Tails, Sonic, and Omega looked back at the voice. It was an old man in a white lab coat. Well, formerly white. It was now a patchwork of grays, black, and various brown spots that looked suspiciously like dried blood. He had a shambling walk, and his face was covered in wrinkles, but his clear, blue eyes were those of a man half his apparent age. His bushy white hair was a ring around his head, hanging down the back of his neck and stopping just short of his ears. His eyebrows, too, were wild and out of control. "Ah…" said Bane. "You're here. Sonic, Tails, Omega, this is Professor Montgomery Ironsworth."
"You can call me Irongrip," the man said, grinning nastily.
"Um. Prof- I mean, Irongrip, is the Director of Mechanized Studies," Bane said, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"That means I tell the mechanics and suchlike around here what to do," Irongrip said, looking at Bane. "Now, Bane, could you please be so kind as to tell me why I'm bloody well here?"
"No one else wanted the job."
"Ha ha. Very funny. Now give me a real answer or I'll thump you in the damn ear!"
"Um," Bane said. "You're here to get Tails here started with a mech."
The old man focused on Tails, who felt a bit uncomfortable at this. "Ah…" Irongrip said, grinning. "Old Lucas's descendant, yes? I can see the family resemblance. Well, lad, what kind of mech do you think would catch your fancy?"
"Something with an auto-targeting, laser guided firing system…" Tails began, and started listing complicated specifications, while Irongrip listened and nodded occasionally.
"Right," he said finally, after a while.
He took a list from his filthy lab coat and began to look down it. "Right," he repeated, and started off for the far end of the hangar.
Tails followed him, but the rest didn't bother. They'd see it when they saw it, and there wasn't any real point to following him. Then, a female figure appeared, silhouetted by the doorway. "Agent Bane?" she said in a voice that seemed to be halfway between… a purr and a growl, really.
Bane looked at her, and nodded. "That's me."
"Good. I've been looking for you," she said, and stepped into the room.
It was definitely a surprise for Omega. She was an Anthromorphic cat, entirely white as far as Omega could tell. She was wearing a lab coat, and blue jeans under it, but he couldn't tell what kind of shirt she was wearing. Her hair was medium length and blonde. Her face was much like Omega's, but slimmer, and her whiskers were trimmed short, presumably because she didn't want to appear to have a mustache. Her eyes were emerald green, in contrast to Omega's yellowish green orbs. Her tail was flicking back and forth in annoyance, and she was looking flatly at Bane. "I'm Rachael Undershaft. Do not, under any circumstances, call me Cheshire. Lucas assigned me to go with you, but forgot to give me the mission specs," she said, seeming rather annoyed.
"Oh… I see. No wonder you seem so upset. The specs are on the special mission file. Hang on; I'll beam them to you," Bane said, and touched a watch-like device on his wrist.
Almost immediately, Rachael touched hers, as well. She stood still for a few minutes, apparently staring into space. "Oh, God…" she said finally. "That old fox has absolutely lost it. Totally unreal… why the hell would he assign me to THIS? There are 4 agents working on it already!"
"Well, 3 of them have been agents for only about… oh, 45 minutes. Regulations specify that there must be at least 2 agents with over 5 years experience on any assignment of a rating of C or higher."
"Yes, but they're HEROES! Especially you, Bane! I am, at best, a fair combatant."
"But you're the best possible choice for infiltration and stealth. You have an S rating in both. Your only C or lower rating is combat, and it's a high C, at that."
"And you have an A rating in combat, while Sonic has an S, Tails has a VERY high A, and Omega has just a slightly higher A than you. Where is Omega, anyway? I want to see this Cyborg cat…"
"Ahem…" Omega cleared his throat, and raised his hand slightly. "That would be me…"
Rachael's eyes fell on Omega. "What is this, some kind of big joke?"
"If it is, I'm not aware of the punchline," he said, quite honestly.
"Your fur pattern… it's entirely black, with a large, oval-shaped patch of white on your chest, running down to your stomach, yes?"
Omega blinked. The answer to the question was fairly obvious… why the interrogation? "Um… Yes," he replied.
"That just about does it. I've had it up to here with weird coincidences and narrative casualty!" said Rachael, gesturing with her hand about 4 inches above her head. "Why the hell do you have the negative of my fur pattern?"
Omega blinked. This was a first. That would have to mean that she had a large black spot on her chest, running down to her stomach. He had never seen a normal cat with that kind of fur pattern. It was usually black cats that had that kind of thing, like him. "Because it's the pattern I was born with, I suppose," he finally replied.
Rachael snorted. "Yeah, right. Stuff like this is never coincidence. Narrative casualty will come into play here, sometime, somehow. Just like how a bad guy who turns away from evil for the love of some girl always dies in the end."
"Is that cynicism or stoicism?" Bane asked.
The female feline rolled her eyes and looked at Bane. "It's realism, Bane. Stoicism is letting things happen because there's nothing that could happen to make things different, and cynicism is the belief that people only act out of self-interest."
"Oh."
Rachael refocused on Omega. "Look, you… I'll have you know that I don't want to join your little group. I'm only here because Lucas told me to go with you."
Omega shook his head glumly. "It's not my group," he explained. "It's Sonic's. I'm no leader."
Rachael looked at him a little longer, and then turned away. "Suit yourself. I'm going to get something from R&D."
And with that, she walked out of the room. "What's with her?" Sonic asked.
"I think I love her…" Omega replied, a dreamy look on his face.
Sonic looked at Omega's expression, and waved his hand briefly in front of his face. This got no reaction, aside from a slight sigh. "Okay…" said Sonic, turning to Bane. "Looks like he's going to be out of it for a little while."
Bane nodded. "His psyche is definitely that of a 16-year-old."
"So, where exactly are we going to be going?"
"What? Oh, probably Angel Island for a few days, and then to the mainland."
"Why Angel Island?" asked Sonic, suddenly suspicious. "Does this have something to do with the Master Emerald?"
"It has everything to do with the Master Emerald, as a matter of fact. I want Omega to talk to it, to see if it knows what's going on."
"Wait, what?" Omega interrupted, snapping out of his stupor.
"It's simple…" Bane explained. "You can talk with the Emeralds, and the Master Emerald. I want to know what it does, if anything, about our current situation."
"Oh… I suppose that makes sense…"
At that moment, Rachael reappeared, sans lab coat. Apparently, the shirt she was wearing was a blue cotton t-shirt. Omega drew himself back up, and seemed composed when she looked at him. "So, where's Tails? We can't very well leave without him…" she asked.
Just then, as according to the laws of Narrative Convenience and Convention, a Learjet drove up. Its cockpit opened, revealing Tails inside, with Irongrip beside him. "I think you've gotten the hang of it, Tails. Now, just remember the control combinations, and you'll be fine," the old man said, getting out.
Tails looked at everybody. "Hey, guys. I'm back. Who's the girl?"
Irongrip looked over at Rachael. "Well, if it isn't Cheshire! How've you been?"
"Irongrip, you KNOW how much I hate that damn nickname!" Rachael growled, her tail swishing.
"Of course I do. Why else would I use it?"
"Cheshire?" Tails asked.
Rachael glared up at Tails. "That's not my name! My name is Rachael. Rachael Undershaft."
"Oh, okay… I'm Tails. Pleased to meet you."
Rachael nodded, a bit calmer. "Let's go already, if we're going to go," she said, climbing up into the jet.
