"Ok guys, pooling data time." Vector announced, throwing everyone order their way, the bags opening as they slid across the table to a stop. Charmy was into his bag even before that, his stinger waving out through the top as he began eating the burger inside. "So, whatta we know?" The crocodile sat himself down at the outside table. Chaotix had taken up places in a park within the city centre. Since Mobians were now on Hexagon's most wanted list, they hadn't been allowed to set foot inside a restaurant but they had allowed him to take their order to go.
"It all comes down to this 'Henry Patterson'." Beck replied before sipping his cola through a straw.
"He's the missing link here." Rei added; glancing down at the ID card they'd taken from the dragon they'd fought about a week ago. After receiving such a horrifying vision from it the flying squirrel hadn't had the nerve to touch the thing directly. "He's our only link to Hexagon and this… leap gate." Espio had the files taken from Falling Star laid out in the centre of the table. He'd taken the liberty of making copies both on computer and printed just in case Hexagon caught onto them. The originals he wasn't letting out of his sight.
"Both Hexagon and G.U.N know these dragons aren't hoaxes, and look at this." The chameleon added, turning over the newspaper he was reading for them to read. The front line story was –Dragon hoaxes persist over midland America and Europe-. "According to the president of Falling Star, Leap Gate's a piece of technology G.U.N recovered from the Armageddon battle station." Espio continued, passing the paper to Vector. "You remember those dragons both Krish and the Black Arms used? This may have something to do with them."
"You think they're experimenting with those things?" Beck asked.
"Well they're up to something alright." Vector replied, his eyes scanning the contents of the paper. "And I intend to find out what." Charmy stuck his head up through the top of the back, the side of his check smeared with ketchup.
"So whatta gonna do Vector?" The smile on the young bee's face showed he was hoping for another of the crocodile's elaborate and insane schemes. Everyone looked the crocodile's way, waiting for him to show him his latest way to get them arrested. They were all quite surprised when he leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and admitted;
"I don't know." All of Chaotix, Espio included, sat their dumfounded. Charmy rolled out of his bag and nearly tumbled off the side of the table in surprise. "What? Even I can't think of everything."
"I never thought I see the day." Espio murmured with wide eyes.
"Ah shut up." Vector replied. The end of his snout suddenly twitched as a familiar fragrance floated past. The smell of a perfume he very aquatinted with. "Vanilla." He began as a shadow fell past him. Looking him, he saw the rabbit standing nearby; her face shaded by a straw hat. Espio sighed and made silent gestures with his hands to the others, telling them without saying a word to prepare for the crocodiles pathetic attempt at a romantic display.
"Good to see you Vector." She began with a smile. Cream passed on by Vector with Cheese and Emerl by her side. She did not approve of the relationship her mother and the crocodile had and made the fact known. Cream had adopted her mothers own style with a straw hat of her own, her long ears trailing out through two holes cut in the straw. "I haven't seen you for a few days. Have you and your agency been busy?"
"The usual." Vector replied as she sat down in the empty seat next to him.
"I was wondering if you had any information about the current events." Vanilla asked as her daughter and her robotic guardian sat themselves down as well. "We saw that ship Tails built on the news; that broadcast about that base blowing up." Vector hesitated, unsure whether he should say anything about their investigations.
"We're looking into it." Beck replied, cutting in for him.
"An entire column of tanks went past our apartment last night." Vanilla stated. She narrowed her eyes. "Funny thing is they were taking a good deal of trucks loaded with crates with them." That caught Vector's attention. "They all had that military 'G' on them. Must have been something important and I was wondering if you boys could shed some light on it."
"Sorry, we've got nothin'." Rei replied with a mouth full of burger.
"It's just that I've heard that stories over the internet of soldiers moving into Central City. Under the orders of Mandarin."
"Mandarin?" Vector repeated looked a little puzzled.
"Jericho Mandarin." Beck replied. "He's been the Commander of G.U.N for the past thirty years. He was the one who forged the military into what it…" He paused to correct himself. "What it was before Hexagon."
"He's one of the few military guys who didn't go on Hexagon pay role." Rei added in wiping the ketchup stains from around his mouth. Vector sat there silently before a moment and Espio watched with dawning fear as he saw the beginnings of crazy schemes being born behind the crocodile's eyes. Unable to take it the chameleon put his head in his hands as Vector stood up suddenly.
"Then he's our guy!" Everyone looked at the crocodile with a puzzled expression on their face, even Cream and Cheese. "He's a G.U.N guy that doesn't have Hexagon pulling his strings. If there's anyone we can get to for information, it'll be him." Rei and Beck cast each other a puzzled expression before finishing off their mouthfuls of food.
"Sure, let's waltz right up to the front desk and go; 'Can we see the head of the military please? No we haven't got an appointment we just wanna beat some information outta him." Espio remarked with levelled eyebrows. "That'll work well."
"I'm with Espio on this one." Rei told him. "We already know too much already and Hexagons clearly has trust issues."
"All the more we get to the bottom of it." Vector announced. "Expose them. Make sure the truth is known. Isn't that our job as detectives?" He grinned showing all his teeth. "Besides when have I ever led you guys wrong before?" Charmy opened his mouth to speak but Espio just clamped his hand over it shaking his head.
"Then you do know something?" Vanilla asked. "Then I'll be going too." Vector looked at her a little taken aback. "I'd like to know what this is all about as well." She assured him with a smile.
"Can I go too momma?" Cream began tugging at her mothers dress. "I haven't been on an adventure for a while."
"Oh who am I kidding?" Espio asked from the empty air around him. "I'm coming as well."
"Guess that means we're in." Rei muttered to Beck, who just nodded and stuffed what was left into their bag to go. Charmy thrust a fist into the air with a wide smile on his face.
---
With the relentless attacks by the robots proving nothing more than an irritation, the dragon decided that by now, it had had enough. It was hungry and with its meal just in sight it was not going to let itself be delayed for anything. Bring its wings sharply around, it clashed through the air with bones the size of tree trunks snapping any flying Dreadnaughts in half. Explosions riddled the air and with their forces depleted, the remaining attacks were barely enough to sting.
E102: Gamma rallied the remaining Dreadnaughts to him and led one final charge upon the beast, blasting its thick armoured underside with an intense barrage of laser fire. The explosions rang out along the scales but they did not impede the beast's progress. With their numbers depleted they barely even bothered the creature.
But they had bought enough time by Gamma's calculations. The minute they needed to give the doctor they had earned and by now the Egg Carrier's cannon was ready. To preserve their forces, the E102 unit ordered the robotic unit to withdraw. Drawing back as best they could given the size of their enemy, the Dreadnaughts laid down cover fire and retreated.
Now the beast was free to attack, and it was clear that the flying vessel before it had to be removed first. Unfortunately however it was too large for it to rip apart physical. This was going to require something more.
The wings spread out to absorb the sunlight again as the dragon laid its neck down close to the ground, the gills lining the outside edge snapping open one by one. Its attention was so fixated on the ship before it, the creature didn't notice the blue blur flying towards it until it was too late. Sonic's spin dash hit it directly in the right eye and he screeched, staggered backwards into the smouldering remains of a building.
Metal Sonic came in from the other side and smashed a kick into its left eye. Blinded, the beast towered up and screamed, scraping with its wings at its head trying to dislodge the intrusions.
The Egg Carrier's cannon pulled itself open with a loud screech, the needle that formed the Eclipse Cannon style centre jutting out. It was still red hot after firing such a short time ago and multi-able discharges of such a powerful weapon had the risk of explosion consequences. But now the batteries were recharged and Eggman had only one chance. He could not let that creature fire off another attack of its own. It had to be taken out now.
"Recharging complete Doctor." Becoe stated. "Now switching to manual firing mode." A round metallic pedestal rose up out of the floor before Eggman's seat and one it was at arms height rotated around to show a series of controls. A holographic screen image appeared before the Doctor, showing the dragon scrambling about trying to get two blue objects out of its eyes. "Locking on target." A pair of cross heirs moved across the screen and incepted each other with a loud confirming bleep directly in the centre of the Dragon's body.
"Energy discharge in five…" The doctor began, seeing the powering gauge on the side of the screen slowly fill up. "Four…" The needle within the cannon began to shake and spark with bolts of purple lightning. "Three." With the covering for the weapon now completely out of the way, sparks were really flying this way and that, pieces of metal flying off. The cannon wouldn't take this much pressure for long. One more discharge was all it was going to take before serious maintenance had to be performed. "Two." A pair of hand grips slid out the pillar and Eggman held onto them, flipping the covering on a button on the top open to reveal a thumb size red button. "One!" Slamming his thumb down on said button, the entire Egg Carrier shook and then lurched backwards as the cannon fired.
Unable to take the strain the entire firing needle fell apart the moment after the beam had shot out through the air, smoke bellowing up like a cloud. The laser smashed through with shockwaves rippling every few feet.
"Time to hit the road." Sonic remarked, shooting over to Metal Sonic and grasping the robot by the shoulder pads; the two of them vanishing in a Chaos Control warp. Now with the two of them out of its eyes, the dragon could see the coming blast mere moments away. The creature hadn't the time to move out of its path.
Acting on instinct, it sucked in as much charged particles as it could in the allotted time; thick streams of red orbs of light flowing in through the gills. It barely had enough time to absorb the sunlight to act as the catalyst.
It threw open its jaws and fired the blast directly into the path of the coming attack. The two devastated forces met in mid air and for a single moment it felt like sound, sight, touch and taste had all vanished; a white haze engulfing everything with a near silent advance. Then the roar came.
As if God had stubbed his toe the ground shook and the air spilt open at the sound. Cracks began tearing through the island, swallowing the ruined city piece by piece. The rippling shockwaves through the ground jarred several pieces of the island itself off and they fell, crashing into the surface far below causing earthquakes for miles.
To avoid being swept away in the ensuing winds of the blast, Blaze swung her sword into the ground and used it as an anchor. Void, unable to do so, nearly flew past her to his doom. Lashing out at the last second, she grabbed his cape and held on tight.
"Why does this kind of stuff only happen to me when I hang out with you guys?" Okida asked, using a piece of rubble to protect himself. His wings were curved around his body, shielding his face from flying piece of debris.
"Part of the job." Amy replied, her hammer anchoring her down to the ground.
"I quit!"
The winds and roaring died down and once sight was restored, they looked to see the Ragnarok Dragon still standing. Its mouth was still ajar from its attack, thick clouds of smoke trailing out through between its teeth, out through his nostrils and each gill. It looked shaken but it was still very much alive. Doctor Eggman's Egg Carrier however was in far worse a shape. The Ragnarok's back had shot back its own and the engines had barely had time to throw the vessel to the side to avoid it. The paint job down the left hand side of the vehicle had been scorched off leaving only the bubbling metal there.
"Damage report!" Eggman cried out, struggling to keep himself in his seat as the ship tipped to the side slowly.
"Cannon now completely inoperable, engines one and two failing."
"We've got to land before we crash!" The two robots were frantically trying to regain control of the damaged craft as it had received enough damage already.
Seeing an opportunity for an easy kill, Ragnarok heaved its massive wings back against its shoulders and began forward towards the sinking ship. Gamma had his troops open fire but the hits were like pin pricks to the creature.
"Retreat! RETREAT!" Eggman called out and instantly the Egg Carrier tried to pull back but with one of its engines damaged would not be able to move fast enough to avoid the blow. The dragon's tail slapped the vessel directly on the side causing a massive dent in the armour plating. With the ship falling towards the ground, Ragnarok went to finish the job by snapping the Egg Carrier in half with a single snap of its powerful jaws.
Before it could, blue object smashed itself into its left eye. Blinded, the beast staggered back, allowing the Doctor the precious time he needed to pull the ship out of its rapid descent. Ragnarok tried desperately to shake Sonic off but the hedgehog was not going to be letting go of its eyelid any time soon.
"Sonic Wind!" He cried, reaching up with one hand to gather the energy before throwing the pal down and unleashed the vortex directly into Ragnarok's eye. The beast howled as the blast tore its eye to pieces leaving it permanently blinded on that side of its face. Now angered beyond all, the dragon slammed its head down on the ground and tried to use the ruined buildings to scrap its intruder off.
Sonic let go a second before and somersaulting up into the air put himself in the perfect position to attack. Curving his body into a spin dash, brought himself crashed down on the top of beasts head. The shockwave slammed Ragnarok's entire skull into the ground with a thud.
With the beast now on the ground Knuckles moved in for the kill, one fist held high. Slamming it down the echidna tried to break the dragons neck but the tough armour like scales kept it safe. All the blow did was crack one of them, breaking it off with a loud cracking sound. For a moment Knuckles thought he'd done it, only to have his hopes smashed as the dragon reared itself back up.
Acting on instinct, the echidna darted forward and anchored himself onto the Ragnarok's chest by sinking his spikes into the scales. It was almost like rock climbing.
"Let's see how you like this!" He drew his arm back, gathered strength in his arm before throwing it forward. Repeatedly he smashed his fist into the thick scaly skin trying to break through it. When cracks were spreading through the scales, something clamped onto the Echidna's foot and pulled him sharply up into the air. To his horror Knuckles found his leg trapped between the teeth of the dragon. It was a miracle it hadn't bitten his leg clean off with teeth that size. Knuckles realized he had to get himself loose before it bit through a major artery. He struggled but the more he did the more and more his leg hurt.
Smelling food just inches from its lips, the dragon prepared to devour the snack in one bite.
Before it could, Blaze came flying out of the nowhere with her sword drawn back. Jamming the weapon forward, the blade struck directly into the Ragnarok's good eye. Screaming, it tossed its head back and forth and Knuckles was tossed from its lips and into a glide to safety.
Blaze ignored him and dragged her sword swiftly to the side, tear the eye and making it useless leaving the beast completely blind. The action however, slicing through both eye and tough scales, shattered her blade. It broke apart from the hilt in a spray of metallic shards.
Now frantic, the Ragnarok threw itself about as if convulsing. Blaze did her best to hang on but eventually she was struck along by the edge of a giant wing. The blow knocked the wind out of her and sent her coursing through the air. Unable to fly and knocked half way to unconsciousness she faced a long fall to a collect of jagged rocks below.
Hurtling below her, Sonic caught the feline in his arms. Feeling the sudden contact, Blaze opened her eyes. Sonic grinned at her and winked.
"Chaos Control!" He spoke out load and the two of them vanished in a flash of green light. Even with its eyes blinded the Ragnarok was not without a way to tell where it was. It had heightened other senses such as acute hearing and smell. Even so, it was driven to distraction by the loss of its sight. It had gone far beyond angry now. Its hunger did not enter into it any more. Now all it wanted was to destroy the beings that had blinded it. It could hear heart beats, many heart beats beating in fear. The felines had all huddled into the fortress in the centre of the city hoping it would keep them safe.
Far from it. Their actions had simple made them one big target.
Caring about nothing else, The Ragnarok smashed both legs down sinking the claws down into ground as anchors. Its wings spread out to catch the sunlight as the beast aimed itself up to point directly at the fortress. The gills along its neck began opening.
"I can give Sonic the necessary power boast he needs to punch through the gland, but after that it'll be up to him. Those scales are going to be thicker than anti-artillery armour." Metal Sonic announced. He paused to survey the looks around him. Most of them were pained and distrustful, not that he blamed them for him. "Right now it all depends or whether or not I've earned your trust back." Everyone was silent for a moment.
"You never lost mine." Amy told him managed a smile.
"Or mine." Tikal added.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but me too." Knuckles stated. His leg had been quickly patched up with a red stained length of clothe.
"And if I didn't trust you I won't be volunteering for the kamikaze run." Sonic put in, emerging out of a Chaos Control warp with Blaze on his shoulder. "So let's go for it."
"I'm afraid things have gotten a little more complicated." A voice announced as Void flew up with his sabre at his side. "The dragon is charging itself to fire at the feline's stronghold." Blaze looked up sharply at the dark silhouette. The sky far above them was starting to darken from orange to blood red, the giant sun in the sky becoming gold in appearance.
The felines in the stronghold gazed out at it, fear gripping them all. Jack watched from the battlements, for the sake of his soldiers keeping a firmly emotionless face on but inside he was trembling. Under his fur he was sweating bullets.
"What should we do sir?" Jack didn't know. He was out of ideas. Everything depended on those fighting to keep Ragnarok away from them. He could do nothing.
"Have faith in the Mistress." He replied as the sky began to burn with red lightning.
"Oh that don't look good." Okida muttered as sparks of red began to scar the ground, spreading out from the Ragnarok as it began to absorb a river of charged particles.
"It's gonna fire on the Felines?" Tikal asked with wide eyes.
"It'll never get the chance to." Someone stated. Looking back, they watched as Shadow heaved himself up into a sitting position. "It's blinded by anger and that's effect it's judgement. It's absorbing too much energy from the sunlight and taking in too many charged particles. Once all this mix's together with the hyper matter in its gut, it'll explode."
"Fine." Sonic stated, folding his arms with a smile "Then we don't have to do anything." Shadow shook his head.
"The blast will be the equivalent of a couple of mega tones."
"You means it's about to do a Hiroshima on us!" Okida sounded frantic. Shadow nodded and stood up.
"The energy released will easily be enough to destroy this entire island." The imagined picture of the explosion passed simultaneously through all their minds.
"Then we haven't got much time." Metal Sonic stated. "We've got to finish it before the chemical reaction can take place."
"Well how long is that?" Sonic asked. Several bolts of red lightning tore the roof off their hiding place, their scream of the energy passing by an extremely high pitch.
"Judging by the way its charging itself…" Metal Sonic began. "Not long." He turned to face them. "We got another problem too. The energy it's absorbing, according to my sensors, has reinforced the structural integrity of the creatures body." Sonic expression begged further explanation. "It's now beyond my ability to give you enough power to punch through." Without a word Shadow reached onto his wrist and detached a second golden ring that no one had taken much noticed off. Flipping it around in his fingers, he flipped it over to Sonic. The blue hedgehog caught it like a coin and held it up.
"What's this?" He asked. It looked like a power ring he used for a recharge in battles, only far more darker in colour than the ones he was used to seeing. Gold swirled with black like oil and water. Even in his hands he could feel it buzzing and could tell it was not like any ring he had used before.
"This should give you the boast you need." Shadow told him. "It's a little present Prof. Gerald left behind for me. If that doesn't give you what you need to stop that thing, nothing will."
"It's more of a dimensional gate than a power source." Tikal reminded him. "If you want to unlock the energy within then you need me to unlock it."
"You can do that?" The black and red hedgehog asked.
"I spent a near eternity inside the Master Emerald." The echidna replied. "It gave me abilities you do not have."
"This is getting confusing." Sonic admitted. The roar of the Ragnarok interrupted him. The red stripes over its black body were beginning to glow with the energy it was accumulating. The sky around was rippling as if a thick wall of heat was passing through it. The Blue hedgehog grinned and closed a fist around the ring in his fingers. "But if you can give me the chance I need then I don't care. Let's go!"
"Blaze!" Void called out as the feline took off. "Wait come back!" She ignored him. The Ragnarok had to be stopped now and it was her responsibility. She could see the towering flying lizard from here, building up more and more energy. She didn't need Shadow's explanation to tell that it was dangerously close to exploding. Its scales were struggling to keep the red glow inside. Beams of intense red light were shining out through the cracks. She didn't understand exactly what a megaton was, but if it was enough to destroy this island then it was something that had to be prevented.
The Dark One had been playing her like a puppet for years but that ended here.
---
Jericho Mandarin was a man with a distinguished record of military service. Despite being into his sixties he had lead the G.U.N army for thirty years and showed no signs of the fatigue of old age. A man the troops worshiped nearly as a god and had fanatical devotion to the man who had marched them through countless campaigns always onto victory.
So when the whisper amongst the soldiers began their commander was marching on the capital, they rallied to him in their thousands. Ignoring the orders of the Hexagon top ranks they took off to follow their leader. Tanks rolled out of bases followed by countless Combat Mechs.
All communications were shut down so the utter chaos quickly gripped the corporations hold on the military. Unable to tell what was going on, Hexagon had been left completely in the dark.
Mandarin's strategy revolved around surprise. At the moment Hexagon consider G.U.N their loyal law enforcement division and the last thing they expected was for them to start getting a back bone. Still, the slightest hint of rebellion to them and it was going to start raining missiles before he knew what was happening. Hexagon had to be silenced before their itchy trigger fingers could press the big red button. The operation had to be carried out as quickly as possible.
The troops were ready and their enemy did not suspect a thing. It was now or never. In his office, the G.U.N Commander sat in his chair facing the window. There was still a lot on his mind. The question of whether or not he was doing the right thing was still dogging him like a vengeful phantom.
If he won the day, he was would be crowned a hero across the entire earth. If he failed however he'd go down in history as a murderer and a terrorist. If he did fail however, Hexagon's hold would be cemented.
Suddenly someone cried out from somewhere beyond the door followed by a loud thud. Jericho stood up suddenly as the door opened and one of the soldiers who had been standing guard outside fell in. Following close behind them were men in riot police gear and all armed with automatic rifles. Instantly they surrounded the commander and held him at gun point as someone else entered the room.
"Jericho Mandarin, you are under arrest." Their leader was one of the hexagon board of directors. The very man who had the purse strings of the military, the war budget manager; a man Jericho despised greatly.
"On what charge?" The Commander asked, trying to bluff his way out of it but knowing it was useless all the same.
"Treason, conspiracy against the state." The man replied. "Officers under your command have already been apprehended." One of the soldiers produced a pair of hand cuffs. "Your movement will be crushed within a few short…" The words froze in his thought as someone hit him from behind. The precise blow to the back of the head rendered him unconscious instantly and he dropped to the floor with a loud thud. The soldiers shot around only for one of them to get a flying kick straight in the face. The blow sent the man flying backwards past Jericho and out the glass window behind the desk with a spray of glass fragments.
None of them could see what was attaching them. It was completely invisible to the naked eye. One of them fired several shots blindly into the air and he was next to go down, an invisible punch thrown into his face before his feet were knocked from under him.
The cavalry came to the rescue when a mobian crocodile burst into the room from the window, two large arms held wide as he tackled two of the soldiers to the floor and wrestled them away from the commander. The remaining three soldiers seeing their numbers dwindle bolted for the door, only to some face with a boy probably now older than seventeen and a mobian Flying squirrel at about the same age. The two of them drew a fist back and threw it forward both in unison, knocking the soldiers out with a single blow.
"I love this job." A mobian bee probably now older than six announced, flying into the room; proceeding to use the helmet of one of the out cold soldiers as a bongo drum.
"I think you boys have been hanging around Shadow too long." A female mobian rabbit stated following the flying squirrel and the human into the room. The G.U.N commander just stood there a little stunned.
"This the guy Esp?" The crocodile asked and out of nothing a mobian chameleon just materialized.
"This is him alright." It replied with a slight nod of the head
Vector grinned from ear to ear. It had been sheer luck that allowed them to arrive here in time to stop Hexagon from arresting the commander. Seeing him, one wouldn't believe him to be the leader of the army. He had short grey hair, almost white now. His eyes were odd two. One of them was sea blue and the other a chocolate brown. "Just who are you people?" Mandarin asked out load.
"Well that's a fine howdedo for the guys who just saved your sorry ass." Vector replied. The commander paused, then smiled and lowered his head a little.
"Forgive me, but I can not stay here. I have to get to my officers so I can get control of my men back before it is too late."
"You mean those guys being lead away to a firing squad?" Rei asked, flicking some of his head fur out of his eyes.
"Don't worry about it. We bailed them out before we got here." The commander's smile widened. "They went off to warn your troops that Hexagon's onto you."
"Well that's good to here." He wrenched his arms apart and the hand cuffs holding them together broke as if they were made of paper. He was certainly strong despite his age.
"If they're after ya so bad ya must have the Intel we need." Vector began although even he knew his expectations were a little high.
"I'm not in the habit of giving out information to civilians." The Commander replied.
"It's about Leap Gate." Espio added in and Jericho froze.
"Leap Gate?" He repeated. They could all see; even Cream and her mom, that that hand rang a very loud bell. His eyes were wide with a mute mixture of awe and surprise. "Just what do you know about that?"
"Enough to know it needs to be shut down before someone else gets hurt." The chameleon replied. "Care to tell us more?" Jericho narrowed his eyes as he pushed his lips together in a frown.
"Leap Gate was started when they dragged a piece of the Armageddon space station out of the ocean." He began quite reluctantly. "It was a piece of alien technology that allowed access across realties to other worlds. Since the theory of alterative dimensions has already been proved by Mobius and Earth merging, Hexagon saw it as a great opportunity to raid other worlds for resources and assets to fight off the impending Confederate Invasion." He sighed out through his nose. "That damn station's brought nothing but trouble. Hexagon swore all those involved in the project to secrecy and paid them off to keep their mouths shut.
For a while it looked like they might get away with it, but one of the raiding parties brought a mutating virus back with them.
It warped whoever contracted it into some kind of…"
"Dragon?" Charmy asked. The commander hesitated before nodding.
"Fortunately Leap Gate and all the original contamination was destroyed along with Area 99, but the virus is still present here on Earth. Hexagons keeping it quiet as they like to but unless it's made public so we can develop an anti-serum we'll be looking at a lot more victims."
"So is that why you performing a coup?" Rei asked with his tail swaying out behind him.
"I'd hardly call it a coup." The Commander replied. "Just a changing of the guard."
"You of all people I'm surprised at." Beck added in. Vector looked his way with a confused look on his scaly face.
"Whatya mean?"
"The Commander here has had his fair share of hostile takeovers." The human replied, tightening the head band keeping his hair out of his face. "He was raised on the ARK. He was only ten when it was shut down." The commander said nothing. He simply turned away to face the broken window.
"I don't want to talk about that." He stated. "Right now I have a war to fight."