Chapter 2: S.M.A.S.H.
Sonic stopped in front of the embassy's door and left Snake in the care of the government doctors working at the embassy. As Sonic began to walk off, he suddenly heard his name in the distance. As he turned, he saw Colonel Roy Campbell running towards him. Sonic gave a confused look as he pondered why the colonel wanted to talk to him again. As the colonel got closer, he began to speak. "Sonic, you can't leave yet. We have something urgent to discuss with you and some other people." Campbell said while panting a little bit. Seeing how the adventure had been fun so far, Sonic agreed to remain and followed the colonel into a secret area of the embassy hidden by a fake brick wall.
As they walked down a long staircase, Sonic began hearing voices which built upon his already enlarged curiosity. As Campbell and Sonic entered the room at the bottom of the stairs, Sonic was greeted by the sight of other heroes from around the universe. The other heroes eyed him with curious looks while Campbell took a seat at a large table. He cleared his throat and motioned for all the heroes to sit down. "I called you all here for a very important mission. In recent months, our agent Snake has uncovered a mysterious smuggling operation that we have traced from the planet Venom to Earth. The head of the operation is apparently Wolf O'Donnell, one of Fox's old enemies." Campbell said as he turned to Fox who had given the Colonel his full attention. Campbell continued, "According to all known facts, O'Donnell and his crew have been gathering a strange gaseous substance from Venom and bringing it to Earth. The main question we have is why bring it to Earth? The substance, which we have analyzed, is completely harmless. This is why we have called all of you to Earth. We want you to work together and find out why O'Donnell is bringing this to Earth." After Campbell finished, Mario, who was sitting with his brother in the back, began to speak. "Why do you want us to investigate something that has already been proven harmless? Do you suspect treachery, Colonel?" As Mario finished, Campbell slowly got up. "Well, of course. It doesn't make sense to us that one with a reputation like Wolf's is wasting his time smuggling a useless product." The heroes gave their all out attention at this point as the Colonel continued. " And here's an even better question. Why, if it is harmless, did Wolf's goons try to kill Snake?"
After a short silence, the Colonel spoke once again. "If Wolf is up to something, it could possibly threaten this world and many more worlds after it. Can I count on your help to save us?" Another short silence followed the Colonel. The first to stand up was Mario followed by Luigi, then Fox, and then Link, and finally, with a little hesitation, Sonic. The Colonel gave a nod in agreement and then continued. "Alright then, Snake will be out for a little while but with some rest, I'm sure he'll be able to join you soon. As for now, I'm going to split you up into groups. Mario and Luigi will remain on standby along with Link here with me while Sonic picks up where Snake left off. Fox will take his team to Venom and see what he can find there." Just before the Colonel could continue, the only door in the room burst open and in came a very finely dressed man who looked like he was on his way to a dinner party. "Ah, gentlemen I'd like you to meet Senator Trenton Granger who is also the ambassador from Earth to the Lylat System."
The Colonel said as he introduced Granger. Granger, looking a bit snobbish, surveyed his surroundings and give a bit of a chuckle. "So this is the 'ultimate' team you've put together to solve this little crisis, eh Roy?" Granger chuckled again. "I see you weren't fooling when you said it would look..." Granger paused and thought about his next word, obviously trying not to insult the heroes. "...interesting." Granger finished with another faint chuckle. "Rest assured Senator Granger, they won't fail this mission. I'll see to that." Campbell said as Granger continued to remain poker-faced. Granger then gave a little chuckle and spoke again. "I'm sure you won't disappoint us, Colonel Campbell. I wish the best of luck to all of you on your mission." And with that, Granger gave another little chuckle, a slight bow, and then left the room just as fast as he had arrived.
"That guy gives me a bit of chill with all that chuckling." Luigi said as he continued to watch the door as if Granger was going to jump into the room again. "I wouldn't worry about him, he's just another politician doing his job." Campbell said with a bit of a laugh. "So where am I exactly going to pick up where Snake left off, sir?" Sonic asked. Campbell turned towards Sonic. "I'm sending you to find and catch Wolf. If we capture him, we'll be able to question him for further details on this odd plot. Now, go. I'll keep in contact with you and remember, the codename is SMASH." And with that, all the heroes got up and left the room all wondering what kind of dangers awaited them.