"You let him LOOSE?!" Shadow yelled at Jazz, as the green hedge-fox came back into the main room upstairs.
"Yes, I did. He seems ta be back, and an insider will be invaluable. Even if he ain't back, we can't kill em' anyway. Could we really live with that, if Mother was to live? Ta tell her what happened ta him? We must act as if nothin' has happened with him, ta fool teh scientist." Jazz nodded, having known to expect such an attitude towards him. There was no other way.
The only ones available at the moment in the room were Jazz, Shadow, Mina, and Tails. Where the others were, they weren't sure, most likely helping the armies regroup they assumed. Shadow had allowed Kight and Flick to watch Maria, after the golden hedgehog had begged him to let them play hide-and-seek with her.
"He is right though. Even wrong this is a great opportunity. We can't let it pass. I'll tell Brove to organize a rescue party, which to Colbalt will appear suicide most likely." Tails continued for Jazz.
"And it very well will be, if Omar hasn't changed." Shadow said with glance at his nephew before walking out of the room to fetch Maria.
"Will he forgive him?" Mina asked the hedge-fox.
Jazz shook his head, for he didn't know, when coming to making mistakes and forgiving, Shadow was hard on a person, even after what he had done himself. But still… It would be interesting indeed, to see how the ebon hedgehog treated Omar after all this.
As Shadow walked along in the hallway, he suddenly ran into someone, to busy stewing over the things in his mind to be paying attention too much to where he was walking.
"Watch where you're walking, Spine-head!" The black rabbit retorted at him having fallen on the floor with him.
"Abyss?" He asked, surprised and momentarily distracted from his main thoughts.
"Hmmm Shadow is it? Yeah, didn't think you'd see me again now did you?" She said, getting up and shaking her ears about, her many earrings twinkling in the light.
"What are you doing here?" He said, a bit touchy.
"Oooh, still got an attitude hunh? Well, me and Snow and Betu met up with this cat and weird hedgehog after we left the ark, and they brought us up here. Plenty of work to be found, and partying too. Currently I was duped into playing hide-and-seek…" She said, looking around and starting to walk off.
"Cat and weird hedgehog?" Shadow asked, following her, if she was playing a game with Maria she would eventually lead him to her.
"Yeah, Blaze and Silver their names were. Wait a second…" She muttered. They had entered a room with cabinets and such, like a kitchen almost but larger in design.
Maria suddenly appeared from the door across the room, and seeing them, put a finger to her lips and went 'shhhhhhhh!' before disappearing again. Shadow made a move to go get her, but Abyss held him back and shook her head. The rabbit moved towards the cabinets and opened one of the doors at random.
Nothing. Wherever Kight was he was hiding good.
"So what's up?" The rabbit asked him.
"We're preparing to go out and 'rescue' the ones that have been captured. It's suicide though, insane." Shadow said.
"Why so?" She asked.
"They think that Omar has defected back to us. A simple blow to the head? I don't think so, and even if he has, I still don't trust him. Not anymore."
Brove stood up from his seat at the table council. He wasn't about to take such a matter lightly, for, like Shadow, he was having a hard time believing that Omar had turned so quickly. Not only that, but from the information, Shade had become a slave to his brother as well. Who would go upon the rescue operation? Certainly Shadow was a candidate, but if his son was turned, what would his reaction be in the battle? And what if the situation was worse then they all expected?
"For those to go, I have decided that any may volunteer, but Shadow. He must stay behind. There is no way we can allow him to endanger such an already delicate operation. The chance for succeeding is already too low." The royal, two tailed fox said.
The battle room had maps and such upon the walls, and a large round table. A holograph was in the middle of the table picturing a view of Cobalt's base, the satellite being able to transmit through dimensions and space.
"He won't be easy upon such a matter. He'll fight to go. I'm not even sure if any of us have to the power to restrain him upon such a thing. We may very well have to allow it." Tails interrupted him, his own royal air coming about. He had never told them, not about his origin. He was a cousin to Brove, though somewhat distant.
"Who are we to stop him? It's his son. He's done the same in the past, for him and Maria. We must let him go." Jazz argued from standing in a corner. He hadn't talked much, not after the confrontation with his father.
The rest of the council looked at him, including Brove, Tails, Mina, Snicket, and Copper. The Organization 0 had decided to stay and aid them, this battle would effect everyone and they couldn't fight it alone, the Quicktails.
"Wouldn't ya do teh same if they were yaur own family that ya loved?" Jazz said, looking directly at Brove.
It hit the fox hard, he knew what he was talking about. Cobalt was insane, and evil, and couldn't be saved, because it was his own choice. But Shade and Omar were unwillingly pulled into this mess. They didn't have a choice. And it was because of his brother.
"Shadow may go then. Besides, he isn't of our clan. We can't restrain him anyway." Brove said.
"Now that that's decided, I have something to say. Ash, Mina, and Copper wish to go, and I approve." Snicket announced.
Brove looked to him, and nodded, he had no say so over them either. And what's more they had had many losses in aiding the Quicktails, they were deeply in their debt.
Mina didn't say anything, but she had taken up a new appearance, thanks to the foxes. She was a healer, and now she had the robes of one, long and brown, though through the robes, her underclothing remained the same. Her other profession was singing, but now was not the time, the time for that would be after the fight.
Copper only nodded, knowing his kind wasn't usually placed with trust, being weasels. The organization had given their race another chance at that, though some of his kind preferred being thieves then honest work.
"Alright, who else? I must stay, as Flick. The systems and shields must be repaired in case of another attack. They were completely destroyed." Tails started again.
"I'll be goin'." Jazz muttered, still acting as if he were not really paying attention.
Meiou entered the room, along with Shadow, Maria, Kight and Abyss. They hadn't missed a word of the conference, for the red rabbit had 'borrowed' one of Tails bugs and had placed it on Brove. The fox didn't know this of course, but was utterly suspicious of how they already were up to date on everything.
"We're all goin', accept for Maria of course. Betu and Snow will watch her, he's more then capable." Abyss said, winking at Shadow, who nodded at her.
"It's decided then, you all shall go. On this cursed mission. My hopes that you return however. I apologize for this… We should have destroyed him when we still had the chance…" Brove said, sitting back down, shaking his head.
"Ya couldn't have, as I couldn't have meh father. Things like this, ya can't predict, just deal with them." Jazz muttered before leaving. The rest of the party followed him, they had to leave as soon as possible for they're journey.