Chapter 4

As Link rushed to his chamber, his mind was working at top speed, trying deduce all possibilities of how Wire Frames could have gotten loose. Marth hadn't specified how many, and this was troubling to say least. There was normally a specification of how many Wire Frames could have gotten loose, and if there was one thing Marth was good at better than anyone else, it was gathering information. The fact that Marth had no idea what all this was about was unnerving.

Link burst into his chamber and immediately began donning all his equipment. Tunic, bow, bracers, greaves, gauntlets, hookshot, shield, bomb bag, boomerang, quiver, and his hat all flew into their correct places at top speed before Link dashed out his chamber, locking it, and taking off towards the SSB conference room faster than anyone would have guessed he'd go with all his gear.

Samus was waiting for him, donned in her Power Suit with her helmet under her left arm. She answered his question before he could ask it. "No one has any idea of what's going on. Fox called the meeting, so he knows. No one else has any idea."

"Has he said anything?"

"Not a word."

"Well we'd better get in or we'll miss it." Samus nodded and the two of them entered the room to find the meeting yet to start.

"Ah, Samus, Link." Fox acknowledged, "Perfect timing. Now that we're all here, let's get started."

"Will someone fucking tell me what the fuck's going on?!" barked Wolf.

"If you'll stay silent for a few minutes, I will," Fox replied cooly, "Now, a lot of you, like Wolf here, are wondering what's going on and why I've called this meeting. Well, I will tell you. At about 1406 hours, security reported a mass break-out of Wire Frames from the Melee Containment Area."

"How many broke out?" piped up Lucas.

Fox inhaled. "Four hundred seventy-six."

A collective chill ran through the room. So many, thought Link.

Fox continued, "A break-out of this magnitude is unprecedented, and can only mean outside help was involved. The Wire Frames are programmed to attempt escape from enemy clutches, but only one in every three thousand ever succeed in figuring out how. Four hundred seventy-six of them escaping simultaneously is impossible for them to accomplish on their own. The only explanation is that someone let them loose, because it is against their programming to help one another."

Link took all of this in and leaned forward, troubled by this. Mr. McCloud is right. The only plausible explanation was that someone let them out. But who would do that? Link had a shrewd idea, and if the look on Sonic's face was anything to judge by, he was thinking the same thing. So he's finally showing himself.

His thoughts were broken as Sonic stood.

"Yes, Sonic? Do you have anything to say?"

Sonic nodded. "I have an idea of who might have let the Wire Frames loose."

"Really. Care-a to-a enlighten us?" This comment was from Mario.

Sonic shot him a death glare before continuing. "I believe Shadow the Hedgehog let them loose."

Nearly everyone gave an exclamation of surprise. Only Ike, Marth, Fox, Falco, Link, Samus, Zelda, and Wolf didn't flinch. They must have the same theory. Samus thought.

"And what exactly brought you to that conclusion, Mr. Hedgehog?" Captain Falcon demanded.

"Only Shadow would be capable of releasing that many so quickly. His natural connection to the Chaos Emeralds gives him the ability to control time. With his ability, he could release 476 Wire Frames in a split second."

Fox spoke up. "It makes a lot of sense. Shadow's ability to stop time would allow him to pull this off without breaking a sweat."

"So who do we go after? The Wire Frames, or Shadow?" This was from Ness.

"We'll deal with Shadow after we take care of the Wire Frames. We can't hope to re-contain such a vast number, so our only option is to destroy them."

Link wasn't liking this. Not one bit. There were too many holes in the conclusion. Time stop or not, the facility would have detected Shadow's intrusion. Now that he thought about it, the intruder alarms hadn't gone off in nearly 4 years. No matter how fast Shadow could be, he couldn't be faster than light. Nothing was. It was physically impossible.

Now that I think about it, only a member of the SSB could go into the Wire Frame containment area without triggering the alarms, time stop or not. That can only mean one of us let them loose. But who would do that?

Samus glanced at Link's troubled expression. He's thinking exactly what I am, I can tell, Samus thought, Shadow couldn't have done this, the intruder alarms would have gone off. Who could possibly have done this?

And why?

Yeah! 4 chapters in two days! WHOO!

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Hope you're all enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it!

Updated note from 1/15/13: Hey guys, Chapter 5 will probably take awhile, there's a lotta crap going on at home, and i'm back at school (ugh) so that'll cut into my time. Don't worry! Chapter 5 will be up as soon as I can possibly get it up! Don't lose hope! Please review the story, I'm anxious for feedback! Anything you don't like? Say so! Any feedback is appreciated.

Stay tuned for Chapter 5 coming soon!