Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA, DiC and/or their respective creators.
Inescapable Past, Act 13: Holding Pattern
"Oh well," sighed Big, reeling his hook out of the woodland pond. There was nothing on it. Whatever had taken a shine to his bait had gotten away with it.
The cat removed a hand from his rod to help himself tally quite how many false alarms he'd had today. He counted twelve so far, and yet, he couldn't find it in himself to feel annoyed. Between the balmy weather, having his favorite Great Forest fishing spot to himself, and the fact Froggy was behaving for once, the fish playing hard-to-get was the only blemish an otherwise fine afternoon.
Ever the optimist, Big cast his bait-free hook back into water, leant back against the oak he was sat under and looked over at Froggy. His best friend was lying belly-up on a rock in the middle of the pond, sunning himself beneath a gap in the forest canopy. Idly watching the snoozing amphibian's vocal sac inflate and deflate for a few moments, the cat started to feel a little drowsy himself.
Froggy ribbited in alarm as the rod suddenly splashed into the water. Big didn't retrieve it immediately, too preoccupied staring up at the gap in the canopy. Was it just the heat, or had he really just seen three flying snowmobiles pass overhead?
〜
"Let's go in together, girls!" Amy heard the lemur Tangle shout over the roaring headwind.
Her curiosity piqued, the pink hedgehog extracted her face from the folds of Whisper's billowing black poncho and peered gingerly over the wolf's shoulder. Up ahead, the gaudy red hulk of the Babylon Guardian - the Babylon Rogues' infamous airship – was circling above the treetops of the Great Forest.
Awestruck, Amy didn't lower her head, despite her braided quills threatening to whip her in the eye. What she did do was hug Whisper's midriff a little tighter with her right arm. She'd tried her best to respect the wolf's evidently rather precious personal space. However, she had been less prepared than she thought for the mortal terror her first hoverbike ride had inspired.
Just ahead of them, she could see Shadow draped face-down over the backseat of Tangle's hoverbike, the lemur's gray-and-white-striped tail coiled round his waist. Although he was technically unconscious – the result of his latest expulsion of Chaos energy - rather than asleep, Amy couldn't help but a feel a tad jealous. The notion of being sleeping through this flight and whatever awaited them aboard the airship sounded like a dream.
Soon enough, the three hoverbikes all drew level and began their final approach. Flying in close formation, the trio passed close (too close for Amy's liking) to multiple sets of propellers on their way to a rectangular opening at the airship's rear, tucked away between the lowermost tail fins and gondola section.
Whisper and Amy were the last to touch down in the Babylon Guardian's cargo hold. They landed beside a parked hoverbike Amy remembered seeing that surly jackal fly off on with Shadow's Chaos Emerald. Luckily, he wasn't there to welcome aboard. Nor was anyone else.
"You can let go now," mumbled Whisper pointedly. Amy swiftly withdrew her right arm, shuffling backwards on the saddle to let the wolf dismount.
"Can you grab me a board, Whisp?" Tangle called over.
While the wolf walked off, the pink hedgehog remained seated and looked around. For a cargo hold, it didn't appear to be holding much in the way of cargo. Besides the racks of Extreme Gears along the back wall, there were only a few crates scattered about the place.
"Take us up, Storm!"
Amy cocked her head to the left. The teal fennec Sonar was standing by a control panel on a sidewall, pressing a sequence of buttons as she spoke to Tekno. Amy's attempt at lipreading was curtailed by the eruption of an ungodly racket behind her. She looked over her shoulder. The hold door had slowly started to close.
"Rouge!"
Amy whipped her head back round to see Tekno dashing across the hold. Her repeater-crossbow clanked to the floor as she threw herself at Rouge, who'd just emerged from a set of doors between the racks of hoverboards. Arrows spilled out of the quiver clipped to the beaming canary's pleated gray skirt as the bat swung her around. Once her feet were back on the ground, she merrily set about gathering up the ammunition.
"Comfortable there?" asked Tangle, tapping the hedgehog on the shoulder with her tail.
Jolted out of her reverie, Amy nearly toppled off the hoverbike. The lemur steadied the preteen with her tail, helping her dismount with a modicum of grace. Then, far from retracting her fluffy appendage, she coiled it round the hedgehog's right arm and started across the cargo hold.
"H-hey!" Amy protested, stumbling along behind the lemur. Unable to move her left arm, she couldn't offer much resistance. Desperate for backup, she cast a glance at Tekno, only to find the canary still picking up arrows. With a resigned sigh, she adjusted her footspeed to match Tangle's brisk pace.
Soon enough, they were crammed inside the airship's elevator with Whisper and Shadow. The unconscious black hedgehog was lying face-up on an orange Extreme Gear, temporarily repurposed as a floating stretcher. Amy looked the Ultimate Life Form over as he bobbed up and down on the hoverboard's antigrav field. The bandages on his right thigh were nearly with dust, but she couldn't see a speck of red.
On the ensuing elevator ride, Amy couldn't decide whether to bite Tangle's tail or burst into tear. Both options held a certain cathartic appeal just now. Alas, she wasn't turning violent would help her shake the increasingly vivid mental image of Tekno coolly shooting two Mobians the sight of those arrows had reconjured.
"Psst."
"Huh?" uttered Tangle, snapping out of a daydream. She looked over at Whisper, who was motioning towards Amy. Following the wolf's nods, the lemur grimaced as she saw tears silently streaming down the pink hedgehog's face.
"Kid?" she said softly, withdrawing her tail.
"That's not my name!" snapped Amy, narrowing her bloodshot eyes.
Just then, the elevator doors rolled open. Whisper exited in silence, towing Shadow behind her. Wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her purple blazer, the twelve-year-old went to follow. She wretched as Tangle caught the back of her shirt collar.
"Not that way," said the lemur, resisting Amy's feeble attempt to wriggle free as she steered her out the elevator and through an open door right next to it.
She practically pushed the struggling hedgehog inside the furnitureless room. Amy thought it looked small enough to be a closet, albeit a very well-lit one. Suddenly fearful she was about to be locked inside to cool off, she looked round to see Tangle stepping inside behind her. She heard the deet-deet-deet of a keypad as the lemur closed the door with her tail.
"Why am I in here?" blurted the hedgehog, spinning round.
"I thought someone better to take a look at that arm," said Tangle flatly, eyeing the hole the GUN Commander's eye-laser had burnt in the upper-left sleeve of Amy's blazer. "Did you think we hadn't noticed that"
Amy sniffled and wiped away a lingering tear. "Why didn't you say so?"
"Because the boss…" – Tangle paused to sigh - "The boss told me I need to act more bodyguardly."
"Bodyguardly?" echoed Amy, furrowing her brow. "What does that mean?"
"He didn't say," said the lemur, shrugging as she walked round behind the hedgehog. "So, are you like skipping school right now?"
"Not exactly," replied Amy as she was helped out of her Alicia Acorn Academy blazer.
"Just me then," Tangle murmured to herself as she unbuttoned the cuff of Amy's left shirt sleeve and commenced rolling it.
"Ow!" squeaked the hedgehog when the crisp white fabric brushed against the wound underneath.
"Gah, sorry! I'll be more care-"
"Huh?" uttered Amy, glancing at the lemur who was already headed for the door.
"I'll need some help for this," said Tangle over the deet-deet-deet of the door's keypad. "Just a second."
Left alone, the twelve-year-old's curiosity quickly got the better of her. Gritting her teeth, she gingerly raised her left arm high enough to glimpse her wound. She inhaled sharply. That crazy olingo's eye-laser had essentially bored a shallow crater in her arm. It'd burned away every last wisp of pink fur, as well as maybe two layers of skin. There was no blood, though.
She dropped her arm back down by her side when the door opened, and Whisper entered with Tangle in tow. The wolf tended to Amy's wound in near-silence, mumbling only to request supplies from the many cupboards built into the pokey room's walls. Within minutes, the hedgehog's left arm was in a sling, with the 'crater' on her bicep wrapped in enough bandages to create a noticeable bulge in her shirt sleeve.
"Is she okay?" asked Amy, watching Whisper leave the room before she could say a proper thank-you.
"That's…pretty standard for Whisp," replied Tangle, picking up the hedgehog's blazer. "C'mon. let's go somewhere with chairs."
"But what about Shadow?"
"Where do you think Whisp went? He's in good hands."
Glancing down at her sling-bound arm, Amy conceded she could hardly argue otherwise. As such, she followed Tangle back to the elevator and onward to a room she called the Sky Lounge. It put the hedgehog in mind of the classy nightspots Mina and Ash were always getting photographed in. Wood-paneled walls, geometric-patterned carpets, cushy armchairs arranged around low tables, and a bar with shelf upon shelf of oddly-colored drinks in oddly-shaped bottles.
Amy looked up at the high concave ceiling above them. It sloped down over the seating area towards a set of windows, shaped to resemble a giant pair of squinting avian eyes. Intrigued, she wandered towards them, weaving her way between tables and armchairs without averting her gaze. Kneeling on a couch below one of the windows, she gasped.
"Where are we?" she asked aloud, looking out at the cloudscape beyond the glass. She'd been expecting treetops, maybe even with Station Square's skyline on the horizon.
"I'm not actually sure," replied Tangle, kneeling beside her. "Shall I go ask?"
"Really?" said Amy, cocking her head to the right.
"Sure. Storm's cool. Just, y'know, promise me you'll stay here."
"I can do that."
The hedgehog flinched as the lemur turned and brandished her right pinkie. Apprehensive at first, Amy eventually entwined it with her own.
"Good girl," said Tangle, ruffling the preteen's braided quills with her tail as she got to her feet. "Oh, and don't go drinking any of that stuff."
Glancing at the bar, Amy rolled her eyes as her chaperone headed for the door. The mere memory of the smell of Rotor's homebrewed vodka was enough to kill her curiosity about alcohol indefinitely. Shifting from her knees to her backside, she attempted to straighten out her mussed quills with one hand while trying not to think too much about the absent Espio.
She was finding it strange how relatively unworried she was about the chameleon. She had Vector to blame for that. On the camping trip he'd taken her and Cream, he'd spent one night round the campfire delighting the little bunny with tall tales about Espio's ninjitsu abilities.
At the time, Amy had played along for Cream's benefit. However, she'd actually seen the chameleon live up to some of the crocodile's claims in the last few days. It seemed plausible Espio might already be making his own way out of Metropolis, or maybe hiding out in a janitor's closet or whatever until things calmed down.
Just then, the Sky Lounge's doors opened. Amy perked up, only to sink back into the couch when she saw who it was.
"Is this all about that gizzard thing we went diving for?" said Infinite as he strode in, a sword still strapped to his back.
"For the eighty-sixth time, it's pronounced Giz-oid," said Sonar, following a few steps behind. She immediately turned towards the bar, situated almost directly opposite the weird windows.
"Whatever," said the jackal, collapsing into an armchair by the table nearest the bar. "I still don't get his obsession with that thing."
"Worried it's after your job?" said the fennec, stepping behind the bar.
Infinite scoffed. "No bucket of bolts can do what I do."
Sonar groaned aloud. "It's not just some overhyped Badnik. Did you even read that briefing file?"
"That's your job," said Infinite. "What're you even making back there?"
"Monopolitan. Want one?"
"Bit early, ain't it?"
The fennec shrugged. "You heard Storm. We could be up here for hours."
"That desk job's changed you, Sonny," said the jackal, leaning back in his seat. "Just gimme a tea."
"Suit yourself," said Sonar. "What about you, kid? Want anything?"
"Kid?" echoed Infinite, glancing over his shoulder. "Oh look, it's Shadow's little helper. Where'd your babysitter go?"
Amy tried her best to ignore the ominous heterochromatic glare.
"May I have a glass of water, please?" she said meekly.
"Just water?" replied Sonar. "We've got like every kind of soda on Mobius back here."
"Just water, please."
With a shrug, the fennec set about playing barkeep. Still feeling the heat of Infinite's gaze on her, Amy bowed her head slightly, pink bangs veiling her eyes. Part of her really wanted to march over and demand to know what his problem was. Putting her off – besides the sword strapped to his back - was the sneaking suspicion she and Shadow weren't exactly welcome here. Giving this guy an excuse to kick them off the airship seemed imprudent, as Sally would say.
"Let it go, will you?" she heard Sonar say eventually. Infinite grunted in reply.
Daring to look up, Amy saw the fennec approaching her, carrying a tall glass of water.
"Thank you very much," she said with an earnestness that would've made Cream proud. Sonar flashed a half-smile as she handed the drink over.
"Can we turn that thing on?" asked Infinite, eyeing the large screen on the wall above the bar.
"Allow me," said Sonar, parking herself in an armchair perpendicular to his. "Hey, Baby."
Amy's glass nearly landed in her lap as a holographic green genie appeared above their table, armed folded across its muscular torso.
"Turn on the TV, Baby" the fennec told it. The genie nodded its head and vanished in a puff of holographic smoke. Almost instantaneously, the screen over the bar flicked on.
"Wave has got to rename that thing," said Infinite, shaking his head.
"Why? Did you think I was talking to you?" quipped Sonar.
Taking a sip of her neon pink cocktail, the fennec frowned at the lack of a retort. The jackal seemed suddenly captivated by whatever was on TV. Looking up herself, she saw what appeared to be phonecam footage of two teens in school uniforms squatting beside a Big Foot mech lying on its side. Both schoolkids were frantically shovelling armfuls of candy out of the wrecked vehicle's cockpit into a backpack.
The camera jerked abruptly upwards to show a Crabmeat standing atop the Big Foot's twisted chassis. The cameraperson zoomed in on the Badnik's bulbous, unblinking white eyes. As they zoomed out, three more Crabmeats could be seen scuttling up behind it, flexing their red pincers.
A shriek from off-camera sent the candy salvagers scrambling out of frame without their loot. The camera lingered on the advancing Crabmeats a moment longer before the video ended in a frenzied blur of motion. Throughout, a static chyron at the bottom of the screen read 'Badniks Attack South Sector, Metropolis'.
"What the fu-"
Sonar shushed Infinite as the broadcast cut to a studio set where a besuited eagle was sat behind a desk. He seemed to be distracted by something offscreen.
"Last time I saw a case of crabs that bad, my wi-"
The news anchor promptly cleared his throat and looked straight at the camera.
"We received that footage in the last hour. Scary stuff, huh? Anyway, we're now able to bring you an exclusive interview with the Mobian overseeing the Guardian Unit of Nations' response to this developing situation. Can you hear me, colonel?"
The feed cut to a split-screen, with the eagle on the left and a blue wolf in a black peaked cap on the right. A chyron flashed up below the lupine interviewee. 'Col. Sleet, Acting Commander of GUN'.
"That's a typo, right?" said Sonar. "I mean, seriously-"
She stopped short as she noticed Infinite rising from his armchair, one hand on his sword's hilt. Coolly drawing the ruby cutlass, he adjusted his feet and hurled his weapon at the TV. Amy jumped at the cacophony of smashing glass as it took out the top shelf of liquor bottles behind the bar.
"Feel better?" asked Sonar, watching spilled alcohol cascade off the shelf.
Infinite sat back down, grabbed the fennec's glass, downed the Monopolitan and looked over his shoulder.
"I hope you're happy, kid. You and your pals just gave that Wolf Pack reject everything he's ever wanted."
What was left of Amy's water hit the jackal in the face as she bolted for the door.
〜
"Why won't you just tell me what this is about?" Tekno whined as she and Rouge stepped out of the elevator and onto the airship's gondola section.
"I can't," said Rouge.
The canary hmphed, crossing her arms. The bat rubbed her temples, suppressing a sigh. The afterglow of reunion had lasted as far as her cabin. There, the questions had started, and they hadn't stopped since. Frustratingly for them both, Jet had forbidden her from revealing certain information, and this was one probation period she couldn't afford to fail.
For all her sulking, Rouge couldn't help but notice Tekno stuck close to her as they ambled down the carpeted passageway towards a set of wooden double doors. Coming to them first, the bat held one open and waited for her young companion go past her. The canary spun on her heel as the door slammed behind her with Rouge still on the other side.
"Our guest's sharper dressed than you, Wave," remarked a male voice from across the room.
Tekno's pleated gray skirt swirled as she spun round again to see a green hawk and a purple swallow sitting behind the same wooden desk.
"Are you the Babylon Rogues?" she asked reverently, her blue eye unobscured by feathery bangs darting between the two birds.
"In a previous life," replied Jet. "Now, we're more like the Babylon Entrepreneurs."
Wave snickered into her hand. The hawk shot her a sideward glance.
"Come sit," he said, gesturing to a chair in front of the desk.
"That nice fox lady said someone was looking forward to meeting me," said Tekno, quoting Sonar from memory as she approached the chair. "Are you the boss here?"
"That's what everyone I hire seems to insist on calling me," said Jet. "But yes, we have been looking forward to meeting you. Very much so, in fact."
The canary eyed him warily as she sat down. "Why?"
"We're told you might know a thing or two about robots," said the hawk. "And that you somehow repaired E-123 Omega-"
Wave groaned aloud. "Do we have to talk about that rust bucket?"
Jet smirked. "Says the bird who wanted to study the thing in the first place."
"Those notes said nothing about an organic battery," the swallow snapped.
"The other E-100 case files weren't a big enough hint?"
Wave's cobalt eyes narrowed. "Those Phis ran on Emeralds and you know it-"
"Phis?" interjected Tekno brightly. "As in, like, E-121 Phi?"
The bickering Rogues turned to look at her in unison.
"You know that model?" asked Jet.
"I helped build it," replied Tekno. "Err, parts Kind of, anyway."
The Rogues' gazes converged on a blue binder sitting closed on the desk roughly halfway between them. Tekno flinched as both lunged for it. The victorious Wave flicked through its many pages before slapping it down in front of the canary.
"Recognize this?" she asked eagerly.
Drawing back her curtain of bangs, Tekno leaned in for a closer look at the large photograph she'd been presented with. It was of Emerl, half-buried in sand. Its barnacle-encrusted head and limbs suggested the Gizoid had been pictured on the sea floor.
"Y-you found him?" she gibbered, eyes plastered to the grainy image.
"Eventually," said Jet.
"Where?"
"Bay of Acorns."
"Is he still down there?"
The hawk squawked with laughter.
"Turn the page, sweetie," said Wave, silencing Jet with an elbow to the ribs. Tekno did so. It was another photograph of Emerl, this time on the floor of the airship's cargo hold. It was still largely covered in barnacles and silt. "We've, uh, cleaned him up since."
"Does he work?" asked the canary.
"That's something we're hoping you'll be able to help us with," replied Jet. "Can you?"
The canary's face momentarily lit up but dimmed just as quickly. "You'd need a Chaos Emerald."
"Funny you should mention that," said Jet, lifting what looked like a cooler onto the desk. Tekno recalled seeing Infinite fly off with Shadow's Chaos Emerald in just such a container.
"But that's Shadow's, isn't?" she said, frowning as the two Rogues exchanged knowing smirks.
"You'll find we have a few mottoes at Babylon Enterprises we always try to live up to," said Jet.
"Like what?" asked the canary.
"Finders, keepers."
〜
Exiting the elevator, Tangle surveyed the Babylon Guardian's cargo hold. Spying Amy sat cross-legged over by Whisper's hoverbikes, she breathed a small sigh of relief. Not only had the hedgehog not gone anywhere restricted, but she also appeared to be dry-eyed.
"What about that pinkie promise?" the lemur called over as she crossed the hold.
Amy looked up wearily. "Why do you care?"
"Look, Sonny told me what happened up there," said Tangle, squatting beside the hedgehog. "Don't start acting like we're all Infinite."
"But how can you work with that guy?" blurted the preteen.
The lemur chuckled softly. "You grew up in Knothole Village, right?"
"Uh…yeah," said Amy, furrowing her brow.
"Ever heard of Spiral Hill?"
The hedgehog shook her head.
"I'm don't think Robotnik had either," said Tangle, "I mean, I'm not complaining, but it was kind of tough for a kid to become a Freedom Fighter when there wasn't anything around to, like, freedom-fight. This job was my only way out of nowheresville."
Amy nodded, more out of politeness than understanding.
"Oh, uh, Storm said we might be up here a while," said the lemur. "Let's go somewhere comfier."
"Please don't make me go back up there," Amy pleaded.
Holding the hedgehog's panicked gaze, Tangle extended an index finger and gave her nose the slightest of prods. "I've got my own cabin, silly."
Rubbing her nose reproachfully, Amy nevertheless got to her feet and once more followed her chaperone to the elevator. A short ride and similarly short walk later, Tangle ushered her inside a windowless cuboid of a room. To call the cabin cramped would've been generous. Between the bed, couch, closet and ensuite bathroom, there was scarcely enough floorspace for them both to stand up.
"Do you, like, live here?" asked the hedgehog, looking around at the unadorned walls and empty shelves above the bed in mild horror.
Tangle snickered. "No, the job came with an apartment. The boss just…well, he likes to get out a lot."
"Oh, okay," murmured Amy, idly fiddling with the tip of her red necktie as she made her way to the cabin's couch.
"Is that thing pissing you off or what?" asked Tangle snappishly, eyeing the silken accessory.
Amy promptly placed her right hand in her lap. Then, she frowned. "What's the big deal?"
The lemur smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck.
"Sorry, I always hated having to wear one of those."
"When?" asked Amy, looking the athleisure-clad Mobian up and down. "Where?"
"At school, silly," said Tangle. Producing a cellphone from a pocket in her black leggings, she held the device up to Amy's face.
The lock-screen wallpaper was a picture of winking Tangle with one arm around a beetle with pearlescent carapace. They wore identical outfits: blush-pink pencil skirts and blazers over white dress shirts with yellow-and-black-striped neckties. Judging by the duo's distance from the camera, Amy could only surmise the lemur had used her tail as a selfie-stick.
"Wow, that's really pink" she said.
"I know, right? Really not my color," said Tangle. "Oh, uh, no offence."
Amy giggled.
"None taken," she said, looking back at the photo. Eyes were soon flicking back and forth between the phone and its owner.
"What's up?" asked Tangle.
"When did you, like, graduate?" the hedgehog replied. But for the school uniform, the lemur looked exactly the same now as when the picture was taken.
Her chaperone tilted her head. "Whoever said I graduated?"
Just then, a knock on the cabin's door made them both jump. Tangle spun round to open it.
"B-boss?"
"Ah, there you are," said Jet, "Interview went quicker than expected. Storm's about to start the descent. We've got an ambulance on the tarmac for our stowaways. You happy to keep babysitting?"
"Y-yeah, n-no problem," the lemur stammered, just about keeping pace with the motormouthed hawk.
"Good. See you down there," said the Babylon Rogue, turning to leave.
"Wait, where are we going?" Amy piped up.
"Westopolis," said Jet tersely. "Where else?"
"Westopolis? But Station Square is-"
"Is what? Home of the illustrious Acorns, the family of out whose asses the sun always shines?"
"Elias owns a hospital-"
"Good for him. I do too, and a half a dozen schools. Does that mean I get a statue of my dad outside Westopolis City Hall? The sooner your homeland stops calling itself Acorn anything, the better off it'll be, Miss Rose."
The hawk exhaled sharply and looked to Tangle.
"ETA is twenty minutes. Don't be late."
Nodding passively, the lemur closed the cabin door and turned to Amy. She looked shellshocked and was almost certainly locked in a battle of wills with her tear ducts.
"How can you work for that guy?" she asked between sniffles. "You're too nice."
Tangle simply sighed and proffered her left hand.
"C'mon. If I know Whisp, she'll already be down there."