(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

Episode 17: The cross heirs of the Sniper

Narration: While battles rage on Mars, events equally as important are happening back on Earth. Chaotix still hunts for the elusive Fang the Sniper, while Cream and her mom search for the last Chaos Emerald.

All the while, Hexagon, a mysterious global profit organisation has seized financial control of G.U.N…

The west side of town, especially the abandoned buildings on the piers were prone to gathers by the less than law abiding. Vector pulled his trench boat collars higher around his face as he approached the guarded entrance to the large underground auction being held inside an abandoned warehouse. A large human with a wrench as a weapon stood guard, a hired thud paid to keep those who didn't have any business being there away.

Recent political events had made Chaotix' search for Fang the sniper, or Nack the Weasel as they knew him; infinitely harder. Hexagon, a large multi-billion dollar corporation had been given the go ahead to start building a new defence force to deal with the multiple threats that seemed to be springing up left and right. At the same time, emergency restrictions had been placed on the media, (supposedly for the need for security.). So any report of the infamous Sniper passed Chaotix by.

Gaining entrance was not too difficult. All Vector had to do to make the guard let him past was learn the password. Sticking close by for half an hour, the crocodile heard some shady characters that entered whisper the phrase: Evade the Pigs before the large man stepped aside. Vector grimaced. A lot of crocks he and the rest of Chaotix ended up dealing with were a little crude.

"Evade the Pigs." He muttered to the man, not looking him in the eyes before quickly hurrying past him to get inside. Pretending to be one of the low lives, even for a moment, had left a bad taste in his mouth.

The auction was arranged just like any other, with what lay available at the scene already. The roof was rotted and a few of the ceiling rafters had fallen in. There was also holes in the floor, some large enough to stare down to the Hudson River below. The crowd inside was quite expansive. Aside from petty crocks, there were also a lot of representatives for people who preferred to distance themselves publicly from these sordid gatherings.

A mobian chicken stood as the auctioneer and was currently hearing bids for an expensive looking jewel. Probably something one of them had stolen from a jewellery store. Giving it a second glance, Vector could see scratch marks where it had been hurriedly ripped out of the gold pendant it had once come in.

"Sold, for five grand." The chicken announced suddenly, tapping a make shift hammer down on the surface in front of him. One of the humans nearby rubbed his hands eagerly, his eyes alight with greed. Vector had the strongest of temptations to simply beat the information out of them all, but he could see that at least have of them were armed; and heavily. He'd never get the opportunity to throw a punch, and as disappointing as it was; he knew he'd have to play it safe for now. He melted into the crowd and sat as quietly as he could watch the proceedings, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, which admittedly was not one of his strong points. "Next up for auction we have this." Two other humans had laid a large piece of complex looking machinery down on a flat surface for all to see. It was clearly military in origin and someone had done a lousy job of pealing away the G.U.N logo from its surface. It was part of a military Walker Mech, a device used in the weapons targeting systems. Vector looked up at it intently. This could be part of the equipment Fang stole from the military base. "Starting bid, five hundred dollars." Several people gave gestures to show their interest. "Five hundred, five hundred ten, five hundred twenty, five hundred fifty…I do I have five hundred fifty. Yes, five hundred ninety, Six hundred." As the bidding went on, Vector edged his way closer to the front to get a closer look at the thing.

It certainly matched the description on the lift Espio had given him, but that was not what drew his attention at once. Attending the auction, actually attending it was Fang himself! The purple Weasel was standing at the far edge of the platform, watching with a mixture of glee and greed as the proposed price for his latest acquisition kept rising. Vector could not believe his luck. Fang himself, right here, right now!

"Sold, three grand." The auctioneer finished and Fang looked up, his sudden expression turning from a satisfied smile to a startled glare.

"YOU!" He cried, sighting Vector. Snarling, he tore a gun from its holster and fired a shot straight at him. All the others around started swearing and hit the deck. Vector managed to dodge it, ducking down below the level of some of the objects around. Finally Fang's piece ran out of ammo and he was forced to re-sheath it, but that did not leave him defenceless. "Boys…" He declared to the two mobians on either side, members of his Sharpshooters gang. "Ice him!" They nodded and reached for their own weapons. Vector however had other ideas. Like a fish through water, he shot towards them and smashed their guns out of their hands with his tail before flooring one of them with a solid punch to the chin. By now, everyone else had reached for their weapon and an instant later it was a mad shoot out. Chaos reigned as no one was able to tell exactly who they were shooting at in the confusion. Vector however never managed to loose sight of his objective. Kicking another of Fang's cronies over with a tail swat, he turned and advanced over to the Weasel himself. Fang smiled sadistically and tore a large serrated knife out from his belt. Vector backed off as the Weasel swung forward, tearing the edge of his trench coat.

"You're going down Nack!" Vector declared, addressing the Weasel by his real name before tackling him to the ground. The rotted floor of the pier warehouse gave way and the two of them were sent crashing down into the river water below. Fighting the water, Vector had the advantage. His reptilian body could twist and turn here in way Fang's could never hope to and he used that agility to swim his way around the lunges the weasel made with his knife.

"None of you bastards ever die easy do you?" Fang demanded through clenched teeth, his purple fur completely drenched. At the last second however, he scoured a lucky shot across Vector's arm, nicking the crocodile with the tip of his knife. Blood began leaking out into the water and Vector backed off, now in quite a bit of pain.

"Hey boss!" A voice called out as a speedboat pulled up beside them, another member of Nack's Sharpshooter Gang reached down to lift their leader up from the water.

"Give me your Piece!" The Weasel demanded before he was handed a gun. Turning savagely Fang was halfway to pulling the trigger before he was aiming at Vector's head.

Acting on instinct, Vector dived below the water and seconds later bullets began flying past him in the water, some sinking through his already ruined trench coat. Fang unloaded a full cartridge into the water, but all he could see was the black trail of blood left by the Crocodile. He couldn't even be sure if he hit him or not. There was a loud crackle of thunder and it began to rain heavily. Forcing his breathing to slow down, Fang slumped back in his seat and tossed the empty gun back to its previous owner. It seems Chaotix were more determined to hunt him down than he had given them credit for. It was time to end this little run-around once and for all.

As the boat sped away and the loud blaring of police sirens began to fill the air, Vector pulled himself roughly up the docks of some concrete pillar some distance away. The cut on his left arm wasn't that bad, but it still hurt a lot. He was exhausted and the swim in the River hadn't been exactly beneficial. Luckily, he was used to the cold so a water logged pair of shoes would not do him much harm. Still, the cold was beginning to nip at him; and after picking up a band aid and something to clean himself up, a warm cup of Coffee went down very well.

"You let him get away!" Espio demanded angrily over Vector's mobile when he contacted the others to let them know exactly how close he had come to catching the Weasel. "I don't believe it. Now he's going to be that much harder to find again!" Vector had found himself a small corner café to rest in. The mean time however, to lessen his disappointment about Fang's near escape he ordered himself a cooked meal to go with his drink.

"Hey, give me a break here, he tried to gut me." Vector explained, gently tapping his band aid to remind him of exactly how close Fang had come to severing his arm; although he mind have been exaggerating his thoughts a bit. "How are you guys doing with Hexagon?" The crocodile asked, changing the subject. He could still hear Espio grumbling.

"Not a thing…officially." The chameleon replied, an ominous tint on the word 'officially'. Vector knew that whenever Espio spoke like that, it meant he'd been doing his Ninja thing.

"Out with it." The crocodile began flatly.

"We just got the Intel from Beck. He reports that several cases of fraud and theft have been brought against Hexagon in the last mouth alone. All the charges get dropped however as either the guys backing the cases either suddenly change their minds or important evidence goes missing."

"Go on." Vector added, his eyes alight with interest.

"Securities pretty tight around their main building, as you'd expect with them getting the defence contract and all, but I managed to…er…liberate a few files that may be of interest. Apparently, they did hire someone to steal from their competition. Won't be able to prove a thing until we find out whom." Vector grinned his infamous crocodile grin, frightening a small child at the table opposite as his teeth flashed in the light.

"I knew it." He proclaimed. "It's Fang alright. My intuition never lets me down. Keep at it Espio, see if you can pin his name to these guys."

"I wouldn't have to if you didn't let him get away." Espio replied angrily, before disconnecting.

"Moody git." Vector muttered under his breath, tucking his mobile back into his glove. He sighed after a moment of thought. Espio had a right to be a little irritated, considering how long they'd been wanting to pay Fang the Sniper back for double crossing their group. He went to take a bite of his pie when a loud voice called over to him.

"Oh Vector, there you are!" The crocodile nearly put the end of his snout in his meal as Charmee bee came flying out from the large doors that marked the entrance.

"I thought you were supposed to be back at the office." Vector remarked as the young insect landed on his table, another of his childish grins spread all over his face.

"Another load of paperwork came in." Charmee replied. Vector hesitated.

"Ah…" There was no need to elaborate on that. If Fang hadn't started showing his nose again, they'd all be back at Agency headquarters signing official documents well into the night.

"Please let me hang around you for a while. I don't want to go back there, not with all those things that need signing." The bee pleaded, doing his now world renowned 'puppy dog eyes' expression.

"Fine, if you have to." Vector replied. In truth, he was pleased he could spare anyone the torture.

Charmee ended up eating most of the meal and eventually they left. It was still raining hard so Vector bought an umbrella from a vendor outside. Of course like everything else, the crocodile haggled for the price.

"Is it true Vector?" Charmee asked as they made their way through the busy crowds on Main Street.

"Is what true?" The crocodile asked, looking down at the young insect that hovered next to him; keeping himself under the umbrella so the rain could not ruin his wings.

"Espio said you were a big stupid moron who let a suspect get away." The bee replied innocently, Vector rolled his eyes and looked up towards the sky. "Well, are you a big stupid mor…"

"Do you like breathing?"

"Yes."

"Then don't complete that question." At that point, Charmee snapped his lips shut and looked away.

"Hey my wallet!" Someone across the road shouted. Looking over, Vector saw a young human male running away from another old human who'd been knocked down. In his gloved hands he had a leather wallet. Throwing on a very Super Man type persona in an almost instinctive reaction, Vector handed the Umbrella to Charmee and gave chase. The thief looked back, noticed he was being pursued by a humanoid crocodile with a set of sharp teeth and began running like he'd never run before.

He was cut short however when a metal came out of nowhere and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, forcing him into the side of a building with a loud thud. Vector came to a stop as the youth dropped to the floor, the wallet falling out of his hand. The metal hand retracted from the dazed thief and returned to the wrist of its owner, the Black and Gold Robot Emerl who was standing nearby; hiding his identify with a very cliché trench coat and hat.

"Here you are sir." Vector announced, picking up the man's wallet and handing it to him as he ran up alongside. A passing squad car pulled up and a police officer stepped out to clear up the matter. Thanks to the new coat of paint as well as various other armour improvements, no people recognised the Gizoid that had run amok as the first Chaos Emerald Tournament. Even so, they had little reason to trust robots. Some ventured that it could be a new G.U.N peace keeping model and most of them left it at that.

"How about that Emerl, you're a hero." Cream began up to her robotic friend, who looked down at her with his large blue optics. Vector, who had given the officer a quick account of everything turned to face the robot, only to come face to face with the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. She was standing beside Cream and the robot. Like cream, she was a rabbit with faint orange fur and deep brown eyes. A short quaff of head fur hung over her face and her two large ears flopped back behind her head. It was Vanilla, the girls mother. She had once hired Chaotix to help track down her daughter after they got separated when Earth and Mobius had merged.

"Hello, Earth to Vector…" Charmee began; waving a hand in front of the crocodile's dazed and smitten expression. The bee followed his gaze. "Oh, Vector's in love, Vector's in love, Vector's in love…" He began singing, buzzing around the crocodile. A large hand shot out and took the insect from the air, holding him in front of a large mouth full of teeth. Hearing the noise, Vanilla glanced over in that direction. Noticing her scrutiny, Vector dropped Charmee like a hot potato before anyone could accuse him of mistreating his comrade.

"Oh Hello there Vector." The female rabbit began with a smile, noticing them finally. "You remember Vector don't you Cream?" The smaller rabbit grimaced, remembering her last encounter with the Crocodile when Chaotix had stormed the Thorndyke mansion under the mistaken belief that she was being held hostage there.

"Nice to meet you again Vanilla." Vector began, trying his best not to slang.

"Vector's in love, Vector's in love…" Charmee chanted under his breath, only to earn a stern teeth ridden glare from Vector.

"So what's new in your corner of the world?" Vector asked, his gaze still firmly locked on the effeminate beauty that was Vanilla Rabbit.

"Sonic gave us the job of finding the last Chaos Emerald." Cream replied, smugly holding up the Chaos Energy detector the blue hedgehog had given her after he left. It looked like an ordinary watch but with a small locator screen instead of a digital timer. It was emitting a small bleeping sound, showing that it had detected traces of Chaos Energy.

"We've not been having much luck so far." Vanilla admitted with a faint smile. "Chuck's device isn't very precise. It's been leading us around town all day." There was a sudden gleam in Vector's eyes that only Charmee managed to pick up.

"Then today is your lucky day." The crocodile proclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. "The expert skills of the Chaotix Detective Agency are at your disposal."

"But Vector…" Charmee protested quietly. "I thought we were supposed to be looking for Fang?" Vector simply shoved him aside with a large gloved hand.

"Oh thank you but don't worry, we can manage." Vanilla replied.

"No prob. I insist." Charmee began giggling again.

"Vector's in love, Vector's in love!"

-

Hexagon, now being the chief supplier of arms for the G.U.N military, had some of the most advanced security running through their main building than anyone else in the business world. Getting inside had been extremely difficult without being detected. Plus, as Hexagon was now officially G.U.N's chief supplier it also meant that if they ever got caught, they'd be put on a charge of treason.

"Anything?" The chameleon asked Rei, his travelling companion as the two of them stood before the towering sky scrapper. The building towered over most of the northern half of New York, the square like logo of the business slapped across the top. Standing inside the building grounds were four large Mech's; two outdated Big Foot Walkers and another two Raptors; all of them painted in a military green. They had already down some reconnaissance, showing them the entire building inside and out was monitors by an advanced security camera system, along with motion detectors, sound monitors and many laser grids on every level. These Hexagon guys were creating a whole new range of robots for the military, and it seemed that they were not taking any chances with potential thieves. Even with the stuff they had already managed to 'liberate' their knowledge of Hexagon's back door dealings was slim.

Rei looked up towards the tower for a moment, narrowed his eyes at it before shaking his head.

"No, sorry; don't see a thing." His unexplainable ability of precognition was not always as reliable as they would like. Often it came and went as it saw fit, so the others knew not to rely on it too much. Rei was a formidable detective, even without it.

"Fang's involved in this somehow, I know it." Espio muttered to himself as they both stared up at the almost impossible tall building. Well, they had done all they could here. Searching the entire building from basement to pent house was both impractical and impossible. It looked like they were going to go about this a new way. Of course Espio still had to think what that new way was. He contemplated going back to Swift to see what he knew, but in the end he decided that pointless. Even with his insight into the criminal underworld, Swift would not have the hard evidence they would need.

"Come on, let's hook up with Vector." Rei told him with a grin. Espio stared up towards the sky scrapper for a moment longer, before sighing and quickly following the flying squirrel.

Espio was lost in his own thoughts. This case was their big case to catch Fang the Sniper and bring him in. They had a score to settle with the Weasel and it was about time he paid up. Fang, or Nack as they'd called him back then had been a member of the agency; but had paid more attention to how much money they could get in a job than helping people; which as the main reason Vector set the agency up in the first place. On one of their biggest cases, Fang betrayed them to a dangerous crime lord. None of them would have escaped, if not for the sacrifice made by Mighty the Armadillo. That shot, fired by Fang himself still rang like a bell through Espio's mind.

His head shot up as that sound echoed through the air again, and acting on instinct; he threw himself forward and shoved Rei down onto the ground; pushing them both out of the way of a rifle shot. The people around them began exclaiming at the sudden disturbance. Glancing up towards the roof tops, Espio stopped dead when he saw how was standing there with a Sniper Rifle in his hands.

It was Fang, along with at least five member of his Sharpshooters Gang; all of them were armed with long range sniper rifles. With a flat emotionless expression, Fang reloaded and aimed directly at them.

"MOVE!" Espio exclaimed, showing them both into the door of a convenience store they'd been working past; shots ringing out as bullets hit the sidewalk. "He's mine!" The chameleon snarled, several shuriken appearing in his fingers; the deepest possible scowl on his face.

Rei called after him, but by now it was too late. Espio's physical form melted away as he turned invisible.

Fang knew fell well about Espio's abilities had come prepared for it. Reaching into the bag behind him, he withdrew a pair of infra-red goggles and put them on. His thugs all did the same and just in time, as Fang spotted a heat source advanced rapidly across the street towards them.

"Hey Esp, have Mighty send me his regards!" The weasel shouted down, before opening fire. Forced back against the side of a building; Espio tried to see where they were shooting from now. They kept changing positions on the rooftops so he found it very difficult to find his targets. All he needed to hit them was a single second, just enough time to get a single hit in with his Shuriken. He paused…his shuriken! He looked down at the metal throwing stars in his left hand.

Would that work? Espio looked up towards the sky and judged the level of sunlight. It was blaring, yet; he might actually be able to pull it off.

Fang staggered back as a metal object, a thing he recognised as one of Espio's ninja trinkets came spinning up into the air from the ground. It wasn't even aimed for them; it had just been thrown up into the sky. All his boys saw it too and stared at it in confusion.

Once it reached a certain height however, the suns light reflected off it like a solar flare; blinding all of them was intense flash of light.

Fang cursed loudly and covered his eyes. "Damn it, where is that bastard!"

"Right here." A voice beside him replied. Turning with a knife in his hands, Fang prepared to swinging but blinding by the light he left himself open to a succession of wild kicks of punches that knocked the weapons out of his hands and knocked him to the ground.

Espio stood over him, holding a ninja ball and chain with both hands. A true Ninja did not only use the darkness to conceal their presence, but the light as well.

"Get him!" One of the Sharpshooters yelled and Espio shot around and several automatic guns were raised towards him. Ducking, darting to the side; the chameleon cast his Ninja weapon and the end of the chain wrapped itself around one of the weapons, tearing it out of the user's hands. Controlling the weight and swing, Espio used it slam into the rest of them.

"After you, I'll waste the entire agency one by one." Fang proclaimed, tearing a gun out from a holster at his side. Before he could fire, something knocked it out of his hand. Snarling, he looked back to see Rei standing there armed with a lead pipe he'd picked up in an alley way.

Espio tore back to charge at the weasel, but at the last second; Fang back flipped off the edge of the building before latching on the fire escape.

"Get back here!" Espio yelled after him as the Weasel rapidly climbed down, readying himself

"I'll be back to get you!" The Weasel proclaimed, before dropping to the street and before either Espio or Rei could stop him; he tore the lid of a manhole cover and disappeared inside.

Almost in rage, the chameleon leapt after him but by the time he'd reached the Weasel's escape point; he had disappeared from sight.

"I almost had him." Espio complained angrily when he, Beck and Rei meet up with Vector and Charmee later at some outdoor restaurant overlooking the harbour. Vanilla, Cream, Cheese and Emerl had stopped there too for lunch. Espio and Rei had managed to slip away from the police who'd crowded into the area to avoid any lengthy interviews before coming here. Vector was still quite adamant about helping them track down the Chaos Emerald, even with Espio's incessant chatter about Fang.

"Ha, and you gave ME a hard tell for letting him escape." The crocodile exclaimed with a wide grin.

"Shut it." Espio remarked, leaning on his hands.

"You'll never guess what!" Charmee exclaimed, after helping himself to his third slice of cake; on Vanilla's account of course.

"What?" Beck asked

"Vector's fallen in…" The bee never finished the sentence as Vector clamped a hand over his mouth. Charmee suddenly bit him, forcing him to release his grip. "In love!"

The other three central members of Chaotix looked stunned, before staring at the crocodile; whom had quickly turned away from them all and sat with his back to them. "And with Vanilla too!" The bee added almost as if that last part wasn't the most important

"Did I hear that right?" Rei asked, looking suddenly stunned. "Vector's in love with a rabbit?" Charmee nodded enthusiastically. Espio, who'd been angrily munching on a snack nearly choked on it. All three of them stared over towards the crocodile, who even now sat gazing with admiration at Vanilla across the way where she stood helping her daughter to decipher the bleeping Chuck's device made.

"Please tell me this is some sort of joke?" Espio asked. The crocodile said nothing. He just sat there with a content smile over his scaly lips. "Vector, it's just not natural. She's a furry and you're a reptile."

"I don't care." He replied finally. "It's destiny we met." Espio slapped his forehead.

"It could never work." The chameleon warned him. All mobians, while they interacted with each other; never went as far as romantic relationships between species, especially between groups such as mammals and lizards.

"I don't know about that." Rei remarked almost causally. "I heard about a human and a mobian falling in love. Seems stranger than an inter-mobian relationship." Both Espio and Charmee looked back at the flying Squirrel with stunned expressions on their faces.

"Now I know you're making that up." The chameleon said flatly.

"No, I swear it's the god's honest truth."

"Can we get back to what's important?" Beck asked, leaning on the table. "Fang's out for blood; and it's our blood he wants. Anyone got a plan?"

"Everything's on hold until we help Cream get that Emerald." Vector replied flatly. Espio slapped his hands down on the table several times.

"Didn't you here me before? Fang wants to kill us!" He demanded.

"He'll just have to wait his turn." And that was that for Vector. He crossed his arms and sat there like a sulking child. Espio barred his teeth and began grinding them in anger.

"Vector's followed his Rabbit down a hole into Wonderland." Charmee laughed still stuffing his face

-

Flip card 1:

Name: Charmee Bee

Species: Honey Bee

Description: A member of Chaotix since his birth (Due to some fiasco Vector has long since forgotten about).