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Chapter 11 Meet and Greet

X.x.x. Paradise Coast, shoreline hotel rooftops, 6:30 a.m. .x.x.X

The dead tone of a ended call quietly chimes above the beach front ambience. The tone ends as a darkened silhouette of a male mobian closes his phone and looks to the thinning urban sprawl as the city slowly leaves the bounty the sea so generously blessed it with. the faint clicking of heels cause the mobian to focus his hearing on the voice of Lein-Dai as she begins to speak.

"So is Sonic visiting you for this little shindig your pulling together ?"

"I think he will," He turns to look at the echidna "But I can tell by the sounds in the room that the rest of his friends might wanna join us in the..." A laugh cuts him off.

"No honey, they want YOU. I only joined this little mission to see if you are worth the time." she gives a little smile "Personally, I like how you put sonic in his place, but I think you're in over your head. If it wasn't for that armor you would have lost."

The mobian laughs to the point of dropping on his catching his breath, he reaches under a vent and tosses a torn and battered armor set at her feet "You may be right so let's test that theory. If you wanna, you can check the armor. As for the buddies, Robotnik decide to try out some new toys." the echidna is surprised as two red orbs glow in the darkness.

X.x.x. Paradise Coast Shoreline, 10:30 a.m. .x.x.X

The sun shines on the pristine blue waters of the king of the coastal cities, Paradise Coast. The shores are teeming with as many tourist as there are fish in the sea. Amongst the hustle and bustle of the beach goers, Sally, Bunnie, and Antonie spread out and scoured the masses for the demented devil they agreed to meet at a local beach bar. Inside The Taste of Paradise bar, Sonic waits at a booth with a mix of nervousness and anger as he goes through another smoothie to pass the time. Meanwhile while the team wait in various places around the area scouring the crowds for someone who stands out in the hope to find out the slayer's identity before he makes his move.

Bunnie stands on top of a rooftop scanning the crowd with a look of disdain She speaks into a communicator on her arm "Is it just me or does anyone have a sinking feeling of Deja Vu."

"Je suis d'accord," Antonie chimes in from the pier in front of the bar "Last he allowed us to do this on our terms and he still played things his way. Now, we are walking in the middle of a sea of people with thing on his terms."

"I don't like it either," Notes Sally as she walks the sidewalk by the beach "But if we don't play along, he's going to steal a chaos emerald. I've sent Nicole ahead to track down the location but the exhibit has been a secret for a few weeks. No one on the outside has access to it and the security is air tight, it may take some time for her to find it."

"Ah hope so, for now all we can do is wait 'til he shows..."

As two hours pass and the time winds down, the team begins to worry.

"It looks like he ain't gonna show, are you sure this stunt ain't a stall to steal the emerald?"

"Not from what Nicole has heard, all areas are secure." Sally looks to her phone to see that the slayer was now thirty minutes late "For the moment all we can do is..."

"LOOK OUT!" a volleyball rockets towards Sally too quickly to be dodged. before she is hit, a mobian cat dives into the way and is struck square in the face with a deafening smack. The ball bounces off and flies harmlessly off in another direction leaving the cat is left laying in the sand. Immediately, Sally runs to the mobian the see the massive red circle where the ball hit and that he is knocked out. Upon closer inspection, the normally keen Sally realised he is actually a beige lion with a silver mane and chest tuft. This realisation confused the young leader because he was much smaller and leaner than an average mobian lion and only slightly larger than knuckles. A few seconds pass and the lion slowly awakens.

"Easy now, that was one hell of a hit you took. You didn't break anything did you?"

The lion shook his head, "Naw, I don't think so but man that stung. I was gonna ask you the same thing miss..."

"Sally, nice to meet ya."

His eyes lit up "You don't mean Princess Sally of the Freedom Fighters." He immediately scrambles to his feet and shake her hand. "It is an honor to meet you, I have heard so much about you."

"Thank you I'm flattered, but we kinda have to keep a low..."

"We? You mean Sonic is here too. If it's okay with you, can I meet him?"

Sally chuckles and scratches her head "I don't think it's the best time to..."

"I don't think it's a bad idea, our friend obviously blew us off, what's the harm?"

"ANYTHING," Sally angrily whispers into her communicator "If you haven't forgotten, we're currently on the lookout for someone..."

"Yeah, but he hasn't shown yet. I don't think talking to a fan would piss him off and if it does; who cares. C'mon Sally ..."

"Alright fine, I hope you know what your doing." with that she smiles at the young lion. "Sonic is in that cantina over there, you can't miss him."

The mobian smiles, grabs a beach bag, and walks off "Don't worry, I won't take to long. Thanks Princess Acorn."

A few minutes pass until Sonic meets the lion walking into the bar. Upon spotting the hedgehog he sits in the booth across from him and shakes his hand.

"Sonic the hedgehog, the Hero of Mobius, it's an honor to meet you again." Sonic grins "There's no need for the formalities, just call me Sonic. Thanks for helping my friend out there uh..." He stops for a second, something he said just sent ice down hedgehog's spine "I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught your name."

"Oh man, where are my manners. I swear I have them." The lion smiles, firmly shaking his hand and says "My names is Nimero, I'm the guy whose been sent to kill you." Sonic turns from pale with fear to red with a burning rage for staring down the man whose. He struggles to break free the lions grip tightens forcing Sonic to shake hands. Sonic frantically presses the alarm under the table as he tries to call to the team. The lion smugly grins and looks to the bag he brought with him.

"Sonic, you and I both know why that's not gonna work, so why don't we sit down and talk it out for now." Sonic stifles his fear to find the radios scrambled again. The hero can only steady his breath as he is face to face with the man sent to kill him alone.

Seconds of silence before Sonic finally speaks.

"Okay, you wanna talk?" Sonic takes a deep breath "Fine, I have only two questions to ask. The first is obviously who hired you. The second question is what possessed you to actually take the job know what it means for the rest of the world?"

"Well for the who, It's obviously a very desperate Dr. Robotnik. After his nephew put the job up for you Let's be honest who else is that desperate to pull a stunt like this. But for the why," Nimero stops and thinks for a moment "I'm gonna need a moment for some exposition. Though we share the same planet of Mobius, I come from a very different world with its set of rules. You may have heard of a small nation wide company known as AMF or the Allied Mercenary Federation."

"Aren't those the armies of private military forces who protect companies in hostile locations?"

"The same, but that and the managerial component is only maybe eighty-five percent of companies visible personnel. I am from the mostly independent part known to the company as "The Phantom Fifteen" or as Slayers to the rest of the world that dabbles in our affairs know us as. In our world, the way things work are a little different than in yours. We don't just fight for money, hell we'll even do missions for free if we feel like it. What builds you in my world is your legend, all the battles and missions you've done in your time."

Sonic clenches his fist "So I'm just a trophy for you?"

"Not entirely," he takes a sip from his alcoholic beverage "But, if it makes you feel any better, I was the only one to accept your bounty. Even in my world, your name holds respect."

"What in the hell is this world your talking about?"

"Mine is the world that permeates through all barriers, from the upper echelons of corporate and high society to the gritty hell holes of countries that know it on a first name basis, mine is the world of warfare." he looks to his phone "I'll answer the one question you truly wanted to ask before I go. Why am I doing this, long story short, I'm racing up the career ladder and you are, no pun intended, the fastest way up for me. See, It's nothing personal, it's purely business." After finishing off his drink the lion stands up and casually to walk away.

"You think I'm just gonna let you walk away after you say to my face you plan on killing me, you must be insane.

"Nah, I'm not insane, just really clever If you can catch me by all mean do it but more than likely I'll see you when I got for the emerald here, check please." upon those words a waiter walks up and just as Sonic can get to him, leaving sonic to only watch as he walk out the door. After paying the waitress, the hedgehog hops out the booth and runs out the door leaving a confuse waitress who almost faints at the fifty dollar tip the lion left.

"CALLING ALL COMMS, THE LION IS THE SLAYER. I REPEAT, NIMERO IS THE KILLER." Sonic frantically yells into his radio.

"DAMMIT," Sally curses into her comm "I knew it was a bad idea. Why the hell didn't you…"

He had a scrambler on him, my electronics were useless. Upon bursting out the door "Don't worry I got him now…" Sonic stares down the lion as he simply waves and mouths "See ya". Suddenly, a mass of tourist leaving a concert flood the streets like water released from a dam. Sonic darts into the crowd "Oh no you don't you son of a..." he is cut off by a second wave of people who give the lion more than enough time to casually walk away.

With the crowds now thinned out Sonic loses all sight of the slayer and walks back to the beach. Thirty seconds into his walk, Sonic receives a text from Nimero.

[In our first fight, we were a little rough around the edges. Maybe with proper time to polish, we can see how we really shine.]