Chapter 6

Sapphire and Niko's Discoveries and their Escape

Let's check on Sapphire, shall we?

Once Niko left, Sapphire was quick to getting her data. She started with Platinum's dog tags, shoving them into a socket on the side of the computer. As she did, the screen came to life, and dozens of numbers, facts, and pictures appeared. She tried to scroll through them all at once, finding the amount of information Platinum had managed to store remarkable. After searching for only a little while, she found the truth that was hidden from her for so long: The Director's true intentions.

If Platinum was right, which she probably was, the Director had broken some of the highest laws, and committed some of the worst crimes. However, what she really couldn't believe was that the Insurgents, the entire organization, had been for Allison. He had been apparently wasting away, trying to get her memory right. That's why he needed her for surgery when she was smaller... She couldn't believe it. He had lied to her and the other Insurgents for years now. Who knew what else he was hiding? Infuriated, she yanked Platinum's dog tag out of the socket and plugged in Allison's dog tag.

Within Allison's dog tag, Sapphire was able to pinpoint the exact memory unit Allison's main memory cell had been kept in, and where it was. 'Memory is the key,' she thought to herself. Allison's memory unit was the key to the entire Insurgent project. She shook her head and slid that dog tag out before slowly, hesitantly putting her own in, curious as to what Platinum had hidden in it.

Turns out, it wasn't much. Nevertheless, what it was helpful. While there was some info on the Hesitance in Platinum's dog tag, there was much more on her own. She read it and sighed, trying to deny the reality that was true:

The Insurgents had been the bad guys all along. Moreover, she needed to put an end to the Director's operation.

X.X.X.X.X.

Sapphire panted as she leaned back against a wall, shotgun tight in her grasp. Leave it to the Director to crash the Mother of Invention after he found out was she knew. She closed her eyes and listened to the dangle of the three sets of dog tags around her neck as she reloaded, forehead heavy with sweat from behind her helmet. The suits were supposed to keep moisture out, but ever since the MOI crashed, they hadn't been working the same.

Once the Director found out how much people were finding out, he ordered P.H.I.L.S. to crash the Mother of Invention, the Insurgent's main base. This forced people to evacuate immediately and report to the other, smaller Insurgent place scattered throughout the world. Many people died, but many also survived. The Director had gone into hiding, and Sapphire had somehow stricken up a deal with the Hesitance, taking in some of the more injured Insurgents. They also agreed to help Sapphire find the Director. It was amazing how quickly respect for that man could turn into hatred for his actions.

Insurgent base Sigma had bonded with a large Hesitance base, one that had been renamed the Insurgency. This was where most stayed, and most died. Many were still loyal to the Director, and were doing their own manhunts for those who opposed him. One of those manhunts was going down just then. A few Insurgents, codenames Obsidian and Cobblestone, had assaulted the base with other loyal Insurgents, and had caught them by surprise.

Niko walked up to the base to sense Sapphire in trouble. He ran inside, snuck around, and found Sapphire. He nodded and turned into his demon fox form and bowed so she could get on and grabbed her with one of his tails and looked at her.

"Which way?" Niko said through telepathy.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Sapphire asked instead of answering Nikos question, nervously checking the entrance of the small office room she was in that had apparently formerly belonged to Platinum. She was careful to keep her balance, though rival Insurgents started flowing into the room suddenly.

"Son of a bitch!" she yelled, raising her gun and firing her gun at the soldiers in the doorway, quickly eliminating most of them.

Niko launched a psychic blast that destroyed the rest.

"I came to tell you I found some info on my family and its connection to the Hesitance." Niko said. "We can't talk here though we gotta get outta here! So which way?!"

Sapphire gritted her teeth and climbed off Niko's back, carefully watching the door. "I'm not going to abandon my post here," she told her childhood friend, pressing a button on her helmet.

"Sapphire to Gold, Sapphire to Silver, Sapphire to Garnet, Sapphire to Main, do you all copy?" she asked, and she got clears from all four. She let out a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one," she continued. "Announce standard 'clean up' protocols in Sections A, B, and H," she ordered.

"Already on it," Main, the people at the main com. tower replied.

"Then is it safe to tell you here?" Niko said. Upon getting a nod, he went into telling how he took info from the Hesitance servers and found out that Tails was his brother; his mother tried to expose the truth about the Insurgents but was killed. After finishing his tale, he looked at Sapphire and smirked.

"So," Niko said teasingly. This was a way of speaking he knew Sapphire liked, a little. "Now that it's my fight now too, what say we work together and finish what my mom started and take these sons of bitches down?!"

Sapphire shook her head. "Damn, you make it sound so easy." She walked over to a black calendar that hung on the wall and tapped it with her gun. "We've been trying for five months, Niko. FIVE months! We're doing this step-by-step; you can't just barge in and take the whole thing down, especially since we don't know where the Director is.

She dropped her gun onto her desk, and took off her helmet, putting it next to her firearm. "This is still my fight more than yours, you know," she added, her face mixed emotions of seriousness, hatred, despair, and plain boiling anger.

Niko, realizing he pissed her off, looked down sadly.

"Sorry," Niko said. "I just want to end this quickly, ya know? I feel like it's about time this ended. I'm sick of being lied to, things being hidden from me, and people just generally keeping shit to themselves. If this has been going on for five months, the maybe me helping can maybe, just maybe, help you end this before innocent people die."

Sapphire knew Niko was right. His help would be appreciated, but where had he been all this time, why wasn't he here when it mattered…five months ago? Niko noticed this question and he sighed.

"I felt I should separate myself from you so you could concentrate on the data you received from Platinum and Allison." Niko said answering her question before she could blurt it out in anger. "I was doing my own research too and I figured we could put both of our findings together and stop the Insurgents together. I know I've blatantly getting you and the others in some deep shit since I met them. I'm sorry for that. I just felt I was helping you guys out but all I was doing was being what everybody at school called me, a useless Demon…"

Tears began to fall off Niko's face and he quickly wiped them away with his tails and looked at Sapphire while holding back more tears that were coming out.

"I wanna be useful to the cause," He said, fresh tears falling down his cheeks. "Now that I know my part in it. It's not much of one, but it's one that makes this my problem as much as it is yours. So please lemme help and you'll see over the five months I've been gone, I've gotten stronger and wiser! I won't let you down, Sapph! I swear!"

"Niko, you don't realize it, but ever since you came to the Insurgents with the task of finding Tikal, you've helped us. Well, me more than anyone," Sapphire started, tilting her head to the side. "If you would have never done that, I would have never needed to search for reasoning, and the Director would still be playing us all."

She walked over to Niko, "I need you to understand, a lot can change in five months, and a lot HAS changed in five months. It's going to take you a while to adapt. Now, don't get all cocky on me and say it won't be. It will. I've been here the entire time, during the start of the rebuilding process, the Mother of Invention crashing, the Director fleeing. It's been a lot to take in. It's been a harsh reality that I've been trying to run away from, trying to avoid. But, it's caught up to me, and even I haven't figured out everything around here yet."

Sapphire lowered and shook her head, "I probably never will."

Getting her mini rant done and over with, all emotions of anguish and depression and slight anger were suddenly erased from her features. "If you want to help, you're going to have to do things right, and that includes getting used to the Insurgency and everything in and outside of it to the best of the ability. We have zero breathing room, no room for failure. If you can accept those terms (and a few more to come), I'm sure the Insurgency will welcome your help." Slowly, she extended her armored hand for a handshake.

Niko nodded and shook her hand. He knew that if this was going to end, he was going to have to play by the rules. Rules were one thing he hated more than anything, but he knew was gonna have to follow them if things were ever going to go back to normal.

"So what's our next move?" Niko asked.

Niko and Sapphire have their work cut out for them! Let's see what happens! See you guys next chappie!