Chapter 15! Woo!
Sorry about the lateness but I've been having some trouble updating and publishing!
But anyway, new chapter!
The red echidna opened an eye upon hearing the sound of the door opening behind him. From his relaxed position he watched, as both hedgehogs emerged from the gaudily painted house.
"Thank you Miss Rose, you've given me a lot to think about." Said Cassie as she put on her jacket.
"Call me Amy, and besides it's what I do." Replied the sakura hedgehog, her voice bubbly and light. "I'm actually planning a picnic for when Cream and her mother get back from holiday. You should come."
Knuckles jerked upright.
"Cream and Vanilla are on holiday!" Amy stared at the echidna before nodding her head.
"I think they went to Soleanna to see that festival of the Sun they have. Big thing I hear, with the Princess attending and everything." Knuckles looked away in thought for a moment before rising to his feet.
"How come no-one tells me these things?" He enquired with a half-shrug.
"Sonic was meant to tell you, but it probably slipped his mind." Amy replied with a smile. "Anyway, I'd best let you two Agents get going."
She enveloped a surprised Cassie and a warm, friendly hug and did the same with Knuckles.
"Don't be strangers you hear!" She called after them as they climbed into Cassie's car and began the long drive to Station Square.
Once they were in the car, Cassie turned to the echidna sat in the passenger seat.
"Remind me why we're going to Station Square again?"
"Once we get there, we need to take the train to the Mystic Ruins and from there we've got a bit of a trek to get to Angel Island." Replied Knuckles as he flipped through Cassie's small collection of CD's.
"But isn't Angel Island floating miles above the earth?" She asked sarcastically.
"Usually yeah, but I've got the Master Emerald with me, so no floating." Cassie took a double-take to realise what the echidna had said.
"You've got the Master Emerald with you and you didn't think to tell me!" Knuckles merely shrugged his shoulders.
"Didn't seem important." He answered. He finally chose a CD that looked good and slid it into the car's built in CD player.
Cassie shook her head as the steady beats began to filter through the speakers and turned her focus back to the road.
The auburn haired squirrel dodged her way past other Agents all rushing this way and that.
Mere minutes earlier, there had been a confirmed missile launch from the Death Egg crash site. She half-jogged towards the elevator specifically meant for direct access to the 'Panic Room', where she was hoping the Commander would have a better use for her skill set. She zipped round a corner, almost colliding with a red faced lizard carrying a clipboard.
"Miss Acorn, I'm glad I ran into you." Puffed the lizard, her words punctuated with deep intakes of breath.
"Ran being the optimum word!" Sally snapped back. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now!"
The lizard gulped down her fear and held out the clipboard.
"There are some people downstairs who wish to see one of your suspects of-"
"Yes, fine, whatever!" Sally retorted, snatching the clipboard from the lizards shaking hands and scribbling her signature on the line without as much as a glance at the form itself.
She thrust it back into the lizards' hands and barged past in the direction of the elevator.
The medics had set up a makeshift first aid camp as they bustled around, cleaning and mending the various wounds the soldiers had suffered in their storming of Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg.
Shadow watched as three did their best to staunch the bleeding of Sonic's chest while keeping him alive long enough for the emergency evacuation helicopter to arrive. He hung his head, averting his eyes from the life struggle his friend was fighting.
He couldn't believe how bad things had gotten so quickly. Everything had been going fairly smoothly to begin with, the Eggman robots had proven little challenge and they experienced little or no resistance as they explored the silent carcass of the space station. Finding Rouge so quickly however had been a stroke of luck. Shadow looked over at the white bat sitting nearby.
A medic, with the help of another Agent was cleaning and stitching the worst of her cuts, while bandaging her in swaths of clinical cloth.
Rouge's face was deathly pale, and her hands were shaking despite the stifling. Her eyes seemed to stare into the distance, as if she was searching for something that just wasn't there.
Shadow quietly cursed himself. This could all have been avoided if he had been quicker and more ruthless in his counterattack on the snake inside the Death Egg. None of this would have happened if his Chaos spear had found its mark.
He flexed his aching shoulder. It had been reset and bandaged tightly, his left arm strapped across his chest in a sling. As he sat there, with Agents and medics rushing back and forth, his mind kept drifting back to the two friends he had left behind so suddenly.
He wondered how they were handling the case he had unceremoniously dumped on them. Knuckles, the socially awkward echidna who he had never really spoken to, had proven himself to be an eager investigator and a reassuring presence. Shadow was slightly surprised that Sheba, the self-titled 'sadistic, stonehearted bitch' had warmed to him so quickly.
Then there was Cassie. Enthusiastic, kind, friendly... She reminded him a little of Maria, but at the same time she was completely different. He rubbed his forehead furiously in the vague hope that it would clear his thoughts.
His ears twitched at the sound of blades chopping through the air. He looked up as a twin bladed GUN helicopter made itself known on the skyline, steadily growing larder and louder as it closed the distance between them.
Standing, he walked across to Rouge who smiled weakly up at him. The large shadowy bags under her eyes were a clear indication of how exhausted she was. The ebony hedgehog held out his hand which she accepted gratefully.
The helicopter had landed and the three medics taking care of Sonic swiftly but gently carried his stretcher and loaded the unmoving cobalt hero into the bowels of the ungainly looking aircraft.
They walked slowly over to the waiting helicopter, Shadow acting as Rouge's support all the way. He silently helped her on board, one of the medics taking over from him as they led her to a seat.
"Agent Shadow!" He turned from the loading ramp to see who had called him. A golden furred cougar was waving him over. Shadow recognised her as Agent Felsi, an expert at infiltration and communications, and one of his fellow top Agents. He took one last look back at his two friends, before stepping away from the loading ramp.
He walked towards the cougar as the helicopter took off behind him, ferrying the worst of the wounded swiftly to the better equip hospital back in Station Square, including Rouge and Sonic.
"Last I heard you were stationed in Downunda!" Shadow shouted over the sound of the rotor blades and the roaring engine as the helicopter ascended into the sky, blowing red sand and dust everywhere.
"We can exchange pleasantries later Agent Shadow. Right now we need to know the extent of Dr. Robotnik's defences inside the Death Egg, before we commit any soldiers to a possible bloodbath!"
"There are no defences! We ran all throughout that desolate wreckage!" The two Agents began walking back towards the entrance. Shadow's eyes drifted over to the black body bag containing the remains of the snake. "At least, he didn't have any electronic defences to worry about."
The cougar looked back at the hedgehog trailing slightly behind her. She had rarely seen the great Shadow, top Agent of GUN and hero of the planet, let alone spoken to him. But now, as she watched his movements, she couldn't see how he had earned those titles. She snorted.
"If you say so." She waved at the waiting soldiers. They charged into the depths of the Robotnik's domain to hunt down and capture the insane human once and for all.
"He won't be there, you know this don't you?" Agent Felsi turned and regarded Shadow with a critical eye.
"And how do you know?" She retorted. Shadow looked to the sky, where the thin wispy trail of the missile was still faintly drifting through the atmosphere.
"That missile was most likely an escape pod and not a warhead." The cougar's eyes followed his gaze. "He wouldn't leave himself without protection or an escape plan; and he would certainly not allow himself to be captured."
"Well we'll just have to see won't we?" Agent Felsi turned her back on the ebony hedgehog and crossed her arms.
The staccato chopping blades of the nearing helicopter grew steadily louder and Shadow slowly walked away towards the makeshift landing pad.
They stepped onto the wooden platform along with a few backpackers and archaeologists. Cassie's ears kept twitching as Knuckles began humming the same song both loudly and terribly out of tune. She had suffered his infernal humming for the entire train journey, ever since he had heard it played in her car.
"Will you stop that!" She finally snapped as their feet touched the worn dirt path at the bottom of the wooden stairs. The red echidna flinched at her sudden outburst.
"What?"
"If you're gonna butcher a song, at least have the dignity to do it quietly to yourself!" Deject, Knuckles looked down at his feet.
"Sorry Cassie." The lavender hedgehog rubbed away the sleep-dust that had gathered around her eyes during the uneventful journey.
"No Knuckles, I should be the one who's sorry. That was unfair of me." Knuckles looked at her, noticing the subtle hints towards how tired she was.
"You alright? You look tired."
"I feel exhausted! I haven't been this active since the whole Black Arms thing!" Her movements were indeed sluggish. "I've been stuck behind a desk for too long."
She mumbled.
"Who would've thought getting the inside scoop of your partner would be so tiring…"
Knuckles led the way as they headed deeper into the jungle surrounding the Mystic Ruins. They wove along the thin, well-worn paths, over and under fallen vegetation, clambered over piles of rocks and splashed through a shallow river bed, and one time Cassie was almost certain she had seen a bright green frog being chased by an enormous purple cat with a fishing rod.
"Just a bit further." Said Knuckles. He grunted as he pushed the rusted gate. Slowly but surely the gate began to move, until with a great screech of its hinges it swung open. "Trust me, you're gonna love the view, its breath taking."
They rounded a final clump of large boulders, but what they found wasn't what either of them had expected.
"By Chaos…" Breathed the echidna, unable to come up with an appropriate phrase.
"That can't be Angel Island. No way…"
Yes another cliff-hanger.
I don't really like using them but for the next part it's essential.
If anyone can guess what's happened, I'll happily write their OC into the story. And maybe give them a cookie...
All that aside I am knackered and my bed is calling my name.
Till next time this has been Corrupt TE.