"Back already?" Nic eyed her brother as he stepped through the apartment's door.
"Yeah…" Fang sighed. He seemed to be deeply troubled by something. "Here's the sauce." He set the can of tomato sauce on the kitchen counter, and flopped down onto the green couch like a limp ragdoll.
Nic sensed something was wrong, and headed over toward the couch. "What's wrong, Nack?" She sat down next to him and frowned at his expression.
She really needs to stop calling me that…Fang thought, and stared back at his sister. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."
"No you aren't. Did…did something happen at the store?" Nic cocked an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Err, sorta. See, this random guy just came up to me when I was getting ready to leave, and he claimed to be a fan of mine. He said he watched me at my poker games, but never got a chance to talk because I left right after I finished. Then he asked to get a picture, and I couldn't refuse. After all, he's a fan, right? So he took it, but his flash was just blinding! Normally, cameras aren't like that." Fang reflected on the scene in the store. The 'fan' had just left without a trace…
"Hmm. Maybe he had to go somewhere in a hurry. I don't find it all that strange." His sister gave him a carefree smile. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he won't ask you for anything again."
"Maybe you're right, sis. Yeah, I bet I'll never have to see him again." Fang nodded, and fished for the remote lodged in between the couch cushions. He pointed it at the television, and his western show appeared. The two men were riding on huge stallions with long flowing manes. Nic rolled her eyes, and left her brother to finish making their dinner.
When she got back to the counter, she noticed that there was no money with the can of sauce. "Augh…what did you do with the rest of my money?" A sharp glare was cast in Fang's direction.
"Uhh…" Fang failed to give a full answer.
---
"He should have been here twenty minutes ago! Where is that man?" Dr. Robotnik tapped his foot impatiently on the tiled floor of the laboratory.
The Hunter spun around in one of the chairs at the table. "He probably got shot or something. Heh, that would have been funny to watch." He pictured the scene in his head, and chuckled some more.
"He better not have…that 'camera' was an expensive piece of equipment." Robotnik groaned, and kept staring at the large computer screen in front of him. This laboratory lacked the technology of his own base; perhaps he should build the robot there instead.
I can't have them come with…He cast a glance in The Hunter's direction. They could rat out the location of my secret base.
Suddenly, Joshua burst through the door to the room. He still had on his garb from earlier at the store when he had his run-in with Fang. "I have it Robotnik!" He waved the camera excitedly in the air.
"Hmmm." Dr. Robotnik grabbed the machine from Joshua, and inspected it carefully. "Excellent…" He snapped off the part of the 'camera' where the film would have been. "Do you know how to work this computer?" Robotnik pointed to the giant computer in front of him.
"Sure. I know how to work any of these computers…after all, I work here!" Josh watched as Robotnik handed him the piece of the camera.
"Open it." Robotnik gave one of his huge evil grins.
For a few moments, Joshua hesitated. What if the machine had somehow not gotten the data? How would Robotnik react?
"For God's sake, would you hurry up?" The Hunter yelled from his chair. "A snail could have opened that faster than you!"
Not wanting to enrage the burly man, Josh opened up the piece, and out popped a small transparent disk. "Huh…?"
"Alright boy, now put it into the computer." Robotnik demanded.
With a steady hand, Josh pushed a blue button on the computer, and a disk slot shot out. He set the small disk in place, and watched as it disappeared into the computer.
The computer screen filled immediately with pictures and maps of Fang, and several windows appeared with information and data filling them by the second.
"Woah…what is this stuff?" Josh gazed in awe as the images and windows kept materializing onto the screen.
"This is what you collected for me. Life data. Every single scrap of this information is valuable for us to use."
The Hunter joined the other two men looking at the screen. "Pretty impressive there, Doctor. How is this going to help you build that robot, though?"
"It's quite simple really. I install it into a program chip and put it into the robot."
"Whatever. I'm not all scientific and crap." The Hunter brought out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with one of his portable lighters.
Josh lay his hand on the computer's mouse, and dragged the cursor over to one of the windows. In bold yellow text, the title read 'MEMORIES'.
"Nah…keep going Josh." Robotnik seemed to be looking for a specific window.
Joshua slid the cursor over to the next window, which was titled 'BIOLOGICAL DATA'.
"Nope…" Dr. Robotnik denied once again.
"How about this one, sir?" Josh moved the cursor to a window that read 'WEAKNESSES'. The Hunter smirked, and took a drag of his cigarette.
"That's the one. Hand me that mouse." Robotnik pushed Josh's hand away, and scrolled down the list in the 'Weaknesses' window.
The list seemed surprisingly short to the men; they had half expected it to be an exceptionally long archive. Joshua started to read through the list as Robotnik scrolled.
"Surprise attacks…lack of physical strength…lack of speed…his sister…"
"That explains why he has to use guns. Pssh, if I had only known that earlier!" The Hunter sneered, and blew a cloud of smoke.
"Hold on a minute. What was that last one?" Robotnik paused his scrolling, and turned to Josh.
"His sister?" Josh repeated, slightly unsure of what Robotnik was pondering.
"I've got a plan brewing…how about we don't just flat-out kill Fang, but make his sister suffer as well? That way, we can be sure that no more weasels will interfere with our lives." The Hunter tapped his cigarette, causing bits of ash and tar to fall to the floor.
"Good point. I would say maybe we could just storm into their abode and annihilate both of them, but that takes the fun out of things…I'll sleep on it. By tomorrow I should have something for us to work with." Robotnik opened the CD slot, and took the life data disk out.
"Where do you think you are going with that?" Josh watched as the fat man waddled over toward the door.
Robotnik
remembered his caution from earlier. I can't tell him I'm
going to my base…
"I'm going to head on over to my
'office' and get to work on this robot of mine."
---
One day was all it took.
Robotnik stood before his creation, checking it over for any flaws that it might have in its design. The majority of the robot was a sleek metallic purple in color (save for the white streak down its middle, and a white muzzle). It sported pairs of boots and gloves made of copper, along with its belt and hat. Robotnik had tried to make it look as close to the real thing as he could, and it was a pretty acceptable copy. The only things that gave it away were its metallic sheen and piercing red eyes. Its eyes had an ominous glow to them that could strike fear into the hearts of anyone who dared to look back at it.
"I've given you all of the weapons and upgrades I could muster up from my collection…bulletproofed your frame…and all I need to do is install this little chip. Then, you shall have all of the knowledge of your opponent and you will be under my command. Sure, I tried linking Metal Sonic to Sonic, but that was a complete failure. I would rather not have mistakes repeated." Robotnik held out a minuscule green chip, and approached the robot. He attached the chip to the back of the robot's hat, and started to back away as the robot sprung to life.
"Behold my latest creation!" Robotnik's shouts echoed through his base, causing some of his other robots to stop and stare at him.
"Metal Fang!"
