Miles walked, and Lara followed.
So it had been, for two silent days. He spoke barely a word in that time, and she never felt the need to question him. Which, in the back of her mind, Lara felt very strange about (not quite apprehensive, but just strange). She had always questioned, always wondered, almost to the point of annoyance. Yet every time she thought to question him, something within her said to wait. Her companion, her champion, seemed tense and deep in thought.
They had rented a room that night after the fight in the alley. It had not been anything spectacular, and he had taken the time to explain that her previous hotel room was no longer safe or "secure." Which was itself odd, since her old hotel was in a good part of the city, and the one he picked was a dive in the Minority Quarter. And no matter how many locks the door had, she was not quite confident in its ability to keep out the seedier element.
Then again, anyone attempting to rob them would be in for the surprise of a lifetime. Even before she fell asleep next to Miles (who didn't even appear to be breathing – it was like his body died for the night), she felt stronger and more powerful than ever. Even when her Guardian abilities had started to manifest at puberty, they never felt as… complete and fulfilling as this new power did. Only the malevolent glow of the Chaos Emerald she had carried away from the earlier encounter truly disturbed her, and when she did, she slept remarkably peacefully.
With hardly a word the next morning, they left. The dirty look the hotel proprietor had given them did not escape Lara's attention. Even though it was none of his business, Lara's first impulse was to assure him that nothing had gone on – not just because it was embarrassing, but also because (even in her time and in her world) intermobian relations were highly frowned upon among the echidna. Even with the desire to say something, she refrained, and followed Miles as he walked away.
They ate (really: she ate, and he watched pensively) breakfast, and headed southeast past Angel Lake and around the mountains. While in exceptional shape, she had initially been hard pressed to keep up as Miles picked up his pace. However, as her body fought fatigue, her new power again began to manifest – bolstering her spirit and energy, and propelling her forward. They briskly ran for hours, across green fields, scenic farmlands, and small towns. They passed over the Grand Canal that connected Angel Lake to Hydrocity, and then turned south into Lava Reef Zone. By then it was dark, and they slept under a rocky outcropping. Miles had left only briefly, before returning with food in the form of two rock lizards.
Lara had initially balked at the offering, but her rumbling stomach provided a strong opposing argument. In the end, while Miles returned to the land of the dead, she ate the two lizards after roasting them over an open fire. Sure enough, hunger had proven sufficient flavoring for the meal, and again she slept well, despite the company of the hotly glowing Super Emerald that had once empowered the hellish creature calling itself Mulciber.
The next morning, Miles broke into a run, and Lara fell in behind him as best she could manage. Compared to the day before, it was many times more difficult making good time through the rough terrain. When it grew excessively craggy, Miles jumped – no "leapt" was a better word – from one outcropping to the next. Lara followed, jumping and gliding. For a while, she wondered if she had literally followed him into hell itself. The thought that she could, that she would, was sobering.
She knew little of this kitsune fox beyond his name and his awesome power.
Lara had initially rejoiced when she saw the first wind swept dunes of Sandopolis, far in the distance to the southwest. At least it was flat there. An hour later, she cursed it all the same. Miles may as well have been a machine. Here, he simply spun his tails, his toes skimming over the sandy surface. Lara had to run in the more traditional fashion, and the two kicked up a long line of dust behind them. Threatening to leave her behind, Miles maintained his pace and then even increased it. Again, Lara had to press her physical limits just to keep up the marathon test of endurance, and again her new power revitalized her, filling her with strength and confidence.
Soon enough, before the sky was even dark, she saw the distant pyramids of Sandopolis. Here was the city at the heart of the wasteland, in the deepest recesses of the desert. Closer, she could see smaller buildings and ruins, clustered together in death, like a thousand mausoleums. Still, for all it seemed, Sandopolis was far from a land of the dead.
Occasional explosions made tiny puffs of smoke in the sky, as bright tracers from antiaircraft batteries fired up into the cloudless expanse above. This was Old Dingo City, and it was under siege. Advance elements of the Quaz Xialjyet were still many miles from the city, held by dingo forces further west, but occasional air raids were obviously the order of the day. That the bugs had a base close enough to support attacks on the city did not bode well for the cause of dingo resistance.
This had happened in her timeline.
She knew what happened. The dingo were resisting, and furiously, but the outcome was inevitable. The attacks on the city were to put pressure on the Hegemony government, which was even now meeting with the Xialjyet to discuss terms. Not of surrender, but of resettlement and relocation: of leaving Angel Island, and abandoning all claims, even to the blasted wastes that had (centuries ago) been the heart and soul of an all powerful dingo empire.
Why Miles was headed here, she couldn't fathom.
Despite the fact that it was inhabited by thousands of dingo, much of Sandopolis had gone untouched for hundreds of years. Great pillars of stone stood, untouched by any hands save those of time, wind and sand. It was here that Miles slowed down to a more leisurely run, as they weaved through an abandoned section of the city. It was hard to believe, moving as she did through the dusty ruins, that the once magnificent and ancient city had been deluged with water, and obliterated by the demon known as Super Perfect Chaos. No doubt, its job done, Chaos had retired back to the Emeralds, and taken all the water for miles with it.
Miles stopped.
Lara did likewise.
A hot wind blew in from the west, and the nearby ruins howled. A chill ran down Lara's spine, and the Chaos Emerald in her hands seemed to grow hotter. Echidna always avoided the City of the Dead, the Necropolis. It was said that the ghosts of countless murdered dingo haunted the ruins. No visitor to them was safe save for their kin, but a special hatred was reserved for the descendants of the echidna who had called down Chaos to level their city and end their lives.
"Right. Ghosts…" Lara said it, and meant for it to be sarcastic.
As if such things existed.
"Yes." Was all that Miles replied with, his tone completely serious.
Lara blinked, surprised that he had commented at all. She licked her dry lips, to ask him what he meant, but he was walking again. She followed, and made sure to stay close by. There was a voice I the wind, and it did not seem to be affectionate. He walked, and walked, down empty boulevards and across the sand swept remains of once vibrant plazas. They passed through a long empty area, that Lara guessed had once been an open air marketplace. In her mind's eye, she could imagine the busy crowds, the women and the children, as they watched a tidal wave of destruction advance from the north. Panic would soon turn to savage desperation, as they ran, trampling the small and the careless underfoot, in a vain attempt to escape the inevitable.
She shook her head, and banished the image.
Miles paused at a large intersection, before turning right. Lara took the opportunity to ask him something.
"What did you mean: Yes?"
He didn't stop, but he did respond, "Yes. This place is haunted."
"But what does that mean?" Lara had a hard time believing that her new companion was superstitious.
"Life and death. Black and White." He paused again, but only in his speech. "Normally."
"Normally?"
"Normally. One dies, and the spirit… or perhaps, if you prefer a less reverent and more esoteric definition: one's consciousness and personal waveform… disappears. I believed this was true of all things. I had run tests on the dying, when I was postulating my theories on Chaos Mechanics and their philosophical implications. I did not believe there could be a directing consciousness beyond that entombed within the flesh."
Lara listened; surprised with the depth of the answer he was giving her. He had been to quite the whole trip, generally answering her shortly, though never rudely. It was simply as if he was focused on other things, and his responses to her were but a part of him giving her attention. Now, he seemed to be back, wholly.
"Years ago, when I came here. I saw strange things. Things I could not explain. Deep within the Necropolis under Sandopolis, amid the tombs and the skulls… I had followed Sonic that far, and never once turned back. But in those dark and forgotten halls…" He paused again, and changed the topic slightly. "I saw things. Later, I wanted to, needed to, reconcile them. Explain them. Understand them."
"It confounded me till the end, till I understood and expanded my own consciousness. At the edge of oblivion, peering into that bottomless pit, I transcended the flesh. Even as my body burned away, I turned by back on it. Like a chick emerging from a shell, I was born for a second time. You see, Lara… weak consciousnesses do fade. For all but a fraction of enlightened individuals, death is the last travail – the final anguish one must endure. But for those few, there is more than the sad fate of non-existence. I am one of those few."
"Am… I?" Lara then asked, though she wasn't sure what answer she hoped for.
He didn't answer at first. Then, he said simply: "No. Not as yet."
"Is that why you are…?"
"This body is not flesh and blood. It is a pale imitation I have animated. I do not have the… expertise or experience to manufacture a living body. The complexity of it still eludes my thorough understanding. This… husk of a shell is all I have at the moment, so it will have to suffice until I find another way. My only other option was to take a body by force. But I will not stoop so low as that." Miles huffed.
"Regardless: this place was home to many souls, killed through unnatural means. Their collective will thus empowered, they remain to this day, between Shadow and Substance. I have been here several times since then, and my presence is permitted in all but the deep city. You, however…" He smirked, though she couldn't see it. "Well, they'll try and spook you a little."
Lara smiled at that. It sounded harmless enough. "This is more than you've spoken all yesterday. Why?"
"Because I know what has to be done," he said. "And because we're finally where I want to be."
He approached a seemingly innocuous ruined building, and pressed his right hand on one of the hieroglyphs, its color faded by the passage of time. To Lara's surprise, something under the sandstone seemed to shine, and then part of the ruin trembled and retracted into the ground. The inside was all stainless steel, a rectangle large enough for four or five to stand with room to spare. Miles walked in without hesitation, and Lara stood next to him.
"Down," he said, and the floor began to move. Behind them, the masked opening went back up and they began to descend. It was not so much an elevator, as a lift, since only the floor at their feet was in motion. Soon it stopped with a pneumatic hiss, but not before a large round door became visible, slightly inset into the otherwise seamless metal wall. It had a small control panel on it, behind a protective pane of clear crystal.
Miles tapped his finger on the crystal, over the areas with numbers, entering a code. He didn't seem to mind letting Lara see what he was doing, either. He entered the code slowly enough for her to remember it and commit it to memory. It made a little chime, but the door still didn't open.
"The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance," he then said, and finally the door opened, rolling to the side. Lara noted how thick it was: at least two feet, maybe three. It could have doubled for a bank vault, except it was too small being only six feet in diameter. What lay behind the door was even more impressive.
It was a small hallway that led to a 'T' intersection. The walls were concrete, probably reinforced, but relatively smooth in texture. Inset into the ceiling were long halogen lights, which provided ample lighting. Somewhere ahead of them, she even heard what sounded like an air conditioner. The air had a tiny metallic taste to it, but at least it wasn't stale or musty. At it was much cooler inside than it was outside.
"This is Gold Zero. The center of my… of what used to be my network of bunkers and research stations. Given the vulnerability of my first Mystic Ruins base and the research I was doing, I decided to build a number of them. Zero and Seven were the most well hidden, the latter being the center of my most important and secret research, and the former being my last refuge."
Miles took a deep breath, and walked through the threshold.
"It has been a year since I was last here. It is good to see that it is still secure. The General is a man of honor for leaving it untouched, even after my apparent death…" The kitsune fox once called Tails took Lara in a quick tour, pointing out the layout. "Down the left there are two rooms: general storage and the armory. This way, to the right, are the living quarters – I arranged for three to be built, with two beds in each. Originally, I had this constructed as a final redoubt, a place for the original core Freedom Fighters to retreat to. If Knothole fell, and the temporary base in Casino Night became compromised, or if the situation became suitably dire, this is where I would take those I needed to rebuild."
"General Stryker offered refuge in Sandopolis to the Freedom Fighters?" Lara asked. "I didn't think he would be so generous."
Miles chuckled at that. "No. Not quite. He built this place for me on the condition that, if the resistance on Mobius Major collapsed, I would help him dissolve the Kingdom of Acorn and retake the mainland for the Hegemony. Styker is a pragmatist, as I am. I have affection for the Kingdom, because of my relationship with Princess Sally, but in a crutch situation the most reasonable plan was to consolidate power on Angel Island. If a traditional guerilla war failed, then I was not opposed to the idea of meeting doomsday weapons with doomsday weapons. With little to lose and much to gain, the dingo were of a similar mentality. That new struggle would have been waged from this bunker."
"I had thought myself prepared for that, but Helios… I underestimated its power. Snively claimed that it could annihilate the whole of Angel Island when complete." Miles hands clenched briefly. "He was not exaggerating in the least. Had I retreated here, all my plans would have come to nothing. So: I put measures into place to ensure that there was no retreat, and in the process I traded thousands of lives for millions. That is the burden I live with, which Sonic and Sally will hopefully never understand firsthand."
"In my time…" Lara began.
"No!" Miles cut her off, sharply, looking at her over his right shoulder. "Do not tell me of the future. Ever!"
Lara nearly stumbled at his sudden fury. "But… alright. If you want."
"I… don't mean to be harsh, but it is very important you keep any knowledge of the future to yourself, ok?" He offered her a weak smile, and his features softened.
Lara nodded. "I won't. I promise."
"Good." He continued on his way. "Thank you."
They walked past the three doors that led to the rooms. They were metal, set in concrete. Not exactly eye pleasing, but efficient and elegant, in a utilitarian fashion. At the end of that branch of the hallway, there was another door. It was also metal, and on it was a white plaque with simple black writing: C3I
Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence
The door swung on simple hinges, like any normal one in use around the world. Lara felt a little disappointed, but the room beyond it was impressive enough to compensate. Computers and devices of all varieties covered the walls, along with large projection screens and even what looked like a holographic display in the center of the large room. It all seemed to be divided three ways. There was a raised platform ahead, and two smaller work enclaves, one to the right and one to the left. The side of the platform without steps up was occupied, floor to ceiling, by three supercomputers set side by side.
"Ever since the disaster at Station Square, I have endeavored to anticipate every eventuality." Miles smiled at that, and then just as suddenly frowned. "To plan ahead, and to be ready for anything. When so many lives are at sake, when the very world hangs on the razor's edge… I soon learned that I could not be as gung ho as Sonic. I could not rush in, unprepared. Not so long as I used more than my fists to solve problems."
"Fortunately…" he walked up the steps to the main platform, and started entering commands. "Planning ahead for one contingency has prepared me for another."
An alarm claxon briefly sounded, and a piece of the floor rose up like a pillar, just behind the holographic display. The sides of it opened up, and Lara saw a skeletal framework within it. It took her a few moments to realize the significance of it – they were storage slots for the Chaos Emeralds. The size and shape of the alcoves left little to the imagination.
"Put it in anywhere," the two tailed fox said, staring at the gemstone in Lara's hands with something akin to fear. "This machine was designed to isolate the Emeralds from the outside environment, but it will also serve to isolate us from the Emerald's corruption."
Lara admitted that it was a little creepy, mostly since it had once been part of Mulciber, but she didn't really grasp why he felt so strongly about it. Carefully, she placed it in an alcove. Letting go of it, her hands felt momentarily cool, like they had briefly brushed close to a tray of ice cubes. Miles entered another command, and the pillar descended back into the floor. Lara noticed that there was a little striped black and yellow warning on the floor where it had disappeared.
She looked up, and saw Miles let out a deep sigh of obvious relief.
"Ahhh… finally!" He closed his eyes and leaned back. After a few seconds, he stood straight again, his eyes on that part of the floor that hid the Topaz Angel Island Emerald. "It is a true relief not to have to shield us from that accursed thing."
"Shield us?" Lara asked, and watched as Miles quickly entered another command, and then went down the steps to join her.
"Yes. I had to blanket the will of the Emerald with my own. In my weakened state, it was not an enjoyable exercise in the least. Now, however, the presence of the Devourer has diminished to nothingness." He stopped in front of her. "Let's get you something to eat, and I'll explain things as best as I am able. Is that alright?"
Lara was more than a little stunned by his sudden courtesy. Had… doing whatever he had been doing taxed him so much? He seemed more cheerful now, more animated than she had seen him since the fight. And she was getting hungry.
"Ok!" she said, and smiled back.
"The bunker was well stocked when I last came here. Nothing fancy, but… I'll heat something up. This way." Again, he led and she followed. But this time Lara knew where they were going. This time, she felt like she was walking with him, not just behind him. He left her in one of the rooms, and came back with a plate of military rations. After last night's "whole lizard kabobs" it was a definite improvement. Lara started to feel good about things.
Then, he started to talk.
And, slowly at first, he explained what he intended to do, and what they were up against. She asked questions, some of which were desperate, and he answered them as best he could. It was good that she had eaten her food quickly, because by the time he was done not only had she lost what appetite remained, but she was more than a little scared as well. What was worst was that much of what he had planned fit into what she knew had already happened in her world's past.
A Shadow Jihad.
Lara hardly even noticed when someone knocked on the door. Even though Miles was still in the room with her. A second later, it opened, and someone new entered. She was a vixen fox, medium height, but with a perfect and flawless body – not a hair out of place, or a curve too subtle. Her fur was alternating red and orange, her hair black with a faint highlight of darkest blue, her eyes only two shades lighter. She wore black boots up to her knees, and there seemed to be some sort of armor grafted onto her shoulders.
Miles looked over her shoulder at her with a small smile. "Fiona."
THE CYCLE OF AGES: A NEW WORLD ORDER
CHAPTER SIX:
Master of Puppets
"Darling Miles…" Fiona took a step towards him, and framed her words so lovingly they may as well have been a prayer. Lara watched him give the newcomer a kind look, as the fox stood up. With a gasp, Fiona leapt at him, arms outstretched. He caught her in midair, and the two made a quick spin while Fiona wrapped her arms around his neck.
Then, to Lara's surprise (and surprised embarrassment), Fiona craned her neck to kiss him. He pulled back a fraction, keeping the endearment brief and chaste; without missing a beat, Fiona turned her head and rested her cheek against his chest once it was over.
"I missed you, Darling Miles…" she purred, and nuzzled him happily. He grunted in response, and patted her tenderly on the back.
"I was afraid I'd never see you again," she continued, and closed her eyes. "Never feel you again… I tried to find you, but… but…"
"I am sorry for leaving you, Fiona. You know I would not unless it was absolutely necessary," he spoke a little curtly, but with a gentleness and familiarity that belied a knowing relationship between himself and this new vixen.
"Excuse me?" Lara interrupted, a little sharply. "But we haven't been introduced."
Fiona's blue eyes seemed to examine Lara-Su closely and more than a tad dangerously. Oddly, they didn't seem wet, or to really even reflect the emotions Lara had expected. Miles stiffened a bit and gently tried to extradite himself from Fiona's grip.
She tightened it.
"Fiona Fox," the android proudly answered. "And you are?"
"Lara-Su," Lara replied and stood up, glaring at the foxgirl. "I see you two know each other."
"Very well," Fiona said with a smile. "Darling Miles made me who I am today. I dare say that there isn't an inch of my body he hasn't molded, or a fraction of my innermost self he hasn't seen."
"Is that so?" Lara returned.
"She…" Miles started to explain.
"It most certainly is!" Fiona shot back.
"Fiona," Miles said it, not lovingly, but as a reprove. "Enough. I trust you didn't act this way around Rouge."
"I was only teasing." She sighed, and slipped her arms off his shoulders and from around his neck. "And, no Darling. I did not."
"Good. Now do not cause trouble with Lara here. The last thing I need is a feud between my right and left hands." Miles frown became softer. Then, as if remembering something, he looked to the door and the empty hall. "You must have snuck away without alerting her. How… is she? And… where is the Emerald? Why didn't you bring it?"
Fiona licked her artificially perfect lips. "My apologies, but there was a… situation some time ago…"
Rouge reached behind her, felt along the wall, her hand almost at the panic switch…
"Please… don't do that." The figure stood, and walked forward, her face and body slowly becoming clear. Along with the weapon in her left hand: a rifle, of mobian design. The same design that Miles, or Tails, had organized mass production of years ago.
"Don't do it," the figure repeated. "Or…. Or I think I'll have to kill you."
"By the Source…"
Rouge saw the face, but almost didn't recognize it.
"Amanda?"
What was outlined in the half-light was not simply the girl Rouge had met before in Knothole. There was something wrong, something superficially alien, about her. Half her face seemed normal enough, even pleasant, save for the glassy look in her eyes. Her expression was not twisted into a rictus of fury or hatred like Rouge half expected. If anything, she seemed almost drained of emotion.
Outside, a cloud shifted, and moonlight streamed in.
Then Rouge saw it: first as a silver tendril down Amanda's jaw. It was slender, like a vein under the skin, and it split to disappear behind her cheek and continue down her neck. From there it became lost behind her ragged Freedom Fighter shirt. Rouge followed its likely path down, down, down to where it reappeared and snaked past her navel. Finally, it met something that glittered light blue – a familiar gemstone, buried into the flesh just above her pelvis and below her stomach, intersecting her torn belt which remained looped into her military pants.
Realizing then the horror that was before her, Rouge felt her voice catch in her throat. The image of a three eyes monster, a great and hulking monstrosity, and the stench of the dead assailed her mind. But this was no Ysbadadden, or she would have already bee splayed open and strewn across the room.
"Hello, Rouge," Amanda replied, her amber eyes sparkling.
He rifle in her hands never wavered.
"What are you doing here?" Rouge asked, not sure whether she should sound too demanding or not. "How did you get here?"
The younger girl's neutral expression didn't change. "Slipping past your guards was easy. But we mostly came for the Emerald you stole."
"We?"
"Cheese came with me. It was his Emerald, after all. He said that it was great opportunity, and that I should talk to you while he retrieved it." Amanda's voice sounded normal, in pitch and tone, but it still felt distant, like she was speaking through a videophone.
"He also said not to kill you," Amanda added.
Rouge gulped. "How nice of him."
"He said seeing you alive would keep me strong. Remind me of everything that was taken from me. Stolen from me. Of the lies I was told. Of the abuses I was made to endure…" Amanda was ranting now, and the corners of her mouth slowly turned upwards in a little smile. Her right hand, and thus her rifle, started to shake. Rouge tensed to move: jump upwards, and make for the door.
"So: I will not kill you. Even after all you have done to me. Even after ruining my dream. Even after… seducing my poor Tails. Or do I mean Miles?" she started to giggle.
Rouge wasn't sure what to say to that, but she tried to appease the girl. "Amanda… I'm sorry about what happened…"
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Amanda snarled, her expression now full to the brim with fury. "Don't lie to me! You… you're nothing more than a human fucking whore!"
Rouge scowled at that, her teeth grinding together. How had she…?
"Yes," Amanda answered the unspoken question. "Yes, I saw that dream you just had. Don't worry: once Cheese reclaims the Emerald, you won't have anymore. Cheese says that you're a waste of time, and that the child... or children… Miles left with you are protecting you anyway."
Suddenly, her mood and mind shifted again, and tears came to her eyes. "What a sad joke! This wasn't how it was supposed to be! This wasn't how my dreams were. We were all so happy together in Station Square… You and Knuckles had some strange thing going on, and Amy and Sonic were nice to each other, and that left me with Tails. Tails and Cheese. Or was he Miles? And we all fought that stupid Eggman and laughed and played and, and, and Cheese can MAKE it that way! He'll find Tails for me, or Miles, it doesn't matter anymore, and I'll MAKE it right again!"
"Amanda…" Rouge desperately tried to reason with her. "Listen to me. Please. The Emerald is doing this to you…"
"What would know about The Emerald?" Amanda hissed, leaning forward as she said it. "You think you're so smart! You think you're so mature! But you don't know anything! ANYTHING!"
"Amanda. Think rationally. This isn't like you. Even the last time we spoke… you were angry, and I was rude, I'll admit that, but you weren't like this." Rouge bit her lip, and inched to the side of the bed. "I've seen where this leads, Amanda. It's worse than death, I swear to you. It's worse than death."
For a moment, Amanda's eyes seemed to clear. She blinked, and balked. But her aim remained on Rouge, and the batgirl didn't dare make a sudden move. Amanda opened her mouth to talk, but it seemed at first like her voice had failed her.
"Lies…" she said and shook her head. "When I'm complete, Cheese says I will be perfect. Perfect. And it won't hurt anymore."
"I don't know who this 'Cheese' is, but he's lying to you…" Rouge pressed forward with her verbal assault. "He's using you! You have to free yourself, or you'll end up like Ysbadadden!"
"N… nooooo…" her eyes glowed a chilly blue, and so did the Emerald. "No. You're wrong. You killed Ysbadadden, and you stole Cheese's Emerald. You killed him and you want to kill me. You want to laugh at me, and make me into the fool. Not again. Not again. Not again!"
Rouge tried to focus herself, and the power she had gained in that fight against the Mad God of Panthers. She could feel it, first in her heart, and then coalescing in her arms. Her foot touched the ground a moment before she heard the shot. It was so quiet; she almost couldn't believe it was real. A silenced round, a part of her mind deduced, even as the force of it send her back against the soft bed pillows.
Rouge lay there, an expanding pool of blood staining the sheets beneath her.
Amanda doubled over in pain. Her long ears fell over her face as she clutched her chest in agony, her assault rifle falling to the floor. Hisses and gurgles escaped her clenched teeth, and she stumbled back, crashing into the nearby dresser. Flailing, she knocked over a pane of glass and sent everything nearby flying. Looking up, her whole frame shaking, she saw that Rouge was still breathing.
"She isn't dead…" Amanda said, only half to herself. The pain began to visibly release its hold on her body. Prone on the bed, Rouge's right shoulder bled freely and forcefully. It was a painful wound, but probably not life threatening. Amanda picked up her weapon, and approached.
"I hate you. You stole my life." The one time Freedom Fighter aimed at Rouge's head, and the pain started again. Amanda adjusted her aim, this time to Rouge's left leg, and it diminished.
"I don't know why Cheese wants you alive, but you are fortunate. Very fortunate," Amanda said between ragged breaths. "Always fortunate. Then and now."
Rouge stirred, and reached up to her injured shoulder.
"I wonder…" Amanda continued. "Where is he? Why doesn't he come to save you? His precious Rouge? His big breasted pet fucktoy? Could it be: that he doesn't care?" She smiled again, a wide mad smile. She licked her front teeth. "Answer me. Say something. Answer me!"
Rouge rolled onto her side, and winced at the pain. She opened her eyes, and looked at Amanda with a mixture of anger and pity.
"Answer me," she repeated.
"Fuck you!" Rouge snapped. "Miles is… he's…"
"Alive!" Amanda yelled, and then lowered her tone. "He's alive. Cheese says that he is. Cheese says that he killed one of his friends: someone named Mulciber. He's alive, but he isn't here. Why? Why? I think he doesn't give two shits about you, Rouge, or those things you've got worming through your belly. Because he's mine. Just like I always dreamed. He's mine, or he dies."
"Think about what you're saying…" Rouge tore off a piece of the sheets, and tried to tie it around her shoulder. "Think for yourself. Free from Cheese. Free from the Emerald."
"I… can't…" she wavered between a frown and a smile, and shook her head violently. "Damn you! You'll see! You'll see! And then when Cheese tells me, I'll make you pay for what you did! To me! To everyone!"
"Don't you… blame me for what happened! The Miles you knew was just a shadow! Just a mask! I think… mine was too. I don't know. But I do know… without a doubt… that right now, the only feelings he would have for you are disgust! That Emerald is turning you into a monster!"
Amanda sneered, but at that moment, the door opened. From where she was, Rouge couldn't see what had entered, but she saw Amanda looking down at the floor and heard a scurrying sound, like little footsteps. She other girl quirked her head at something she had heard.
"Is that right?" she asked something around her feet, hidden in the darkness. Then, out of that shadow, a faint violet glow became visible. Amanda reached down and picked it up with her left hand. Holding it up into a shaft of moonlight, the outline and contour of a Chaos Emerald became clearly visible.
"Thank you so much, Cheese," Amanda continued. "I'll do just that." She turned to Rouge, and threw down her rifle again. "Watch me. Watch me, and see if you dare to laugh, or care to scream…"
In a single motion, she plunged the Emerald into her right shoulder with a spray of blood and crunch of bone. Rouge, despite being wounded in a similar area, couldn't help but cringe at the display. After that instant of pain, however, Amanda seemed to be in almost orgasmic ecstasy. Her right arm flexed, fingers curling and uncurling. Then, the silver taint began to creep from the wound in her shoulder, and down her arm.
"Oh yes. Oh yes! Like this! Like the caress of a god!" She joyfully screamed, as it moved further along, tearing up, transforming and remaking flesh and bone. Rust red, the color of dried blood, mixed in with the silver becoming chitinous, like organic armor. Soon, it covered her shoulders and down the side of her body to mid torso. Along what was had been her forearm, it thickened, and grew three long bladed spikes that curved back, a smaller spike also at the base of each. Round armored growths and tiny imperfections marred the surface of her new 'skin,' from the edge of her neck to the tips of her gauntleted hands. Her eyes flashed, and briefly, a third eye opened over her forehead, before closing and disappearing.
On the crown of her right shoulder, an amethyst gemstone glowed malevolently.
"If one Emerald makes me a monster…" Amanda lowered her eyes, and looked at – or even through – Rouge. "Then what does two make me? Oh? What's that, Cheese? Company? Yes. I see them. I suppose I am both the Lord of Eyes and of Judgment, now. How careless of you to lead them to me, Cheese. You should be more careful."
Amanda craned her neck, and faced the door.
A second later, it exploded off its hinges. Amanda leisurely watched, not bothering to take cover, even after the sound of weapon's fire shook the room. There were large shapes there that Rouge recognized: Omega, Heinrich, and two other dingo. Amanda smiled, even as great puffs of smoke impacted her chest, sending sprays of blood out her back.
She didn't even stumble when the roar of Omega's chainguns drowned out all else. Her body shook, and she had to brace herself with her right leg, but she remained standing. While the bunny girl danced to the tune of a round every hundredth of a second, Rouge felt strong arms pick her up, and carry her off. She looked up and saw Heinrich von Elbe – the dingo bodyguard assigned to her protection by General Stryker, and a mobian who had proven his mettle a dozen times over.
No sooner had Heinrich spirited Rouge out of the room, than Omega and the two flanking dingo security guards finally stopped firing. Amanda remained standing, her body riddled from top to bottom, feet to face, with bloody holes. Behind her, nothing remained. The wall was so much Swiss cheese in what little remained standing, and the rest quickly collapsed sending up a cloud of dust and debris.
Still, Amanda stood.
More than stood. She slowly raised her right arm. It, alone, was undamaged by the assault. Fingers splayed wide, she waved them just slightly, and then closed her hands into a fist. Faint silver thread flashed in the dying light. For a second, there was absolute silence. Behind the three interlopers a picture of a mountain slid in half, left and right parts of the frame falling to the ground. A second later, a lamp stand split into three pieces, a chair into four, and a large wooden desk into a half dozen.
The two dingo guards followed in short order.
Omega stood alone, his arms still leveled at Amanda. The heavyset robot fell to one knee, as the supporting leg fell limply to the side. A second later, pieces fell from his arms in severed bits of armor and machined steel. A single plate over his chest split just left of the middle, and fell to the ground. Still, Omega kept his head raised, staring unflinching at his foe.
Amanda smirked. "Cheese finds you amusing."
Omega replied with one word.
"Die."
From both his arms, retracted pods flipped out. A tiny pilot light ignited in front of each, and within moments half the room was bathed in death, of the fourteen hundred degrees Celsius variety. Omega watched silently, as everything in front of him became one with the flame, drowned in a sea of burning napalm. From out of his left and right sides, six apparently hollow tubes emerged, launching a flurry of mini missiles. The six erupted in a blossom of fire and force, demolishing what was left of the room, as well as the ones adjacent to it.
In the air, silver threads flashed.
And Omega's arms fell to the floor, severed cleanly at the shoulder.
From out of the inferno, Amanda calmly advanced. Her right hand was pointed in his direction, with her index and middle finger sticking out. Watching this Omega made a sound akin to a hiss, and leaned back. His chest area opened wide, revealing a pale blue lens. It glowed white hot, and then yellow, before a column of purest neon blue lanced out. It did not have long to transverse, before it encountered the unexpected in the form of significant resistance.
The waves of excited ions parted as they hit Amanda's right hand, shooting off to the side, and carving long trenches at thirty-degree angles from their original intended alignment. A second later, energy supply exhausted, the beam sputtered and died. In the middle of it all, Amanda, her body still on fire, still stood.
"You almost killed Cheese," she said, apparently uncaring that she was drenched in still burning napalm. "Tails may have a fondness for dangerous toys, but to let one run loose…?"
"My Primary Function is to protect Rouge the Bat." The armless and one-legged Omega remained stalwart. "So long as I am operational, I will not allow her to come to further harm."
"If I wished her dead… If I was allowed… you would not be able to stop me." She pointed a single finger, moved it up, and then down. Omega's left side sparked and broke off, the result of another laser clean cut. "However, it disgusts me that he left you behind to protect her. Are you ready to die, bodyguard?"
Omega remained stoic. "To be destroyed in the process of doing what one was created to do. Organic or otherwise, under those circumstances – fear and regret can not exist."
"How chivalrous and outdatedly noble. You know, Cheese tells me that I remind him less of Elishiva, as some remember her, and more as she originally was: Sekhmet was her name, then, and he says she was a being of fire as much as justice, the God of Slaughter first and Executioners second. Crimson as Murder on a Holy Day…" Amanda paused at that. "But… I don't…" She shook her head again. Flames danced off her body, but they may as well have been wisps of smoke for all she cared.
Omega didn't question her confusion. He acted. Launching himself with his one good leg, and then what few rocket motors he had left undamaged, he barreled through the air in one final suicidal attack. He got within a few feet of his target, before a cross of almost invisible silver threads converged, and sliced him to quarters. Falling out of the ruined robot that crashed at Amanda's feet, a small gray flicky bird twitched, once, before its head rolled away from its severed neck.
Amanda stared down at it, shocked.
She blinked furiously, and then seemed to notice the great splashes of blood on the far wall. The flames around her suddenly extinguished, and she stumbled backwards and fell on her tailbone. Looking, as if for the first time, at her right arm… she turned to her side and retched. On all fours she vomited, coughing up black bile. She looked down at herself.
Her entire body seemed not hurt, but rejuvenated by the flames. All seemed unnaturally fine, except for the cursed taint that ran all down her right arm and half way down her side. She felt great. She felt horrible. She felt invincible. She felt powerless. She wanted to die, but she didn't think she could.
A small blue and yellow shape approached.
"What… what are you doing to me…?" Amanda spat onto the ground, her mouth tasting as bad as she suddenly felt. Her Chao, her Guide, stood mute for a few terrible seconds. When it spoke it did so with no mouth, and with featureless doll eyes it saw straight into her soul.
"You are beautiful," it said, voice deep like a bottomless abyss. "Beautiful beyond words. As Sekhmet was, before she became enamored of weakness. Before she became more fond of justice than punishment. My beautiful, beautiful Cream… I am so proud of you."
"I…" Amanda shook her head again. She felt dizzy – no, she felt tipsy. Like she had drunk too much. It was all so wrong. So confusing. But it felt so warm, so wonderful. How could something wrong feel so right and so good?
"I love you, Cream." Cheese sounded so strong, so right, so wise. "And he loves you. All you have to do is find him, and take him."
"Y… yes…" she could do little but agree. She could feel Cheese's power and his love. He did love her. He did care for her. She knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. What had ever made her waver? Rouge's lies! Rouge's trickery! Rouge's selfishness! She had sent those two dingo to die for her! It was all her fault!
"Hate her." Cheese commanded.
"I hate her…" Amanda slowly got to her feet, and staggered into the darkness. None pursued her. Minutes later, two Cyclone War Machines patrolled the area, supported by four helicopter gunships.
None found any trace of Amanda Rabbit.
Lien-Da could feel things spiraling out of control.
It was nothing a sensation she enjoyed. It made her feel helpless, and worse: useless. The last week had become literally a flurry of activity, for all she got done, and for all she delegated to her subordinates, she could literally feel her precious sense of control slipping like grains of sand through her fingers.
Things had looked on the up and up just a month ago, too, which made this sudden change potentially devastating. Back then; the Dark Legion – though no longer militarily significant (years of disastrous campaigns against the Guardian: Knuckles, the Brotherhood of Guardians, the Echidnapolis government, and event he dingo and Eggman Empire on occasion, not to mention the infrequent infighting) – had grown politically and economically influential. This was a new kind of power, a legal kind of power, and Lien-Da had reveled in it.
Her brother Kragok (may he rest in piece) had always been the better leader. He had inspired loyalty in those around him, and Lien-Da had always lived in his shadow. After his untimely death, however, she had stepped up to fill the void. Unfortunately, something about her did not engender the same respect her brother had enjoyed. It was entirely likely that she just wasn't as charismatic, or lacked that unspoken 'presence' that separated leaders from lieutenants.
She didn't hold that against Kragok. She just pushed forward, and tried to do her best with what she had, and in everything she did. It was with her coaxing that Dimitri has consented to remake the Dark Legion as a legal entity, and not a paramilitary army. It was her initiative that had put the newest incarnation of the Legion on the public ballot. While the People's Progressive Reform Party had not won any regional elections, it had legitimized her position in society as someone significant, and the 'Dark Legion' as a respectable organization.
In many ways, their cause continued forward without their prompting. The threat of the Eggman Empire, and of a dingo uprising, had sent the old men in EchidGov scurrying for solutions, and they found them in the same high technology that the Dark Legion had always espoused, and the Guardians jealously hoarded. The basic philosophy of the Dark Legion was already taking root, and soon (she was confident) it would bear fruit – a harvest that the new leadership, the young turks, of the Dark Legion could enjoy and grow fat on.
Dimitri, weary of such things, had left it to her.
Lien-Da had thought that it was Her Time.
Now, she wasn't so sure. The appearance of a new enemy on Angel Island had come as a surprise. The Legion knew about the different hives, of course, but not that they had been building up their forces for war. So the Dark Legion, and all its legal affiliates, had thrown itself behind the support of the Echidnapolis government, not just because it represented the bastion of the echidna people, but because Lien-Da was certain that, in time, they would become one and the same: a new and wonderful Technocracy that would stretch wide its hands across the globe.
She walked through the halls of the head offices of the Legion Exotic Metals Manufacturing – the largest and most important of the companies founded, run and operated by the Dark Legion as the People's Progressive Reform Party. LEMM made the rare elements and synthetics that were the foundation of high technology construction. Not only were they economically important, a national security concern as well. If either of the two Metallurgical Plants, one outside Echidnapolis, the other near Hydrocity, were destroyed or damaged, a dozen echidna war industries would soon grind to a halt. With a war on, security was a constant concern.
In a way, Lien-Da should have been happy. The war was good for business and for politics. The problem was… that all calculations and simulations had resulted in the same conclusion. The dingo would flee to the New Territories, Albion would seclude itself and hope to be overlooked, and Echidnapolis would fall to the Quaz Xialjyet. No matter how good business or politics became for her, it was moot if she ended up torn apart by some frenzied Xialjyet drone or attempting to eke out a sad existence as an exile in Albion.
Even the DL's old extra-dimensional stomping grounds were no longer accessible, thanks to the interference of the Brotherhood of Guardians and… one other. The one who had attacked the Legion's master and founder. The one who had drained him of power, and in so doing severed the links between this dimension and the pocket one that had been akin to 'home' for so many years.
Lien-Da saw that individual now, and felt the fear mix with apprehension and anxiety. There, waiting in the lobby like any other mobian, was a stocky mammoth in a brown business suit. His name was Mammoth Mogul, and eons ago he had ruled the world. Now, he sipped from a paper cup next to a water cooler, chatting with one of the other businessmen present for another appointment.
He turned his head, great tusks arching into the air, and smiled at her.
Lien-Da remembered that face, and those eyes, glowing with power. She steeled herself, and approached him. Flanking her, six guards also advanced step in step. Mogul looked in perfect health, which meant he had chaos energy running through his withered ancient veins. If that was true, then all the guards in the world wouldn't stop him from going what he wanted. He quickly excused himself from his conversation with the other male – a low level echidna from the Ministry of Resource Management, by the pin on his lapel.
"Lien-Da," he said, amiably, and held out his hand. She took it, and he raised the back of her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. "How nice to see you again."
"I…" Lien thought better of a witty retort. "Thank you, Mr. Mogul."
"As I mentioned in the letter, I don't intend any mischief," he said, still smiling cordially. Lien wondered if his definition of 'mischief' included sucking the life out of someone, or trying to take over the world while claiming to be a living god. She didn't even want an answer. What if it was yes?
"The Grand Master has consented to meet with you," Lien-Da replied, and pulled back her hand. "I only hope you will not abuse his trust, or our good will."
"I think you'll find me a changed man, my dear," as Mogul said this, Lien-Da noticed a small twitch to his eyebrows. She motioned him to follow, and discretely wiped the back of her hand off on her black skirt. He gave no sign of noticing or caring. She had hoped for a silent trip up to Dimitri's office, but (perhaps sensing this) Mogul happily tried to start up a conversation.
"You're done very well for yourself lately, I see," he said, as the elevator left the lower section of the building. Here, the structure sloped, so that the elevators were on the outside of the building, giving those in them a wide-open view out over the city. Echidnapolis was a bustling metropolis, full of lights and life. On some of the taller buildings extra construction was taking place, installing additional city defenses: searchlights and small anti-aircraft weaponry. Lien-Da had no doubt that the city leaders had come to conclusions similar to those of the Dark Legion.
Soon, busy Echidnapolis would be a battleground.
'Just like Knothole,' she thought to herself. Knothole was, now, a half flooded ruin. Pounded to hell and back, it would probably be years before it fully recovered. Even at the breakneck pace the mobians were working at. Lien-Da had never been there before, but with the war over, she had seen pictures. Everyone had. Was that really Echidnapolis' future? If it was, would the populace be galvanized to fight and resist, as they had in Knothole, or would they flee and be cut down?
"The Dark Legion survives," Lien-Da responded, but her confidence was only skin deep.
Mogul looked out, enjoying the view. "So I've noticed. It will be interesting to see if you and yours will weather this storm."
Feeling a little more daring, she broached a subject that she had suddenly considered. "I don't suppose its anything you had a hand in, Mr. Mogul?"
"Me?" Mogul seemed genuinely offended. "No. No. This sort of thing really isn't my style. While you may not believe me when I say this, it is nonetheless the truth. No higher power was involved in this war. It is simply the product of circumstance and mortal intention."
"And yet: you are here," Lien-Da observed. "If for what reason but to interfere?"
"Well. Up till now, no higher power has been involved." Mogul's smile broadened to a wide grin. The elevator stopped soon after, and the door opposite the floor-to-ceiling glass opened. The fiftieth floor. The Legion Exotic Metals Manufacturing Building was the second tallest in the city, and newly acquired by the organization. If construction ever finished on the Talbott Tower (in two years), then the LEMM would have the third largest on the Island. The topmost floor was reserved entirely for Dimitri, and there was only a single express elevator from the bottom to the top (and two emergency elevators to different levels).
Lien-Da did enjoy how the initial impression of the sanctuary overwhelmed visitors when she brought them here. A tenth of the floor had been entirely removed, and replaced with an all-glass aquarium. There was a small artificial reef, and schools of imported fish from the Southern Sea. Mogul seemed amused, but not overawed, as she led him past guards and clouds of brightly colored creatures. An octopus wafted by to her left, and off to her right three stingrays glided over a sea of gently swaying seaweed.
There were several rooms to the private floor, but she knew Dimitri was in his office. She led Mogul straight there. Here, the walls and building were made over in the old echidna style. It was really all an illusion, but a convincing one. Lien-Da disliked the motif herself, and felt it gave the wrong impression of the Grand Master's tastes and the organization's goals (that the Legion was culturally backward, if technologically progressive), but his will was still law, and so it was done to his preferences. Mogul turned his head to briefly examine one of the frescoes on the wall, but didn't become otherwise distracted.
Dimitri's personal secretary, a former Legion commando named Tami-Li, gave their new guest a suspicious look. No doubt she feared for her master's safety. Tami's loyalty was admirable, and Lien-Da wished that she were the benefactor of it and not her great, great grandfather.
Tami spoke into her headset. "Mr. Mogul is here to see you, Master. Yes. Yes sir."
She pressed a few keys on the panel built into her desk. Two doors that looked like they were made of solid sandstone (but of course weren't) slid open.
"The Master will see you now, Mr. Mogul."
"Thank you," Mogul replied, quite politely. Tami had not hidden the hostility in her voice. Lien-Da frowned a bit. That was not so admirable. The younger female should have controlled herself better; she was lucky that Mogul didn't seem to care what she thought. And why would he?
Dimitri's office, in the same style, was a large open space, like an ancient echidna closed forum. Murals and frescoes covered the walls. There was furniture, of the highest quality, but the room was mostly empty. A few video screens were built openly into the walls, and there were a few cabinets as well, not little to draw the eye from the centerpiece: a great black stone desk, and the great echidna who sat behind it.
"Dimitri. Enerjak. How nice to see you again," Mogul said, and the three present all knew it to be a lie. He and Lien-Da walked forward.
"These will hopefully be better circumstances than the last time, yes? When you nearly killed me." Behind his desk, Dimitri leaned back in his chair. He was in his synthetic body, similar to the one produced during the Benedict Project. It looked passably realistic and organic, especially from a distance, but the texture of the skin and the look of his fur was still a bit off. The Dark Legion had yet to catch up with the Eggman (and probably the humans) in that regard, and the Legion had been too proud to ask or bargain for their help in the matter.
Still, as long as no one touched him, Dimitri still looked alive and well.
Rather than answer, Mogul reached into his suit coat. Lien-Da tensed, suspecting some kind of weapon, and then berated herself for being so silly. Mogul had no need for something so mundane in dealing with them. The ancient conqueror instead retrieved an item with which Dimitri was well acquainted with, but Lien-Da had only rarely seen.
"I come bearing gifts! Well… a single gift, anyway," Mogul announced, still smiling amicably. He held out the Super Emerald, the Angel Island Emerald, the color of aquamarine sapphire. Lien-Da watched it, transfixed. It shone more brilliantly than she had imagined. More so than she remembered. Had Mogul been the one to steal the Super Emeralds all those months ago?
Dimitri made no sound, but leaned forward in obvious interest.
Mogul strode forward, and placed the gemstone on the massive onyx desk, all in dramatic fashion. Dimitri, ancient but little more than a neophyte compared to Mogul, reached out to cup the Emerald in his hands. He got within a few inches of holding it, when he paused, the light from the great sapphire highlighting his fingers. Then, to Lien-Da's amazement, Dimitri drew back.
"You bait your hook well, Mogul," the leader of the Dark Legion said, and leaned back in his leather chair once more.
The other ancient also seemed a bit surprised. "What?"
"I have been one with the Angel Island Emeralds for centuries," Dimitri said, slowly. "I know their energies better than the lines of my own face, and the feel of my long dead flesh. What you offer me is not what I desire."
"Are you accusing me of pawning off a fake?" Mogul asked, straight faced.
"I am not," his opposite replied, emotions perfectly guarded. "This is a true Emerald, not one of the fakes Prower Dynamics can produce, but it is possessed by a force I have not encountered before: a presence I would not touch, for even an instant. Not for all the power in creation would I taint my soul with such a thing."
"I was not aware you had grown timid in your old age, Dimitri," Mogul taunted, and reached for the Emerald. The Dark Legion Grand Master made not the slightest effort to stop him from taking back the precious gemstone.
Mogul was frowning now, as he backed away. "You'll regret this, you know. When you sit, alone, in that chair… and wonder what could have been. What the feel of a real body is like. What the taste of real power is."
"The one who made the mistake is you, Mammoth Mogul." Dimitri was speaking as calmly as he ever had in his life. "You are as you were when we first met, when you had that Emerald in your chest. Then it gave you power. Now: it makes you powerless."
Mogul didn't respond. He simply put the Emerald away, turned on his heels, and left. Lien-Da watched him go, and escorted him out. But, no sooner had she exited her Grandfather's sanctuary than she found her eyes wandering to Mogul, and what he secretly held. And he noticed her interest, too, out of the corner of his eyes.
Yet he did nothing.
And when he was gone, out of the building and disappeared into the crowd, she wondered if she would ever see him again. And if he would again come bearing gifts.
