Chapter 9
Weak Assets in Cabfolone
"Still know how to make deals," smiled Nic.
"At least some weasel's ahead of the game," agreed Fiona.
Nic and Fiona knew each other. Fiona stood on her feet, a giant spotlight lit the entire room. Nic closed her eyes, just before the light blinded her. She opened her eyes, seeing a chopper flying past. They walked closer, stopping nearly 30 inches from each other.
"Who would of thought this relationship will be rock solid," Nic smirked.
"Rvenge isn't your top priority," Fiona gloated.
"You know those boys are our first task."
"After killing 50% of The Destructix, everything has gone gangbusters."
They got closer, they were more than just friends; they're lovers. They first met while Ainsley was on the run. It wasn't exactly love at first sight. They exchanged intel of their plans and thought of co-operating with each other.
"Any word of Mr. Mongoose?" Fiona thought of bringing up an old fellow, might be finding a way to tie up loose ends.
"He had what's coming to him. That was after Rejoice and GUN going in hot pursuit with each other." Nic showed Fiona a portible video projector. It played a recording of a news report.
"We interrupt this program for a special bulletin," said the voice over.
It cuts to Scarlet garcia at a news desk. "Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is Scarlet Garcia with breaking news. There was a shooting incident in City Central."
Amateur footage and police photographs showed dead bodies of mobians and humans. One of them revealed to be Arthur Mongoose.
"The people and Mobians who were killed were responsible for the smuggling operations for the past 5 months."
Scarlet thouched her earpiece, there was more to come. "What's that?"
She immediately turned to the audience. "I've just been informed of an update on the Cabelfone situation. Archibald McOulen son of Bernard McOulen, was gunned down on the steps of the Cabelfone by a sniper. Footage revealed that the shooter wasn't one of The Destructix. It was former convict and renegade soldier Boris Refeln."
Nic turned off the projector. Fiona got closer just her hands touched Nic's arms. Soon their mouths touched each other. They were unaware that Rouge was watching them in the air vents.
Upon arriving, Anthony and Nazo spotted Archibald's corpse. GUN had to be certain that it's safe to collect the body. Nazo and Anthony knew he had it coming. Topaz quickly found them. She was given full word on their past experiences. It was uncertain on how long the experience affected their mental states.
"Anthony, Nazo. It's about time you came," sighed Topaz.
"Sally had an episode," said Anthony. "She'll do fine, just needs time to herself."
"I heard about the killing of the Council. Somehow Phil Peters, Sir Charles and some echidna named Shade survived."
Shade, who was sitting in the car walked to Topaz. She was carrying the pocket watch in her hand.
"There's something you need to look at," interupted Shade.
Topaz didn't stop her. Thinking that every bit of detail she heard is important. "Show us."
Shade opened the pocket watch containing the removed it, turned it over, showing a message: Any upcoming threats that may apporach should be handled by Rejoice. Trying to intervene will have disasterious consequences.
"McOulen," concluded Anthony. "To be more specific: Archibald."
"How do you know it's Archibald's writing?" Topaz was amazed how he was able to spot a person's handwriting.
"The a's have a swift curl near the end. The q has a lightning-style at the end." He showed them the way the letters were written on the paper.
"Shadow and Rouge already entered the building," Topaz told Nazo and Anthony.
"I think they need assistance," thought Nazo.
Topaz went to an officer. He was using a robot car equipped with a hidden camera. The monitor showed no sign of the four youths or The Destructix.
"Is it safe for Anthony and Nazo to enter?" Topaz asked.
"Apprently," said the officer. "You should give them these."
He gave her earpieces with minute tracking devices. She handed them the devices and they put them in their ears. Topaz told them the situation. "Four young adults entered what seems to be a hotel. It's actually one of Destructix' secret bases of operations. Rouge found weapons in one of the floors."
"And Rejoice?" Nazo asked.
"One of the convicts killed Archibald."
"This won't please his father."
They entered the front entrance, one of the GUN soldiers gave them machine guns. "You need these."
They cocked the guns. They spotted elevator doors opening, they aimed the guns, but lowered them after seeing Shadow.
"Didn't expect a greeting," said Shadow.
"What were you doing?" Anthony asked.
"I was being chased by two guys. I lost them in the 8th floor." Shadow met his match at last.
"What happened to Rouge?" asked Nazo.
"She has arrived," said Rouge.
She was crawling on the ceiling and landed on her feet.
"How did you escape?" Shadow wondered.
"After saving your butt, I followed those boys."
Rouge followed Boris and Stefan, she used the stairs. She used her wings to get to them faster. Once the lift doors opened she lept onto them. She held done Stefan, Boris tried to escape. Rouge stopped him with her screw kick. This nearly drilled a hole in his back, but it did injure him enough to stop his retreat.
She can see the patched-up wound on Stefan's leg. She found the perfect way to start a conversation. "Had a dispute with Destructix?"
"And the GUN operative we've been chasing," explained Stefan.
Rouge knew it was Shadow. She can see Stefan reaching for something in his back pocket. Boris drew his gun, Rouge punchured her foot on Stefan's wound. His scream almost hurt his throat. She grabbed a knife from his pocket and threw it at Boris' face.
"Entering a racket owned by The Destructix. Still young and reckless. That became the worst decision you and your cronies made." She became more serious than her last interrogation.
The wound opened slowly releasing more blood. Tears trickled and drenched the carpet. "It was intentional. Rejoice chose me to locate a racket containing stolen weapons."
"The Babylon Rogues?"
"They have nothing to do with it."
Jet, Wave and Storm overheard them talking. They hid in a nearby open, with the door slightly ajar.
"All McOulen wanted is to find a way to take credit for killing ever one of them. He made threatening deals with other terrorist groups; including Theobald Williams."
"So that's his reasoning? A quick rich scheme."
"Based on my knowledge. I didn't carry my mission, it will blow my cover."
Rouge stopped pressurising Stefan's wound. He knew Boris is not among the living. Rouge gave him a sendoff. "Your chances of escaping alive are slim. Better learn to cooperate."
Rouge walked passed him. Stefan slowly got up, feeling the injured leg.
"McOulen hired a former convict to snoop, inside one of Destructix' bases?" Anthony has a bigger fish to fry. Rejoice was like his high school bully.
Rouge noticed Nazo carrying the gun. "You don't need to use that Nazo, you have powers like Shadow."
"That's something that nobody told me." Nazo became more surprised about something he never knew about himself.
"You don't know. The reason why you given arsenal is that Bernard McOulen, forced Commander Tower to not let Nazo use his powers."
She explained that ever since Nazo was created from chaos energy, McOulen was the first to know and kept it a secret. After he was told Nazo recruited in GUN, he told Tower not to mention about his super powers. Tower was warned that he will be prosecuted under false evidence, if he told the hedgehog or anybody, both in and out of GUN. This was a difficult promise to keep. He feared if anybody figured it out, he'll still be in boiling hot water.
"He was uncomfortable when McOulen arrived at his mansion," thought Anthony.
Nazo felt broken. All the time he spent on Mobius, out of all the sharp turns and road blocks in his path, this was the unfinished bridge of his life. A helicopter shined its spotlight. It belonged to Rejoice. One of the soldiers fired a machine gun. They hid behind the walls. Another soldier broke the window and climbed in. He attached a harness cable, just in case he's plummetting. Frank can see the soldier. He took a fire extinguisher and threw it. The soldier fell on his ribs, Frank grabbed him closer to his eyes. "Give a word to Rejoice. Cabfolone belongs to Destructix."
He unhooked the harness, grabbed the soldier's knife and stabbed his throat. The rotating blades moved the harness clip to Rouge. She grabbed it, climbed in the lift, exited the hatched and attached it to the car. She planted liquid eplosives on the cables.
Frank jumped onto the helicopter. The pilot presumed that it's Stefan. He was told about the informant by McOulen. Frank ordered the pilot to escape, right before Rouge pressed the trigger, blowing the cables making the lift car descend fast. The harness gave a huge tug making Frank fall. The helicopter collided with the hotel and exploded on impact. Its debris followed Frank onto the steps near the entrance. He was both engulfed and crushed, shortly before he hit the asphalt.