Revelation

XIV: The Story of Smoke

Mordecai paced back and forth in the main area where so many of his soldiers were getting their injuries tended to from the aftermath of the Infector. "What I don't understand out of this mess is that some floating hedgehog thing can take down an Infector single handedly." Travis stood nearby trying to consol his chief. "Sir, perhaps we could locate this-" "That hedgehog is a danger to my city! I will not have it. Take note Travis, I want this broadcasted on tonight's news." The cat reluctantly took out his pad of paper and clicked the pen point out. "I'm ready when you are, sir." He said somewhat sarcastically.

Storm and everyone else walked down the side of the road taking in all that was new to them. Robin would point out the things she had seen on trips before while on her own. Serena was enjoying the way the buildings looked while looking in through the windows. "The buildings look like they're just one piece of material! Not to mention how nice they look. So… clean and plain… okay so maybe they're not as cool as I originally thought." "Robin, you wouldn't happen to know of any hotels nearby would you? It could be a good idea to locate a place to sleep in." Morgan asked. Robin motioned them to follow her. "I know someone that is a good friend of my dad's; he'll get us rooms." The five of them followed the chickadee as she started off towards one of the other white buildings. They walked past a store that had television sets broadcasting in the front window with the replay footage from the Infector attack. "No major casualties, but several buildings were damaged in the battle between Verona City Forces and the creature. No one knows who it was that destroyed the Infector, but he resembled a hedgehog of some sort. Here is the replay from when he appeared." The image of the reporter switched to where a black hedgehog was now standing on a part of collapsed concrete from an older section of the city. The camera switched to the Infector as it stared down the hedgehog. Storm looked over and stopped to watch the screen. "That's a sil'lis…" The video went back to the reporter. "No one has been able to locate this hedgehog yet, but if anyone has any information on who he or she is, please let us know; more on the story tonight. Back to you Jim." Storm waited a minute before jogging back to his friends. Madeline looked at him quizzically. "What was that about Storm?" "Apparently there are sil'lis here as well. I'm not sure if Ragha or Mora will be here, but some are here nonetheless." She looped her arm with his. "It's a big city, Storm, don't let it bug you too much okay?" He placed his hand on top of hers, "I'll be sure not to." Robin pushed a door in and they walked into the main lobby of the building. "Welcome to The Grotto!" Her friends looked around looking at the hanging chandeliers and the paintings hung upon the wall. While they were busy looking around Robin walked up to the front desk where a portly horned owl was standing reading a paper. "Mr. Horton. I'd like to get a few rooms please if you don't mind." The owl shifted the paper down. "Well, if it isn't Ms. Robin! It's been quite some time you know. How many rooms do you need?" He sat up and set the paper aside to write down what robin said. "I believe we'll need three rooms for our little group." The horned owl typed in something on his computer to check for rooms. "I have three rooms available on the fourth floor: twelve, thirteen and fourteen." "That should be fine." With some more typing Mr. Horton handed her three sets of room keys. "Enjoy your stay Robin." "Thank you Mr. Horton!" She returned to her friends and handed them each a set of cards. "These will get you into your rooms. Just follow me and we'll head up to our rooms." Seamus pulled out a card and turned it over in his palm. "This is just plastic, not a key." Robin walked them over to an elevator that was open and waiting. "Step in, the elevator won't bite." Each of them walked in cautiously looking around the inner segment. When the doors closed, Robin pushed the button marked with a "4" beneath the plastic. "This is what is called an elevator. Just a box with metal cords that transports people up and down the building." Robin explained. "So, like the dumbwaiter system back at the monastery." Madeline said. "Pretty much; it transports people instead of dishes or food." There was a quick jerk and the elevator started its ascent to its destination.

REP-R looked at Tanya seeing some of the same features as Hugh. "Why do you look like my Grandfather?" REP-R looked down and away from her. "I knew him, and when I woke up earlier today I took on his looks from when I remember him." Tanya put the photo back in her bag. "Shouldn't you be a lot older then?" REP-R shook his head. "I'm not a normal hedgehog as you are Tanya. I'm a project that Hugh was working on before he passed." "You're REP-R then. The black liquid in that cylinder he showed to me." REP-R nodded remembering when he saw Hugh hold a little hedgehog up to see him inside the glass tube. "I am the same as then; a project meant to cure the sil'lis, and the carrier of Hugh's data and research." Tanya grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him with her. "Come with me REP-R. I'll take you to my home. You'll be able to stay there. My parents won't mind having you stay so long as you don't do the same thing to them as you did to that gopher." REP-R tripped a bit at the sudden pull, but followed her anyways. "Thank you Tanya." The entire time, REP-R thought about how they would react to seeing someone so similar to a relative.

Smoke was with Axel outside the main police headquarters. Axel sat polishing his bat to remove any dinged areas left from the spawns. "That was the highlight of my afternoon right there: I enjoyed smacking those things around. What say you about that Smoke?" The white ferret remained silent with his friend looking at him. Axel prodded his arm with the tip of the bat. "Smoke." He looked up with his blank eyes. "I'm still trying to grasp what I felt back on that street. That person emanated a strong power that didn't feel like something you'd recognize in today's time: it was…ancient." The dingo was unsure of what his friend meant. "An ancient power?" He asked still confused. "That hedgehog had the same power as that black creature but it was an older more…purified essence of that power. It was as if the power wasn't branched off from anything; it was the full force of what the power was." Smoke said looking into the distance. Axel was about to ask about something he had read on one of his "business trips", but was interrupted by the front doors opening—it was Travis. "Mordecai would like to see you two in his office as soon as possible: he wants to make a proposition with the use of your talents." The light tan cat left the ferret and dingo outside and headed back to the office. Axel hooked his bat into its loop attached to his belt before starting up the stairs. "Let's see what Captain Fussbucket has to go on about this time. I'm sure it's about your hedgehog with the fancy powers."

The doors to the elevator opened and Robin walked out first leading her friends down the quaint hallway that was relatively the same as the lobby; the only difference was that this area did not need to be quite as showy or pretentious as the lobby. It did, however, keep up the name of the hotel and was not a complete waste of space. "Do you always stay here Robin?" Morgan asked while looking at a painting hooked on the tan wall. "I usually do since Mr. Horton is a friend of my father's and we usually meet up here when we have our family gatherings. It does come in handy at times like these, though." The chickadee stopped in front of the room marked with silver numbers "12". "If you head a little bit further rooms '13' and '14' are next to this one and straight across from each other. You can split the rooms as you want. I'm assuming, Morgan, you'll be crashing with me?" The silver mongoose looked at Robin and then her brother. "I'm pretty sure Horton would toss us out if I stayed with Storm. I'm not as familiar with Seamus, Serena or Madeline either." The two of them walked through the red door and into the room leaving the other four of their friends to find their rooms. Seamus looked at the rectangle of plastic again, "I still say this isn't a key but if they can open a door with it, then I'm sure we can do the same." They progressed down the hall and located the other two rooms Robin had reserved. Seamus inserted the key into the supplied slot but the light came back as red. He wiped the card off on his shirt and tried again and received the same reply. Storm had tried his card and so had Madeline. "This is why the card is not a key." Seamus said still trying to get the light to turn green by pushing the card in and out of the slot. Storm looked down both ways of the hall before zapping the card scanner. With a click and whir the door unlocked and he was able to enter. "That saves a lot of the hustle and bustle." He said looking around the dark room. Serena looked in after Madeline had entered. "Do you think you could give us a hand Storm? I'm not sure the door can last much longer at the rate Seamus is going at it." The mongoose looked at the tiger still trying to get the door open. He shrugged his shoulders, "Why not?"

A bolt of electricity arched out hitting the other door's scanner opening it and in the process arched back and hit Seamus. There was a pop and the smell of singed fur with clothing. The tiger sat up with bits of fur sticking out from the shock. "Next time, give me a little warning; I'm still seeing spots." Serena still had her mouth covered to keep from laughing but couldn't stop her eyes from watering. Madeline was the same way but not as outright as Serena while Storm quickly hurried over and shut the door slowly. Seamus got up and shook his head to regain his bearings. "I'll have to thank Storm for getting the door open later; I need to get my fur back in order." He grabbed hold of the door handle and fell back with another pop in the air. This sent Serena over the edge and into a fit of laughter. "Oh my! HAHA! That door sure has a shocking appeal doesn't it Seamus? WOAHOHO!" The wolf was on the floor clutching her stomach as tears rolled down her face while Seamus looked at her from his sitting position. He reached out and touched his index finger to her tail and residual electricity arched over to her zapping her. "I can't st—woah, WOAH HEY! YOW!" Seamus got up and opened the door. "Serves you right for laughing at me: it isn't fun being zapped is it." "I'll show you what's right!" The tiger turned around to be tackled by Serena through the threshold of the room. The door closed shut with a heavy clunk and whir of the deadlock sliding into place.

Storm slipped his shoes off to the side of a desk and unbuckled the pauldron strapped over his shoulder. Madeline slipped her shoes off as well and sat back on one of the beds. "So this is what one of these hotels looks like." She said looking around at how things were arranged. Storm located a black square with colored buttons that had words labeling them. "This must be for the television thing on top of the small wardrobe." He pressed the circular one labeled power and a faint buzzing started before the picture showed up on the black glass. They watched, curiously, as the pictures from a show moved across the surface. A banner popped up at the bottom asking people to change the channel to a station 10. Storm pressed the buttons in response and a news bulletin came up. A broadcaster sat behind a desk and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. "This is a special broadcast handed down by Verona Isle's chief of police, Mordecai. It is about the earlier attack by the Infector but not solely about this event."

Tanya opened the doors to her house and REP-R followed her into the lit hallway. A voice called out, "Is that you Tanya?" "Yes it is mom! I brought someone with me!" Another voice added in a hushed tone, "I hope it's a young man…" "Mother!" Tanya left her bad on a rack before leading REP-R down the hall and into the main living room. "Mom, this is…" She hesitated when she was about to say "REP-R". With a few seconds of thought she continued, "This is Reaper. A guy tried to make off with my bag but he got it back for me." An older hedgehog, who Tanya resembled, swung a dish clothe over her shoulder and held a hand out to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Reaper; my name is Molly. This is my mother, Anya." The pale tan hedgehog in a chair looked Reaper in his cobalt eyes. "I'm glad you got her bag back for Tanya but you're a rough looking character yourself." Tanya put an arm on Reaper's shoulder, as best as she could, before backing him up, "Reaper isn't like that Grandma: if he was, I'm sure he would have done something by now. That and it's due to something else, which is why I brought him here. He has something of Grandpa's to return to us." The other hedgehogs looked at Reaper shocked at what Tanya had told them. "She is telling the truth," he began, "My name is REP-R, I am glad to be called otherwise, but I have something that belonged to Professor Malivick." The black hedgehog pulled out the hard drive from his satchel and handed it to Molly. "It's everything he had on his computer. I was going to hold onto it but since I ran into his real family, it is only right to return what is rightfully theirs." Molly looked at the plastic case that had a worn out label stuck across one of its sides. Anya adjusted her glasses and looked at Reaper again. "Then you must be what Hugh was so proud of during his times in the lab. You were what he was working so hard to perfect in order to stop the sil'lis. You look just like him!" Reaper looked down at his body and the clothes that were on him. "I did not want to leave him down in that lab when I awoke from my slumber. I will give his body back in the right place so as to not have a body lying in your house. I had no other form at the time and the way he looked was the only form I could imitate after being asleep." Anya shifted a blanket off of her lap and stood up to walk over to Reaper. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need to Reaper. You have a home with us for as long as possible." Reaper looked lovingly at the aged hedgehog remembering the same kindness Hugh had shown him while in the laboratory. He moved forward into a hug crying slightly as his old memories came back to him. "Th-Thank you Anya." He said shivering a bit with each short breath. Anya patted his back comforting the friend and, almost, son of her late husband. "There there, you can let it all out. There's no reason someone shouldn't mourn over someone they were close to." The normal broadcast was interrupted by the tune of a city emergency broadcast. Molly went to the remote and turned the volume up so everyone could hear. The reporter adjusted his bowtie before starting his announcement. "Hello and I'm John Donahue from the Verona Isle Emergency System with an important message from the Chief of Police, Mordecai." Anya still had Reaper in her arms and huffed after the reporter had finished. "Of course it's important, that's why you're on the VIES dummy." Molly held a finger up to shush her before the broadcast continued with a shot from in front of the police building with Mordecai.

"Thank you Mr. Donahue. I am here to give you, the public, a decision I have made based on today's events in the south district of Verona Isle. An important discovery has been made relating to the recent Infector attack-that discovery was there are beings more powerful than these creatures! I will not have this city reduced to rubble because of such people. Our mechanics are developing special equipment to detect the varying levels of people that may or may not have powers. Those who have higher ratings will be taken into custody and kept detained until further notice. Please know that those who are taken into custody will not be hurt in any way: I only want to prevent what happened this afternoon." Mordecai motioned to someone behind the camera and the scene shifted to a recording of when the black figure rose from the ground and destroyed the Infector that afternoon. Molly looked at the Reaper that had appeared in the air with a different look but it was still him all the same. Mordecai's voice came back in the background. "With a change in viewing the clip you can see the color difference from when you see the Infector's strikes compared to this figures. The light is a darker and more acknowledgeable on the color spectrum. The attack from the mystery person is completely white and off the scales with energy per cubed inch of its area. This is what I'd like to prevent from getting out of hand and destroying our city. Beginning tonight, we will start taking those, who are potential threats, into our custody to protect the population. Thank you and good night." The broadcast ended and the VIES banner disappeared as the regular program returned.

Storm and Madeline had the television in their room on and saw the report Mordecai had made about people with powers like that. "Storm, you don't think they'll come here do you?" Madeline asked with a bit of fright in her voice. The mongoose placed his hand on hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I think we'll be fine. I don't think Robin's friend will let them know that we are here. We should be safe so long as nothing happens that involves us showing our powers. If anything, just try and subdue them so they don't show you as a threat. I'm sure the others saw the broadcast; we'll discuss it tomorrow morning with them. We need to get some deep sleep while we have these rooms." He stood up and pulled back the sheet to climb under. Madeline walked to the other side and slid under to face Storm as he rolled over. He could see the fear Madeline had of being parted from her friends over something. "It'll be okay Madeline, we'll just play it safe." He pulled her in closer to his chest and held her close with a hand on the back of her head and one on her back. Madeline moved her head a bit to get comfortable in Storm's chest fur before closing her eyes and concentrating on his breathing to calm her mind. All the while, Storm gently caressed her head to help her relax and sleep: he felt the same way she did and could feel what she thought moments ago after the broadcast. Storm felt her body relax and breathing deepen signaling that she was sleeping. The mongoose closed his sapphire eyes and slipped into his dreams with Madeline in his arms.

The Malivick family looked as Reaper put away some food they gave to him in his satchel. Tanya approached him and placed a hand on his back. "You could stay here anyways Reaper, we would keep you hidden and make sure you weren't taken." She said trying to convince him to stay. "I don't want to risk your family over my life, Tanya. I'm merely a science project while you have a life to live—you can't replace what you have and I don't plan to ruin that for you." The tan hedgehog gripped his coat and pulled him up to look at her. "I don't want you to go out and give yourself up to them Reaper! You're as much as I can get close to my grandpa! You're practically his brother if not him!" She wrapped her arms around his body and buried her face in his coat. "I won't lose him again…" Tanya couldn't help but think back to how she found out her grandpa wouldn't be coming to see her again when she was still little. "Tanya, I don't plan on going to turn myself in. I plan to stay in the shadows and hide under the radar as much as possible." He parted her arms and moved her back from the embrace. "I will come back to you Tanya." Before he left he gave her a kiss and disappeared into the shadows leaving her standing there in shock from what he did. Anya smiled as she saw Tanya's face change. "He may have been a project of Hugh's but he is learning what it is like to be a real Veronian."

Smoke walked along with Axl along the streets of the city while following some of the squad on their mission from Mordecai. "This isn't right Axl, taking people into custody over one idea is not something someone wants to do to citizens." The dingo watched as officers knocked on another door to scan its residents. "You're right Smoke. This may solve the one possible problem but in turn create multiple others." "It makes me think back to how Mordecai was when he asked to see us. It was like he was scared about something other than the hedgehog; it reminded me how it was back on my father's farm." Another person was lead out from the house to a slow moving van with others of interest. "What do you mean by 'like how it was back on my father's farm'?" He asked curious to know what Smoke was talking about. "When I was young, we had a problem with bandits that'd come to steal money and supplies from us. My mother and father never said anything against it while they were around but always hated having to put up with their behavior. They always wanted to stand up against the bandits but they knew it would end with their deaths. They didn't like, either, how they would pick on me due to being blind and unable to handle myself well. After they left I was determined to not be beaten by my blindness and that's when I discovered a way to 'see' things by using the air. They didn't return for a couple years and I had grown to where seeing with the wind had become natural. My dad allowed me to practice shooting his rifle and I soon turned into one of the best shots around the ranch and western plains. It was then that we both realized that we may have a chance against the bandit gang now that I could shoot. My brother was back from a trip the following day and we began to plan how to get rid of the bandits upon their next visit to the farm. The week after we played out how things would work, the bandits made a stop at our house again but they weren't expecting the fearful sleepy farmers to be on the offensive. My dad stopped them at the entrance when we saw them approaching from the distance. Prior to their arrival, I was sent with a box of rounds and our best rifle to a small plateau to shoot from there: they wouldn't be able to shoot back at that distance and only I had been able to pull off such a long shot. By that afternoon we gave them a burial out in the middle of nowhere and we lived on with our lives on the farm. It was about a few years after that, that I moved out of the house and got into the treasure hunting. Then I ran into you during an excavation and from there to here over time." A few exclamations came from the house next to them and a guard fell down the steps while a lady stepped out holding a frying pan. "That'll teach you to come marching in and gawking at my daughter like that!"

Smoke and Axl continued walking down the street taking a break from the round up crew. "That's quite a history with your life Smoke." The dingo said checking down an alley to see if anything was going on. Smoke looked ahead at a car turning a corner. "What about your story, your personal travels, your legend Axl?" "Ha ha, that's not something I'm too fond of talking about. It is a curious story, though, in fact I beli-" He stopped at a sound in the alley. "Did you hear that, Smoke? I could have sworn I heard something kick a can or something." The ferret looked down the shadowed path between the buildings. "There's someone down there, but I can't make if it's even a who." Axl pulled his metal bat out and looped the strap around his wrist. "Let's check it out. Hey McCoy! Come over here, there might be someone trying to hide in the alley." An officer from the group signaled to a fellow guy and jogged over to them. "Think so, sir?" Smoke nodded and pulled out his pistols, "I'm not exactly sure if it's a person or what but something is definitely down there. I'm a little worried that if it's something dangerous it could do some damage to this hotel." "Solid copy, let's move in." The officer pulled out his taser gun and led the way down the alley. "I'll monitor the person's position; just keep your wits about you." Smoke said with both pistols raised and ready to fire. The alley widened into larger area for a couple dumpsters to be stored. "They're over by the dumpster across from us." Smoke said looking to a figure hunched over in the corner. McCoy walked forward with his taser pointed to the figure. "If you don't mind stepping out from behind there, sir, my friends and I would like to ask you a few questions." The figure turned out from behind the metal dumpster and looked in the direction of the officer; a built in energy monitor on the officers belt started beeping as the bars increased in height. Smoke looked towards the sound and could make out the shape of the device but not its purpose. "McCoy, what's that beeping?" Axl looked at the monitor watching the bars reach the red zone before responding, "I think it's some form of scanner type thing they use to scan for people with powers." The figure stepped into full view and stared at the officer through its red eyes. "Oh…my…lord!" "You three should be inside where it's safer: there are monsters outside in the dark." The scanner started beeping erratically before turning into a solid tone. "We're going to need back up." McCoy said with definite fright in his voice facing a sil'lis. He pulled the taser's trigger and the wires shot forward only to deflect off the sil'lis. The creature laughed in its raspy voice and began to glow an ominous red. "If only you had been smart enough to turn back. Prepare to face the wrath of Ragha!"