomas Serminan, from the Tripping Continuity… we've been expecting you, but not this soon. Right. You're in TPO headquarters, in Atlantis, in the Sonic Fanfic Continuity," he replied.
The man who had been referred to as Thomas sighed. He turned to the man with the black hair, and said, "It's not the right one, Author."
"Not my fault," was his reply. "Start it back up, lets try the next one…"
Thomas nodded, and turned to Lucas. "Sorry for interrupting your storyline. We'll be on our way shortly."
He pulled some sort of small device out of his pocket, and pushed a button. Another rip in the air opened up as Lucas nodded. "Not a problem. Got to keep track of all you 'lost in the dimensions' folk."
The creature stepped into the rip first, and then the rest followed it. The air sealed itself behind them, and left Omega, Sonic, and Tails staring at the empty air. "What the hell was that?" Omega demanded.
Lucas waved one gloved hand dismissively. "Different storyline, crossing ours. Not all that important, and fairly common around here. For some reason, dimension traveling tends to lead here. We've learned to anticipate these visits, but that's really not all that important."
Bane stepped in front of the desk, facing Sonic, Omega, and Tails. "You heard the fox. We need to get going. We're going to have to go to R&D if we want to fight the E-151c, anyway."
They began to leave, but Sonic glanced back for a moment. He didn't like leaving the Emeralds behind. This whole business was fishy, and not just because they were in the middle of the ocean. But he followed Bane anyway. It wasn't as if he couldn't outrun the guy, if things got a bit hairy…
