AN: Well folks, it looks like I'm back. When we last left off, Shadow and Sly were making preparations for the attack on Li's fortress, and securing what is theirs. For the sake of length, I will be dividing up the parts of the operation. So, without further delay, let Part 1 of OPERATION: PHEONIX begin!

Sly 5

Return of the Thievious Raccoonus

Ch14 OERATION PHEONIX

Part 1

Rise to the Heavens with your Golden Wings

Deep underground...

Shadows POV: It was time. The modifications to Sly's armor were finished, the evac ship was in place, and I had also managed to figure out where the ruby Sly was after was located. It would require a slight modification, but such things were already worked into the plan. The Pheonix was ready as well, and two of her secrets were ready to be revealed as well. I had brought Sly into one of the labs to suit up for the attack, and tell him about the minor change.

"Sly, you recall that ruby you came here after?"

"Yeah. The Firestone of India. I figured it might have the same reaction with my memories as the last thing I stole. Have you figured out where Li has it hidden?"

"Yeah, its aboard the fortress. It shouldn't be to hard to work getting it back into the plans. I'll grab it on my way to the hanger where the SRW is being kept."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask, just what is this SRW thing. I think those figures from that weird vision I had mentioned it."

"It is... something of great value to both Li and myself. Anyways, we need to get ready for launch. Follow me."

I lead Sly to what looked like a normal wall, except for two hatches on it. I pressed a button and they opened, revealing a smooth tube that lead downwards.

"Jump in, they lead straight to the cockpit"

We both leapt in, sliding down through an overly complex slide. We ended up with me in the flight seat, and Sly behind me. I stuck out my hand an did something I knew Sly never saw coming. Green flames appeared around my hand, and pure power could be felt radiating from them. They began to form into the shape of a guitar, the same one Sly retrieved for me. The flames began to disappear and leave solid material behind, and in a matter of seconds, I had my guitar in hand.

"How did you..." Sly began to ask before I cut him off.

"That's not important right now. I just need it for the activation of the Phoenix. It requires a set bit of music to activate." I Began to check that it was in tune and then I began to sing.

"Dance bravely, oh Soldier of Fate
Rise to the heavens with your Golden Wings
Oh Hero of Steel, you who do not know the meaning of surrender "

Instrument panels came to life and the sound of engines and turbines filled the cockpit. I switched my helmet's HUD over to be that of the fighter's and did a quick check. "Anti-grav okay, missiles okay, magazines all loaded, capacitors check out, Golden Wings at 100% charge. Stand by for launch Sly, this may hurt a bit."

"How are we even going to launch? Aren't we underground?" As soon as he said this, I flipped a switch connected to the hanger and launch system. A long chain of lights came to life, revealing that we we in what looked like a subway tunnel. The fighter began to hover, but not on its Anti-grav. Instead, it was being held up by a series of electromagnets that made up the track below it. "Phoenix... HASHIN!" The magnet simultaneously switched charge, and fired the fighter down the massive railgun that it was sitting in. Even with the inertial compensator and our armor's built in G-suits, we could feel the Gs pressing into our stomachs. The railgun launcher took us through a tunnel under Tokyo, going through a series of caves, until reaching the bay. There, it took a sudden turn up, and we launched out of the bay at mach 7 before switching to internal power at an altitude of 6 miles, with the water helping to slow us down.

"Shadow, a little warning next time. Did we even need that thing?"

"Sorry Sly, the Anti-gravity system on this thing needs an incredible amount of speed before it can operate at full efficiency. Plus, it made it harder for any ground targets to open fire on us. And, I love to make things as overly cool as I can." The last part was an admission of a small fault of mine. "Speaking of fire, Li should be seeing us right about...now."

Li's POV: I had a bad feeling about today. Ever since that dream I had and that note, I had been on edge waiting for Shadow to try and reclaim the SRW. I couldn't figure out why he wanted it back so badly though. Everything I had tried to do failed to even get it to start, let alone activate any of its systems. Right now, it was in a test hanger with every security system I could think of wrapped around it. But that might mean even less than normal, seeing as how he now had in his services this Verse's best thief. I was so concerned that I had even asked Penelop could borrow Terry's services for security. He was in the CIC with me when one of my robots sounded the alarm.

"ALERT! ALERT! UNKNOW AIRCRAFT APROACHING AT MACH 5! REFUSING TO RESPOND TO ALL THREATS! BEGIN INTERCEPTION AND ANHILATION!"

"Well mistress Li, it sounds like Shadow is making his move." Terry commented in his deep Russian accent.

"Well then, we will just have to greet him." I turned to the robots and began to bark out orders. " Ready all AA batteries and SAM batteries! Prepare all mechs stationed on the surface of the fortress for combat and send orders for the ones on the ground to try and hit this thing. And get the air units ready. Terry," I said, turning to him," get your gear and be on standby. We both know he will probable figure out a way through this."

"Yes mistress." And with that he was off.

"Now, someone ready my suit. I want to be ready when he gets here."

Sly's POV: This was utter insanity. We were charging headlong into enough wildly unarmed fire that even this things super armor would be shredded. The ground units were bad enough, peppering the air with everything from 75mm machine gun fire to 280mm cannon rounds. The fortress was worse. I had no clue as to the caliber, but there was enough solid ammo pouring out of it to supply a fair sized war. The lasers were even worse, making the air look even more like a sci-fi movie with an oversized SFX budget. Some were short pulses, others were beams, and still others were like massive cannons. And the missiles! There were enough to start WW III being shot at me! And despite all this being shot at us, Shadow was as calm a s ever. No, he wasn't. He was laughing with what sounded like joy. I was nearly horrified. We were charging headlong into what could be our deaths, and he was laughing like it was the greatest joke ever.

"Hehehehehe, hahahaha, HAHAHAHA! OH, HOW LONG IT HAS BEEN! The adrenaline, the sense of danger! Oh, I live for this!"

"Shadow? Enough with the laughter, were fixing to fly right into this!"

"Oh don't worry. This wont even dent us." He turned back to see my look of disbelief.

"All right, hang on to your lunch, I'm going evasive."

Well, that made me feel a bit better... right up until we went evasive. Shadow was right, this plane was like no other though. It was flying like a humming bird, darting about without changing direction, defying physics, at mach 8, about 40% full speed.

Even with the inertial compensator, I could feel a few Gs slip though, pressing down on me like a bear hug.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something coming at us. It looked like one of the Zakus we had fought earlier, but instead of green, it was a sky blue. And it was airborne, flying using what looked like a cross between the winds on the Phoenix and a pair of jet turbines.

"Shadow, since when can those things fly?

"He turned his head around, seeing about twenty of them chasing after us. Without warning, a quartet of pods on their wings flipped up and launched a mass barrage of homing missiles, about 800 total, into the holocaust of fire.

"Sky types, eh? Ain't fought them in a while. Hang on tight, I'm about to do something crazier than normal."

The plane then did a back flip and began to fly straight back into the missiles. This was insane! Was he trying to kill us! Even if this plane was as tough as he said, we would at the least be swatted out of the air! Then I saw him conjure up his guitar one more, and began to sing the same words he had to start this thing up earlier.

"Dance bravely, oh Soldier of Fate
Rise to the heavens with your Golden Wings
Oh Hero of Steel, you who do not know the meaning of surrender "

When he completed the lines, something popped up on the HUD. It looked like the start up screen for a computer program, but the text was in gold, and looked somewhat...feathery? It read "GOLDEN WINGS, ACTIVATION OKAY!"

The wings began to change. Like my gunblade, a thin line appeared down the middle and the separated, leaving about half a foot in between the pieces. A golden light began to pour from them, encasing the craft in a golden light. Then, two huge angelic wings made of the same golden light formed from the same spot. They began to flap in a slow rhythm as we flew into the missiles. Speaking of them, they were just about to hit us, but when they hit the light, they detonated prematurely.

"The Golden Wings System." Shadow said. "A shield and spear, encasing the craft in an energy field that is nearly impenetrable and further increasing its agility."

It was beautiful, but still it raised a thought. Just what else was this guy capable of.

"Hang on tight Sly, I have an opening for you to land. I'm going to launch you at the fortress along with a swarm of missiles to mask your approach. Get ready."

I got up and went to the back to crawl into my insertion craft. It was really a very simple thing, an armored shell with a spike on the end. When it hit the fortress, it should dig into the hull and then break apart, allowing me to exit. It should hold up. Should being the operative word.

"Sly get ready in 3,2,1... TRIPPLE M ATTACK!"

The cargo bay I was in opened up and I was launched into the hailstorm of fire with a massive wall of missiles in front of me, screaming all the way.

Shadow's POV: Well, there he goes. Now, to deal with some of these things out here. The Golden Wings were at about 45% charge left, not enough for serious prolonged use. Guess it is time to use it.

"Activate VALKYRIE system. Mode shift, NOW!"

A headlong charge

a mad man leading

to a mad woman's lair

what horrors await within?

AN: Well, this has been a little while in the making. The first part of OPERATION: PHOENIX is complete, as soon as Sly hits that giant base of doom. But what awaits inside? And just what is the SRW, the object that Shadow seems so glad to reclaim?

Find out next time.